If They Don't Comprehend

"If they do not comprehend, you have done a lot of nothing. A beautifully produced piece of content that leaves the reader unclear about what the company does or why it matters has produced zero commercial value, regardless of its production values."

Cirincione applies the comprehension test to everything: press releases, thought leadership, social posts, website copy, pitch decks. The test is simple: can a member of your target audience, without any prior knowledge of your company, read this and come away with a clear understanding of what you do, why you are different, and why they should care? Most B2B marketing fails this test because it is written by people who are too close to the product to remember what it is like not to understand it.

"Earned media that is earned for the wrong reasons is just vanity coverage. If a journalist covered you because you bought them lunch or distributed a press release well, that is not earned. If they covered you because your story was genuinely interesting to their readers, that is earned."

The distinction matters commercially. B2B buyers in specialist sectors are sophisticated readers who can tell the difference between coverage that was placed and coverage that was genuinely awarded on editorial merit. The former creates some awareness. The latter creates credibility and trust. For brands in technically complex sectors where purchase decisions are high-stakes, credibility is the asset that actually moves buyers through the funnel.

"The publications and journalists that matter in adtech and martech are highly specialist. They will not cover companies whose representatives cannot speak to the technical nuances of the industry. You cannot fake your way through a briefing with a knowledgeable trade journalist."

Propeller's specialisation in media, marketing, and technology sectors is a direct response to this reality. Cirincione argues that the value of a PR agency is not its media relationships in the abstract but its ability to help clients develop stories that are genuinely interesting to the specialist audiences they need to reach. That requires understanding the sector deeply enough to know what is already being covered, what the open debates are, and where a client has a genuinely distinctive point of view.

"The question is not did they see it. The question is did they understand it and did it change something. Coverage that moves buyers connects a genuine business problem to a specific outcome. It gives the reader something actionable, not just something impressive."

Cirincione argues that the gap between communications that generate coverage and communications that move buyers is large and often underestimated. Coverage is necessary but not sufficient. The communications that actually influence purchase decisions give buyers something they can use: a framework for thinking about a problem, evidence that a solution works, or a clear articulation of what makes one approach better than another.

"There is a direct line between content quality and comprehension, and a direct line between comprehension and commercial outcomes. The brands that invest in genuinely high-quality communications get better coverage, more trust, and more pipeline. The brands that treat content as a volume game get noise."

Cirincione is making an economic argument as much as a quality argument. Content that achieves comprehension is more efficient at every stage of the commercial funnel than content that is merely well-produced. It is not just about what gets covered. It is about what gets remembered, shared, and acted on by the buyers who matter.