Does PR have a future?

by | Jun 1, 2022 | PR tips and advice

A close up of Hayley writing on a notepad. She's sitting at the table with her laptop in front of her holding her phone in her other hand.

What does the future look like for PR?

If your business has some news to share, an event to promote or a reputation to build, your first thought might be ‘get some PR sorted’.

A press release to secure some media coverage might have done the trick 10 or 20 years ago but it’s simply not that straight forward anymore.

Recently, I’ve been pondering on what sort of a future does public relations / media relations have.

It starts with our approach. Let me ask you this…

Should we promote our businesses with the purpose of supporting its growth?

or

Should we promote our businesses with the purpose of attracting our ideal customers?

If we focus on promoting our businesses with the aim of growing, then attracting new customers becomes a rather lovely by-product.

If we promote our businesses to solely attract new customers we are risking stunting our growth.

By putting our brand’s growth at the centre of our promotional activities we can be sure that we are building and growing a business with really strong foundations.

If we place our customers at the centre of our promotional activities then we risk becoming stranded when they move on. Isolated campaigns aimed at a specific audience can generate a peak in interest but how do you maintain this and keep the story going for the long-term?

So where does this leave the future of PR?

The answer is in building a strong eco-system of communications around you. An adaptable eco-system that provides the right customers strong pathways to find you. This network of communications is how you deliver your messaging, values, stories and news.

It means supporting your media outreach with a strong newsletter offering, social media outlets, blog posts, video and imagery and website content. Build a thriving ecosystem of communications that enhance your values.

So does PR have a future? It absolutely does, but it can’t sit isolated. It needs to be supported by a robust system of communications enhancing the messaging.

Let’s have a chat about how this can work for your business.