“Where’s our feature on the company?” isn’t a new ask. It also hasn’t been a realistic one for some time. Newsrooms are smaller, beats are broader, and hardly any reporter has room to profile a software company that isn’t in crisis or moving markets.
Sometimes B2B tech startups do get profiled. The reason is almost never the software. It’s because someone at the company has a story worth telling. Maybe they have a famous investor, a co-founder who worked at Apple for years, or a team that built the product during their country’s national crisis.
Most companies are just… companies. Yes, their people are working hard and building something new and useful, but there are thousands of others doing that, too. So stop trying to be the subject of a story and start building a spokesperson who has a story to tell.
Spokespeople must talk about more than the product
A good subject matter expert (SME) will be knowledgeable and interesting when they speak with a reporter.
I once worked with a genuinely smart and thoughtful client who would regale the team with really fascinating stories from his career, and his takes on the current state of the industry were just as good. So I secured him a Bloomberg interview. And despite the prep we offered, he talked about the product in every answer, on what was ostensibly a big-picture conversation.
It was a shame, but it wasn’t for lack of expertise. He just couldn’t stop selling long enough to be interesting.
I don’t hold that against anyone, either. Believe me, I’d rather be in my seat than theirs. Most people we work with are focused on building something new, not on being the public face of an industry. Plenty of them haven’t done more than a handful of interviews in their whole career. That’s fine, and it’s fixable. That client got a lot better, for what it’s worth.
But there’s no workaround. If your expert can’t engage, there’s no story to tell.
What a good quote is really worth
While a quote may seem like a throwaway mention, it actually presents your company’s messaging in a trusted third-party source. The intro line might read, “Jane Doe, CTO at PayerTech, which builds claims automation software for regional insurance companies.” The sentence reaffirms what your website says and presents your value statement to a larger audience.
The quote keeps working long after the story is published. Third-party mentions get indexed by AI tools and increasingly turn up in answers to questions your buyers are asking. Show up in stories consistently, and your name becomes attached to the category you want to own.
And sometimes the story turns into more than a single mention of your company. I’ve sat in on plenty of interviews where the reporter got genuinely interested in what our expert was saying and started asking about the organization’s work.
By the end, more of the conversation was about the business than the idea we pitched. But notice how it happened. The reporter brought it up because the person in front of them was worth listening to, not because we asked.
How do you build your spokesperson’s story?
Everyone has a unique story to tell. Once you identify an SME’s narrative, you can begin amplifying their perspective through a lens that’s uniquely theirs.
- Activate your spokesperson online. If your spokesperson has never said anything publicly about the industry they sell to, a reporter is rightfully going to wonder why they should talk to this person. Having them share their expertise establishes their credibility. They can share their thoughts on sites like LinkedIn or Substack or engage in discussion communities like Reddit. You can also secure speaking opportunities or webinars.
- Book podcasts. These interviews are lower stakes and generally friendly, and the format rewards someone who can think out loud. I tell new spokespeople it’ll feel more like having a chat with another pro over lunch at an industry conference than an interview with a revered news brand. I coach clients to lead with their takes on industry trends and end-user challenges, incorporating company or product messages clearly but sparingly. It’s a thoughtful conversation, not a demo. Get a few of those under their belt before you put them in front of a national reporter.
- Know their perspective and be prepared to react. Reporters work on deadlines, and I often say that a good quote today is better than a perfect quote tomorrow. The smartest person with the best take will lose to the person who seized the opportunity. Create a fast process to get pitches or quotes approved, or even better, get permission ahead of time so you’re ready to go.
None of these tactics will automatically land you the company feature. Instead, these approaches establish a person whom reporters want to call on. And sometimes, that LinkedIn post or podcast might spark an inbound request.
TLDR: Don’t prep spokespeople to talk about the product. Guide them in sharing a real opinion on the topic the reporter is already writing about.
If your company has been chasing a feature and getting nowhere, the problem probably isn’t the pitch. If you’re on your own, or your current agency isn’t pushing your experts to sharpen their point of view, PANBlast can help. Contact us to learn more about how we help spokespeople build their personas.