The 3 Ways to Get Press as an Adtech Company
I’m the “CEO is the chief evangelist / social content” marketing guy in adtech, so folks sometimes accuse me of saying earned media or traditional PR is dead. It’s not dead — you can certainly still get earned media as an adtech company — but it’s tough. Here’s what you’re up against:
The media gets smaller every year; the number of pitches from marketers grows. So, it’s hard to cut through the noise and get a journalist’s attention. For example, people often wax nostalgic about grabbing a martini with journalists when they visit New York City. This isn’t completely gone, but it’s rare. There are too many CEOs who want to buy the same 10 journalists martinis.
Adtech is just a piece of the advertising ecosystem that trade reporters cover, and it’s the part constantly clamoring for coverage. Brands, publishers, and to a lesser degree agencies aren’t always asking to speak to reporters, so they are the belles of the ball. By contrast, adtech companies are desperate for coverage. This is a bad dynamic — lots of companies fighting for scraps.
I’m sorry to say it, but it’s true: very few adtech companies are doing something super unique or trendy that’s of interest to a broad audience (the journalist’s readers). This makes it especially challenging to get general business press (Insider, Axios, and especially WSJ). It makes it hard to get trade press, too. Think about it from the reporter’s perspective. If you’re the 10th largest SSP or DSP, why do they want to take your quote instead of a quote from Magnite or The Trade Desk? And what are you doing or saying that is truly unique?
Well, you know my primary response to this problem. Don’t rely on earned media. Go after earned media, yes. It remains a part of the puzzle. But don’t put it at the center of your marketing and communications strategy. Instead, avail yourself of the first-party channels where you control the message and the cadence. That means going all in on LinkedIn and maybe X. It also means launching a newsletter and potentially a podcast. It may mean getting creative and partnering with creators, who might be more open to partnerships, instead of only focusing on traditional journalists.
All of that said, journalists remain a critical part of the advertising and marketing information ecosystem (I hear from some of the journalists who read this newsletter, and I read their work daily). So, how do you pitch them on a story worth covering? I think successful pitches basically fall into three buckets.
Make the customer the star of the story
As I mentioned, reporters rarely want to hear an adtech company talk about how great their own solution is. This isn’t news because it’s not credible (you’re biased in your own favor), and it doesn’t speak to actual results. However, if a brand, agency, or publisher, especially a notable one, will go on the record and vouch for your solution — especially if they say it has implications for the broader ecosystem — it might be worthy of coverage.
Consider this story by AdExchanger’s Joanna Gerber. It’s about Häagen-Dazs’ “Slow” marketing campaign, and the head of marketing at the brand is the main source for the article, but it also features the brand’s creative agency. My guess would be that the creative agency pitched it, and Häagen-Dazs is along for the ride, but the brand is the focus. Plus, the story doesn’t just say something about Häagen-Dazs but points to the continued relevance of linear TV.
That’s exactly how you pitch a story like this: get your customer (ideally brand or publisher) to go on the record, have them share their perspective and some data on the results of the collaboration, use the collaboration to say something about the broader state of the industry (e.g. linear is still relevant), and then elegantly tie in the adtech company or agency as the supporter behind the scenes powering the customer’s success.
Share data that challenges dominant narratives or uncovers wrongdoing
Adalytics has captured New York Times and Wall Street Journal coverage by providing original data and research about industry trends and alleged wrongdoing. They are the gold standard for earned media strategy no. 2: using data to challenge dominant narratives or uncover wrongdoing. This is another form of providing a service to the journalists, their readers, and the industry at large, though it takes a lot of legwork on Adalytics’ part.
Some will say, “OK, but we don’t want to be so provocative.” There are other valences to this approach that are thought-provoking but not necessarily provocative in the traditional sense. For example, let’s say that as a CTV measurement company, you have data showing men and women or Boomers and Gen Zs or city folks and rural dwellers have vastly different TV consumption habits. That’s the kind of human interest or culture story that can generate press from both the ad trades and the broader media even if it doesn’t provoke.
Shift the discourse with insights, provocation, and personality
The third approach to earn media is to leverage the “CEO is the chief evangelist” or thought leadership playbook with an eye toward gaining the attention of the press. To do this, you should probably be running the Sharp Pen playbook — i.e. your CEO needs to be visible in the market, likely on social, saying provocative or at least thought-provoking things.
For example, Mike Shields had (Sharp Pen client) Viant’s Tim and Chris Vanderhook on his Next in Media podcast. Part of this is of course to discuss what Tim and Chris are doing at Viant. But you’ll notice that the headline is “Why did we anoint Google and Apple as privacy czars?” and the focal points of the episode are Big Tech, regulation, and the direction of the industry as a whole. It’s their insights and willingness to punch up at Big Tech that earn Tim and Chris so much attention, not just Viant’s product offerings.
Another example is (Sharp Pen client) Jason Fairchild, CEO and co-founder of tvScientific, being the lead source in an AdExchanger trend piece on the Outcomes Era. Of course, tvScientific recently launched a Guaranteed Outcomes offering, so the story is relevant to their product. But the story isn’t about the product. It’s about a broader industry trend on which Jason is well disposed to comment not just due to his company’s offerings but because he is frequently out in the market on LinkedIn and his newsletter talking about outcomes-based advertising.
A third example I’d cite is (SPM client) Scope3 CEO Brian O’Kelley, who generates a tremendous amount of press coverage. Virtually every ad trade covered Scope3’s product announcements earlier this year. Is that partially because Scope3 is making a generational bet with its products and challenging billion-dollar incumbents? Yes. But it’s also because Brian posts daily on LinkedIn and commands the industry’s attention with his takes, experience, and, yes, willingness to provoke.
There Are Exceptions
You can occasionally garner news coverage for ‘announcements,’ especially if it’s particularly salient news like an acquisition or fundraising. But these announcements are few and far between, and the smaller the company, the less likely you’ll get coverage for them.
For example, partnership “announcements” generally make reporters groan. So, if you want them to be covered, you’ll need to tie them to one of the strategies above. The partnership needs to be supported by a brand or publisher testimonial, data, or a provocative stance on the industry.
Let’s Demystify Earning Press Coverage
For a lot of adtech companies (and lowly discourse merchants like me), getting a reporter’s attention sometimes feels like a great mystery. But we can demystify it. It’s not rocket science. It mostly comes down to a few tactics.
Get brands, agencies, or publishers to vouch for you, and make them the star of the show. Compile data showing the industry is changing in a way most don’t understand or haven’t been able to substantiate. Or challenge the consensus in a big, salient way that helps people understand the industry differently.
Above all, come at the press from a service-oriented perspective: how can you help the journalist’s audience better understand the industry? If it’s all about you, it won’t work, unless perhaps you’re one of the biggest companies in the industry. Otherwise, getting coverage is an act of service — not primarily to you but to the readers of the story you want to bring into the world.
