CorpComms Magazine

There is an issue casting its shadow across the media landscape for corporate communications professionals, one that has always been with us but is being brought into stark relief by the shifting economic environment - too many companies chasing too little space in the media.

We are entering an era where events - the credit crunch and the drive to the Internet to name but two — are conspiring to significantly reduce available pages in our management teams' favourite titles. Unfortunately, there is no corresponding reduction in expectations of coverage.

The challenge for the corporate communications professional is going to be how to negotiate this less hospitable landscape, to paraphrase Baldrick - It may be time for a cunning plan.

The bar for PR generated stories finding homes in the mainstream media is being set much higher, so we need to find new ways of creating compelling content, while still being able to address the key issues at the heart of our corporate agendas. The ‘cunning plan' is this — work together with a competitor to establish a critical mass to a story that may help get it ‘over the bar'.

The difficulty with this plan is that this is not the way we are used to working. We are going to have to consider some new practices and approaches, potentially using third party intermediaries in ways not previously envisaged. Will we start using social media to share our challenges, common interests and communications objectives, rather than just seeing it as another channel for coverage?

There are many questions still to be resolved; not least, will this be the year when we start collaborating rather than competing? We may find that a shared voice is better than no voice at all.  

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