The last two years have changed every industry drastically and public relation is no exception to that. While things have accelerated in certain areas of PR, many old practices now cease to exist. In some conversation I’ve heard about how some people think that ‘PR is dead’, I strongly disagree with this. Any practice or business goes through much needed evolution from time to time and no doubt the last two years have accelerated that for most industries. But the true mark of a good business or even a good professional is when they adapt with the disruptions and emerge stronger. PR is also going through that much needed transition.
Public relation is like advocacy, one that you do for your business with the external stakeholders. While the external stakeholders have changed considerably, the need of advocacy remains the same. Earlier many PR pitches were focused on journalists alone, the scope has definitely widened in the last few years with the new wave of Podcasts, Influencers and newer avenues to reach your audience. However, the role of PR remains very important in these changes.
I see a lot of emphasis today on using various technology in place of traditional ways of doing PR. While in some areas it can help us abundantly to save time and create a more targeted pitch, human intervention continues to play a critical role in other areas. There are point of views that the relationship you built over time with these various stakeholders, can be replaced by technology, I beg to differ in this area. While technology today plays a great role in PR and it is possible to get results through it, the results are limited to some sectors. I do not think you can drive consistent results if we let go of the personal touch.
Just like every other sector, technology has eased ways of PR and I believe it will continue to disrupt how things are done for the next couple of decades. However, skilled individuals will also continue to play a great role in order to drive the desired outcome. Here I expect to see the importance of continuous upskilling and growing with the change.
There are many tools today that helps us keep a track of the news, the latest changes with the journalists or stakeholders and there are no second thoughts that this saves time and increases your productivity. But you still need to put in the effort to understand the individual you are talking to, to make sure your pitch works. For creating a content strategy or even a simple pitch, it is imperative you are acutely aware of the person you are targeting to make it relevant for them, and here, skilled individuals will continue to take the prime spot.
The most important aspect in this transition, will be to not fear the change but to embrace it and take it to our stride for success. I recommend that we learn to embrace the fact that things will change in our lives way more than we’d like, and start accepting or even better, get excited with the idea of exploring the newer avenues that we’ll have at our disposal. All of us now agree that PR for all brands cannot be the same and we’ll see many brands leveraging other marketing avenues.
If we continue to understand the business, its goals, target audience and overall objective from the campaign, we’ll be able to decide how PR will work best for the specific business needs. So, while every other thing keeps changing, we need to make sure that we continue to speak with the businesses and invest time to understand their needs along with familiarising ourselves with the newer routes in order to drive desired solution.
The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.
She currently heads global corporate communications for Cactus Communications and Cactus Venture Partners.
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