By Ronn Torossian
There has never been a more difficult time to work in the business of shaping reputations. Attention is clearly the most valuable form of currency for marketers, and it's more difficult than ever to capture.
Everyone today has a voice as social media, which opens up a wider pool of people to disseminate information and affect brand perception via Facebook, Twitter and other entities.
2011 stacks up as a year of massive change for PR.
1) Content Will Be King
We create as much information in two days now as we did from the dawn of man through 2003, according to Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. The key is to control the right key message (hopefully better than LeBron James did this year), as the social web has had a democratizing effect, allowing Twitter and other media forms to serve as newswires circa 2011 for PR pros to disseminate information.
Whether it be op-eds, viral videos or corporate blogs, self-created content will be king. In a world of understaffed media outlets, expect to see more of this in 2011.
2) Public Relations, Marketing Morph Together
Whether it's about product placement for consumer brands or dollars being spent to mine for online data, the days of traditional PR for the sake of column inches is largely behind us.
From requiring an understanding of how to communicate with shareholders to recognizing that today's economy requires a driving of business results to win market share, today's PR pro will win via positioning their expert storytellers in the right place, and the right way.
Traditional PR will very soon seek to exist, as the one-way flow of communication no longer exists. Brand equity will thrive and remain king.
3) Public Relations Will Own Social Media: SEO Focus To Gain
As social media redefines influence (Ashton Kutcher vs. CNN, Lady Gaga challenging Senators), PR will own the social media category.
According to the Digital Readiness Report, PR leads digital communications at 51% of organizations and will continue to as traditional media companies increasingly cut back.
Corporations will also increasingly recognize, focus and spend on the most valuable largest media company in the world – Google (as Wall Street has already determined). SEO (Search Engine Optimization), or "googling" someone affects ones' brand perceptions, what brands one buys and sees first, and perceived notions of a brand. SEO as a PR principle will increase in 2011, as by nature of PR's ability to create and control (their own and other) content, it's the most effective tool to affect online search results.
4) PR Will Report to The C-Suite and Budgets Will Increase
In today's whirlwind rapid response world of commentators and instant feedback, can any brand afford not to have their perception accountable to the highest level executives? With the worldwide economy remaining in the doldrums as brands which existed hundreds of years are now out of business, PR professionals today will be expected to remain sharp, business focused and on point.
Messaging will need to remain sharper than ever before as people are more distracted than ever before, and campaigns can only be effective if beneficial for the perception of the brand (and ultimately the sales of the brand.) PR executives will increasingly be called on to read and understand balance sheets and ROI, understand consumer sentiments and analytics and be the pulse for the CEO.
5) Crisis In The World Of PR Will Become Common
In a year in which we saw Tiger Woods' miserably fail in the PR (and marriage) function, and Wikileaks affect the worldwide perception of governments (and the stock of Bank of America), this is a year in which crisis Public Relations has been front and center.
Even the $3B Gap clothing chain learned the fast and furious nature of today's media.
Following consumer outcry, a Twitter account was set up in protest and collected 5,000 followers, and 14,000 parody's of the Gap logo site appearing within a few days. The Gap quickly changed their logo back to the original.
In 2011, PR pros at companies of all sorts will be expected to take more responsibility for crisis, especially after the financial meltdown had a clear impact on every company of all sorts and sizes. There will also be more fake social media accounts, websites and someone will lose a blackberry to have someone else send fake messages.
These hacking related events will happen in companies large and small requiring increased crisis PR management. As online commentators or the wrong tweet can affect a brand instantly, crisis will become part and parcel of day to day PR, and I wouldn't be surprised to soon see 24/7 PR offices and PR operations.
Expect Public Relations in 2011 to be front and center in taking a prominent role in the perception and reputation shaping of companies – that which directly affects the top and bottom line.
The changing media landscape will keep the philosophical riddle relevant for the PR community: "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"
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Ronn Torossian is founder and CEO of NYC-based 5W Public Relations, a top 25 independent PR firm. He is on Twitter at @rtorossian5wpr and can be reached at rtorossian [at] 5wpr.com. |