At the turn of the year, I blogged about the changing European media landscape and the rise we should expect in hyper-personalised content as a way of media outlets trying hard to better engage audiences in this tough climate.
Well, five months on and we’re seeing this play out.
Over the last few months, our team in Germany has noticed changes in how the media there is operating, and they are finding themselves needing to adopt increasingly hyper-local PR and media relations strategies. So, what’s going on?
Evolution not revolution
The German media is slowly consolidating. Editorial teams are shrinking. Of course, Germany is not an isolated case. It’s a trend we’re sadly seeing across Europe.
Anecdotally, I was chatting to a BBC journalist only this week who told me he’s continually surprised at how many trade journalists he hears are taking on second jobs. Times are tough as a journalist.
Recently in Germany we’ve seen the closure of trade titles such as Geldinstitute, Dev-Insider and Internet World Business. Doors are closing or teams are being shrunk to the absolute minimum, especially at the smaller IT trade titles. And as a result, we’re seeing go-live times for press releases and bylines noticeably slowing down.
I’m aware of the (in my view, very lazy) narrative of declining journalist numbers as context for lower than optimum PR results. While it is undeniable that right now journalism is tough, and outlets are closing in Germany, what’s lazy is purporting that there’s nothing we can do about it.
It’s not just publications closing that our team has noticed.
Trade journalists are seeming less inclined to accept bylined articles or briefings on what might be seen as more ‘peripheral’ topics. With a lot at stake, we’re seeing media reign in the breadth of reporting to double-down on specialist topics. We see this as being driven by demands for clicks and web traffic.
Fewer quick-wins
The question of course, is what does this mean for our day to day, and what can we do about it?
The clearest implication is that there are fewer ‘quick win’ opportunities than there were. ‘News-hijacking’ and fast turnaround comment opps haven’t ever worked well in Germany, but we’re now seeing less potential even for news coverage or byline placements. This makes news (press-release)-focused PR programmes particularly difficult, especially if they focus on product updates.
Hyper-local for the win
Local market data and customer stories have always worked well in Germany (and indeed in any market). Similarly, aligning with German-specific news, topics, events, trends is becoming more important than ever.
If between client and team we can’t create a clear link to Germany, it just won’t fly.
On a day-to-day basis what this means is that corporate news needs a local angle to work, and you’ll find us pushing hard and sharing ideas to help unearth one! This could mean localising a press release with German-specific data, or in some cases, crafting a press release solely for the German market. Simply translating a press release without careful and considered localisation will not cut it.
The need for a more local approach is required across all media. That’s particularly evident when it comes to newsletters and podcasts, which are growing in number and influence, with some increasingly sector-specific focuses filling the gap left by the closure of certain publications.
It’s clear, the shape of influence in PR is changing; impactful results – in Germany and other markets – are increasingly coming from a more diverse set of outlets.
This requires an adjustment in the balance of time spent between pitching and researching the best targets. And it means more time and effort being spent on crafting the right, hyper-local angle for each opportunity.
Change keeps us on our toes; that’s part of what we love about our jobs. The media landscape is constantly evolving, and while we’re sorry to see some well-loved outlets close and editorial teams scaled back, the rise of niche media powerhouses and digital media offers a glimpse of the new opportunities which lie ahead.
