Companies: you need to re-evaluate your tech stack for media communications

Originally published on 18.11.2022

In 1853 Antonio Mucci developed the first version of a telephone to stay in touch with his sick wife. Over a hundred years later, in 1971, Ray Tomlinson sent the first electronic mail.

“How is this related to working with media?” I hear you asking. According to the Nordic communications report (2022), communications technology (CommsTech) is currently one of the hottest trends. However, after discussing with around a hundred communications professionals, their essential tools are phone, email, and meeting software. Don’t get me wrong, the telephone and emails are still some of the best communications tools. It’s just that other functions in the organization are much more advanced in adopting technology to support their work. In addition to my empirical findings, the research also points out that the communications industry lacks technology maturity.

The rise and doom of digital advertising offer an opportunity for media relations

If adopting CommsTech is slow, the case for digital advertising is the opposite; it has already passed the hype curve, and people are getting bored of digital ads all over their digital environment. We live in the historically worst period for companies whose revenue is reliant on selling ads. If you own Meta’s stocks, you couldn’t have missed the trend; the value gained in the last seven years was gone in less than a year. Puff. And Meta is not alone. At the time of writing this, Google’s market value has decreased by 40% this year, and Snapchat’s by 80%.

A significant drop in the value of the shares of the companies in question occurred in week 43 when the companies reported lower-than-expected results. The reason is advertising revenue – or lack thereof. For example, Meta reported a decline in advertising revenue for a second consecutive quarter, and YouTube’s advertising revenue decreased compared to the previous quarter for the first time.

The decline in popularity of digital advertising offers media messengers a thousand-dollar opportunity to prove their place in organizations. Even though the macroeconomic situation is terrible – inflation is rising faster than wages, and purchasing power is decreasing – consumers and companies do not stop spending altogether. They are more aware of what information to trust and where to put their money.

Digital advertising is getting more expensive, marketing departments have saturated the digital spaces to boredom, and people find it hard to trust the information they are offered. As a result, the public is drowning in information while seeking wisdom. We are at a turning point where traditional media is gaining more importance. Strategic media communications can offer reliable and up-to-date information about your company and its offering.

The time for media communications is now

Marketing departments run data-driven campaigns, and advertising tools optimize campaigns. Marketing leads are brought into the CRM tool, where they are nurtured with the help of engagement campaigns. Communications professionals sit in meetings and gather subjective bits of information. Media communications professionals use technology for media monitoring – that’s a good start.

The decline in popularity of digital advertising offers media messengers a thousand-dollar opportunity to prove their place in organizations

Media communications is ‘cool again,’ and there is no time to waste. The use of technology at the right points helps communicators demonstrate that media communications can be done efficiently and with significant value. Here are some ideas for using technology in communications:

• Collect media data from every market the company operates in and understand what topics are trending in different countries. Adapt your company’s message to suit each market and contribute to the company’s strategic direction with the help of market data.
• If your communication language is English, test artificial intelligence for producing text. For example, with copy.ai or anyword.com, you can create an article with a couple of clicks (disclaimer: be prepared to edit the text, though, and be aware of plagiarism).
• Use digital advertising tools to test what narrative works before committing to a particular message.
• Use tools to speed up work processes. At this point, I want to mention the Valosan media relations management tool we developed. Valosan is for managing your media campaigns and pitching stories to journalists.