Due to the current recession, trading is lower than ever and competition is higher. It has been said that if your main business is in the UK, Europe or the US it will be even harder to survive the recession. Consequently many companies have been on the outlook for opportunities to expand globally. Considering the circumstances of the time one would expect PR budgets to decrease rather quickly, however, it has not been the case during this particular economic crisis. It seems organisations are grasping the extreme benefits of PR, especially during times like this. PR is great if you want the maximum outcome, which everyone does, but with a low cost. Therefore organisations have been turning to PR rather than marketing/advertising techniques.
Unfortunately many businesses have been rated at SELL and therefore competitor competition is even higher than usual. Organisations have been competing not only on the products and services they offer but also geographical reach, reputation and stakeholder relationships. It seems that in the last six months of 2011 a large amount of companies were rated NEUTRAL rather than SELL, demonstrating how the economic crisis is slowly dissolving. Economic crisis is always seen to be negative but it is possible to put a positive spin on the situation. It’s arguable that economic crisis is, in a way, good for business as it leaves only the strong companies that can handle themselves during such times.
There are a great deal of external influences that will affect campaigns coming up in the pending months. For example, The London Olympics, amongst other events like the Eurozone Football Championships, will give great opportunities for marketing and in particular sports marketing and sponsorship. There are also high profile occasions like the US presidential elections and other issues like the Eurozone crisis and Government reforms like benefit cuts, which will shape many future trends in the industry.
At the moment there is also the issue of PR’s reputation in the eyes of the masses. It is ironic that PR has a generally negative reputation considering the aims of the industry. It is inevitable, for PR to stay effective, for the industry as a whole to concentrate on developing a more positive image of PR. There are a variety of ways that this could be carried out including more stringent codes of conduct and a higher credibility or licencing of professionals. It is foreseeable that PR practitioners must venture towards professionalization to boost the masses trust in PR as a whole. This moves me on to another current issue which is the fact that trust is in decline as I will go on to discuss.
Edelman’s Trust Barometer has demonstrated a serious decline in global trust. The barometer has shown that, compared to last year, nearly twice as many countries are now distrusters and even fewer are in the neutral zone (EDELMAN, 2012) . This poses the issue of stakeholders being a lot less trusting in the messages PR’s are trying to communicate.
There has been a significant advance in the communication channels available to PRs; however it’s arguable that this is not necessarily 100% beneficial. Due to the amazing progresses of the internet in the recent years, tools like SEO, Social Media, Digital Media and Blogging have become available. However, due to the constant fragmentation of the media, even though there are new channels of communication opening, there are also many that are closing. For example, it is likely that we will lose print media altogether in the coming decade due to the advances of digital media technology. On a macro level, the most dangerous ideas that could alter the PR industry is not moving forward with the times and adapting to the changes in the media sector.
All in all there are a great deal of issues and trend in the trade that are likely to alter the communication and media industries extensively in the coming decade.
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