Whether you’re just beginning your career in media relations or trying to garner media attention for your company’s latest announcement, don’t skip this episode of Politely Pushy!
Tune in with Bospar media experts Brent Shelton, Ryan Quintana, and Eric Chemi as they offer insights into the unique challenges of tech PR and strategies for building strong relationships with journalists and media outlets.
Click to read transcript
00:00:09.920 Today we
00:00:12.000 are talking about building relationships
00:00:14.639 with the tech and AI media today we’ve
00:00:16.800 got
00:00:17.480 our star stellar staff of media relation
00:00:21.119 pros here we’ve got Brent and Ryan
00:00:23.199 thanks both for joining me here today
00:00:25.359 look I was on the other side of this
00:00:26.880 before right i was the guy getting
00:00:29.000 blasted with so many bad
00:00:32.119 pitches spam hey can you talk to this
00:00:35.360 client can you write about this client
00:00:36.880 and and so much of it was was just
00:00:39.840 offtarget right like obviously you guys
00:00:41.680 job is to figure out who’s the person we
00:00:43.680 need to talk to how do we give them a
00:00:45.760 win how do we make sure that they’re
00:00:47.280 getting what they need so they can stay
00:00:49.039 you know stay employed and we get our
00:00:50.879 clients win because they’re getting the
00:00:52.239 press that they’re looking for so I’m
00:00:54.559 going to start Brett with you
00:00:56.800 what is the number one mistake that you
00:00:59.840 feel a lot of your competitors are
00:01:01.600 making when it comes to trying to build
00:01:03.680 a relationship
00:01:06.400 well there I mean first of all they’re
00:01:08.320 probably not doing their proper homework
00:01:11.439 but as you said you know like I’ve
00:01:15.040 always approached I started in-house so
00:01:17.360 I was a spokesperson uh I was the PR
00:01:20.799 person um and I had to promote myself to
00:01:24.240 the media and make make that sell um so
00:01:30.000 I learned really quickly like what what
00:01:33.200 we should be trying to do is really
00:01:36.079 think about what their goals are and
00:01:37.920 what they’re trying to do and I learned
00:01:40.560 also really quickly is if you work with
00:01:42.880 the media you hit a home run you do a
00:01:45.840 viral story their editors notice that
00:01:48.799 their audience you know participates
00:01:51.759 they they can make revenue off of that
00:01:55.439 and they’re going to come back to you so
00:01:58.320 it’s really just understanding who their
00:02:00.799 audience is what their goals are and
00:02:03.200 treat them just as you would your
00:02:04.719 clients you know you’re you’re trying to
00:02:07.040 be successful and make them look
00:02:08.800 successful so they can keep their job
00:02:11.360 right is that crazy talk or do you agree
00:02:13.040 with that no I I definitely uh mirror
00:02:16.160 what what Brent’s saying i I came
00:02:18.400 originally from the from the
00:02:20.080 broadcasting side of things as well i
00:02:21.920 worked in the broadcasting world for uh
00:02:25.040 I guess it would be 11 to 12 years and
00:02:27.680 and so I was the one that was getting
00:02:28.959 the pitches on that side for a long time
00:02:31.120 and and I can tell you right now those
00:02:32.560 inboxes get pretty inundated and they
00:02:34.560 get pretty uh pretty full with with
00:02:37.120 stuff that doesn’t hit the mark so I
00:02:39.200 think that it truly is uh understanding
00:02:42.560 what you’re pitching understanding the
00:02:44.720 value that you can bring and and
00:02:46.480 treating it as such uh essentially it
00:02:49.360 goes long be much further than just do
00:02:52.800 you have a good story to tell it’s it’s
00:02:55.599 creating an environment for a good
00:02:57.920 relationship to be built it’s
00:02:59.680 understanding the current landscape of
00:03:01.599 the of the news world itself i mean you
00:03:04.159 could have the the quote unquote perfect
00:03:06.319 pitch but if you’re pitching on a on a
00:03:08.560 day where there’s a ton of stuff going
00:03:11.360 on and and all the reporter’s eyes are
00:03:13.519 pointing in different directions and not
00:03:15.280 not focused on their inbox or or
00:03:17.680 essentially not not uh locked into that
00:03:20.560 specific topic and and you’re you’re not
00:03:22.640 hitting the mark there then then you’re
00:03:24.000 clearly not understanding where they’re
00:03:25.920 coming from and what what value you can
00:03:27.840 bring to them uh as a whole so certainly
00:03:30.799 uh look to to essentially meet them
00:03:33.040 where they’re at hit them in stride as
00:03:34.959 best we can and that that is
00:03:36.480 understanding their goals and audiences
00:03:38.159 so I think Brent was right on but it it
00:03:40.720 feels like so much of what we just said
00:03:42.080 is is not obvious but it makes sense so
00:03:46.000 why isn’t everyone else able to do that
00:03:47.599 hey do your homework pitch the right
00:03:49.440 people appropriate things why can’t
00:03:51.120 everyone else do basic things like this
00:03:52.959 i would I would say that it’s because it
00:03:55.920 takes a little bit of that extra care
00:03:57.760 and that extra work i mean it’s really
00:03:59.680 easy to just blast a bunch of emails out
00:04:01.760 and hope that the spaghetti sticks to
00:04:03.439 the wall and and hope that essentially
00:04:05.599 you get a bite or two but the reality is
00:04:08.000 is it takes some time to to read through
00:04:10.239 coverage understand what what the
00:04:12.080 reporter has been focusing on there’s a
00:04:13.920 lot of times that the reporter is you
00:04:15.840 know got a series of of stories that are
00:04:17.918 all along a theme and you’re like “Oh I
00:04:19.759 didn’t even realize that they were doing
00:04:20.880 that.” You know so it’s it’s doing that
00:04:22.880 extra research yeah doing that extra
00:04:25.600 research and figuring out you know and
00:04:27.600 also figuring out their tone you don’t
00:04:29.040 want to pitch them something on quantum
00:04:31.199 computing saying “Hey here’s the next
00:04:32.800 best thing.” When you realize that
00:04:34.479 they’ve covered quantum five times in
00:04:36.320 the past month and it’s all been
00:04:37.759 negative so you have to really like kind
00:04:40.400 of understand where where they’re coming
00:04:42.080 from on on that regard so so you so you
00:04:44.720 don’t miss the mark yeah and I think um
00:04:48.560 to add to that you know like really
00:04:52.080 building those
00:04:53.400 relationships before you you need them
00:04:57.280 uh is super important um and like you
00:05:00.639 said understanding hey they have a
00:05:02.400 series going on they should have known
00:05:03.680 about that what what was the tone of
00:05:05.440 that series um you know and just
00:05:08.400 engaging thoughtfully with their content
00:05:11.199 um especially more the more top tier you
00:05:14.479 know they’re getting really blasted
00:05:16.720 especially in the age of AI um I think
00:05:20.160 one of the biggest uh and maybe we’ll
00:05:22.080 talk about AI here a little bit more
00:05:23.919 tell me tell me right now when you said
00:05:25.440 they’re getting blasted more because the
00:05:26.720 hi is because there’s more companies or
00:05:28.720 because there’s more tools that make it
00:05:30.639 easy to blast people what did you mean
00:05:32.080 by that oh what I meant by that is it’s
00:05:35.280 a hot topic and everyone’s got their got
00:05:38.000 their fingers in AI um so one of the
00:05:40.639 biggest mistakes you can make right now
00:05:42.080 and and it would be with any technology
00:05:44.080 that that’s really hot and more media
00:05:47.120 are getting pulled in to cover cover
00:05:49.440 that topic is they’re not going to all
00:05:52.720 just cover AI broadly right they’re
00:05:55.280 going to cover AI within you know their
00:05:58.560 area uh that they’re either they’re
00:06:01.520 they’re trying to uh relate to their
00:06:03.919 audience or just part of their their
00:06:06.319 beat um so they that they’ve been
00:06:08.720 assigned to and you you need to
00:06:11.680 understand that you can’t just oh well
00:06:13.759 this this uh product has AI into it
00:06:17.120 let’s just pitch it out to everyone
00:06:18.639 covering AI you know that’s maybe one of
00:06:21.280 the worst approaches you can do because
00:06:23.440 they’re going to silence you if you keep
00:06:25.680 doing that and to to add to that it used
00:06:28.240 to be that every publication whether
00:06:30.240 it’s tech or not would say “Oh yeah we
00:06:32.400 have you know a couple AI reporters that
00:06:34.479 are on staff and and they’re you know
00:06:36.880 that they they’re broadly going to going
00:06:38.880 to you know jump into the spectrum of
00:06:40.800 the AI world.” Well it’s no longer that
00:06:42.800 way now it’s either there’s you know
00:06:45.120 these vast array of AI teams or or tech
00:06:48.000 teams that have that have really kind of
00:06:49.440 gotten into the nitty-gritty and to
00:06:51.199 these individual sectors or it’s a super
00:06:55.520 niche but very welltraveled and well
00:06:58.080 trafficked uh and well respected um
00:07:01.479 u smaller p publication that really hits
00:07:04.800 the audience uh where they’re coming
00:07:06.639 from so uh you really have to to to kind
00:07:09.759 of get through the noise in a lot of
00:07:11.440 ways and understand you know what
00:07:13.039 they’re specifically there there could
00:07:14.319 be reporters that are like “All all I
00:07:15.759 handle is automation all I do is
00:07:17.440 automation.” So if it doesn’t automate I
00:07:18.960 don’t even want to see it even if it’s a
00:07:20.479 great story you You just said get
00:07:22.160 through the noise but I feel like I
00:07:23.440 could have seven other media pros here
00:07:26.720 on this call and they would say “You got
00:07:28.319 to cut through the noise.” But how are
00:07:29.680 you actually cutting through the noise
00:07:30.720 when everyone else is trying to cut
00:07:31.840 through the noise it it kind of circles
00:07:33.520 back to that original one it’s uh you
00:07:35.680 know understanding what what noise
00:07:38.080 they’re specifically looking for uh and
00:07:40.960 it’s that groundwork of building
00:07:42.720 relationships um ahead of time it’s
00:07:46.080 trying to I I always try to to hit the
00:07:48.560 mark with with reporters as best I can
00:07:50.720 in between the big announcement moments
00:07:53.120 so it’s it’s building that that
00:07:55.520 credibility understanding that when you
00:07:57.520 send a pitch from from your brand that
00:08:00.240 that they’re looking at it going “Oh
00:08:01.759 this is automatically something that’s
00:08:02.960 going to bring value to my day.” So they
00:08:04.720 didn’t even have to open the email uh
00:08:06.960 but but it’s it’s also understanding
00:08:08.879 that like hey they’ve got a crazy amount
00:08:10.720 of stuff that that’s going on big
00:08:12.400 pressure from their editorial teams uh
00:08:15.680 crazy deadlines all these things so the
00:08:18.080 more that you can build a relationship
00:08:20.080 and and essentially understand what
00:08:22.000 specific noise pieces they’re looking
00:08:23.919 for then you can essentially cut through
00:08:26.400 that noise and and almost like skip the
00:08:29.360 line if you will and at least just have
00:08:30.960 a general conversation the biggest thing
00:08:32.719 you want to do is get get them to engage
00:08:34.880 with you and and tell them tell us what
00:08:37.279 what they are specifically looking for
00:08:39.279 we can always bring some great value and
00:08:41.039 good stories but we we have to
00:08:42.719 essentially make sure that we’re doing
00:08:43.839 it the right way yeah i also think you
00:08:47.360 know when you don’t have the
00:08:48.959 relationship but you’ve done your
00:08:50.720 homework you know that um this
00:08:54.080 particular journalist or and or this
00:08:56.720 particular outlet um is is exactly where
00:09:00.800 you want the news that you’re bringing
00:09:02.399 to be broadcast from then you need to
00:09:06.480 approach that with kind of a two-prong
00:09:09.279 approach one is like really have your
00:09:12.080 story tight but at the same time
00:09:14.160 understand who that audience is so if
00:09:16.160 it’s more top tier it’s you know
00:09:18.959 broadcast news or something like that
00:09:21.920 then you want to be able to take that
00:09:23.839 technical story and present it to more
00:09:26.720 of a wider trend you know or something
00:09:28.959 that has a societal impact uh more more
00:09:32.600 humanized and then if it’s not you know
00:09:35.600 then then that technical in innovation
00:09:38.880 needs to have some assets with it like a
00:09:41.360 spec sheet or some really technical
00:09:43.880 details because there’s only so much you
00:09:46.000 can say in a pitch you need to assure
00:09:48.160 that everything is readyade for them
00:09:50.080 you’re going to save them time it’s
00:09:51.839 going to be on target and it’s really
00:09:54.240 going to help them if they’re going to
00:09:56.000 write a story about it you’ve you’ve
00:09:58.240 done your homework to help them fulfill
00:09:59.920 and make that story uh successful do you
00:10:02.800 find
00:10:04.760 that knowing somebody helps grease a
00:10:08.480 story or is it all about the actual
00:10:10.320 story itself
00:10:13.920 and I think it’s a little combination
00:10:15.920 there i mean when you say knowing
00:10:17.600 someone do you mean uh someone in the
00:10:20.000 media yeah like knowing a reporter like
00:10:22.399 because you hear different stories right
00:10:24.000 you hear different stories from other
00:10:25.200 firms where it’s like “Oh we have all
00:10:26.480 the relationships we’ll make sure your
00:10:28.079 story is on.” and other firms it’s
00:10:30.320 doesn’t matter about relationships it
00:10:32.000 only matters about the quality of the
00:10:33.360 story so I’m just curious where you fall
00:10:34.880 in that spectrum um so I think there’s a
00:10:38.240 combination there um it I think we
00:10:41.839 started talking where I said I was the
00:10:43.839 spokesperson i was the in-house expert
00:10:45.839 so I was pitching myself um and that is
00:10:50.800 that’s a that’s a big key if you can
00:10:53.279 bring a really good expert or or source
00:10:57.839 um as an asset to a story you don’t need
00:11:01.360 necessarily need to have that
00:11:02.800 relationship um but it will go a long
00:11:05.120 ways to building that relationship if
00:11:07.519 your expert is very agile they can jump
00:11:10.640 on they don’t need a lot of coaching
00:11:12.399 they can jump on camera and they can
00:11:13.839 talk to that wider trend so their larger
00:11:17.200 audience can understand it a lot of
00:11:19.600 times one of the big hurdles that we’ll
00:11:21.839 have especially working with smaller
00:11:23.360 companies is they’re willing to talk
00:11:26.000 about their own products and services
00:11:28.160 but from an industry you know more as
00:11:31.120 that wider trend uh they’re a little
00:11:33.519 timid about it or andor not very good at
00:11:36.240 it and even though we can offer media
00:11:38.800 training and a lot of other things they
00:11:42.000 just might not be the be best expert for
00:11:45.120 that more wider trend audience so that’s
00:11:47.920 where you have to really focus that
00:11:50.399 particular expert on more like trade
00:11:52.240 media where it’s really deep deep tech
00:11:54.800 and they they can sink their teeth into
00:11:56.720 that how how does somebody get a
00:11:59.279 relationship started right let’s say you
00:12:01.120 know Ryan you were like me you’re
00:12:02.480 sitting there in the broadcast newsroom
00:12:04.000 and you’re getting blasted right 100 a
00:12:05.839 day 200 a day i’m not even opening most
00:12:08.720 of this stuff let alone responding but
00:12:10.639 but like let’s say someone like Brent
00:12:12.399 has a great story it’s like if only we
00:12:14.880 knew each other if only you would open
00:12:16.639 my email this would literally be the
00:12:19.120 perfect story for you i’m not I’m not
00:12:21.200 selling you something i I I’m actually
00:12:23.680 trying to help you i know you would like
00:12:25.279 it if you knew me so how does someone
00:12:27.639 actually build relationship with a with
00:12:30.320 a reporter or producer and what was it
00:12:32.800 your perspective on that side of it now
00:12:34.399 that you’re on the other side it it you
00:12:36.480 know those good old days of journalism
00:12:38.480 it’s the hey let’s grab a cup of coffee
00:12:40.639 and and just you know get some face to
00:12:43.120 face time in between when you’re writing
00:12:45.519 stories and getting things out there
00:12:46.720 that doesn’t happen as much anymore
00:12:48.000 because we’re spread across the country
00:12:49.440 and a lot of times spread across the
00:12:50.959 world with a lot of our targets being
00:12:52.560 even in Europe and Asia and and whatnot
00:12:55.200 so what I tend to do if there’s somebody
00:12:57.920 that’s specifically I’m I’m looking to
00:12:59.920 build a relationship with or perhaps
00:13:01.600 somebody that jumps on to a new beat
00:13:03.839 it’s uh really trying to figure out
00:13:06.160 what’s making them tick or what their
00:13:08.000 beat is specifically going to be where
00:13:10.079 their angle is going to be um and and
00:13:13.079 preemptively and proactively reaching
00:13:15.440 out and saying “Hey love your work been
00:13:17.760 reading your your stuff lately uh I
00:13:19.680 think there’s some great stuff here i
00:13:21.279 think that there’s some uh clients that
00:13:23.519 I have or some voices uh in the mix that
00:13:25.839 that I think would be a good fit for you
00:13:28.079 if nothing else I’d love to to hop on a
00:13:30.320 call so that I can learn what you’re
00:13:32.560 looking to cover what what’s in your
00:13:34.959 pipeline so that I can better hit you in
00:13:37.680 stride and and I’m not sending you stuff
00:13:39.680 that you don’t need i’m not throwing a
00:13:41.839 bunch of stuff at you that essentially
00:13:43.600 will get lost in the shuffle um I find
00:13:46.959 that it’s it’s a little bit of a lost
00:13:49.120 art in creating those relationships with
00:13:51.200 with some reporters and and sometimes it
00:13:52.959 works and sometimes it doesn’t but it
00:13:54.959 oftent times will lead you to to
00:13:56.639 pathways that you didn’t realize that
00:13:58.240 that were an an option so uh it’ll it’ll
00:14:01.519 ultimately say like well I’m I’m glad
00:14:03.120 you asked because I’m specifically
00:14:04.399 looking for policy things right now
00:14:06.079 versus you know the super technical side
00:14:08.000 of things so you can kind of go well
00:14:09.760 then all right well I’ve got a couple
00:14:11.120 clients that are really focused on on
00:14:12.880 telling that great policy story do these
00:14:15.040 things you know resonate with you and
00:14:17.040 before you know it you start this
00:14:18.320 conversation back and forth and they
00:14:19.839 realize like okay you’re not just going
00:14:21.279 to pitch them you know garbage or or
00:14:23.839 just you know the latest product update
00:14:26.079 or something like that it’s going to be
00:14:27.440 more along the lines of something that’s
00:14:29.680 really going to move the needle and and
00:14:31.199 bring value to the conversation and you
00:14:33.360 start it there and you go and you see
00:14:34.800 where it goes
00:14:38.160 bro what do you think yeah yeah another
00:14:41.519 so something else that has worked for me
00:14:43.600 I’m a musician so if I notice if I
00:14:46.560 notice there’s a music lover out there
00:14:48.959 that is a a journalist um I can I will
00:14:52.720 definitely try to appeal to them that
00:14:54.800 way because I feel like like minds um
00:14:58.959 can create better relationships or if
00:15:01.199 they’re dog lover and I have a dog you
00:15:03.279 know or something like that i mean you
00:15:04.959 don’t want to go too far over the top
00:15:07.440 you’re a human i’m a human sound creepy
00:15:10.320 you wear glasses i wear
00:15:12.440 glasses maybe it’s that human touch
00:15:15.199 right it’s the It’s the reality that
00:15:16.880 we’re we’re humans we’re on the PR side
00:15:18.959 but they’re humans and they’re they’re
00:15:20.320 trying to do what they need to do to to
00:15:22.240 get across the finish line too so
00:15:23.920 relating Exactly and let’s let’s face it
00:15:27.680 like the the newsrooms aren’t
00:15:29.440 oldfashioned anymore not everyone’s
00:15:31.120 going into the newsroom every day right
00:15:32.959 we’re working out of our homes a lot of
00:15:34.560 times and uh or spread like you said
00:15:37.199 spread out all all over the world so um
00:15:40.880 yeah you have to you have to find
00:15:43.279 something to make that personal touch
00:15:44.959 with them um you know obviously you
00:15:48.320 don’t want to make do that at the very
00:15:50.560 first introduction and act like they’re
00:15:52.320 your best friend uh may some of the
00:15:54.880 things that I usually try to do is I
00:15:57.839 will follow them i’ll like make sure
00:15:59.440 that I like them on the platform that
00:16:02.240 they’re most active on and and seriously
00:16:05.440 follow them and look at them every day
00:16:07.360 for a while especially when I know I
00:16:09.279 have news coming up that they they might
00:16:11.199 want to be entertained with and you know
00:16:15.279 then that’s the time to bring something
00:16:16.880 up that they they might have remarked on
00:16:19.360 they might not have even written on it
00:16:20.959 they might have liked something uh that
00:16:23.279 would that brought that to your
00:16:25.279 attention and really helped you and a
00:16:27.360 lot of times I’ll call that out and
00:16:28.800 thank them for that and it’s a good way
00:16:30.560 to open the door
00:16:34.560 we talked about AI a little bit earlier
00:16:36.639 i want to get more into that how is the
00:16:39.680 last couple years changed or let’s say
00:16:41.120 even this year in 2025 is it is it just
00:16:43.680 the workflow is totally different
00:16:45.959 or like hey everyone thinks they can
00:16:48.399 just use AI to write a pitch or or
00:16:50.639 everyone thinks they have AI in their
00:16:52.240 company’s product like I’m sure AI in a
00:16:54.800 lot of ways is making your life worse
00:16:56.399 than it is making it better
00:16:59.199 yeah I want to start here he’s like let
00:17:02.639 me really think about this here yeah
00:17:04.880 when the chat GPT blew up um I was AI’s
00:17:08.480 been around for a long time and we’ve
00:17:10.240 been talking about AI machine learning
00:17:13.199 um and pitching that to different
00:17:15.599 journalists but
00:17:17.240 once generative AI became a big thing
00:17:21.599 and that touches almost everyone in the
00:17:24.319 world that has any kind of digital
00:17:26.919 footprint um now that was a gamecher so
00:17:31.559 then almost you know almost everyone
00:17:34.559 that’s covering tech is going to cover
00:17:36.480 AI on on some basis and what we figured
00:17:41.039 out was or what we had to figure out was
00:17:44.160 the best way to approach all of these
00:17:46.960 different journalists that are covering
00:17:48.480 AI and it really uh made you have to do
00:17:51.440 a little bit more homework and read the
00:17:53.280 news and understand what they’re
00:17:55.200 reporting on things that we talked about
00:17:57.039 before is that that upfront research uh
00:18:00.559 reaching out to them letting them know
00:18:02.160 when you have an appropriate source
00:18:04.000 because you’ve been following their news
00:18:06.720 um those type of tactics are are very
00:18:09.520 important to help build that
00:18:11.679 relationship because the the competition
00:18:15.039 to get your AI story now is like a
00:18:18.720 hundred times tougher than it than it
00:18:20.880 was a few years ago
00:18:23.280 and to add to that I’ll say the the
00:18:25.360 silver bullets a lot of times are pieces
00:18:28.080 of data and real world applications so
00:18:31.520 you know you can talk big game you know
00:18:33.919 there’s a lot of startups that are that
00:18:35.600 are coming out not to say that they’re
00:18:36.880 not on these tracks for for amazing
00:18:38.960 things but a lot of times the reporters
00:18:41.679 or who are getting you know hundreds of
00:18:43.440 pitches a day if not a week they’re
00:18:46.160 saying “Okay well what what what
00:18:49.440 customers can can you bring to the table
00:18:51.120 that can also provide you know
00:18:53.280 validation on all this what what pieces
00:18:55.520 of data do you have to back up what
00:18:57.360 you’re talking about?” So we we have to
00:19:00.320 kind of get a little bit more into the
00:19:02.400 second and third tier of that story when
00:19:05.039 it comes to AI to figure out what makes
00:19:07.600 it tick essentially and what what
00:19:09.679 ultimately will get it across the finish
00:19:11.280 line
00:19:12.799 what have you guys
00:19:14.880 Oh I was going to say I hate to use the
00:19:16.240 word uh exclusive right we think of that
00:19:18.640 more as like hey this is an exclusive
00:19:21.280 and it’s growing at this date but
00:19:23.360 exclusive can mean a lot more than that
00:19:25.440 and I think in now with AI and all of
00:19:29.120 the different developments and how fast
00:19:31.600 um you know generator of AI is
00:19:34.080 developing here it’s it’s a matter of
00:19:37.039 having an exclusive expert you know that
00:19:40.080 and maybe not even using that word but
00:19:42.640 it’s having that technical team it’s
00:19:44.559 having those assets that can really
00:19:47.280 enrich a story and make it different
00:19:49.160 than maybe other agencies are are
00:19:51.760 bringing to that same journalist
00:19:54.480 you know a couple of years ago it felt
00:19:56.320 like everyone had a political uh story
00:19:59.840 to go along with their technology or
00:20:01.440 their point of view and now it feels
00:20:02.799 like h maybe I just better keep my mouth
00:20:05.039 shut about some of this stuff have you
00:20:06.480 seen narratives changing from the
00:20:08.480 startup community who are like you know
00:20:09.840 what let me just talk about my tech and
00:20:11.520 I can stay out of a lot of this stuff
00:20:15.120 um well the ones I think that are are
00:20:18.000 willing to uh dip their toe in that very
00:20:22.160 dirty mud puddle right now is um the
00:20:26.640 best thing that we can do as as uh PR
00:20:29.280 professionals is really coach them on
00:20:31.200 where that where that neutrality and
00:20:33.360 that safe zone is um it’s okay to to
00:20:37.039 approach it as long as they’re not
00:20:38.480 alienating uh potential clients um or c
00:20:42.159 or existing customers um at the same
00:20:46.159 time you know and we’ve had some luck
00:20:47.919 with with uh cert certain uh clients um
00:20:52.600 that work more in the data center area
00:20:55.760 where they can remain a little bit more
00:20:58.159 neutral and talk about the things that
00:21:00.240 are happening right now and what that
00:21:01.919 means you know to a longer term scale
00:21:04.640 and I think that’s the difference here
00:21:07.320 is when you have these times of
00:21:09.840 uncertainty uh there’s also uncertainty
00:21:12.240 about what I can say and what I can’t
00:21:14.320 but if you stay in your lane and focus
00:21:17.039 on the that bigger wider trend in the
00:21:20.559 industry and all the things that are
00:21:22.240 affecting it not just uh what’s maybe
00:21:24.320 what’s happening at the White House um
00:21:26.320 then you know you can you can take on
00:21:28.799 some of these uh political discussions
00:21:30.640 and be uh pretty successful at it and if
00:21:33.280 you have a lot of these strategic
00:21:34.799 conversations with your your client and
00:21:37.120 with your client’s team and you figure
00:21:38.960 out what wrinkles may work um and and
00:21:43.200 won’t hinder or or hurt their business
00:21:46.400 model or their their relationships and
00:21:49.120 you have a spokesperson on on the client
00:21:51.760 side that is willing and able to provide
00:21:54.960 a a you know a perspective on something
00:21:57.679 or an opinion on something that will get
00:22:00.240 some eyebrows raised and and you get
00:22:02.880 some eyes uh headed their direction it
00:22:05.600 can be a really really valuable tool i I
00:22:08.640 mean I I will almost take a a a very
00:22:12.000 wellscripted uh LinkedIn post from a CEO
00:22:14.960 with a great opinion about a topic over
00:22:17.480 getting a general quote in a in a in a
00:22:21.039 in a reporter’s article um you know if
00:22:24.400 it’s strategically placed and and it
00:22:26.480 hits the right notes it can it can
00:22:28.559 essentially bring more and more
00:22:30.640 conversations up and and more and more
00:22:32.320 eyes to their product
00:22:34.799 yeah and I think uh transparency and
00:22:36.799 honesty is pretty pretty good in these
00:22:39.679 times too especially you know we’ve got
00:22:42.799 tariffs i don’t know how any business
00:22:45.280 gets around tariffs now that everyone’s
00:22:47.360 being affected um and that can be your
00:22:50.720 lead in and help create that that safe
00:22:53.840 zone you know and then once you’re
00:22:56.240 talking about those tariffs like how is
00:22:58.480 that affecting you and and your
00:23:00.480 customers uh those are the things we
00:23:02.400 want to coach our our clients on talking
00:23:04.240 about so they’re really talking about
00:23:06.320 what they know and and what’s affecting
00:23:08.640 them and that will help them stay
00:23:10.799 neutral and really talk more about the
00:23:12.880 the economics of what’s happening
00:23:15.919 awesome this is great appreciate it
00:23:17.360 Brent ryan thank you so much for
00:23:19.200 spending some time with me today as as
00:23:21.679 uh you know this is just a challenging
00:23:23.360 environment right now right for people
00:23:24.640 to get their message out and and get it
00:23:26.640 in front of the right people i I guess
00:23:28.240 before I go why then are so many people
00:23:31.200 just using the big spam blast list that
00:23:33.840 that isn’t targeted it’s the same pitch
00:23:36.320 to 300 people that clearly 300 people
00:23:39.919 can’t be interested in in your product
00:23:41.520 why Why do people do that
00:23:45.200 um well one if they’re doing it right
00:23:48.400 off the get-go then they’re not
00:23:49.840 preparing ahead of time right a lot of
00:23:52.480 times I would say when the big spam
00:23:54.640 blast happens it’s when no one’s
00:23:57.200 covering your news and you get desperate
00:23:59.039 and you have a cranky client that’s
00:24:00.640 about ready to fire you um then it’s
00:24:03.760 like oh what the hell out you can Well
00:24:06.960 you can so there just needs to be u more
00:24:10.400 oversight when that’s happening um it’s
00:24:13.600 it’s something that lately we’ve been
00:24:15.360 paying a lot more attention to it’s like
00:24:17.360 we were talking about with AI there’s
00:24:20.000 not everyone’s going to cover the AI
00:24:22.320 that you’re talking about and matter of
00:24:23.919 fact there’s probably very few
00:24:25.360 journalists that are going to cover the
00:24:26.880 AI that you’re talking about so it’s
00:24:30.080 having those those steps in place
00:24:32.880 somebody’s creating the media list and
00:24:34.880 then there’s a couple more eyes looking
00:24:36.799 at it to make sure that it’s on target
00:24:42.400 and then the last thing do you find
00:24:44.480 you’re more successful with shorter
00:24:45.840 pitches or longer pitches i’ll I’ll jump
00:24:48.799 in here shorter pitches is is tend tends
00:24:51.600 to be the way to go truth be told you
00:24:53.520 don’t need to tell the whole story in in
00:24:55.520 your pitch i think that’s one of the the
00:24:57.600 big issues that people run into with
00:24:59.520 with pitches uh some of the best pitches
00:25:02.000 I’ve I’ve seen in my days have been
00:25:04.240 literally just a sentence or two just to
00:25:06.799 kind of spark something if you have a
00:25:08.559 great subject line and you have uh a
00:25:11.440 really compelling sentence or two or
00:25:14.159 even just a a a very targeted background
00:25:17.919 on on what you’re offering specifics
00:25:20.559 that you can essentially add to the mix
00:25:22.880 that’s all you really need you don’t
00:25:24.240 have to like basically draft a press
00:25:26.159 release and send it their way um the
00:25:29.120 longer it gets and the more
00:25:31.120 conversations we have with reporters the
00:25:33.200 more it tends to get essentially pushed
00:25:36.240 aside or the reporter is strapped for
00:25:38.720 time and trying to figure out what
00:25:40.320 they’re going to be covering for either
00:25:42.000 that day that week or that month and
00:25:43.600 they see the pitch and they open it and
00:25:45.080 it’s you know five six paragraphs long
00:25:48.240 it’ll it’ll turn them off right away so
00:25:50.880 um shorter is is always better yeah I
00:25:53.200 I’m in your boat with that u Okay well
00:25:56.320 now now I can I can say goodbye brett
00:25:58.000 and Ryan thank you so much for for the
00:26:00.080 time today i really appreciate it all
00:26:01.520 right thanks Eric thank you so much
00:26:05.750 [Applause]
00:26:05.970 [Music]
00:26:09.200 thank you to my guest and thanks for
00:26:10.799 listening subscribe to get the latest
00:26:12.559 episodes each week and we’ll see you
00:26:14.320 next time
00:26:15.580 [Applause]
00:26:16.560 [Music]