If you’ve been following my posts here over the last couple of weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time talking about data—how it humanizes communications strategies and also connects comms functions (the brand side) with marketing initiatives (the business side).
To me, data is really the backbone that the future of our practice is built upon and while it’s heavily impacting the evolution of our industry, it isn’t the only thing that’s going to enable more opportunities for communicators in 2023.
Here’s what I’m hoping will play out this year:
1. The current tech “downturn” will be a boon for communications.
It feels brash to say, and right now, it might be hard to feel optimistic about the opportunities that may come this year (especially if you’re recently laid off like I am). I feel confident that the tide will turn—especially across the technology corridor where by mid-year (or sooner), we’re going to see the market flooded with comms roles.
Layoffs are impacting many of us, and for the PR professionals recently let go from their companies, there’s usually a pretty common reason as to why: public relations has always been seen as “discretionary” (whereas marketing, I get into a bit in my second post, is critical). In reality, PR couldn’t be more necessary in lean times when companies are doubling down on investments to convert interest into opportunity and power growth.
I’ve been closely following what Eleanor Hawkins has been covering in her Axios Communicators newsletter, and I’ll let some of what she wrote in her most recent issue validate my thinking:
Engineering talent has flooded the market due to big tech layoffs, and startup founders plan to snatch it up. Why it matters: These new companies will need smart communicators to help them build their brand, explain their purpose, recruit top talent, and bring in business.
That presents a challenge: many C-suite leaders don’t have the experience with PR (or, let’s be honest, trust in it) to fight for it at the decision-making table. This leads me to my second hope:
2. Communications will gain equal footing with marketing when it comes to delivering business value.
The communications industry today looks very different than a few years ago when generating a healthy cadence of earned media coverage was enough to build brands. The media landscape wasn’t as fractured (or smaller), there weren’t as many brands vying for buyer visibility, and companies were eager to invest in PR because driving more mentions in the market delivered value.
But that world has shifted. I mentioned in my last post that communications is becoming more aligned with marketing, and I think that’s here to stay. My hope is that it leads to an increased understanding of, and respect for, communications.
I really liked what BLASTMedia’s Grace Williams recently said about why this year will finally be the year of the Chief Communications Officer, and I whole-heartedly +1 her perspective that while marketing and public relations work together, they’re polar opposites when it comes to business intention:
Marketing and PR have very different value propositions. While marketing most frequently seeks to drive demand and generate pipeline on a short-term, scalable basis, PR is all about the long game of brand awareness and thought leadership.
But where I diverge from her perspective is that the two will continue to move apart. I think the best thing for our industry is for the two to stay connected, because communications inherently adds more value to marketing. Collectively, we haven’t done the best job of proving that.
3. We’ll see the emergence of new reporting frameworks.
There are a few frameworks I really love when it comes to reporting on the impact communications strategies make, and one of them is AMEC. The integrated framework is structured so that you can more easily draw a clear line between the objectives and inputs (your goals), the activities to achieve the goals and the ultimate business impact derived from the activities.
If you haven’t explored this approach before, the interactive online tool is incredibly helpful. This measurement convention hasn’t been widely adopted in the US, but if you’re using it, I’d love to know – there are some highly compelling case studies on the site, as well, that will turn you into a believer.
What I like most about the AMEC approach is that the ultimate focus is impact. What I dislike most about the communications industry is that our best “impact” metric to-date has been Share of Voice.
Don’t get me wrong; this is an incredibly valid and useful metric! Especially when it comes to competitor tracking and understanding how much media “foothold” you have in a given market. I particularly love using Meltwater’s SOV tracking because it helps me understand my competition’s media strategy, too.
But if, as an industry, we’re relying on SOV to prove the necessity of communications in a world that values business metrics like lead gen, conversion, product adoption scores, customer acquisition costs, etc., then we aren’t ever going to earn our seat at the proverbial table.
I think of this as SOV+ (and if someone has a better name for this, shout it out!). Did an incremental quarterly lift on SOV drive more traffic? Are we doing a better job converting on new traffic that’s coming in? Are we increasing the quantity of non-paid leads coming in via organic channels? This will be the new north-star metric demanded of this.
So if you’re working client-side, bring up these conversations now - ask what they’re tracking internally and see how you might align your measurement reporting. If you’re in house, align with your marketing peers and create more meaningful impact stories. The earlier you can build a story from idea to impact, the easier proving value becomes.