How does Stacker optimize a story for maximum reach and pickups?

When brands join Stacker and submit content for distribution to a network of thousands of news outlets, they also get access to a team of journalists and experts to help optimize their stories with the goal of generating maximum earned reach and engagements.

The first step to a brand’s successful distribution on Stacker’s newswire is to define the campaign’s goals. Is the brand aiming to get the highest number of pickups from the broadest possible assortment of publishers? Or is it targeting top-tier publishers only? Perhaps the intent is to create content within a niche publishing category to appeal to sites aimed at reaching a specific audience, such as small business owners. Once a brand has defined what distribution success looks like, Stacker helps refine the approach accordingly. This can include adjusting which publisher feeds stories go to, such as entertainment versus personal finance sites, as well as tweaking headlines to appeal best to the target audience. 

Content strategy

Brands using Stacker’s platform can utilize content strategy plans crafted by in-house experts before producing content for distribution. Drawing on Stacker’s distribution data and journalistic judgment, content strategy recommendations provide brands with strategic insights, including topic ideas, societal trends, and optimal publishing times to help brands produce high-impact stories that meet their objectives while giving publishers and their readers engaging content at the right time.

Brands can also apply content strategy insights to existing website content and use insights to help guide editorial calendars. For example, Stacker’s team would recommend a mental health brand to distribute content about holiday stress in November while intertwining it with themes related to travel, shopping, or the economy.

Stacker’s approach blends art and science, leveraging a proprietary publisher network, performance data, and media expertise. This strategic value is present from the start of the partnership, and the collaboration continues throughout the relationship, with Stacker’s team delivering real-time insights along the way.

Editorial Review

When brands successfully produce a story that taps into a hot trend in a way that dovetails with its identity, that’s when the magic happens, and brands can expect to receive hundreds of pickups for their story.

Once a story is formally submitted, the Stacker team reviews it to ensure it is journalistically sound and free of any direct promotion of the brand’s products and services. That’s a critical step, as publishers will reject any story that feels like a press release.

Publishers on the platform consistently love data-driven stories that capture and give context to trends because readers crave them. Stacker ensures the data is based on sound methodologies. While that disqualifies a few stories, the vast majority of brands on the Stacker network draw on three gold-standard sources of data:

• Public datasets from government agencies
• Exclusive surveys conducted by reputable pollsters using scientifically sound methods
• Internal data that would not otherwise be available to the public

Once the vetting and editing are complete and the client has signed off on a story, it is scheduled for distribution on the Stacker platform in a way designed to optimize publisher pickups. 

Distribution

Publishers have a variety of ways of receiving the stories that matter most to their readership.

Within the content portal, Story Hub, publishers can search by story verticals, keywords, geographic regions (within the U.S. and Canada), and even audience interests, such as parenting. Setting specific preferences triggers custom email alerts to ensure every story gets matched with the ideal readership. Publishers even get story recommendations based on past publishing history.

Aside from accessing content via Story Hub, publishers can find stories via RSS feed formats or through seamless integrations with content management systems. Stacker’s partner success team determines the best method of story delivery. They also meet with each publisher to gather feedback on how the team can personalize story pitches further and enhance content planning. This qualitative data, coupled with past quantitative story performance, allows the team to guide brands in their unique storytelling.

For instance, stories pegged to a holiday or event should be published at least a week before. Publishers know readers want that content far enough in advance of the holiday to act on it.

Earned Reach

Stacker’s distribution approach blends strategic planning, expert insights, and meticulous execution. The team works with brands to define clear goals, tailor content strategies, ensure editorial quality, and leverage a vast network of publishers to optimize brand stories for maximum reach and pickups, ultimately making sure brands can effectively engage with target audiences.

Continuously refining strategies through data-driven insights and close collaboration with brands and publishers ensures that Stacker remains at the forefront of earned distribution, helping brands achieve their full earned media potential.

Frank Sennett is the Head of Connect Editorial at Stacker. Before joining Stacker, Frank served as the Vice President of Outlook Marketing, Director of Custom Content and Digital Product & Strategy for Crain’s Chicago Business, President/Editor-in-Chief of Time Out Chicago, and Managing Editor for Newcity. Frank received his B.S. in journalism from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Montana.

Contributions from Tamara Sykes and Angelica Catalano Sanchez. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn. Featured Image Credit: Photo Illustration by Stacker // Canva