I’ve always rooted for the underdog. I love those unsung heroes that work hard day in and day out, often in the background, keeping things moving while others enjoy their time in the spotlight.
This might be one reason why I adore working with trade media and vertical publications.
Sure, there are bigger and more well-known publications, with their circulations in the hundreds of thousands – the popular kids of the media world, if you will. Everyone reads them, everyone loves them – we get it, USA Today, People magazine and The New York Times, quit showing off already!
But for organizations selling products, services or technology used primarily by specific industries, or a niche audience such as hospital administrators, data scientists, farmers, or shipping terminal operators, then bigger isn’t always better when it comes to media coverage. An article in People magazine will reach millions of readers, but if your product or service is aimed at a more specialized audience, you might not have a compelling story at the time for that type of media outlet. People magazine’s reporters for example, need to focus on cover stories that appeal to the broader consumer population.
Depending on their target audiences and business objectives, some organizations are better served by targeting reporters with trade media and vertical press. The good news is that there is a trade or specialty publication for pretty much any topic you can think of (Sheep! Magazine, Model Airplane News, The Peanut Grower, Rubber World and Meating Place are some prime examples), and almost all of these publications are looking for subject-matter experts and or contributed content.
Communiqué PR has successfully secured media placements focused on trade publications for many of our clients, offering best practices, and a deep dive into issues and opportunities for specific industries.
With cloud communications provider Flowroute, we developed a proactive pitch aimed at healthcare publications about how physicians could better connect with their patients, and more efficiently manage their businesses, with the use of text messaging. One pitch resulted in eight contributed article for Flowroute, in publications such as Physicians Practice, Dentistry IQ, Beckers Health IT and CIO Report, Healthcare Business & Technology, and Health IT Outcomes, among others. Flowroute reported a significant spike in traffic to its website as a result of this resulting coverage, demonstrating that vertical press and trade media, while smaller than its mass media counterparts, can pack a mighty punch!
We also were able to generate strong interest from publications focusing on the automotive industry for our client Dell EMC. In this case, we developed a proactive pitch around how the growth of connected cars and autonomous vehicles has led to an exponential rise in the amount of data that car manufacturers need to store and analyze. From this one pitch, we secured articles in outlets such as Wards Auto, Automotive Industries, Autonomous Vehicle Technology and Global Auto Industry.
For organizations looking to pitch trade reporters or vertical publications about their company or product, we offer the following tips to consider:
Focus on best practices/how-to pitches – This is your opportunity to educate readers about your experience in the industry and provide guidance for future deployments or installations. What worked, what didn’t? What surprises came up and how did your organization address them? What three things should potential users know when looking for a solution or product like yours? Asking these types of questions elevates your article or commentary into a thought leadership category – it’s not just showing someone a house but teaching them how to build the house and offering advice for the project along the way.
Now is the time to geek out – Tech geeks and subject matter experts, rejoice! This is your time to shine and show off your know-how. For publications aimed directly at end-users, they’ll want to hear more about the bits and bytes of a product, and why those matter to the industry you’re reaching. In most cases, these readers will know about the “tech speak” or industry jargon that might baffle a broader consumer-focused publication because they speak that language every day. Remember not to rely on buzzwords and to tie that “tech speak” to how it will actually impact an organization’s bottom line.
Shine a light on industry-specific use cases – Almost all publications love case studies and customer stories – it lends credibility to a company and its products when they have actual users in the field seeing benefits and results. It also builds thought leadership for your organization if you can provide some insight into the deployment – its challenges, results, takeaways, etc. It’s one thing to say your product can help companies to accomplish something, but its far more compelling to share how you worked with a customer to accomplish the thing, and how you were able to surpass their expectations.
Have you had success with a media outreach campaign aimed at trade press or vertical industries? What other tips would you offer us? Tell us below in the comments!