Ep 145 - The Hot List for Consumer Tech - Are You Prepared & Ready For Outreach?

Hello and Welcome To episode 145. Today, I'm going to cover a Hot List where we're talking about all the consumer tech reporters - at least the top 10.  CES 2024 is coming up in January, and I know everyone's getting ready for the event in Las Vegas. CES is the largest consumer technology expo every year.

Be sure to check out of our Blog Post - The Tech Hotlist For Startups (LINK HERE), you'll see some of our outreach methods for events and CES. Today, we will have a quick chat about the consumer tech Hot List and who's on it, and which outlets are really the ones that are driving the most traffic and doing the most dynamic things in consumer technology.

Some tips to remember:

• Always do your background research on each reporter to identify timeliness and relevance.
• Read the reporter’s previous articles.
• Check for article collaborators who may also be good contacts for your story.
• If you’re searching for contacts, check the masthead of the media outlet which is usually on the “About us” or “Contact us” page. You may also find it in the media kit.

Our “Hot List” of breaking news reporters

The Verge, David Pierce | USA Today, Jennifer Jolly
Nicole Nguyen, WSJ | Alex Perry, Daily Beast/New Yorker
Mashable, Pete Pachel | Kim Komando
PC Magazine, Eric Zeman | Lauren Good, WIRED
Brian Chen, NY Times | David Carnoy, CNET
Alex Cranz, The Verge | Engadget, Nicole Lee

Please like & subscribe for our next episode launch.  Your support helps keep the show at the top of the charts.  Be sure to visit our website to see how we can help you with your next PR Campaign.  

Are you ready to start your list? Do you know which outlet to reach out to? Or, even how to reach out to reporters?  We're here to help answer your questions.  

Transcript

Episode 145, The Hot List for Consumer Technology 

Ronjini Joshua: Hello and Welcome To episode 145. Today, we're going to do a Hot List episode where we're talking about all the consumer tech reporters. at least the top 10, but CES is coming up in January, and I know everyone's getting hot and heavy and ready for that. And if you check out some of our newsletters, you'll see some of our outreach methods for events and ces. And so take a look at the DIY PR letter on LinkedIn, Subscribe, Please, share, we are trying to reach a thousand subscribers, but today, we're gonna have a quick chat about the consumer Tech Hot List and who's on it, and which outlets are really the ones that are driving the most traffic and doing the most dynamic things in consumer technology. Some tips to remember when you are pitch, In your

Ronjini Joshua: reporters is number one. Always do your own background research. I'm putting together. A list that I feel is a hot list. However, everyone has their own reasons why they like certain reporters and so you might feel like so there's another reporter that's a little bit more. Focused on your area or your niche. And so that's something to remember number two. Make sure you read the ers previous articles. make sure that you're doing again, background research on the reporter and that you're checking out what they've written in the past, what kind of consumer tech they're interested in and how they actually position themselves when they're writing? Because that might give you a little bit of a preview and a hint on how they're going to write something for Third check for article collaborators, who may also be good contacts for your story. So sometimes

Ronjini Joshua: Especially in the consumer tech space, you're working with the common commerce team and so there's multiple people that are covering that same story. So, don't just focus on the first name that you see, maybe check out a few of the other names and see who might be the best fit. Let's say you're doing a pet tech product, you're gonna want to pick someone who has a pet, you're gonna want to know what that pet's name is and you're gonna want to send them something. We did really cool project years back and we focus on technology or consumer tech reporters that had pets because we're working on a 3D printing machine, and we made Collars one for dogs which was a bone and one for cats which is a fish and the 3D printed their names on there. So it was really cool and we got to personalize those little gifts and send them out to the media so they could see what the 3D printer could do. This was back when 3D printers were hot last but not least if you're searching for contacts.

Ronjini Joshua: And contact information, check the masthead, About the Contact Us page on the website that you're going to. A lot of times. Let's say For example, Techcrunch has all of their contacts on the Contact Us page or them, I think it's

Ronjini Joshua: The team about the team editorial team or something I forget what it's called, but check those pages because a lot of times you can just grab their email information right on the website. Don't be afraid to use a contact form, either. A lot of times they do respond to the contact form. So try those methods. Don't think you're not gonna reach someone you will reach someone. If you don't know who to go to, I always tell you Go to the managing editor, so I wouldn't do the editorial director or the publisher. Those guys are not going to care, but the managing editor might have a little bit more of an interest softer touch, and also, they guide the editors and the mana writing teams. So, managing editor could be the purse, first one. So those are some tips to remember before we dive into our hot list. the first person I'm gonna dive into is David Pierce.

Ronjini Joshua: With the verge he's been across the gamut with mostly consumer facing outlets, I believe he was with New York Times for a moment. So right now, he's with the verge, We have USA todays, Jennifer Jolly one of my personal favorites. She is a consumer tech reporter. She also started her own site techish. She has been doing consumer tech for probably as long as I've been doing PR so more than a couple of decades and she's just a pleasure to work with. And when she does cover the product, she is so great and in-depth with those products. Nicole, Winn, with The Wall Street Journal. She's also very interested in new innovations. She wants some things that are fresh and different. So if you have a new consumer product that is fresh and different has a cool kind of aspect to it. She likes kind of the cool edgy stuff.

00:05:00

Ronjini Joshua: We've got Alex Perry, he's with the Daily Beast and the New Yorker. I think he does a little freelance on both. So some of these reporters or journalists Might cover multiple outlets we're looking at mashables Pete Patchel, so Mashable has a little bit of a different model. They have such a wide reach and Mashable is actually one of my favorite success stories that we've had with a Consumer Tech product. We've got a series of videos and a series of articles with them and is actually the widest reach we could have ever had. But now

Ronjini Joshua: Their e-commerce team really focuses a lot on optimizing and monetizing their content. So you're gonna need to have an Amazon affiliates account or some kind of affiliate account. And then, a lot of times, I want to say most of their stuff is paid content, and you might not know it because they put it in a way where it doesn't seem so obvious, which is great for Mashable. But I think it's been harder and harder at least as a PR person to work with Mashable over the past few years. If you're heading to CES Mashable is one of those outlets that has a stage and is interviewing interesting new companies that are launching big products. So that's something to be aware of

Ronjini Joshua: PC magazine, Eric Zeman I've been working with Eric for years and years. He used to be a mobility reporter. I used to work in Telecom and so he's kind of graduated amongst the ranks and does consumer tech for PC magazine Lauren Good. She's been at Wired for years and she's a great reporter and contact to have Cnet. If you want to review of your product, David Carney is the guy if you can get him. That's great. But seen it has become a little bit more. Meticulous about the products that they select and more picky about the availability of the product. So, just make sure you're in a really good position before you send your product to them, they will be brutally, honest, and objective with your product and just make sure that you have all your kind of selling points there. And that you are really differentiated in the market, when you reach out to CNET.

Ronjini Joshua: Brian Chen. I don't know if he does off duty or just regular New York Times but New York Times. reporter personal tech columnist. You'll see him in the print paper, I can speak the print paper and online. So Brian Chen is a great contact to have Alex Krantz at the verge. I love the verge for cool consumer products. So Alex, Kranz is one of the editors there, there's many of them. So again do your research and then last but not least and there's a whole host of tech and consumer tech publications. But these are the ones I picked. For this one, it's in gadget Nicole, Lee and Gadget has always been one of my personal favorite and with that drives a lot of traffic and does a great job of reviewing new and interesting products and their team is just lovely to work with. So all of these guys, I want to say are going to be

Ronjini Joshua: Es coming up, you might want to start pitching them? And also, if you have a new product launch, give them a heads up. Remember the media needs at least three to four weeks crap, if you're gonna ask them for a review. So keep that in mind. When you're doing your launch profiles, I gave you guys. One, two, three, four, five, six, twelve, awesome, consumer tech contacts, I give you 11. You consumer tech contacts. I go hope you guys have the best of luck. Check out some of our blogs on how to pitch them. And if you have any questions, you can always email me ronjini at the Silver Telegram.com and I will see you next time.

Meeting ended after 00:09:16 👋