What Journalists Actually Want from a Fintech Press Release
Which fintech press release hits the publish button for a B2B journalist?
According to a Cision report, ‘despite 68% of journalists relying on press releases, 73% journalists say that a quarter or less of the pitches they receive are relevant to them.’ That’s 25% or fewer pitches being relevant enough to get published by journalists. So, you may be wondering what journalists look for in the B2B fintech space?
What does a publish-worthy B2B fintech press release look like?
First comes the ‘Headline’. If the headline reads: “an ‘X’ company launched product ‘Y’”, it’s probably not the best way to sell your press release.
The headline is a one-liner pitch. It must be a sweet spot between revealing the insight without giving away the story and, at the same time, asking the journalist to dig deeper into the broader industry's impact.
The hook then signals to the journalists whether the release is really worth reading. The hook must either address the solution to a prevalent issue, tie the release to current events in the industry, focus on user gain, or quantify the impact it will have on the industry.
The body of the release can follow the traditional ‘inverted pyramid’ structure, often used in journalism, boiling down the least essential details toward the end, and including the most important bits at the very top. But when it comes to B2B fintech PRs, these pointers must be kept in mind:
- Thought leadership content (e.g. quotes from the CEO) automatically positions the company as an industry leader
- Marketing your company with buzzwords and jargon can undermine the press release’s reception. Rather, journalists prefer concrete numbers - data that can resonate with the audience
- The text must be easy to read, concise and clearly structured around a strong new angle to allow journalists to swiftly identify its relevance.
After you’ve drafted a relevant, insightful release, do not ‘spray and pray’ when it comes to distribution, as this press release may not be relevant to every fintech publication. It is important to do background research on a journalist’s beat. They may specialise in institutional trading, retail trading, AI, crypto, buy-side, or sell-side. Choosing the right publication and the right journalist is essential to converting B2B fintech releases to published media.
B2B fintech press release metrics
Lastly, to understand the effectiveness of the drafted press releases, we can assess how relevant the press releases were to journalists by tracking press coverage and collecting press clippings.
If following up with journalists, measuring conversions or drafting the perfect press releases seems overwhelming, boutique, specialist agencies offer the right services to ease the process of getting a fintech press release published.
Contact us today for more details!
