PR in 2009 ... and beyond

The New Year usually inspires columnists and bloggers to make a review of the year that is gone, summarizing the events and results, and to give some general predictions for the year to come. I haven’t even tried to avoid that cliché - the theme just popped up: What should a PR professional be in 2009 and what skills must he/she posses? In other words, in which direction will the PR profession develop in the new year that started few days ago?

The list of recommendations given bellow is generally aimed at the PR industry in my country, Macedonia. For very little people here, these recommendations mean presence, they already practice them. For most of PR practitioners - they represent a far future, far beyond 2009. And a good part of my colleagues - if they bother to read this at all - will take these recommendations as totally unnecessary, and will continue - as usual - to limit their professional everyday life with their only PR activity - having coffee with journalist-friends.

Thus, let these recommendations be a kind of New Year’s Resolution for every PR pro who wants to keep up with the new trends in the industry and to work in direction of advancement of the public relations as a profession.

So, if you haven’t mastered these skills yet, it is time to at least understand that:

1. PR will be even more open and wider profession than it was before, and it will demand even more skills, various skills.

2. As a PR pro you must know your client so well, that you will know the question the client plans to ask you even before he does.

3. A PR pro must be a storyteller, must know to tell stories that move people.

4. The PR pro will be a content creator, not only a communicator who delivers messages.

5. The PR pro must be even more curious, thoughtful, innovative, insightful, creative …to have even more passion to his/her profession… and above all to be even more daring and bold.

6. A PR pro will must be capable of leading a conversation with the audiences, to dialogue instead of pure message delivering. He/she should ask questions, and to give answers to ones. Moreover, he/she should be prepared to listen to the answers to the questions asked.

7. A PR pro must follow all the fast changes happening in his/her environment and to react quickly on each of those changes… The PR pro must be prepared to quickly adjust or change even his/her own belief, attitude, prejudice…

8. For a successful PR strategy, focusing on traditional media is definitely not enough anymore. The PR professional must think in direction of integrated campaign that will include even tools such as making movies and videos, (micro)blogging, social networks, building of applications for mobiles and computers, video games… in other words, to use all tools available, so the “alternative” communication tolls will become “conventional” media.

9. The measurement of the real PR effects will replace the pure counting of media placements. A PR pro must be ready to seek for and to propose new creative ways to evaluate PR actions, evaluation that will reflect the real picture and the impact in the society.

10. And last but not least, the PR pro should not succumb to the pressures of the ongoing world crisis. The PR pro must understand and believe that the intellectual and the creative “assets” he/she owns cannot be taken away by no recession! And creativity in PR is needed as never before.

In addition, here is one great video produced by Ogilvy PR Worldwide for PR Week. The video is a compilation of statements of top PR experts worldwide, and the title is PR of the Future.