• The Three Retail Influencers You Should Connect with in NYC (and How to Do It!)

    The Three Retail Influencers You Should Connect with in NYC (and How to Do It!)

    The retail industry is undergoing a major evolution. Online shopping continues to grow in popularity, complacent retailers continue to shut their doors and Amazon continues to redefine consumer expectations across the board.

    But retailers aren’t the only ones undergoing radical change. The reporters who cover these trends are, too. Newsrooms are shrinking, reporters cover more beats or single beats for shorter periods of time, and social media is transforming the way that publications break stories and receive tips from PR pros like me and you.

    With the holidays quickly approaching and NRF 2020 on the horizon, there’s a great chance your retail client’s CEO or subject matter expert will take a trip to the Big Apple in the next three months. And although NYC is home to many retail influencers, they’re all getting bombarded with the same pitches to meet up with so and so at XYZ company to discuss the next big thing in retail. To capitalize on your trip, you’ll need to be creative in your media outreach – or risk falling to the bottom of your favorite reporter’s inbox.

    For instance, every journalist has different preferences for how they work with PR pros. Some like all the details upfront, some like a 50-word blurb. Some like attachments included, some will close an email if there’s as much as a link – let alone a full press release. These elements are largely out of your control, unless they’ve published their preferences online or you have a personal relationship. What you can focus on is who you’re reaching out to and the substance of your pitch.

    Here are three retail influencers you should connect with while you’re in town and the best ways to reach them:

    Lauren Thomas, retail reporter at CNBC

    Twitter handle: @laurenthomas

    Lauren is a reporter for CNBC based in New York where she covers retail and its retail real estate. She joined in 2017 after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has quickly made a name for herself. A power user of social media, she was named the No. 1 retail voice on LinkedIn in 2018. 

    Best ways to work with her:

    • Organically engage with her outside of your email pitch; try “liking” her Tweets or commenting on her LinkedIn posts with a unique perspective. This isn’t the place for an unsolicited pitch but can be a good relationship builder.
    • Offer her unique data she can’t find anywhere else; this can be in the form of a survey or propriety data from your company’s platform. Lauren is notorious for using company-owned data, especially around the holidays.

    Melissa Fares, retail reporter at Reuters

    Twitter handle: @faresmelissa

    Melissa covers the world of retail, fashion and shopping. While Melissa has been with Reuters for over four years, she recently took on the retail beat starting in March 2018. Before Reuters, she attended Columbia Journalism School.

    Best ways to work with her:

    Similar to most reporters, Melissa is always interested in hearing from retailers – not only the well-known retailers, but also emerging retailers with an interesting, relevant and global story to tell.  Customer requests are never easy, so if they’re not open to being quoted publicly, try inviting Melissa to attend a customer-driven networking event. Especially around events like NRF, when many retailers are in one place, this can be a low-pressure way to introduce media to your retail customers.

    Not all reporters like getting phone calls from PR people, but Melissa is one of the few that is open to it. Whether it’s an email or a phone call, she wants to be connected with people who can help her form a meaningful story that hasn’t been told.

    Tonya Garcia, news editor and reporter at MarketWatch

    Twitter handle: @tgarcianyc

    Tonya Garcia is a MarketWatch reporter covering retail and consumer-oriented companies. She is one of the best in the business at cranking out the latest news before anyone else and regularly publishes 5+ articles per day. 

    Best ways to work with her:

    • Speed is of the essence. Tonya regularly accepts issues response commentary, but you need to work on her deadlines, which come and go quicker than most.
    • Like Lauren, Tonya is also a power user of social media. If you respond to her Tweets with unique insights, she’ll be likely to recognize your name when it comes through her inbox. One warning though: Your GIF game will never match hers. 

    The retail media landscape is constantly changing and it’s no longer enough to engage reporters with a simple email or phone call. If you want to get your client on their radar this holiday season or during an upcoming trip to NYC, consider starting the conversation on social. While not all reporters are open to this kind of interaction, the above reporters welcome it. If done right, it can be the first step to a mutually-beneficial relationship.

    Andrew Petro

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  • How to Find Your Journalist BFF

    How to Find Your Journalist BFF

    /></p> <p><span style=As PR professionals, media relations is one of biggest parts of our job (if not THE biggest part!). Our clients expect consistent media coverage even when there isn’t always hard news to pitch, which means we’ve got to get creative. While well-written press releases and exciting announcements are always a promising start to secure coverage for our clients, the most reliable tool is having strong, authentic relationships with journalists. If you’ve got a good working relationship with a reporter, it’s more likely you can work together to find an angle that makes sense for the outlet they write for and will pique the interest of their readers.

    In theory, this all sounds reasonable but you might be thinking: okay, some of these reporters don’t even respond to my pitches, how am I supposed to build a relationship with them?  Here are few tips that could help you connect in a meaningful way:

    1. Do your homework. Get to know a reporter’s writing. Referencing past articles and knowing how they tend to structure their work can help grab their attention. For example, if you know they always include quotes in their articles and you can include an excerpt from an exec in your initial outreach then you’ve already cut out a step for them.
    2. Make sure you scratch their back too. The key is that these connections with reporters should be mutually beneficial. You should be just as much of a resource to them as they are to you. How can you help make their job a little bit easier? Perhaps it’s as easy as congratulating them on a new gig. 
    3. Be mindful of what you’re sending them. Just because you have a relationship with a reporter doesn’t mean they’ll write about anything you send them. Be courteous of overloading their inboxes and only share info you think they’ll actually be interested in.
    4. Check out their social pages. Journalists are humans too! By following them on social, and sharing their content, you’ll not only stay updated on their recent articles, but you could get a glimpse into their everyday lives. Maybe you see them tweet about The Bachelor finale and can connect with them on a personal level about how much you both are loving (or hating) this season.
    5. Talk to them about things other than your clients. Obviously, you want them to write about your clients, but sometimes it’s important to take a step back. If you see an article they’d be interested in, shoot them a link. This could help them start to see you as more than just another PR person. Show them that you care about their assignments and instead of pitching them your client out of the blue, try asking what he/she is currently working on to see if there’s a way you can help.  

    Of course, every reporter has different preferences so take all of these with a grain of salt. The biggest takeaway here is that journalists are integral to the work we do as PR pros and we can also play a role in their jobs, so why not find a way to work together? It will make both of our lives a lot easier in the end—plus, you might end up having more in common than you think.

    Matter

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  • Media on the Move: Week of May 29

    Media on the Move: Week of May 29

    With technology rapidly changing the media landscape, journalists are constantly moving to not only other publications and beats, but also to in-house content gigs.  As public relations professionals, it is imperative we are always up to speed on the latest media moves to best serve our clients. We’ve round up some of the most significant reporter moves relevant to our clients’ industries below and hope to keep you up to speed so you don’t miss a beat.

    Notable journalist and media industry moves

    BuzzFeed News: Sheera Frenkel leaves to become the cybersecurity reporter at The New York Times.

    Chicago Tribune: Long time business reporter, Kathy Bergen, retires.

    Cooking Light: Kimberly Holland moves on to serve as content marketing manager at eMeals.com.  

    CNBC: Krystina Gustafson leaves to take on a new role as content director at Shoptalk.

    Dr. Oz the Good Life: Editor in Chief, Jill Herzig, leaves. The magazine will now run as a quarterly bookazine.

    Forbes: Ryan Mac leaves to join BuzzFeed News’ San Francisco Bureau to cover “the intersection of wealth, tech and power.”

    Gizmodo: Christina Warren moves on to a new position at Microsoft. Ashley Feinberg leaves to take on a role at WIRED.

    IDG: After announcing IDG’s acquisition by China Oceanside, a number of reporters are leaving the publication. including Caitlin McGarry, Susie Ochs and Bob Brown. While the total number of employees departing has not been disclosed yet, it is expected to be close to 90.

    Inc: Salvador Rodriguez departs to take on the role of enterprise software and cloud computing reporter at Reuters.

    RCR Wireless News: Dan Meyer leaves his post at RCR Wireless and lands at SDxCentral.

    SD Times: After 12 years, Alex Handy departs SD Times to write for The New Stack.

    The New York Times: David Rohde joins as online news director, leaving his previous post at Reuters.

    VentureBeat: Jordan Novet leaves VentureBeat to cover AI at CNBC.

    WIRED: Senior staff writer, Cade Metz, moves on to cover AI and “other bits of the future” at The New York Times.

    Matter

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  • Four Reasons Why PR Pitching is An Art Form

    All editorial pitches are opportunities for expression. Through email, direct messages on Twitter, inMail on LinkedIn or any other communications channel, editorial pitching provides us PR professionals with a creative channel for securing a story. It’s an art form, really, and here are four reasons that support that statement:

    First, a PR pitch offers the practitioner unlimited creativity. You know the charge at hand, and can accomplish your goal – connecting with a key writer or editor and seeing that they give attention to your story idea – in any manner that is appropriate. The words you use count so much in this circumstance. You may be succinct or detailed, punchy or rich with metaphor or vignettes. Each pitch is a clean canvas and every outreach an attempt to inspire a specific reaction. It’s exciting, as every communication is another opportunity for success!

    Second, like an artist working on a commissioned piece, it’s critically important that you consider the audience before getting started. And, that’s typically both the audience (reporters) and the audience’s audience (editors and readers). The better you capture the imagination of the reporter with your initial outreach, the better the chances he or she will be inspired to “sell” the idea to editors and, ultimately, disseminate the story to legions of your client’s preferred readers.

    Third, just as when you see a painting and are moved by what it attempts to convey, you know right away if your PR pitch struck a chord when you hear back (immediately and positively!) from your editorial target. It’s a thing of beauty when your creativity captured the interest of your intended subject and inspired action.

    And, fourth, the preceding point is particularly true if your pitch was highly personalized for and delivered to a priority writer or editor, whose coverage often results in a landslide of other writers covering the same topic. It’s valuable to create the pitch that keeps on giving, paying dividends long after the client’s last check has cleared.

    What am I missing? Can you think of other ways that editorial pitching is an art form?

     

    Scott Signore

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  • All the Self-Promotion That's Fit to Print

    Ever been tempted to pay for a PR placement? You pitch the perfect story and the editor just won’t bite.  You go back a second time with no luck, so you think to yourself: “Man, I wish I could pay to slip this story in. The readers will find it valuable.” Unfortunately, you can’t do that (at ethical pubs) so you go back to the drawing board, dreaming up fresh angles and more inventive ways of reaching the targeted reporter.

    If, as a PR pro or an in-house communications person, you’ve secretly wished you could do a pay-for-play deal with your dream publication, then the emerging trend of brands (read: companies) publishing their own magazines with fresh and journalistically legitimate content should perk your ears up. And, you might be surprised to know the trend is gaining a heck of a lot of steam. The sagging publishing industry is now competing with brands for the same eyeballs.

    Tessa Wegert of ClickZ blogged recently about the success a number of high-profile brands are having with periodicals of their own – including P&G, SAP and Urban Outfitters, to name only a few.  A commonality among these branded magazines is not just the quality of their content, but the fact that the publications are developed by experienced and credible writers and editors. Writers and editors who have made their career writing for significant media outlets now write for some of the world’s most established brands, and they’re supplementing their respective incomes handsomely.

    I’m conflicted about it, frankly. To me this approach is potentially inappropriate and simultaneously brilliant.

    Marketers can leverage this channel as a way to deliver key messages to interested consumers. (I like that.) And the depth of interest goes beyond the brand itself and includes the category in which the brand is established. Interested, self-identifying consumers read content-rich stories pumped out by journalists hired by brands looking to sell stuff – kind of perfect, really.

    And yet it’s disturbing in the sense that the delineation between “story” and advertisement becomes increasingly blurred, potentially duping consumers who may not understand the nuance. Basically, brands are “selling stuff that people want to look at,” which is straight out of a basic advertising playbook.

    But the evolution is undeniable in the sticky muck of an ever-intersecting digital world. Resistance is futile. Adapt or die.

    Rather than being “off to the side” marketing tools, branded publications have become key components of overall marketing initiatives. They have become widely-accepted communications tools, with solid editorial teams who craft, create and publish news and feature stories that consumers want to read. It’s a smart approach, and one that I may recommend to clients here at Matter.

    What’s your take on brands publishing periodicals – are you on board?

    Scott Signore

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