For universities and business schools, some of the most valuable press coverage you secure will be from publications targeted at students and potential applicants.

Trade publications such as BusinessBecause are essential reading for potential applicants considering where to study, offering helpful advice and tips about everything from the application process to what to expect from student life. Then, once they enrol, these publications continue to support students throughout their academic journey.

Academics can offer useful perspectives on many of the issues facing students and applicants today, making their voices highly valuable in these types of publications. It’s a fantastic place for alumni, too, who can share their stories and inspire the next generation of students.

We spoke to Siân Phillips, Head of Editorial at GMAC, about the types of articles she’s looking to publish on GMAC’s two B2C platforms, BusinessBecause.com and MBA.com, and how business schools can get involved.

Could you please tell our readers about your background and offer a brief overview of your career?

I’ve worked in publishing for more than 25 years. My journey into education began when I became group editor of a family of magazines on behalf of the UK Department for Education, for which my team and I won numerous industry awards.

Next, I wore various freelancing hats as a journalist, commissioning editor and event producer for organisations such as The Telegraph, The Guardian, Times Higher Education, and many content agencies.

My specialist areas were education and health, and eventually, at Times Higher Education, I took an in-house role as content director of its global higher education summits and events. In 2022, I joined GMAC as editor of BusinessBecause.com (BB), and for the past year, I’ve been the organisation’s head of editorial, leading our multimedia content strategy on BB and MBA.com.

What parts of your role do you most enjoy?

I love to hear alumni talk about the transformative impact education has had on their careers and lives, as well as interesting founder stories. It’s great to visit business schools and attend conferences to learn more about the sector, which is forever evolving.

Additionally, working with my team of young(er than me) journalists and content producers who are bright and imaginative is a pleasure – I’m lucky to have such talented, smart, and fun colleagues.

What types of stories are you and your readers most interested in now, and why?

Work and skills trends such as AI, digital transformation and emerging industries are very popular. Obviously recent changes to visas and student permits are an important topic but generally our readers are super interested in career outcomes and the ROI of b-school.

They want to know what value a programme will give them, what types of roles they can go on to achieve, as well as details of what they’ll study and experience during their time at b-school. We’re also super focused on tips to make candidates’ test prep and applications go smoothly.

What makes a pitch from a business school stand out to you? And how do you prefer to be contacted?

We want robust research that addresses career, work or study topics of interest to our business school candidate readership.

Put yourself in their shoes and think what might pique the interest of an ambitious professional in the early part of their career? What might help them choose their study location or programme?

Additionally, start-up stories or highly innovative programmes are of interest for our My Business Story series. Writing the pitch clearly, giving the key points or angle right at the top of the press release is going to help us pay attention.

Email us at news@businessbecause.com if it’s a news pitch, please. We will get back if we need any more information or interviewees, but we won’t always have the capacity to let you know we’re not going to cover it. Please don’t send multiple emails for the same pitch.

Are there emerging topics that schools should start preparing to talk about?

As above, AI is ever-present. Stories that show new communities emerging at business schools (due to changes in student mobility) are also going to be increasingly interesting.

How do you decide whether a story is worth covering?

Is it going to tell our audience something they don’t already know? Is it going to help them shape their career or inspire their business school plans? Will it give them useful intel that could help them achieve their application goals?

If the answer is yes to any of these, then we’ll likely cover it.

Author: Chloë Lane

Chloë was previously Content Editor for QS Top Universities and QS Top MBA, Chloë produced over 400 articles during her four years at the world’s largest international higher education network. With additional experience writing for trade media, she is also formally qualified with a Level 5 Diploma in Journalism from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ).