CompanyWeek Writer's Guidelines

(5/2/2018)

Overview

●CompanyWeek is a business-to-business publication focusing on MANUFACTURING.

●Our stories chronicle the journey of California, Colorado, and Utah manufacturing companies, mainly through the unique challenges and opportunities that manufacturing companies face.

●These challenges and opportunities are shared by companies across industries. As a result most profiles will resonate w other companies, regardless of industry.

To accomplish this, each profile should explore:

  1. Genesis of the business: how it started and how the current owner/C-level/MFG executive arrives at this point, and the interview.
  2. What the company makes! Clarity on whether the company is an OEM, a contract manufacturer, a supplier, an integrator, and what industry they operate in.
  3. The market opportunity for the business -- market outline, relative success of the company to date and go-to-market/sales/distribution strategy
  4. Description and exploration of the MANUFACTURING OPERATION, through the lens of:
  5. production environment -- where and how are the products made
  6. domestic vs. offshore production -- and why?
  7. barriers and challenges -- around sourcing materials, availability of qualified labor and workforce
  8. Other operating parameters, such as the impact of gov't regulation, etc.
  9. INNOVATION within the industry the company operates, and how INNOVATION is:
  10. creating a competitive advantage for the company
  11. resulting in workforce/employment opportunities.
  12. Summary of Challenges, Opportunities, Needs: These are bullets at the end of every profile.

Logistics

CompanyWeek typically publishes three to four company profiles a week as well as features and columns.

The profiles typically cover one company (a manufacturer or a supplier/vendor to manufacturers) in 600-800 words with one quoted source, the features often explore a trend or issue in 1,000-2,000 words with at least three sources, and columns are typically provided by partners and industry observers.

We cover companies with a presence in Colorado, Utah, and California, as well as other Western states.

We publish a weekly CompanyWeek newsletter as well as a monthly newsletter, BreweryWeek, focused on Colorado's craft brewing sector.

Email pitches and questions to Eric Peterson at or Bart Taylor at .

Interview/Content Points

The goal is to provide a peek into a manufacturer's operations. It's preferable, albeit not required, that they manufacture in their home state.

We always aim to interview the CEO, president, founder, or other C-level executive. We try not to interview VPs of marketing and the like. One interview subject is fine for profiles.

We strive to briefly tell a company's story with a bit of historical context; a description of the current operation, products, and manufacturing logistics; news; growth; and innovation. The last point is a focus. Always ask the source about innovation in products and/or processes and try to include at least one paragraph on the topic.

Please send confirmation of interviews and contact information as soon as possible after confirmation of assignment in order to assign photography. Ideas for photos are always welcome.

Structure Points

The ideal word count is 600 to 800 words. We try to edit longer profiles to get them under 1,000 words.

The profiles always begin with a block of standard information: the company's name, website, and location, followed by Founded (year), Privately owned or Publicly held (with ticker symbol in parentheses for the latter), and Employees (number, with parenthetical explanation if needed). The beginning capsule ends with the company's Industry (Built Environment, Industrial & Equipment, Food & Beverage, Energy & Enviro, Electronics & Aerospace, Brewing & Distilling, Consumer & Lifestyle, Bioscience & Medical, Contract Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Cannabis) and the Products.

The bold abstract after Products should include the source's name and title (but not the company as that is the headline) and an active description of the company's current trajectory. The abstract appears in bold atop the profile and acts as its lead sentence and on the homepage as a teaser. It should be one sentence, possibly two.

The profiles always end with bullets on Challenges, Opportunities, and Needs. We like to have a quick quote in each if possible. For breweries, we include Favorite beers before Challenges and highlight beers from both the profile subject and other breweries.

Look to the profiles recently published at CompanyWeek.com as examples.

Style Points

We use present tense for quotes -- "says" not "said," "asks" not "asked," "notes" not "noted," etc.

We use a double dash -- with spaces around it -- to offset clauses.

We use straight quotes and apostrophes (", ’) not curly ones.

Use active voice whenever possible.

Use last name only after the first reference (including the abstract). If two sources share the same last name, use the first names after first reference.

We use Oxford commas before "and” in series of three or more in order to avoid confusing sentences like: "The company is focused on the aerospace, high-tech and oil and gas sectors."