Like many in the digital age, PR faced its hurdles and readjusted to the new landscape - but it’s still an industry that thrives best with support

PR expands its responsibilities

Our working lives changed forever in the 1990s with the advent of the world wide web. This change has been acutely felt in public relations. The internet – and the brave new world of digital marketing that came with it – transformed the way companies communicated with their stakeholders and how public relations people did their jobs. PR extended its skillset to include web expertise, helping our clients and companies build websites, develop and upload content, and manage communications online. But PR wasn’t the only profession that had to adapt to the challenges and opportunities of the digital age. Marketing – PR’s fraternal twin and occasional rival – also found itself changing as the internet overtook traditional forms of promotion and sales.

When Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn gained traction, PR practitioners jostled with marketers to create and manage their companies’ social media accounts. New digital roles – such as social media manager – came into being, while other traditional professions such as print and broadcast journalism suffered as subscriptions fell and advertising budgets were reallocated to new media. Many journalists jumped to the “dark side” becoming public relations practitioners or took up newly created writing roles such as blogger or content marketer. The internet and the disruptions it brought ushered in a new gamut of roles and responsibilities for communications professionals. People working in PR and marketing – disciplines that had once mostly been siloed – found themselves competitors on the digital playing field, elbowing one another to fill the same roles.

PR and Marketing intertwine

As a result, PR and marketing positions within companies often ended up overlapping or merging. Part of this is because marketing, as compared to PR, was quick to adopt the data-driven methods and analysis that executives demanded in the online environment. On a more fundamental level, marketing and PR are both disciplines that rely on communications and it was convenient and cost saving for company decision makers to group them as one. There was a time when PR and marketing sat alongside each other in the organizational chart but remained separate, each reporting independently to the CEO. Today, PR often exists within marketing and reports to the VP of Marketing or Chief Marketing Officer.

As PR people added digital marketing to our skill set, we learned how to use marketing speak, which quantifies value with hard data. In addition to crafting our PR programs to meet business goals and objectives, we geared our measurement to metrics, peppering in marketing terms such as demand and lead generation. We learned how to discuss the role PR played in the sales funnel. The digital era, and the merger between marketing and PR that came with it, forced PR to adapt and grow, taking on new responsibilities and learning new skills. On the whole, PR practitioners have succeeded in our expanded roles.

The roles that power PR

As versatile as our profession is, after merging with marketing we’ve found ourselves with broader portfolios than ever. Therefore, while public relations people can deliver comprehensive communications programs on their own, our work shines the brightest when we have a strong support team to help handle the broader responsibilities. Today, PR succeeds best when it works with a marketing team that has the following roles in place, or is open to bringing on a contractor or external supplier to fulfill these duties:

1.    Writer/Editor

The public relations profession requires a lot of writing. Our writing skills are called on to develop PR strategy, media releases, speeches, e-blasts, blog posts, video briefs, social media posts, and more. The list is extensive. However, more often than not, there is no “writer” or “editor” on a team that can help to check and refine PR’s work. As a PR person, I am grateful for the support of a fellow writer or editor to proof, amend, reshape and add color to our writing. While we can do it on our own, access to a writer and/or editor on the team helps us to produce the better result.

2.    Graphic Designer and Digital Editor

The best way to complement a well-crafted story is with striking visuals. A graphic designer helps PR communicate using visual components such as infographics and other images. PR can also call on graphic designers to help spruce up a PowerPoint presentation before sharing with executives. Additionally, with the growing popularity of business videos and podcasting, a digital editor can help film, record and edit to polish the final product, working together with the PR person to ensure the produced outcome is consistent with company style and brand.

3.    Digital Marketing Analyst

As I’ve explained earlier, the digital revolution has made analyzing marketing data easier – and more important – than ever. Any modern PR professional should have a firm grounding in data analytics, and team members who specialize in marketing analysis to support them. A digital marketing analyst will know how to optimize online communications and marketing campaigns through the application and analysis of performance metrics, data and trends. This role is metrics-driven, helping to provide the data that drive today’s business decisions.

An external supplier such as Cision is an equally good companion to the PR person for this purpose, since it has the tools in place to digitally measure the impact of media coverage. Likewise, a supplier such as Hootsuite can provide social media analytics, which can demonstrate the power of a good influencer program and online community.

4.    Social Media Manager

While PR people are often the ones handling a company’s social media profile, few business leaders truly recognize what a big task that is. Therefore, it’s always welcome when PR can work with team members dedicated to that role alone. It takes time and skill to craft compelling content, engage with communities, and target relevant influencers. When a PR person works with a dedicated social media manager, a company can take full advantage of the large array of digital platforms that drive sales and branding today.

A stronger team to harness the digital environment

“Disruption” has become a new-economy buzzword, for good reason. The lines between traditional roles – such as PR and marketing – have been disrupted and blurred, as new forms of communications have enlarged PR’s duties and increased its importance. PR practitioners have always been chameleons—changing their hue to adapt with a changing media and business landscape. As digital media has expanded the ways companies interact with their customers and stakeholders, PR has adapted, spreading its reach into new platforms and modes of communication. The world of PR is broader than ever before, which means a company that wants to make the most of its PR professionals should ensure they’re supported with a team that specializes in certain key areas and can help carry the wider responsibility. A company that puts together that kind of team is well-positioned to generate maximum value by harnessing the full potential of public relations in the digital age. 

Read other PR articles by Caroline James:

1. How PR contributes to company sales
2. Mix a generalist in with your specialist for that winning combination?
3. The PR job hunter can learn from out-of-work actors seeking their big break
4. Priority switches to the worker in the era of COVID-19

Caroline James is a PR expert with more than 20 years of experience in the industry. Throughout her career she has worked for tech startups, PR agencies, international governments, and corporate firms. She is the founder of Forever Speaks PR, and is always open to new PR opportunities and challenges. For more information, or just to chat about our industry, contact her on LinkedIn here.