The future of PR: making you feel special

Very few things are as difficult to control as public opinion and perceptions of something...anything. It sometimes seems as if once an opinion is forged, it is set on stone on people's minds, making it hard to change initial impressions--although not completely impossible, of course.

Retrieved from http://www.blastmedia.com/blog/category/pr-tips/

With the advent of all new technologies, gadgets, etc. and the explosion of social media websites and pages, controlling perceptions and creating favorable impressions for the masses seems to be even trickier that when mere exposure to products and services in a TV or radio commercial, catalogs, pamphlets and other media in the non-digital world.

How do you reach everyone, everywhere and at all times when people insistently keep expanding and continuously push the boundaries of networking and presence in the digital world?

Well, as mentioned a few articles below in reference to the future of the music industry, PR firms are engaging in a new form of business--connecting with people instead of merely exposing them to the products. And the virtual world of digital media and online social networks can actually help with this.

In her 2012 article "Is There a Future for Traditional PR?," Emily Davis argues that "the role of PR is no longer about passive exposure. It's about the direct connection of brands with real people."

Indeed, as with music, experience and performance has become a new medium to get people into products via personalized, catered, specific advertising of brands. As people push boundaries, PR has caught up, putting content in people's consciousness by creating personal connections. It is all about relations between people and brands, facilitated by the information bubble and algorithms of search engines.

As with the future of journalism, music, social media and advertising, PR's future is uncertain as technology and innovations keep evolving, but, as the former, it will be premature to say that traditional PR is over.