Interview with Banking Technology's Elliott Holley
I recently caught up with Banking Technology's Senior Staff Writer, Elliott Holley, to ask him a few questions about the publication and how PRs can work with him.
In your own words, what is the purpose of Banking Technology and how do you see the title evolving in the next five years?
Banking Technology provides a clear understanding of events to our readership. Anybody can cover an announcement, but we step back and look at the broader picture. For example, Swift recently took part in a panel discussion on an infrastructure project they’re building, which they claimed was going fine. But upon further investigation, I discovered that the project was 12 months behind schedule, and 5 of its original backers had dropped out! This wasn’t mentioned at the event, but this is the kind of background that is crucial to what we write.
We often place things within a context which usually goes back years. Take the London Stock Exchange’s recent announcement about launching its derivatives venture as an example. This is actually part of a long-standing effort by the LSE, which has been trying (unsuccessfully) to break into derivatives for years.
We also break through all the jargon and terminology to explain financial services stories clearly. I believe that you should be able to explain things in language that a five-year-old would understand. Aiming for simplicity allows the insight to be made much clearer, and the true meaning to be understood. Of course, there is a delicate balancing act between maintaining simplicity and making sure that none of the important technical detail is lost. Again, our experience helps to discern which details are important, and which aren’t.
For the PR community out there, can you provide me with some tips on how and when it is best to pitch stories to you?
Yes. First, some basic standards must be kept. You’d be surprised how many people fall foul of these.
- Never send me an email with my name spelt incorrectly; titled with my surname, or starting with a generic greeting.
- Don’t call to see if I’ve read a press release. If it was of interest, I’d be in touch.
- The only exception to rule 2 is if you are genuinely 100% certain that it is something that I’d be interested in.
Beyond that, the biggest tip is making sure that you are what I would call a ‘named individual’. I.e. you must be someone who I know personally and have met. There is a select group of names, people who when an email appears in my inbox, I always read it. You need to become one of these people. The best way to do that is to arrange a face-to-face meeting with me and make sure you see me in person as often as you can. That way, when I see your email, I know who it’s from, I recognise your name, and I read it (unlike all the emails from people I’ve never heard of, which rarely get opened).
Also, it helps if you’ve done your homework before pitching a story. You should always think a couple of questions ahead – no journalist likes asking a question about a pitch, to be told “I don’t know” or “Let me get back to you”. Make sure you’ve read up first and understand what it is you are pitching. Again, this is mostly common sense, but there are people out there who have made these mistakes! Don’t be one of them. Another related point is, you should always check our website before you pitch something. There is no point pitching a story to us if we’ve already posted a similar story on the website an hour ago!
What is your main gripe with the world of PR?
I think some of my main gripes are already listed above. One of the biggest ones is that PRs often don’t take the time to personalise. They haven’t read the website, they haven’t looked at the kind of stories we write, they haven’t checked to see if their pitch would be relevant, they haven’t made sure they used my name instead of just writing ‘hi there’. No journalist likes to feel like we are just another number. We have names. We are people too!
The other thing is to make sure I know who you are. If you haven’t met me in person, that really should be your starting point. Invite me out to lunch, get to know me. Make things personalised. Relationships need to be nourished by respect on both sides, and this is true in the working environment just as much as in other areas of life.