What to Look Out for in 2024
The rise and rise of Podcasting, Video Content and Influencers
The convergence of traditional and digital media will continue, influencing PR strategies. The way stories are distributed is evolving. It is important to consider new opportunities to distribute your story such as podcasts, video content and social media.
Podcasts offer an intimate and engaging platform for storytelling and are becoming increasingly more popular, while video content effectively captures the attention of an audience. Social media influencers, with their vast followings, have become key opinion leaders, allowing brands to connect with audiences in a more authentic and relatable manner. As these trends continue to gain momentum, it is important to effectively adapt to these new trends and stay ahead in the ever-evolving PR landscape.
Emerging technologies- The Power of AI
As we all know artificial intelligence (AI) has begun to transform how PR and communication is executed. This trend will continue in 2024. If you’ve been ignoring it, you will begin to lose ground. It is really in your best interest to examine how you can use AI to your advantage in 2024.
According to MediaHQ CEO, Jack Murray, “if change is what you do, not what happens to you, then you will thrive.” This really applies to AI.
Earlier this year we introduced an AI powered feature to MediaHQ called “The ChatGPT Press Release Creator”. The purpose of this feature was to help our users write their press releases more efficiently by eliminating the blank page effect and saving time spent writing press releases from scratch.
Since then we have heard directly from professionals in the PR industry about how our AI powered feature has increased their productivity by providing them with creative and eye-catching headlines and a solid first draft to work on when writing their press releases. Far from replacing key skills, it is helping teams to be more competitive and gifting them more time.
Working in PR you are often faced with challenges. As you reflect on 2023, is there anything you can think of that hindered your performance? Let's take a look at some of these possible hurdles and how we can help you and your team overcome these challenges.
Some PR headaches
1.Too much manual grunt work
Over-stressed staff getting lost in non-productive busy work. Picture this: Spending hours manually updating your Excel sheet with thousands of contacts, desperately trying to keep your media contacts list up-to-date.
2. Struggling to find new contacts
Finding new contacts can be a challenging and time-consuming task. With the PR industry being so large, searching for new contacts is almost like finding a needle in a haystack, you often may find yourself sticking to the same contacts for every press release.
3. Bouncing emails on press releases
Do you ever spend hours crafting a press release only to receive an inbox full of bounced emails? The main reason for high bounce rates on press releases is outdated media lists. Outdated lists can include contacts that have changed jobs and the email you have for them no longer exists or depending on how long you've had this list, some of them might not even be alive anymore—yes, it's surprising, but it happens!
4. Reporting for success
Sending out your press release without access to data such as delivery rates, open rates and click rates, leaves you in the dark about how your press releases are performing, it's like screaming your story into your pocket. How do you track the performance of our press release, do you call news desks to ask if your press release was received? Could you track your press releases performance more efficiently?
5. Stressing about GDPR compliance
Are you unsure if you are following the necessary GDPR protocols? How would you prove to someone that you are GDPR compliant? For many people the answer to these questions is, “I don’t know”.
If only there was a tool that could eliminate all the above challenges making your life a lot easier…there is.
How can MediaHQ help you to stay competitive in 2024
Dynamic List Building
Our software tools give you the ability to build targeted and niche media lists so that you can increase your coverage, find new contacts and build new relationships with media contacts, and help you maximise your PR output. Say goodbye to messy excel sheets in 2024!
We do the grunt work for you
Our advanced technologies and dedicated research team will keep on top of all media movements, so you don't have to. You can be assured that all of the contacts on the database are up to date so you can be confident that you are connecting your story with the right people. We have a 97% delivery rate so you don’t need to worry about your inbox being flooded with bounced emails.
As well as this we give you the ability to verify your email address on MediaHQ. How is this helpful to you? Picture this; there is a cyber attack and you can’t access your email but you have an important press release that needs to go out. Fear not. Once you have your email domain verified on MediaHQ, you can send out your press release from your email address using MediaHQ.
Advanced Reporting and Analytics
Our reporting tools allow you to see how your press release is performing the minute it is sent out to media contacts. You will be able to see the delivery rate, open rate and bounce rate on your press releases helping you improve your results. And not only that, you can view the reports on your colleagues' press releases so everyone on the team is kept in the loop on what is sent out and how they have performed, nothing is hidden in one person's email inbox
GDPR Compliance
By using MediaHQ you can be assured that you are being 100% GDPR compliant. When you distribute your press release through MediaHQ your contacts are given the option to opt out from your press releases if they wish. You can monitor any contact that has unsubscribed from your press release in your MediaHQ account. No need to worry if you are GDPR compliant and most of all stay on the right side of journalists.
Proactive Software Developments
At MediaHQ we recognise the importance of keeping up with evolutions in the PR landscape and we're committed to staying ahead of the curve.
As mentioned above, in 2023, in response to the growth in AI powered technology we introduced our most innovative feature “The ChatGPT Press Release Creator”. We wanted our users to be able to stay ahead of the crowd and adapt AI tools into their press release writing process and the response to this feature was outstanding.
We acknowledged the need for our users to distribute their stories internationally so we decided to make this possible.
Our first international contacts packages launched this year; The Europe National News Desks. With over 1,000 contacts available our users have the ability to connect their stories with journalists all across Europe, allowing them to have all the tools they need to stay competitive in the PR industry.
In 2024, we want to do the same and help our users to stay up to date with trends in the PR industry. We will be introducing developments like:
- Podcasts, our users will be able to send their stories to relevant podcasts, increasing their media coverage.
- Integration with media monitoring platforms helping our users perform all their PR tasks in one place.
- Enhancements to ChatGPT Press Release Creator in line with advancements made in AI.
- Offering more international contacts packages allowing our users to connect their stories with contacts overseas.
These are just a handful of the software developments that will be made in 2024. We will continue to be proactive and introduce developments to the platform that will help you excel and stay competitive in the dynamic world of PR throughout 2024 and beyond.
About MediaHQ
Designed for PR and Communications teams, MediaHQ is the all-in-one media contacts database and press release distribution software with the mission to connect your story with your audience.
It was founded by entrepreneur Jack Murray in 2009. Our cutting-edge software is the best, fastest and most accurate way to find the right journalists, build media and pitch lists in seconds, send press releases and get results.
The comprehensive MediaHQ database lists the details of over 60,000 journalists and media outlets across Ireland and the UK and is full of time-saving features.
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