Who gets the interview?

by Dan Sondhelm

SunStar has relationships with key financial journalists across all the major financial and business publications. While most of our work centers on proactively presenting our clients, often the tables are turned and journalists ask us to provide experts for stories they working on.

Recently, a marketing manager from a Texas-based firm asked me a two part question: how does SunStar decide which client gets the opportunity and do we accept clients that compete in the same space?

Here’s what I told him: We are specialists in growing mutual funds and asset managers. The work we do attracts investors, strengthens distribution and builds brands. As specialists, we are constantly looking for the right press coverage and marketing efforts at the right time to help our clients grow.

SunStar has over 30 clients, so of course there is some product overlap. For example, many of our clients offer large cap value funds or small cap core funds. We have a process in place that ensures they each get excellent press coverage. In fact, our portfolio of excellent spokespeople helps our clients generate even more coverage. Let me explain how each client gets their share of press coverage.

Along with our management team of three, we have eight senior account executives (SAE’s) who work with the financial media. Each client has two SAE’s working for them. One of their goals is to regularly generate press coverage for each client by persuading reporters that their clients have a good story to tell.

In general press coverage happens in two ways.

1) Proactive: Your SAE contacts a relevant reporter with your themes and messages tailored to his/her needs. Your SAE attempts to show her that your story is newsworthy. If the journalist is interested, there tends to be more flexibility in scheduling an interview because the story idea was ours. This strategy is a great way to get your story out, build relationships with the press and generate coverage now and in the future.

There is no substitute for a proactive strategy. For example, while investors and reporters are interested in one of your funds, you might believe your second fund is the one that will outperform over the next few years. Only a proactive pitch focusing on that second fund that includes your investment process and key themes will help you get that attention. It could take a long time for reporters to “discover” that fund on their own.

2) Reactive: Because we know the journalists who cover our industry very well and are proactively contacting them on behalf of all our clients, journalists regularly contact us looking for information because they know we can help them quickly. In a reactive scenario, the journalist controls the subject matter and the interview deadline but it’s still an excellent opportunity for our clients to earn news coverage.

Typically, SunStar is contacted for 10-20 media requests per week for quick access to our portfolio of experts. CNBC, Investment News and The Wall Street Journal, among others, are regularly among those who want access to our clients.

Consider these likely scenarios for how clients are included in media interviews when journalists initiate the interest:

1) A journalist calls one of our SAEs for information on a particular client. Perhaps the journalist found your fund listed on a performance chart or a chart of top holdings for a security. Maybe he or she met someone on your team at a conference or had a preexisting relationship. These interviews go to that client first. If that manager isn’t available or declines or if that journalist wants to also interview another fund manager who can talk about that theme or trend, the SAE will communicate the request to our team of SAEs who will try to take advantage of the interview opportunity for their clients on a first- come, first-served basis.

2) A journalist will contact an SAE looking for information on various topics, but doesn’t have a person in mind. If that SAE works with a client who can quickly comment, that client will be contacted with the opportunity. If not, or if that person isn’t available or declines, the request is put out to our entire team of SAEs who will try to take advantage of the interview opportunity for their clients on a first-come, first-served basis.

3) While a SAE is proactively calling a journalist with a persuasive client story, that journalist instead expresses interest on another topic for story with an imminent deadline. If that SAE has a client that is a good fit, the client will be contacted. If not, or if that person isn’t available or declines, the request is put out to our entire team of SAEs who will try to take advantage of the interview opportunity for their clients on a first-come, first-served basis.

4) A client lets their SAE know a journalist called directly for a story, but the client wants to politely decline. That SAE will contact the reporter for more details and offer a client that is a good fit. If that client is unavailable or also declines, the request is put out to our entire team of SAEs who will try to take advantage of the interview opportunity for their clients on a first-come, first-served basis.

In all cases, we do our best to ensure that all our clients are presented with meaningful opportunities to tell their story while solidifying relationships with industry journalists.