What does 2016 mean for PR?

[Isabel Suddek]

The digital age has led to enormous changes in the world or PR, led to a revolution you could say, as we once used to contact a journalist by phone or post, today those ways are now frowned upon and deemed useless. It's the time to pitch your press release in 140 characters or less over Twitter, and to the correct journalist from one of your key target publications, at the right time. Got that?

Now it's time to stay on track with the trends and predict what's to come this year...

The traditional press in no longer what journalists look for; our attention spans are getting shorter by the day (currently at 8 seconds - less than a goldfish's) and so journalists, bloggers and writers are looking for short, snappy, condensed content that is as alluring and attention-grabbing as before, if not more.

So keep in time with the ever-changing industry of PR this year and make sure any press release you present to the media is filled with unique and interesting content, backed up with quotes, and the reader is able to scan and feel inclined to find out more in 8 seconds or less.

So, what are your thoughts on what 2016 means for PR? And how will the coming changes affect your brands relationship with the media?

 

[fisicx]

...and so journalists, bloggers and writers are looking for short, snappy, condensed content that is as alluring and attention-grabbing as before, if not more.

You need to do your research. Longer articles are proving to be far more successful than the soundbite.

 

[ethical PR]

I couldn't disagree more.

What research are your claims based on? What is your experience of working in PR?

1. Contacting a journalist by phone is not deemed useless or frowned upon. And if you are sending product samples - how would you send them to a journalist except by post?

2. Not all journalists use twitter

3. What do you mean by 'The traditional press in no longer what journalists look for' - this comment doesn't make any sense

4. The content journalists will look for will depend on the story - condensed content is not always what journalists are looking for

 

[RPower]

My two cents (for what it's worth).

What journalists are looking for in content pitches is:

• That the PR knows who they're calling and why, what the title name is and what we already publish
• Who the title's target market is
• Are able to quickly describe the story idea in a simple way and explain why it's relevant
• Don't keep chasing us up with multiple phonecalls after the first one
• Stories that capture our attention i.e. A new business has launched won't be of interest, but 10 lessons founder of x company has learned while launching might get us to read it
• Emails are short, sweet and not essay-length as we very often get upwards of 100 per week

Bonus points if you can offer us exclusive content.

They're really basic things but very important. Also, please don't be offended if we reject a story; it may be that we simply don't have the capacity to cover it right now.

We also very often want to write the pieces ourselves, so fully-written content won't always be a good idea. A synopsis will do.

Also please by all means contact me via Twitter, but don't use that medium to pitch me unless it's via DM (which always leads to email/phone call in any case).

They're not 2016 things as such but rather what I've learned over the last few years of working in digital journalism - and it may change depending on journalist!

 

[ethical PR]

When I worked as journalist for regional media we had hundreds of stories coming in every day and only a few of those got followed up as stories.

National and broadcast media receive thousands of potential stories every day, so it's about doing your research and providing a pitch that is relevant to the media you are pitching to and summarises the story opportunity in a couple of lines, or a sentence or two on the phone.

If the journalist is interested in your story, then you can send over additional background, images, video etc

And with twitter as Rebecca says a DM is the best way - but you can only do this when the journalist is following you.

Journalists from different media operate in different ways so it's about understanding the best way to pitch to the type of media you want to target.

 

[HK Communications]

Journalists from different media operate in different ways so it's about understanding the best way to pitch to the type of media you want to target.

That is key. Before going into PR, I worked as a broadcast journalist, and most press releases I recieved by email wouldn't leave my inbox, not because email was the wrong format, but because so many stories weren't relevant for my audience.

So know what the journalist wants by actually seeing what kinds of stories they cover. For me, the press release still holds huge value, as this is the basis of the story, and top facts can be pulled from this for an overview pitch if calling a journalist.

Email and phone pitches are still key. Don't forget, twitter is a bit of a free-for-all, so many people are wary of spam tweets, DMs etc. But regardless of whether it's 2016, or 2060, the technology and mediums might change, but PR will always be about having a good story...

 

[fisicx]

No it's not.