Financial PR remains an essential component of Investor Relations (IR) to reach target audiences. This applies to both retail and institutional investors. A publication in “The Wall Street Journal,” “Financial Times,” “Bloomberg Businessweek,” “Handelsblatt,” “Morningstar,” “Going Public,” “Institutional Investor,” or “Reuters” can put a company on the radar of important professional investors.
How can you get into these financial publications? The “State of the Media Report 2024” from CISION provides interesting insights on this.
Source: CISION – State of the Media Report 2024, S. 21
Journalists have a strong interest in press releases. Nearly three out of four journalists wish to receive press releases from companies. What does this mean for IR? First, a relationship must be established with the preferred journalists, who can then be notified about the respective press release. It is recommended to create and maintain a VIP journalist list for this purpose.
Another wish of journalists: original research reports on trends, market data, etc., followed by exclusive content for stories. It is advisable to develop or have developed topic suggestions that align with the specific needs of journalists. These topic proposals should be backed by reliable market data, studies, or research reports.
What bothers journalists about communication with (financial) PR professionals? One aspect that journalists frequently criticize is the lack of relevance in topic proposals for their work. Thus journalists reported that only about 2% of the received topic suggestions had significant relevance (76%-100%) for their work. 73% of the suggestions had little to no relevance (0%-25%).
For IR work, this means: the better the journalist previously analyzes their choice of topics and the more the topic proposal is tailored to journalists, the more likely it is that the proposal will be seized. When asked what PR professionals could do to make their work easier, 68% of journalists answered: “Understand my target group and what is relevant to them.”
Source: CISION – State of the Media Report 2024, S. 25
On the other hand, 77% of journalists said that PR professionals lose favor with them, when such professionals spam them with irrelevant offers. Additionally, 62% of journalists will block a PR professional if they provide inaccurate or unfounded information. Also high on the list of what to avoid when submitting topic proposals: proposals that sound like marketing brochures. 55% of journalists block or put PR professionals on their “do not call” list if the proposals are too promotional.
Submitted topic proposals are best accompanied by visual material. 72% of journalists in the study said they used provided images. Other multimedia or data elements like infographics (34%) or videos (33%) were of much less interest to journalists.
Source: CISION – State of the Media Report 2024, S. 24
Once you have sent the topic proposal to a journalist, how often should you follow up? 27% of journalists believe there should be no follow-up at all. The majority – 64% – find it acceptable to follow up once. Only 8% of journalists tolerate multiple follow-ups.
Conclusion
So, how can you successfully place financial articles in the press? Research the relevant journalists and their topics. Make topic suggestions that are tailored to the specific journalist and their audience. These proposals should be supported by reliable studies and data. Preferably, the respective sources should be directly sent along with the proposals.