1. The walls have blurred between public affairs, corporate communications and marketing.
2. Professional service firms are the new competition. There is an increasing role for PR in the C-suite.
3. Specialization is sweet for the bottom line. While it is important to specialize in niche industries, it is also important for PR firms to invest in niche services, such as market research. At Strategic Vision, LLC we provide market research, and we have niche expertise in branding, design, digital and multimedia.
4. We are evolving from generalists to multi-specialists. Emerging markets provide opportunities for PR firms if they are able to identify what they should be focusing on. Transparency is driving the need for culture-building. The ubiquitous social media has led to more work from HR departments who want help building a workforce that will be loyal online as well as offline. It’s also driving social media consulting work.
5. The public expects to have a dialogue. PR around the world is benefitting from this new era of customer relationship management. Strategic Vision understands dialogues better than ad agencies that specialize in one-way communications.
6. Corporate is demanding better measurement. It’s not just our mothers who can’t explain what we do. Corporate procurement officers are putting on the pressure for better publicity measurement. We’re all working on it.
7. De-consolidation is driving opportunities for independent firms. Smaller firms should not be daunted by competition from the large PR holding companies. More and more large corporations are eschewing global accounts and opting to work with independent agencies with multiple offices.
8. Talent churn. Top PR practitioners across the globe are getting calls from headhunters and corporations. This is a good news/bad news scenario. Good because it may indicate improving economies; bad because it means PR firms must work harder to retain their best talent. At Strategic Vision, we pride ourselves in long term employees
