Here are some more ideas from my global PR partners at Public Relations Global Network.
Mark Paterson, MD for Currie Communications in Australia, says, “There is an increase in client demand for tactical support (keeping strategy internal).” But Sandy Lish, founding partner of The Castle Group disagrees. She says, “There are more PR consulting opportunities related to strategy, perhaps the result of corporations retaining more junior staff, yet recognizing they need senior counsel.”
Instead of the age-old story of journalists complaining about PR professionals,here's a twist. Mike Diegelmann, CEO of Cometis AG in Germany, says, “The cut in media budgets leads to smaller newspapers. This leads to a reduction of staff and a very bad lack of know-how within the media.We as PR people have to deal with that.”
I also have a few top trends for 2010. For one, measuring PR success with tangible ROI will be increasingly important to clients. If they can't prove that it helps the bottom line, you'll be out of the budget. A disturbing trend is that of corporations trimming PR budgets to the bone. But the good news is they'll spend more on social media.
But my number one pick is from Joe Ledlie, founder of The Ledlie Group and my all-time favorite curmudgeon. He describes today's typical media person as such: “She has a communications firm and admits she's also a freelance reporter. She wants details regarding your client's well-publicized problems. There's no story line—yet. Just a ‘few people I've talked to.' In fact, she has no detectable stories anywhere. She is ‘shopping a few locals.' As conventional media disappear, this may be our future: the reporter who isn't, working facts she hasn't, for titles she's pitching, using a story that's TBD.”
The future - maybe it ain't so pretty?
David Landis, president/CEO, Landis Communications