21 May 2021

I recently read an article that was music to my ears, and to the ears of my colleagues at Calvin Marketing too. PR Moment explored how local TV and radio has thrived over the course of the pandemic. COVID-19 has hit us in an age of countless channels and news sources. It has been difficult weeding out misinformation and getting to the truth on areas like the severity of the situation, how our government plans to address it, and how quickly we are recovering. You can see why local media has become a popular ‘go to’ when it comes to gaining information. The pandemic affects us on a community level; we want to know how rife the virus is in our own area and hear how local people have been impacted.

As a marketing and PR agency with three franchise businesses as clients, we at Calvin often turn to local media to generate media coverage. Collectively there are over 300 franchise offices that we carry out PR for. Each franchise office has its own stories on how they and their customers have been affected by the pandemic. It’s stories like these which have been the source of a big chunk of our PR activities.

We’ve undoubtedly seen local media increase its appetite for positive and human-interest stories. The pandemic has been a time to cling onto every bit of positivity that exists, whether that’s communities coming together or businesses experiencing success despite the economic downfall. It’s little wonder why local media – TV, radio, print and online – want to showcase the goodness in the community. For any business that plays a part in its corner of the country, now is a better time than ever to use local media as the platform to demonstrate this. Let’s hope that this reborn appreciation for local media continues after the pandemic. #staylocal