Why PR trends in UK are globally relevant

 21st October 2020    Opinion 

One of the biggest trends we see in the UK right now is hyper-competition. The UK has always been a very competitive space: strong levels of investment and innovation mean there are many companies vying for serious deals with real prospects of future business success. The UK has always attracted talent from right around the world too making it a hot bed of entrepreneurism and business growth. 

That said the UK is small. There are fewer domestic customers - and fewer media publications in which to engage them - than in markets like the US. Add to this the current climate which has brought greater caution from investors alongside furloughed editorial teams as publications battle for survival and the battle for earned media has never been more torrid.

Nor has the battle for share of attention. Outside of traditional media, social media saw its user base increase during the pandemic. Major industry conferences went online, invites to every breakfast panel or roundtable that would otherwise have been a discreet affair suddenly filled our inboxes and we were expected to join a LinkedIn Live debate at 8am or an industry networking event at 7 PM often while pivoting a business strategy or homeschooling children. Cutting through the industry content while simultaneously trying to navigate the news turned online life into a relentless white noise.

For us this has put the emphasis on strategy and storytelling and we see this happening right around the world. Being hyper focused on what it is each and every client is trying to achieve - often in a much shorter time frame than we considered pre Covid - is vital. We talk to all of our clients about what the business needs to achieve and from there work out how comms and digital marketing can deliver on that. We use our CLICK process to unlock this and deep-diving with clients into how we can make Q4 and the start of 2021 a positive turning point in the pandemic period.

From a storytelling point of view, we are being vocal in encouraging clients to think beyond a press office, beyond partnership announcements or even funding to how they can make themselves hyper relevant and valuable through the stories they tell and the content they share. This gets ahead of the pack in both earned and owned media. They are not new principles but now more than ever we need to make sure we adhere to them.

Debbie Zaman is CEO and founder of With, an international PR and digital marketing agency specialising in technology. She is also the founder of the 'With Global Alliance', an international network of agencies specialising in technology.