8 Public Relations Trends to Watch in 2008

by paul 1/21/2008 8:42:00 PM

The public relations industry is evolving. Technology is redefining the profession, and opening up a world of opportunities for PR agencies to expand services and deliver greater value to clients.

While many traditional PR agencies struggle to find and retain clients, innovative PR agencies are monitoring and driving the trends that will shape the public relations industry for years to come.

Here are some of the top PR trends to watch in 2008:

Social Media: This is the most obvious and talked about trend in the public relations industry. PR professionals are communications specialists, and blogs, forums, online video and social networking offer the ability to communicate more affordably and efficiently than ever before.

Plus, social media channels give PR pros unfiltered access to consumer opinions and behavior. The leading PR agencies will find ways to contribute openly and honestly, benefiting both clients and consumers.

Online Press Releases & Newsrooms: The purpose of a press release is changing. Releases are now being written with keyword-rich content and distributed with the sole intent of better optimizing sites for search engines. Often times, the optimized press releases aren’t even sent to mainstream media.

As a result, the formatting and functionality of press releases and online newsrooms are evolving to integrate social bookmarking, video, blogs, podcasts and RSS feeds (see “Social Media Releases Gain Ground As PR Tool” to learn more).

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Leading PR agencies will continue to blend Search Engine Optimization (SEO) capabilities with the traditional mix of public relations services. And don’t be surprised if over the next 12-36 months a flurry of merger and acquisition activity emerges among upstart SEO firms and traditional PR agencies.

Content Publishing: With the widespread availability of affordable (and sometimes free) online press release and article distribution services, organizations have the ability to generate impressions and leads online through content publishing, in addition to what can be accomplished with mainstream media publicity campaigns.

Social Bookmarking: Social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Del.icio.us and Reddit have changed the way PR pros consume and share news. See “Is Social Media More Relevant Than Mainstream Media?” to learn more about how social bookmarking sites are redefining what is relevant and newsworthy to consumers.

RSS Feeds: RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds are an incredibly efficient tool to monitor frequently updated online content, such as: blogs, news headlines, forum posts and podcasts. RSS feeds give PR pros the ability to consume and filter enormous amounts of information and news from mainstream and social media sites. Below is a sample RSS feed from the Internet marketing experts at HubSpot.

Google News Alerts: Google News Alerts has become an invaluable tool for PR professionals, delivering continuous email updates on clients, competitors and industry trends. It’s free, easy and effective.

Savvy professionals will use Google News Alerts, RSS Feeds and other free online monitoring applications to reduce or eliminate the need for high-price monitoring services that have long been a staple of the public relations industry.

Standardized Services & Set Pricing: I may be a bit partial to this one, but based on the phenomenal response and demand we have seen in the market since introducing standardized services and set pricing in November 2005 (check out The 20/20 Standard to learn more), it’s hard to imagine more firms won’t catch on and move away from prohibitive hourly rates.

It will be extremely difficult for many traditional PR firms to evolve, since it requires a dramatic shift in staffing, billing and operations, but it could quickly become the model of choice for PR and marketing upstarts.