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The Top PR Trends for 2017

Like any other business discipline, public relations has changed in recent years. The Global Communications Report, a comprehensive worldwide survey of more than 1,000 senior PR executives worldwide, reveals that the worldwide PR industry is predicted to grow from its current estimated size of $14 billion to $19.3 billion over the next five years.

According to The Holmes Report, only 27% of agency leaders responding to the survey think the term “public relations” will adequately describe the work they do by the year 2020. Says Paul Holmes, “The pace of change in public relations has never been faster than it is today, but at the same time, it will likely never be this slow again.”

It’s true that a PR agency staffer starting out in 2017 will be undertaking research, creating programs, and shaping stories in ways very different from just a few years ago, in large part due to the dominance of digital technology and the blurring of lines between paid, owned, and earned media outcomes that agencies are often charged with generating.

Here are the top new trends that are accelerating change in the practice of public relations and challenging old-timers as we move into 2017.

PR is about generating influence.

True influence is precious at a time when “fake news” is itself making headlines. As communicators, we will be increasingly asked not only to generate coverage for brands and organizations, but to build the kind of relationships that actually influence behavior, and do so in a transparent way. Many have written about the changing nature of influencer relations in PR, and its move from celebrities and social media ambassadors to so-called “microinfluencers” – those that may not have a huge reach but that are trusted within social, demographic, or values-driven networks.

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But PR itself is gaining influence, and rapidly.

Though it’s an evolution and not a revolution, that’s the real change for our industry. According to a 2015 Chief Communications Officer survey by Korn Ferry, CCOs in the U.S. are taking on more influential roles within their organizations. The takeaway for PRs? The study’s participants named leadership attributes like “courage, innovation, managing through ambiguity, developing talent, and contributing to strategy” as critical to their positions, which are wielding greater clout among C-level executives within the organization. These are among our new critical skills.

Content will move to new (and old) channels.

Today’s PR programs are less about selling and more about telling….stories that engage prospects or customers, and visual storytelling is hotter than ever. Earned media isn’t going away any time soon, but in recent years, social platforms have dominated. That may be changing in the near future, particularly as content marketing has reached a saturation point. The Content Marketing Institute’s Joe Pulizzi predicts a resurgence of print content led by brands and points to Airbnb, which recently launched a print magazine with Hearst.

An even hotter trend is content personalization, or using customer data or behavioral insights to create not just offers and promotions, but branded customized content for distribution through social or email channels. These may skirt the edges of a typical public relations person’s scope of responsibility, but, like the video explosion, it means that PRs will develop content marketing production and distribution skills and bring to their programs a sensibility that transcends the traditional earned media role.

PR and SEO are joined.

If PR is all about content, it stands to reason that PR and SEO must work together, and that PR professionals should have more than a passing familiarity with SEO and web analytics. When it comes to content, quality and relevance have replaced sheer quantity as a key metric. It all goes back to Google’s now-

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famous Penguin algorithm update, which as Bruce Kennedy puts it, led to “the shotgun wedding between PR and SEO.” Penguin penalized shady backlinks, keyword stuffing, and other black-hat SEO strategies in favor of quality content. To be shareable, content must be optimized, so fluency in SEO basics is a necessary skill.

But there’s a new development on the horizon known as “implied links.” Implied links are simply brand mentions that appear in earned or shared media. They’re undoubtedly good for visibility, but in the absence of a true link, they’re impossible to track. Google quietly filed a patent in 2014 that many in the search business feel presages an actual formula for tracking implied links. If true, it bodes very well for PR, which excels in generating powerful but maddeningly hard-to-measure mentions.

Thought leadership is more important than ever.

In today’s business and media environment, overall business strategy and communications strategy are intertwined. Thought leadership is relevant not just to B2B organizations, but to consumer product companies. The explosion of digital and social media has made every aspect of corporate reputation – from customer service to CEO behavior – relevant to brand image, and therefore to PR. Today, consumer and business brands need to be seen as leaders, and many have seen how an army of influencers can not only propel a business forward, but insulate reputation in the event of a reputation crisis. They must offer ideas and inspiration, not just great products and services. That means more professional communicators are focused on executive visibility and leadership, and that reputation management is built into every program.

The lines keep blurring.

One of our most important tasks is content creation, but with the explosion of digital content, distribution is more vital than ever if anyone is going to actually see and engage with the material. But it’s tough to achieve scale without paid tools and tactics. The PRs of 2017 and beyond must therefore be fluent in techniques for finding content niches, new social

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communities and influencers, paid and unpaid distribution tactics, and emerging Google trends that will impact content sharing.

Everything is measurable and measured.

The rise of data-driven marketing has been a difficult transition for some PRs because few of us are data engineers and the old guard is unlikely to be trained in analytics. Consequently there’s been no industry standard for evaluation of earned media outcomes. But even without a universal formula for measuring brand mentions, PR is catching up to marketing. A coalition of professional groups has created guidelines for benchmarking and measuring PR programs, and while there’s no one-size-fits-all formula, there’s plenty of practical advice on how to use those principles.

By Dorothy Crenshaw (https://crenshawcomm.com/ top-pr-trends-2017/)

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APPENDIXES

APPENDIX A

HOW TO WRITE A SUMMARY

Summary is a short, clear description that gives the main facts or ideas about something2.

Writing a summary is a great way to process the information you read, whether it’s an article or a book. If you’re assigned a summary, the best way to approach it is by reviewing the piece you’re summarizing. Skim it first, then read it thoroughly in preparation for taking notes. When you get to writing your summary, rely on your memory first to make sure the summary is in your own words. Then revise it to ensure that your writing is clear and the grammar, punctuation, and spelling are all perfect.

PRINCIPLES OF A SUMMARY:

1.Aim: A good summary must contain in an abbreviated form all the important thoughts to be found in the original passage without changing their meaning. The thoughts must be arranged in such a way that the result is a selfcontained passage in spite of the abbreviation.

2.Length: The summary should be about 25–30% of the original text.

3.Tenses: The summary should follow the original text (e.g. narrative / descriptive prose: past; expository / argumentative prose: present)

4.The sentences should be well connected so that the summary reads as a continuous paragraph.

5.If you have to write a summary be careful that you do not include any ideas or comments of your own.

6.Direct speech is to be transformed into reported speech.

7.Try not to copy sentence constructions of the original!

2 from Cambridge Dictionary / https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/summary

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8.Methods of abbreviation:

a)word compression (find generic terms);

b)compression of ideas (main ideas; separate them from subsidiary points and unimportant points);

c)rejection of unimportant matter (illustrative examples, figurative language, etc.);

d)different (shorter) constructions.

STEPS OF A SUMMARY:

1.Read the text slowly and carefully (at least twice!) You should read it without making any kind of marks. Instead, focus on really understanding what the author is saying.

2.Find out the meaning of new words and constructions.

3.Make sure that you understand the gist (main idea) of the passage as well as details:

a)The statement of central focus you name must make a point about the topic and cover the whole text;

b) Ask yourself: Is the central focus directly stated? If not, it must be

inferred;

c)Which details help me decide on the central focus? Why are these details important?;

d)The central focus considers how the details relate to one another or lead to one another (what caused or led to what);

e)The central focus must consider the ending and how the details or events led to this final.

4. Divide the text into parts according to the changes of thought which occur in the passage.

5. Make a list of key words standing for the main ideas and some subsidiary points, leaving out the unimportant aspects.

6. Consider possibilities of abbreviation.

7. Using the list of main points, write a rough draft, referring to the original only when you want to make sure of some points.

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8.Consider further possibilities of abbreviation and connecting sentences. Bear in mind that your summary must read as a continuous paragraph.

9.Revise your first draft in three ways:

a)compare it with the original for omissions or distortions;

b)check its length (definitely not more than one third (1/3) of the original!);

c)check your style (Is it clear, appropriate?).

10. Write your fair copy.

PHRASES TO USE IN THE SUMMARY

The title of the article and the author

The headline of the article is … – Заголовок статьи …

The article which I have read is entitled … – Статья, которую я прочитал(а), называется …

The author of the article is… – Автор статьи … It is written by… – Она написана …

The article under discussion is … – Статья, которую мне сейчас хочется обсудить, называется …

The gist of the article

The key issue of the article is … – Ключевым вопросом в статье является…

The article under discussion is devoted to the problem … – Статья,

которую мы обсуждаем, посвящена проблеме …

The paper provides an insight into … – Статья дает представление о …

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The paper deals with … – В статье говориться …

The article begins with the description / the mention of / the analysis of / (his / her) recollection of … – Статья начинается с описания / упоминания / анализа / воспоминаний о …

The paper elucidates / highlights / indicates one of the significant issues ... –

Статья разъясняет / освещает / указывает на один из существенных пунктов ...

The author in the article touches upon / raises / tackles / poses the problem of … – В статье автор затрагивает / поднимает проблему …

At the beginning of the story / in the beginning the author writes about / dwells on / criticizes / describes / explains / mentions / characterizes / points out … – Автор пишет о .../ останавливается на (теме, вопросе) / критикует / описывает / объясняет / упоминает / характеризует / обращает внимание на …

The author is concerned with … – Aвтора интересует …

Further / after that the author passes on to … – Дальше / после этого автор переходит к ...

The author goes on to say that ... – Автор продолжает говорить о …

The author also states / maintains / believes / argues that ... – Автор также утверждает / полагает / доказывает, что …

Then / after that / further on the author passes on to / gives a detailed analysis / description of… – Затем / после этого / далее автор переходит к / дает подробный анализ / описание …

The article under discussion may be divided into several logically connected parts which are… – Статья может быть разделена на несколько логически взаимосвязанных частей, таких как…

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The author’s conclusion

In conclusion the author says / points out / generalizes / makes it clear / gives a warning / dwells on that… – В заключении автор говорит /

указывает на то / обобщает / проясняет / предупреждает о том, что …

At the end of the article the author sums it all up by saying … – В конце статьи автор подводит итог всего этого, говоря …

The author concludes by saying / draws a conclusion / comes to the conclusion that – В заключение автор говорит / делает вывод / приходит к выводу, что …

Your opinion

Taking into consideration the fact that … – Принимая во внимание тот факт, что …

The message of the article is that / The main idea of the article is –

Основная идея статьи …

In addition / Furthermore … – Кроме того … From my point of view… – С моей точки зрения …

As far as I am able to judge… – Насколько я могу судить …

My own attitude to this article is… – Мое личное отношение к статье … I fully agree with / I don’t agree with … – Я полностью согласен с / Я не согласен с …

It is hard to predict the course of events in future, but there is some evidence of the improvement of this situation. – Трудно предсказать ход событий в будущем, но есть некоторые свидетельства улучшения.

I have found the article important / interesting /of great value … – Я

нахожу статью важной / интересной / имеющую большое значение (ценность) …

It would be wise to mention here… – Здесь следует отметить...

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Considering the situation it should be mentioned… – Учитывая ситуацию,

следует отметить...

As far as… is / are concerned… – В том, что касается ... , ...

Frankly speaking … – Честно говоря, ...

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