From your executive’s first-person perspective to their outfit, here’s how to get Business Insider’s attention.
Your executive’s style could earn them a hit in Business Insider.
That’s just one of the many ways PR pros can get them into the pages of the digital publication, according to four newsroom leaders.
“We really believe business news should be fascinating, because business is about people,” said Cadie Thompson, deputy news chief and executive editor. “Ultimately, it’s about their ambitions, it’s about their successes, their failures, their turning points, and we try to focus on that.”
For instance, Business Insider covers fashion and style. But it does so through the lens of what that says about ambition and power.
“We’re decoding trends and status symbols,” said Joi-Marie McKenzie, editor in chief of the Life team. “We’re looking at what ambitious people are wearing and then curating that.”
That can mean getting powerful people to share their beauty secrets, diving into the perception of wearing designer clothes at work, or photographing the style on display at Davos or Cannes.
McKenzie described this as one of their “buzziest” features and invited people to bring their stylish clients to the upcoming event in Cannes.
But don’t think this makes Business Insider a lightweight publication. The publication touted stats that 19% of their audience is made up of senior executives — higher than the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Forbes. Their average reader is 40 years old but has a household income of $178,000. And while 42 million unique users come to their website monthly, they also have 275 million followers across social media and 1.2 million newsletter subscribers.
“Our readers are smart, they are curious, they’re ambitious and they’re driven in their personal lives and their work lives,” said Thompson. “They’re always looking for a way to get ahead, and you can really see that reflected in the data.”
The editorial team shared an in-depth look on the kinds of pitches they want during a special newsroom event during the PR Daily Conference.
To pitch Business Insider effectively, PR pros should offer access to credible experts, first-person accounts, visually rich stories, recurring franchise candidates and leaders who can speak to workplace change, AI, marketing, money, style or status.
Here are a few more things Business Insider is looking for from PR pitches.
What does Business Insider look for in pitches?
- Multiple editors stressed the importance of PR professionals in connecting them to the people, stories and space their audiences want to understand. “Access is often what we’re looking for,” explained head of video Barbara Corbellini Duarte. “We’re looking for access to experts, founders, small and big businesses and anything that is really, really visual to watch.” This might mean letting the video crew in to film a factory or introducing them to an up-and-coming executive for their “Rising Stars” series.
- Sources for reoccurring stories. Business Insider has leaned hard into franchised content series, where the same topic is repeatedly explored in depth. These require a constant stream of great sources, opening tons of potential for PR pros looking to highlight a certain executive or aspect of the business. These include:
- CMO Insider: Interviews with marketers and videos on trends
- Rising Stars: Highlighting Wall Street’s up-and-comers
- Power Hours: A more personal look into the daily routines of executives
- Tiny Teams: How businesses with fewer than 10 employees are using AI
- Speakers at live events. Business Insider has a robust live events vertical, with interviews playing out in person on stage. Kim Last, editorial director of BI Live, said among the subjects they’re especially interested in are: “It’s chief people and HR officers really looking to change and restructure the workplace. It’s tech leaders who are really driving the next chapter of what AI is going to look like, both culturally but also within the workplace. And then, of course, it is our sweet spot, CMOs and marketing leaders who are really pushing that next chapter growth in their organizations.”
- First-person stories and as-told-to essays. Business Insider is looking for sources who can explain a bigger trend through lived experience. “These formats allow us to move beyond the headlines and really show and help readers understand what a trend actually looks and feels like on the ground.”
Business Insider is eager to work with comms pros to tell better stories — leaving plenty of potential.
“We can’t do those stories without great communicators and PR professionals like yourself,” said Thompson. “So we need access to experts, smart people.”
Allison Carter is editorial director of PR Daily and Ragan.com. Follow her on LinkedIn.
The post The best way to pitch Business Insider, direct from their editors appeared first on PR Daily.
