Will it be a prosperous new year for public relations? How to make the most of the latest trends in communications

The last decade ended with a whimper rather than a bang for the PR industry, with budget cuts, increased pressure to get measurable results and a declining newspaper industry.

However, the next ten years look set to transform how many PROs work, particularly because of the opportunities arising in digital media. Today’s online audience grows daily and is now around 35 plus million, with most people now getting their news from  blogs, Twitter as well as online newspapers.

Describing how the last year has been tough for public relations communications

professionals, Professor Ralph Tench, professor of PR and communication at Leeds

Metropolitan University, quotes from European Communication Monitor (ECM) 2009, a survey of communications directors across 34 European countries. He says: “Nearly half of the professionals are suffering budget cuts and nearly a quarter are facing staff reductions.”

The survey shows that the recession has encouraged PROs to focus on the most relevant issues and stakeholders, while being under increasing pressure to invest in new tools that measure the effectiveness of their work. Tench adds that despite the struggling media, most of the respondents (72.2 per cent) think that communication managers will adapt to this, although he adds: “only 33.2 per cent believe practitioners will help the media to survive by providing free content.”

The collapse of advertising, despite some switch to online, has dramatically changed publishing. A research study of journalists across Europe (Oriella, 2009) that shows that 10 per cent are seeing their media outlet switching completely from traditional to online.

Following this trend, nearly 60 per cent of European journalists predict the number of printed media will shrink dramatically. As Tench points out: “This then leads onto an interesting impact on the public relations practice, with 40 per cent of journalists

claiming the dependence on PR content will increase.”

Looking forward, there is no denying the impact that social media will continue to have. Recently, it is Twitter that has dominated many PROs‘ time. Some of the biggest publications across Europe have tens of thousands of Twitter followers, and journalists are increasingly turning to user-generated content to meet tight deadlines.

As well as adapting to new media, the ECM survey also highlights how the public relations industry is reprioritising its disciplines. Tench notes that, in particular, internal communications and change management are becoming increasingly important. He adds, “respondents are predicting that by 2012, internal communication and change management will be the second most important discipline behind corporate communication.”

So it appears that more PROs will be focused on tailoring their messages to their own organisations rather than to outside media, and when they are communicating outside, it will not be to the newspapers and journals of the past. Now, must update that Twitter post…

PR agency gurus offer 2010 predictions:

Robert Phillips, UK CEO, Edelman:

“In the decade to come, a generation of digital natives will usher in some delicious chaos. Both the workplace and the media will be fully democratised; influence will become altogether less stable – and will flow from any direction. Everyone will have the opportunity to connect and to tell stories, this will no longer be the preserve of media, business or government institutions. The famed pyramid of authority will finally flatten out and new and fluid networks will emerge. We will all have to listen more and to be more respectful of democratised opinion. New and often unexpected partnerships and alliances will form. We should all learn to do more for common good. This new chaos is the new reality.”

Jo Jamieson, director, Berkeley PR:

“If I knew what the ‘next Twitter’ was, I’d retire from PR and make myself a fortune by inventing it! No doubt digital activities will increase in importance, and eventually virtually all activity will be focused on the online space. We have to ask ourselves whether printed trade magazines will actually even exist in ten years’ time – when many of them have already gone bi-monthly or quarterly. Personally, I don’t think they will.

“Agencies and in-house PR people alike will learn lessons from the likes of Gillette and Habitat in how not to use social media. Having an online strategy in place will become common practice – at the moment, the whole industry is experimenting with new techniques around the best way to implement them.

“However, this focus on the online world will actually take PR back to its original meaning –  public relations. I believe that in recent years, PR has moved more towards press relations and away from managing the reputations of clients with the public. With most companies having some presence on web 2.0, somewhere or another they now have a direct route to communicate with their customers and prospects and this needs to be managed carefully. PROs have the experience and knowledge to do this and will be expected to increasingly manage this part of the communications mix.

“There are, of course, some things that won’t change: the need for clear and transparent reporting and metrics. Budgets will still be vulnerable in turbulent times, and so it will be vital for PR agencies to be able to show to their clients that they are getting value fo