While life during the pandemic made pivoting second nature for many communicators, Hudson West PR and Marketing co-founder Lori Jung says that "the new pivot," which will likely characterize 2023, promises to be a little different.

"I think 2023 being the year of the new pivot is being prepared for what's to come, whether that's a weak sales forecast or a project ending," she tells Doug Simon. "I think it's being prepared with your PR firm."

Key to successfully neotiating that new pivot, she says, is "sharing what you need in a campaign and sharing your forecast to kind of examine it strategically, prepare for it, and come up with a solution to what your next dilemma could be."

Because of that, effective communication with clients is essential. "At our firm, we have weekly calls with our clients. We also have all of our clients text messages, text numbers, they're on speed dial all the time. But I think most importantly, we have those quarterly meetings where we reexamine our successes, our failures, we address those KPIs, we talk about what is the next step."

She adds that "as every good publicist or PR person knows, you need to understand who you're pitching. When you understand who you're pitching and you know them well, you could explain the story and fingers crossed that coverage happens. I think one of the most important things that can potentially be a pivot for 2023 is being grateful and thankful for that coverage."

She also stresses tailoring each pitch to its audience. "I can think of numerous journalists who want things in a series of bullet points and if you provide that for them, they are happy. So it's kind of shifting your story into the format that they need first."

Collaborating with industry competetiors, Jung says, can also pay big benefits. "Get to know other publicists and other agencies so you can again, leverage their expertise and vice versa. I think the pivot of 2023 for agencies is publicists and PR playing nice with publicists and PR."

She also shares what she learned in the seven years she spent working at D S Simon Media. "Really shadowing Doug for those seven years was a great introduction tp the world of PR. After working for probably a decade more in PR various firms, I decided that I needed to follow in his footsteps and open my own."

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D S Simon Media helps clients get their stories on television through satellite media tours and by producing and distributing content to the media. The company also produces live social media events.