Unanswered pitches, disappearing editorial calendars and 590 million LinkedIn users—oh, my! 2019 was an interesting year for PR professionals, journalists and marketers. But the million- dollar question is: where are we headed next? And how can we best prepare? In this blog post, we Bospartans look ahead to 2020.
Media
The media landscape was a bit rocky in 2019. Relationships between journalists and PR professionals continued to shift, and 95% of Americans felt troubled by the current state of the media. What’s coming down the media pike in 2020?
1. “Election news will dominate editorial in 2020. The brands which can successfully leverage interest in the election will exponentially increase the coverage they receive.” — Tricia Heinrich, Bospar chief content officer.
2. “The press—and Americans in general—will begin paying more attention to internet regulations. We’ll also be more tuned in to what big tech CEOs are saying and commenting on. They’ll be held more accountable.” — Dennise-Marie Leon Ordaz, Bospar account associate.
3. “As revenue streams continue to evolve, expect more media outlets to embrace limited ‘freeviews’ and subscription paywalls in 2020. This will change the impact of earned media for many companies and will require creativity in their marketing programs and budgets to accommodate the shift.” — Samir Sampat, Bospar senior account associate.
4. “PR campaigns will need to be increasingly multi-layered and tie into other consumer experiences with digital marketing, social engagements and physical events.” — Brent Shelton, Bospar senior account associate.
5. “As video communications continue to become viable interview opportunities, media tours will be harder to pitch. Successful media tours will need to be centered around major company news in order to be worthwhile.” — Joe Cassados, Bospar account associate.
6. “Exclusives are going to increasingly become a tactic to evaluate with clients. PR pros will be recommending them for initiatives like customer stories and funding rounds.” — Laura Ruark, Bospar account director.
Social media
Over the course of a decade, social media platforms have taken both personal and professional lives by storm, completely wreaking havoc on how we communicate. As communicators, we must evolve in conjunction with social media if we want to keep our clients in the spotlight and our programs competitive.
1. “Brands in the B2B space will continue to become more savvy about multimedia content and will create more content that’s engaging and specifically tailored to their audience’s social media channels.” — Ruben Ramirez, Bospar vice president of social media.
2. “Running paid social media campaigns will become more competitive and more expensive as more companies educate themselves on social media best practices and businesses try to break through all of the digital noise.” — Carly Sullivan, Bospar social media associate.
3. “Publicists will increasingly pitch journalists via social media tools like Twitter and LinkedIn, as opposed to traditional public relations pitching methods like emails and phone calls.” — Melanie Daifotis, Bospar account associate.
Workplace
Studies prove that 84% of Americans feel that working from home is preferable to any other work arrangement. And, as technology advances, more companies will likely allow—or even encourage—their employees to work from home and enjoy a better work-life balance. Another significant workplace trend is corporate focus on increasing diversity.
1. Bospar predicts that:“Virtual offices will continue to become more prevalent in PR as firms realize that they have greater access to top talent when they recruit from anywhere, not just major cities.” — Hannah Ruark, Bospar account supervisor.
2. “Businesses will begin to develop articulated business cases for diversity and inclusion in 2020, and we’ll see more focus from organizations on diverse employee and client populations.” — Kourtney Evans, Bospar senior account associate.
And while the future is never certain, one thing we can confidently predict is that predictions will continue to be an editorial favorite! Tune in next year, as we predict 2021.
