by The central component of any effective asset management public relations strategy is to connect with top-tier and trade journalists covering the financial markets. Coverage in publications like Bloomberg, Barron’s, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and Pensions & Investments is strategically important for growing brand awareness with key audiences: it’s where institutional investors and financial advisors are getting their news every day.
The good news is that there are a lot of opportunities for asset managers to engage with journalists. Markets are always moving, and reporters covering U.S. equities and bonds (amongst other asset classes) highly value the insights that portfolio managers and analysts contribute to their stories.
To help firms land regular, high-quality coverage, there are five key principles that we advise spokespeople to stick to when engaging with the media.
1. Go Beyond the Facts and Provide a Perspective
Reporters, even those who have been covering the financial markets for a long time, value experts who anchor their analysis and commentary in data, for example, figures from a stock’s recent earnings release or the latest labor market report. But that’s not enough. In order to successfully position themselves as thought leaders, spokespeople must provide a differentiated point of view that goes beyond stating facts or consensus opinion.
An expert can offer multiple vantage points on the same issue. This might involve focusing the lens closer to dissecting an issue’s component parts or pointing to matters that are reliant on or impacted by it. For instance, answering the question ‘if the job market is slowing down, what factors are contributing to the degree and pace of the decline?’
In other cases, it can be valuable to take a step back and explain how a current trend sits within the broader landscape and what may be on the horizon. Or ‘what does the relative job market decline across sectors suggest about the likelihood of a recession in the next six months?’.
Taking an analytical approach to the conversation provides reporters with a more comprehensive understanding of the firm’s point of view and more choice over the angle that they end up covering.
2. Stay Quotable by Speaking in Full Sentences
When it comes to citing expert sources, reporters are looking for vivid and succinct sound bites that they can lift directly from a conversation. Therefore, it is important for spokespeople to balance getting their point across concisely while providing any necessary details and explanation.
One technique that we recommend is signposting important information for the reporter with phrases like “the one thing investors should watch out for is…” or summarizing the key takeaway at the end of an answer. This helps the reporter to know when to listen closely and makes it easy to refer back to their notes or transcript.
It is also important to speak in complete sentences rather than ‘trains of thought’. Multiple asides or caveats can make it challenging for reporters to piece together points from a conversation. This is a technique that can also encourage speakers to be more thoughtful and precise with what they’re saying, minimizing the risk of confusion or misinterpretation.
3. Remain Within the Boundaries of Your Expertise
Generally, media interviews are set up with a particular topic in mind and based on an understanding of the spokesperson’s expertise. However, conversations can naturally stray into unexpected areas. When this happens, it’s important for spokespeople to remain within the appropriate boundaries of what they can speak on.
This may involve gently advising the reporter that “I cannot comment on that particular issue, but…” and bringing the conversation back to a relevant topic. Providing a response without relevant expertise could risk damaging the firm’s reputation in the long run, either with the individual reporter or more widely if published. Conversely, remaining within the four corners of the firm’s expertise reinforces a reporter’s understanding of what they can write about.
4. Avoid Overt Self-Promotion
Media coverage increases brand awareness with target audiences. Yet, it’s important to remember that the reporter’s job is to report on the news, not to provide free advertising. Unless the interview has been set up to discuss a product or strategy, or the reporter specifically asks, we advise spokespeople to take a step back and offer their firm’s view of an issue, not its ‘solution’.
For example, avoid statements like “many investors are concerned about market volatility, which is why they should invest in our fund”. Instead, spokespeople should consider more subtle ways of highlighting their firm’s strengths: “Strategies that focus on high-quality companies tend to offer investors greater resilience in times of high volatility”.
The goal is to provide valuable insights that help the reporter tell a compelling story, rather than overtly pushing a product or service. This approach is genuine, builds trust, and can lead to more opportunities for media coverage in the future.
5. Be Timely and Responsive
Perhaps the most important principle of all is to be timely. Reporters can work with very tight deadlines, particularly when covering breaking news or market movements. Being able to make time for a quick conversation with a reporter on short notice can be the reason that a firm has a voice in a big news story.
Timeliness also means being proactive and anticipating needs. If there’s a major market event or trend that’s relevant to a firm’s expertise, this is an opportunity to reach out to reporters and offer insights. Proactive outreach demonstrates a firm’s engagement and knowledge of current events, which reinforces its credibility and relevance to reporters.
It is important that the short-term goal of getting immediate media coverage does not lead firms to overlook their long-term strategy for building meaningful relationships with the media. Not every interview will result in coverage. However, over time, being a reliable and insightful source will help build a strong reputation with reporters, which will pay dividends in the long run.