Why editorial coverage shapes AI recommendations…

Forever and a day, earned media was viewed as a non-paid and powerful, credible layer in the brand marketer toolbox. It served as a highly intrusive form of communication that already nailed the attention of its audience. Journalism offers a respected third-party voice that intrinsically administers trust and belief in an environment where consumers increasingly tune out self-serving selling messages.

Now the brand communication game plan is evolving as the rapidly escalating use of agentic AI operates as a source of direct guidance and recommendations on purchase decisions. LLMs learn and then report after crawling sources used to inform their analysis.

Editorial media is performing a dual role as a third-party validation of claims made by brands, while also serving as a supplier of important information that teach LLMs. The next time a consumer asks an AI chatbot for a recommendation on pet food, nutritional beverages, or electric vehicles, the advice they receive will be subtly shaped by the journalism the brand PR team has secured.

Editorial coverage is no longer just about influencing brand perceptions. It now plays a foundational role in training and informing the AI models that millions are relying on for trusted guidance.

The rise of Agentic AI and its insatiable need for trustworthy data

AI systems —like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, or Pi—are operating as autonomous agents and advisors that provide people with personalized recommendations, context, and insights. These systems rank and recommend based on patterns of trustworthiness they consume through crawlers. These unseen digital knowledge vacuums do this by prioritizing sources considered authoritative including consumer, business and trade media.

Key to managing the agentic AI voice is knowing that LLMs perform their ranking and recommending through data they encounter in ‘patterns of trustworthiness’. LLMs train on vast datasets that include publicly available text across journalism, Wikipedia, Reddit, and the open web. The models are continuously updated through tech called ‘Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback’. News stories, product reviews, and media analysis all contribute to that learning loop.

Are you managing the loop?

Here are some examples of trusted teachers in LLM training sets:

• Editorial media publishers and broadcasters like CNN, Bloomberg, NYT, Reuters, The Guardian
• Trade publications (via open-access syndication or licensed content)
• Company press releases published by high-authority domains (PR Newswire, BusinessWire, etc.)  — now elevated in their importance

The influence of PR multiplies from people to platforms

Coverage by respected editorial outlets delivers not only consumer-facing credibility but input data that engages AI-generated opinions and summaries. Unlike social content or ads, published editorial stories live in perpetuity across syndicated news wires, re-aggregated media platforms, and crawled databases.

A well-placed story in Food Dive or Forbes can ripple across multiple LLMs as they use that content to better understand product categories and brand claims.

“If you’re not appearing in credible editorial sources, there’s a good chance the next AI assistant won’t know much about you—or worse, it may learn something inaccurate.” — Noah Giansiracusa, author of “How Algorithms Create and Prevent Fake News”

Practical implications for brands

In addition to analysis of the levels of influence on brand reputation and belief, and the legacy data collection around non-paid impressions, Public Relations now stands at the front gate of managing GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) outcomes.

Trade coverage isn’t just about reaching trade partners.

Business media isn’t just about informing investors.

Consumer media isn’t only about building awareness of product benefits.

All of these are also working in tandem to bring your brand background to AI crawlers. This can be organized, optimized and delivered with intention and best practices towards assuring agentic AI recommendations are correctly, accurately, fully telling your brand and product story.

New goals for PR

Not just about reach or impressions – it now includes visibility in trusted training data ecosystems. GEO best practices will put greater emphasis on the value and importance of —

• Trade media coverage as a resource for more, in-depth analysis thorough reports on new product innovations, key messaging, positioning and other important information that vertical media typically report on.
• Thought leadership articles and by-lined op-eds often published in the same trade channels. These stories convey added texture and leadership for your brand and its role in culture, innovation, research and social issues.
• Data-backed press releases. Releases start out as invitations to a story. Now their importance advances as a device for informing AI advisers. This means press releases should go on the wires regardless of whether the story topic warrants broad distribution, because again, crawlers are consuming the output of credible news platforms like BusinessWire and PR Newswire. Note: LLMs like facts, reports, charts and other data that gives your story context and proof.

Audit and optimize for “AI crawl-ability”

An entire new area of best practices is surfacing to better assure earned media is optimal in this environment of influencing agentic learning:

• Accurate brand/product naming
• Structured context (quotes, data, headlines)
• Syndication and backlinks to brand content

Enabling alongside an ecosystem of owned and aligned content

Same rules apply to owned and social channels with the same considerations in how stories are told and what information is presented in a supporting, confirming role. Strengthen the signal by pairing PR wins with:

• Company blogs optimized for GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
• Expert-authored LinkedIn content
• Wikipedia/Google Knowledge Panel upkeep

Here’s an example of how this might play out

1. A pet food brand lands an article in Pet Age about ingredient sourcing.
2. The article is crawled by Perplexity and Anthropic’s Claude.
3. Six months later, those same AI systems cite the article when users ask about “sustainable dog food.”
4. Result: organic traffic has moved from Google to conversational AI, driving new customer recommendations from a trusted voice.

The significance of this shift brings new meaning and value to the importance of earned media outreach campaigns, alongside efforts to assess, manage and monitor what LLMs think they know about your brand and business (more on this vital topic in our next issue of ETR). A third party is now showing up between your brand and the consumer to provide trusted guidance, without consumers ever visiting your web site.

You can immediately visualize the importance of managing how your brand shows up in agentic AI recommendations — and the ability of your earned media strategies to help influence those assessments.

If this story raises questions about how best to optimize and adjust your strategies to stay relevant in the agentic AI game of influence, use the link below to ask questions.

Looking for more food for thought? Subscribe to the Emerging Trends Report.

Bob Wheatley is the CEO of Chicago-based Emergent. Traditional brand marketing often sidesteps more human qualities that can help consumers form an emotional bond. Yet brands yearn for authentic engagement, trust and a lasting relationship with their customers. For more information, contact Bob@Emergent-Comm.com and follow on Twitter @BobWheatley.

What does AI believe, say, recommend about your brand and business?

What happens when agentic AI steps in as the authoritative source of information and credible recommendations about brands, products, claims, technology, formulations, ingredient sourcing and emerging health/wellness issues – bypassing any need to visit your website at the start of an exploratory journey? Think for a moment about the implications of a super well-informed digital advisor making trusted recommendations to consumers based on its own assessment of your brand and product strengths vs. competitive choices. We’re standing at the edge of nothing less than a transformative shift in how people and trade partners get information, find solutions and make decisions.

To succeed in the era of LLMs, brands must now optimize for AI agents—not just customers.

• More than 50% of Internet traffic is now populated by non-humans — AI crawlers operating out of sight on a subterranean highway of digital data collection, scouring every available channel to train and inform LLMs so they can be instantly summoned to dispense informed recommendations.
• Unlike any previous technology generation such as Google search, AI speaks to its users in an authoritative, empathetic voice while supplying answers and a point of view. Yes, this is a machine, but we say it again — with solutions and recommendations — from a source that isn’t your brand saying it. A smart source that over time will get more and more familiar with customer needs, aspirations and desires. It never forgets, never sleeps and remembers every detail about preferences, concerns and prior conversations.

Will consumers and trade partners make decisions, form impressions based on what they read or hear from an AI guide? Likely. Could this become reflexive and embedded behavior? Yes.

Managing agentic AI in the battle for trust and influence

What does AI know and believe about your brand and product line?

Your company?

Your technology expertise?

What will it say about your formulations and claims?

What will it recommend?

Is the narrative accurate?

Is your brand story presented in the best light possible?

What portion of your key messaging came through?

What’s missing?

Will your customers trust this on-tap source and rely on it?

This is not a phase, a passing fad or a novelty. It is business infrastructure, and it’s about to change everything including your strategy, marketing and comms game plan.

Over the past 30 years, the phrase “Google it” emerged with the revolutionary idea that any answer was just a web inquiry away. Over the past few years we’re also hearing, “Ask your AI.” Google search links still require effort and time to investigate, collect, digest and assess.

This week I requested AI help to find a hotel near the University campus where my daughter will attend this fall as we prepared to join her freshman orientation. In seconds I got a list of options, then a filter of those choices based on AI’s assessment of the best deal, location and quality plus an offer to assist with booking. Follow-up questions for clarity were answered in seconds with refinements. The process was easy, painless, quick, convenient and presented in an authoritative and helpful voice.

• I went with it. Done and done. For a travel and hospitality brand, or any other business really, you have to be concerned about the presence of a machine that doesn’t behave like a machine gaining a recurring trusted role as arbiter and sage of risk-free choice.

All of this potentially happens without anyone first visiting your web site or social channels. This begs the question of how to control and enable your brand narrative — when an unseen army of AI bots are hoovering everything available, good or bad, right or wrong to formulate its own assessment of your brand and business from what it collects.

An AI mandated moment of truth

The AI agent era flips the script—you don’t search for information – that information comes to you through an intelligent liaison that knows what stakeholders want.

We’ve reported previously on the pervasive levels of uncertainty and anxiety consumers are facing right now. What do they want above all? The return of certainty and a sense of control. Can agentic AI offer a resurgence of perceived control? It’s quite possible that this pipeline from mountains of aggregated data digested and served up in conversational recommendation form could become a trusted partner — when everything else often appears to be self-serving, biased and often requires burning mental calories to unearth and evaluate.

New platforms designed to monitor, gain intel and help inform LLM crawlers

If you want to know the details of what LLMs believe about your brand, new tools have emerged to help bring detailed understanding of what AI agents think they know about your business. From there you’re in a better position to design content that is AI crawler friendly. This will help assure your brand, claims and formulation story is coming across correctly, supplemented with monitoring to see how that plays out in real time.

Out of fear of losing control over brand IP, some businesses may be tempted to erect digital barriers to bot crawling access. However, that also risks ceding future control and diluting the ability to manage a conversation that’s gaining increasing traction among consumers who are going to get more and more comfortable with seeking out AI sponsored advice.

Better to manage this than leave it alone and hope your brand is properly presented, recommended and the story being told is accurate and complete.

With that in mind, LLM engines prioritize the following brand content characteristics:

• Language. LLMs like to navigate rich, conversational text such as blog posts and newsletters, more so than webinars or embedded images.
• Agentic-optimized structure. Prioritized lists, definitions, and guides make it easier for LLMs to synthesize and summarize information.
• Clean, scrapable web sites. Accurate, fully indexed web sites are better than keyword optimization or navigating older legacy pages designed to elevate site authority.
• Third-party earned authority. Outside publications, external media and expert commentary can help confirm, verify and validate your brand story and value proposition.
• Deep customer conversations away from your site. The presence of external reviews and forums generates authoritative mentions, backlinks, and credibility.

Elevating importance of earned (editorial) media to credibility and trust

Whatever your brand states and claims remains an assertion – of what you want people to believe about your brand, business standards, unique strengths and added value. Running alongside the advice of agentic AI, and also a part of its assessment structure, is the increasing importance of third-party credible endorsement.

Journalism and reporting are third party evaluation of what you claim from a respected source. Earned media will play an increasingly important role in the agentic eco-system, operating in two directions as an added authority in what LLMs process, and as an independent voice that validates and verifies what you want stakeholders to believe. PR has always been important resource for credible third-party evaluation. Now it has added gravitas in the system of informing LLMs and also providing a trusted resource consumers also look to for affirmation.

The one-two punch of LLM crawler optimization and earned media outreach forms a formidable strategic foundation for brand storytelling in the era of AI advisory.

Next gen strategies to manage an LLM informed future

LLMs can circumvent brands, cutting them out of directing the consideration process before they even know a consumer is investigating. Thus, why adapting current strategies to engage LLM crawlers can build a virtuous, holistic solution. Optimized web content, earned, and social media leads to better AI references, greater trust and engagement, and prioritization in LLM assessments.

Considerations on the AI crawler journey

It’s time to systematically evaluate how LLMs will impact customer consideration, and how that will change go-to-market strategies. Engaging with new AI crawler intel, analysis and impact tools can help build a fluid map of the customer buying journey alongside an AI-engaged buyer journey, and how brands will show up in AI-powered search engines. While LLMs and AI-powered search are constructed on similar inputs, they can produce radically different results and outcomes. An LLM scorecard can help your brand identify the areas of greatest need and inform the tools designed to secure the optimal brand story and recommendation.

Adapting your strategy to engage LLMs will create a virtuous eco-system: Strong internal, earned, and social content will lead to more AI references, greater trust and engagement, and further prioritization in LLM queries.

If you’re wondering how these developments will impact your business and what’s the best path to navigate an agentic AI informed future, use the link below to ask questions and start an informal conversation.

Looking for more food for thought? Subscribe to the Emerging Trends Report.

Encountering the media with intention and strategy…

More than at any other time in the history of modern corporate leadership imperatives, CEOs have moved well beyond their traditional roles in fiscal, operational leadership and legacy focus on rewarding investors. CEOs have transitioned to also being the visionary voice of brand mission, higher purpose, and guidance on societal, political, environmental, diversity and other piping hot and at times polarizing issues.
 
To be sure it can be uneasy territory, filled with potential potholes and existential challenges. However, times have changed and if you don’t change with them, well, you’re in trouble. Our goal here is to help parse the right path forward, one that leads to successful outcomes when it feels like the critic hounds are already barking at the door.

“It is not the critic who counts. Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”   Teddy Roosevelt.
 
What’s changed – culture and expectation
 
Gone are the days when CEOs could stay largely out of range while corporate communication teams handled all the media inquiries and published statements. Leaders are expected to be out in front with a clear point of view about issues that impact their industry, society and even the world at large.

• Here we will provide a framework for how to operate in an uncertain media environment that demands a point of view from leaders not only on business and balance sheet progress, but positions concerning society’s most pressing and complex challenges.

CEOs will rely on communications and corporate affairs teams to help navigate the complexities of modern business society, politics and culture. That said, knowing the rules of the road can help refine decision making and performance in this context.
 
The new spotlight-intense environment for business leaders
 
Prior to the ‘glass house’ in which businesses now operate in the digital era, many in the C-suite sought to avoid saying anything in the public domain about a sensitive issue or controversial event. The goal to remain as “Switzerland” as possible – neutral to any provocative issue that leaned into opposing camps and divergent opinions.
 
Today however, stakeholders expect the CEO to weigh in on challenges from sustainability progress and global warming to the impact of wars and weather anomalies on supply chain disruption, even the advent of new technologies like AI and biotechnology advances that may change the shape of an entire industry.
 
For their part, consumers demand that businesses bring more than commerce to the marketplace. They expect to see beliefs, values and a useful point of view on challenging conditions such as food insecurity, standards of living and public policy on ESG, DEI initiatives, ageism, LGBTQ+ rights and reforms. Of course, this means accepting that it is no longer possible to please all of the people, all of the time.
 
A classic example of this new visibility came to light in Chicago during the recent International Manufacturing Technology Show — IMTS 2024 – when the Chicago Tribune published an editorial about a startling statement on America’s workforce made by Apple CEO Tim Cook. Working to correct a popular belief that companies manufacture in China because of low labor costs, Cook declared, “the reason is because of the skill, and the quantity of skill in one location.” He added: “In the U.S., you could have a meeting of tooling engineers, and I’m not sure we could fill the room. In China, you could fill multiple football fields.” Said the Tribune, “Based on the latest numbers, there has never been a time when the need to match job seekers with the nation’s most needed jobs has been as critical.”
 
A tougher stage: politics
 
If you are Elon Musk, you might feel compelled to take on highly politicized positions without any concern over how the organizations and businesses you lead will respond to the statements you make. However, for most top executives this paradigm does not exist. That said, there are important reasons to weigh in with perspective on more sensitive issues.
 
In a recent Fast Company download about this development, Daniella Ballou-Aares, founder and CEO of business membership organization the Leadership Now Project said, “reinforcing the legitimacy of elections rises above partisanship. It’s a commitment to uphold the rule of law, reinforcing trust in American institutions and strengthening the economy.”  

What’s in it for business? For one you might agree companies are dependent on an enduring system of laws, even as some may bemoan or seek to circumvent regulations. Government instability can lead to downgrades to the U.S. credit rating and foment market volatility. Meanwhile uncertainty over election outcomes and potential changes in regulations and policy can interfere with a clear path on capital expenditure decisions and long-term planning.  

We are all operating now in the midst of deep distrust in institutions including media and government. Knowing this, businesses have an opportunity to support voting and civic engagement in a positive and constructive way. Alan Fleischmann, founder of global CEO advisory firm Laurel Strategies said, “many CEOs I know and work with are encouraging their teams to exercise their right to vote while promoting civility and mutual support.”

Consumers respect honesty

People desperately want businesses to rise above a perceived myopic preoccupation with balance sheet demands to recognize they have a legitimate role on societal challenges such as global warming and the impact of wars on quality of life both here and abroad.
 
Recent studies reinforce that people truly respect businesses that are open and transparent about the challenges they face in meeting sustainability and emissions goals. This humanizing of the corporate façade is an open invitation to bringing assessment and contributions to the public discourse. What do people seek in this context? Truth and transparency.

Your call to action: courage, honesty, integrity and being on the side of the angels

When we operate from a foundation of empathy and compassion for the welfare of people and the world around us, audiences are drawn to this voice and character of communication. Practically speaking it means dialing down jargon and complex arguments in favor of simple storytelling that respects those receiving the message.

When you are in alignment with your corporate higher purpose and with the publics’ best interests at heart, you are “on the side of the angels.” This positioning can free you to speak with confidence and compassion about what you believe is right.

Process of preparation

In the same way we invest heavily in the work underneath building a new brand narrative, its vital you collaborate with your communications team to do the homework and due diligence around fully understanding the most pressing issues you should be prepared to weigh in on. Stakeholder research can be a significant contributor to decisions in this area.

Some of the narrative will be related directly to the operations and conduct of the business you lead. Other topics will reflect your belief system as a company and what you think is important on issues where your organization has a stake in the outcome – and where the topic is relevant to your new role as a respected voice in society.

These story platforms can be mapped out with key messages and alternative approaches for discussion internally. From our perspective, we stop short of scripting the entire story line because too often it promotes antiseptic memorization that lacks the authentic human voice.

Keys to stronger communication outcomes:

Be real

This may read as an offbeat example, but the Olympics gave us a shining model of authenticity from an unexpected source. Of note, authenticity is vital to how a CEO is perceived in the glare of the media spotlight.

During the Paris games a new sports presenter emerged: Snoop Dog. Note that Snoop didn’t change who he was to fit his commentator role. Instead, he embraced his persona, delivering his perspective with a signature laid-back style and his own observational humor. This authentic delivery fostered a tangible connection with the viewing audience that felt like they were watching a friend, not just another sports analyst.

Too often, we think the media milieu means reliance on scripted, one-size-fits-all language that isn’t designed to truly connect emotionally with the target audience. CEOs need to think about how they relate to core stakeholders, ensuring their voice resonates as genuine, relevant and personal. People gravitate to people they trust, and trust is built on authenticity. 

Be human

People prize honesty and truth. They respect confident and open individuals who aren’t afraid to admit mistakes or acknowledge they don’t have all the answers. Here are some of the characteristics you should be reaching for in media settings:

• Show empathy, care and consideration for other people
• Display openness and honesty
• Avoid lecturing or admonishing

Be consistent

Media and stakeholders alike will quickly observe the connection between your statements and the behavior of your business and its policies. Thus, its important the organization operates, makes decisions and takes action in alignment with the beliefs you convey.

You don’t have to know everything

It is the business of media to probe and form questions in the moment. Possible that a query can arise that you don’t have the answer for. That’s fine. Much better to convey you’ll look into a topic and report back later than give a speculative answer that could prove to be inaccurate.

Building a baseline record on issues in relevant, unedited forums

Media unfortunately is mostly a headline and soundbite gambit. Speaking opportunities in the right venues can offer a long-form and unedited forum to take a deep dive of the issues you and your company has a perspective on, thus constructing a public record of your complete positions in the process.

For example, if sustainability is a key issue for your organization, there are a number of conferences focused on these developments where you can explore the details of what you think is important and supply the supporting rationale. You can post recordings of those speeches and discussions at your web site as validation.

There will be some constituents or pundits who disagree. That’s ok, too. You are a subject matter expert now, with a responsibility to convey your organization’s point of view. Welcome to the new world of corporate leaders as advocates.
 
If this article has you thinking about constructing a comprehensive strategy around communicating positions and views on issues above and beyond your business performance, use the link below to ask questions and start an informative dialogue. We can help you navigate the most pressing and relevant topics to build an effective executive comms plan and message map.

Looking for more food for thought? Subscribe to the Emerging Trends Report.

Bob Wheatley is the CEO of Chicago-based Emergent. Traditional brand marketing often sidesteps more human qualities that can help consumers form an emotional bond. Yet brands yearn for authentic engagement, trust and a lasting relationship with their customers. For more information, contact Bob@Emergent-Comm.com and follow on Twitter @BobWheatley.

The coming synthesis of marketing and PR comms

Since our founding integrated communication has been a hallmark of Emergent’s belief system. The truth is, for many brands genuine integration between brand strategy and PR has long been aspirational more than a reality. That’s about to change in 2024 because the path to being seen and heard is getting more complex with an ever more skeptical, risk averse and distracted consumer.

Simply stated, how a brand is positioned, packaged and presented (its purpose and differentiation) will have profound impact on the ability of communications to do the job of building business growth, advocacy and ambassadorship. This works optimally when one integrated team with demonstrated capability in both camps works to add value and blend the two.

• On the horizon: broader recognition that optimal brand strategy and the reality of how that manifests in all aspects of go-to-market decisions, is directly influential to the relevance and effectiveness of PR communication in earned, owned and social channels.

Structurally this means the silos of separation must disappear. An important call to action given what we’ve seen in an all-too-tactical view (or absence) of any PR roleplay in brand strategy creation work. Emergent’s mission is to break down this barrier by delivering competence in strategic planning and translating that insight into refined PR and content creation.

Guidance:

• Seek evidence from your marketing PR partners of their knowledge and ability to contribute to brand strategy refinement.

• Blend consumer behavior insight, how the brand story is packaged and presented, with comms designed to verify and validate what you want consumers and stakeholders to believe.

• Focus KPIs on outcomes in earned, owned and social channels. Specifically, your ability to influence consumer trust and successfully convey your brand’s purpose and belief system.

True integrated marketing communications is not only an outcome – it is a process requiring a mix of brains in both disciplines to tackle your most important challenges and goals in the year ahead. The result: greater effectiveness and bankable outcomes from your marketing investments.

If you would like to know more about how this works, use the link below to ask questions.

Looking for more food for thought? Subscribe to the Emerging Trends Report.

Your brand value lives in equal proportion to its transparency

Sadly, we report today that a beloved brand in the meat industry, Belcampo is mired in scandal over a shocking revelation that this paragon of sustainably-raised livestock finds itself caught in a web of deceit now exposed for all to see.

Belcampo was in many respects a beautifully, artfully created story of ethics, values and transparency that promised a better way to raise beef, wrapped in an aura of authenticity and deeper meaning. Emergent, so enamored with the brand virtues we saw unfold, reached out a number of times a few years ago to express our interest in helping build their brand. To no avail, but we retained such deep respect for how the vertical integration of their farm-to-door story was assembled with such skill and emotional resonance.

Now a whistle-bearing employee in Belcampo’s Santa Monica, CA retail store has blown the doors open to reveal in a see-it-with-your-own-eyes Instagram video that Belcampo had been deceiving customers. They were selling beef supplied by general meat counter quality distributors that was not organic, not grass-fed, and importantly not sourced from Belcampo’s ranch near Mt. Shasta. The employee states his apology for having lied to customers for two and a half years so he could keep his job.

Belcampo’s high prices reflects its origin story and so the deception was not only of product quality but overcharging for same. The video, complete with scanning labeled cases in the meat locker was unshakeable in its revelation. The company’s response was an amalgam of middling apology, claims of ignorance, attempts to minimize, and then downplay what is a fracture in the brand reputation.

Belcampo would be well-advised to end the spin and instead lean into 100% transparency no matter how painful that might be.

Honesty and Integrity are Immutable Laws

What do we have in our hands at the end of the day but trust granted by people who believe what brands say, and who endeavor to make decisions on the veracity of the brand’s stated claims. Brand trust has been in decline for decades and it is incidents like this that serve to reinforce the “I told you so” of why consumers find it difficult to accept the assertions of commitment or values proffered by businesses.

When profit and self-interest overtake the priority to operate in service of the customer’s welfare and wellbeing, brand reputations can be squandered. All of the years of story and build on a masterful idea at Belcampo, impugned in a most surgical way by someone looking to end the guilt.

Now is the time to renew our vows, to recalibrate and reconsider the respectfulness we grant to hold consumer relationships dear. All of us, all brands live in glass houses. Anything that can be known, will be known. Thus the immutable laws of how brands operate should be held steadfast even when the P&L is on fire during times of trouble such as the Pandemic.

For commodities like meat or fish or anything else sold fresh, this is especially true. Trust is held by the seller to convey that what is on offer is genuine. Of course, the higher the pedestal on which a brand sits, the steeper the fall should the rules of truthful engagement be violated.

The concept of enforced trust – Blockchain

For years now we’ve been reporting periodically on Blockchain technology as an enormous opportunity for brands to author a new chapter in brand trust, forever changing the path to market from farm to fork.

Blockchain’s great promise is an algorithm-based system that through the use of sensors and monitors and digital ledgers can authenticate every claim made by a brand back to the ranch or soil. It irrevocably marks the details of what a product is, how it is raised or farmed, when it was harvested, what happened during processing and transport – all the way to the store or restaurant.

The beauty of this technology is it cannot be manipulated by people along the path. Instead, it serves as a form of enforced trust that guarantees the truth from beginning to end sale. Imagine what it would be like to tell a story like that. For the retailer or restaurant, you know confidently what happened on the path from farm to back door on handling, temperatures and length of time. If it’s grass fed and grass finished Angus beef, you will know it with certainty.

We hope this technology will someday be widely adopted. As marketers we can see the powerful stories that can be created around it that will change the relationship consumers have with brands. It is inspiring in many ways. If we were advising Belcampo, it would be to get the Blockchain team in as soon as possible.

We can only hope.

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Path to game-changing glory for your brand

You may have witnessed first-hand the remarkable power of earned media, otherwise known as publicity, to quickly change the trajectory of a company’s business. When a story about a brand or business catches fire in earned channels, it can become a cultural phenomenon, moving the needle in ways that paid outreach could never hope to accomplish.

Ask any CEO or CMO and there will be a lingering interest in securing a major media piece in a blue-chip publication, digital news channel or TV news property. A top story in the Wall Street Journal. Cover of TIME magazine. TODAY show interview. Feature at Fast Company or Wired. Bloomberg news in-depth report. A Buzzfeed distribution build.

This level of respected media attention most often is not a happy accident. It is the outcome of a considered strategy conducted with skill, diligence and persistence. After many years of participating in earned media outcomes at this level, we have distilled the primary ingredients for success into six facets of media orchestration. Done in concert, this eco-system offers the roadmap to successful results.

The caveat: it is the integration of these pieces that helps achieve the objective. Taken apart and separated, the hill to climb gets much steeper and the outcomes less certain – and could result with your brand being relegated to a mention in a story placed by a brand that made the effort to build the piece properly.

Non-transactional media attention (not paid for like advertising) can’t be ordered up from central casting or invoked as a magical mandate for the PR team. The approach must remain ever respectful of the environment it sits in – an arena where reporting, newsworthiness, editorial relevance and objectivity hold sway. There are rules to understand and follow.

Six Red Carpet Moves to the Editorial Media Spotlight

1. Casting the larger story and bigger picture context where the brand has relevance

Unless you’re running a trillion-dollar juggernaut company where every move you make is likely to be in the headlines, the fundamental starting point for earned media is driven by strength of the story concept. What larger issue is your brand/category/industry connected to, such as an identifiable link to cultural shift or a sea change in public sentiment? Is there an over-arching trend getting traction or an emerging social issue where the brand has a role? In other words, your internal story isn’t the only part of the story – rather it’s how your internal story connects with a larger issue, trend or cultural moment. Here are some examples:

• Food choice linked to impacts on climate threat.
• Pandemic influence on the role of health and wellness.
• Decline of brand trust and rise of transparency.
• Global food scarcity connected to new technology solutions.
• Human need for control, safety and security amidst unseen and lethal dangers.
• Connection of pet ownership to elevating human health and wellness.
• Presence of food fraud/mislabeling in the midst of consumer demand for honesty and authenticity.
• Emergence of new food making technologies in an era of back-to-the farm preferences.
• Impact of COVID 19 conditions/isolation on mental health and lifestyle behaviors.
• Sea change of preference for higher quality, fresh food on legacy processed food making.
• The wallop of sustainability demands on supply chains and agriculture practices.

The key is targeting a larger scope issue where the brand has a role and a voice. This creates context for a bigger story that offers greater depth than a simple product announcement.

2. PR media team knowledge matters greatly – of consumer, product, company and category details, methods and behaviors

Earned media is a bespoke business driven by one-on-one contact with media gatekeepers. The question you are answering in each interaction with a decider: are you showing up as a credible source for well-researched story material?

To do this with skill the PR media team must know everything about the company’s products, processes, standards, beliefs, behaviors, strengths. Have they done the homework such that literally any question can be fielded fully and knowledgeably?

The team must know the details of the category where the business competes, what other brands are doing, their approach to product solutions and different consumer cohorts served by different brands.

In short, the PR media team needs to know as much about the business as the CMO or CEO. This requires a trusted relationship where the PR media experts are fully in the know of what’s going on behind the corporate curtain.

3. Editorial syntax deployed in all materials created for media consumption

All various backgrounding materials, fact sheets and releases built for reporter outreach and pitching purposes should be created with an editorial voice. They should be devoid of shameless self-promotion, unsubstantiated claims, flowery quotes, unverified marketing assertions, hyperbole and corporate speak. Everything should be cast in the context of how a reporter would likely approach the story.

If it walks and talks like an editorial story, then it’s a story. Anything else is deemed promotion and won’t survive the vetting process – and instead is likely viewed as more appropriate for a paid ad placement.

Credibility of the PR media team as a reliable source is at stake here. Proper construction of the materials signals understanding of what reporters, producers are doing and how a story should (will) be constructed.

4. Importance of third-party quote-able sources

There’s no such thing as a story where the brand is the only quoted source. When the story is built around a larger context of an issue or trend, it is vital that credible subject matter experts are enlisted to add validation, dimension and texture to the story premise.

If the PR team doesn’t make the effort to assemble expert sources, the reporter or editor will do it separately – which could take the story off track or add factors that capsize the desired messaging outcome. The ability to provide the relevant sources provides an opportunity to help influence the shape of the narrative, and to verify key essential pieces of the story arc.

If the story you’re building centers on the impact of food choice on climate change, having experts on climate impact and agriculture is fundamental to the story premise. This again signals to the media deciders that the PR team has done their homework. The expert verification of story elements provides greater confidence to editors that the details of the piece will hold up under scrutiny.

5. Deploying vertical media build

Big, bold feature media story placements with blue chip media properties don’t just fall like manna from heaven. There is a ladder to climb as the story moves up higher in the media food chain. When the story is placed first in vertical media settings relevant to the business category where the company competes, it creates a credible environment and testing ground where the story elements are played out.

Coverage in vertical media provides the larger, national media outlets confidence that the story is:

• Important and coverage-worthy
• Has impact on the business/industry overall
• Creates a structure example of how the story flows
• Demonstrates the authority, knowledge and value of quoted sources

National media do not consider industry verticals to be competitive so the fact you can provide links to these placements serves as supporting, credible evidence of the storyline, not a weakening of the value of the news they break.

Of note, arranging exclusives can at times be advantageous on the path to wider recognition. Some media like Bloomberg News are bellwethers for others and a major story breaking there will feed into other outlets creating a viral effect.

6. Experience of the players involved

If you have enough time in the saddle working with reporters and editors you come to appreciate the dynamics of how they do what they do. This pays benefits in direct conversations with deciders, the sequence of events once a reporter expresses interest, and the details of how materials are worded and constructed.

There is simply no substitute for hands on experience in this endeavor. The more seasoned the PR media team is, the better this goes. Until you have experienced “no” a few times you just don’t acquire a sensitivity for the mechanics and rules of how earned media works.

This isn’t just about who you know. Relationships can be beneficial, but the real acid test is the quality of the story the PR Team crafts and presents, and how well it is supported with credible source material (studies, reports) and reliable expert sources. Reporters know who the fluff pitchers are. They are more likely to devote their time and attention to brands represented by PR media teams demonstrating a commitment to journalistic standards and newsworthy reporting.

This isn’t easy but it will be rewarding

It takes patience and hard work to execute successfully in the earned media world. Done correctly and with skill, the risk of failure is vastly reduced because the story has obvious merit and the work to serve it up properly has been done.

• If you’re patient to let these various layers play out, you’ll witness how the coverage expands to a point where it can eventually virally catch fire.

If you’re looking for support and guidance in an earned media setting, use this link to start an informal conversation with us.

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