Different strokes

Why obtaining press coverage depends on understanding the very disparate priorities, interests and approaches of each journalist

Welcome to IMTW issue № 31. How was your summer break? I hope you had some time to relax with your family.

For my part, I took the opportunity to give IMTW a lick of paint. Rest assured, although it might look a little different, it’s still all about showcasing the week’s news likely to impact you - delivered with insight on why it matters and ideas on what to do about it.

👉🏻 Now, read on to learn why:

① Knowing your audience is critical to successful media relations.

② PR teams need to do their homework.

③ For innovation and excitement, look to sleepy old payments.

④ Everybody wants to buy now but pay later.

⑤ Content marketers are leaving money on the table.

⑥ China is a PR minefield even for old hands at the game.

⑦ There’s still plenty of scope to improve investment management.

What's new?

The Headline Money Awards were held this week to acknowledge excellence in financial services media. Congratulations to all the winners.

Wealth Manager named best title

Citywire Wealth Manager scooped the B2B title of the year and Loukia Gyftopoulou was named top investment journalist at Headline Money Awards.

citywire.co.uk • Share

In short:

“Wealth Manager was praised by the judges for ‘posing some pretty strong questions to the audience, and not giving people an easy ride,’ and commended the title’s style as having ‘lots of personality that makes it compelling reading for anyone’.”
“There was high commendation all round for Wealth Manager’s presentation and use of data.”
“Wealth Manager business editor Loukia Gyftopoulou was described as the ‘best and most consistent’ of the entries this year in the hotly contested investment journalist category, while another judge labelled her a ‘news hound’.”

Why does it matter?

The awards, and the myriad tweets and LinkedIn posts from winners that followed reminded me how varied the financial news media landscape is.

Of course there are the large, ‘tier 1’ titles - such as The Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal - that will only cover the biggest of deals or most impactful of announcements, but even amongst the so-called trade media, there is enormous disparity in terms of areas of focus and approach to sourcing stories. Some titles seem to value quantity above all else and are happy to cut and paste a press release unedited. At the other end of the spectrum, you have publications that seem to have an active disdain for press releases, insisting on sourcing their own stories. Most are somewhere between the two. But even in that middle ground, there are different approaches. Some titles maintain a positive outlook, others revel in creating clickbaity headlines and controversy even when none exists.

① So, it’s as true - perhaps more true - for media relations as it is for any of your other marketing activities: knowing your audience, playing to their needs and wants rather than your own is critical to success.

What's next?

Take action

② Spend some time with your Head of PR/Communications or your agency to find out how well they truly know the journalists that write for your target audience. If you’re not getting the coverage you expect, it may be because they’re not following some simple but easily overlooked PR guidelines.

Who, what, when, where, why and how? One of the first things a journalist is taught is that their story should answer these fundamentals. Do your press releases provide all the information they need?
Do your homework: Read what each journalist is writing so you understand their patch and priorities.
Invest in relationships: Media relations shouldn’t be transactional. Whether it’s on Twitter or over martinis after hours, it pays to take the time to build trust and affinity with the journalists in your space.
Be there when you don’t need coverage: To the previous point, don’t limit your interactions with journalists to the times when you want some coverage. A relationship means helping them when they need it, even if it’s just with information on background that you won’t benefit from at the time.
Tailor your pitch: Armed with that understanding and trust, when it does come time to pitch a story, eschew mass mailing or wire services. Instead prepare a personalised pitch to each journalist explaining why the story is a good fit for their particular audience.
Tailor your channel: Some (okay, very few) journalists like the phone, most prefer email, others are Twitter addicts who take pitches on the social medium. Know which is which.
Help junior journalists: I’ve had bosses who were dismissive of talking to inexperienced journalists because they didn’t yet fully understand their subject matter and might not be assigned the headline stories. But I’ve always thought that was the best time to begin a working relationship. Take the time to help the juniors. They’ll be the seniors one day soon.

Get help

I’m looking for a full-time, in-house role but in the post-Covid age of depleted marketing budgets and remote teams with skills gaps, many organisations need marketing and communications support that’s agile, flexible, and risk free. That’s why I founded WhatsNext Partners.

Whether it be as a permanent member of your team or with ‘on demand’ support, just hit ‘reply’ to let me know if you need my help.

Can I ask you a favour? If you found this post useful or know someone who would, please like, comment on, or - best of all - share it with your professional network. It really helps to grow the readership.

What else?

Three other articles that are worthy of your time.

FINANCE

JPMorgan to buy majority stake in VW’s payments business

③ For innovation and excitement, look to sleepy old payments.

Source: Finextra, 9 September 2021

“Volkswagen’s Luxembourg-based business operates in 32 countries - offering car purchase and leasing, in-vehicle payments, fuelling and electric vehicle charging and subscription services, as well as insurance and in-vehicle entertainment.”
“JPMorgan has agreed to purchase 75% of the business - which it plans to invest in and rebrand - for an undisclosed amount. The deal is expected to close during H1 2022.”
“Shahrokh Moinian, EMEA head of wholesale payments at JPMorgan, said: ‘One of the fastest-growing platforms is the connected car marketplace, whereby the car acts like a wallet for purchasing goods, services or subscriptions’.”

TECHNOLOGY

Revolut to compete with Klarna And Clearpay with new BNPL products

④ Everybody wants to buy now but pay later.

Source: Fintech Times, 7 September 2021

BNPL was everywhere again this week. It’s the next big thing in Switzerland, PayPal is getting into it by buying Paidy, Monzo is about to reveal its own offering, and Revolut is jumping on the bandwagon too. Because of course it is.

“The UK based company is developing a series of products that will allow its users to spread the cost of in-store and online purchases over a set period of time. These products are currently in early development and are expected to be trialled in Europe next year.”
“Fuelled in part by the Covid-19 pandemic, BNPL products are a major payment method, with around 5 million people in Britain using BNPL since the start of the pandemic, with the UK market itself quadrupling last year to reach £2.7 billion.”
“The Revolut announcement comes in the wake of an FCA report published earlier this year, that advised there was ‘a significant potential [for] consumer harm’ when it came to BNPL, calling for stricter regulation.”

MEDIA & MARKETING

Is there a gap between what investors want and what they are getting?

⑤ Content marketers are leaving money on the table.

Source: Citywire Wealth Manager, 9 September 2021

“Investors – primarily retail investors, of whom many are likely to be relatively new to investing – are making millions of online searches for information on cryptocurrency and ETFs, yet the marketing articles on investment published by asset managers continue to predominantly focus on traditional asset classes.”
“Many asset managers are accustomed to planning their content calendar around their key products, having a voice on topics that fall outside your arsenal - such as cryptocurrency - is an opportunity to capture the attention of potential new clients, demonstrate thought leadership and drive investors through to product-relevant content and ultimately down the sales funnel.”
“Investors who are seeking information on asset classes such as crypto are often having to look on other platforms such as Reddit and Youtube.”

Quotable

⑥ Ai Weiwei, renowned Chinese dissident and artist, speaking about the closure of his account at Credit Suisse and how the Swiss bank is an “old hand” at “foul commerce.”

Ai Weiwei. Source: Finews, 8 September 2021

Credit Suisse was already well aware of a magical strategy in China; hire ‘princelings’– offspring of top Communists – in order to pave the way to success in business.

One more thing...

⑦ I’ve recently been helping launch O-IM, a new investment business with a difference. Aimed at affluent and HNW investors, it offers personalised advice with ease of use, simplicity and unpretentious ‘anytime, anywhere’ service.

Introducing O-IM: An Investment Manager That Exists For You | O-IM

O-IM, a new investment management firm launches…

www.o-im.co.uk • Share

“Trapped between private banks that are inaccessible to all but the wealthiest and mass market providers that offer only a narrow range of pooled, often passive and often expensive, investment products, a significant number of UK investors have for too long been underserved” - Lewis Hamm, Chief Executive and Chief Investment Officer of O-IM.