Emilie Gerber: preference

Transcript context

…I really love this question. I feel like no one ever gets this tactical in PR. There's just so much theoretical conversation and examining the big blunders and... It's all so high level, but at the end of the day, if you are a startup that wants to get coverage for your company, you need to know actually the steps to take to do it. So yeah, I appreciate that question. I'm going to answer it, but also answer it with the caveat that media changes so much and so fast. For instance, just a couple weeks ago, TechCrunch decided they no longer accept op-eds, which is... It's actually huge news for us, because we love doing op-eds in TechCrunch, and so things change all the time, but I will talk about it in its current state. So yes, TechCrunch, a go-to for a lot of funding announcements. A go-to for some product news, too, even sometimes. I would say the areas where they don't have dedicated beat reporters, where we tend to end up not working with them, are health tech-related companies and even MarTech, too. We've struggled to find the right folks to cover those kinds of stories. So not everything, but generally, if you do your digging, you're able to find a relevant beat reporter or a couple of relevant beat reporters, and it's not just about getting coverage there. They have TechCrunch Disrupt, you can apply for speaking at that conference, and that sometimes actually directly turns into coverage. They have The Found Podcast, which interviews founders, and so if you have a really compelling founder story or topical founder story, that can be an excellent avenue to go as well. They have The Equity Pod, which is investment advice, so it's not just thinking about getting that one funding story with them, there are other ways to work with TechCrunch. And I actually have heard really great feedback from clients on TechCrunch driving website traffic, the day of the announcement, especially... I haven't really been able to pinpoint when that does or doesn't happen. I'm trying to figure out if there's trends among that, but I have... Clients have sent me screenshots from the day of the announcement and they've seen a nice pickup from TechCrunch, so I think a lot of that comes down to the fact that they don't have a paywall, but their stuff tends to do really well. So it's a great spot, especially for that first piece on your company. Axios is really strong on the FinTech side, on the healthcare side, they have some really great beat reporters. The one thing I'll say about them is they're very deals-focused, so 100% would need to either have funding. If you're announcing a partnership that has a monetary component, that they would cover that. An acquisition they would consider covering, but they're not going to be... You should never pitch them on a product announcement. And I think they might just get annoyed. that they would cover that. An acquisition they would consider covering, but they're not going to be... You should never pitch them on a product announcement. And I think they might just get annoyed. There's a couple exceptions, a couple of the reporters might have little columns where they feature product-related things, but that's just not their bread and butter. And actually, Axios recently launched, or I guess has been launching over the past year or so, local editions. So they're really branching into local news, and so that can actually be a really nice way to get an Axios hit if you have a region-specific story. So I highly recommend checking that out. Another publication that we work with a bunch is Business Insider. If you struggle to pitch your funding story but really want it out in the world, they are big on the pitch deck stories. Those are a little controversial. Some founders, they're like, "This is not what I want my story to be about, I do not want to share my pitch deck." But if you are in the camp of... You're open to that and you can redact, it does not need to have all the financials, it does not need to have the growth metrics, that can be a really great way to get a piece of coverage on your business. And the way that I explain it to clients is you're just getting all your core messages out there in a very direct way. You're sharing exactly what you shared with investors, that's not necessarily a bad thing. And sometimes clients will put in some customer slides, too, and so you can really make it a little bit more like what you're looking for. So yes, if you're looking for a funding story, TechCrunch passed, others passed, that's a good option. They also are huge on the entrepreneurial journey pieces, similar to the CNBC article that you got, but they really want metrics, they really push for metrics, so how much you're making, how much you're spending. They love those kinds of stories, so it's not necessarily about how much you raise, but for people that have really built a business. And then the last thing for Business Insider, they do a bunch of these lists of top startups, of top professionals in the field. We love doing those, they're generally a really light list, and they put out a call for submissions. Takes five minutes and it's a way to get into Business Insider. There's so many of them, it's become a joke within my newsletter, because every week, there's five more and it's the most obscure different categories. Like top sports marketing professionals helping TikTok stars. I don't know, it's always a very niche ask, but those could be really great. Then a couple more. VentureBeat is huge for AI news. We pitch them all the time for any client that we work with that is building AI capabilities, has a new offering related to AI, perfect publication for that. Fast Company is perfect for anything related to future of work, how people work. Really great for design, media, I would say perfect for any company that fits in those categories. They're also really open to op-eds, especially with leadership advice in them. And last but not least, on the list of ones that we work with most often, I would say is Forbes. its in those categories. They're also really open to op-eds, especially with leadership advice in them. And last but not least, on the list of ones that we work with most often, I would say is Forbes. Especially on the award side, they have the FinTech 50, AI 50, Forbes Under 30, all of that. And you're not going to get a feature with one of their main reporters until you're a bit further along, but they do have that really strong contributor network, which is much... A lower bar in what they'll accept, in a way. They're more open to covering earlier stage companies, so that's worth checking out, too. So those are my top ones, I'll stop there.…

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