This week's PR Roundup looks at the backlash to Amazon's return to office rollout, how B2B agencies can profit this year and where PR pros are tightening their budgets.
Amazon RTO Policy Update Continues to Ruffle Feathers
What happened: Last week’s news surrounding Amazon’s return-to-office policies flooded into a second week of think pieces and speculation on almost every social media platform. Current employees could be found openly querying for jobs in LinkedIn posts.
And news of an anonymous employee survey has made the rounds, showing employees' reactions as “strongly dissatisfied” with the decision. Amazon employees created the survey that was viewed and reported on by Fortune this week.
According to the Fortune article: “As of the afternoon of September 24, the average satisfaction rating related to the RTO mandate among survey respondents was 1.4 out of scale up to 5 (with 1 meaning “strongly dissatisfied” and 5 representing “strongly satisfied”). The survey's creators said in an introduction to their questionnaire that they plan to aggregate and share the results by email with…company executives “to provide them with clear insight into the impact of this policy on employees, including the challenges identified and proposed solutions.””
Communication takeaways: Lisa Vasquez-Fedrizzi, Senior Vice President, People + Culture, /prompt. says there were a lot of missed opportunities in the communications to the Amazon employees about strengthening culture.
“Transparency is key and if an organization is looking to return to office full-time, you need to weigh all options and take into account all that comes with this commitment from your employees,” she says.
Vasquez-Fedrizzi provided an internal communications checklist for those looking to consider a big change with company employees.
- Trust + Transparency: What does the return look like to be successful for all and win over the employees who may be hesitant to come back? Clearly explain the reason for the return—operational, culture, etc. You need to rebuild trust with the employees when implementing a big change like this after several years.
- Address + Acknowledge Concerns: Provide assurance on how this would work and benefit the employees. For example, learning through osmosis, bonding with your colleagues and teams, in-person collaboration and access to additional resources that they may need or want.
- Provide Resources: Consider some incentives such as commuting options, workspace arrangements—how you assign desks, resources on health guidelines—what you will allow or not allow in the office to keep everyone safe and healthy.
- Communicate, communicate, communicate: Whether you do this in a town hall meeting or staff meeting department meeting, make sure your leaders are aligned with the message, and share it often. Set up clear expectations on the return and possibly do it by department to ease employees back in. Make sure everyone understands their role and the part they play at the organization. Most of all, be flexible in the return dates to accommodate different needs and situations.
2024 Could Be a Good Year for B2B Agencies
What happened: Recently, global market research company Forrester released its report,”The State Of B2B Brand And Communications Agency Investments, 2024.” It showed how agency partnerships are increasingly essential for helping B2B brands achieve success. According to the B2B Brand And Communications Survey, B2B companies are increasing investments in agencies focusing on digital marketing, AI, content creation and creative development.
Other key insights include:
- 41% of marketing leaders expect to boost their agency budgets in the coming year, with notable growth in digital marketing and creative content development.
- Forrester found that investments in advertising, public relations and media relations are on the rise, with public relations seeing a 13-point increase.
- Fewer companies are decreasing agency budgets, while 57% of larger B2B companies are planning to increase their digital marketing budgets.
- Social media management is gaining traction, with 39% of companies planning to increase investments to support stronger engagement.
Communication takeaways: According to Karen Tran, Principal Analyst at Forrester, digital communication will continue to dominate for B2B groups. The reasons why?
“For one, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digital adoption among business buyers, leading to self-directed purchasing behaviors,” Tran says. “Second, millennials, a digitally savvy group, now form the largest B2B buying audience.”
However…PR Pros Cutting Back
What happened: Prowly, a PR and media relations SAAS platform, uncovered some budget tightening in the PR world this year in its “State of PR Technology” survey.
The survey revealed that 43% of communicators had to cut back on paid tools this year. However, it also showed that they're not ditching tech altogether, but instead pivoting to PR tools for data analysis, reporting and measurement—usually with the help of AI.
According to a press release from Prowly, “the PR tech stack of 2024 reflects an industry adapting to twin challenges: financial pressures and the need to demonstrate concrete results. Unlike last year's brief flirtation with AI-generated content, this year sees AI expected to be incorporated strategically into analytics and reporting tools.”
Other findings include:
- Agencies hit hardest by budget constraints: 48% made cuts to their tech stack.
- 48% of PR pros struggle to prove the value of their work, up from 41% in 2022.
- 39% prioritize tracking and measuring efforts in 2024, up from 23% in 2022.
- Use of sales metrics in PR measurement increased from 13% to 19%.
- Agencies lead AI use with a 72% adoption rate.
- In-house teams close behind at 67%.
Communication takeaways: Aleksandra Kubicka, PR Evangelist at Prowly, says adapting to tight budgets does not mean having to sacrifice performance.
“It’s about working smarter with AI in the background,” she says. “With today's advanced tech stack, communicators can transform dreaded "prove your worth" conversations into chances to shine. PR pros can now be more effective and confident, with more predictable results coming from quickly crunching tons of data into insights.”
Nicole Schuman is Managing Editor at PRNEWS.