At 10Fold, we often hear from prospects—and even long-time clients—who are eager to land coverage in the business press. Outlets like Forbes, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, and Fast Company have long been seen as the “holy grail” of public relations — a validation that a company has “made it.”
Sometimes, agencies claim they have a key advantage: a strong connection to a major publication that can “virtually guarantee” coverage. When we ask why that’s important, the response is often disbelief — “You’ve got to be kidding—everyone wants business press!”
But after three decades running an agency that supports some of the most innovative B2B technology brands, we’ve learned that while business press coverage can absolutely have impact, it doesn’t always serve the business — or justify the effort.
The real misstep isn’t wanting exposure; it’s skipping the strategic question: “What business goal are we trying to achieve — and is business press the most effective way to get there?”
The truth is, business press can be a powerful lever for visibility and validation when the story, timing, and audience align. But in many cases, it’s simply not the right tool for driving pipeline, brand awareness, or buyer engagement for many B2B tech companies.
This post explores both sides of that equation; when business press moves the needle, and when it doesn’t.
When Business Press Moves the Needle
Business press can make a measurable difference when credibility, scale, or market visibility are strategic priorities. The value, however, looks different for public and private companies.
For Public Companies
For publicly traded organizations, business press can influence how markets, investors, and analysts perceive the company. Strong coverage reinforces financial performance, innovation, or market leadership — narratives that can shape analyst sentiment and investor confidence. Strategic visibility around earnings announcements, partnerships, or major product launches can even help stabilize or even boost stock price perceptions during key cycles.
Business press also plays an important role in crisis and reputation management. When handled carefully, it offers a credible platform to lay out the company’s perspective and helps ensure its side of the story is represented fairly in times of reputational risk or uncertainty.
For companies shaping emerging categories, such as AIOps, quantum security, or industrial IoT, high-profile coverage can also help build or reinforce category leadership. A feature article in a respected business outlet elevates “share of thought” and strengthens the perception of innovation among prospects, analysts, and partners.
And finally, business coverage can be a powerful recruiting and retention tool. Seeing their employer featured in major publications fosters pride among employees and enhances the company’s appeal for senior talent who equate media visibility with legitimacy and growth momentum.
For Private Companies
Private companies often benefit from business press in more relationship-driven ways. One of the most valuable is investor visibility and funding momentum. A well-placed article can attract the attention of venture, private equity, or strategic investors — and strengthen valuation narratives during fundraising or pre-IPO phases.
Coverage can also influence strategic partnerships and M&A positioning by demonstrating market traction and credibility to potential acquirers or alliance partners. For companies eyeing acquisition, this kind of validation signals scale and maturity.
Business press can also build C-suite credibility with prospects, especially when a lesser-known or early-stage company is selling to enterprise buyers. Seeing your company mentioned in Forbes or The Wall Street Journal sends a powerful signal of legitimacy and stability which in turn can open doors with executive buyers.
Beyond that, coverage can help with attracting talent, as many executive and managerial candidates look to business media to assess company reputation and momentum.
And finally, business outlets can be effective for corporate milestones and moments of business momentum such as funding rounds, global expansions, major customer wins, or leadership transitions. This critical visibility supports both market validation and internal morale.
When Business Press Doesn’t Work (or Isn’t Worth It)
While business press can be valuable in specific circumstances, it’s not a universal solution, especially for B2B technology companies focused on technical buyers, complex solutions, or long sales cycles.
Audience Misalignment
The most common issue is audience mismatch. Business publications are written for executives, investors, and policymakers, not for the engineers, architects, or practitioners who research, evaluate, recommend and implement B2B solutions. The “economic buyer” might see the coverage, but the “technical buyer” is often the true gatekeeper in the sales cycle, and business press is not something they typically read religiously.
This gap is even wider in certain technology sectors. For instance, in cybersecurity, CISOs and SecOps teams trust outlets like Dark Reading and SecurityWeek. In energy and utilities, readers look to Utility Dive or Power Grid International. Manufacturing and industrial tech buyers turn to Automation World or IndustryWeek, while healthcare IT leaders rely on Fierce Healthcare and Health IT News. Even in cloud infrastructure and DevOps, practitioners follow The New Stack and TechTarget for hands-on insights.
For these industries, business press may build prestige but rarely drives measurable prospect engagement or a dramatic increase in sales.
Superficial or Incomplete Storytelling
Another limitation lies in how business reporters cover technology companies. These outlets are designed to cover big-picture trends and market shifts, not deep product or technology differentiation. Your company’s unique technical advantage (including a new architecture, integration model, or data science innovation) simply won’t fit neatly into a 600-word feature.
Moreover, business journalists expect stories with broad economic impact. If your customer ROI isn’t in the millions and your total addressable market isn’t measured in billions or trillions, your pitch likely won’t align with their editorial scope. Even when you do make it in a story, the result often becomes a small part of a wider trend piece that blurs distinctions between you and your competitors.
Weak SEO, AEO, and Limited Reach
Even the most coveted business press story has limited discoverability. Most are hidden behind paywalls, offer no link equity due to “nofollow” policies, and require expensive reuse licenses.
And now, with the rise of AI-powered search and discovery, visibility challenges are even greater. Modern “answer engines” such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini tend to deprioritize or exclude paywalled content in their responses. They instead pull from open-access, metadata-rich sources such as trade publications, blogs, and owned content that’s optimized for Answer Engine Optimization (AEO).
In other words, while your feature in Bloomberg or Forbes might impress humans at the executive level, it’s nearly invisible to the AI-driven systems that are increasingly shaping how your audience discovers and consumes information.
Poor ROI and Resource Drain
Winning business coverage isn’t just about crafting a good story; it’s a resource-intensive, persistent process that can take months and dozens of hours. It requires data validation, customer participation, executive prep, and careful coordination between internal teams and agencies. And even then, the outcome might be a brief mention, might include competitors, may not be the story you pitched, and often is written in a neutral tone. Without a strong amplification strategy (which can be dicey depending on how many competitors are included, the topic and the tone) to extend its reach, the payoff rarely matches the investment.
Fragile Narrative Control
Once a journalist takes the story, control over the message is limited. Timing can shift unexpectedly, tone can change based on market conditions, and competitors may be added for balance. What starts as a feature on your innovation can turn into a broader industry trend piece where your voice is one among many.
Short-Term Value
Even when the article lands perfectly, its impact is fleeting. Business press provides a momentary visibility spike, but it fades quickly unless reinforced through owned, social, and paid channels. Without sustained momentum, the long-term impact on sales or brand equity is minimal.
Before You Chase Business Press, Ask Yourself These Questions
Landing a business press article can feel like a major win, but before investing the time, effort, and executive bandwidth, it’s worth asking a few critical questions:
- What’s the business goal? Is it investor confidence, brand credibility, or direct sales?
- Who’s the target audience? Will the people you want to reach actually see it?
- Is your story big enough? Does it reflect billion-dollar market potential or broad impact?
- Can you sustain visibility? Is there a plan to repurpose and amplify the story?
- Does it improve discoverability? Paywalled content rarely benefits SEO or AEO.
- Is the timing right? Will it align with your broader communications strategy?
- Do you have the assets to back it up? Strong data and customer validation are essential.
Pro Tip from 10Fold:
Use business press strategically and when you have the proper assets to emphasize credibility and validation of the company and products. Only then will you achieve the goals of influencing buyers and driving measurable results. Until then, trade and vertical media, industry analyst and social influencer, and brand and executive social posts with owned content remain your most powerful tools.
Strategic Takeaway: The Right Role for Business Press
Business press should be viewed as a credibility amplifier, not a demand-generation lever.
The most effective B2B tech PR strategies use business press selectively — to build legitimacy during key milestones or market moments — while relying on trade media, analyst relations, and owned content to educate buyers, influence deals, and drive growth.
When paired with smart amplification and aligned to business goals, business coverage can absolutely move the needle. The key is knowing when it’s the right lever to pull — and when it’s not.