#9 - Jason Saltzman

Jason Saltzman's Earned Media Strategy

At the end of my 1-hour conversation with Jason Saltzman, he told me that he had received 4 new inbound Linkedin DMs since we started talking.

His Google News alert pings all day with new citations from places like The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and Forbes.

Jason, Director of Growth at Live Data Technologies, has built a wonderfully impactful earned media channel on the back of the organic content he produces for Linkedin.

I think it's brilliant, and I jumped at the opportunity to learn how he did it...

Jason posts a lot about job change data. It's kind of his thing.

Every day, he mines Live Data Technologies' workforce data to find the most interesting workforce insights, and then turns those insights into Linkedin posts.

It may sound boring, but Jason makes it really compelling. He finds the story beneath the numbers, and communicates the drama through charts.

This motion has been successful on its own.

Within 1 month of posting, Live Data Technologies had closed deals with customers who converted because they saw Jason's posts. Just last week, Jason crossed 10,000 followers.

Earlier on this journey, Jason met up with fellow insights content guy (and Good Content Series guest) Peter Walker, who pushed him to take his insights one step further:

‍"Have you ever thought about talking to reporters?"

‍This began Jason's months-long pursuit to build an earned media engine on the back of his organic content:

• He started following reporters who would be interested in his data
• He waited for them to publish something that lacked data
• He then reached out with a data sample "I would have used this"
• He offered to help going forward "Feel free to use me as a data resource"
• When called upon, he overdelivered with (branded) image assets

Now, Live Data Technologies has a constant stream of press mentions and Jason gets a steady stream of Google News alerts every day.

Earned media and organic Linkedin are Live Data's only marketing channels, and the two have driven incredible results.

Since these efforts began, the company has added multiples to their pipeline and recently raised an extension to their Series A.

And when I asked about the impact, Jason pointed to the 4 inbound LinkedIn DMs he had received since the start of our hour-long conversation.

‍Jason's Advice on How to Copy His Play

‍Over the course of our conversation, Jason gave some great advice to anyone else looking to replicate this play:

‍1. Have something to offer

‍Before reaching out to reporters, you need something valuable to offer them. In Jason’s case, it’s access to his job change data and rich insights. For another executive, it might be their expertise and access to valuable sources.

‍2. Target your outreach

‍When Jason started, he identified journalists covering topics aligned with his company’s insights (labor markets, workforce data). He started following a list of reporters who cover these beats at places like The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and The Information.Once he saw an article that would have benefited from his data, he reached out and shared a sample for inspiration.

‍3. Offer value from the start

‍In his outreach to these journalists, he offered immediate value and showed his skills by offering specific data points.

‍"...This is the data I would have used to tell this story."

‍Then he followed that up with a low-pressure offer:

‍"...If you're telling stories like this in the future, always happy to be a data resource."

‍This value-first approach helped reporters view him as a collaborator, not another sales pitch.

‍4. Highlight social proof

‍With each media mention, his (and his company’s) credibility snowballed. He modified his emails to highlight this clout:

“...I’ve worked with reporters at the WSJ, happy to be a data resource for you as well…”

5. Overdeliver on (branded) assets

When called upon, Jason would go the extra mile. Not only would he provide all the data and insight the reporter needed, he would also create a custom chart graphic that the reporter could use to visualize the information in their piece. This had the added benefit of including Live Data's logo.

‍6. Celebrate all the press mentions

‍Live Data Technologies now has a dedicated insights page on their website filled with mentions from the world's most trusted publications, which adds to their credibility flywheel.

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In our conversation, Jason reflected on Live Data's earned media success in the context of the extension round to their Series A:

‍"A lot of the investor interest came from the fact that they saw us in the Wall Street Journal. They saw us in Bloomberg...

As a relatively small Series A company...we seem larger than life."