I promise that headline was the last ironic use of Gen Alpha slang you’ll hear from this elder Millennial.

But Generation Alpha, those born between 2010 and today, are rising. And they speak in their own unique way that PR professionals should understand — if only so they can avoid using it in a “how do you do, fellow kids?” sort of way.

New data from Morning Consult delves into the unique terminology this cohort uses, and we’ll break it all down. But first, let’s talk about Gen Alpha, and why you should already be paying attention to this generation of children.

About Gen Alpha

Gen Alpha is profoundly shaped by technology. The same could be true of both their Gen Z and Millennial ancestors, but Generation Alpha has a particular affinity for smartphones and tablets. They’ve never known a world without these touch-based devices.

Many are dubbed “iPad kids,” often derisively, for their parents’ habit of simply handing them devices to entertain them in social situations — and their frequently negative reactions when the stimulus is taken away. Their young lives were also profoundly shaped by the coronavirus, which caused many of them to spend their formative years in varying levels of lockdown and isolation.

Their economic impact is beginning already and is only expected to grow: by 2029, they’ll account for $5.46 trillion in spending. They’re also an extremely brand-savvy generation, and not necessarily the brands you might expect. As social media sites like TikTok and Instagram give kids more direct contact with adults, they start gravitating toward the same kinds of products that their elders enjoy. These are more likely to be Sephora and Ulta skincare aficionados rather than Toys R Us kids.

But it isn’t all about glowy complexions. Gen Alphas are also big gamers, and that love extends beyond the games themselves and into following their favorite streamers and chatting about their favorites. And they’re more likely to play on a cellphone than a fancy console.

Now that we’ve gotten to know Gen Alpha more, let’s dive into how they talk.

New generation, new slang

Every generation develops its own unique vernacular that they love and that profoundly irritates and befuddles the adults in their lives.

Gen Alpha is certainly no exception.

Morning Consult’s survey found that 29% of the parents of Gen Alpha (who are mostly Millennials, with a few Gen Zers thrown in for good measure) have heard their children use language they did not understand. This percentage increases as the child grows older, with 43% of parents of 8-10-year-olds scratching their heads over the words coming out of their children’s mouth. Children who socialize online are also far more likely to use confounding phrases than those who don’t (47% vs 23%).

And what are some of these neologisms the youths love so much?

You may have heard some of these. Heck, you may have used some of these. There aren’t bright generational lines around these terms; for instance, GOAT (Greatest of All Time, used to describe someone or something that’s very good) has been used in sports for years.

But let’s take a quick look at what these terms actually mean.

Bet: A term of agreement or being game for something: “Bet, let’s go!” Depending on tone, however, it can also be used to express doubt, according to Dictionary.com.

GOAT: As previously mentioned, this means the Greatest of All Time. It’s pronounced just like the animal and the adjective “goated” can also be used as a descriptor, USA Today reported. You might also see the goat emoji, which indicates the same thing.

Sus: Short for “suspect” or “suspicious” and conveying the same idea. While the slang term grew in popularity due to its use in pandemic-era game Among Us, it’s been around for nearly 100 years, Merriam-Webster said.

Bussin’: Something very good. Originates from African American Vernacular English (AAVE) on TikTok, according to Today.com.

Cap: Another AAVE term, cap means bragging or lying. No cap, however, means something is true or real.

Rizz: Dubbed the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year 2023, rizz means charm or attractiveness, particularly in a romantic sense. It possibly derives from the word “charisma.”

Gyat: Business Insider explains this is a compliment for a girl with a nice behind.

Sigma: Usually used in the phrase “sigma male,” it means an independent man or a lone wolf, according to Dictionary.com.

Lore: In this context, lore means the story behind something. It’s often used to describe the worldbuilding of TV shows and video games, according to very reputable source Urban Dictionary.

Ratio’d: Someone is ratio’d when the ratio of the replies on a piece of social media content is much bigger than the likes or shares on that post. Typically, it means someone did something dumb and is getting dragged for it.

Fanum tax: Named after streamer Fanum, this refers to stealing part of someone’s food.

If you choose to use these words, make smart decisions.

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

The post By the Numbers: The slang Gen Alpha uses, no cap appeared first on PR Daily.

Ryan J. Taylor is the Founder and CEO of 440 Strategies in Washington, D.C.

Walking the highwire that connects politics and business is complicated, and mistakes can have real consequences. This is especially true every four years during the race for the White House. As a result of today’s bitterly divisive political environment, both large and small companies risk finding themselves in the crosshairs of presidential campaigns like never before. No company or industry is immune. Posts on social media, off-the-cuff remarks or coordinated campaigns by the candidates’ teams can affect a brand’s reputation, customers and profits. Being called out is something companies should prepare for proactively. To survive this storm, businesses need these four key strategies.

Know your strengths and your weaknesses
Every company should identify potential vulnerabilities that might attract political attention. It’s a good idea for each executive to review their respective business lines and corporate communications to understand the potential pitfalls. We live in different times now; any past mistake or oversight a company makes is fair game on the campaign trail. This is an involved process, especially for large, multinational companies, but the time invested pales in comparison to the cost of having to launch a crisis communications effort if caught unprepared. When business leaders do this work in advance, they’ll have a plan on hand, complete with a way to pivot from defending their brand to going on offense. That way, they can emerge from contact with the campaign trail with a larger, more loyal customer base and stronger market share.

As an example, in 2017, President Donald Trump slammed Nordstrom for dropping his daughter’s clothing line. Obviously, the post generated a lot of media attention and speculation about Nordstrom’s future. The company stood firm in its decision and communicated clearly that the decision was tied directly to sales performance. Nordstrom’s response was decisive, concise and difficult to argue with. Most importantly, the company avoided alienating the president’s supporters while simultaneously endearing itself to its existing customer base.

Do no harm
One of the most obvious ways to avoid being dragged through the mud while the entire world watches on national television is to avoid becoming ammunition for political adversaries in the first place. This seems easy on the surface but requires diligent work to understand potential points of contention.

A great way to figure out what’s going on is to keep an eye on public sentiment through polling, focus groups and social media analysis. Science and art go hand in hand when it comes to using this analysis to plan scenarios and assess risks. Anticipating political events and examining potential outcomes from all relevant angles is another avenue to consider since those inflection points can have a huge impact on businesses, brand reputations and customers. These scenarios include government policy changes, public reactions to company statements and actions, and potential boycotts and protests.

Make a plan but stay flexible
There is an old adage that says, “prepare for the worst, hope for the best.” Nothing could be truer for business leaders with the 2024 presidential election just over the horizon. Start by setting up clear lines of communication and appointing spokespersons who know the company’s values and what’s going on in politics. At this stage of the planning process, pre-approved messages should be written to counter points of possible contention or to provide context for past mistakes. But remember, sometimes silence can be just as an effective response to political criticism.

In the past, one line of defense usually involved showcasing charitable giving practices, DEI and CSR commitments, or pro-environmental programs. This strategy used to work, but in today’s campaign cycle could create additional headaches. Rather than reflexively engaging, instead focus on the company’s core business and consider the following questions:

1. Do the critics matter?
2. Will the controversy blow over?
3. Is the best counter a rebuttal or a redirection?

The answers to those questions will determine whether the best course of action is to release additional statements, pitch the CEO to be on television or opt for silence to avoid adding additional fuel to an otherwise dying fire.

Make some friends
There is power in numbers. Creating a network of key stakeholders, like employees, customers and community leaders, is crucial in times of crisis. This alliance of third-party validators, which sometimes includes a bevy of strange bedfellows, can be a buffer against political hostility. Building this coalition and maintaining it will take time, treasure, and persistence. It starts by communicating regularly with them paying attention to their concerns and addressing their issues promptly. Taking these steps will foster goodwill, strengthen the company’s position in the community and ultimately defend it against political attacks.

Lastly, companies must be willing to engage in constructive dialogue with politicians, regardless of political differences. Taking a defensive stance invites unnecessary conflict and is at odds with the whole purpose of running a business, which is to make a good product that people want while turning a profit with the help of a well-trained team of employees. Ultimately, the ability to engage in meaningful discussions can turn potentially damaging situations into opportunities for business growth.

This isn’t rocket science, but it will take diligent work and potentially difficult internal conversations. Having a crisis communications plan, conducting risk assessments, building a strong network and engaging in constructive dialogue make it possible to handle political crossfire and come out stronger on the other side. A company’s ability to weather storms like these is more than just a strategic advantage, it’s a necessity for its long-term success.

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Joseph Abreu is the chief communications officer for the clerk of the court & comptroller of Lee County in Fort Myers, Fla., overseeing strategic communications, public affairs, media relations, emergency management, and reputation/brand management. He is also the PRSA’s 2024 Chair. Abreu has served for over 17 years in leadership roles with PRSA, including five years on the national board.

 Before his CCO role, he directed communication efforts for the clerk & comptrollers of St. Lucie and Palm Beach counties. He managed communications and development for Compass, a prominent LGBTQ community center.

Abreu has been recognized with awards like the PRSA Sunshine District’s Trailblazer Award and the PRSA Palm Beach Chapter’s Hall of Fame Award, Abreu’s campaigns have garnered over 40 national, state, and local accolades.

The thing I’m most excited about for the future of my profession is:

I’m excited about how new technologies, like artificial intelligence and augmented reality, will continue to impact the way public relations professionals work in the near future. These new tools will give us unique opportunities to work faster, produce more content, develop personalized messaging and engage audiences.

One thing that worries me about the future of my profession is:

As much as I embrace AI and other burgeoning technologies, I do worry about how they will amplify mis- and disinformation in our societies. We are already highly susceptible to misleading and false statements, but when it is made with authentic voices and videos, it will be even harder for people to discern between truth and lies. As public relations professionals, we will have to work together to combat unethical practices.

A tool or a piece of software I cannot live without is:

My iPhone. Like many PR professionals, I need to be accessible as well as be able to access the internet, email, and social media – right at my fingertips. I often use my phone to take notes, create videos, and manage all my finances.

The most underrated skill in my profession is:

Financial literacy. If you go into communications without a strong understanding of numbers, you will limit your growth. Communications executives must be comfortable with budgets, P&L statements and balance sheets. We also need to be able to measure our results against the bottom line and prove our value in the C-suite. 

One way I stay creative and motivated is:

Graphic design is a skill that can truly benefit communicators, and I have been proficient in many Adobe programs for nearly 20 years. It gives me a creative escape from everyday work, and the artistry allows me to recharge and better contribute to my team.

Someone who has helped me be successful in my career is:

 My husband. He has always been encouraging and supportive of my career and my passions in life, whether it be volunteering for PRSA for the past 18 years or moving across the state for a new career opportunity. He helps me stay positive in the toughest times, and I wouldn’t be where I am without him.

Isis Simpson-Mersha is a conference producer/ reporter for Ragan. Follow her on LinkedIn.

The post How I Got Here: PRSA’s 2024 Chair Joseph Abreu embraces innovation appeared first on PR Daily.

Time and again, research reminds us that Hispanic Americans are one of the most diverse groups in this country. While we discuss them demographically as one homogenous group, Hispanic people can identify as many races, be domestic or foreign-born, trace their origins to 20 different nations, and speak a variety of languages, including Spanish, English or the plethora of native languages spoken in Central and South America.

Read more: How Black Americans get news

By the same token, the way this group likes to get their news can vary widely, according to data from Pew Research. By understanding these patterns and preferences, PR professionals can better reach and influence this critical demographic.

English, Spanish or both?

One of the first questions a PR pro must answer is which language will best reach their target audience. A slight majority (51%) of all Hispanics prefer to get their news in English. Only 24% of people who identify as Hispanic prefer their news primarily in Spanish, while 23% have no linguistic preference.

However, the data grows more complicated as we dig a bit deeper.

Hispanic people born in the United States overwhelmingly (79%) prefer to get news in English. Since more than two-thirds of Hispanic Americans are native-born, this is significant. Only 3% of American-born Hispanics prefer to get their news in Spanish, while 17% are fine with either language.

To put it plainly, English (perhaps combined with some Spanish) is the most important language for reaching the largest chunk of the American Latino population.

These numbers shift when we look at Hispanic immigrants, but not as dramatically as you might expect. Twenty-two percent of immigrants prefer to get news in English, while 47% want Spanish instead. An additional 31% have no preference.

The bottom line is that being granular in your targeting and better understanding what segment of the Hispanic population you’re targeting will help you choose the most effective outlets to target, or what language to use in social media and other materials.

The most popular news sources

About half of all Hispanic adults get news from Latino-specific media at least sometimes, the survey found. Again, we see a significant split between immigrants and American-born people, with 69% of immigrants preferring Hispanic news sources versus just 33% of native-born. But it’s clear there is still utility in pitching outlets like Telemundo, Univision and others, especially if aiming for that immigrant population.

Most Latinos prefer to get their news from various digital sources. Twenty-one percent prefer social media; 19% go directly to news websites or apps; 18% use search; and 7% like podcasts. Twenty-three percent have a preference for TV, and just 4% each prefer print or radio.

But those are preferences. Most Hispanic people receive news from multiple sources, and their consumption broadly echoes that of Americans as a whole, with 87% getting news at least sometimes from digital sources; 62% from TV; 48% from radio; and 32% from print. So don’t be afraid to experiment with a broad range of new and old-school media to reach this audience. But perhaps veer a bit more toward digital sources overall.

Interest in news

One challenge to reaching Hispanics through media relations efforts is that many simply don’t follow the news. Just 22% say they follow the news closely all the time, a 6-point YOY decrease. Seventeen percent never follow the news at all. These numbers lag news interest in other ethnic groups, a disparity Pew Research attributes, at least in part, to age. Latinos tend to be younger than other demographics, and young people simply don’t follow the news as closely.

This might present opportunities for media relations with sources other than hard news outlets. Think influencers, podcasts, social media or more entertainment-focused news sources.

There are challenges to connecting with the Hispanic market in media relations, just as there are with any group. But with smart targeting, cultural awareness and creativity, it can always be done.

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

The post By the Numbers: A nuanced portrait of how Hispanic Americans get their news appeared first on PR Daily.

Maddie Knapp is a senior media relations strategist at Intero Digital Content & PR Division, formerly Influence & Co. 

AI in public relations isn’t just changing the game — it’s completely rewriting the rules. In 2024, AI’s imprint on PR will be profound, offering tools and techniques that are reshaping how we pitch topics, monitor media, and build relationships. A 2023 Muck Rack survey found that 61% of PR pros were already using AI or planned to explore it.

Now, understanding how to use AI in public relations isn’t about technology taking the wheel; it’s about us driving smarter, with AI as our supercharged GPS.

Custom GPTs: Tailoring pitches with AI precision

Custom GPTs in PR are like having a secret weapon in your arsenal. These AI-driven tools are designed to create content that fits your exact needs, illustrating how to use AI in PR. Let’s break down their impact across four key pitch types:

1. Expert pitches: Think of custom GPTs as your expert whisperer, crafting pitches that sound like they’ve come straight from the horse’s mouth. AI can analyze the latest trends, reports and expert articles, ensuring your pitch reflects current industry insights. It can even mimic the tone and style of industry leaders.

Imagine you’re preparing a pitch about sustainable energy. While you might not be the top expert in this field, you can still create an impactful and authoritative pitch. Start by gathering a diverse range of recent articles from reputable publications on sustainable energy. This collection should include various formats like opinion pieces, news reports, and interviews. Use ChatGPT to analyze these articles, focusing on their language, style, recurring themes, keywords and overall tone. The goal here is to understand how sustainable energy topics are typically presented and discussed in your target industry.

Then, train a custom GPT model using these insights. This model will learn to replicate the writing style, thematic focus and tone observed in your research. By doing so, your custom GPT can generate pitch drafts that resonate with the style and substance of existing industry content. Your pitches will be more aligned with industry standards and targeted to your audience. This strategy enhances your efficiency, allowing you to focus on refining and personalizing your pitch rather than starting from scratch.

2. Data-driven stories: AI’s ability to process and analyze large datasets is unparalleled, helping to identify compelling patterns and trends and turning them into narratives that are both informative and captivating. These stories can be used to back up claims with hard data, making your pitches more credible and authoritative.

And by analyzing a journalist’s past work and preferences, AI can tailor pitches that resonate on a personal level. It moves beyond throwing darts in the dark to using a guided missile that hits the bullseye of relevance and engagement. Personalized pitches cut through the noise, increasing the likelihood of your story being picked up.

Let’s say you are leading a supply chain company’s PR. To make an impact, start by gathering all kinds of related data. You want the nitty-gritty on how global supply chain hiccups are playing out, how the company is excelling in logistics, and what customers are saying. Next, use AI to sift through the data and unearth nuggets that prove that the company is outperforming the chaos better than the competition. With these insights, craft a pitch that’ll make a big splash, showing off stats and numbers that back up your claims. This approach does more than tell people that the company is top-notch; it shows them.

3. Announcements:Need to make a quick announcement? AI’s efficiency ensures your news hits the mark, fast. Whether it’s a corporate update, an important event, or a crisis response, AI can quickly digest the necessary information and produce clear, concise and impactful announcements.

Imagine you’re the PR strategist for a tech company that is about to announce a huge partnership with another organization that will optimize technical systems. The main goal is to spread the word in a way that is catchy, fun and gets everyone buzzing. Use AI to take a deep dive into the latest market trends, competitor news and past successful announcements. Next, give AI all the exciting details about the partnership so it can craft an engaging announcement that nails all the key points while keeping it on-brand.

AI can take the messaging one step further. You know the message needs to hit different notes for different folks. AI can help you spin your message a few ways — more in-depth for the technology crowd and more formal for the business audience. The message ends up sharp, adaptable and in sync with your target audiences.

4. Influencer collaborations: The best part about using custom GPTs is that the more information and feedback you give them, the better they perform and the more personalized they become. And personalization is where AI really flexes its muscles. A custom GPT adapts to different influencer styles, making sure your brand message harmonizes with their content, style and audience engagement. This ensures that your message is not only consistent with your brand, but also resonates with the influencer’s followers.

Let’s say you are a PR professional working for a healthcare company that just released a wellness app. The goal is to drive consumer interest through the influencer market. After identifying a diverse group of influencers, AI can analyze the content and engagement style of each influencer, understanding what kind of messages resonate best for their followers. Using GPT insights, you can craft customized content for each influencer’s style and the specific media platform. As the campaign evolves, GPT monitors performance and suggests adjustments to maintain relevance. The approach ensures the wellness app’s message resonates with diverse audiences and enhances engagement across platforms.

Incorporating AI and PR strategies means striking a balance between automated efficiency and human ingenuity. AI can assist in heavy lifting, allowing us to focus on strategic aspects. This year, let’s harness AI to make our content more efficient, impactful, emotionally resonant, and ethically sound. That’s a narrative we can all get behind.

The post How to use custom GPTs in your public relations practice appeared first on PR Daily.

Muck Rack’s annual State of Journalism report is a must-read for any By the Numbers fan. It’s chock full of useful data on how journalists work, the state of their industry, their views on AI and much more.

But let’s be real. You’re mostly curious about the section on pitching and why you aren’t getting any darn responses.

The problem with pitching

Here’s the good news: Journalists value PR pros. The survey, which received responses from more than 1,100 journalists, primarily from the U.S., found that 70% believe that journalists are at least somewhat important to their work. After all, PR pros can help reveal interesting trends, connect reporters to experts, offer viral promotions and more.

But that doesn’t mean pitches are always helpful. In fact, 49% of respondents said they seldom or never respond to pitches. Twenty-four percent said they respond about half the time, 18% usually do and 8% always do.

Cheers to the 8%.

And it certainly isn’t due to lack of pitches that journalists aren’t responding. Forty-nine percent of respondents said they get at least six pitches per day, with 12% contending with a whopping 21 or more pitches every day. Perhaps those who are combatting 100 or more pitches on a weekly basis can be forgiven for not always giving a response.

But by far and away, the biggest reason journalists don’t respond to pitches is that they simply aren’t relevant to their coverage area. Seventy-nine percent cited lack of relevance as the top reason they’ll deny a pitch, which reveals a serious problem with targeting in the PR industry.

“Spray and pray” is not an effective pitching method. If you’re still reporting how many pitches you’re distributing, you’re measuring the wrong thing. Better to distribute a handful of pitches to vetted journalists rather than risk becoming one of these forgotten, mis-targeted attempts cluttering an inbox forever.

So, what does make for a good pitch besides smart targeting?

There isn’t an easy formula for this. The vast majority (83%) do prefer to be pitched 1-1 via email rather than in a mass barrage or via phone. But beyond that, there’s little consensus for a day of the week (64% say they have no preference) or time of day (44% say before noon, but that leaves plenty who prefer a time after noon). There is a preference for shorter — 65% prefer pitches that are less than 200 words. And a slim majority (51%) say you should only follow up once, preferably within 3-5 days.

Beyond that, you’ll likely want to focus on building a relationship and just ask your identified reporters when and how they want to be pitched. Every journalist is a unique human being with their own personal preferences and job requirements. The best thing to do is simply to ask — and to be empathetic.

Because journalists are dealing with a lot.

A journalist’s life in 2024

Everyone is busy. Let’s get that out of the way. But journalists are becoming even more intensely worked as their numbers dwindle while the pile of news to be reported on seems to grow ever larger.

Muck Rack’s survey found that 36% of journalists have dealt with layoffs or other downsizing at their organization in the last year. Sixty-four percent work more than 40 hours a week, and 79% report working outside the standard 9-5 hours. Many (46%) do all this for less than $70,000 per year.

They’re also turning in a great deal of work, though the exact volume of the stories they produce can vary widely. Thirty-six percent produce a reasonable five stories or less per week, but 22% are responsible for 11 or more, a massive workload. Add that on top of their bulging inboxes and it all makes for a difficult, stressful career.

Read the full Muck Rack report here.

To further hone your pitching, join us for PR Daily’s Media Relations Conference in Washington, DC June 5-6.

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on X or LinkedIn.

The post By the Numbers: What journalists really think of your pitches appeared first on PR Daily.

Beki Winchel is senior director of content & engagement at Spiro.

This year, it seems AI is all that any marketer can talk about.

The trending technology has become more accessible than ever, forcing brands to get on board—or get left behind.

As both excitement and fear over AI continue to swirl, IBM’s Program Director, Executive Programs & Event Experiences Erin McElroy, and Spiro’s Global Chief Marketing Officer Carley Faircloth uncovered opportunities for savvy brand marketers to use AI to strengthen relationships with their key audiences.

Here’s what you can glean from their conversation at Brand Innovators’ Leadership in Brand Marketing Summit at SXSW:

Using AI to evoke empathy

When you move past consuming to creating, real brand impact can happen.

“You can always tell when you’re watching a marketing campaign that’s really just trying to sell you and then you can tell when you really feel something — when you’re really moved,” McElroy said. “To truly get the value out of AI, we need to continue like we have with other technologies to be creators… We don’t want to be consumers; we want to be creators of AI.”

In a digital brand experience, IMB’s watsonx Assistant team used the company’s AI to simulate what it’s like to be a call center agent — which can be a frustrating experience for both the agent and the customer.

Using gameification, The Contact Center Challenge, placed users in the role of the customer service assistant. For the average participant, it took roughly 45 seconds for frustration to mount over the volume of requests coming at them.

That’s when the watsonx Assistant stepped in, automating some tasks with complex look-ups, natural language and self-serve answers. At the game’s end, participants were shown how they did without the AI, how much the assistant helped when they began drowning in requests, and how much easier it would have been to use AI from the beginning.

A recent McKinsey & Company report revealed that Gen AI can boost productivity in customer care functions by 30% to 40%. But it’s not just a benefit for the company: Gen AI increased issue resolution by 14% an hour and reduced handle time by 9%.

The research shows that automating tasks that don’t require the human touch enables contact center and customer service agents to focus on understanding customers and what they need.

Yet, the numbers don’t give you the feeling of mounting stress as you struggle to handle calls —or the sigh of relief when the tech streamlined tasks. IBM’s experience did. And that more powerfully cemented into B2B customers’ minds and hearts that AI can help customer service agents better focus on and delight customers.

McElroy shared that a COO from a large retail brand went through the experience, commenting that they didn’t understand the value with previous sales pitches of the technology. But after completing the game? “Now I get it,” the leader told McElroy.

“That just meant a lot to me in terms of the power of our experiences,” said McElroy. “We really have an opportunity as experiential marketers to help people understand what’s going on…people remember that, more than a great pitch.”

Experientializing tech to cultivate emotion and relationships

“Whenever we get a brief around a particular novel technology, the challenge for us on [the agency side] is really experientializing that technology in a way that will break through,” said Faircloth. “At the end of the day, it’s about the experience.”

McElroy agreed, adding that it comes down to what you as a brand marketer are trying to accomplish and how it meets your business goals.

“We become more effective marketers and more effective businesspeople when we step back and look at what is truly going to bring value — not just sell, promote or perform,” McElroy said. “The things that perform the best are the things have heart and have that authenticity built into it.”

Faircloth pointed out that it’s all about intention when it comes to the authenticity in your approach.

“It really is about knowing the audience,” Faircloth said. “It’s something we as marketers all strive for and talk about. We do a lot of work understanding the psychographics and demographics—all the things that play into it. We all have to tap into the mind of our consumer.”

McElroy said that understanding your audience is a crucial fundamental for effective AI efforts.

“What is the why behind what you’re doing?” she asked. “When you inform your strategy that way, then the tools start to work for you.”

Moving from AI experimentation to practical brand application

There’s another crucial element to using AI effectively in brand experiences and marketing campaigns: Integration across your organization.

“Surrounding AI, there’s a lot of talk a lot about benefits, risks, data and the whole “garbage in/garbage aspect,” Faircloth said. “What we don’t hear a lot about is organizational preparedness — from experimental, to competent, to adoption, to integration.”

That is often a sticking point, turning the tech from a flash in the pan to a consistent strategy and way of working adopted throughout the organization. How can you move forward on the path of AI integration, regardless of the industry you’re in?

McElroy says it all comes down to being intentional with your strategy and understanding what kind of data you want to capture.

“I think a best practice, no matter what platform you use, is one that will let you own your data because it becomes your intellectual property,” Erin said.

She continued: “This allows you to be a value creator with AI, because you’re taking your own enterprise data and putting it together with the data your [AI] platform offers to create something new.”

It’s important to point out that though data is paramount, it won’t replace marketers actively tuning into and understanding audience behavior shifts.

“That to me is the winning proposition,” McElroy said. “When you’re listening, you end up with a good result.”

The post How IBM unlocks the heart of AI through brand experiences appeared first on PR Daily.

President Joe Biden addressed a joint session of Congress Thursday night with the pomp and circumstance the rare occasion calls for. But it was also filled with feisty jabs, deviations from scripted remarks and plenty of politics.

Still, will it ultimately change the way anyone views Biden — or how they’ll vote in November?

In this special dedicated edition of The Scoop, we’ll dive into the speech, the Republican responses and what it all means for public perception.

The speech itself

The media referred to Biden’s speech as “fiery,” “strikingly political” and “defiant.” Conservative mainstay Fox News called it “sharply partisan.” Donald Trump was mentioned 13 times but never named in the speech, called only “my predecessor.”

“Contrast, contrast, contrast. That was nearly the whole ballgame for Biden’s SOTU address last night,” according to Politico’s Playbook.

All throughout, Biden drew comparison to himself as compassionate, American, pro-democracy and Trump as the opposite. He hammered on the Jan. 6 insurrection, reproductive rights and immigration in particular.

“We must be honest,” Biden said. “The threat to democracy must be defended. My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth about Jan. 6.

I will not do that.”

Economics were a mainstay of the speech, with Biden touting strong jobs numbers in particular, but as the New York Times pointed out, he abandoned what had been a signature term: Bidenomics.

The president was all-in on calling for support for Ukraine, but more measured in his remarks on the Israel-Hamas war. He reaffirmed the nation’s right to defend itself against Hamas terrorists, but also struck a stronger tone with the Israeli government, calling on them to do more to protect civilians and not use aid as a “bargaining chip.” His comments come amid growing anger from his own party over continued support of Israel as the civilian death toll mounts in Palestine.

Fact checks of the speech were overall mild, mostly quibbling over interpretations of various economic data rather than calling out whoppers. It’s standard political fare.

But perhaps most strikingly, Biden struck an optimistic tone. A vision of an America that was healing and growing.

“We are the United States of America!” he cried to end the speech. “And there is nothing, nothing beyond our capacity when we act together.”

The Republican response

The Republican response, both in the chamber and across the country, painted a different vision of America.

Outspoken presidential detractor Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene again interrupted the speech, bringing attention to the murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley, allegedly by a Venezuelan migrant. Biden stopped the speech to respond.

“An innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal. That’s right,” Biden said, going on to point on that many murders are also committed by “legals.”

In doing so, he showed a feisty willingness to respond — but stepped into a controversy in his own party. The New York Times reported that a number of Democratic lawmakers and immigrant advocacy groups were angered by his use of the term “illegal,” which they feel is dehumanizing to migrants. Again, one of the bigger issues Biden faces in November is not just opposition from Republicans — it’s from the liberal wing of his own party.

After Biden’s speech, Alabama Senator Katie Britt gave the Republican response, delivered from her Birmingham kitchen table. She called the current American dream “a nightmare,” referred to Biden as “dithering and diminished” and painted Republicans as the party of families, reaffirming support for IVF even as her own state called it into question.

It was a pointed speech and choosing a 42-year-old mother was no accident, drawing (here’s that word again) a sharp contrast with the 81-year-old Biden.

The national response

The good news for Biden is that more than 60% of viewers who watched the State of the Union had a positive impression of his remarks, according to an overnight CNN poll. The bad news is that last year 72% of viewers responded positively.

That’s a big dip any year, but especially in an election year.

The difference came largely from Republicans, who moved from roughly 60% disapproval last year to about 75% this year, CNN reported.

Before the speech, polling found that 25% of respondents had a lot of confidence in Biden’s ability to carry out the duties of president; after, it was 31%, showing his speech did, indeed, move the needle. In good news for the president, much of that positive change was attributed to the independents who he’ll need to win in November.

Politico’s Playbook reported that after the speech, Biden had the best two fundraising hours of this election so far.

Why it matters

Biden did what he needed to do: he delivered a speech that made it clear who he was, who his opposition was and the differing visions of America. But will that be enough in today’s contentious, fractured environment? Viewership numbers for the speech haven’t been released, but last year, it was just 27.3 million — a drop in the bucket compared to the wider electorate.

The speech shows some positive momentum for Biden, but ultimately, it’s a long way to November. The overall state of the country, his jousting with Trump and lurking unknowns will ultimately matter more than one night’s speech.

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on X or LinkedIn.

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A Morning Consult poll found that trust in several specific, large-scale media outlets are beginning to rebound from the lowest depth of 2020’s crisis of confidence.

To be clear, it isn’t a massive surge in trust. Fifty-five percent of American adults reported at least some level of trust in these media outlets:

• ABC News
• CBS News
• NBC News
• CNN
• Fox News
• CNBC
• The New York Times
• The Wall Street Journal
• NPR

That’s an increase of 4 points from its 2020 low of 51%. But what’s most interesting here is that Republicans, traditionally the most skeptical political party toward mainstream media, is beginning to regain some level of trust — and not just in Fox News.

Republican trust in these outlets still lags the overall population at 46% trust (comparatively, 69% of Democrats have at least some trust in these outlets). But each network has seen some growth in trust since the chaos of 2020, where mistrust in media became a campaign talking point — all save one.

Democrats have seen their trust in Fox News increase since 2020, likely in part due to actions including correctly calling the election for Joe Biden, increased fact-checking of Donald Trump and more. But likely for those same reasons, Fox News has not seen a rebound among Republican viewers. Granted, its credibility with those on the right still far, far outranks any other network — but it hasn’t yet reached the heady highs of the core Trump years. Similarly, Fox News is the most mistrusted network among Democrats, and ranks third lowest among all Americans, behind MSNBC and NPR.

The most trusted news sources among all Americans are the broadcast television networks, with ABC claiming the edge, followed closely by CBS and then NBC. The two newspapers polled for, the Times and the Journal, just edged out CNN in the trust department.

What it means for PR pros

Any time there’s increased trust in the media, it’s good for public relations practitioners. It makes it that much easier to get the right messages in front of an audience more inclined to believe those messengers.

But trust is still low, especially with Republicans. That means if you’re trying to reach an audience that skews white, older and Christian, you may have more limited options for trusted media. Fox News is still a safe bet, and you can find some success among network news, but outside that, it could be harder to establish trust.

While network news is most trusted across the board, it also presents meager opportunities for pitching, with fewer hours to fill than cable news. So, no practitioner can put all their eggs in that basket.

It’s also important to note that this survey is only looking at some of the top-line, biggest outlets in the country. Other surveys reveal that Americans of all parties generally have higher trust in general in local news, making that a viable option for communicating via trusted journalists. This presents other challenges as local news continues to wither in the face of scorching economic and industry headwinds. But where local TV and papers continue to thrive, it’s a worthwhile trust-building tool.

As we move into what’s certain to be one of the most divisive elections in American history, the media you choose to help tell stories will reflect on your organization. Consider your audience, their trust and your needs. Then, pitch with tact and care.

Good luck.

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on X or LinkedIn.

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Thought leadership content is more trusted by decision makers than marketing materials or product sheets, according to new data from research conducted by Edelman and LinkedIn. A huge 75% of decision-makers, including members of the C-suite, say that thought leadership has prompted them to research products or services they had not previously considered, according to the data presented in “Reaching Beyond the Ready: Thought Leadership’s Impact on Engaging Out-of-Market B2B Buyers.”

But perhaps most surprising is that thought leadership is critical not only to attracting and retaining new customers, but also to helping competitors steal one another’s existing business.

The survey found that 70% of C-suite executives said that thought leadership had led them to reconsider their current vendor relationship. About half (54%) said thought leadership made them realize other vendors might better understand their challenges and needs.

“Particularly for companies that are involved in pretty high-value — high-monetary-value relationships in complex industries, customers really need to be reassured that they are getting state-of-the art in terms of thinking, in terms of capabilities,” Joe Kingsbury, global chair of Edelman Business Marketing, told PR Daily in an interview. “The companies that generally fit that scenario really need to be reminding their customers consistently that we are the kind of company that can keep you ahead of the curve and help you anticipate challenges and can help you solve some of your most complex problems.”

In addition to helping steal customers from other organizations or keep those you have close, Kingsbury said Edelman’s customers find that thought leadership can help them cross-sell or upsell existing customers, particularly for lesser-known offerings.

What makes great thought leadership?

We’ve all seen tepid, lukewarm takes masquerading as thought leadership. Those aren’t going to move the needle.

What does, according to the survey, is data, showing understanding of challenges and concrete case studies.

“There really needs to be some kind of rigor and analysis,” Kingsbury explained. “That doesn’t mean that there’s not room for opinion — absolutely, there is room for provocative opinion — ut also that it’s on a foundation of some interesting data.”

Who delivers the thought leadership matters too, but not in the way you might think. Sixty-two percent of respondents said high-quality thought leadership is produced by a prominent or high-quality expert. But that doesn’t necessarily mean your CEO, Kingsbury cautioned.

“That’s one that I think has been really interesting for our clients, because a lot of times companies will default to, ‘hey, this should be the CEO.’ But really, what they should be thinking is ‘well, for this particular topic, who would actually be viewed as the most credible expert?’”

That may be the CEO or it could be someone else. It’s the credibility that matters more than the title.

The eternal problem of measurement

The people and organizations who create thought leadership do so to increase positive sentiment among potential clients (55%), get leads to reach out for more information (48%) and get potential clients to consider their services (40%).

But as in so many areas of PR, measurement remains a constant struggle in thought leadership. A full 20% of survey respondents said they had no systems in place for measuring the efficacy of thought leadership, and 42% measure that effectiveness purely through looking at website and social media traffic.

Fewer than one in three respondents (29%) say they can trace sales back to specific thought leadership pieces.

Kingsbury attributes this lack of measurement to the complexities and multitude of factors that go into closing a big B2B deal. But not understanding the efficacy of thought leadership can cause a destructive feedback loop in the long run.

“The bottom line is, when companies and B2B marketers don’t have the ability to link their thought leadership and their content publishing back to some kind of business impact, it creates this sort of negative cycle, because they don’t have an ROI story,” Kingsbury explained. “And then as a result, they have a difficult time getting the resources that they need; they have a difficult time getting internal engagement with senior subject matter experts and others. And that typically is going to lead to low-quality content. The low-quality content doesn’t do a good job actually having an effect on your potential customers. And then the cycle just repeats itself.”

Indeed, this is borne out in the data: While 86% of decision-makers say they’re “somewhat” or “very” likely to invite creators of consistent, quality thought leadership to participate in RFPs, only 38% of the people who create that content expect the same result.

“B2B marketing leaders really need to figure out for their own company,” Kingsbury said. “How does thought leadership content contribute to getting customers into the pipeline, and then progressing them through so that they can actually explain the value of doing it?”

Read the full report here.

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

The post By the Numbers: This is the impact thought leadership has on prospects — and current customers appeared first on PR Daily.

Black people are underrepresented in the PR industry. While they make up 13.6% of the U.S. population, Black people comprise just 9% of those working in entry-level PR specialist roles. Only 3% of those working in those roles are Black men, according to data provided by Chuck Wallington, executive vice president and chief marketing & communications officer at Cone Health. Those numbers significantly decrease as you move higher in an organization, becoming whiter with each additional rung of the career ladder.

“In just about every organization I’ve worked for, I’ve gone through the doors; I’ve been very, very happy to be there,” Wallington said during The Museum of PR’s recent “Celebrating Black PR History 2024: Where Are All the Black Men in Public Relations?” “And I’ve looked around, and maybe there was one other person who looked like me, that was most likely a black female, but there were very, very, very few black men in the field.”

That lack of representation matters.

“Public relations is defined by bringing the best ideas to the table. And if those ideas are not represented in this fullest, diverse sense as possible, then we’re not bringing the fullest ideas to the table,” said panelist David W. Brown, assistant dean of community and communication at Temple University.

But why are Black men such a rarity in the PR field?

While conducting research for his master’s degree, Wallington identified three key factors that reduce the number of Black men entering the field. During of The Museum of PR’s presentation, Wallington and a panel of Black, male PR practitioners talked through these issues and how it’s impacted their own careers.

1. High school students don’t understand – or even know about — the profession.

You can’t enter a field if you don’t even know what it is. That’s one simple barrier to entry that begins before college applications even begin. “Before you even get to college, young men just don’t have an understanding of what the profession is at all about,” Wallington said. “And as you know, without that early awareness, folks are just not going to be successful when they go into the field, it’s hard to attract people into the field. And when they get there, they tend to flounder around.”

That lack of awareness resonated with Brown. He initially wanted to be a journalist, but discovered during his studies there was another option.

“I heard about this thing called PR, and they say they make more money out of it, I was like ‘oh! Well, I’ll pursue that.’ But not even knowing that was a path.”

2. A lack of mentors.

The next barrier becomes a self-perpetuating cycle. Because Black men have so few role models who look like them in the industry, it can be hard to see themselves there. It can also be hard to understand how to thrive in an environment where most people look and act differently from you without a guide.

“There’s a shortage of colleagues, especially Black men, who can be mentors, who can be sponsors, who can be role models, who can be allies,” Wallington said. “What when this happens, Black men feel alone, they feel isolated, there’s no one else there who can relate to them in their experiences and their journeys.”

While Black men who can serve as mentors may be rare in the industry, they aren’t the only ones who can help lift up this demographic and help them thrive in their careers. That’s where allyship comes into play.

“Mentorship need not be a singular role,” Brown said. “Many people can mentor. I often tell folks who are coming up, get yourself a board of advisors, because different people can play different roles that can help you. Some can be advocates, some can be allies, some can be the crying board, because sometimes we just need to yell and cuss at the moon, that’s OK. Because sometimes you need to find those spaces. And if those spaces don’t exist, you have to create those spaces.”

3. Black men can be perceived as intimidating.

Whether conscious or not, racism does play a role in the obstacles that can prevent a Black man from thriving in the PR industry.

Research shows that Americans consider Black men to be more threatening than other people, even if they are the same size. This can have grave implications on everything from how police interact with Black men to how they must learn to navigate in the white and often female-dominated public relations industry.

“I have been in spaces where someone would say that because of my voice, I’m intimidating,” Brown said. “Or that if I’m trying to make a point, that I’m being forceful. Adjectives that are just kind of loaded…if it’s somewhere else, they might be viewed as being assertive.”

But while these perceptions can be difficult to deal with, the men on the panel stressed that their identity is not a liability.

“Our black maleness is a superpower, that duality is a superpower,” Brown said. The key is knowing when to wear that superhero cape and when to don a suit jacket to succeed in the world of PR.

Watch the full panel below.

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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Gen Z adults are big believers in themselves. Specifically, 67% believe it’s very (25%) or somewhat (42%) important to have a strong personal brand, according to new research from Morning Consult. Those percentages far outstrip even their generational neighbor Millennials (51%) and U.S. adults as a whole (a mere 40%).  

Morning Consult attributes this spike in self-branding to Gen Z’s love of influencers and their use of creator-driven apps as entertainment: When you see other people building a brand, you’re more likely to see the value in building one for yourself, even if you’re not streaming for millions of fans. But there’s also a darker potential reason for the emphasis on personal branding. As Morning Consult Brand Analyst Ellen Briggs writes: “Their coming of working age happened amid waves of mass layoffs and broader economic uncertainty. Under these circumstances, being a known entity with a public portfolio of work safeguards against job insecurity and serves as a calling card to attract better opportunities.” 

Where and how Gen Z builds their brands 

Unsurprisingly given Gen Z’s love of video content, they vastly prefer to show off their personality and expertise with visual content over written. Sixty-six percent of the generation prefer to build their brand with video versus just 27% who favor written.  

We also see this play out in the social networks Gen Zers use to foster their image.   

For Gen Z, Instagram reigns supreme by a wide margin. Its ability to combine still images, videos and text captions offer a wide range of creative options. Next comes YouTube, nearly tied with TikTok — again, very video centric. 

But then look at what comes in fourth place for Gen Z: Good old Facebook. It seems news of its demise has been greatly exaggerated. The platform still offers a huge audience, tons of posting options and easy integration with Gen Z favorite Instagram. And after all, it’s clearly where Millennials are still hanging out — 63% of the older group turn to Facebook for their brand-building needs. 

Just as notable are which platforms Gen Z tends to shy away from. X sees relatively little use, ranking just above Pinterest and personal blogs, while professionally focused LinkedIn is used by only one-in-five members of Gen Z working to build their brands. 

So what can we glean from this? Gen Zers are gravitating toward more lifestyle-focused networks rather than hard business, like LinkedIn. Part of this could be attributable to age— while the survey only spoke to adult members of Gen Z, many may be in college or else entering trades that don’t benefit from the buttoned-up social platform. Or they could be embracing a brand that spans both personal and professional rather than pigeonholing it into one side.  

What companies should know 

Gen Z’s emphasis on personal branding presents a number of opportunities — and a few challenges — for corporate brands. 

First, this proliferation of people building brands means an army of microinfluencers who might be strong partners with targeted, dedicated audiences. When everyone is carving out a unique niche, that allows for better targeting from people who have already put in the work to build an audience you want, often for reasonable rates.  

It also offers a vivid window into the lives of hordes of people and what matters to them. By seeing how they choose to brand themselves, brands can better understand what values matter to their audiences writ large. How do they present themselves? What products do they already have an affinity for? What values do they espouse? By consuming this content, communicators can learn to build better content that resonates. 

Finally, it does present a challenge for employers. While these may be personal brands, their behavior will still reflect on their employer — for better or worse. You might have a worker who gets famous and becomes a brand advocate for you — or one who behaves badly and becomes a liability. Either way, it’s worth keeping an eye on these accounts and creating policies about how employees navigate their relationships with their employers and content partners, just to ensure your own brand is protected. 

How do you build your personal brand? 

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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The traditional role of a PR professional is to secure earned media for our clients, usually through news outlets. But knowing our target audiences, as well as where they get their news, is a vital part of the role. This isn’t a one-size-fits all proposition. 

Perhaps no demographic group in the United States has as complex a relationship with the news media as Black Americans. For centuries, the media – like most institutions in the country – has maligned, misinterpreted or ignored the Black community. This has instilled a deep sense of mistrust of the traditional media among many Black people, which continues to have repercussions to this day. 

Pew Research has shed light on some of the ways Black people interact with the news media which is vital information for any PR professional seeking to connect with this demographic.  

Keep in mind as you read this that these are only preferences. Black Americans are not a monolith: they range from African Americans who have lived in this country for hundreds of years to new immigrants; they live in big cities and deeply rural areas; and they cut across every economic group. This data is a starting point to be used to drill down to your specific audience segment. 

A preference for TV and social media news 

More Black Americans than any other group (38%) prefer to get their news from television sources at least some of the time, and 76% get their news from TV at least some of the time. That last figure is 14 points higher than white and Hispanic audiences and a full 24 points over Asian audiences, according to Pew Research.  

This demographic also enjoys getting news from social media, most notably YouTube (41%), Facebook (36%), Instagram (27%) and TikTok (22%), which they use to consume news at higher rates than other groups. 

This isn’t to say that they aren’t also receiving news via print, radio and websites, merely that the group as a whole has a preference for getting their news from visual and virtual sources – which could make your targeting easier.  

A mistrust in how Black people are covered 

Sixty-three percent of Black people surveyed by Pew said they feel the coverage of Black Americans is often more negative than coverage of other groups. Trust is a fragile thing, and according to Pew’s research, there is no form of news media in the United States is very trusted by a majority of Black people. Local news outlets were at the highest level of trust, with 48% of Black people placing a great deal or a fair amount of trust in these news sources. National media saw trust levels at 44%. 

Black media, with its roots reaching back to times when Black people were denied a voice in the press, is also still a present, vital voice today. Twenty-four percent of Black Americans turn to these news sources often or extremely often, while 40% do sometimes. This offers a unique opportunity to speak directly and solely to the Black community, and should be considered by PR practitioners. 

The role of newsrooms 

Black people are sorely underrepresented in newsrooms. Even today, only 6% of journalists who report the news are Black, even though 13.6% of the country identifies as Black. And identity matters to the Black community: 68% of respondents said it’s extremely, very or somewhat important that news about race and racial equity should come from Black reporters.  

As a PR professional, finding the right reporter to help tell the story is a key part of any placement. But that can be easier said than done when it comes to finding Black reporters to help share stories. 

Looking at all of these numbers, PR pros seeking to reach the Black community should consider finding a Black reporter who works for a local TV station or Black media outlet. This combination might earn the most trust and buy-in from this audience.  

In the end, it all comes down to listening, understanding their concerns of the demographic and matching the right media outlet and personality to the right story. 

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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Ai continues hurtling forward, bringing with it new promise and new peril. From threats to the world’s elections to hope for new kinds of jobs, let’s see how this technology is impacting the role of communicators this week.

Risks

2024 is likely the biggest election year in the history of the world. Nearly half the planet’s inhabitants will head to the polls this year, a major milestone. But that massive wave of humanity casting ballots comes at the precise moment that AI deepfakes are altering the information landscape, likely forever.

In both India and Indonesia, AI is digitally resurrecting long-dead politicians to weigh in on current elections. A likeness of M Karunanidhi (date of death: 2018), former leader of India’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party, delivered an 8-minute speech endorsing current party leaders. Indonesian general, president and strongman Suharto (date of death: 2008) appeared in a social media video touting the benefits of the Golkar party.

Neither video is intended to fool anyone into thinking these men are still alive. Rather, they’re using the cache and popularity of these deceased leaders to drum up votes for the elections of today. While these deepfakes may not be overtly deceptive, they’re still putting words these men never spoke into their virtual mouths. It’s an unsettling prospect and one that could pay big dividends in elections. There’s no data to know how successful the strategy might be – but we’ll have it soon, for better or worse.

Major tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, Meta, OpenAI, Adobe and TikTok all intend to sign an “accord” that would hopefully help identify and label AI deepfake amid these vital elections, the Washington Post reported. It stops short of banning such content, however, merely committing to more transparency around what’s real and what’s AI.

“The intentional and undisclosed generation and distribution of deceptive AI election content can deceive the public in ways that jeopardize the integrity of electoral processes,” the accord says.

But while the intentions may be good, the technology isn’t there yet. Meta has committed to labeling AI imagery created with any generative tool, not just its own, but they’re still developing the tools. Will transparency catch up in time to act as a safeguard to this year’s many elections? 

Indeed, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admits that it’s not the threat of artificial intelligence spawning killer robots that keep him up at night – it’s how everyday people might use these tools. 

“I’m much more interested in the very subtle societal misalignments where we just have these systems out in society and through no particular ill intention, things just go horribly wrong,” Altman said during a video call at the World Governments Summit.

One example could be this technology for tracking employee’s Slack messages. More than 3 million employees at some of the world’s biggest companies are already being observed by Aware AI software, designed to track internal sentiment and preserve chats for legal reasons, Business Insider reported. It can also track other problematic behaviors, such as bullying or sexual harassment.

The CEO of Aware says its tools aren’t intended to be used for decision-making or disciplinary purposes. Unsurprisingly, this promise is being met with skepticism by privacy experts.

“No company is essentially in a position to make any sweeping assurances about the privacy and security of LLMs and these kinds of systems,” said Amba Kak, executive director of the AI Now Institute at New York University.

That’s where we are right now: a state of good intentions for using  technology that is powerful enough to be dangerous, but not powerful enough to be fully trusted. 

Regulation, ethics and government oversight

The push for global AI regulation shows no signs of slowing, with notable developments including a Vatican friar leading an AI commission alongside Bill Gates and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Melonin to curb the influence of ChatGPT in Italian media, and NVIDIA CEO  Jensen Huang calling for each country to cultivate its own sovereign AI strategy and own the data it produces. 

“It codifies your culture, your society’s intelligence, your common sense, your history – you own your own data,” Huang told UAE’s Minister of AI Omar Al Olama earlier this week at the World Governments Summit in Dubai.

In the U.S., federal AI regulation took several steps forward last month when the White House followed up on its executive order announced last November with an update on key, coordinated actions being taken at the federal level. Since then, other federal agencies have followed suit, issuing new rules and precedents that promise to directly impact the communications field.

Last week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) officially banned AI-generated robocalls to curb concerns about election disinformation and voter fraud. 

According to the New York Times:

“It seems like something from the far-off future, but it is already here,” the F.C.C. chairwoman, Jessica Rosenworcel, said in a statement. “Bad actors are using A.I.-generated voices in unsolicited robocalls to extort vulnerable family members, imitate celebrities and misinform voters.”

Those concerns came to a head late last month, when thousands of voters received an unsolicited robocall from a faked voice of President Biden, instructing voters to abstain from voting in the first primary of the election season. The state attorney general office announced this week that it had opened a criminal investigation into a Texas-based company it believes is behind the robocall. The caller ID was falsified to make it seem as if the calls were coming from the former New Hampshire chairwoman of the Democratic Party.

This is a vital area for communicators to monitor, and to clearly and proactively send messages on how to spot scams and identify real calls and emails from your organization from the fake. Don’t wait until you’re being spoofed – communicate now. 

Closer to the communicator’s purview is another precedent expressed in recently published guidelines by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that states it will only grant its official legal protections to humans, citing Biden’s aforementioned Executive Order in claiming that “patents function to incentivize and reward human ingenuity.”

The guidance clarifies that, though inventions made using AI are not “categorically unpatentable,” the AI used to make them cannot be classified as the inventor from a legal standpoint. This requires at least one human to be named as the inventor for any given claim – opening their claim to ownership up for potential review if they have not created a significant portion of the work.

Organizations that want to copyright or patent work using GenAI would do well to codify their standards and documentation for explaining exactly how much of the work was created by humans. 

That may be why the PR Council recently updated its AI guidelines  “to include an overview of the current state of AI, common use cases across agencies and guidance on disclosure to clients, employee training and more.” 

The Council added that it created a cross-disciplinary team of experts in ethics, corporate reputation, digital, and DE&I to update the guidelines.

 The updates state:

• A continuum has emerged that delineates phases in AI’s evolution within firms highlights its implications for serving clients, supporting teams and advancing the public interest. 

• While AI use cases, especially among Creative teams, has expanded greatly, the outputs are not final, client-ready work due to copyright and trademark issues and the acknowledgment that human creativity is essential for producing unique, on-strategy outputs. 

• With AI being integrated into many existing tools and platforms, agency professionals should stay informed about new capabilities, challenges and biases. 

• Establishing clear policies regarding the use of generative AI, including transparency requirements, is an increasing need for agencies and clients. This applies to all vendors, including influencer or creator relationships. 

• Despite predictions that large language models will eliminate hallucinations within 18 months, proper sourcing and fact-checking remain crucial skills. 

• Experts continue to advise caution when inputting confidential client information, due to mistrust of promised security and confidentiality measures.  
• Given the persistent risk of bias, adhering to a checklist to identify and mitigate bias is critical. 

These recommendations function as a hyperlocal safeguard for risk and reputation that communicators can own and operationalize throughout the organization. 

Tools and Innovations

AI’s evolution continues to hurtle ahead at lightning speed. We’re even getting rebrands and name changes, as Google’s old-fashioned sounding Bard becomes the more sci-fi Gemini. The new name comes with a new mobile app to enable to AI on the go, along with Gemini Advanced, a $19.99/month service that uses Google’s “Ultra 1.0 model,” which the company says is more adept at complex, creative and collaborative tasks.

MIT researchers are also making progress on an odd issue with chatbots: their tendency to crash if you talk to them for too long. You can read the MIT article for the technical details, but here’s the bottom line for end users: “This could allow a chatbot to conduct long conversations throughout the workday without needing to be continually rebooted, enabling efficient AI assistants for tasks like copywriting, editing, or generating code.”

Microsoft, one of the leading companies in the AI arms race, has released three major trends it foresees for the year ahead. This likely adheres to its own release plans, but nonetheless, keep an eye on these developments over the next year:

• Small language models: The name is a bit misleading – these are still huge models with billions of data points. But they’re more compact than the more famous large language models, often able to be stored on a mobile phone, and feature a curated data set for specific tasks. 
• Multimodal AI: These models can understand inputs via text, video, images and audio, offering more options for the humans seeking help.
• AI in science: While many of us in comms use AI to generate text, conduct research or create images, scientists are using it to improve agriculture, fight cancer and save the environment. Microsoft predicts big improvements in this area moving forward. 

AI had a presence at this year’s Super Bowl, though not as pronounced as, say, crypto was in 2022. Still, Microsoft’s Copilot product got an ad, as did some of Google’s AI features, Adweek reported. AI also featured in non-tech brands like Avocados from Mexico (GuacAImole will help create guac recipes) and as a way to help Etsy shoppers find gifts.

But AI isn’t just being used as a marketing tool, it’s also being used to deliver ads to viewers. “Disney’s Magic Words” is a new spin on metadata. Advertisers on Disney+ or Hulu can tie their advertising not just to specific programs, but to specific scenes, Reuters reported. This will allow brands to tailor their ads to fit the mood or vibe of a precise moment. No more cutting away from an intense, dramatic scene to a silly, high-energy ad. This could help increase positive brand sentiment by more seamlessly integrating emotion into programmatic ad choices.

AI at work 

The question of whether or not AI will take away jobs has loomed large since ChatGPT came on the scene in late 2022. While there’s no shortage of studies, facts and figures analyzing this trend, recent reports suggest that the answer depends on where you sit in an organization.

A recent report in the Wall Street Journal points to recent layoffs at companies like Google, Duolingo and UPS as examples where roles were eliminated in favor of productivity automation strategies, and suggests that managers may find themselves particularly vulnerable.

The report reads:

“This wave [of technology] is a potential replacement or an enhancement for lots of critical-thinking, white-collar jobs,” said Andy Challenger, senior vice president of outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Since last May, companies have attributed more than 4,600 job cuts to AI, particularly in media and tech, according to Challenger’s count. The firm estimates the full tally of AI-related job cuts is likely higher, since many companies haven’t explicitly linked cuts to AI adoption in layoff announcements.

Meanwhile, the number of professionals who now use generative AI in their daily work lives has surged. A majority of more than 15,000 workers in fields ranging from financial services to marketing analytics and professional services said they were using the technology at least once a week in late 2023, a sharp jump from May, according to Oliver Wyman Forum, the research arm of management-consulting group Oliver Wyman, which conducted the survey.

It’s not all doom and gloom, however. “Job postings on LinkedIn that mention either AI or generative AI more than doubled worldwide between July 2021 and July 2023 — and on Upwork, AI job posts increased more than 1,000% in the second quarter of 2023, compared to the same period last year,” reports CNBC. 

Of course, as companies are still in an early and experimental phase with integrating AI into workflows, the jobs centered around them carry a high level of risk and uncertainty. 

That may be why efforts are afoot to educate those who want to work in this emerging field.

Earlier this week, Reuters reported that Google pledged €25 million to help Europeans learn how to work with AI. Google accompanied the announcement by opening applications for social organizations and nonprofits to help reach those who would benefit most from the training. The company also expanded its online AI training courses to include 18 languages and announced “growth academies” that it claims will help companies using AI scale their business.

“Research shows that the benefits of AI could exacerbate existing inequalities — especially in terms of economic security and employment,” Adrian Brown, executive director of the Centre for Public Impact nonprofit collaborating with Google on the initiative, told Reuters. 

“This new program will help people across Europe develop their knowledge, skills and confidence around AI, ensuring that no one is left behind.”

While it’s unclear what industries or age demographics this initiative will target, one thing’s certain: the next generation workforce is eager to embrace AI.

A 2024 trends rport from Handshake, a career website for college students, found that 64% of tech majors and 45% of non-tech majors graduating in 2024 plan to develop new skills that will allow them to use gen AI in their careers.

“Notably, students who are worried about the impact of generative AI on their careers are even more likely to plan on upskilling to adapt,” the report found.

These numbers suggest that there’s no use wasting time to fold AI education into your organization’s learning and development offerings. The best way to ease obsolescence concerns among your workforce is to integrate training into their career goals and development plans, standardize that training across all relevant functions and skill sets, then make it a core part of your employer brand.

What trends and news are you tracking in the AI space? What would you like to see covered in our biweekly AI roundups, which are 100% written by humans? Let us know in the comments!

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Justin Joffe is the editorial director and editor-in-chief at Ragan Communications. Before joining Ragan, Joffe worked as a freelance journalist and communications writer specializing in the arts and culture, media and technology, PR and ad tech beats. His writing has appeared in several publications including Vulture, Newsweek, Vice, Relix, Flaunt, and many more.

The post AI for communicators: What’s new and what’s next appeared first on PR Daily.

As a PR professional, one of the first things you learn to do is ensure that your copy is clean and free of any mistakes. Based on what just happened with Lyft, some individuals might need a refresher on that concept.

According to The Wall Street Journal, a press release stated that Lyft’s profits were projected to rise 500 basis points, or 5%, in 2024. The problem? The projection was only for a 50 basis point rise — someone accidentally added a zero, it seems.

The fallout was immediate. Lyft’s stock rose around 60% in the aftermath of the erroneous announcement, long before analysts and buyers had an opportunity to critically look at the numbers and what they meant. Even in after-hours trading and after some correction back to the mean, Lyft’s stock was still up 16% when the WSJ published its story.

A Lyft spokesperson chalked the issue up to a “clerical error”.

Quite the clerical error indeed.

Why it matters: Beyond the basics that accidentally adding a zero caused the company’s stock to go crazy, the PR implications of this mistake run pretty deep. It’s an embarrassing mistake for Lyft that could have been caught with even the simplest of line edits.

When you’re the outward-facing messaging arm of an organization (or the agency that handles those duties), you need airtight copy and an ironclad review process to ensure that mistakes of this magnitude simply don’t happen. People make mistakes, sure. There’s no denying that. However, having a review framework so that the impacts of human error don’t cascade down and impact the entire company in the public forum is imperative. Maybe with one more copy edit, someone would have caught the error and we wouldn’t be discussing this right now.

It’s much easier to do preventative reputation management than to clean up the mess left after the fact. Give that press release another look.

Editor’s Top Picks:

• The AI revolution continues to press on, but human beings can take solace in one thing — AI isn’t coming for their patents. According to a report from The Verge, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office stated that AI can help inventors in the ideation process, but it can’t be named an inventor on patent paperwork. In a world in which the line between AI creation and human creation is becoming increasingly blurred, this is notable. AI can help PR pros ideate and craft their messages, but it should be viewed as a helper, not a replacement. This ruling helps reinforce that idea.
• It’s been made fun of for looking boxy and aesthetically displeasing and for the long delays that plagued its production. But unfortunately for some who waited for their Tesla Cybertrucks, the issues aren’t ending. According to a report by Futurism, some Cybertruck customers are reporting that their metallic EVs are showing signs of rust already. “Just picked up my Cybertruck today,” a customer wrote, according to the Futurism report. “The advisor specifically mentioned the cybertrucks develop orange rust marks in the rain and that required the vehicle to be buffed out.” When people are paying premium prices, they should get a premium product, not a rusty shell of a car. While Tesla might remedy these issues and make them right in the long run, it’s yet another PR speedbump for the Cybertruck.
• Wendy’s is in the news for a new item on the menu — and it’s one made by another chain. Wendy’s revealed that it’s partnering up with shopping mall staple Cinnabon to add a sweet treat to the list of offerings starting later this month. The cinnamon roll-like baked good is Cinnabon’s latest collaboration with an outside fast food chain, on top of a past collaboration with Pizza Hut and a current one with Subway. These partnerships enable Cinnabon to expand its product presence and increase awareness away from Cinnabon locations. Sometimes when looking to create some waves, a partnership that can combine two (or overlapping) customer bases is just the thing that’s needed to create buzz and increase sales. These don’t just have to be in the dining industry either — partnerships can also unlock creative angles for publicity in many fields. For the record, the writer of this piece will give this new food item a try. For science.

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications. In his spare time he enjoys Philly sports, a good pint and ’90s trivia night.

The post The Scoop: Lyft’s typo causes stock chaos appeared first on PR Daily.

Whether it’s a child identifying with a Disney princess who shares their skin tone, a teen yearning to see themselves represented in their sports heroes or an employee seeing people like them in the highest echelons of leadership, stories are key to crafting DE&I narratives that inspire real action and change. 

Kimberly Henderson, digital workplace technology lead for Mars, shared practical tips for creating compelling narratives that foster a sense of belonging during Ragan’s recent Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Certificate Course.  

Building stories of inclusion 

While many of Henderson’s techniques focus specifically on internal communications, they can also work for externally focused campaigns. For instance, from her checklist on what stories must include: 

• Start from the top with real life examples from executives. This can also work well for employer branding campaigns, community involvement campaigns and campaigns in historically marginalized communities. Showing that your executive team truly cares and is involved in DE&I is a valuable marketing tool, as research shows.  
• Demonstrate vulnerability, so others feel comfortable and compelled to share their story, too. Again, this is great advice for an external audience. Being vulnerable and real in your storytelling is going to make it easier for people to see themselves in what you’re doing — either as an employee or as a customer.  
• Show the impact and the “so what?” to emphasize the benefits for self and company. And the benefits for your customers, of course.  
• Reflect the diversity of the company and its employees, spotlighting the workforce across geographies, departments and cultures. These can all work well for outside audiences, or you can encourage customers to share their stories of finding belonging and inclusion within your brand. Showcasing a range of diversity in all its forms means more people will see themselves in your own story. 

Henderson offered suggestions for creating a campaign of stories — perfect for either an intranet or a social media campaign. 

• A campaign-style approach (e.g., series set) to collecting and release stories.  
• Using various voices for balance of perspectives (e.g., Hierarchical roles working together) to tell authentic stories for impact. 
• Branding the series (e.g., “Fearless and Courageous Stories”) to capture attention.  
• Tie stories to existing diversity events or initiatives. 
• Include a call to action for additional stories within those we share. 

Go forth and tell stories.  See Henderson’s full presentation here. 

The post How to incorporate storytelling into DE&I appeared first on PR Daily.

Welcome to the Scooper Bowl! 

That Big Game is coming up Sunday, and while it’s known as the biggest day in advertising, the PR implications are vast as well. Now there are teaser campaigns to drum up interest, influencer partnerships, social campaigns to keep hype stoked long after an ad’s premiere.  

While we won’t have a full picture until game day, there are several major trends emerging this year worth keeping an eye on. 

One of the biggest is stuffing as many celebrities into an ad as possible in a way to ensure everyone watching gets to lay eyes on someone they like. Adweek notes that a single Paramont+ ad crams a whopping 11 celebrities, ranging from Sir Patrick Stewart to Peppa Pig, into a 2-minute spot. 

Why it matters: There’s a logic to this, to be sure. “For the past three years, our data has shown consumers are 25% more likely to engage with a brand online during the Super Bowl when there’s a featured celebrity,” Kevin Krim, president and CEO of impact measurement platform EDO, told Adweek.  

And there are social media benefits as well. Nyx Cosmetics is one of the most buzzed-about brands ahead of the game thanks to a teaser that sees rapper, singer and online sensation Cardi B recreating her famous “that’s suspicious. That’s weird” meme. While we haven’t seen the full gameday ad yet, using Cardi B gives not only a celebrity boost, but a supercharged online conversation starter. 

Still, is there a point where it gets to be too much? Will Paramount expect to see its brand recall increase 11-fold thanks to its glut of celebs, both animated and real? 

In the end, quality matters more than star power. “Unless you have a good idea, a celebrity isn’t going to make a bad idea good,” Aloysius Butler & Clark CCO Steve Merino told Adweek.  

Editor’s Top Reads: 

• Donald Trump has done an about-face on Bud Light. The brand, which has been a target of right-wing ire since it employed trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney for a promo in 2023, should be forgiven, the former president said. In a social media post, Trump cited the company’s support of farmers and veterans, the Wall Street Journal reported. “Anheuser-Busch is a Great American Brand that perhaps deserves a Second Chance? What do you think?” Trump wrote. Shares of Bud Light’s parent company bounced in the wake of the post. Trump’s messaging echoed Bud Light’s talking points shared with other parties, but the Wall Street Journal reported that Anheuser-Busch did not request the post, nor was it involved in its drafting. Either way, Trump’s blessing is significant as the brand is poised to make a Super Bowl comeback. The market certainly seems to think it will make a difference — but will it matter to consumers who may have already switched to other beers? 
• But Bud Light’s miscalculation with its influencer selection may have led to another trend in this year’s Super Bowl: a lack of ads that reaffirm a brand’s values. “I don’t think you’ll see many value-driven ads this year,” Marcus Collins, marketing professor at the University of Michigan, told Axios. “People saw the Bud Light debacle and said I don’t want any of that smoke. Because of that, we should expect to see less of those manifestos about world views and ideals. Instead, expect a very humor-driven Super Bowl.” 
• The ads shown during the Super Bowl this year are designed to make you hungry. A Wall Street Journal analysis revealed that the most prevalent category this year will be candy and snacks. Think Oreos, Drumsticks (ice cream, not poultry), Reese’s, Nerds and more. Hey, that’s an improvement over the cryptocurrency ads that took over the Big Game in 2022 and are now leading to lawsuits.  
• While the 49ers are favored to win the actual game, the Chiefs have already run away with victory in the advertising world. Patrick Mahomes,Travis Kelce and Coach Andy Reid have been inescapable presences in advertising all year. Mahomes alone was featured in a whopping 19 spots. The reasons for their popularity as pitchmen is simple, according to the New York Times: They’re good and one of them is dating Taylor Swift. The real winner here is Campbell Soup, which secured an ad with Kelce, his brother Jason and their mother before the Swift news broke. “There was a little good fortune in the selection of this family,” Linda Lee, chief marketing officer of the meals and beverages division at Campbell’s, told the Times. 
• And let’s talk about Swift’s impact on the Super Bowl. Through the choice of her boyfriend, she’s bringing new, young female fans to the league. Interest in the game is up 169% over last year, according to data from Zeta Global, and there’s a 903% jump in people interested primarily in the commercials. At least some portion of that is attributed to the Swiftie army of new fans who may not love football but are absolutely tuning in on Sunday for a glimpse of their idol. These demographic shifts will result in an audience for the game that’s nearly 50% female, and advertisers are taking notice: more and more ads are aimed at women, including cosmetics. Expect for Swift’s every move to be analyzed and memed during the game, causing even more of a ripple effect for PR pros and marketers in weeks to come. 

Join us Monday morning for a full recap of the game — and what you need to know for your PR practice. In the meantime, enjoy! 

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on X or LinkedIn.

The post The Scoop: The biggest PR storylines from the Super Bowl appeared first on PR Daily.

The Super Bowl won’t kick off until Sunday, but PR practitioners have already been at work for months as they prepare for the biggest brand bonanza of the year.  

Social media mentions will be a key metric this year in measuring interest and excitement around the ads, and some have already earned a greater share of the conversation than others.. 

From Jan. 31 to Feb. 6, NYX Cosmetics was the winner in the buzz bowl, with a big assist from Cardi B. According to data from Sprout Social measuring Super Bowl-related brand mentions across social platforms, a teaser that saw the rapper and singer recreating her “that’s suspicious” meme raked in 8,782 mentions and 156,127 engagements.  

Cardi B recreates her viral “That’s suspicious” meme in new teaser for her upcoming Super Bowl commercial with NYX Cosmetics. pic.twitter.com/U9NpbohXDZ

— Pop Base (@PopBase) February 1, 2024

It’s fairly logical that playing on a meme that became an incredibly popular TikTok sound was successful on social media; it’s also a bold, confident move to call your product “weird,” “suspicious” and “freaky,” but one that pays off here. The smart pairing of celebrity to brand is also paying off here, with the hip, fashion-forward star paired with the budget friendly, youth-oriented makeup.  

The next most-discussed Big Game ad on social media was also thanks to a big celebrity. Pringles released its ad featuring a mustachioed Chris Pratt and earned 4,049 mentions, 60,620 engagements. The ad, which sees Pratt compared to the Mr. Pringles mascot, apparently features real facial hair Pratt grew during the writer’s strike. After he posted about it on social media, Pringles spotted the resemblance to their mascot and a Super Bowl ad was born, Variety reported.  

Chris Pratt becomes Mr. Pringles in a new #SuperBowl ad pic.twitter.com/2FTjNArUV3

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) February 5, 2024

The third most buzzed-about brand in connection with the Super Bowl was FanDuel. Not only will many people be using the sports book during the game, their Big Game plans were disrupted by the death of Carl Weathers, who is featured in their ad alongside Rob Gronkowski. Weathers died last week at age 76.  

“FanDuel was fortunate to have had an opportunity to work with him during our Super Bowl campaign. We are adjusting our campaign accordingly out of respect for the family during their time of grief,” Fan Duel said in a statement.  

It’s a tragic loss and a disruptive event for the brand — but it also provided a surprise boost in conversation about the ad. How they address Weathers’ death in the ad and honor is legacy will be crucial now.  

Other top-mentioned brands, according to Sprout Social, include Michelob Ultra’s star-studded ad, Bud Light’s ongoing struggles to overcome its influencer controversy and a BetMGM ad that’s for everyone but Tom Brady.  

The commonality? Social media tie-ins, big celebrities and major news all lead to more buzz. No surprises there. 

The music angle 

Outside of brands, the Super Bowl is also a critical moment for all manner of musicians. Halftime show star Usher has been featured in more than 24,000 media articles since Jan. 1, according to data provided by Muck Rack, a respectable number. But the real musical star of this Super Bowl is, of course, Taylor Swift. 

Despite having no official role in the big game — she’s reportedly turned down requests to perform the halftime show herself — she’s been featured in more than 99,000 articles about the game, most circling around her relationship with tight end Travis Kelce, though some involve bizarre conspiracy theories.  

There’s no conspiracy here: Swift is simply wildly popular and has a devoted fanbase. Indeed, the new audience that she brings to the table is changing the composition of Super Bowl ads and putting a new focus on female viewers.  

Which brands will continue to drive forward on their pre-Super Bowl momentum to sales success? And which dark horses will pop up during the game? 

We’ll just have to wait and see.  

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on X or LinkedIn.

The post By the Numbers: These brands are already winning the Super Bowl appeared first on PR Daily.

➢ Communicators have a steady seat in the boardroom and are taking an active role in crafting corporate policy and voting on pivotal issues.

➢ Generative AI wipes out the busy work and allows communicators time to be strategic, creative and proactive.

➢ The word “strategic” has been scrapped from the term Strategic Communications for its obvious redundancy, and the Chief Communications Officer now reports to the CEO.

➢ DEI and ESG are no longer polarizing labels as the practices of inclusion, diversity and sustainability are as normalized as media relations and community relations.

Is this the future of communications, or is this just a pipe dream? For most communicators, it’s hard to imagine a future in which the scenarios above come to fruition.  

There’s a small cohort, perhaps the ones attending Davos or other economic global forums, who have the seat at the table and the ear of the C-suite. But for most communicators, you are just too busy getting through the day.  

You say you’re too busy. In Ragan’s 2024 Communications Benchmark Report, communicators cite that the top reason they can’t be more strategic is because they are being pulled in too many directions, with tasks and requests that keep them from big-picture strategy. This answer has topped the other choices for the past six years of the Benchmark Report.   

The last several years have been seismic for communicators. As the stakes were raised during the early stages of the pandemic, and amid social justice and geopolitical unrest, communications met the moment. In my three decades in this space, I’ve never seen so much positive movement.  

Communicators were front and center, keeping stakeholders informed, employees safe and connected. They weren’t in the boardroom, per se, but they were (and arguably are today) at the heart of their organization, not missing a beat.  

The risk is real

But the more things changed, the less it stuck. As we look to the near future, we risk a slide back.  

The tremendous influence and authority gained from 2020 to 2023 is at risk of slipping through the many priorities organizations face unless there is a collective awareness that Comms is still taking a back seat to other roles in the organization. Communicators need to come together around the core issues impacting society and their organizations and assume a role they might not have deemed themselves worthy of when they first entered the profession.  

The stage is set to take the lead role on critical issues of the day: AI’s impact on work and society, employee upskilling, brand management and social issues, misinformation management and ensuring a reasonably diverse and inclusive work culture.  

We are not talking side character or cameo roles — comms should be the lead role in this regular series.  To do this, it’s critical that communicators get curious beyond the walls of its own comms department.  

Here are some ways forward: 

Play in the AI sandbox: Dabble in the potential of AI for you and your team and for the larger organization, asking questions that will positively transform business. Play with AI rather than pray that it won’t impact you. Partner with other communicators to create a framework that moves our profession forward.  

Become business fluent: Treat it like learning a new language and commit to diving into the numbers, getting curious about the ecosystem that drives your business and dashboarding KPIs that truly tie comms to business growth. 

Take the lead in upskilling: AI has accelerated the need for most professionals to develop new skills and competencies (upskilling has always been important). In addition to ensuring you and your comms team are learning new skills, you have the chance to be at the table formulating and overseeing a talent revolution. Somebody’s got to do it – why not you? 

Be comfortable in the fog: With the U.S. election and nearly 40 other elections around the globe in 2024, this will undoubtedly be another year of uncertainty and division within your organization and among your customers and other stakeholders. Communicators will need to manage the murkiness and be the voice of reason, stability and truth. 

Stop being so busy: As mentioned earlier, communicators are busy bees. But as you commit to taking the lead on upskilling, AI and strategic business counseling you’ll find that the stage is yours to take the lead. Decide where you need to spend your time or someone else will decide for you. 

This is all to say: Buckle up, communicators, for an exhilarating ride.  

Diane Schwartz is the CEO of Ragan Communications.  

The post Communicators need to shed cameo role for the lead appeared first on PR Daily.

Publicis has settled a lawsuit for its role in pushing OxyContin to doctors — and, by extension, patients — for a whopping $350 million and agreed not to take on any other opioid clients, CNN reported.  

The French firm worked with McKinsey from 2010-2019 on a campaign called “Evolve to Excellence,” which encouraged the highest-prescribing doctors to write even more scripts for the highly addictive drug. Publicis made various collateral materials that painted OxyContin as a way to deter addiction and to write bigger doses, even when not medically indicated, according to New York Attorney General Letitia James, who helped oversee the settlement on behalf of a consortium of 10 states. 

“For a decade, Publicis helped opioid manufacturers like Purdue Pharma convince doctors to overprescribe opioids, directly fueling the opioid crisis and causing the devastation of communities nationwide,” James wrote in a statement.  

“The fight against the opioid crisis in the United States requires collaboration across industries, lawmakers, and communities, and we are committed to playing our part,” Publicis wrote in a statement provided to CNN. “That is why we worked to reach this agreement, and why we are also reaffirming our long-standing decision to turn down any future opioid-related projects.” 

Why it matters: The work we do as communicators matters. Deeply. Publicis put together a highly effective campaign. They did their job and did it well. 

And those actions contributed to a portion of the 645,000 opioid overdose deaths that occurred from 1999-2021 in the U.S., to say nothing of the lives that were ruined, if not ended, by the drugs Publicis helped promote. 

This is a sober reminder to each and every marketer and public relations professional about the power we wield. It’s exhilarating to do your job well and see the impacts on bottom lines and business goals. 

But you must remember the real-world impacts your actions have on real people and choose to use your skills responsibly. 

Editor’s Top Reads: 

• Earlier this week, tech leaders were hammered during a Congressional hearing on how social networks impact and interact with children. The Wall Street Journal reported that during the course of the hearing, Sen. Lindsey Graham told executives from Meta and TikTok that they “have blood on (their) hands.” Families of children who had suffered child sex abuse or died by suicide as a result of social media use were in attendance, and after a demand from Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg apologized to them,despite deflecting concerns in his testimony. “I’m sorry for everything that you have all gone through. It’s terrible. No one should have to go through the things that your families have.” There isn’t enough media training in the world to help prepare for a situation like this, but handling these situations compassionately and privately could have prevented this stunning scene from playing out on national television. 
• AI technology can now digitally place products directly into videos in less than 24 hours, allowing influencers to quickly share those videos with the world. The New York Times reports that the technology, created by Rembrand, can do something as subtle as inserting a branded poster in the background of a dancing TikToker to something as flashy as allowing a can of soda to float and wiggle while two influencers chat about bands. For brands, this is a chance to experiment with new ways to insert products into social media conversations, often without the hassle of sending physical items directly to influencers.  
• January jobs numbers smashed Wall Street expectations, coming in with a strong 353,000, well ahead of the Dow Jones estimate of 185,000, according to CNBC. The unemployment rate was 3.7%, down a tick from the expected 3.8%. This may sound counterintuitive in the wake of the seemingly unending waves of layoff announcements lately, but it’s a reminder that the economy is broad. Current layoffs are hitting tech and other white-collar workers hard, but the overall U.S. economy remains strong. Keep your finger on the pulse of how your audience is feeling — and keep your eye on the actual numbers, not just vibes.  

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on X or LinkedIn.

The post The Scoop: Publicis pays $350 million for its role in marketing the opioid epidemic appeared first on PR Daily.

Alina Morozova is chief account manager at ITCOMMS, an international PR agency.

The country of Georgia is well-known for its hospitality and friendly nature, but it’s important to recognize its distinct local features in the PR realm right from the start.

Business environment

Georgia has become a top destination for business development and relocation. The country boasts a welcoming business environment. It’s possible to register a company in just one day, and there are four free economic zones to take advantage of. Special conditions for businesses include exemption from corporate tax, and there are no minimum capital or investment requirements. Additional benefits include virtual office services and the option to register from anywhere. In addition, you can stay in Georgia without a visa for a year, and it is enough to cross the border to start a new countdown of this period.

Since 2010, there has been significant advancement in the country’s economic development, as observed by the World Bank. According to estimates, Georgia’s GDP hit $24.6 billion in 2022, marking a 10.1% increase. However, this growth rate is expected to decline by the end of 2023.

Since 2022, more Russian and international companies like Playrix and EPAM have started doing business in Georgia. In 2021, revenue from high-tech exports totaled $153 million. The country boasts dynamic IT communities, such as GITA (Georgian Innovation and Technology Agency) and the Startup Community, along with programs in collaboration with the Business and Technology University.

Media consumption in Georgia

The World Bank reports that 79% of Georgia’s population has access to the internet. Most people in the country typically learn about the news from television broadcasts or via social media platforms. The Colab Medios Project’s 2021 report highlights that in Georgia, television is particularly popular with the over-35 age group, with a notable 78% of residents tuning in regularly. The results of a CRRC Georgia survey indicate that the three most popular TV channels are Imedi with 59%, Rustavi-2 with 53%, and Mtavari with 42% viewership.

Facebook, now under the umbrella of Meta which has been declared an extremist organization and banned in Russia, is widely used among social media platforms, with 67% of users logging in at least once a week. YouTube holds the second spot in popularity with 57%, while Instagram follows in third place at 25%. An additional 16% of users are on TikTok, while X has a 4% user base. Sixty-five percent of people regularly use messaging apps. Viber and WhatsApp lead in popularity with 35% and 30%, respectively, while Telegram holds the interest of only 4%.

In Georgia, there’s a noticeable shift from print to digital media. The country has a developed market for English-language media. When working with the media, it is important to keep in mind that their credibility in the country is very low. According to a study by Caucasus Barometer, trust in the media in the country gradually decreased from 50% to 20% between 2008 and 2019. The same data indicate that one in five Georgians does not trust the media.

The media is often highly politicized, with owners frequently dictating editorial content. The media environment in Georgia is marked by intense social strains that involve issues of religion, LGBT rights and Russian influence.

Public relations in Georgia: Main characteristics

Public relations is an evolving field in Georgia, where PR specialists are relatively scarce. Typically, only sizable corporations, like TBC Bank, have dedicated PR departments.

The official language is Georgian, meaning all media materials require translation into this language. However, English may be used when engaging with journalists. It’s preferable for the company’s spokespersons or official representatives to be local, native speakers. Some companies, such as Spar and Coca-Cola, opt to replicate their names in the Georgian language.

Essential tips for excelling in PR in Georgia

1. Customized content. Ensure that all press releases and expert materials are relevant and connected to the regional backdrop. Journalists often welcome news that involves partnerships between local businesses and state departments. Analytical reports and materials should highlight the impact on the local market.
2. Networking. Georgia is a nation characterized by strong horizontal ties,  where recommendations from friends and personal communication are highly valued and play a crucial role in the fabric of society. Investing time in networking is crucial. Make an effort to connect with journalists, share your story, and seek opportunities for face-to-face interactions. Establishing a relationship with one well-respected journalist could potentially open doors to their entire network within Georgia, often described as being just one handshake away.
3. Focus on the top media. The region hosts only a few media outlets, all with limited reach. As a result, it is crucial to prioritize engaging with the major, widely distributed ones. It is also important to point out the near absence of highly specialized media outlets in Georgia. During my 18 months in this industry, I’ve encountered several media outlets that cover cryptocurrency, but none that specialize in IT. Discover television opportunities to showcase your expertise by securing spots on business-focused TV programs.
4. Events are a linchpin. They hold a special appeal for local businesses and journalists. Whether it’s a press conference, a company anniversary, a press breakfast, or a brunch, events serve as a valuable opportunity to nurture relationships and offer something the media can appreciate. TV is the prime choice for event coverage.
5. Allocate funds for presents and subscription-based publications. Agreeing to free, unpaid media coverage is a feasible strategy, but I would still suggest allocating a budget for paid publications. On average, posting an article in a major media outlet costs $500. Not only does paying for publication secure your spot in the media, but it also fosters better relationships with them. Similarly, giving gifts can achieve this objective. Journalists particularly value personalized gifts or corporate items that feature the company’s logo.Gifts help to cope with the same task.

Journalists are open to collaborating with Russian PR specialists and firms, with their main focus being on the quality of the content. It needs to be both informative and engaging for readers. Use LinkedIn to search for journalists’ contact details. Ensure you research the journalist’s areas of interest in advance and provide news and expert content that aligns with those topics.

Here’s what you need to understand when collaborating with Georgian journalists.

• The pace of work can be slow. It’s important to expect that any discussion about the news may extend over several days. This often applies even to urgent news about your company, as journalists typically do not hurry to release such information.
• News embargoes often fail. Despite sending news with an embargo, journalists may not comprehend it fully. In the best-case scenario, the journalist might notify you of any misunderstandings, but in the worst case, they might release the information prematurely.
• Journalists generally show little interest in clickbait headlines. There’s a sense that competition is lacking within the Georgian media landscape. Traffic numbers don’t seem to concern them, nor do they pursue sensational headlines. They remain untroubled when their colleagues scoop stories before them.
• The opportunity to comment appears limited. Possibly this happens because of minimal competition and slow work pace. However, the reality is that you shouldn’t expect to swiftly post a comment on published news.
• Journalists often edit press releases. In Central Asia, news is usually published without changes, while in Georgia, it is normal for the content to be edited. Nevertheless, journalists are generally willing to make changes to articles that have been published already.
• Journalists appreciate exclusive content. Providing them with unique, exclusive material will ensure they prioritize preparing and publishing it promptly and to the highest standard.

Key takeaways

• Georgia’s PR market is in its formative stages, yet it offers opportunities to establish strong, trustworthy media connections.
• The media landscape here is sparse and not all outlets are considered reliable. Therefore, it’s wise to focus on major international media right from the start. This approach can swiftly boost your company’s visibility in the market and facilitate the achievement of your objectives.
• Leveraging materials and partnerships with local businesses can secure media mentions. Additionally, networking and face-to-face interactions with media professionals will solidify your success.

The post Shaping public relations strategies in the country of Georgia appeared first on PR Daily.

A new survey from Morning Consult found that American adults in every age demographic believe that corporations have at least some responsibility to display diverse, inclusive marketing. This data comes even as DE&I efforts at companies, universities and elsewhere are being criticized or even penalized by conservative legislators.  

Still, despite evidence of some fatigue around empty DE&I gestures, the broader public remains supportive of marketing efforts that display the breadth of American diversity.  

As you might expect, the number of people who support inclusive marketing increases as age decreases, but even 70% of Baby Boomers think companies should have inclusive marketing all or some of the time.  

The major caveat to this data: The survey also found that despite these strong preferences, diverse marketing is one of the least important factors when it comes to swaying customers’ purchasing decisions. 

Only 18% of survey respondents said that diversity and inclusion in their marketing was “very important” when determining where they shopped or what they bought. That put the answer in third-to-last place among the 17 factors Morning Consult queried, tied with “Has values similar to mine.” Only “Follows environmental or sustainability initiatives” (17%) and “Recommended by friends, family or influencers I like” (16%) ranked lower.  

The major drivers of consumer-centric purchasing decisions are more practical: price is the number one driver (44%), followed by having products in stock (39%) and a safe shopping environment (39%). 

Indeed, only 28% of all Americans said they’d made a purchase in the past month based on the inclusivity of a brand’s marketing. But that number becomes much more nuanced when we take a closer look at the demographic breakdowns. 

As we can see, those topline numbers are skewed by white, older adults, who are not driven by diversity in marketing. However, we see different trends emerge when we look more specifically at Gen Z, Hispanic and Black audiences. 

While diverse marketing still did not break 50% with any of these groups, it got close in every case, with 47% of Gen Z adults, 41% of Hispanic people and 42% of Black respondents reporting that they had made purchasing decisions based on a commitment to DE&I in advertising. 

What it means 

In short, these numbers state something good communicators and marketers should already know: Our content should reflect our audience.  

For white people, that’s already often the case. A 2022 study found that 72.5% of actors in digital and video ads were white and non-Hispanic, even though this demographic makes up just 59% of the U.S. population.  

But for people who aren’t as accustomed to seeing people who look like them in marketing, advertising and communications, seeing themselves reflected can influence purchase decisions in a more meaningful way. 

So when asking yourself which stock photo you should use on that article or which influencer will best resonate with your audience, stop and think about the audience you want. Showcasing diverse people in marketing is widely favored across demographics and can especially increase purchasing decisions among younger demographics and people of color.

Read the full Morning Consult report here.  

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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Music is a key part of TikTok’s success – indeed, an app known as Musical.ly was absorbed into TikTok to create the app we know today. But if Universal Music Group and TikTok don’t strike a deal by today (January 31), users could see their ability to layer music by artists signed by the world’s biggest music label disappear.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, UMG said TikTok proposed to pay artists at a rate that is “a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay” for the use of their music, reducing their cut from the current deal, which expires Jan. 31. Universal also claimed that TikTok tried to play hardball with them by taking down the music of emerging artists on the platform while keeping that of major ones.

TikTok hit back, saying that Universal’s threat to pull music went against the best interests of both artists and fans.

“Despite Universal’s false narrative and rhetoric, the fact is they have chosen to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with well over a billion users that serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent,” a TikTok spokesperson said in the Wall Street Journal.

Why it matters: For a platform that’s got billions upon billions of videos layered with licensed music, this is a big issue for TikTok. The video app does have a major influence on what music takes root on social media — which translates into songs in viral TikToks earning bigger streaming numbers. However, according to the Wall Street Journal report, TikTok contributes to just 1% of UMG’s revenue, despite billions of plays.

TikTok’s bold tone in their response to UMG’s claims is also notable. It’s clear that those at TikTok know the influence their platform has. But it’ll be interesting to see if they end up overplaying their hand and a deal falls through. The loss of licensed music on the platform could hurt user experience and lead to a downturn in both active users and reputation.

When you’re running the most popular social media platform around, people are going to pay attention when you’re speaking out. They’re going to take notice if your platform fundamentally changes because it can’t license music anymore. These battles could change the social media game and potentially open the door for other apps to strike. This will be a space worth watching going forward – and could alter your own brand’s TikTok strategy.

Editor’s Top Reads:

• For the upcoming Super Bowl, Anheuser-Busch is leaning into nostalgia. The major brewer is trotting its iconic Clydesdales back out once again for a commercial during the upcoming game on February 11. ABC reported that the commercial will be a hat tip to the brewery’s old commercials with an emphasis on delivering what it promises — a high-quality product. In addition to the prancing horses, the commercial also features real-life Budweiser wholesalers, another nod to authenticity and history over flash and glitz. It’s interesting to see such a major company rely on tradition rather than star power on the biggest advertising stage, but a tactic that could serve as solid counterprogramming during the Big Game.
• Stanley cups — the tumbler mugs, not the hockey trophy, as this writer thought at first — have been incredibly popular lately. Stanley, despite existing for over a century, has shown a knack for listening to emerging audience segments, leading to increased popularity and demand. According to a report in USA Today, that popularity has now carried over to a Fisher-Price lookalike mug for small children who want cups that look just like their parents. While not an official collaboration with Stanley, Fisher-Price is attuned to the trends of the day and acting accordingly. “Are you obsessed with the most buzzed-about tumbler as much as the rest of the internet?” Fisher-Price said in a statement. Brands that stay on top of the cultural zeitgeist are more likely to make waves in the public sphere — and that can help lead to better business.
• Sesame Street’s Elmo put out a post on X checking in on how everyone was doing this week — and some of the responses probably weren’t what the little red monster would have hoped for. Many in the responses replied that things weren’t going so well, citing job losses, mental stresses and the overall not-so-rosy state of the world. Some big companies even got in on the action in the replies, with Dominos Pizza UK saying things were “totally fine” and posting an image of a pizza-making machine on fire. The lesson here — when you’re running a social media account that represents your brand, keep an eye on larger social media trends. You never know when an opportunity might arise to become a part of the conversation of the day, and you might even be able to make a memorable impact on it.

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications. In his spare time he enjoys Philly sports, a good pint and ’90s trivia night.

The post The Scoop: Universal Music Group could stop licensing music to TikTok appeared first on PR Daily.

Mike Nachshen is president & owner of Fortis Strategic Communications, LLC. 

Once upon a time, you may have heard a senior communications leader say, “Storytelling is the most important skill a communicator can have.” 

If you were like me, you might have even believed it once. But in a PR skills cage match, strategy beats storytelling any day of the week. 

That’s not to say storytelling doesn’t have an important place in the Communications pantheon. It does. In fact, storytelling driven by strategy is one of the cornerstones of a successful communications effort. 

According to author, historian and philosopher Yuval Noah Harari we humans are “storytelling animals [who] think in stories rather than in numbers or graphs, and believe… the universe itself works like a story, replete with heroes and villains, conflicts and resolutions, climaxes and happy endings.” 

A skilled communicator understands there’s something in the DNA of our species that gives storytelling universal appeal and uses this insight to captivate their audience. They can turn the driest topic into a riveting call-to-action and deliver a message so effectively that the audience wants more.   

The true core of being an effective communicator isn’t in the telling of tales.  

It’s in the strategic approach driving the storytelling.  

Because without a communications strategy, storytelling is simply entertainment.  

Becoming a communications strategist isn’t something that happens overnight. It starts with asking hard questions and doing your homework. 

One of the most important questions a communicator can ever ask is, “What is the business strategy?” Just as important are the questions, “Who is our audience?” and “What do they really care about?” Together, these questions can guide an effective communications strategy.  

To understand the business strategy, you need to have an intimate knowledge of your organization’s business model. This means going beyond mission statements and talking points. It’s about having a fundamental understanding of what keeps the lights on and pays the CEO’s salary. 

The audience may not be who you initially thought they were. And once you do understand who you’re really trying to reach, it’s critical to dig deep and understand what motivates them. Go beyond superficial answers and interpretations and uncover what their true interests and needs are. 

This approach applies whether you’re at a Fortune 50, a non-profit, government agency or in any other kind of organization you can imagine. 

For example, I once worked at a publicly traded Fortune 100 technology company that was trying to bring a new product to market in the federal contracting space.  

When I was brought in to lead the communications effort around the project, the program director was beyond excited about what he called “eye-watering” new technology. He said “give me a press release” to tell “the whole world” about our revolutionary new capability. 

But after asking some questions and doing my research, I learned that our launch customer — the government agency that was paying us to develop this technology – was already all in. Provided we accomplished certain technical milestones, which we were on track to reach, we’d get paid.  

But communications still had an important role to play in this – and one that had nothing to do with telling our story to the entire world. 

The real problem – the business problem — was that our customer’s parent organization thought the project was a complete waste of tax dollars. They wanted to scrap the project entirely, and no amount of great storytelling about eye-watering technology was going to persuade them otherwise. 

But, after doing additional research, I learned that the parent agency was focused on solving an entirely different problem. Congress, the press and other important stakeholders were asking the parent agency a lot of hard questions about this problem. 

Our solution had the capability to solve that problem. But we had never publicly talked about that use case, because up until now, we’d only talked about how cool the technology was. 

That changed. 

Armed with a deep insight into what the business really needed to achieve to succeed, and what our customer and their parent organization really cared about, I was able to develop a communications strategy that looked very different from what the program director asked for. 

Instead of talking about technology, my team and I focused our energy on creating a compelling story about how our solution could solve the parent organization’s problem. And we didn’t blast out a series of press releases to the world – we focused on placing our message where key decision makers would see it. 

The approach worked. Not only did the parent organization fund our progress payments, but they gave the customer additional funding so we could do more. 

Storytelling was important – but it was strategy that enabled my team and I to tell the right story to the right audience. 

Ultimately, strategy lies at the intersection of understanding and mastering the tools at your disposal, the organizational goals, the business landscape, and the needs of the audience. By digging deep into the business problem and constantly asking questions we can all become better strategic thinkers and communicators – and that’s no fable. 

The post Why strategy beats storytelling every time appeared first on PR Daily.

Americans’ faith in a variety of professions key to daily life continue to fall, according to Gallup’s 2023 Honesty and Ethics survey. Of the 23 professionals Gallup asked about, only one saw year-over-year trust growth: union leaders, an interesting wrinkle in a year that saw major organized labor wins. But even trust in this group increased by only a single point.  

Every single other profession saw a decline. 

Now, PR professionals were not among the industries Gallup polled on. The most closely related industry was advertising professionals, who are trusted by only 8% of Americans. They tied with car salespeople and senators and came in above only members of Congress, who ranked dead last (6%). 

We can guess that PR professionals probably aren’t held in high esteem, falling into the same general category of spin doctors who work to sway public opinion for nefarious ends. 

But the perception of public relations as a profession is the least of the industry’s concerns. Most practitioners don’t work to better the reputation of PR. Instead, they work to build trust and confidence in other professions. And these numbers give a sobering portrait of how difficult that job can be. 

Medical professionals continue to remain among the most trusted professions in America (with the exception of psychiatrists, who are trusted by just 36% of the population), but the pandemic took a steep toll on that trust. Since 2019, trust in doctors and pharmacists has fallen 9%, in nurses 7%, in dentists 2%. 

In a massive industry that relies on trust to literally save people’s lives, these numbers are concerning, and should remain at the forefront of every PR pro in the healthcare space. Without trust, patients don’t come in for checkups until it’s too late. Without trust, patients don’t take the medicines or vaccines they’re prescribed, and small issues become large ones.  

All of these medical professions have managed to retain at least 50% trust (nurses fare best with 78% trust), but some just barely. Most fared worse. 

The industries PR pros are often called on to represent are in a trust crisis as well: only 19% trust bankers, 16% trust lawyers, 12% trust business executives.  

Not only is there rampant mistrust for the people and organizations practitioners are often called upon to help, there is mistrust for a key communications tool: the media.  

Journalists, who many PR professionals rely on to spread the word of their initiatives, are trusted by only 19% of Americans. In other words, 71% of the population will have at least some mistrust for any story you place in the media.  

What to do about it 

This situation appears bleak. But this is what PR professionals were made for.  

Public relations, or good public relations anyway, isn’t about spin. It’s about building trust. It’s about pulling back the curtain and showing how industries work and why they can be trusted. It’s about putting faces to corporations and industries and showing that these faceless entities are made up of people who want to do the right thing.  

It’s about telling stories to show that while the industry as a whole might be mistrusted, your doctor, your lawyer, your business executive is different. They’re a thought leader who engages with interest, empathy and care. Their words and actions are designed to make the world a better place, treat their employees right, and uphold the ethical values of their industry.  

It’s about finding journalists who still retain trust with the audience you want to reach, whether that’s getting a hold of financiers through the Wall Street Journal or young people with a particularly authentic Twitch streamer.  

None of this is easy. But it’s the job. 

Let’s work to rebuild trust together.  

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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