I Was Quoted In Forbes. Here's How I Did It. 📓
I Was Quoted In Forbes. Here's How I Did It. 📓
Follow 3 ez-as-shit steps I took
Happy belated Valentine’s Day. Yeah, I’m aware it’s Saturday but since we have an undefined relationship, I owe you. No, not this mess Walgreens sells…
Recently I was interviewed by a Forbes contributor for a story on how Activision Blizzard could’ve avoided a PR nightmare. The article ran just days before Microsoft bought the video game publisher behind the iconic franchises Call of Duty, Diablo, World of Warcraft, Candy Crush, DJ Hero, Guitar Hero, and others for $68.7 billion. Appearing in this story put our growing B2B PR agency in front of our newest target audience, blockchain and web3-related companies.
You too can land in major publications like I did by following three steps.
Here’s the Forbes headline:
One of my comments that was published:
You can grab media opportunities like this on your own by executing a tactic called newsjacking. With a low cost compared to other PR tactics, reactive newsjacking is deployed by PR agencies or communications pros as a way to align a person or organization with a trending topic or event. Think of it like piggybacking on breaking news to put eyes on you.
Anyone can use news cycles to build their brand if they know what reporters are looking for and quickly react by sending sources and their buzzword-free thoughts to them. That’s what I’ll help you with today.
Other moves that aid newsjacking efforts are having proper alerts set up, being in tune with popular news events, having instant access to actual experts who can speak to or make sense of something without using jargon. Additionally, keeping templated emails for each source at the ready that includes their title, website, bio, and more will accelerate your response time as you react to a news cycle.
Okay, now that we covered a tactic and tools…
Now I gotta make something clear. You will learn how to attach a source or company to a trending topic when reporters and contributors are looking for sources in a pinch. However, today’s tips won’t help you secure a feature story in media outlets. That’s not what I’m advising you about or promising. I’m teaching you how I used a particular platform to react to a top-of-mind issue and generate media coverage.
Here’s exactly what I did to get my thoughts on the ongoing PR crisis at Activision Blizzard in Forbes. Promise me you’ll at least take step one. K? Yeah?? Cool cool.
The 3 Steps I Took
Created a Qwoted account
Opened the email from Qwoted immediately
Responded to the Forbes contributor’s questions in <25 minutes
Unpaid contributors move extra fast because they want their article to be one of the first to cover breaking news.
Sign up for Qwoted
Qwoted is a site helping reporters at outlets including Reuters, AP, The New York Times, and CNBC find sources like experts, guests, and speakers. How it works is journalists, influencers, broadcast producers, analysts, copywriters, and others pose questions or they can search a database of experts. The quality of media and questions is better than Help A Reporter Out (HARO), IMHO.
Spend five minutes creating a free Qwoted account with profiles for folks you represent or anyone you know who is a leader in their field. Also, sign up for real time media requests that hit every day. On the basic plan, you can send three pitches per month. Here’s my profile.
Wrong profile. It’s here:
Keep in mind you get one shot to submit a pitch/source or answer a question. You cannot follow up with or chase down reporters.
In summary, I got a Qwoted email and opened it in seconds. I saw someone who was looking for a media relations professional to comment on Activision’s very public crisis. After determining I was a fit for this story, I moved fast.
2nd thing I did: replied within minutes. It was obvious to me that if I was one of the first respondents I had a decent chance of being quoted.
3rd move: I shared my complete thoughts in my first and only response. I wrote this:
If you’d like me to break down the components of this successful pitch email including why I diced up my tips the way I did, lemme know. I could write that in another newsletter edition, lemme know and I’ll consider it if enough people demand it.
The media doesn’t have time to go back and forth. When responding to a media request from Qwoted or other platforms, do not put a source forward saying you can make an intro. Skip that email. Instead, if you see a reporter request that you can help with, contact your source, gather their thoughts, cut the “fat,” and share their thoughts. Conquer your pitch.
Another one of my quotes:
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-John