How an Economist Rebuilt His Platform for Two Audiences
Client Description
Daniel Altman is an economist, speaker, and financial advisor with a track record of accurate predictions—having publicly anticipated the 2008 financial crisis as early as 2002, the Greek bailout crisis in 2005, and Ben Bernanke's unconventional Federal Reserve interventions. His 2011 international best-seller "Outrageous Fortunes: The Twelve Surprising Trends That Will Reshape the Global Economy" and his proprietary Baseline Profitability Index (BPI) earned him widespread recognition, regular appearances on CNN, and a professorship at NYU's Stern School of Business. Altman quickly became a sought-after speaker and an established industry leader.
After several years, however, Altman stepped back from economics commentary to pursue opportunities in sports analytics and technology, including a role as Chief Economist at Instawork, where he led a labor market platform. Still, he never ceased his careful analysis of the global economy and, when he eventually decided to resume his place on the big stage, Altman had more experience, data, and insight than ever before.
The Challenge: Rebuilding a Platform Among Two Distinct Audiences
Altman faced a significant challenge upon his return: while his expertise was as relevant as ever, his platform for sharing that expertise had largely disappeared. He would need to climb his way through a dense host of competing voices and navigate the often exclusive realm of top-tier financial media until he had a stage to speak from. Then he would need to deliver the right messages at the right times to capture two distinct audiences—investors and financial decision-makers who could benefit from his services, and general readers who could benefit from his newsletter and forthcoming book.
Altman had already soft-launched "High Yield Economics," a weekly newsletter translating economic news into practical insights, which had attracted over 1,800 subscribers in its first three editions. Now he needed media presence to accelerate that growth. It was with these challenges that Altman engaged Razor Sharp PR in April of 2025.
Our Solution: Positioning, Pitching, and Preparing the Funnel
Reestablishing Altman as an authority within the consciousness of journalists and the public would require frequent appearances in progressively more reputable outlets. Merely breaking into financial print and television is a formidable task, so we began by pitching one of his strongest value offerings: the BPI. We positioned the relaunched index, now featuring a decade of data and interactive charts, as an improved successor to the recently discontinued World Bank "ease of doing business" index that foreign direct investors and multinational corporations had long relied on. Getting coverage on a genuinely useful, one-of-a-kind investment index would establish Altman as a credible and newsworthy analyst.
Next we needed to position Altman as someone who can speak reactively on the headlines of the day, which would be key for placing him in top-tier financial outlets like CNN and Reuters. We began to proactively pitch his perspectives on matters like Fed policy, tariffs, and recession indicators that happened to be the news of the moment. When the news shifted, so did we; pitching him on the government shutdown, bond market dynamics, and the price of gold cemented him as a go-to expert for whatever is trending in the media.
We also recognized that the image presented on Altman's own website would need to align with the credible image being conveyed in the media; any impression made on readers, viewers, or even journalists must be reinforced throughout the funnel. A digital credibility audit revealed that his personal site still emphasized decade-old achievements, displayed "Not Secure" browser warnings due to missing HTTPS encryption, and offered no clear pathway to his newsletter. We updated his biography to reflect his current work—including his role at Instawork and the High Yield Economics newsletter—resolved the security issues, and integrated a newsletter opt-in so that media-driven traffic could be converted to subscribers. By the time his first placements were hitting the news, Altman was ready to capitalize on every click.
Outcome
Within months of engaging Razor Sharp PR, Altman had ramped up from relatively small publications to appear in the likes of CNN, Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, MSN Money, News Nation, CBS News, Barron's, and Bloomberg TV. The release of the updated BPI was syndicated across five continents, while his commentary on topics like tariffs, recession risks, and gold made frequent appearances in national stories and broadcasts.
Over seven months, Razor Sharp PR secured 90 online placements in outlets with a combined readership of 828 million, plus 13 YouTube and broadcast appearances generating over 22,000 views. Coverage was shared more than 3,000 times on Facebook alone. Meanwhile, his "High Yield Economics" newsletter grew from 1,800 subscribers to 3,105, a 58% increase, as media visibility converted into an engaged audience for his ongoing work.