How PR can help you get your AI message out

There are few topics more talked about today than Artificial Intelligence (AI). Whether it’s medical diagnoses, acting as a judge in a court of law, or predicting what we’ll watch next on Netflix – the topic of AI is never far from conversation. It’s something of a blessing and a curse for a technology PR program. A blessing, because there are so many people writing about AI that there are plenty of opportunities to pitch clients. A curse, because there are also so many other companies out there wanting to have their say on AI, there is a lot of ‘noise’ to overcome.

At Spark, we have plenty of experience in taking on such subjects and relish the challenge. We’ve spoken in previous posts about ways in which we have secured coverage for our clients on popular topics like blockchain, so let’s take a look at some recent successes on AI.

• The Ivalua team raked in some great trade press coverage by using research the company had commissioned into how supply chain, procurement and finance business leaders view AI, resulting in news and follow-up stories in several high-profile publications.
• Similarly, for The Pistoia Alliance, research was a winning tactic when investigating AI in the life sciences sector. With coverage appearing in important trade publications, but also in outlets such as Forbes, which was a great boost for the Alliance.
• For Servion, a firm focused entirely on next-generation customer experiences, a successful way of securing coverage was editorial features, using comment with a strong opinion on AI in customer interactions that caught the eye of journalists in media such as the BBC, and The Times.
• The Elsevier team has had great success in responding to AI news in the form of letters to the editor. Linking to stories on using AI to attract STEM students, and the ethical use of AI in medicine, resulting in letter coverage in The FT and The Guardian, respectively.
• Finally, other great examples of success for other clients include timely opinion articles on a range of vertical topics, which have proved an excellent route to coverage in trade publications in industries such as telecommunications, and also in enterprise IT outlets.

As these results show, the key to getting your client’s voice heard on such a popular topic is by being original and timely, as well as being able to tell a clear, engaging story. At Spark, one of the things we enjoy most is coming up with interesting angles that haven’t been widely talked about before, and it’s our ability to do this that helps us secure high-profile, on-message coverage. If we can be certain of anything, it’s that AI will remain a hot topic for many more months. We are looking forward to securing more great coverage on AI, and working with clients and journalists in all sectors into 2019 and beyond, to create interesting stories and content.