From personalized pitching and timely client hot topics, to moving with the mainstream media times – it’s all in a day’s work at IBA
“Where has the time gone” is often a phrase thrown around – and it’s been very fitting this month at IBA.
Identifying the right time to pounce is essential for a PR pro, whether it’s identifying a timely hot topic or real-world problem, striking while the topic is hot for a journalist to personalize a pitch, or just making sure you’re moving with the times.
Identify the right time to strike
Irrelevant pitches are one of the top bugbears for B2B journalists as their inboxes are flooded daily with pitches. The job of the PR professional is to stand out from all that irrelevant noise. One of the top ways to do this is by becoming a journalist’s trusted source – good relationships go a long way in the PR world. It’s all about providing value content to build your clients’ brand recognition and trust in top tier media publications. But to do this you must be ready to pounce at the moment the opportunity shows itself.
So, when our pitch & place team spotted a journalist from one of our top tier financial service publications looking for content on the challenges facing the financial services and insurance industry, we knew this would be a perfect fit for our insurance distributor client. And we were ready to pounce. After some carefully crafted personalized pitching to get a deeper understanding of the journalist’s industry pain points, and with a bit of careful wordsmithing (and no, Gen AI wouldn’t be clever enough to do this), we were ready to pitch our cultural change article and secure a top tier placement. A perfect example of being patient and agile enough to pounce at the right time!
Pitching in real-time with real-world problems, and keeping Santa’s production line moving
In the B2B world newsjacking very rarely walks the walk. But a top skill for B2B pros is being able to look for opportunities in the shape of trendjacking – where journalists are covering current industry issues for the benefit of their reader. It’s all about being proactive not reactive!
As we come to the end of 2024, we have started to not only see industry prediction pieces being published, but also target pieces on how industries are going to deal with real world problems in the year ahead. This got us thinking about how we could best highlight our clients’ efforts to meet their looming ESG targets while they grapple with running a business.
This provided the perfect backdrop as we pitched out a timely byline for our business management software client on how retailers can improve their sustainability practices and make a difference to an industry that is responsible for 25% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) globally.
But our timely pitching didn’t stop here. We are entering one of the busiest retail periods where supply chains are put under enormous pressure. No one wants a late Christmas present and at IBA we didn’t want anyone too either! We had to get our data movement client to comment on the recent supply chain crisis and how their solution can provide critical data insights to ensure Santa keeps his production line moving. It’s a problem that many can relate to as is evident by the amount of coverage we have been able to achieve for our client’s holiday retail comment across North America. Pitch perfect!
Is time up on the traditional role of the mainstream media?
At IBA we pride ourselves of staying ahead of the curve. Recently one of the biggest changes in attitudes we’ve been keeping a keen B2B eye on is the change in attitudes towards mainstream media – not to be trusted? Irrelevant? Too opinionated? In fact, the mainstream media was practically boycotted by the two Presidential contenders in the recent U.S. election race. Do B2B companies need to re-consider how people consume the media? Sounds like it’s time for our next Talking Propeller Heads Webcast: Has mainstream media hit rock bottom or are reports of its death greatly exaggerated? With mainstream media commentator Leon Emirali, from Al Jazeera to the BBC, he’s covered it. Tune in on Friday 13th of December (unless you’re superstitious).
Talking Propeller Heads goes Audio – See it on YouTube – and now hear it on the drive home
The rise of downloadable audio content (witness the FT and Bloomberg) for consumption on the go, has not passed us by. So, we have wasted no time converting our two previous Talking Propeller Head Webcasts where we were joined by Shazam techy Mike Karliner, into downloadable audio files – check them out here to watch and listen to ‘The Fediverse – an opportunity for B2B’ and and ‘AI: The Good, The Bad, and The Seriously Useful’. And remember, coming soon on audio and YouTube – Has mainstream Media hit rock bottom or are reports of its death greatly exaggerated?
There’s no time to waste in the PR world!
From personalized pitching and becoming a journalist trusted source, to the art of trendjacking, and staying ahead of the curve, November has been a timely reminder of the importance of being a proactive PR pro. Right, there’s no time waiting for 17:15 I better get back to drafting the next industry prediction piece!
Sam Walker is PR Executive at IBA International.
