Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
Discover magazine consistently has delivered refreshingly understandable reports on complex developments in science, medicine, technology, and the world around us for more than 30 years. It is highly regarded for compelling stories that are thought-provoking and raise important awareness to sometimes obscure topics.
One of our clients is conducting some groundbreaking scientific research. Because of the reasons above — along with its impressive 328,671 circulation and 2,087,797 UVPM — Discover magazine was at the top of our pitch list to highlite this information as an outlet that will not only have incredible reach, but also be the most effective in telling the story. In order for my pitch to be as compelling as possible, I conducted some extensive research into how the editors at Discover like to be pitched as well as general best pitching practices. Here’s what I learned.
General Information
Discover is published 10 time per year with the annual “Year in Science” special edition, highlighting the top 100 scientific stories of the previous year, publishing in January or February. The lead time is typically six months or more for features and two to three months for news stories. The online version of the magazine, www.discovermag.com, has shorter leads and mostly seeks content for its blogs and photo galleries.
When pitching, it is important to not send completed articles, to include a few strong clips or summary of previous publications, and to send the story pitch to the appropriate editor. If you are unsure which editor to pitch, you can send it to [email protected].
Sections Accepting Pitches
Discover has eight specific sections in the print magazine that accepts pitches, “The Crux,” “Mind Over Matter,” “Prognosis,” “Out There,” “Notes from Earth,” “History Lessons,” and “Origin Story.” Before pitching any of these sections, it is incredibly important to do your homework and read a couple of stories from each to ensure that your pitch will be relevant to the section.
The Crux, the “vibrant front-of-book,” prioritizes stories that have whimsical or quirky elements to them. This could include dramatic, futuristic advancements to topics discussed in the magazine, or even radical, first-person accounts from the front lines of research. Above all, The Crux is designed to give a reader a tantalizing taste of what is to come in the rest of the issue. When pitching this section, be sure to understand the purpose that it serves.
The Mind Over Matter column fittingly covers behavioral sciences and the submissions are written exclusively essay-style. Pitches to this column should clearly discuss the inner workings of the mind in a way that readers can fully understand and to which they can personally relate.
Prognosis, easily deciphered from its name, is Discover’s column focused on medical science. It typically covers new trends in medicine, unknown or little discussed research, or a specific medical field through the eyes of a scientist.
Notes from Earth explores earth and environmental science topics with stories that inspire awe about our planet. The goal of this section is to stimulate its readers to think of our world in remarkable new ways, and pitches should reflect this.
History Lessons provides insight into forgotten or seldom-visited moments and individuals in the history of science. Pitches to this section should connect these past events with current research or topics in order to demonstrate timeliness and relevance. This section welcomes thoughtful narratives but there is also room for lighthearted essays.
Origin Story, congruent with its name, explores new research that works to advance or challenge our understanding of our collective history. This section covers archaeology, anthropology and human evolution, with a special focus on ideas that question our common knowledge of how humans evolved.
Out There is the magazine’s column on all things space, primarily planetary science, astrophysics and cosmology. Usually complex topics to understand, pitches should reflect the writer’s ability to effectively convey these ideas to the average reader while also creating a compelling story.
Features
Discover actively seeks pitches for its narrative feature stories in any area that the magazine covers. As these stories have longer lead times, around 6 months, writers should be prepared for the piece to undergo two or three major revisions. These feature stories should involve research that is relatively new and will cater to the narrative style of the section. Pitches should explicitly tell the editors why the information is important, what the approach to the story will be, and should include ideas for additional content (photos, infographics, etc.)
Securing content for a client in Discover magazine would be a huge win and I hope that these guidelines will get you one step closer!
As 2017 comes to a close, I thought it would be interesting to look back on one of the bigger crises of the year: the forcible removal of a passenger from United Airlines’ flight 3411. Many people remember the disturbing video that fellow passengers captured of the screaming and bloodied man being dragged by security officers from the plane.
In case you missed it, on the evening of April 10, 2017 officials with United Airlines announced a flight leaving Chicago was overbooked, and they were looking for four volunteers to give up their seats so employees of Republic Airlines could fly to Louisville for work.
After no volunteers came forward, even after offering incentives, the airline resorted to randomly selecting passengers for removal. Three of the four randomly selected passengers went with no issue, except – Dr. David Dao – who refused to disembark, claiming he had patients to see at his practice. United Airlines employees then asked the airport police to remove him, and what happened next shocked many people.
Airport security wrestled Dr. Dao out of his seat and into the aisle. Along the way, Dao’s face collided with an armrest leaving bloodied. Passengers filmed the officers removing Dr. Dao and quickly posted the videos on their social media accounts. After the altercation went viral, United released a short statement that fell short of answering questions, reassuring consumers, or describing the reason for such a physical removal. From the beginning, United failed to take control during the crisis.
The impact was substantial. Many passengers learned that having a ticket does not guarantee them a seat, as most assumed.Consumers felt betrayed that United prioritized travel needs of employees from another airline over their own customers.
Influencing Perceptions: The Importance of Accuracy, Consistency, and Sensitivity
In crisis situations, it is a best practice to release an informative statement in a timely manner. As my colleague pointed out in a blog about crisis communications, “Accurate, factual information can help manage a story in a favorable direction.”
As significant details emerged about the passenger and the incident, many people had questions about the overbooking of flights, and United Airlines’ policies. United complicated matters when the company said, contrary to its previous reports, that it had not overbooked flight 3411. Rather than gathering the details and controlling the situation and the messages, United initially released inaccurate information which further eroded consumer confidence.
Eventually, United’s CEO Oscar Munoz released both a public statement and a letter to employees. The public statement included a half-hearted apology and downplayed the situation which he described as “re-accommodating” the passengers. However, in his letter, Munoz praised employees for their efforts saying, “I also emphatically stand behind all of you, and I want to commend you for continuing to go above and beyond to ensure we fly right.” Munoz is also on record calling Dr. Dao “disruptive and belligerent.” Unfortunately for United, Munoz wasn’t consistent in his messages. Although he apologized publicly, his message to internal audiences was vastly different and struck many people as insensitive.
By studying United Airlines’ handling of the crisis, PR professionals are reminded of the importance of delivering consistent messages and being sensitive to the emotions of others. It wasn’t until Munoz’s third statement that he acknowledged the problem, and hinted a company policy review would be in order. After multiple statements that failed to relieve tension, accepting their mistake and taking full responsibility of the situation was the only thing left for Munoz and United to do.
It’s no surprise that in the weeks following the event, consumers and news outlets were watching United closely. United conducted an internal company review, in which employees were said to receive more training and changed the process for bumping passengers from flights. While Munoz was right in saying “it’s never too late to do the right thing,” it was too late for United to try and come away from this crisis unscathed.
With the New Year upon us, many people are taking stock of their accomplishments from the previous year and setting goals for 2018. If you have decided that one of your goals for this year is to learn something new, I would encourage you to sign up for the free, four-week online course “Learning How to Learn” from Coursera.
The class is designed to help individuals gain a new understanding of how learning happens, diminish frustration when learning, and help people learn new subjects more deeply — all practical objectives if you’re trying to learn or attempting something new.
I’ve begun the course and some of the information presented by instructors Terry Sejnowski and Barbara Oakley is immediately applicable to the work I do for Communiqué PR, as well as for the novel I am writing in my spare time. For instance, I was not familiar with the difference between focused and diffuse modes of thinking and when one might want to apply them.
Focused mode is the state your brain is in when you’re concentrating deeply on something that you’re trying to learn or understand. Diffuse mode is the state your brain is in when you are more relaxed and in a neural resting state. For instance, your brain is most likely in a diffuse or relaxed state when you’re are a passenger in a car, about to fall asleep or out for a jog. Interestingly, when you’re trying to learn something new, you can harness both the focused and diffuse mode to achieve success.
Now that I’m familiar with how my brain works in focused thinking versus diffuse thinking, I have a deeper awareness about which mode I am in and whether it might make sense to try to switch to the other mode. In the course opening, Oakley explains that you are either in one mode or another – but not both at the same time. She uses the analogy of a coin to emphasize this point. When you look at a quarter, you can see one side or the other, but not both at the same time.
I’ve only completed the first week of the course, so I’m still gaining insight how to switch between focused versus diffuse modes to ramp up my learning. However, one exercise that I might try is focusing hard for 30 minutes while writing, for example, a new scene for my novel. I’ll set a timer and after 30 minutes, I’ll take a break and go for a walk. This will allow my mind to relax, and for my subconscious to continue to work on how to make the scene as compelling and interesting as possible. It is very clear from the course material and the work of neuroscientists that in order to learn more deeply, it is important to be able to go from one state to another – focused to diffuse, and back again.
Another key aspect Oakley explains is the power of metaphors and analogies in learning. As communicators, we often use these elements to help people understand what we are trying to say, but they’re also very powerful if you want to understand something more deeply, or if you want to grasp more abstract concepts. Metaphors and analogies are helpful because they enable you to take an unfamiliar concept and relate it to something familiar.
Finally, if you’re in a management or leadership role and helping others in your organization to learn, this course could be helpful for you. Helping another person gain and master new skills is often part of a manager’s or leader’s role. Maybe you want to help a co-worker improve his or her writing, presentation or negotiation skills, and to become better in these areas they are likely going to need to grasp new concepts. It’s your job is to help them accomplish this. If you understand how people learn, you’re likely to be a better teacher and manager.
My goal in 2018 – and one of the main reasons I’m taking this class – is to continue to help others learn and grow. Hopefully my own insights from this class will help me as I strive to be the best leader I can be.
Happy New Year! If you have a goal or learning objective for 2018 and want to share it, I’d love to hear from you.
The past year proved to be a busy, productive and fun year at Communiqué PR. In addition to continuing to partner with our existing clients, we started working with several new clients during 2017, including Phytelligence, Whitepages, and WGU Washington.
Below is a summary of the activities and results we secured on behalf of some of our clients over the past year. Look for future blog posts to capture the work we have executed on behalf of more of our clients.
Our work with A Place for Mom continued to build momentum throughout the year. We had a steady stream of news and other content to share with content. To learn more about the work we did throughout the year, check out these two blog posts.
· A Place for Mom’s Walkability Findings
Darigold invited media to one of its member farms this summer to speak directly with the farmer to understand the daily operations of a dairy—everything from the cow nutrition plan and milking the cows to nutrient management systems and sustainability practices. Learnings from Hosting a Behind-the-Scenes Tour of Rickreall Dairy
In the fall, we had the distinct pleasure of tasting Darigold’s new Heat n’ Serve Hot Cocoa before it hit the shelves, and in preparation for driving editorial and blog coverage. Redefining Hot Cocoa: Darigold Releases New Heat N’ Serve Hot Cocoa
We also had the opportunity to support Darigold’s partnership with MilkPEP and Olympic hopeful Breezy Johnson, to reinforce the health benefits of white milk, and align its brand with the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. In addition to social media activities, we secured editorial coverage with The Ski Journal, “Too Fast to be Scared with Breezy Johnson,” Bellingham Herald, “She’s never skied Mt. Baker, but this WWU sophomore hopes to compete in the Winter Olympics,” and Idaho Statesman, “She might be America’s next downhill skiing star. And she’s from Idaho.”
In partnership with Darigold, this year we also helped place several op-eds related to the NAFTA trade negotiations that are taking place, including “Canadian trade policies hurt U.S. dairy farmers,” which ran in the Seattle Times.
Delta-Q announced a new product, the ICL900, which is an extension to their family of lithium battery chargers. Through our media relations activities in support of this announcement we secured nearly 20 articles regarding Delta-Q’s new product, including:
- CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine: Delta-Q expands family of lithium battery chargers for EVs and industrial machines – 10/21/17
- Power Electronics News: Delta-Q expands family of battery chargers for EV and industrial machines – 10/23/17
- Battery Power: Lithium Battery Chargers for EVs and Industrial Machines – 10/23/17
- Lawn & Landscape: Delta-Q technologies expands family of lithium battery chargers – 10/24/17
- Engine Technology International: Delta-Q expands battery charging line-up – 10/27/17
During the year, we drafted more than 20 blog posts for Dell EMC in 2017 across verticals such as automotive, media and entertainment, financial services, analytics, and surveillance. We secured several briefings for its automotive vertical, including this podcast with Varun Chhabra as a guest, and supported PR for Dell EMC at IBC2017, securing numerous briefings with media and a podcast with Thomas Burns from Dell EMC as a guest.
In addition to a steady stream of editorial coverage with tech and industry media, Flowroute secured coverage via King5 highlighting how its technology is helping Polaris in its fight against human trafficking: Seattle company improves calls for national human trafficking hotline
We recently kicked off work with one of our newest clients, Phytelligence, which was recognized as one of Geekwire’s Seattle 10: Hot Startups. We are excited to help build awareness and demand for its propriety MultiPHY technology and tissue culture process among growers and producers in the U.S. and around the world!
Spaceflight continued to build momentum with its business units with the following key announcements:
· Spaceflight Purchases a Rocket Lab Electron to Expand its Dedicated Rideshare Service
· Spaceflight Reaches Two Impressive Milestones in One Week
In 2017 we started working with WGU Washington. The nonprofit university now has more than 10,000 graduates! Recently KAPP-TV developed a segment on the role WGU Washington is playing in addressing the need for more teachers in the state: WGU Washington Training Teachers Online. Additionally, we were able organize interviews with WGU Washington Chancellor Rich Cummins, as well as WGU Washington Teachers College graduates to raise awareness about the teacher shortage statewide: Responding to teacher shortage, Washington schools look to expedite training and Western Governors University looks to expand local footprint.
It seems you can’t open a newspaper or turn on the TV without someone talking about the inevitable future of self-driving (autonomous) cars. Forget stressing over parallel parking – take your hands off the steering wheel and your car will do that for you in the future, if it’s not already!
Just like computers, cell phones, and even household appliances, cars are becoming more connected and intelligent than ever before. Whether your vehicle can provide you with better visibility when merging into traffic, or enable you to engage with Amazon’s Alexa from the road (coming to BMWs soon!), your car is the next internet-enabled device.
The types of technology enabling this transformation in the automotive industry are many, and varied. They can range from in-car Wi-Fi and “infotainment” applications embedded into your vehicle’s dashboard, to enhanced electric car batteries that provide longer range, to automated driver assistance systems (ADAS) that enhance vehicle systems for safer and better driving.
It’s not just the cool factor that’s pushing this intelligent vehicle momentum forward – there’s big money behind it as well:
- In November, Uber agreed to purchase tens of thousands Volvo XC90 SUVs, specifically modified for autonomous driving, between 2019 to 2021. “Right now, Uber’s ‘best guess estimate’ is that it will purchase around 24,000 vehicles. … the Financial Times estimatedthe purchase agreement could be valued at over $1.9 billion,” said Forbes.
- In March, Intel purchased Mobileye for $15.3B. Mobileye is a “maker of automotive vision technology used for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and fully autonomous vehicles. The deal … would set up Intel as the premier provider of autonomous vehicle chip and machine-vision technology for the ADAS industry, which the company estimates will grow to $70 billion by 2030,” according to Computerworld.
- In February, Ford announced an investment of $1 billion over the next five years in Argo AI, a startup founded by former Google and Uber employees to further the development of autonomous vehicle technology. “Ford said its relationship with Argo AI … will combine its existing autonomous vehicle development program with Argo AI’s robotics and ‘startup speed’ on artificial intelligence software,” reported Computerworld.
The common denominator and underlying factor enabling all of this automotive innovation is data. Ultimately data will be the true competitive differentiator for car manufacturers that learn how to harness it.
To create and develop these technical advancements, car manufacturers need to capture and analyze an incredible amount of data. Our client Dell EMC has been front and center in discussing the evolution of data in today’s automotive industry and the impact that data will have in shaping the business models for the industry in the future.
We recently conducted a series of briefings with Dell EMC’s Varun Chhabra, senior director of product marketing for storage (cloud, object and file) and analytics to introduce Dell EMC to the key automotive trade media.
Communiqué PR secured Varun as a guest for a podcast with Ron Hesse, chairman and CEO of Global Auto Industry, which provides information and resources for automotive suppliers, particularly for executives responsible for international operations or development. The podcast was shared via AMN (After Market News), which reaches approximately 20,000 automotive aftermarket industry professionals, and the Automation Alley daily newsletter, which is distributed to 4,000 members and media
You can listen to the podcast, “The Global Auto Industry’s Big Bet for 2018 and Beyond? … Big Data” to learn more about Dell EMC’s work in the automotive industry.
We also spoke with James Amend, a senior editor of WardsAuto, and John Larkin, publisher of Automotive Industries.
Wards Auto has covered the auto industry for more than 80 years. Its flagship product is WardsAuto.com, a comprehensive online resource and community filled with unique news, data and analysis, with full access available as a premium subscription. The online publication gets around 170,000 unique visitors per month.
Automotive Industries provides manufacturers and suppliers with in-depth news, information, insight and analysis on the global events that affect the auto industry. Interestingly, it is the world’s oldest continually published trade publication covering the automaking business. It was founded in November 1895 as “The Horseless Age,” the first magazine created to cover the world’s transition from horse-drawn conveyances to those powered by the new internal combustion engine.
It has been fascinating to work with the team at Dell EMC and to learn more about how these emerging technologies (and the data that power them) will affect what and how we as consumers drive and can expect from connected car innovations.
When conducting a search on Google, how many o’s in the Gooooooooooooooogle do you actually go through? If you’re anything like me, probably two or three tops. Have you ever noticed how the most reputable websites are listed on the top of the page? Have you ever wondered why the top result of your search for “chocolate chip cookie recipe” is bettycrocker.com and not some random undiscovered food blog? The answer all has to do with Domain Authority.
So, what exactly is Domain Authority?
Domain Authority, by definition, is “a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERPs). A Domain Authority score ranges from one to 100, with higher scores corresponding to a greater ability to rank.” Moz combines over 40 elements including the number of links to the site, links from the site to other reputable sites, age of the site and other factors to produce a single score. This score determines how well a website will perform on a Google search, aka, how high up on the results page a website will appear.
How do you improve a website’s Domain Authority score?
Unfortunately, Domain Authority is rather difficult to influence. Because Google uses more than 200 major ranking factors in its algorithm, a metric that combines all of these factors into a single score is complicated to manipulate. This being said, it is still possible to change it over time. The No. 1 priority for improving a website’s Domain Authority should be to increase the number of quality links back to the website. If there are numerous links back to the website on other sites, it tells Google that the website has valuable information worth linking back to and therefore should be located high up on the results page.
To provide some context, a top-tier publication like the New York Times has a Domain Authority score of 100/100, while a travel blog like the GeekyExplorer has a score of 35/100. Judging from the information presented above, this makes sense. The New York Times has thousands of websites linking back to it on a daily basis and is proven to produce content that is worthy of being shared and referenced. While the GeekyExplorer also has fantastic content, it is relatively unknown compared to the New York Times and does not have many other websites backlinking to it. If the New York Times were to reference the GeekyExplorer in an article, this would be a step in the right direction toward improving the 35/100 score. While Domain Authority cannot change overnight, monitoring of the score constantly, publishing consistently good content, and most importantly, patience will help your website’s Domain Authority to grow.
Why does Domain Authority matter for public relations?
Domain Authority can be the key to understanding which publications to target when trying to place content or drive links back to the client’s website. The average Domain Authority score is around 40/100-50/100 with scores of 60/100 or above considered fairly good. Naturally, PR pros will want to target outlets with a high score because a higher score is quantifiable evidence to support the apparent quality of an internet site. The outlets that have a high score will rank highly in a Google search and therefore will receive the most web traffic. What’s the use of placing an amazing article if no one will be able to find it?
Where can you find Domain Authority scores?
Moz, the creators of Domain Authority has made it incredibly easy to find any website’s Domain Authority. Simply go Moz’s website and use the Open Site Explorer tool to insert the URL of the website you want to know the Domain Authority of, press calculate and voila! A score of x/100 will appear. Another free option is the MozBar which is a Google Chrome extension that gives you a website’s Domain Authority score in the upper right corner of the webpage automatically, without pressing a button or inserting a URL. If you choose to pay for a premium account with Moz, you will get more detailed information about how that score was calculated and recommendations on how to generally improve your website’s SEO.