It seems like every day communicators are confronted with a new marketing discipline/media channel/social platform that management wants them to master ten minutes ago. The pace of change is only expected to accelerate in the next few years, as digital media starts to eclipse traditional media.
While PR pros can be forgiven if they think that planning for the next six months or a year will suffice, they have to play longer ball and try to look further into the future. Their brands and organizations depend on it.
During PR News’ Digital PR Conference in Miami on Monday, senior communications managers tackled the subject of how to build a digital business with 2020 in mind.
“Moving into 2020, connected individuals are becoming more and more important to every organization out there,” said Allison Sitch, VP of global public relations at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. “The idea of connection is to understand what people are talking about and then bring in those influencers who are valuable to your organization.”
Throughout the next five years, PR managers will also need to empower their staffs so that managers focus more on corporate goals and objectives.
“Choose people for your team who you trust,” Sitch said, “and know that they can articulate and speak to the values of your brand without having to come back and ask you first.”
How to motivate your audience as they are increasingly inundated with online choices will be critical. “It’s about the community at large and conversing with the people who really matter,” Sitch added.
Kai Wright, VP of communications and business development for the Atom Factory, said that PR managers will have to take on the persona of an editorial director. They’ll need to steer editorial scheduling, create editorial calendars and build a solid bench of editorial contributors.
“What’s the voice? What’s the frequency? What are some of the [issues] that your brand can speak to intelligently?” Wright asked. “You need a strong pulse on your market, you have to be an early adopter and have an eye on aesthetics. The Web is getting much more visual.”
Follow Matthew Schwartz on Twitter: @mpsjourno1