Why the US is important when pitching stories for the FT
I’ve been working on a couple of FT stories this week and thought it might be worth recapping why so many PR pitches fail to make the grade: they focus too much on the UK.
It’s worth repeating that unless it is for a report that is for the UK only, FT content is written from a global viewpoint. In particular, the US audience is a very, very important readership.
Pitches have a much greater chance of success if they reflect that, and offer high-quality global or US interviewees or examples.
Don’t just take my word for it though: this quote is from Rob Grimshaw, managing director of FT.com.
“The US is FT.com’s biggest market, with more subscribers and registered users than in any other region, and we see a great deal of potential in building on that substantial base of loyal US readers.”
(please see here for the original story on journalism.co.uk, about the expansion of US financial coverage).
So, to recap, the audience is not UK, nor EMEA, but global with a strong US presence. That’s why we put so much store on US angles and truly global commentary in FT stories.
If clients don’t get it, by all means show them Rob’s quote…
