When pitching a tech story, have you ever felt like your pitch was "Lost in Translation"?
That happens to most tech pitches, according to four top technology journalists who spoke in October at a Business Wire/Tech Image PR luncheon in Chicago. The program attracted more than 30 leading corporate PR and marketing professionals from across the Midwest.
The panel, moderated by Tech Image CEO Mike Nikolich, included Patrick Seitz, consumer electronics reporter for Investor's Business Daily; Roger Crockett, Deputy Chicago Bureau Chief for BusinessWeek; Michael Krauss, Tech Matters columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times; and Jaikumar Vijayan, Senior Editor at Computerworld.
PR practitioners were invited to bring pitches to try out on the panel members, who then provided feedback on what works and what doesn't work. More than a dozen pitches were reviewed during the program, and a common thread in the journalists' critiques is that PR pros often focus their pitches purely on the technology, instead of providing the kind of "newsy" insights that journalists need for their respective audiences.
"The trouble with most technology pitches I receive is that the lead always seems to be buried deep down in the pitch," said Crockett. "The pitch will go on and on about the technology, when what's really interesting is the way it's being used. Don't fall in love with the technology. See beyond it to the effect it's having on people or business."
The other panel members agreed, saying often the hook that would interest a reporter is buried in the third paragraph, after a bunch of background information. The panel members said PR pros should anticipate what currency will interest the reporter, such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA compliance issues, inherent conflicts within a market, or being a local company. They recommended putting those items at the start of a pitch, and then trimming the amount of background that follows to a minimum.
"You should ask yourself, 'How are your customers using your technology or service to excel, with improved outcomes? What compelling things are the users doing with the technology?' " Computerworld's Vijayan said. "That's the pitch. That is much more important to a magazine like Computerworld than the technology itself."
Private companies do have an uphill climb when pitching publications like IBD and BusinessWeek, panel members agreed. However, there are still opportunities for coverage - if PR pros do a good job of targeting their pitches.
"I'm interested in what investors are interested in," said IBD's Seitz. "That generally means large, publicly traded companies. For a private company to catch IBD's interest, they have to have an impact on the overall market. We're not likely to cover what a technology does. Instead, our readers are looking for whether the technology signals a trend that creates a market opportunity."
Crockett also emphasized the importance of knowing the particular reporter's coverage area.
"BusinessWeek has a number of technology writers, mostly located in New York and the (Silicon) Valley," he said. "Each covers a different area. For example, I primarily cover telecom companies in the Midwest. Pitching me a story about a network technology is probably a dead end. Read the reporter's work, and know what he or she is interested in before you make your pitch."
Crockett added that PR pros at small companies who are competing in a market of giants can generate coverage by letting the reporter know that their executive speaks with the market leaders frequently.
"If you establish a track record of a good relationship with a reporter, that reporter will come back to you again when he needs a source," Crockett said.
For instance, Crockett cited a cell phone component manufacturer in the audience who could pitch its executives to him because they are connected to industry leaders and can talk about market trends. The company may be valuable to Crockett as a resource in the future since they get to "look under the hood" at new technologies the market leaders they partner with are in the process of developing.
For the most part, the national media won't cover a board-level technology from a company with little name recognition, according to Crockett. However, "they will call a resource who sees what's coming down the development pipe, as it relates to a major trend, like 3G (third generation) broadband cell phone connectivity, and how that will shape the market and user experiences. Your company will get the exposure as a thought leader and will gain a strong reputation" that could have an impact on new business, Crockett pointed out.
One of the questions from the audience was on the value of press releases. While the journalists on the panel said it was rare when a press release drove the creation of a story, they emphasized that press releases do serve a purpose when journalists are researching a story.
"I'd say it's less than 10% of the time" that press releases drive a story, according to Jaikumar Vijayan of Computerworld. "Generally a release doesn't drive a story unless it's a big company with a big announcement. The value of press releases is really for background information. I don't mind getting them. Just don't follow up to ask if I got it."
Nikolich pointed out that in addition to serving as background information for reporters, press releases also help improve visibility on search engines, which have become much more critical in reaching decision-makers. According to a recent survey, search engines ranked third on the list of places where CIOs get information regarding new enterprise technology products.
Nikolich said PR pros should look beyond the media to the direct impact press releases can have on customer prospects who are researching companies and products on the Internet. Nikolich said he recommends that his clients include at least two release drops a month on the wire to maintain that visibility in the market.
Michael Krauss, the Tech Matters columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times, said he is interested in serving as an activist to help Chicago and the Midwest to grow as a tech community. He is also interested in making technology issues relevant to the local, average reader.
Mil Ovan, the senior vice president and co-founder of Firefly Energy, a Caterpillar spinoff, took that opportunity to pitch his company's next-generation lead-acid battery technology that could be used in hybrid automobiles. Upon hearing his pitch, Krauss said, "You had me at 'hello.' "
Krauss explained that because Firefly Energy was an Illinois company that had received venture capital funding, had a relationship with Caterpillar, and was targeting the emerging hybrid automobile market, it would be a prime candidate for his column, which appears on Mondays in the Sun-Times. Firefly Energy's pitch had the local journalist's trifecta of demonstrated investor confidence, a relationship with one of the largest companies in Illinois, and a technological application for hybrids during a time of rising gasoline costs. That made it news to Krauss and his Sun-Times readers.
When asked whether stories come from editors or if reporters generate most of their stories themselves, all four journalists on the panel said it mostly is their own responsibility.
"It's up to me to find a story and write about it," said the Sun-Times' Krauss. "I have a file of ideas that I keep up to date, and every Sunday I go through the files to update them, and look through them for story ideas. Sometimes those ideas sit for a while until I'm ready to write them. But any reporter will tell you there's nothing worse than having no ideas at all. PR people who can feed me good, valuable ideas, and then have some patience about when the story is written, are the ones I want to work with."
To no one's surprise, e-mail and the phone are all four writers' preferred methods for story pitches. They cautioned that it's important to know when the writer's deadlines are, and not to send email attachments unless specifically requested.
"Getting calls when you're struggling to meet a deadline is very annoying," Krauss said. "If you don't have some pretty significant breaking news, or information about breaking news, it's better to wait until deadlines have passed."
When asked what their deadlines are, the answers varied.
"My deadline can be days, or it can be weeks," Seitz said. "I usually have several stories working at once. My focus is on personal technology so it's less time-sensitive most of the time than, say, hard financial news."
BusinessWeek's Roger Crockett, on the other hand, tends to work two weeks ahead.
"BusinessWeek is a weekly," he said. "I generally need to know about things two weeks in advance. There's nothing more irritating than finding out about something this week that I should've known last week."
Krauss said the deadlines for his Sun-Times columns are on Thursdays, as are Jaikumar Vijayan's deadlines for Computerworld. Vijayan said Fridays and Mondays are good days to pitch him, since that is when he usually decides what he is going to cover for the next week's issue.
"Knowing when to pitch your stories can be just as important as knowing whom you need to pitch," Vijayan pointed out.
Some of the panelists also discussed the value of the press conference. Most of the journalists on the panel said they do not attend press conferences very frequently, but said when they do it depends on who is holding it. If it is a well-known company that is going to be commenting on something that is likely to be in the news at that time, they would be more apt to attend it.
However, Krauss stated a recent press briefing on venture capital in the Chicago area proved to be beneficial for him. He was updated on the latest legislation, met the top people in venture capital, learned new information and developed new relations as a result of attending.
While some journalists seem to view PR as the enemy, the four panelists at this luncheon said they actually appreciate working with PR professionals. They stressed the importance of building relationships with journalists.
"I am always in need of sources," said Vijayan. "I have a database I've built over the years, mostly of people who have been brought to me by PR people. I know I can call them on short notice and get what I need. If you can get experts to me, that's the best way to build a relationship."
Vijayan added that he appreciates the work that PR people do.
"I know it isn't easy," he said. "What you people do is tough. I admire the fact that you can do it."
This article originally appeared in Jack O'Dwyer's Newsletter.
