PR & Marketing Leaders Share Predictions for the Future of Communications

The evolution of PR and communications, including the tools we use, the methods in which we measure its efficacy and the ways we cut through the clutter to share our stories, was front-and-center on the minds of communications professionals throughout the past year. But what will the next 12-14 months bring to the industry? AirPR asked its customers and industry leaders to share their predictions. This video features insights from FleishmanHillard, Experian, Dynamic Signal, and BitGo, along with industry luminaries Becky Saeger (former CMO at Visa and Schwab) and Andy Cunningham (Steve Jobs’ publicist) on the rapidly changing world of PR and communications.

Three key predictions include:

The continued rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Brian Mossop, SVP, Insights & Analytics Lead for FleishmanHillard is eager for the change: “I believe in the next twelve months or so, we’re going to see even more artificial intelligence and machine learning incorporated into our daily practices. It’s going to simplify our lives and make our analyses much cleaner, much faster and much more impactful for our clients.” Andy Cunningham, Founder of Cunningham Collective and former Steve Jobs’ Publicist, sees AI’s impact on every aspect of what we do: “It’s a technology that is invading every single piece of our world. At the lowest end, it’s helping you figure out what you want to watch next on Netflix, but on the highest end, it’s actually informing the kind of marketing we do, to whom we target that marketing and how we get someone through the funnel from the top to the bottom.”

New models and metrics for attribution and measurement. Becky Saeger, Board Member of E*TRADE Financial and Okta and former CMO of Visa and Charles Schwab, is looking at the whole marketing mix: “I think that marketing analytics will continue to be a cost of doing business and will become more and more sophisticated. It’s an exciting time to be in marketing, PR and communications.” Additionally, Robyn Hannah, Senior Director, Global Communications at Dynamic Signal shares, “We’re going to get smarter about how we measure our impact and efficacy. I think we’re going to realize that some of the metrics we’ve been using aren’t necessarily the best metrics to use.”

Technology that informs. Clarissa Horowitz, VP, Marketing at BitGo is looking at the full stack: “I think we’re going to see a lot of mergers and acquisitions with marketing technology companies and hopefully integrations as well so that these technologies can become a tech stack that really informs what we’re trying to do.” Kelsey Audagnotti, Senior Public Relations Specialist at Experian, predicts that technology will inform every part of a PR professional’s workflow: “I am excited and hopeful that we’ll have the tools that will help us identify reporters and topics pertaining to our business and potentially even identify new industries and opportunities for growth.”

WATCH THE VIDEO: Predictions on the Future of Communications