[Editor’s Note: We’re honored to have one of the industry’s top thinkers, 5WPR founder Ron Torrosian, back again this year to talk about trends for 2017. Last year Ron touted the importance of mobile optimization, SEO, well-written content but also social content creation, analytics, speed, virtual teams, video production and editing, programming and connecting with influencers (PRN, Dec. 14, 2015).]
PR pros need to think ahead and anticipate the future—so figuring out the top trends in the industry for the coming year always will be important. Will there be something totally new coming to light in 2017? Perhaps. Here are seven trends for PR pros and communicators to consider:
1. The Mobile Monster.
- Mobile remains the overarching tool for PR, advertising, information, shopping and more. If your content, connections and company are not mobile, you might as well kiss it
- all goodbye right now. Estimates are that there are more active mobile phones in the world than toilets. Does that present the image strongly enough for you? If your website, ads and stories cannot be accessed via a mobile phone, you are losing business by the gallon.
2. Thought Leadership.
- Would you rather buy from a company that has a known leader in the field or one where you only know the name of the company? Thought leaders draw business in every time they publish an article, are interviewed by someone or share information about how to do what they do better. Creating opportunities for the experts to be interviewed or to express their opinion on something builds their business.
3. Magnifying Great Content.
- There’s no getting around it: Content remains one of the biggest draws or turnoffs. Avoid clickbait and false impressions at all costs. It’s annoying, and the average consumer gets hit with it several times a day—enough to read between the lines and ignore certain types of headlines, knowing they’re not worth their time. But if there’s a great story to tell, lots of people will want in: bloggers, influencers and your website, social media accounts and more. If the story is informative and told well, it has the possibility of going viral. It hardly needs to be said that going viral with a good story connected to your brand, company or product can bring in enough business to take care of your profit margins for several months.
4. Virtual Reality and Visual Effects.
- People process visual stimuli better than prose. People are more likely to click on a video and watch it than they are to read a transcript of that video. Virtual reality (VR) takes these concepts deeper. Put some of the new VR headsets on people and let them virtually drive a car or see their toes digging deep in white, sandy beaches with the ocean a bright turquoise, and a video transitions from seeing to experiencing. Partnering with video production and VR imagers or creating a division in your company to do those things will give followers the chance to experience an added benefit. When a brand communicator can bring something like that to the table, his or her sucess should increase because the work will bring in more interested eyeballs. For agency communicators, VR will lead to increased income and sales for your clients and more business for you.
5. Big Data Expands.
- Many PR pros use big data for analysis and planning. It’s clear that more and more people are getting comfortable using big data. Comfort, in this case, should translate to more usage and finding ways to take the information gathered and turn the tides for companies that may have struggled to get ahead. There really aren’t any limits to how the information can be used, except for the imagination of people thinking of ways to use it. Companies that can track the most commonly bought items in a grocery store could use the information to add new flavors to their foods, offer crowd-favorite veggies during the summer in new assortments for lower costs or create easy recipes combining the items with the product they promote. Data also can help uncover what works and what doesn’t, e.g. when to pull products from production or what products should be offered for limited times, like the McRib or holiday items.
6. SEO Is Still Good.
- Search engines often change their rules and algorithms, so it’s not always easy to keep up with what works best when it comes to SEO and keyword usage. But great content, whether it uses any keywords at all, has the potential to change people’s thoughts and behaviors.
7. Press Releases With a Different Approach.
- Press releases have been declared dead several times over the years. They aren’t. But they also aren’t the same as they used to be (
PRN,
- Dec. 12). Knowing the traditional press release techniques and format is important, mainly because it’s hard to innovate until you understand the original. Press releases now and moving forward really are just content presented directly to consumers, or story ideas pitched to journalists and writers.
CONTACT: @RTorossian5wpr