Muck Rack recently held their annual Muck Rack’s State of PR webinar where PR professionals across the country were surveyed about their thoughts on the current state of PR. Linda Zebian, Vice President of Communications at Muck Rack led the discussion. While Glennah Ivey-Walker, Vice President of Communications at DHL, Kevin Ota, Senior Director of Communications at ESPN, and Michelle Badrian, Senior External Communications Manager at Lenovo provided their insights on the data. It was clear throughout the webinar that relationships are vital and call us old school, but relationships have always been at the forefront of what we do.
Media Relations Isn’t Going Anywhere
Over 84% of PR professionals say media relations still makes up most of their day-to-day work, but the landscape is shifting. Newsrooms are shrinking, news cycles are shorter, and freelance journalists are on the rise. With 71% of PR pros not hearing back from journalists, who and how we pitch is changing too. More professionals are turning to bloggers, influencers, and freelancers to secure coverage, making relationships more important than ever (can you tell relationships are important?). LinkedIn and social media have become the go-to for building and maintaining those connections. The way coverage is seen has also changed in recent years. Landing the article is just the warm up. Actually posting articles of earned media coverage on social media and having journalists do the same increases visibility and engagement.
AI is Moving Fast
We wrote a blog recently about why PR matters in the age of AI. We can all agree that AI is moving fast and while it can simplify workflows, it lacks the personal piece. PR professionals have the ability to craft the narrative and as Michelle Badrian said, “ tech changes, but trust doesn’t.”
AI will keep evolving and while shortcuts are tempting, consistency and reliability are what set you apart. That slow drip of showing up authentically and making each interaction personalized will secure media coverage and make the next pitch, proposal, or meeting easier. Call us old school, but we’ve always believed in showing up as ourselves and building relationships that actually last.
GEO Has Entered The World of PR
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is how well your client or company shows up in AI search. To put it in simple terms, GEO comes back to thought leadership and being personal. Nearly 73% of PR pros say Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is at least somewhat important to their communications strategy, but 29% of PR pros say no one at their organization owns GEO at their organization. The more consistent content out there that is original and not written by AI you will rank higher organically.
Media relations, AI, and GEO all point back to the same thing: relationships. We have always been skeptical of AI. As you can see for yourself our CEO is truly embracing the era of AI.
AI will continue to evolve and you will continue to be told that “it will replace us,” but in reality it will never be able to remember your client’s name, coffee order, birthday, or truly understand the full story.
Our advice to you is to keep showing up authentically and continue to put people first. If you want to explore your own personal brand and how to show up authentically, we would love to see you on September 23 for our next Big Deal Energy Workshop.
