Written Interview
Press Interview with Company A CEO, designed to talk up successes and garner new links, as outlined in the case study. After working closely with her for several months, I was asked by the CEO to begin responding in her voice to media inquiries (with her final sign-off before delivery).
Written to be conversational in style (as though the CEO herself were speaking directly to the journalist), educated and informed in delivery, this reply to an interview request was strategically drafted to ensure three key points were included in final quotations:
Company A is known for ethical treatment of users and community
Company A has donated over $25,000 in recent years to community initiatives
Company A understands personal hardships of users
1. What’s your name, job title, and can you tell us a bit about your background?
Sure. My name is [Name Withheld] and I have been the CEO of Company A since its inception in 2011. Before establishing this brand, I was the director of a private equity firm.
2. What were you or others using before Company A came on the scene?
Well, it’s silly to pretend that there aren’t competitors for our platform – everyone knows some of the higher end brands that have been around seemingly forever. What was lacking when I sat down to examine those brands though, was a platform focusing on the actual needs and wants of this community, rather than trying to sell a high-gloss package that took your money and ultimately didn’t deliver on results.
3. What are some of the unique points of frustration you have faced?
Beginning any new business is going to feel challenging and insurmountable at times. And working in our sector, there was stigma and distrustfulness from day one. We have been excluded from vanilla advertising platforms like Yelp, Google Ads, Facebook Ads – you name it. We were blocked from traditional paths to success on a lot of fronts. So in some ways, we understood the frustrations and concerns of our users in a very profound sense, since we were also experiencing some of their same exclusions, but as a company on a grander scale.
Beyond general stigma surrounding the adult industry, we were confronted with users who had been abused by other sites and bad actors – there’s no more delicate way to say that; they were defrauded, they were publicly outed, and many would tell you they simply didn’t get their money’s worth at the end of the day. This really drove home the need for us to act in an ethical manner in all of our decisions, no matter how trivial. This became a defining element of the Company A brand.
4. What was the big a-ha moment when you decided you needed to try something new?
The first three people I proposed the idea to each replied “Oh, my god. Please do this!” and I knew then that there was something to it.
Not one original investor or early adopter told me “are you sure this is something nobody else is doing?” We all knew from experience that it wasn’t. We felt like revolutionaries.
5. Tell me about the most positive experience you’ve had as the head of this company?
In the last few years, we’ve had enough success that we have been able to reinvest in the community we serve, and that has felt really positive and really significant. Company A has given away more than $25k in cash donations to local aid groups as well as to individuals coping with hardships. It’s really important that while other brands are maybe making similar moves for press reasons, that Company A is being mindful of where the money really goes and keeping our funding local – in many cases also anonymous.
6. Do you have advice for other people using this product or service?
Don’t accept what already is if what already is doesn’t work. You know? Take the landscape that exists and find ways to make it work for you. Don’t assume that because nobody else is doing it, or nobody else is doing it the way you think it should be done, that it can’t be. You might just be the first one to do it your way! Once you’ve broken through, others will follow – as has been the case with Company A! We’re thrilled to have brands imitating our style and offerings; it makes clear the unmet demand within the community as a whole.
Result
The final article included all three strategic points in a combination of direct quotations and editorial comment, and the site garnered a branded linked mention from a high authority news outlet, as well as a targeted keyword mention link to an blog post about stigma.
30 minutes of thoughtful writing resulted in a glowing article praising the brand and CEO, and 2 SEO-relevant links valued at over $2500 (if they had been purchased as sponsored mentions).