The PR industry is constantly evolving and as PR practitioners, whether in-house or agency, we must re-position ourselves to stay ahead of the game and continually look for new and innovative ways in which to share and tell our stories.
As the digital landscape progresses, marketing and PR functions are starting to become much closely aligned and understanding how these two functions can work more effectively together is key to any business.
The number of journalists sadly continues to decline and the traditional press release as we know it, is starting to become a thing of the past. PRs are now having to look for innovative and clever ways to tell stories and video content is on the rise and playing a valuable component of PR strategies and brand positioning.
Small or large brands looking to establish their voice in a competitive marketplace, can use video as a simple tool in which to convey messages. Whether creating something corporate or much more creative, video has the capability to elevate a brand and reflect the culture of a business, the people behind the scenes and ultimately tell stories - which is as we know it, is what PR is essentially all about.
GDPR will be a hot topic for 2018 and ensuring PR professionals understand the data they have at their fingertips, how to use it (from May) and that they are being transparent about how they are using the data, must be a major consideration for the PR community going forward.
TV and radio viewers are still on the decline and so the power of influencers to help brands raise their profile will be a continuing trend for 2018. It can be a confusing market-place for those who have yet to work with influencers, but putting your brand into the hands of someone who has such supremacy in a digital landscape, should be a bigger part of business PR strategies over the next 12 months.
Are the most successful PR practitioners ahead of industry trends, pre-empting politics or national news? Finding an opinion or a voice in the ever-changing world of global affairs, events and key dates can give a business an edge and help to build their brand on many different levels.
2017 has shown that crisis planning and communicating with the media and/or public when business doesn’t go the way as is planned, is still vitally imperative.
American Airlines and Ryanair both demonstrated now not to handle a ‘crisis’ and why if the right steps are not put into place, the impact on a brand can be damaging.
I am sure 2018 will put more businesses into the hot seat and it will be interesting to see who crumbles under pressure and who deals with any issues in a positive way.