Alana Stoddart

Alana Stoddart is Head of Media at Profile, the London agency that has built the public standing of senior executives and their firms since 2014. Alana Stoddart leads media strategy and outreach, holds the journalist relationships, drafts the articles and comment that go out in clients' names, and prepares the briefs that turn a client's two or three themes into published editorial.

Profile builds the public standing of senior people and their firms, running strategy, content, multimedia, press and social as one programme under one roof. Alana Stoddart runs the press and media stream: choosing which story goes to which title, pitching it to journalists, and writing the first draft of every placed piece so the client's only job is review and sign-off.

At Profile, media pitching is human-led. Alana Stoddart believes that earning coverage for experts depends on judgement, relationships and trust, and those come from people. Journalists and editors receive hundreds of pitches a day, and a growing share of them feel generic and machine-made, so what stands out is a pitch that has clearly been written by someone who knows both the expert and the publication. That is the standard we hold ourselves to - every pitch is personalised, with a clear news hook, a reason the story matters now and a credible spokesperson, whether that's an op-ed, reactive comment, feature or podcast appearance. Real conversations with journalists, built over time, are what turn good ideas into media coverage. This human touch also protects the authentic voice of the lawyers, accountants and other clients we represent, which is the foundation of thought leadership. Earned media coverage in respected publications is one of the strongest signals of authority. Technology can help experts be found, but the relationships, judgement and voice behind a pitch are human.

Most pitches fail because the piece only makes sense if the reader buys something, which is the line Alana Stoddart uses to separate thought leadership from advertising. The second failure is pitching an executive with nothing behind them. Alana argues that it is important to be completely across the journalists that you are pitching too - knowing their beats inside and out - as, she says, what appeals to one audience or one journalist will not always appeal to another, so finding ways to adapt your narrative is vital.

Podcasts are one of Alana Stoddart's favourite media platforms. She argues they allow clients to have much more rounded, nuanced conversations, and position themselves as someone at the forefront of their industry through a more intimate and thorough format.