With our sleigh stacked with client coverage, a reminder that a release is not just for Christmas, and our clients on top of the tree of course!
As we shared in our 2023 Christmas card, this past year at IBA International has been busier than ever – and with journalists still hungry for editorial to fill their publications into the New Year, the activity level has far from slowed down in December!
To round off another year of PR festivities, including thought leadership, press releases and social media galore, the whole IBA team reflects on the past month’s successes before we close our office doors (but not our laptops) for the last time in 2023. So, without much further ado – let’s jump into the final monthly round up of 2023 with a festive twist!
Powering up Christmas coverage with timely press releases
Thousands of press releases are distributed across newswires each day and autofilling thousands more websites never read by a journo. Yes, there are less journalists able to read them due to staff shortages, so it raises the question: are press releases still worth sending out?
Well, here’s our Christmas PR story to cap off 2023. It’s true that releases get lots of auto pickups and don’t always garner the largest number of media placements, but they do act as a great touchpoint with the media. We’ve said it before, press releases should contain ‘hidden’ agendas and signals and can be the perfect vehicle to improve your client’s visibility within target media outlets.
Case in point. Our business software client recently won a partner award at a prestigious industry tradeshow. Now before we ‘see’ you roll your eyes at yet another award announcement, hear us out! The team helped to draft and pitch this announcement at the end of November and we secured some initial coverage footholds! The real value however came two weeks later in early December when our client announced a major acquisition, and we were able to secure some fantastic media traction across multiple key vertical markets, securing brand new publication hits for our clients and growing a presence in publications that had already run our client’s award announcement.
So don’t knock it. It’s all about momentum! In the last month of the year, that client has seen a quadruple increase in our byline placement coverage. The year ended on a real festive high!
A year in review: The gift of IBA coverage that kept giving in 2023
But it’s not just December that the IBA elves come out to play. In fact, they work hard all-year round securing coverage – our clients are always top of the tree! The elves even place our own thought leadership blogs on the key pain points and trends felt by PR and marketing teams in the marketing media – whether it be PR 5.0, ChatGPT, or the stall in advertising spend. Here’s a quick recap on the highlights!
Most unsurprisingly, Generative AI has taken the top spot for IBA coverage this year. An article written by IBA’s Judith Ingleton-Beer discussing Generative AI’s place in PR and marketing secured multiple UK and U.S. media placements, from the likes of AiThority, The Marketing Insider, and eWeek – our ChatGPT focused article raked over 400,000+ in audience reach!
Coming in hot in second place, IBA’s Jamie Kightley’s PR 5.0 has had its own moment to shine in the media throughout November and December! With media coverage in top-tier media publications such as O’Dwyer PR, Marketing Profs, WARC, Vuelio Blog, and more – PR 5.0 is a hot topic that isn’t set to go anywhere in the upcoming months of 2024!
The Generative AI year comes to an end, not with a bang but with a definite whimper
Generative AI came in with a bang and upset the content apple cart, but there are now clear guidelines coming from publications, regulators, and industry associations around the use of AI-generated content in media-facing material. Here’s IBA’s AI Usage guide to help.
Eager to give Generative AI a chance in a non-media facing role, we did put it to the test to see if it could design our corporate Christmas card, with seasonal poetry. We prompted it for a Limerick in the style of Edward Lear, a Haiku in the style of Matsuo Bashō, and a Sonnet in the style of William Shakespeare.
The output was left on the cutting room floor—so we let the human IBA team close the year out in style with our own take on the 12 days of Christmas!
See you next year!
From the IBA International team
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