The landscape of the PR and communications industry has weathered many storms over the last 40 years. Agencies have come and gone, the online revolution has taken hold, countless trends have been ushered in, and mostly out again, and in and industry that the phrase “survival of the fittest” could have been invented for,  companies have either specialized and flourished, or been drowned out. INS Trade Media Service happily belongs to the former category, with 2018 marking the firm’s 40^th year in business. It has been no ordinary journey, but then INS is no ordinary agency.

The vital missing link between industry and the media

With its origins in Stockholm in 1978, INS could have been born out of the well-known idiom that “necessity is the mother of invention.”  The brainchild of a trade journal editor, INS emerged out of the editorial needs for high quality content, professionally written, and delivering value to a niche audience of experts.  These are the Holy Grail to respected editors, as they seek out news sources to bring trust, credibility, and authority to their readers. Conversely, international companies had a wealth of interesting, technically insightful content that was being lost by not being directed towards its most receptive audience. With a spark of inspiration, INS provided the missing piece of the puzzle; an agency connecting editors to reliable, quality sources of newsworthy content, targeted specifically to their industry, and emerged with a pioneering and trend-setting concept for their clients’ content: targeted product communications as opposed to placement of advertisements.  With a further flourish of providing the content readily and professionally translated in to multiple languages, INS was set for a meteoric rise, serving the Nordic region and beyond.

From these pioneering beginnings, INS has developed into a fully international, highly specialized service. Identifying the vital importance of trustworthy, quality communications, the agency’s longevity is attributed to offering what others cannot; specialist expertise in trade publications. With 40 years of acquired knowledge in their field, INS’ strength lies not only in their unique database of over 100 000 trade media titles globally, but in their understanding of how to  perfectly match clients’ communications to the correct media in a highly targeted manner,  giving publicity that makes an impact. It is this sophisticated targeting that delivers INS’ strongest value. Managing Director Ben Idström explains, “INS offers a high end service that is the result of expertise acquired over our 40 years in business. These days anyone can distribute news, but INS is not a distribution service. What we do is smart, targeted connection of insightful, expertly written content, to the ideal media that reaches the perfect audience for the clients’ message.”  This seizes upon the initiative of INS’s understanding of trade publications envisaged as trusted industry experts, read by industry experts, placing the agency in a uniquely strong position providing mutual value to both companies and trade publications. Trade media remain largely uncharted waters for many communications agencies, and as such, through their mastery of an often misunderstood media, INS is able to offer clients levels of impactful publicity like no other agency.

News you can trust

With today’s media landscape almost completely unrecognizable when compared to the one from which INS emerged and flourished 40 years ago, cynics may ask whether PR and communications agencies are still worth their place. Does this cynicism trouble INS? Not in the slightest. The truthful answer is that PR agencies have never been more relevant. In an age of fake news, user generated content, and social media as a major contributing source of communications, content is certainly not in short supply. However, the commodity that is in shortest supply is the one of most vital importance: trust. This is a commodity that INS delivers in abundance. INS’ clients trust their understanding of the trade media landscape, with 40 years’ experience matching communications to the perfect trade publications. Editors at the most respected international trade media trust INS’ insightful, newsworthy content, written with journalistic quality, technically pitched and matched perfectly to give their readers the great value they demand. These readers, as industry insiders and experts in their fields trust the content they are provided with, fostering familiarity and loyalty to the companies they read about.

Navigating future PR waters

This cycle of trust only strengthens INS’ position for a future as enduring as its past, being well placed to survive the newest challenge that less specialized agencies are currently falling victim to; the decline of print media. Where traditional printed media continues to experience a downturn, trade publications presently enjoy healthy circulation and readership figures, bolstered by emerging markets turning to niche industry media as a source of trusted expertise to develop their own industrial prowess. This has the additional effect of making trade media a platform with truly international reach, a phenomenon INS optimizes by providing content readily translated by professionals, to reach any industry, in any language, anywhere.

Ben Idström concludes this thought, “INS truly understands the roles of trust, credibility, and authority in cutting through the vast amounts of communications noise. By specializing in the most trusted news source of trade media, INS has not only survived 40 years in a highly competitive industry, but continues to grow, welcoming new clients to our many long term partnerships. It gives us great pride that companies are attracted to our services on the basis of trust.”

INS40 in Helsinki

In celebration of 40 years in business, INS is set to host a seminar and lunch at the Swedish Embassy in Helsinki, on the 7^th of November.

For further information, contact Managing Director Ben Idström: ben.idstrom@ins.fi

Check out our services trusted for 40 years: https://ins.fi/

INS’ Press Club has all the hottest news: http://ins-news.com/

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