Startups and SMBs face more challenges attracting reporters’ attention than their corporate counterparts. Reporters are held accountable for how many clicks their stories generate, according to a Forbes.com paid contributor we interviewed this week. She shared that, despite Forbes’ focus on business, the most-read stories either contain entertainment celebrities or big consumer brands like Apple.
BusinessInsider’s Alyson Shontell shared the key ingredients she requires when considering writing a story on a small or new company:
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Exclusives: Offer something juicy that no one else knows about your company
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Product/funding news*: Meet the bar of significance, which varies by publication
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Name-brand supporters: Highlight who values knowing your company, such as a top-tier angel investor, VC, incubator, customer or popular pundit; execs at Google-caliber partner companies or former employers; a trusted friend or colleague of the reporter
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Surprising opinions: Bust the top myths of your industry, and be prepared to back up your opinion; help the reporter spark discussions about your article
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Game-changers: CAUTION – only attempt if you can clearly articulate a truly disruptive offering (example: This Startup Could Literally Change The Way The App Entire Industry Works by Alyson’s colleague Matt Lynley)
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Authentic clarity: Be succinct and sincere, and focus on what makes YOU unique – not how you compare to a category leader (“Also, don’t use buzz words to describe your company, such as: ‘We’re the Groupon for luxury’ or ‘We’re the Foursquare for websites.’”)
* Note: If you are a service provider, you’ll need to be even more creative leveraging customers and events to accommodate the lack of product or funding news.
Alyson’s recipe isn’t exclusive to BusinessInsider. In our experience, this recipe for startup media coverage applies to almost every reporter with whom we’ve worked. Do you have two or more key ingredients? Give us a call, and let’s get the show on the road.
Image courtesy of ReneS
