Written by Marcela Balart 

When I began my public relations degree, my first class delivered a harsh lesson that addressed the negative perceptions of the PR industry.   

At one end of the spectrum was “PR fluff and parties”; at the other was corporate suits and “spin doctors”. The irony was not lost on me that PR had a PR issue. After the initial shock, I doubled down on turning my wordsmithing and problem-solving skills into a career. 

For me, the communications and PR profession has always been about strategic thinking. Whether in-house or at an agency, the end goal is the same – to meet the brief using a range of strategies. The job has become even more sophisticated in recent years thanks to new technology expanding the avenues available to execute these ideas and initiatives.  

While PR is now strongly ingrained in the digital world, its true power seems to have gotten lost in the narrative.  

An industry built on trust 

I recently came across a rather alarming headline: “PR is a dying industry.” It hit me like that first day of uni and I may, or may not, have choked on my morning coffee! There were so many things wrong with this sentence.  

As a practice, public relations has existed for eons and has successfully evolved with the times. If you’ve ever heard of PR described as storytelling or crafting the narrative, this is proof of the skill that has survived for centuries. But at its core, PR is founded on trust – which is, IMHO, its true currency. Without it, there is no way to effectively communicate a message or for it to resonate with an intended audience.  

It’s also complex because of the need to understand the values and motivations of your stakeholders before you connect with them. They may not know your organisation or even like your brand to begin with!  

And that’s when the work begins. Public relations plays the long game, and it needs to be because of the simple fact that building trust takes time. Our role is to drive credibility and reputation, both of which need to be earned (hence earned media).  

The future of PR 

It’s fair to say that communications and public relations have undergone significant shifts, particularly over the past two decades. 

The 24-hour news cycle, digital technology, social media, and, of course, AI have required the industry to do what it does best: pivot.  

And while the disruption of traditional PR brings with it new challenges, there are also a myriad of opportunities to engage with audiences and new channels. The clever agencies embrace the change, rather than resist it.  

There is also a school of thought that a resurgence of PR is coming to the marketing industry, similar to the emergence of content marketing and SEO.  

Thanks to AI, the online user experience means we no longer seek answers to a simple Google search, rather there is a growing expectation for solutions and ideas within the one request. AI platforms, such as ChatGPT, achieve this by scraping all available and relevant content on the web.  

With ChatGPT now ranked ninth among the top 10 most visited websites globally, Google, which sits in the number one spot, is essentially competing for clicks with AI.  

It’s a thought-provoking concept, when you think about PR as the custodians of trust and brand reputation, our role in content creation, and how information is consumed today.  

Interestingly, trust is also the foundation of Google’s infamous EEAT algorithm. Coincidence? I think not!