How to make most earning session for PR
When earnings season rolls around each quarter, reporters are tied up for weeks analyzing and writing on results, especially business and financial outlets. That means pitching your own company’s report or newsjacking one of the tech giants’ can be quite lucrative in terms of media coverage. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
Here are some tactics to consider that have proven successful for SHIFT clients in the past.
Add tension to the story
A glowing earnings report alone probably won’t do the trick. You’ve got to find a unique hook. That could be bringing in a new executive with a great pedigree, positioning your company as trending in a way that opposes the rest of the industry, or pivoting after a challenging recent past.
For client AspenTech, the tension was the company being previously delisted by NASDAQ but recovering to a stock price hovering around $100 and a $7 billion market cap. It landed us a great piece – Its stock rising, Aspen Tech enjoys a quiet revival after a two-year exile from Nasdaq – print and online in the Boston Globe.
Another example is with Criteo, whose positive earnings reports we pitched in direct opposition to the rest of publicly-traded advertising technology companies. Positioning Criteo as “Ad Tech’s Golden Child” while other stocks were tanking netted us features in WSJ, Business Insider and AdExchanger as well as broadcast like CNBC and Fox Business.
Prepare quotes on reports you know will be widely covered and go to beat reporters
As with all stories, media want to break news or at least be one of the first. Earnings reports are no different. Many reporters are pulling their stories together simultaneously with the call, or even as the earnings press release is issued.
Pre-drafting quotes to pitch out the days leading up to or just ahead of another company’s report can be challenging, as you don’t know exactly how results will go. But if you can find a unique thread and position your company as having unique insight into, it can work well.
Last quarter, for example, my team placed great commentary around Facebook’s report in Digiday for our advertising tech client Smartly.io, talking about what trends Smartly.io saw in its own customer base in regard to Facebook advertising spend.
Collaborate with Investor Relations to understand the reports and if timing is right
Just because there’s a rosy picture painted around topline revenue for the quarter doesn’t mean the report is all butterflies and rainbows. The company could ultimately be losing money if its spending outweighs sales. Or certain business units or products could be covering up for huge losses in others.
Work with the company’s Investor Relations team to understand if timing is right to pitch earnings, or if you should wait until another quarter. If you are pitching, IR can’t give details away on results ahead of the report itself but can provide guidance on key storylines they’ll push with analysts and any historical trends you can position to press to pique interest ahead of time.
Prepare and reach out early
Like I mentioned, earnings season is chock full of calls and announcements, which can make it difficult to vie for media attention. Coming up with a solid strategy and storyline – using the tactics above – and reaching out to press early will give reporters ample time (and reason) to consider slotting your earnings report into their busy agenda.
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