How press management has changed during the pandemic in LATAM

Companies that remain committed to PR and press management to reach their key audiences have realized that practical steps, such as transmitting a specific, striking and well-segmented message during this time of pandemic, can strengthen their brand reputation. This can only be achieved by knowing how to approach reporters and journalists and, above all, by understanding their daily work.

Despite being affected by this situation as much as anyone else, journalists cannot stop even during the most severe quarantine, much like other sectors such as healthcare or food distribution.

Information is a civic right and cannot be withheld, so editors and reporters are having to coordinate, curate and present the news every day, all without leaving home.

These days, dining rooms, halls and even garages double as makeshift radio stations, recording sets or editorial meeting rooms, while interviews are conducted over Skype or Google Meet in spare rooms and offices.

In a recent interview for Colombia’s Universidad de los Andes, Yolanda Ruíz, news director of RCN Radio, explained that “nobody imagines what goes into the process of operating a radio remotely. The magnitude of the show’s production is enormous in order to air successfully and be heard as part of a coherent and fluid conversation every day. I take my hat off to the console operators and technicians, it’s a huge challenge for everyone. ”

To understand and assimilate this ‘new normal’, PR consultants need to be more flexible themselves, using modern technological tools to complement the journalist’s work. This means bringing information closer and sharing all possible content, from audio, video and images to available spokespeople, so that media outlets feel supported and press relations bear fruit for all concerned.

These days webinars, virtual chats and online events make up a flood of daily offers for communicators and journalists to access announcements, trends, concepts and contexts in which the different sectors of the market operate in Latin America’s economy. With or without distancing, using tech or in person, brands must transmit relevant, valuable and accessible information to the media. This is still the key to being part of the national conversation, even during these unprecedented times.

Likewise, one of the lessons to learn from COVID-19 is that we should all expect the unexpected. This means investing in PR and press management experts to activate plans and campaigns to manage crises, adjusted to the characteristics of each brand. It also means that PR agencies can innovate their means and strategies for reaching new clients and engaging journalists from a distance, supported more than ever by technological platforms .

Even though this pandemic holds, and will continue to hold, the attention of the entire planet, it is the goal of press management to ensure that companies remain present and relevant to the media agenda. So, depending on the developments that each company can draw on from its business, the key is knowing how to communicate the ways in which the products and/or services which they provide can offer solutions in our transformed society.