The business journalism landscape has changed dramatically in the past decade – so it’s more important than ever for financial services firms eyeing PR for added brand visibility to identify experienced media relations professionals and agency partners who are truly plugged into the current media world.
In the past, many trade magazines and regional newspapers employed dozens of business reporters and editors who had what seemed like endless resources to work on thoroughly researched and lengthy articles on longer deadlines.
Those days are largely gone. You appreciate the longer format pieces and thoughtful storytelling of a profile piece when you can earn it.
Across the industry, an average of 2.5 newspapers are shuttered every week. By November of last year, roughly 2,681 journalism jobs were lost in 2023.
Many major and regional news outlets are lucky to have a handful of reporters who might cover business as well as other beats and are required to turn in two or three articles every day to satisfy their editors who are under incredible pressure from publishers to keep the churn flowing and keep up with the competition.
Reporters at trade and national outlets face similar deadline pressures, while also trying to cast wider nets for new financial sources to differentiate their coverage and explore alternative formats to present their stories and grab the attention of their readers.
Freelance relations
As a result, reporters move in and out of jobs at these publications, both to find better salaries in new content roles and because they know their days may be numbered.
This has led to tighter deadlines and has exponentially increased competition for subject matter experts to be featured in stories.
Reporters are looking for comments from trusted sources and tend to go back again and again to media relations professionals who make their jobs easier. It is highly beneficial to work with PR experts who can offer resources for journalists in the long term, as well as provide quotes and comments reporters can easily plug into articles.
In many cases, the bulk of financial services articles are written by freelancers, or contractors, who are not on the outlet’s staff. Industry professionals also contribute content to supplement the diverse mix of articles you read, including informative pieces on unique tax and estate planning strategies and other specialized topics.
That makes it imperative for PR and media relations professionals to develop relationships with those freelancers – many of whom write for multiple trade outlets where you seek added visibility. That requires a media relations team with the resources to find their contact information, which is often impossible without access to a high-powered third-party media tracking database.
It also means building lasting relationships and trust with staff reporters and freelancers is critical. Journalists working with GAVIN’s public relations team know we have a growing pool of financial services experts ready to contribute to articles quickly and reliably. Our clients trust that we can get them the coverage we say we will in the outlets where they want to be (and alternative places we advise them to go).
And to maximize our investment further, we constantly explore innovative strategies to redefine content amplification. By transforming owned media—blogs, videos, and news pages—into powerful op-eds and contributed articles, while securing new interviews and aligning our subject matter experts with trending topics, we ensure budget efficiency and the greatest return on their PR investment.
Stay tuned for our next blog, where we delve into these strategies for amplifying content and enhancing our media presence.
GAVIN’s media relations professionals strive to stay in touch with and build strong ties with both staff reporters and freelancers at important financial news outlets, and we’re confident in our abilities to secure consistent and meaningful placements to bolster your marketing and business development strategies.
The proof of our success is in the numerous articles where we get our clients featured.
Contact us today to discuss how our financial services PR team can help your firm reach and surpass its media goals.
