PR Pros’ Resolutions Map to Top PR Trends

Using more video in communications and incorporating content marketing or “slow PR” tactics into the mix top the resolutions of the public relations pros who responded to our informal survey last week. Two perennial challenges – improving PR measurement and better utilization of social channels – are also high on PR’s list of things to do this year.

However, another trend evidenced itself in the write-in responses to the survey. Numerous respondents noted that they plan on taking a more proactive approach to PR this year, with decided emphasis on ferreting out opportunities for their brands and emphasizing positive stories.

One respondent managed to encompass numerous tactics in their write-answer, resolving “To reinvigorate pitches, processes, messaging, imagery, cross-platform opportunities, and otherwise bring more fun and new life to clients and projects.”

Not surprisingly, the resolutions map neatly to emerging PR trends – especially broad general agreement among prognosticators about how PR teams are going to be doing less media relations, and more media creation. Christopher Penn of Shift Communciations summed up this trend in a post about PR trends to watch published last fall:

“As traditional media either evolves or dies, the traditional media relations-only model of PR will evolve or die with it. Public relations work will transform more into earned, owned, and paid media generation, and PR professionals will find themselves increasingly doing work that transcends the traditionally rigid boundaries of earned, owned, or paid media.”

The PR resolutions about video also correlate with a survey PR News and PR Newswire conducted last year about the use of multimedia in public relations, in which respondents overwhelmingly agreed that in particular that PR doesn’t use enough video (and that they planned to use more video in 2014.)

These survey results and the underlying trends suggest (to me at least) that 2014 will truly be a year of transformation for public relations, offering opportunity for dialed-in communicators to create potent connections with audiences, fueled by excellent content and social interactions. Do you agree? What’s at the top of your PR to-do list for 2014?