Public relations looks different than it did 10 days ago, let alone 10 years ago. The reason? We have to contend with a world that’s changing at breakneck speeds.
There’s a lot stacked against us when trying to get coverage for clients now:
Newsrooms are shrinking. AI is taking over. And attention spans are getting shorter.
The changes shifting the media landscape
Shrinking newsrooms are rocking media outlets everywhere, from CNN to The Wall Street Journal to Pitchfork. With decreasing beat journalists and reporters due to layoffs and ever-increasing demands, newsrooms today are under a lot of pressure to produce stories. And fewer journalists and reporters mean even more competition to get their attention.
Another issue is the rise of AI. Because AI can automate jobs, the media industry is worried that theirs could be next, with nearly 96% of americans having some level of fear this could happen. And this fear is causing some to avoid AI like the plague.
Shorter attention spans are also a growing concern — people can only pay attention to one screen for an average of 47 seconds. People are reading less. Even worse, few are reading thoughtful information, with the rest opting to skim TikTok or other video platforms to get misinformed news from unverified sources. This impacts PR as we try to amplify our clients’ news.
So, how can PR adapt to this changing world?
Embrace new technology but know what it’s good for
As PR pros, we know the value of staying flexible. Whether because of a crisis or breaking news, we must be ready to act when things change. And we need to approach a changing world the same way.
AI isn’t going anywhere. So, instead of shying away from it, we must embrace it! A healthy dose of experimentation with new technology, like AI, is important because we need to know when we can and can’t use it in our field.
For instance, we can use a generative AI tool, like ChatGPT, to create a good sponsorship form. But we should refrain from using ChatGPT to write a press release or a pitch because what it creates would miss the human touch those assets need to grab media attention.
Only by playing with AI tools will we know how to navigate and meaningfully integrate it into PR.
Encourage media literacy
An uneducated, uninformed society will only hurt us. People who aren’t educated or immersed in what’s going on are easier to manipulate, and we already see plenty of people being manipulated by their ignorance. This is why we need to encourage more media literacy.
Misinformation is rampant because anyone can have a platform in today’s digital world, and people need to discern between real and fake news. Media literacy will enable more critical thinking about media messaging.
We can do this by informing others to look at the cited source. Is it from a reputable publication? If not, then take its news with a grain of salt. Key publications with substantial advertisers are a lot more likely to be reputable than smaller niche publications.
There’s also looking at the evidence of the news we consume and ensuring it’s corroborated. This means doing our due diligence and not just taking things at face value. People aren’t getting the full story, and PR must show the need to know the issues that deserve our attention.
Adjust PR success expectations
Finally, we need to adjust our expectations for PR success today. When PR people think of success, they’ll talk about share of voice or other business impacts. But we should also measure success as something all-encompassing and inescapable.
A good PR effort should be one where we hear about it on the streets. For example, my Bospar team and I worked with actor George Takei for an app launch. Following the launch, I took a trip, and while I was getting a haircut there, the barber told me about George’s new app that he saw on TMZ. To have someone I just met talk about a campaign my team and I helped launch, and that he didn’t even know I was connected to, really showed me what success looks like.
When you have the totality of the moment and everyone’s talking about it — an incredible feat as newsrooms get smaller and news becomes more segmented — that’s when PR’s done something amazing. And that’s how we need to start measuring success.
PR doesn’t have to fear a changing world; we must change with it. Once we do, PR can be effective regardless of what’s happening in the world.