When we began our journey into quantum tech public relations back in 2019 few journalists were interested in the stories we were telling.
“Too technical,” said some reporters.
“Too confusing,” we heard from others.
“Who cares?” said some editors. “Why should we care?”
Well, it’s mid-2023 and a lot has changed.
Yes, it’s still technical, but more reporters are being assigned the quantum tech beat and they are diligently, and even enthusiastically, learning how to write about it.
Yes, it’s still confusing. Whether it’s writing about superposition or entanglement, it’s not something encountered in our everyday world. Yet reporters are intrigued by these esoteric concepts.
So, the big question: Who cares?
Increasingly, readers, viewers and listeners do. My Google Alerts are jammed packed every day with quantum stories from all over the globe. And not only from quantum trades and sci-tech publications, but mainstream ones as well. Witness the February TIME magazine cover on quantum computing. Or the recent FOX Business News story describing a quantum technology breakthrough.
Yes, qubits are rampant these days, as articles chart milestones and explore just when, and how, quantum tech will truly make a difference in our lives. Many see quantum development as the 21st century version of last century’s space race.
At HKA, we had the foresight – and a bit of chutzpah – to zero in on quantum relatively early. Our quantum tech network is expansive, and it is growing every day throughout the world, from North America, across Europe and Latin America and into Africa and Asia. Most are LinkedIn relationships that blossomed, born during Covid restrictions and bolstered by Zoom calls. We have finally connected with a few in person at conferences, and it’s just like meeting old friends.
More than friendships, we have developed resources valuable to journalists as they strive to understand this industry and explain it in comprehensible terms to their readers. And this, in turn, is valuable to our clients. Journalists have discovered that our roster of quantum clients spans hardware and software, and that we know consultants who provide everything from quantum recruiting to business intelligence. We can provide scientists and business leaders to supply quotes for stories or simply share background for future articles.
Some journalists have confessed it is daunting to cover quantum and that’s why they have held back. They are afraid to ask “dumb questions” when interviewing scientists. But the well-known response is even more true in quantum – there truly are no dumb questions. We aren’t physicists, after all, we are professional communicators striving to understand their realm and bring others into it.
We continue building our relationships and encouraging journalists to be bold – to dive in and tell the many fascinating stories in the quantum tech world.
