How to handle your Corona Crisis Communications in Scandinavia?

13/03/2020By scandinaviancomChange Communications, Christina Rytter, Crisis Communications, Management Communications, PR, Scandinavian Communications, Social Media, Strategic Communications

By Christina Rytter, Founder & Crisis Communications Advisor

The Scandinavian countries have not been spared the coronavirus pandemic. As of this Friday morning Denmark reports 674 cases of the coronavirus. Norway reports 734 cases and the first fatality. Both countries now shut down schools and universities for the coming two weeks. Denmark furthermore encouraged companies to let people work from home – and bars, restaurant and clubs to stay closed. Danish indoor events with +100 participants are banned.

Sweden reports 667 cases of coronavirus as of today with every region in the country affected and had the first fatality linked to the virus in Scandinavia. Sweden now bans large public events for +500 people. Finland does the same with today’s reported number of 59 cases of the coronavirus.

The time is now

You need to take charge of your communications before rumours, panic, fear or anger does. Most humans don’t like sudden change – and they will fill in the blanks of missing information with their own interpretation of, what might happen next. Everyone carries their personal backstory and life experience, that will be the starting point to fill in the blanks if their leader doesn’t. Often peoples own guess of what happens next in crisis and change is their worst-case scenario – driven by strong emotions like fear or anger. Starting rumours or impulsive negative reactions.

Therefore, a quick response is key in a critical situation, because it gives you the chance to handle and control the communications around the situation and thereby the outcome proactively with a higher possibility for success. BUT the quick response must be flanked by carefully thought out communications – especially what key messages you need to deliver in the conversation with your different stakeholders.

Create order in your own house first

As a first step, you need to prepare for information and conversation. And as with the situation of the coronavirus in every case that has or can have an effect on your employees it is vital to create order in your own house first. Clear internal communications must be your first step. Over the years I have seen many examples of how a crisis or change suddenly turned MUCH worth do to internal rumours and unforeseen actions from employees driven by fear or anger because management and boards were too busy focusing on external communications as their first step. To let employees, learn about for example their potential job loss for the first time via the news, is not the way to do it! Always unintended of cause, but still this can happen if you don’t start with and steer internal communications quite firm in a crisis and change.

Get ready for Corona conversation

In your crisis communication around the coronavirus, the most effective way is to draw up and work with different realistic crisis or change scenarios and plan, what to do and say in each imaginary scenario – and which communications channels will suit your messages and conversations with different internal and external stakeholders best.

Scandinavians are very critical and direct – and we don’t hold back with the questions. This apply to both employees, journalists, clients, business partners and competitors. So, you really need to prepare.

Create your Q&A:

  • What is your overall intention with this information?
  • What is your key message? Your communication is clearer, when you only focus on one or few key messages.
  • Who are you talking to? (Your key target group/stakeholders)
  • Which information do the person/stakeholders need?
  • Which situation are they in? Communicate the messages relevant to them, not to you.
  • Choose your role based on the person/target group. Are you formal or informal? How do you dress? What language and body language do you use? BUT be yourself!
  • Prepare, prepare and prepare. Train, train and train.


Take the opportunity to show your values

In a crisis case like the coronavirus pandemic, suddenly we as companies as well as humans get a higher common purpose to stick together and help each other. It must be people before profit. So as a company or organization, you need to find out how you can do your best – and at the same time, it is an opportunity to show the world your values and corporate social responsibility.

Corona Communications Kudos and Fail of the week

A great positive example that deserves Corona Communication Kudos from Denmark this week is a joint press release from leading retail companies AND competitors Coop, Salling Group, Dagrofa and Rema 1000. The release informs Danes that there will be plenty of convenience goods in the stores in the coming weeks. In this way taking proactive social responsibility to secure that people are not stockpiling food driven by fear and uncertainty. In this way, the companies as suppliers and industry experts fill in the Danes communications blanks with clear and trustworthy information to create security. At the same time show their corporate values and leave us as consumers with positive feelings and stronger awareness around their brands. Even a feeling of pride that we have such companies in Denmark.

The Corona Communications Fail of the week I must assign to Airbnb that refuses scores of refunds if you cancel your trip. This is also a way of communication the company values very clear. But I’m sure in the light of the coronavirus setting profit over people at this time, is very shortsighted and will damage the brand and not been taken lightly by the clients. The stakes are even higher for Airbnb, because this is the company wants to debut on the stock market – so their reputation has never mattered more.

Remember all in all in crisis and change when your response quickly and are well prepared, you can turn the difficult situation into an opportunity to show authentic positive values – if you have them 😉. By working out a carefully thought out message platform with key messages as a first step. And train through the different scenarios with message- and media training, you can navigate successfully through. Get your Corona Crisis Communications Action Plan in order; Whom do you need to communicate to as a first step? When and how? If you handle crisis and change like this, people will understand you much better – and even get on your side. When you keep calm and friendly – and communicate in a clear and authentic way you be at the forefront of things. And as always, the most important thing is to prepare – and train, train, train!

Get free advice for your Corona Crisis Communications

Don’t hesitate to contact directly if you need help. We offer a free 20-min call with personal advice for your Corona Crisis Communications – book at the webpage formula.

Book your free call and learn more about Crisis Communications

Scandinavian Communications wins Global Business Award

15/01/2020By scandinaviancomChange Communications, Christina Rytter, Content Marketing, Crisis Communications, Management Communications, PR, Public Relations Global Network, Scandinavian Communications, Social Media, Strategic Communications

Just arrived from Chile – 1st Place The PRGN Business Power Awards! We are very thankful for The Public Relations Global Network recognizing our work in Scandinavia this year 🙏

If you also like to leverage your business in Scandinavia, don’t hesitate to contact our CEO Christina Rytter at email: cr@scandcomm.com or mobile +4523967733. We are here to help.

Top 5 tips for Crisis Communications in Scandinavia

21/12/2019By scandinaviancomChange Communications, Christina Rytter, Crisis Communications, Management Communications, PR Tips & Trends, Scandinavian Communications, Social Media, SoMe Tips & Trends, Strategic Communications

By Christina Rytter, Founder & Crisis Communications Advisor

When crisis or change hits like a bolt from the blue it’s normal for even the most experienced executive to feel concerned. Especially when you want to be at the forefront of things. Here are my Top 5 tips on how you navigate successfully through the storm when a crisis or change hits you in the Scandinavian market:

1. Response quick – but well thought out

A quick response is key in a critical situation, because it gives you the chance to handle and control the situation and thereby the outcome proactively with a higher possibility for success. BUT the quick response must be flanked by carefully thought out communications – especially what key messages you need to deliver in the conversation with your different stakeholders.

Scandinavians are very critical and direct – and we don’t hold back with the questions. This apply to both employees, journalists, clients, business partners and competitors. So, you really need to prepare. I find that one of the most effective ways in crisis and change communications in Scandinavia is to draw up and work with different realistic crisis or change scenarios and plan, what to do and say in each imaginary scenario – and which communications channels will suit your messages and conversations with different internal and external stakeholders best.    

2. Get ready for conversation

  • What is your key message? Your communication is clearer, when you only focus on one or few key messages.
  • Who are you talking to? (Your key target group/stakeholders)
  • Which information do the person/stakeholders need?
  • Which situation are they in? Communicate the messages relevant to them, not to you.  
  • Choose your role based on the person/target group. Are you formal or informal? How do you dress? What language and body language do you use? BUT be yourself!
  • Prepare, prepare and prepare.
  • Train, train and train.

3. Take control over your body language

Your body language is your greatest asset, when you know how to control and use it. When you learn to use your body language proactively combined with clear messages, you can be a brilliant and authentic leader and communicator. BUT if you don’t have your body language under control – and that is quite normal in a crisis or change situation, when you might get nervous – then it can work so much against you, that nobody hears what you say. Well-known international studies show, that up to 80 % of people’s perception of you will be from your body language. That is if you fail to control it. Otherwise people listen. Scandinavian will mostly listen – if it’s not to boring. And if you serve beer (or something stronger for the Finns) they will really listen. 😉.    

Control what we see:

  • Posture: Straight back and raised head express security, authority and energy.
  • Choose a suitable grimace for the occasion; Seriousness, enthusiasm or joy?
  • Use gestures that support the message.
  • Firm eye contact exudes security and credibility.
  • If you avoid eye contact it signals insecurity, uncertainty – and thus untrustworthiness.
  • Pay attention to your bad habits and patterns – they especially come out when you are nervous under pressure.
  • Look fresh and well-rested (of cause sometimes that might be a little difficult in a crisis).

Control what we hear:

  • Deep and calm voicing creates trust and credibility.
  • Variation in voice creates dynamism and awareness of the recipient.
  • Talk slowly – without getting boring. It exudes heaviness and credibility.
  • Breath deep and use (rhetorical) pauses.

4. Keep calm
Even the most experienced executive can get nervous under pressure in a difficult crisis or change situation. That is just human nature.

What happens when you get nervous?

  • You protect your body with your arms, turn your back, avoid eye contact, smile stiffly and stave off.
  • You sweat, get pale, get ticks, mess with your hair or perform other unconscious bad habits. What are your bad habits under pressure?
  • You move uneasily; rocks or turns on the chair. Tilting back and forth on your feet.
  • You breathe quickly and superficially.
  • You speak faster and get a sharper and lighter voice.

Then what to do?

  • Breathe deeply and plant both feet into the floor.  
  • Lower your talk rate and use (rhetorical) pauses.
  • Open your arms, straighten your back and look up and out.
  • Make and maintain eye contact – possibly look between the eyes if real eye contact is unpleasant.
  • Only smile when it suits the occasion.
  • Sit and stand still.
  • Choose a chair that stands firm. Otherwise you will quite easy start rocking or turn it.
  • If at a presentation: Go consciously among the audience.
  • Avoid carbonated water – so you don’t burp (when you breathe quick and superficially).  

5. Use the crisis to your advantage

When your response quickly and are well prepared, you can turn the difficult situation into your advantage. By working out a carefully thought out message platform with key messages as a first step. And train through the different scenarios with message- and media training, you can navigate successfully through. Get your Crisis Communications Action Plan in order; Who do you need to communicate to as a first step? When and how? If you handle crisis and change like this, people will understand you much better – and even get on your side. When you keep calm and friendly – and communicate in a clear and authentic way you be at the forefront of things. And as always, the most important thing is to prepare – and train, train, train!

Get free crisis advise and learn more about Crisis Communications

Need help with Crisis Communications in Scandinavia?

8 Tips to improve your Instagram marketing

08/12/2019By scandinaviancomContent Marketing, Scandinavian Communications, Social Media, SoMe Tips & Trends

By Christina Rytter, Founder & Trusted Communications Advisor

Instagram as B2B social media is growing at a rapid speed in all Scandinavian markets and the platform has some quite strong business solutions to support your brand building and direct lead generation to support sales. Get my Top 8 tips on how to improve your marketing effort on Instagram:

1. Understand your audience
You gotta understand your Scandinavian audience.  That’s key to success on Instagram. Scandinavians from Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland are similar – but not the same!

2. Talk with them, not at them
Ask you Scandinavian audience questions. Always give a quick answer to questions and clearly communicate what you do. That’s a big key on Instagram.  

3. Use relevant hashtags
Hashtags are Instagram’s signposts. Use relevant hashtags, but not too many so it doesn’t look messy and get confusing for your audience. Analyse and test your hashtags, to find out which ones create the best impact for you and your company. Remember to brand your hashtags.

4. Know when to post
It’s vital for the amount of engagement on your Instagram posts, that you post at the right time. Instagram engagement peaks mid-day and mid-week, similar to the other major social networks. Wednesday at 11 a.m. is the overall best day to post to Instagram – followed by Friday at 10-11 a.m. The most consistent engagement is from Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday; go enjoy your day off – few will read your posts anyway 😉. Different industries also can peak a bit more on different times.


5. Create beautiful visuals
Instagram is a very visual platform. So to make it work to your advantage, you need to give your posts a distinctive look with tailored appeal to your Scandinavian target groups. Our vision trumps all other senses. Research has shown that when people hear information, they’re likely to remember only 10% of that information three days later. However, if a relevant image is paired with that same information, people retained 65% of the information three days later. Visual branding plays a huge role in not only attracting your clients and stakeholders – but also in making you and your company memorable and creating a positive perception in the minds of your key audience.

6. Add Calls-to-action
When you add Calls-to-action in your posts you get more direct pay-off on your work and have concrete KPIs to measure. When you create an Instagram Business Profile you get the possibility to ad different buttons on your profile besides of working with direct links in your Bio. Use emojis like arrows, hand pointing or the star to direct you audience towards the link. Also, it works well to insert a call-to-action text in your visuals directing people into what they should do next. You can ask them to buy your product, visit your website or get in touch with you.

The key is to be creative, so people take action. Test new versions to see which one engages your audience the most.


7. Tell Stories
On Instagram the best brand storytelling involves telling snackable, visual micro-stories that tie into your brand’s values and purpose. On Instagram it’s the people and the brands who tell the most interesting stories that build the massive audiences. When you use Instagram for a personal account develop a strong brand presence that shows, what you are passionate about in life.


8. Work with influencers
Adding Instagram influencer marketing into your overall SoMe-strategy can help to increase your brand awareness, grow your followers and thereby drive new leads and sales. Influencer marketing can be quite effective. It removes the barriers of traditional advertising when customers are introduced to your brand from a trusted source. When an influencer recommends your product or service on their channels, it comes across as a trusted recommendation from a friend. Therefore, it can have a huge impact on your brand awareness and sales support.

5 Trends Influencing the State of Public Relations

15/11/2019By scandinaviancomPR, PR Tips & Trends, Public Relations Global Network, Strategic Communications

By Aaron Blank, President of PRGN & CEO of The Fearey Group

Public relations is thriving – and evolving in exciting ways. It’s a great time to be in the business.

At its core, our work is unchanging: actively pursuing relationships – shaping them, building them and maintaining them. That will always be front and center. But other aspects of our profession are developing or expanding.

Here are the trends I’m watching:

1. Demand for data. The push to link PR to overall business objectives continues, pushing us to develop more and more meaningful metrics to measure PR performance and impact on operations. Measurement has always been a challenge for PR practitioners, but it’s finally getting easier. Now we can measure article clicks, sentiment and tone much more easily. For example, we can automatically measure links back to websites to show how our work drives traffic or supports lead generation.

2. Application of search. Search now plays a critical role in forming PR campaigns. We can use SEO keywords to discover trends, identify potential news items and understand the questions, issues, products and service people are looking for. This makes it faster and easier to target our work to consumer insights.

3. Optimized press releases. People have been saying that the press release is dead for years. And the truth is, the old version of the release is. Gone are the days when we wrote a release and expected the media to pick it up. Today’s optimized press release is content – content that enables us to tell our own story and manage our message. Still a great way to update reporters on organizational news, modern releases posted on our own sites support organic and paid search, and create opportunities to link back to additional content in our ecosystem. We can use them as catalysts for identifying issues or events to leverage and serve as the foundational content for larger campaigns involving earned, owned and paid media.

4. Investment in AI. It’s fun to see how artificial intelligence (AI) is starting to play a role in the industry. For instance, a new tool called SignalAI uses AI to make it easier to track numerous companies, people, events, trends – and analyze that information to support decision-making and inform campaigns. And new AI transcription services such as REV make speech-to-text faster and cheaper – some are even tailored to specialized industry sectors like healthcare or engineering. These tools enhance our skill sets and enable us to deliver better service to our clients so our teams can focus on more strategic pursuits.

5. Continued value of writing. No matter what, at the end of the day, we all have to write. Whether it’s a tweet, an email, a public statement or back-end website items that influence a reputation, we have to continue to perfect the editorial process. It’s vital.
PR has never been more valuable and more relevant. Responding to these trends empowers us to continue to produce high-quality work that shapes debates, changes behaviors and supports business operations. Investing in building entrusting relationships will always be the best marketing tactic of them all.

The Feaery Group is our partner agency in Seattle, USA.  Article originally published at PRGN.com

Visit from our Singapore partners

06/10/2019By scandinaviancomChristina Rytter, PR, Public Relations Global Network, Scandinavian Communications

This weekend our CEO had an exciting meeting and Lunch in Copenhagen with our Public Relations Global Network (PRGN) partners and friends from Mileage Communications in Singapore and New Delhi, India

The World’s Local Agency
PRGN is The World’s Local Public Relations Agency. We are a connected network of 50 hand-selected agencies working within PR, Strategic Communications and Digital/Social Marketing servicing key markets around the world. As leaders in our respective regions, PRGN agencies offer the “boots-on-the-ground” savvy of a local Public Relations agency, yet on a global scale. Our model allows us to deliver a unique level of flexibility – scaling up or down across multiple markets to meet your business needs. Each PR agency knows its local community and it knows how to help clients connect with their audiences in those regions.

Don’t hesitate to contact us if you need help in Scandinavia – or beyond with single-point-of-contact.

Read more about PRGN.

Communication Agencies and Law Firms: the new allies in business crises

27/09/2019By scandinaviancomChange Communications, Crisis Communications, Management Communications, Public Relations Global Network, Strategic Communications


By Valentina Giacaman Hazboun, Founding Partner at RumboCierto Comunicaciones

In an era of corporate reputation coming under close scrutiny from an increasing number of directions, strategic communications agencies – at least the ones staffed with experienced communications professionals and former journalists and capable to support companies and individuals alike in a crisis situation – have become increasingly valued by law firms and their clients.
Still a few years ago, when a corporation – or a company executive or business tycoon for instance – had to face the courts, they mostly called only for a lawyer to get prepared to defend themselves against charges.

Today the notion is on the increase that this is far from enough. Corporations and businesspeople have become seriously worried about their image, as well. What will the press write? How the reputation will be reevaluated by those in the market where they operate? And – last but not least – how they can effectively defend themselves against charges (either false or true) so that a crisis does not end in any damage with unthought-of consequences.

In today’s growingly image-conscouios environment, legal specialists and counsels have also started to involve crisis experts or lobbyists, since they have become aware that without the crucial communications aspect of an analysis they will have less chance to win their cases.

I’ve come across lawyers who have even included public disqualifications as a way to litigate. And recent evidence shows clearly that companies have been destroyed, sold cheap or even come to be worth zero after a crisis erupted involving them. The same can happen to executives and businesspeople: if their reputation is tarnished, they will never be able to access new jobs or even close deals.

The true specialists companies and individuals need in such situations are people who can understand the media, anticipate intentions behind calls from journalists, ask the right questions and – based on accurate data gathered that way – can reconstruct facts and explain them in simple language everyone understands.

This specialist area within the general communications practice has developed over the recent years of crises while the industry also found a name for it and called it Corporate Reputation Management – which is now so much talked about in seminars and the trade press. And most recently this field has been further intensified by the arrival of “fake news” and “post-truth”. Now it is a part of almost all conflict and crisis situations that false news is created around them with the intention to damage the image of a person or to distort perception of reality by the public opinion.

While reputation management is not a new practice in the field of communications, awareness is growing that a loss of reputation can have serious consequences on the judicial outcomes, and social networks can aggrevate that impact further. A prominent judge in Chile recently noted in an article: “It is the social sanction which is invoked that can often be harsher than the sanctions by the courts.

RumboCierto Comunicaciones is our partner agency in Chile.  Article originally published at PRGN.com

Visit from our international partners in Poland & Brazil

13/09/2019By scandinaviancomChange Communications, Christina Rytter, Content Marketing, Crisis Communications, Management Communications, PR, Public Relations Global Network, Scandinavian Communications, Social Media, Strategic Communications

Today we had a wonderful visit and Friday Lunch in Copenhagen with our Public Relations Global Network (PRGN) partners and friends from OneMulti in Poland and SMARTPR in Brazil.

The World’s Local Agency
PRGN is The World’s Local Public Relations Agency. We are a connected network of 50 hand-selected agencies working within PR, Strategic Communications and Digital/Social Marketing servicing key markets around the world. As leaders in our respective regions, PRGN agencies offer the “boots-on-the-ground” savvy of a local Public Relations agency, yet on a global scale. Our model allows us to deliver a unique level of flexibility – scaling up or down across multiple markets to meet your business needs. Each PR agency knows its local community and it knows how to help clients connect with their audiences in those regions.

Don’t hesitate to contact us if you need help in Scandinavia – or beyond with single-point-of-contact.

Read more about PRGN.

Five key learnings from social media crisis

09/08/2019By scandinaviancomCrisis Communications, Public Relations Global Network, Social Media, SoMe Tips & Trends

By Philip Hauserman, Vice President and Director of Crisis Communications at The Castle Group

In today’s world, there’s no escaping social media – especially when it comes to crisis communications.
I can say this with authority since 99.9 percent of the crises we’ve managed in the past few years have involved one platform or another. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Yik Yak (yes, even Yik Yak, for those of you who remember 2016). Each platform presents its own challenges, of course, but the approach to managing the situation and the response more or less stays the same.

So, what do you do? How do you manage a social media crisis?

Prepare. There’s no anti-virus software that I know of that will quickly and quietly fix a crisis, especially one that is playing out online for all the world to see. Having a plan in place – and testing that plan – before a crisis occurs is the No. 1 step you can take right now to prepare yourself and your organization for that inevitable moment when you hear those three little words that nobody wants to hear: “It’s gone viral!” Part of that plan includes making sure that you know your channels, your passwords, and your team. More than one person on your social media team should always have access to each account, and at least one person should be able to access the accounts from a mobile device. Your plan should also include likely scenarios and template responses – pre-approved messages that can be used in public and/or private message formats. Why is this important? Because a single tweet that goes unresponded to can kick off a digital firestorm that can take over and create a narrative of its own, leaving your organization – and your reputation – behind. In a true social media crisis, you don’t have the benefit of time to run a draft social media response up and down the ladder and through legal before posting. Do that ahead of time and save yourself from the headache that comes with waiting…and watching…a crisis snowball online.

Implement – and abide by – social media policies. Developing guidelines and posting policies for external interaction with your social media channels sets clear expectations for acceptable/unacceptable usage of your organization’s pages. These policies will also give you a publicly stated set of rules to refer to in the event that you have to remove a particularly ugly or vicious attack on your platforms. But don’t, under any circumstances, start deleting or hiding comments – unless they violate said policies. Doing so will make the situation infinitely worse.

Listen, listen, listen. The best way to know what’s going on before, during, and after a crisis is to listen. Monitor your own organization’s channels and that of news outlets that may be reporting on the issue. Pay special attention to trending topics and hashtags on each platform, flagging and screen capturing comments that are particularly concerning and may require priority treatment. Many times, you’ll discover new, and potentially actionable, information just by listening to the conversation. When you do speak, speak with one voice and transmit one message. The style and the exact words of the response may change to fit the platform, but the substance of the response should not. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of eyes just waiting and watching for inconsistencies and errors and tone-deaf or robotic remarks – anything to fan the flames and keep the controversy going. What you say online should be the same thing you said to the reporter who called a few minutes ago, and it should absolutely be the same thing you said to your employees.

Debrief. Clean up. And then start planning for the next crisis. Once the storm has passed, it’s time to clean up. Did you promise any updates to anyone during the situation or event? If so, who needs to hear from you and when? Did your process work? What needs to be improved? Do you need to run through drills based on what your organization experienced? Should you update your policies and passwords? These are just some of the questions to ask yourself and your team before the next storm rolls through.

The Castle Group is our partner agency in Boston, USA.  Article originally published at PRGN.com

10 tips to PR success in Scandinavian media

05/08/2019By scandinaviancomChristina Rytter, PR, PR Tips & Trends, Scandinavian Communications

By Christina Rytter, Founder & Trusted Communications Advisor

These focus points are key to create positive PR coverage in Scandinavia:

1. Think through and create a real journalistic story from scratch for the Scandinavian markets – and then get your corporate or product messages to fit with a downplayed balance.

2. Write a local angled story for each Scandinavian market. Your PR core story for Scandinavia can be the same – but to really get it right, you then need to work out a local PR angle for each market; Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland etc. Understanding and acting on the small cultural differences between each Scandinavian market give you much greater PR results.

3. Work out a tailored media list for each Scandinavian country with key journalist from Tier 1 media depending on your target group.

4. Pick a broader range of media to get more volume, when you send out your press release – Scandinavia has a very narrow media structure with only few media in each category.

5. Work with exclusive sell-in of your press release / PR story. This means that you only talk in person with one leading key media at the time. It’s key for most Scandinavian journalists to get their own story with a unique angle. When you succeed with you PR sell-in. Wait for the agreed publication – and then go for at wide distribution of the press release to create a 2-waved PR effect. This can be very effectful!

6. Always work with a journalistic approach in your PR Press kit for Scandinavian media. A Marketing approach towards Scandinavian Tier 1 media is a sure dead end – and you press release will easily end up in the garbage can at the newsdesk.

7. Don’t expect to get any control over the final journalistic content in articles. Scandinavian journalists are very Independent – it’s just part of their DNA. You can approve you own quotes – and offer journalist a quality check of facts. Nothing more. Otherwise you could offend the journalist. This independence also means that your PR adviser rarely is present at face-to-face interviews with Scandinavian journalist.

8. Offer Media professional PR photos to strengthen the possibility of media coverage. This could be PR headshots of your company spokesperson or of your Product/Services. This must preferably be PR photos take for media in a journalistic context supporting the journalistic angle of your story – instead of traditional marketing photos.

9. Follow up on journalists in person on phone and email to secure sell-in of the story and final media coverage. In Scandinavia this is a very delicate balance between being proactive without being annoying for journalists, who have a very busy and tight work schedule and a lot of people approaching them every day.

10. Take into your planning that different Scandinavian media work with very different timing. If you go for a business daily, you might only need to approach the editor a couple of weeks before you like to see some media coverage. But if it’s a high-end lifestyle Magazine on print, you might need to talk to the editor 3-4 month ahead.

Need help with PR in Scandinavia?
Don’t hesitate to contact Scandinavian Communications if you need help. We are passioned with heart and mind to help you communicate with impact and leverage your business in the Scandinavian markets.