Cover Stories Uncovered: How Cannabis and Natural Products Executives Can Land Trade Publication and Mainstream Cover Placements

We take all kinda pills that give us all kinda thrills/ but the thrill we've never known/ Is the thrill that'll getcha/ When you get your picture/ on the cover of the Rolling Stone

The late, great Shel Silverstein is best known for children’s books like Where the Sidewalk Ends. But he also penned the lyrics to The Cover of “Rolling Stone,” a song recorded by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show in the 1970s that wryly captures the elusive thrill of landing the coveted cover story of a beloved magazine. 

You don’t have to be a celebrity or successful serial entrepreneur to understand the level of recognition a magazine cover confirms and reinforces. After all, the cover of a magazine is how that publication advertises itself as a brand as well as its contents. 

To make the cover suggests not only that your endeavors are worthy of press attention, but that you yourself are a big enough draw that a magazine believes your face and story will move issues and drive clicks.

Sure, it’s easy enough to soothe a case of sour grapes with a comment about how cover stories are simply sold to the highest bidder. And yes, some publications do offer pay-for-play cover stories and other placements within their pages. But the vast majority of reputable magazines and journals determine their cover stories through a complex process of editorial decision-making that includes ongoing conversations between publicists, celebrity management teams, writers and editorial stakeholders. 

So how do editors determine whose face makes it onto the cover of iconic periodicals like Forbes, Time and Vogue? Not to mention other popular media like special interest magazines, newspaper feature profiles and trade publications, like Puffco CEO Roger Volodarsky’s iconic cover of Cannabis & Tech Today. 

It’s all about relationships. 

Any story placed in a magazine, newspaper or journal, from trade publications to mainstream print glossies, is the result of a lot of communication. Journalists are looking for a story that’s newsworthy, credible, salable and readable. Editors are mindful of all the same considerations, as well as how much traffic a story might drive to the media outlet’s website or how much advertising revenue a story might garner—or lose. 

Then there’s the creative aspect of digital and print publishing. Some of the questions editorial teams must ask include:

• How do all the stories in a given issue work together as a cohesive thematic unit? 
• Is there a pressing seasonal or timely concern that might bump an otherwise compelling, clickable piece of content? 
• What photographers, makeup artists, editors and writers are available? 
• Is the story a scoop? What are other publications working on in the same time frame that might impact the editorial decisions made at a particular website or magazine? 

A savvy publicist will have some sense of what’s going on behind the scenes if they’ve taken the time to really get to know the journalists and reporters on their media list. Through proactive pitching, publicists can learn what writers and editors like or dislike, what their needs are and what stories might be a dead end. 

A publicist will also be privy to some of the considerations on their client’s end that reporters might not be aware of, like the marketing and PR narratives the brand leadership team is prioritizing or the business goals they are hoping to achieve. 

Any good PR professional’s mission is to help negotiate an outcome that will help journalists get their jobs done while also earning compelling coverage for their client. If all those stars align just right, you might just end up with a cover story that becomes news in and of itself. 

Take, for example, Beyonce’s news-making 2018 Vogue cover, which was the topic of further coverage on HuffPost, The Ringer, Glamour and other outlets. Beyonce tapped a 23-year-old photographer for the assignment—making Tyler Mitchell the first Black photographer to ever shoot a Vogue cover. In addition to that historic selection, Beyonce’s creative control over the cover shoot fueled a larger conversation about the power dynamics and profitability of publishing and what makes a cover photo truly iconic.

Or consider the August-September 2022 print issue of Forbes featuring Cookies founder and CEO Berner. Not only was his entrepreneurial steeze highlighted in one of the best-known business publications on the planet, the story garnered other headlines noting that Berner made history as the first cannabis executive to grace the cover of Forbes. 

The timing of a cover story is also important. Print publications put out just a few issues per year, which is one reason that physical cover spreads are a hot commodity. The logistics of print media also mean editors start working on stories months in advance of when the actual copies will hit newsstands. Even for digital publications, cover stories can be a long game, although the many factors that go into a cover story can sometimes make for unexpected surprises or timing shifts. 

Earning the prime spot on a publication’s cover is a big win—but the cherry on top is when that story drops at just the right moment. It was serendipitous that Grasslands CEO and Founder Ricardo Baca’s Cannabis & Tech Today cover broke just before MJBizCon 2023. Conference attendees were able to get early access to the magazine’s Retail Issue before it was available on newsstands, creating plenty of buzz before The Grasslands Party and reinforcing the story’s narrative throughline of PR for Power Players.

To land a cover, however, executives have to be willing to put skin in the game. Most of us don’t have the same level of clout as Beyonce that can eclipse even Anna Wintour’s famous sway and authority. Publicists and their clients need to earn their status and leverage placements in smaller and mid-tier publications to build credibility and interest from journalists at larger, more prestigious outlets. 

Executives also need to be willing to get outside their comfort zone. A cover story is rarely a puff piece that focuses only on the easy and breezy. A brand leader has to be willing to get real about their failures and the challenges of building a business. Brands will also likely have to share some business financials like annual revenue and other numbers that give a story heft and credibility. Remember, journalists utilize Aristotle’s modes of persuasion just as much as publicists and marketers do—and pathos always needs to be balanced by ethos and logos.

‍Ready to build your marketing and PR strategy around consumer education? We’re always ready to talk through your brand’s unique needs and pain points to find a custom solution. But if you aren’t ready to start that conversation yet, check out our cannabis public relations services and cannabis marketing services to learn more about how we transform brands like yours with our proven process.