Standing Out in a Turbulent Media Environment
How Bliss Found Success in the Tariff News Landscape
State of Tariffs: An Overview
News cycles move fast, and when a topic dominates coverage, like tariffs have for the past few months, it becomes harder for spokespeople to get their voices heard. We broke through the clutter by working closely with clients to focus on what they were actually seeing in their businesses, tailoring insights to key niches and sectors, and aligning with the evolving needs of reporters.
The tariff news cycle has fluctuated throughout March, April, and May, creating an overwhelming flurry of headlines and opportunities for expert commentary. As is the case for most prevailing news topics, this environment makes securing media coverage for clients challenging without a strategic, differentiated approach.
At the same time, the tariff environment has been characterized by volatility, with policy changes happening on a near-daily basis. Since early April, we’ve witnessed developments repeatedly reshape the economic and media landscape.
On April 2, the administration announced plans for new tariffs on $18 billion of Chinese imports, triggering immediate market reactions and domineering news coverage. Just a week later, the administration announced a pause on new tariffs for a 90-day period, reducing reciprocal tariff rates to 10% and creating yet another shift. Exemptions were created for phones, computers, and semiconductor chips, on April 16, introducing new complexity to an already muddled landscape. Just over a week later, on April 24, officials indicated that tariffs on Chinese goods (currently as high as 145%) could potentially decrease following upcoming negotiations.
As of May 13, the U.S. and China have agreed to a 90-day suspension and reduction of tariffs, providing temporary relief from escalating trade tensions. Though the agreement reduces Chinese import tariffs to 30%, the delayed impact of early exemptions for certain products will likely continue to create supply chain imbalances across industries.
This rapid pace of change creates a media environment where reporters seek expert sources to provide timely analysis, as each policy shift has implications for businesses across sectors.
What’s clear is that the current tariff environment is unlikely to stand still for the foreseeable future. Rather than waiting for things to return to normal, we’ve learned to anticipate shifts, adapt quickly, and coach our spokespeople to be nimble as they engage with reporters.
Challenges We Overcame
With the tariff news cycle evolving daily, we knew we needed to position our clients as reliable and timely sources that bring differentiated points of view to a competitive media landscape. Below are three key challenges we faced, and how we found successful solutions.
Pitching in an Oversaturated Media Landcsape
During a time when the media is overwhelmingly focused on tariffs, everyone wants to join the conversation, making it difficult to differentiate your source and cut through the noise.
We broke through by keeping our finger on the pulse of what’s next — not only by monitoring headlines but also preparing for key moments like the State of the Union. We brainstormed and collaborated, as a team, on timely angles and to identify which subject matter experts (SMEs) are best fit to speak to them. In one instance — ahead of Trump’s meeting with two world leaders — we tapped an expert who could discuss how businesses were mitigating duty costs through specific tactics like Duty Drawback and the First Sale Import Program. By tailoring our messaging ahead of time and pitching early, we beat the flood of generic tariff commentary, translating strategy to results.
The bar for what constitutes “newsworthy” commentary on tariffs continues to rise as the conversation matures. Reporters aren’t looking for broad-based experts anymore — we’ve learned that coaching our SMEs to offer granular and forward-looking commentary works best. For example, having a source that can speak about why tariffs impact the retail industry may not offer a deep enough perspective. One of our SMEs was able to go beyond current retail and inventory impacts by highlighting how tariffs will affect upcoming seasonal ordering. She signaled potential holiday shortages six months from now — an angle not all reporters were thinking about yet — adding value and specificity to the conversation.
Working with Consultants
Professional services firms face a hurdle in the tariff conversation because they’re not necessarily experiencing impacts firsthand, their clients are. This raises a critical question: Why would a reporter consider our source over someone whose organization is experiencing tariff effects directly?
For some, this challenge could be compounded by guidelines that prohibit mentioning their own clients or any specific companies, even when working with several household names. This can limit participation in opportunities where the focus is on a specific company that is in the headlines or other high-profile organizations directly affected by tariffs.
However, we’ve learned to leverage the unique advantage of having consultants with insight into multiple companies. Our experts can identify patterns, compare approaches across sectors, and offer insights into what their clients are actually experiencing, from reevaluating customs valuations to supply chain management strategy shifts. This birds-eye view provides value that individual companies cannot, giving reporters a more comprehensive look at the landscape.
Prioritizing Speed
Perhaps the most persistent challenge has been navigating trade policy complexity. How do experts effectively deliver insights when policies are changing daily, and every conversation has the potential for a political slant?
Frequent policy shifts make it difficult for even seasoned experts to confidently comment on the news, as they worry their insights may not age well even hours after an interview. This pressure is compounded by the need for our subject matter experts to remain apolitical in their responses.
Additionally, shifting and breaking news related to tariffs have compressed media timelines significantly. Deadlines that had previously spanned days, now must be met in a matter of hours as reporters race to cover the latest developments before new ones emerge.
Being a part of these sensitive conversations requires fast and diligent prep work, from both PR pros and SMEs, to align on precise messaging before an interview. It also requires both sides to be able to act or pivot quickly as the landscape shifts. For our team, this looks like pulling together talking points in real time, flagging breaking news that could impact SMEs’ perspectives, and jumping on last-minute prep calls. We collaborate closely across teams to ensure we deliver accurate and up-to-date guidance, often just hours or minutes ahead of an interview.
Putting Best Practices into Action
Our team has generated the most success by finding our SMEs’ niches, using data wherever possible, and monitoring the news landscape to act quickly. However, all these actions can’t take place in a vacuum. It is up to us to make clear connections between our clients’ expertise and the broader news story. Even if a connection isn’t immediately obvious, we help identify where their insights could add value.
For example, we have sources that can speak to supply chain and inventory impacts on the retail industry while we have others who can go in depth on customs and duties within the tech industry. These niche areas of expertise present new angles in larger conversations about tariffs, some of which reporters had not considered before we brought them forward.
The results speak for themselves. Since the beginning of 2025, our team has gotten our clients features in top publications like The Associated Press, The Financial Times, Bloomberg, Reuters, and Axios. These hits serve as proof that even with a saturated topic like tariffs, there’s opportunity for your spokespeople to provide commentary that goes a layer deeper than the rest and emerge as a thought leader.
By Aedyn Gorenberg & Cassidy Crawford
Photo by Digital Julius Silver via Pexels
