Revenue Engine Workshop
Commercial PR &
The Good News Calendar
Turn Freight Ops Into Content That Drives Revenue
Share Good News
The Objection

You're Not Out
of Good News

Every load delivered on time, every lane you've got covered when a competitor doesn't, every customer you kept when a contract came up for renewal, that's proof you're solving a real problem. That's news. The teams who swear they have nothing to share are usually sitting on the most of it.

Here's the excuse we hear on almost every kickoff call: "We don't really have PR news, we just move freight." Fill in your own version of that blank. It's never true. You're making a difference to your customers by solving their critical problems, and that's good news because it's valuable to them. The work in this module is finding it, shaping it, and putting it on a calendar so it goes out consistently instead of whenever someone remembers.

"Good news is anything that interests your target customer, and it must help the people you're trying to reach see that you have the knowledge, skill, or product to improve their lives."

The Revenue Engine • Kara Smith Brown
The Foundation

Four Things
Make It Good News

Not every update is good news. A logo redesign is not good news, it's an internal milestone. Good news clears four bars, and it's worth checking your instinct against all four before you write a word of it.

Criteria 1
Relevant and Timely

It hits what's top of mind for your buyer right now, capacity crunches, rate volatility, a regulation taking effect. Ride the news cycle instead of publishing into silence.

Criteria 2
Market-Specific

Every account in your ICP has its own goals. Tie your news to theirs and it reads as relevant. Generic corporate updates read as noise.

Criteria 3
Has a Point of View

There's a real difference between advice and a point of view. A list of tips helps nobody remember you. Your read on what a shift in the market means is what sticks.

Criteria 4
Has Value

It has to help the reader, and it lands hardest when a third party backs it up. An award for best logo is good news for you. Cutting a customer's downtime is good news worth sharing.

This is where Commercial PR earns its name. Traditional PR chases a positive image and measures it in sentiment. Commercial PR takes market-specific news, a capacity index, a port strike, a new regulation, and turns it into content your ICP wants to read, anchored in your point of view. That's what ties the good news back to revenue instead of just reputation.

The Inventory

Twelve Places
Good News Is Hiding

Good news comes in more forms than most ops and sales teams give themselves credit for. Run down this list before you decide you've got nothing to say.

01
Customer Wins
A new account, a renewal, a competitive takeaway
02
Partnerships
Carrier, tech, or channel partnerships worth naming
03
Product Launches
A new lane, service, or capability you're standing up
04
Analyst Reports
Gartner, Forrester, Frost & Sullivan coverage
05
Feature Coverage
National, trade, or vertical media pickup
06
Executive Thought Leadership
Your leadership's take, published on LinkedIn
07
Tradeshow Activity
Panels, booths, and the conversations that happen there
08
Industry Data and Forecasts
Your own analysis of where the market's headed
09
Industry Recognition
Awards and rankings that carry outside credibility
10
Customer Case Study
Proof you solved a problem for a long-time client
11
A Publication
A book, a whitepaper, a byline that runs long-form
12
Trade Magazine Bylines
600 to 800 words, written by you, published by them
The Difference

PR Builds an
Image. Commercial PR Builds Revenue.

We work in PR too, but we call it Commercial PR on purpose. The distinction isn't semantics, it changes what you measure and what you build content around.

Traditional PR
Reputation and Relationships

Media relations, crisis communication, corporate messaging. It's measured in sentiment and social listening, and the goal is a strong relationship with your audience.

Commercial PR
Measurable and Market-Specific

Macro and micro-economic news turned into content your ICP wants to read, anchored by your point of view. Part of the demand gen motion, closely tracked for effect.

Analyst relations belongs in the same conversation. It's the most misunderstood discipline in marketing, and one of the most valuable. Owning your niche with the right analysts and networking strategically builds a kind of credibility that a press release alone can't manufacture. It's a big part of a serious demand gen strategy, not a side project for whenever there's budget left over.

Now Apply It

Build Your
Good News Engine

Three deliverables. Three examples of good news you already have, a full year of a sharing calendar, and three KPIs worth putting on the wire. Work through them in order.

Pull from the twelve categories above. For each one, tag which criteria it hits. Aim for all three tags checked on every example.

Example 1
Relevant & Timely
Market-Specific
Has a Point of View
Example 2
Relevant & Timely
Market-Specific
Has a Point of View
Example 3
Relevant & Timely
Market-Specific
Has a Point of View

Pick a category and a specific story for every month. Space out your categories, don't run the same one back to back, and line up timing with trade shows, contract cycles, or product launches where you can.

Pink border marks the end of a quarter, a natural check-in point to see what's actually landed.

Data points you can share on a recurring basis that reflect your company's point of view on the market, not just internal metrics nobody outside your building cares about.

KPI 1
KPI 2
KPI 3
Plan Completion0 of 18
My Commercial PR Plan
Good News Examples
Example 1
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Example 2
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Example 3
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Twelve-Month Calendar
PR-Ready KPIs
KPI 1
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KPI 2
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KPI 3
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