“Responsible” and “disciplined” financial reporting is what Daniel Coatsworth, editor of Shares, wants his title to feature and to be known for. Speaking to Gorkana during an exclusive media briefing, Coatsworth explained how he prefers the title to focus on stories that are forward-looking and based on research and data, over more “sensationalist” content.

Shares, which has a print circulation of 13,661, is a weekly personal finance magazine for private UK investors.  The nature of the title and the subjects and companies it writes about, means Shares can influence the market’s view of individual companies and their underlying share price.

At the briefing, talking with Philip Smith, Gorkana’s head of news and content, Coatsworth urged PRs to get in touch more frequently and directly with him and his team, explained when it’s best to reach out to Shares‘ journalists and outlined what the typical Shares reader is looking for from the title.

PRs should get in touch more frequently

Coatsworth likes to hear about ideas for content: “We would love you to push ideas more our way. We are overloaded with ideas from my editorial team but I’m always welcome to hear more because it doesn’t mean to say the initial ideas from my journalists are the best ideas. So, we welcome any contact.”

He added he is open to PRs pitching feature ideas and comment and opinions from clients. “Clients must have views on certain subject matters. Even though it’s not going to be part of a great corporate announcement, we can make great features out of things if we spot that it would affect four or five companies in the stock market.”

There is more than one type of Shares reader 

Professionals in the finance industry read Shares and that is a wide and varied audience. The title aims to reach stock market professionals, private investors, fund managers, retail managers and investment bank stock broker analysts.

“People digest our magazine over the weekend and we have a more considered approach. While [the readers] are absolute experts in certain sectors that they cover, they can’t follow everything. They use [the title] as market intelligence. Private investors use it as they want to have everything about the market they get in a single issue of Shares. Some people say it’s too much and ask if we can be more selective [but that is] because we’re not trying to address one specific type of person.”

Get in touch midweek and early mornings to reach the editorial team

In print, Coatsworth said its publishing cycle starts on a Wednesday: “We go to press on a Tuesday night. If you want to get hold of someone the best time is on a Wednesday morning. We have an editorial meeting at mid-day on a Wednesday. So, in the morning a journalist is probably formulating the final ideas to pitch to me in the meeting, if you call them after 2pm they will already know what they’re doing for the next week.”

Although Coatsworth describes this as a “sweet spot” to get in touch, he emphasises that PRs are welcome to get in touch at any time and should persevere if they believe to have a good story.

Tom Jenkins, senior account executive at Weber Shandwick, attended the event. He said: “I really enjoyed listening to Dan this morning and the briefing was certainly worth attending. Shares is an important publication for communicating our clients’ stories and the event provided wonderful insight into what Dan and his team are looking for, and also can provide. I would definitely recommend attending these events as that understanding is invaluable.”