Confessions of a tech journalist who switched sides

Meet Jacob Hugosson, former Editor-in-Chief of SweClockers.com, Sweden's largest hardware site. He then crossed over to the agency side, and today he is the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Semi14, the Nordic region's largest news source on the semiconductor industry. Here, Jacob shares his best tips on how to build a good relationship with journalists.

As a former Editor-in-Chief of Sweden's largest publication on tech and hardware – what should a company or PR agency do, and definitely not do, when pitching a story?

The biggest mistake is pitching things that aren't relevant to the publication. No matter how good the client's product is, I won't write about something that falls outside our coverage area. Yet the same agencies continue to pitch, even after you've explained that you're the wrong recipient.

A misstep is fine. You might be new and hungry, and even seasoned pros get sloppy with their prep work sometimes (that may have happened to me too, more than once). But if you keep pestering, journalists eventually stop listening to PR agencies and sometimes to individual consultants. We are colleagues on different sides who benefit from each other. Respect people's time and take no for an answer. Then I'll listen the next time you have a client who is actually relevant to my readers. That's how it's done.

What were your key takeaways from the agency side, where you mainly worked with tech clients?

When I started at the agency, I wondered after a week what I had gotten myself into. The CEO said: "I hired you because you were a journalist. Do what you've always done, just from the other side."

Now that I was on the other side myself, I suddenly understood why consultants could be such a pain in the neck, haha. You're trying to deliver for a client who expects results.

I had been a tech journalist my entire adult life. I knew most journalists in Sweden and many across the Nordics, and several were close friends with whom I had closed down bars at various events for years. Now, I was the consultant calling them. That could become an obstacle – it's hard to sell something to a friend when you don't fully believe in it yourself, especially when they see right through you. But when I had something good, or at least "pretty decent", I could pitch it with complete conviction.

The biggest takeaway was about relationships, and there are different schools of thought there. A senior colleague told me to keep it strictly professional: get straight to the point, no bullshit, and say "Hi, can I have 90 seconds to tell you about something I think your readers would find interesting?" Some juniors treated journalists like superior beings and weighed every single word carefully.

Personally, I'm probably an extreme case in the other direction. I want to work with people I know a little and can have a nice chat with, so if the journalist is up for it, I'm happy to grab an after-work drink without ulterior motives. Some think that gets too cozy, and they do have a point there.

There is no right or wrong – it depends on personality, but above all on the type of media involved. Experienced journalists at the major tabloids and business newspapers keep agencies at arm's length. At smaller and niche media outlets, like the tech press, you get much further with a closer relationship.

What advice do you have for B2B tech companies that want to gain editorial visibility in the Nordics in today's media landscape?

Relationships again, especially within tech media – both in Sweden and globally. At the international events I attended with AMD, Intel, and Nvidia, everyone knew everyone: B2C and B2B journalists, agencies, and top executives mingling with the press.

In B2B tech media, you need a spokesperson who is ready to step up for an interview, or at least provide a quote. That was often where things stalled with clients – nervousness, lengthy internal processes, or "we are a publicly listed company and need to be careful about what we say ..." Sure, but approving two to four quotes shouldn't take that long.

Preferably, the spokesperson has an impressive title – CTO or some other Chief of Something, ideally CEO, at least at a regional level. It's about outward appearances. The journalist rarely cares deep down, but wants to show readers that the words come from someone important.

Which technological development do you find most interesting right now, and how do you view the future?

You already know the answer. I could be just another "expert" hyping up the fact that you can generate cat pictures with a prompt or streamline this and that.

My imagination is pretty poor, and if you've read this far, you're probably better at predicting the future than I am. At least if the quote that has followed me throughout my entire career is to be believed:

"Science and technology have progressed so far that the only limit to what we build is our own imagination." – Justin R. Rattner, former Chief Technology Officer at Intel.