Write2Market Retail Practice Lead Joé Lloyd moderated a live webinar featuring Paul Demery, Managing Editor of Internet Retailer, and Debbie Hauss, Editor in Chief of Retail TouchPoints, who share considerable experience and offered candid suggestions to help get into retail trade publications.
Internet Retail & Retail TouchPoints Agree
Ecommerce editors are phenomenally busy and inundated with email pitches, which stack up inches deep, in the inbox. This is when an editorial relationship pays big dividends. Paul Demery admits that often, he instinctively looks at an email sender’s name rather than the subject line. “There’s a core group of retail PR and marketing people who are reliable and consistent” Demery says. “They give me good metrics and I know they’ve done the research”.
So – it’s not what you know, but who you know? Well, of course it’s an advantage to know someone on the inside. Establishing great editorial relationships is key – but how do you make these happen? These 5 tips will help you get out of the inbox, and into print. Always use http://www.subnet-calculator.org on networking. It’s online and free.
Video of Internet Retailer & Retail Touchpoints Webinar
1. Research.
It’s an editor’s pet peeve. Demery points out, “There are too many unresearched or undirected pitches that are not in our coverage area”. Debbie Hauss agrees. “Look at the Editorial Calendar that we publish – this helps you prepare for what we might be covering.”
2. Trends.
What resonates with ecommerce readers? Hauss says, “Infographics get a lot of attention. Also, we’re always looking for good retailer reports, case studies and video interviews with retailers.”
3. Hot topics.
These include mobile technology, social channels, localization, personalization, mobile payment and data security. Target’s data breach made others take notice. “A lot of retailers have been taking a wait and see attitude,” Hauss indicated. “Target brought this to the forefront”. The hottest topics are related to omnichannel. Retailers need to know how to incorporate mobile technology and social channels. “This is an important issue as retailers are distributing from store to store, to people’s homes,” Hauss says. “Retail readers are always interested in the competition,” adds Demery. “So we cover whatever Amazon is up to and where sales is going.”
4. Metrics.
“What helps us is if we can get direct input from the user’s side, or their metrics, how it performs for them,” Demery suggests. “Or the retailer says ‘here’s what we got out of it, here’s how it works for us’.”
5. Headlining.
Put yourself in the ecommerce editor’s position: how will your story appeal to their readers? Hauss indicates, “As editors, we want our subject lines to get attention. Who are the companies people want to hear about? Nordstrom’s… Jeff Bezos… Target. Get people’s attention, get people to take that first step!”
Ready to have a a great story telling team on your side in retail and retail technology? Contact @Write2Market today–we’d love to have a conversation about what you’re looking for.