Another Look at Changes in the Media….and What it Means for PR
August 25th, 2011 by Tony Sapienza
Howie Sholkin from IDG visited Topaz yesterday for a “brown-bag” focused a topic often discussed around our office – how the media is changing and what it means for PR professionals. Howie brought a unique perspective to the discussion – not only does he work with a tech media leader (Computerworld, Network World, PC World, IDC, SNW, IDG Enterprise); he’s also a veteran of tech PR. But the highlights from our discussion came from all sides – from Howie and from members of the Topaz team. Here’s a snapshot — you might from some new and some may be obvious, but they all are valuable reminders for the tech PR community:
-the shift from print to online, events, custom publishing, content marketing across the tech media landscape that picked up momentum five years ago shows no sign of slowing
- this shift presents new opportunities for PR professionals, who can help their clients and companies leverage these new channels
- while there’s still a role for news releases; releases continue to be one way to reach/influence media, but these have impact in other ways, from driving internal consensus to demonstrating momentum to website visitors
- influencer relationships are still important, but increasingly these are electronic and not just the face-to-face connections of years past
- briefings and media tours are becoming more difficult due to the distributed nature of media and online influencers
- “packaging” news for media and online influencers is of growing importance, as time-strapped journalists are turning to this information to generate stories (as opposed to those briefings and face-to-face meetings)
- video, images, audio and infograpics are becoming increasingly valuable as the media looks for new types of content
Again, most of these are points we here at Topaz have all thought about – and acted on for our clients – but it always helps to remind ourselves about the changes taking place in the media and PR. It can be a challenge, but these kinds of changes are what keep life interesting for the folks at Topaz.
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