It’s not easy for a B2B tech company to break through with earned media.
Editorial teams continue to shrink. Only the biggest of the big tech giants is covered with regularity. And very few of tech’s dwindling media outlets dedicate resources to product news anymore.
Real-world customer stories still command attention. But we know that your most successful customers rarely give the green light on promoting your work together.
A great point-of-view or opinion piece, though, can still break through.
So how come yours keep getting rejected by shrinking editorial teams that actually depend upon contributed articles? Usually, it’s because you forgot the point. As in the sharp part.
Unfortunately, most POVs have all the ‘pointiness’ of an unsharpened Ticonderoga #2 pencil. They pack as much punch, original thinking and fresh language as a universal whole life insurance policy. So how can you put a fine edge on your POV?
Here are some tips:
You can’t delegate POV.
Executives who expect their comms staff to deliver a POV with their morning coffee and the latest sales numbers need to adjust their expectations. I have had clients ask for a POV to be developed from a corporate slide deck (which itself was developed with zero input from the executive or subject matter expert in question.) This is an utter waste of time. It’s your POV. It will be under your name. And if it’s successful, it won’t be limited to a byline. You will talk about it at keynotes, with customers, in employee all-hands, and a whole lot more. You need to participate, actively, in its development and own the core of the perspective.
Jettison the staff and find your writer/”thought partner.”
The more successful you’ve been in business, the more likely you are to have a decent-to-large staff. Inevitably, many of these individuals laugh a bit too enthusiastically at your jokes and never question you or push back. If your goal is an ongoing stream of bland POVs that never grab the short hairs of a reader’s attention, by all means involve a team in the process.
In my experience, the best POVs come to life when an executive or subject matter expert genuinely connects with a writer that “gets them.” Gets their voice. Gets their personality. Gets their intent. Executives and SMEs also thrive with a thought partner who doesn’t take things at face value. They question your assumptions. They disagree. They offer alternate viewpoints and perspectives. They probe to help you figure out what it is you’re trying to say, functioning like a whetstone against which you sharpen your best ideas. Your thought partner and writer should also bring….
An “outside-in” perspective.
You’re busy running a business, and likely consumed by it. That’s why your writer should offer you an informed perspective as to what’s happening outside the four walls of your company. What’s breaking through with the media? What conversations are driving social media engagement? What’s your competition saying and is it getting traction? Your writer should “bring the outside in,” then help you find the white space for your unique POV.
What raises your hackles?
You can’t hide passion. If you’re a founder, you probably started your business because you saw a better way to do things. What topics get you fired up? What’s the conventional wisdom that you want to dismantle and supplant? What are the causes you believe in? Finding where your passions intersect with market conversations and business goals is usually a path to a great point of view.
Be original. And embrace controversy.
I consider myself fortunate to have spent much of my “professional formative years” at Sun Microsystems in the 90s, where a master of POV and quotability, Scott McNealy, seemed to churn out something fresh and memorable every day. From simple employee directives (“Yes, we have a dress code. You have to dress.”) to brilliantly capturing industry paradigm shifts. (On the latter, many of us will never forget McNealy as “JavaMan” on the cover of Fortune. Yes, great POVs can be expressed visually, too.) McNealy also was unafraid of controversy and scathing takedowns of competitors. On HP’s merger with Compaq: “Two garbage trucks colliding in slow motion.” Ouch. Six words that dominated news coverage for months.
For most of the rest of us, coming up with new and fresh opinions and perspectives — and expressing them in uniquely memorable ways — requires time, process and collaboration with a great writer and thought partner. The good news is even the dullest blade can be honed. Is it time to put the point in your POV?
