SWMS Deep-Dive, Part 3: The Toxicity of Retention Editing
February 13, 2024
3:48 am
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>> Strategies & Pitch Opps
What Bloomberg Says About Its Own Opinion Section
February 7, 2024
4:29 pm
Bloomberg last fall launched a 60-day marketing campaign with the message, “context changes everything.” In 2024 the “context’ messaging has continued, in the form of promoting Bloomberg’s opinion content.
Analysis: What’s Coming In AI Coverage, Feb.-Apr.
February 7, 2024
8:50 am
What can tech PR expect in terms of AI coverage in February, March and April? As part of a valet consulting request, a subscriber asked us to do some thinking on that. Below is what we came up with.
Layoffs Strike TechCrunch
January 30, 2024
8:24 am
TechCrunch suffered layoffs yesterday. At least five editors were affected
More Narrative Formula Examples
January 25, 2024
5:42 am
Perhaps you saw our Nov. 30 analysis of narrative story formulas that continually appear in Tier 1. The idea would be for PR pros to contour their story pitches to fit one of these formulas, since publications are writing these kinds of stories anyway.
A New Paid Opp at Enterprise Times
January 22, 2024
9:51 am
UK-based Enterprise Times has an interesting proposition this year for B2B agency folks: instead of pitching weak news and hoping for the best, why not pay for prominent publication at an affordable rate?
TechTarget and Informa Merge To Form ‘New TechTarget’
January 11, 2024
12:19 pm
Tech media changed today with the merger of TechTarget and Informa PLC, which calls itself “a leading international events, digital services and academic knowledge group.”
Three Challenges for Fortune In 2024
December 27, 2023
8:26 am
We’ve probably overcovered Fortune this year relative to other publications, but only because the 94-year-old publication outperformed everyone else in the industry. That was then. Fortune may struggle in ’24 to replicate 2023’s success. Here’s why.
Are NYT’s Contributed Posts Better Than VentureBeat’s?
December 5, 2023
7:01 am
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Deep Dive: Eight Narrative Formulas That Still Work
November 30, 2023
10:46 am
Ten years ago last month, we published a list of narrative story formulas that often showed up in Tier 1 publications. Our research back then determined that a small number of edit formulas provided structure for a large number of pitchable, high share-of-voice feature stories.
YOUR ACCOUNT
FRIDGE NOTES
Right-Wing Podcasts: Dare You Pitch Them?
November 24, 2025
The day is coming that you will not be able to avoid framing the targets in terms of red or blue. So far you’ve been able to do that. Those days are coming to a close: large swaths of “the audience” are headed in this direction. If you don’t believe it, read this from Bloomberg. You will never see better reporting than this.
GEO and AEO: Be Careful of What You Promise the Clients
November 19, 2025
Superb reporting from Business Insider on what comes after Google Search. All the experts quizzed. The gist: these technologies and techniques are borderline mythical at this point.
AI-Driven Security Threats: A Threat to Edit ‘Shelf Space’ Too?
November 18, 2025
In the latest installment of Sound Thinking...David Strom, a well-known IT reporter and security expert, discusses the threat of AI tricking security systems and luring them to catastrophe. What will that mean to editors? When will it happen? It’s not an if, it’s a when.
Nieman Labs 2026 Predictions for B2B Media
November 11, 2025
Good vision here from Jay Lauf. Interestingly, Jay suggests that B2B publishing will become a service business to B2B pros, providing value directly to individuals and organizations. Static content is dying very quickly. This is the point of the analysis from this great media organization.
SWMS ‘Sound Thinking’ Topics: Literacy Rate, Ad Trends
November 9, 2025
America can’t read anymore. The good news: advertisers can advertise against different kinds of emotion in the copy. So even if the numbers of readers drop, there are more ways to attract ads. So perhaps the bad news will get cancelled out by the good. Sam Whitmore and David Strom discuss.
Xania Rockets Up the Charts
September 22, 2025
Can you imagine not needing to be a human being to be a superstar? You may remember Max Headroom. There’s plenty of examples of technology personas, but AI is a different world altogether. Is there a tech media angle to this item? Not really, but here she is — Xania.