COMPLACENT MARKETING
Innovations changing the PR profession
By Diana Obath
Supernewsroom , a new app that is changing the PR profession has already begun gaining traction in Asia . The app allows PR professionals to publish their PR campaigns on the platform and has the ability to send press releases to journalists registered on the app . Currently , the app has 30,000 journalists in 8 countries including Singapore , Malaysia , Indonesia and Vietnam . Communications executives who use the app have the advantage of cutting back on the manual process of sending out press releases from an Excel sheet or email group making it easier to manage the process of getting the release into the hands of journalists .
This innovation is bound to be a game changer in the PR industry , in the same way advertising and marketing have already begun to see a shift in their respective industries . Already there are apps that exist that allow users to easily develop their own logos , business collateral and even publish digital posts without the need for an agency or designer . The PR profession is now beginning to see a shift in adoption of innovation that will change the workings of the profession in days to come . Often times , PR hives off developments happening in marketing and advertising before finding a footing into the PR profession .
Supernewsroom is a game changer and has the potential to affect the local PR and communications industry in the coming days , especially given the quick rate of digital adoption in the Kenyan market . This app will particularly offer small firms and smaller PR agencies the opportunity to engage with journalists directly . This could also reduce the dependency on the need for organizations to have a PR agency .
The app also allows for virtual PR assistants to list their services on the platform , which creates an opportunity for increased consultancies in that area . Smaller firms can therefore easily access writers or editors to look at their copy and send out the emails to journalists on their own via the app .
The greatest benefit of this app locally will be the growth of online news sites as more journalists will have access to information and can sustainably manage news platforms without a shortage of information . Journalists using the app are also empowered to accept or decline a release or email pitch , making it easier for them to sift through and pick out news releases that are relevant to them . The app also offers other features such as
“ The way the innovation works blurs the fundamentals of the profession in that one of the ways that PR is different from marketing is that it is not paid-for coverage , PR thrives on being able to offer earned media coverage .” language translation which makes it easy to translate releases and postcampaign analytics which allows users to easily track the success of their PR campaigns .
One of the most outstanding features of the app is the claim of ‘ guaranteed coverage .’ To access this feature , a media publisher or news platform needs to submit a domain authority score to gauge the site ’ s performance e . g . unique visitors , hits etc . Once the rating is determined , the publisher can upload as many releases as they would like onto their site that have been received from the Supernewsroom app and Supernewsroom will pay the online journalist according to a pre-determined rate per story . In an ideal scenario , the company or PR agency would pay Supernewsroom , then Supernewsroom will pay the journalist for what they have covered . This will allow online journalists to earn more and have a more sustainable source of income from their sites and may also be advantageous in solving the problem that PR professionals currently face in securing earned media coverage .
On the flip , side it may cut back on commissions and retainers from clients who pay to have their PR stories sent out to media houses by agencies and diminish the value of earned media coverage by democratizing the service and positioning it as paid media . The ultimate outcome is that this innovation can completely change the way PR is measured , particularly in the PESO model as it will create a blurred line between paid and earned media .
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MAL 44 / 21 ISSUE