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PR stories for today’s newsroom – tips for success

The nation’s newsrooms are transforming at an unprecedented pace. 

In response, Smoking Gun recently held a webinar to help brands and marketing professionals to navigate this new earned media landscape.

Led by our Head Of Media Carl Stroud, The Future Of The Newsroom was crammed with invaluable insights and practical tips.

Missed it? Watch the webinar here…

Here are our top four takeouts:

Social media abandons news

Sudden and unexpected changes to algorithms and shifts in focus have seen social media platforms turn their back on news. The result is that news publishers have been starved of vital referral traffic. In response, they are devising new ways to build better and more genuine relationships with audiences. Brands and marketers need to think cross-platform when pitching and how to create stories which work for these new channels. 

Online payday spells more pain for print

As news publications finally learn how to meaningfully monetise their digital platforms and publishers such as Reach place a firm focus on their US operations, UK newsrooms are left having to do more with less staff and budget.  This provides a real opportunity for communications teams to build meaningful relationships with journalists to understand and provide exactly what they want and need.

AI kills the newsroom

Cost-cutting and working from home has already prompted huge changes to the newsroom as we know it. And now AI has the potential to usher in the biggest changes in a generation as editors are replaced by algorithms. This calls for precision-engineer stories from brands which drive debate and engagement.

Solutions journalism and brand success

The rise of news avoidance is presenting a real challenge for news publications. To combat this, journalists are adopting ‘solutions journalism’ where reporters are not merely reporting on a given problem but also ways to counter it through expert advice and tips. This is driving a real appetite for purpose-led stories from brands and ways to help readers through challenging times.

At Smoking Gun we thrive on industry change, so keep your eye peeled for the next unmissable webinar in our Summer Series, where we’ll share more of our expert insights on how brands can build cross-platform fame.

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