Recently, Lukas Partners was asked to present at a Nebraska Press Women’s Conference about how we, as PR professionals and media relations experts, cut through the clutter and reach audiences in a digital world.

During our presentation, we outlined what news media in different cities have done to reach audiences. These innovative methods also could be good for PR and media relations professionals to learn about, for both tracking media coverage and reaching new audiences through new news media channels.

For example, several news entities on local, regional and national news levels have started to create news content for Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home.

With Alexa, you download a “skill” for your favorite news source and can have the latest news read aloud to you. Google Home is similar, but “skills” are still called apps.

What’s that in the sky? Is it a bird? A plane? The local news camera getting some shots with a drone? More and more newsrooms have adopted drone technology as an added element to visual storytelling. PR pros can take a page from this book and hire a videographer with drone capabilities for packaged media content. It works well to show something of big expanse like a construction project. Also, I would not be surprised to see journalists integrating more 360-degree-video on digital platforms to showcase more of the story.

Have you received a notification from LinkedIn to share that your connection was in the news? A few years ago, LinkedIn acquired Newsle, a platform that tracked your connections and notified you when they made headlines. This is now another way news is spread through social media.

Check your inbox. Email is becoming more commonplace for newspapers to engage readers to click on content.

With more competition and fewer resources, pre-packaged digital content is becoming increasingly important to news media, and digital content that can be utilized on television, radio and in print is a bonus. At Lukas Partners, our news releases are more than a word document. We are constantly brainstorming, crafting and packaging the news to shape clients’ stories in the most effective way through the latest channels for engagement. This includes strategy with consideration to the latest developments in technology and digital storytelling.