Tomorrow's PR Today - Where PR is Going and How to Make Sure You Get There First

3. Media sources will make cuts in the news gathering and reporting process

4. Editors and reporters will be even more time-crunched and stressed than they are today (hard to imagine)

5. It will be harder for those seeking free publicity to get the attention they need and to generate the results they desire

6. Editors and reporters will increasingly turn to
a. sources that save them time
b. trusted sources that consistently generate powerful information, stories and leads

7. Media sources, with declining audiences and news resources will focus on
a. Preserving local audiences by localizing and personalizing national stories
b. Taking quality information provided by trusted sources and delivering it almost as is
c. Generating fresh stories that will draw the attention of local and possibly national audiences (local scandals, local business becoming big, local disasters, etc.)
d. Providing entertainment as part of the news process

Doesn't this list sound familiar? Isn't this exactly what's happening today? What's key to realize is that the Internet has increased the media's pain, accelerating this process to an even higher rate.

Given these changes, bright PR seekers will carefully consider their public relations tactics and change them to fit the trends.

Implications for PR practitioners:

1. Relationships are key

Gone are the days of achieving success by appearing on a reporter's radar screen twice a year when you've got some news. Now you need to be carefully creating and cultivating relationships with key media sources who have the interest and the power to run your stories.

This means that you need to constantly give what they really need - real news, stories, leads, impactful quotes, even if these don't build your business in any way. Think of it this way - who will a reporter turn to in question - the source that exclusively pitches their company, or the one who gives them a consistent set of great leads that turn into powerful stories, only occasionally pitching a story that involves his company?

2. You NEED an active, powerful, online presence

Reporters, producers and editors increasingly turn to the Internet for research, rather than the telephone or the directories of the past. You need an online media room; a powerful, frequently updated blog; and most importantly, a search engine presence so that media people will repeatedly encounter your name in their research.

He who has the best search engine presence and the most links, wins.

Isn't it interesting how the net has changed our world?

By the way, you can get those links both through natural search engine positioning and through buying pay per click advertising, (which can place you on the first page of the search engine listings.) At least 50% of the media calls I receive come from my pay per click advertising. For more information on how pay per click works, check out The Pay Per Click Money Machine

3. You should regularly produce excellent articles of journalistic quality

If a reporter with 5 stories on his docket stumbles upon your story that's just as good as he would write himself, he's likely to save his time and simply run your story. plus bookmarking your story archive for future story needs.

Create a schedule and system to create a never-ending series of articles.

A great way to do this is with tip sheets, quizzes and surveys - which not only make interesting reading, but great filler material for that last remaining 6 column inches of space.

4. You need to have your name and stories showing up consistently in GoogleNews and Yahoo! News

These tools have become powerful story archives and story generating sources for the media. You need to be included.

Unfortunately, doing so is tough, because both of these outlets carefully screen the news outlets they include. However, if you deliver great articles that carry bylines and get run by major and even local media, you too can have your stories showing up in these sources.

Google and Yahoo news can also be a source to identify journalists who cover your topic area, to generate news story ideas and to increase your targeted media relationships. Two articles that cover this in more detail are How To Use Google News To Get More PR and Competitive Drafting: Getting Effortless PR By Letting Your Competitors Do The Work!

5. Recognize the power of video and audio in helping media sources to choose to call you rather than your competition

Besides your writing, video and audio can be great tools to help expand your impact with the media. Journalists and producers want to know whether you'll be a good interview - let them see or hear you do it. Add video and audio clips to your site, add presentations that illustrate your story, and create video news releases where appropriate. Give them the tools to recognize you as the great information source that you truly are.

6. Learn to wisely use email to pitch stories

Email's both a powerful tool and a curse for the media. Most hate the huge amount of unwanted email (note - if you send a press release or even a story pitch to someone who doesn't want it, you've just spammed them - think about it, and make sure that you carefully target your emails) but most love the ease of obtaining and developing story pitches through email.

Email (and RSS, by the way) will be powerful tools in the future of PR. Learn to use it well by writing powerful subject lines, great lead sentences, pithy pitches, and leaving them wanting more. Hang something out there that sparks curiosity and forces them to contact you for closure. By learning these skills, you can turn email into one of your most powerful PR tools.

7. Learn to stand out

Journalists see hundreds, often thousands of pitches a day. What are you doing to stand out? How are you different than everyone else?

Different doesn't mean a box of pink feathers carefully cradling your latest media release, it means providing great leads and stories that are better than everyone else's.

Once again, content rules. Standing out does no good if your content (the quality, news or entertainment value of the story that you are pitching) is weak. When in doubt, create great content, that will always win.

One other factor to consider is the entertainment value of your pitches. How can you make your stories fun, funny, or thought-provoking. These won't always win, but definitely have a place in tomorrow's media world.

All of this involves work, and it certainly steps beyond the traditional press release blasts, phone pitching stories, and backslapping journalists. It takes recognition of change, ability to quickly learn and adopt new technologies, and a willingness to take risk.

But as you do so, you'll become that trusted source who not only makes the media's job easier, but who helps them to build their careers by giving them great news and entertaining pieces that gather them praise, awards and promotions.

So it's all up to you. Are you going to continue the old ways which are rapidly becoming dinosaurs, or are you going to make the mind- and skill-set changes that will make you a powerful public relations practitioner for the next decade?

Let me know your results!

Tags: Future of PR