On this episode of The Press Playbook, I sat down with Briana Trulear, Senior Account Director at BAM, to break down how she helped Doctronic land a Wall Street Journal funding exclusive.
This one is a really good example of how a story can evolve. Rather than starting as funding announcement, it started as a simple intro and turned into an exclusive.
Below are the key moments and takeaways from the episode, or listen where you please:
Guest: Briana Trulear, Senior Account Director at BAM
Client Featured: Doctronic
Key Placement: The Wall Street Journal
Episode Focus: Turning an intro into a full story + exclusive
We kick things off with Briana walking through her role at BAM and what Doctronic is building.
At a high level, Doctronic is essentially an AI doctor that helps people access health information and care more easily.
The team had a strong hook: a partnership with the state of Utah.
This allowed AI to help approve prescription renewals for certain medications, which is a big shift in how healthcare can actually work.
Instead of leading with a hard pitch, the team reached out to a Wall Street Journal reporter with a simple intro.
They introduced the CEO, shared the Utah news, and positioned him as a source on AI in clinical care.
The goal was “this is someone you should know.”
During that initial conversation, the CEO mentioned potential funding.
A couple weeks later, the reporter came back and asked to run an exclusive on it.
That’s the moment everything shifted from intro to full story.
The pitch was simple, easy to scan, and focused on:
Nothing overly complicated. Just clear and relevant.
Briana’s biggest advice: think beyond your company.
Reporters don’t just care about what you’re building. They care about how it impacts the broader industry, patients, and real-world use cases.
This placement didn’t come from forcing a story.
It came from starting a conversation, being relevant to what the reporter covers, and letting the opportunity build from there.