How to get press for your product | Jason Feifer (editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine)
Jason Pfeiffer, Editor-in-Chief at Entrepreneur Magazine, provides tactical advice on securing press for startups. He covers pitching journalists, identifying target publications, and understanding the media's audience-first mindset to maximize impact.
Deep Dive Analysis
17 Topic Outline
Understanding the Media's Audience-First Mindset
Volume of Pitches and Ineffectiveness of Mass Blasts
Impact and Timing of Press Coverage for Startups
Jason's Three-Step Strategy for Getting Press
Understanding a Publication's Mission and Audience
Preparing Your Story for Specific Publications
When to Work with a PR Agency and Red Flags
Identifying the Right Writers and Editors to Pitch
The Advantage of Pitching Freelance Journalists
Crafting an Effective and Human Email Pitch
Case Study: Meg O'Hara's Successful Pitch
Managing Expectations and Leveraging Press Beyond Direct Reach
Navigating Exclusivity and Multiple Pitches
Anticipating Story Direction and Handling Vulnerability
Strategy: Being Part of a Larger Story or Trend
Final Advice: The Importance of Being Human
Life Motto: Opportunity Set B
6 Key Concepts
Media's Audience-First Mission
Editors and writers prioritize serving their readers, listeners, or viewers, not the companies or individuals pitching them. To secure coverage, you must demonstrate how your story provides value or insights to their specific audience, rather than treating them as a service provider.
Publication's Mission
Each publication has a distinct mission that dictates what stories they cover and how. Understanding this mission (e.g., 'where business is going' for Fast Company vs. 'insights into thinking through business challenges' for Entrepreneur) is crucial for tailoring your pitch to be relevant and appealing to their editorial team.
Freelancer Advantage
Freelance journalists are often more actively seeking stories than salaried staff writers because they need to hustle for their income. They receive fewer pitches, increasing the likelihood of your pitch being read and seriously considered if it aligns with their interests and the publications they write for.
Press as Social Cachet
Sometimes the primary value of press coverage isn't direct audience reach or conversions, but rather the social validation and credibility it provides. This can be leveraged by promoting the article on social media, using 'As Seen In' on your website, or including it in communications with investors and partners.
Being Part of the Story
Instead of always trying to be the central subject of a story, you can gain press by providing context or being a relevant example within a larger trend or problem. This involves identifying broader industry issues or creating data-driven reports that publications will find newsworthy, positioning your company as an expert or a case study.
Opportunity Set B
This refers to the opportunities available to you that nobody is explicitly asking you to pursue. Focusing on Opportunity Set B, such as taking on new responsibilities, pursuing hobbies, or starting personal projects, is crucial for personal and career growth beyond your current role and qualifications.
9 Questions Answered
Editors and writers receive a tremendous volume of pitches, often 30 to 50 emails daily, with the majority being irrelevant mass blasts from PR agencies.
The impact varies widely; a single story can sometimes drive more sales or app downloads than paid marketing, while other times it may have no direct impact on growth but can attract partners or investors.
It's a bad idea if you don't know what the press is for, or if you're targeting publications whose audience cannot directly benefit from your product (e.g., a local hot dog stand seeking national business magazine coverage).
Hiring a PR agency can save time and leverage existing relationships, but many PR professionals are ineffective. Look for agencies that specialize in your industry, understand your story, have active media relationships, and are willing to give honest feedback rather than just blasting press releases.
Instead of pitching the editor-in-chief, identify writers or editors who cover your subject area by browsing the publication's website, searching for coverage of competitors, or looking for specific beats. Freelancers are often a better target as they are actively seeking stories.
An effective pitch is short (max three paragraphs), customized to the specific journalist and publication, and clearly demonstrates how your story is relevant and valuable to their audience. It should quickly convey an interesting, problem-solving narrative rather than just a company update.
Make it clear the pitch is targeted to them, perhaps by referencing their past work or the publication's content. Engaging with them casually on social media before pitching can also help them recognize your name and increase the likelihood of them opening your email.
Understand the publication's general editorial stance (some are not in the business of negative stories). Be open and honest with reporters, as being cagey can make them suspicious and lead to more digging or a more critical tone. Ultimately, much of the process is out of your control, so be prepared for vulnerability.
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24 Actionable Insights
1. Serve the Media’s Audience
Approach media by understanding and serving their audience, not by treating them as a service provider; this is how you can get what you want from them.
2. Define Clear Press Goals
Know exactly what you need press for (e.g., awareness, investor interest, positioning) before seeking it, similar to how you’d define goals for raising money.
3. Target Relevant Publications
Focus on publications whose audience aligns with your actual customers or strategic goals, rather than just general business titles, to ensure your efforts have payoff.
4. Analyze Publication Mission
Read and analyze a publication’s content to discern its specific mission and how it tells stories for its audience, which acts as an instruction manual for pitching.
5. Pitch Problem-Solving Stories
Focus pitches on interesting, counterintuitive decisions that solved a problem in your business, as editors are more interested in useful insights for their audience than simple success stories.
6. Embrace Vulnerability & Transparency
Be open about challenges and avoid trying to control the narrative or reporter, as being cagey can lead to annoyance and potentially negative coverage.
7. Hire Relationship-Driven PR
Choose PR agencies based on their active relationships with relevant media contacts, as this is the most important quality for getting attention, rather than agencies that guarantee press or rely on mass press releases.
8. Leverage Press Beyond Reads
Utilize press coverage for social cachet, website validation (‘As Seen In’), or targeted promotion via paid ads, as the direct readership of your specific story might be small.
9. Identify Specific Writers
Research and target individual writers or freelancers who consistently cover your specific subject area within a publication, rather than pitching the editor-in-chief.
10. Prioritize Freelancers for Pitches
Pitch freelancers over staff writers because they are often ‘hungrier’ for stories and more likely to read and seriously consider your pitch due to their incentive structure.
11. Customize Pitches Genuinely
Tailor your email pitches to show genuine familiarity with the writer’s past work and the publication’s content, which helps separate your pitch from mass blasts and signals relevance.
12. Position as Part of Trend
Instead of being the sole story, present yourself or your company as an example within a broader, interesting industry trend or context to make your pitch more appealing.
13. Create Original News/Data
Generate your own newsworthy content, such as surveys or data reports related to your industry, to provide context that media outlets will want to cover and include you in.
14. Maintain a Human Approach
Write human, authentic emails and be a normal, nice person during interviews, avoiding marketing speak or talking points, as you are dealing with subjective human decisions.
15. Actively Pursue ‘Opportunity Set B’
Dedicate time to ‘Opportunity Set B’ – things available to you that no one is asking you to do – as this is where significant personal and career growth occurs beyond your daily responsibilities.
16. Prioritize Business Sustainability
Regularly ask, ‘What’s the point of building something if you can’t maintain it?’ to ensure your efforts lead to sustainable outcomes for your business and personal well-being.
17. Segment Your Story
Break down your company’s story into different angles or pieces to tailor them for various media outlets and their specific interests, as different publications will care about different aspects.
18. Build Social Media Rapport
Engage casually with writers and editors on social media over time to get them to recognize your name before sending a pitch, increasing the likelihood they will open your email.
19. Keep Pitches Concise
Limit email pitches to a maximum of three paragraphs, getting straight to the point about why your story is relevant to their audience, as editors glance at many emails.
20. Offer Timed Exclusives
For significant news, offer a timed exclusive interview or early access to one media outlet, then broaden distribution after a short window, ensuring everyone feels you are being upfront.
21. Avoid Traditional Press Releases
Do not spend money on traditional press releases or PR agencies that prioritize their distribution, as they are largely ineffective and rarely seen by actual readers.
22. Value Honest PR Feedback
Hire PR agencies that are willing to push back and tell you if your story isn’t a good fit for a particular publication, as this indicates they respect you and their contacts.
23. Leverage In-Person Events
If a target writer or editor is speaking at a conference, approach them in person to make a connection and potentially discuss your story, as this is a good way to engage.
24. Reply to Jason Pfeiffer’s Newsletter
To get a guaranteed response from Jason Pfeiffer, subscribe to his ‘One Thing Better’ newsletter at onethingbetter.email and reply to it directly.
6 Key Quotes
The editor, the writer, I'll just say it as plainly as possible, they don't care about you. They don't care about you. They care about their reader or their listener or their viewer. That's who they care about. That's who they're serving.
Jason Feifer
If you think that press by itself is going to solve your problems, you're wrong because it might, but it's way too unpredictable.
Jason Feifer
You don't go out and raise money if you don't know what the money is for. You shouldn't go out and try to get press if you don't know what the press is for.
Jason Feifer
Success stories are not interesting. They're not interesting to anybody, right? It's not useful for you to just hear that someone else succeeded. What's useful is for you to hear how someone else faced challenges that you faced and got through them so that you can see, aha, that's an interesting strategy to use for me. I hate success stories. I love problem-solving stories.
Jason Feifer
Sometimes you are not the story, but you can be part of the story.
Jason Feifer
What's the point of building something if you can't maintain it?
Catherine Morgan Schaffler (quoted by Jason Feifer)
1 Protocols
Jason Feifer's Three-Step Press Strategy
Jason Feifer- Prep: Understand what you need press for and how to tell your story in a way that aligns with a publication's mission and audience.
- Figure out who to pitch: Identify specific writers, editors, or freelancers at publications who cover your subject area and are most likely to be receptive.
- Create excitement around writing about you: Craft a short, customized, human email pitch that quickly conveys an interesting, problem-solving story relevant to their audience.