The evolution of the industry brings both risk and opportunity

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The Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) recently commissioned a report on the future of PR. In his report, Daniel Tisch identifies 7 Megatrends that reflect the profession and how it’s likely to impact organizational communication, industry professionals and business as a whole. Here are the trends and how they may impact the future of communications.

1. The rising business value of reputation, relationships and communication

One need only consider our partners to the south to know that public perception of a company (or country for that matter) often depends largely on its Chief Ambassador, aka CEO. Leadership is the most visible representation of an organization and what they say and do matters. Good CEO’s understand the importance of reputation and its relationship to the bottom line – an intangible asset with huge consequences – and the role of communications management to build the relationships that drive it. Reputation is increasingly seen as a driver of market value.

“We’ve heard the cliché that content is king; a better axiom for today is that relationships are royalty. Content must serve the organization’s ‘public relationships.’” – Daniel Tisch

2. The empowered audience

The social web has empowered consumers to be online publishers, just like business. It’s a win for everyone – organizations have access to low cost owned media, while consumers can create and share their own content. With this empowerment and widespread access comes risk to organizational reputation and the need for communication professionals to keep a watchful eye by relying on tools of the trade including reputation management, crisis/issues management and media monitoring.

3. The content shock

Content, so much content, stimulation and choice with no sign of it slowing down…ever. Content shock relates to increasing volumes of content surpassing our human capacity to consume it, let alone engage with it. While the report relays that some PR pro’s have rebranded themselves as content marketers, true communication professionals will claim higher ground: that of being stewards of the organization’s relationships and reputation with each of its publics.

4. Many speak, few listen

There’s an expression that few people listen with the same intensity with which they speak. The same is true of organizations who tend to do more talking than listening, both internally and externally. While giving voice to publics is widely accepted to be fundamental to successful public relations, most organizations use communication technology to improve amplification, not to improve listening. PR practitioners can help introduce a culture of listening and communication that can help increase both reputation and trust, while likely leading to better-informed decisions.

5. Fake news and the decline of journalism

With the rise of ‘fake news’, consumers don’t know what or whom to believe. Open access to media platforms and endless free content has had an impact on modern journalism. It’s challenging to differentiate ethical, professional journalism from content that, maliciously or not, distorts the truth and deceives the audience. It’s made tough going for PR reps who want to get the word out about their brands. With most people not being able to tell the difference between authentic news and rumours, brands have to work diligently to reach audiences with their news and earn trust.

6. A gap in wealth – and trust

Globalization and automation have increased wealth around the world and created a wide schism between the have’s and have nots. It’s made for some ugly politics. Couple that with the communication trends of fake news, poor organizational listening and content overload, and the result is widespread skepticism. This situation represents an opportunity for experts, academics, journalists, business leaders and communicators to lead and drive change.

7. AI comes to PR

Artificial intelligence is having widespread impacts as machines are programmed to think like humans and mimic the way we act. Software will soon be able to create content, catering to algorithms, just as chatbots simulate real-life conversational partners. While this may be an inevitable direction, AI can’t replace the strategic role of PR professionals and their impact on relationships, reputation and communication.