Greg Halse from our partner agency AMBITIOUS PR explains the special conditions for public relations in the United Kingdom.
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How is the tech market and the tech media business developing in general in your country?
Much like other regions and conversations globally, artificial intelligence is dominating the headlines. So much so that the new government recently announced the launch of its AI Opportunities Action Plan. Despite the emphasis on AI to perform administrative and processed-based tasks, many fear that the introduction could lead to public sector jobs being taken. Alongside the rise of AI and other technology, this has led to an uptick in cyber security considerations and technology to support this, after attacks continue to happen on councils and the wider public sector.
From a technology infrastructure perspective, the UK still continues to navigate the analogue to digital switchover, with the proposed shut down of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) extended till 2027 due to lack of preparedness. The UK is lagging far behind other nations who have had ‘digital only’ networks for some time. From a health tech and social care tech perspective, there are also concerns that the switchover will impact the continuation of 999 calls and emergency services for vulnerable people.
What has changed in tech PR over the last 5 years?
While leading technology events in the UK are still popular and remain highly important for clients and customers, media footprint has significantly reduced over the past few years. The pandemic has undoubtedly had an impact on this but also the workload for journalists has increased. Capturing the attention of journalists has become more challenging which has led to pitches and approaches requiring more creativity and out-of-the-box thinking to secure a unique angle and to line up interviews. As a result, the desire for more thought leadership has increased.
What is your preferred PR approach for addressing tech media? (B2C or/and B2B, case studies possible)
With publications and titles reducing the number of journalists and changing remit to focus on news only, the approach has had to adapt to meet this challenge. Exclusive pitches and offering ready-made content packages have also helped to secure interest with leading titles, as well as leveraging relationships built previously and forging news ones. With more journalists working from home and out of the office, it’s been harder to get face-to-face time, so leveraging existing relationships has been key.
What changes do you anticipate and how will tech companies have to react to it?
With journalists’ workloads continuing to expand, it’s important to be selective and targeted with news. Timing can also be really important in order to avoid media saturation. Research and the value of whitepapers have been huge for AMBITIOUS’ clients over the past year. Finding a unique discovery or piece of data on a specific sector can make all the difference in catching a journalist’s attention and getting cut through.
How do you see the role of AI in tech PR?
Not just in the field of Public Relations, AI has a great deal of potential in terms of being beneficial in alleviating manual processes and freeing up employee time to dedicate to the more strategic tasks and activities. It’s essential though to be very mindful of what you’re entering into AI and being extremely conscious of privacy considerations. Using it to form a foundation for content and ideation can be useful but utilising years of employee experience and expertise will be far more valuable to clients and colleagues alike.