Tag: trends

  • The State of PR 2023 by Muck Rack

    The State of PR 2023 by Muck Rack

    About the paper

    Muck Rack’s State of PR 2023 is an original survey of 1,034 PR professionals, conducted online from 31 March to 25 April 2023 and distributed primarily by email.

    The sample is heavily US-based: 89% of respondents were in the United States, while Europe and Canada each accounted for 3% and Asia for 1%; 55% worked at agencies and 23% at brands.

    The stated margin of error is approximately 3%.

    Length: 54 pages

    More information / download: https://media.muckrack.com/documents/Muck_Rack_-_State_of_PR_2023.pdf

    Core Insights

    1. What does the report reveal about the main pressures facing PR professionals?

    The most immediate pressure is the increasing difficulty of media relations. More than half of respondents, 53%, selected getting responses from journalists as one of their three biggest current challenges. This concern was particularly pronounced among agency respondents, at 59%, compared with 46% among people working at brands.

    Resource pressure is nearly as significant. Some 48% identified insufficient budget or staffing as a leading challenge. Here the pattern was reversed: 55% of brand-side respondents were concerned about resources, compared with 42% at agencies.

    A third major challenge is demonstrating value. Forty per cent selected justifying or showcasing the PR team’s value to stakeholders, while 37% pointed to the difficulty of identifying relevant journalists. These figures suggest that PR teams are under pressure at both ends of the process: they struggle to secure media attention and must then prove internally that their activities have created meaningful value.

    The workload data reinforces this picture. Fifty-one per cent reported working 41–50 hours in the preceding week, while 6% worked more than 50 hours. Seventy-eight per cent had worked outside normal hours at least once during that week, and 26% had done so three or more times.

    At the same time, respondents were not generally alienated from senior management. Ninety per cent felt that leadership understood their work at least “somewhat well”, and most felt that the communications function was valued. The problem therefore appears less to be outright organisational rejection of PR than a combination of high expectations, constrained resources, difficult media conditions and persistent demands for evidence of impact.

    2. How is the role and scope of PR changing?

    The report presents PR as a profession that remains strongly centred on media relations but is becoming broader and more integrated with other organisational functions.

    Media relations still dominates practitioners’ work: 85% said it constituted at least a quarter of their job. However, thought leadership was cited by 51%, measurement and reporting by 47%, events by 34%, corporate communications by 27%, and both internal and executive communications by 23%.

    Internal communication appears to be expanding. Forty-four per cent said their teams were spending more time on it, while only 4% said the amount of time was decreasing. This is particularly noteworthy because brands also regard internal communications and counsel as highly unsuitable for outsourcing: 73% said they would be very unlikely to assign this work to an agency.

    The profession’s boundaries are also becoming less clear. Sixty-one per cent believed that the term “public relations” would need to be defined more broadly within five years, while another 15% thought it would need to be renamed. Only 22% expected the existing term to continue describing their work accurately.

    The relationship between PR and marketing is another sign of convergence. Seventy-one per cent expected this relationship to become more important during the following five years, although the report notes that this expectation had declined slightly from the previous year.

    Taken together, the findings suggest that PR is evolving from a relatively distinct media-relations discipline into a broader communications function encompassing internal communication, thought leadership, executive communication, measurement, digital channels and closer coordination with marketing.

    3. What does the study say about media relations and the future of earned media?

    The report portrays earned media as both central to PR and increasingly difficult to obtain.

    Seventy-one per cent expected securing earned media to become more difficult over the next five years: 44% anticipated that it would become somewhat more difficult, and 27% much more difficult. Only 8% expected it to become easier.

    Respondents nevertheless remained highly focused on traditional pitching. Eighty-nine per cent considered individual, one-to-one email the most effective channel for approaching journalists. No alternative came close: Twitter and mass email were each selected by 18%, while phone and LinkedIn were selected by 15%.

    Relevance was regarded as the most important ingredient in a successful pitch. Thirty-three per cent chose whether the subject was relevant to the journalist as the single most important factor. Existing relationships and personalised pitches were each chosen by 20%. Elements such as executive quotations, brevity, visual content and statistics in the headline were rated much lower.

    The report’s practical summary of pitching habits shows a fairly conventional workflow: almost 90% preferred one-to-one emails, 92% kept pitches below 300 words, 81% preferred pitching before noon, and Tuesday was the most popular day. Respondents were divided over whether one or two follow-ups were acceptable.

    The media mix itself is broadening. Ninety per cent commonly pitched online or digital media, 66% magazines, 63% printed newspapers, 52% television and 50% podcasts. This indicates that earned media is not disappearing, but the number of relevant formats and outlets is increasing while journalist responsiveness is declining.

    The underlying implication is that PR practitioners will need to combine better targeting, stronger relevance and broader media knowledge rather than relying on higher volumes of outreach.

    4. How are technology, AI and social platforms reshaping PR practice?

    Technology is becoming a strategic capability, although adoption remains uneven.

    Generative AI had already gained substantial attention when the survey was conducted in spring 2023. Twenty-eight per cent said they were already using tools such as ChatGPT or DALL-E, while 33% planned to explore them. A further 24% were unsure, and 15% had no plans to use them.

    AI also entered the list of important future skills. Thirty-one per cent said that integrating new AI tools into workflows would be one of the capabilities their organisation needed to develop over the following five years. It ranked below media relations, strategic planning and data and analytics, but roughly alongside social media, multimedia production, influencer marketing and diversity, equity and inclusion.

    Technology use was not universally sophisticated. Media lists were commonly stored in spreadsheets, cited by 68%, as well as dedicated PR software, cited by 64%. Only small minorities used sales CRM or marketing automation platforms for this purpose. Social-listening practices were also fragmented: 34% used such tools daily, but another 34% used them only case by case.

    Social-media priorities were shifting noticeably. LinkedIn had become the most widely used social network in communications strategies, selected by 84%, followed by Instagram at 75%, Twitter at 72% and Facebook at 71%. LinkedIn had risen by 11 percentage points from the previous year, while Twitter had fallen by five points.

    Looking forward, 53% planned to use LinkedIn more and 40% expected to increase their use of TikTok. Facebook was the only major platform where considerably more respondents expected to reduce rather than increase usage.

    The report therefore depicts a profession moving towards AI, analytics, LinkedIn and multimedia communication, but still relying extensively on spreadsheets, email and relatively conventional workflow systems.

    5. What are the report’s most important implications for PR leadership and measurement?

    The central leadership implication is that PR teams believe their value depends increasingly on demonstrating results linked to organisational priorities.

    When asked what would increase PR’s value among stakeholders, 66% chose producing measurable results and 62% selected connecting PR activities to key business initiatives. Fifty-seven per cent also cited securing more media coverage or relationships.

    There was, however, a tension between this aspiration and the metrics respondents considered most useful. The four highest-ranked measures were the number of stories placed, reach or impressions, key-message pull-through and website impact. These are largely outputs and intermediate outcomes rather than direct evidence of organisational or stakeholder impact.

    The report notes an important difference between agencies and brands. Agencies were more likely to prioritise the number of stories placed, whereas brand-side practitioners were more likely to rank revenue impact highly. Brand respondents were also more likely to say that connecting PR to business initiatives, improving internal reporting and mitigating reputational risk increased the function’s value.

    This points to a structural difference in how the two sides define success. Agencies appear more focused on deliverables and media performance, while in-house teams are somewhat more concerned with organisational consequences and business alignment.

    Leadership involvement remains strong. Forty-two per cent said the executive team was briefed about PR activities weekly, 16% monthly and 12% daily. CEOs were also the most commonly identified decision-makers for PR and earned-media spending, at 38%.

    The report’s broader implication is that PR’s future credibility will depend on closing the gap between the desire to demonstrate business value and the continued reliance on exposure-based metrics. As media coverage becomes harder to secure, counting placements and impressions alone is unlikely to be sufficient. PR teams will need stronger connections between communication activity, stakeholder response, reputation, digital behaviour and organisational outcomes.

  • Future of Jobs Report 2023 by World Economic Forum

    Future of Jobs Report 2023 by World Economic Forum

    About the paper

    The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023 analyses how macro-trends, technology adoption, skills disruption and workforce strategies are expected to reshape labour markets from 2023 to 2027.

    It is a mixed-methods report built primarily on the fourth Future of Jobs Survey of 803 companies employing more than 11.3 million workers, across 27 industry clusters and 45 economies from all world regions, supplemented with data collaborations from Coursera, Indeed and LinkedIn.

    Length: 296 pages

    More information / download:
    https://www.weforum.org/publications/the-future-of-jobs-report-2023/

    Core Insights

    1. What is the central labour-market outlook presented in the report?

    The report’s central argument is that the global labour market is entering a period of significant structural churn rather than simple expansion or contraction. Employers expect major reconfiguration of roles, driven by technology, the green transition, economic pressure, supply-chain shifts and changing worker expectations.

    The headline estimate is that 23% of jobs will change structurally between 2023 and 2027. In the dataset covering 673 million jobs, employers expect 69 million jobs to be created and 83 million to be displaced, resulting in a net decrease of 14 million jobs, or about 2% of current employment.

    This is not presented as a uniform jobs crisis. The report’s more nuanced claim is that losses and gains will be unevenly distributed. Some roles, especially clerical, administrative and record-keeping jobs, are expected to decline sharply, while roles linked to technology, sustainability, education, agriculture and digital commerce are expected to grow.

    2. Which forces are expected to transform businesses and jobs most strongly?

    The report identifies technology adoption as the most widely expected driver of business transformation. More than 85% of surveyed organisations expect increased adoption of new and frontier technologies and broader digital access to transform their organisations.

    However, the report broadens the analysis beyond technology. It also highlights the green transition, ESG standards, climate adaptation, localisation of supply chains, slow economic growth, inflation, rising costs and geopolitical fragmentation.

    The strongest expected net job-creation effects come from green-transition investment, broader ESG adoption and more localised supply chains. By contrast, the strongest expected net job-destruction effects come from slower economic growth, supply shortages, rising input costs and the rising cost of living.

    So the report’s view is not “technology destroys jobs” or “technology creates jobs”. It argues that technology, climate, economics and geopolitics are interacting, producing both new demand and significant displacement.

    3. Which jobs are expected to grow, and which are expected to decline?

    The fastest-growing roles relative to their current size are mainly technology- and sustainability-related. AI and Machine Learning Specialists are at the top, followed by Sustainability Specialists, Business Intelligence Analysts, Information Security Analysts, Renewable Energy Engineers and related roles.

    Large-scale job growth is also expected in education, agriculture and digitally enabled commerce. The report projects growth in roles such as Vocational Education Teachers, University and Higher Education Teachers, Agricultural Equipment Operators, E-commerce Specialists, Digital Transformation Specialists and Digital Marketing and Strategy Specialists.

    The steepest declines are expected in clerical and administrative work. Bank Tellers, Postal Service Clerks, Cashiers and Ticket Clerks, Data Entry Clerks, Accounting and Payroll Clerks, and Administrative and Executive Secretaries are among the roles expected to decline most.

    The report estimates that 26 million fewer jobs may exist by 2027 in record-keeping and administrative roles alone. This makes administrative work one of the clearest areas of projected displacement.

    4. What does the report say about skills disruption and future skill needs?

    The report estimates that 44% of workers’ skills will be disrupted over the next five years. This is lower than the 57% disruption forecast in the 2020 edition, but still signals substantial pressure on workers and employers.

    Analytical thinking is identified as the most important core skill in 2023, followed by creative thinking. The report also places strong emphasis on resilience, flexibility, agility, motivation, self-awareness, curiosity, lifelong learning and technological literacy.

    The fastest-rising skills include creative thinking, analytical thinking, technological literacy, curiosity and lifelong learning, resilience, systems thinking, AI and big data, talent management and customer-service orientation.

    A key point is that companies’ training priorities do not simply mirror current skill importance. AI and big data rank only 15th as a current core skill, but third as a corporate training priority. This suggests that employers see AI capability as strategically urgent, even where it is not yet embedded across the workforce.

    5. What workforce strategies do companies expect to use, and what are the implications?

    The report finds that employers see skills gaps and difficulty attracting talent as the two biggest barriers to business transformation. Skills gaps in local labour markets are identified by 60% of surveyed companies, while 53% cite inability to attract talent.

    The most common workforce strategies are investing in learning and training on the job, and accelerating automation. Around four in five companies expect to use each of these strategies.

    The report estimates that six in 10 workers will need training before 2027, but only about half currently have access to adequate training opportunities. Companies expect much of this training to happen internally, through on-the-job training, coaching and internal training departments, rather than mainly through external providers.

    The implication is that the future of work will depend heavily on whether organisations can move from abstract concern about skills to practical, scaled workforce development. The report’s underlying assumption is that labour-market disruption is not fully predetermined: policy choices, business investment and talent strategies will shape whether the transition becomes exclusionary or opportunity-generating.

  • 2021 Future of Corporate Communications Study by Edelman

    2021 Future of Corporate Communications Study by Edelman

    About the paper

    The report examines how the corporate communications function is evolving from a transactional support role into a more strategic business partner, focusing on priorities, structures, capabilities, investment, and reporting lines.

    It is a mixed-methods original research report based on a quantitative survey of 200 participants fielded in December 2020 and January 2021, plus 35+ in-depth interviews with senior communications leaders from participating U.S.-based organisations.

    The dataset is globally distributed but heavily North America-led, with survey geographies reported as North America (85%), EMEA (7%), APAC (4%), and Latin America (4%); interview participants were drawn from U.S.-based organisations.

    Length: 76 pages

    More information / download:
    https://www.edelman.com/expertise/commstech/2021-Future-of-Corporate-Comms-Research

    Core Insights

    1. What is the central argument of the report about the future role of corporate communications?

    The report’s core argument is that corporate communications is moving up the strategic continuum, from being treated as a cost centre or executional service provider to becoming a value-generating business partner. Edelman argues that external disruption, especially the pandemic, social issues, business transformation, and a more complex stakeholder environment, has increased the strategic importance of communications inside organisations. The report presents this not as a marginal shift, but as a structural change in what senior communicators are expected to do.

    A major theme is that communications is no longer just about media relations, messaging, and storytelling. Instead, the function is increasingly expected to help shape decisions on risk, workforce issues, reputation, transformation, social purpose, and stakeholder trust. The report says this has brought communicators closer to CEOs, boards, and the C-suite, with 46% now reporting to the CEO versus 34% in 2014, and 77% saying perceptions of communications as a strategic business driver changed within their organisation during 2020.

    At the same time, the report is careful not to suggest that this evolution is complete. It repeatedly notes that progress is uneven. Some organisations still see communications in largely reactive or transactional terms, and maturity varies by industry, geography, and leadership culture. So the report’s argument is both optimistic and cautionary: the opportunity is real, but it has to be claimed and proved.

    2. What forces are driving this shift in corporate communications?

    The report identifies several forces pushing communications into a more strategic role. COVID-19 is presented as the immediate accelerator. It increased the visibility and relevance of communications, especially around employee engagement, business continuity, internal alignment, and executive decision-making. More than half of respondents said COVID-19 shifted the communications focus and demand on their function, with employee communications emerging as the most strongly affected area.

    Beyond the pandemic, the report highlights business transformation as the most important long-term driver, cited by 77% of respondents, followed by social issues at 73%, customer or consumer demand shifts at 56%, and talent at 38%. This matters because it frames communications not as a function reacting to one crisis, but as one increasingly embedded in permanent organisational change. Communicators are being pulled into transformation programmes, social issue response, workforce strategy, and stakeholder trust management.

    The report also stresses the importance of the changing media and information ecosystem. Social media, digital channels, and faster news cycles have altered how organisations reach stakeholders and how quickly reputational issues can escalate. That has expanded the role of communications into digital, content, creative, analytics, and more direct coordination with marketing. In other words, the environment has become too fast, fragmented, and high-stakes for communications to remain a back-end support function.

    3. How does the report say the communications function itself needs to change in order to meet these expectations?

    The report argues that strategic credibility starts inside the function. Communications teams need to change how they think about themselves, how they organise, and what capabilities they prioritise. The report contrasts an older model built around reactive storytelling and service delivery with a newer model based on strategic planning, business acumen, insights, measurable outcomes, and multidisciplinary collaboration.

    A recurring theme is that the modern function must be agile, multidisciplinary, and insights-driven. Teams can no longer rely only on classic PR strengths such as writing, media contacts, and message development. They now need broader capability across employee communications, risk and crisis, brand and corporate positioning, change communications, digital, creative, data, and analytics. The report explicitly describes the ideal talent profile as “T-shaped”: people with deep expertise in one area, but enough breadth to work across multiple strategic contexts.

    The report also argues that relationship-building with senior leadership is essential. Functions that are seen as more strategic have typically earned closer CEO and C-suite access, often by combining stronger counsel with better evidence of impact. It recommends integrated strategic planning, clearer governance, clearer roles, and more consultative team behaviour. The implication is that structural change alone is not enough. A communications team only becomes strategic when it shows business understanding, connects its work to organisational goals, and consistently executes at a high level.

    4. What does the report reveal about investment priorities, technology, and capability gaps?

    One of the clearest findings is that expectations are rising faster than resources. The report says communicators are being asked to do more, across more areas, with stronger proof of business value, but many are not receiving proportional budget increases. It notes that only 6% of CCOs expected a budget increase of 15% or more, while 45% anticipated a budget decrease or no change in the coming year. Later benchmarking pages show a similar tension, with 54% expecting some increase but 46% expecting budgets to stay flat or decline.

    Within that constrained environment, CommsTech emerges as the headline investment priority. The report defines this as the tools, technology, and data that allow communicators to target, measure, and shape perceptions and behaviour. Seventy percent said CommsTech was a top investment area, and the report positions it as central to proving ROI and connecting communications work to business results. But it also shows that adoption is still immature: 44% report baseline media-impression measurement, yet only 30% map revenue growth back to communications activity.

    The report is especially useful in showing why adoption is slow. Barriers include difficulty justifying large tech investments, weak support from CEOs or business leaders, IT ownership conflicts, poor collaboration with marketing and sales, and internal team struggles to adopt digital tools and analytics. So the report is not simply making a pro-technology argument. It is saying that technology only matters if organisations also invest in skills, processes, governance, and data fluency. Capability gaps in change communications, analytics, and ESG are also singled out as emerging needs.

    5. What are the main implications and conclusions for communications leaders and organisations?

    The report’s main conclusion is that this is a pivotal moment for the communications profession. The external environment has created an opening for communications leaders to claim a more central role in business strategy, but doing so requires deliberate change. Communicators must demonstrate business acumen, link activity to outcomes, invest in specialist capability, and speak the language of strategy, ROI, and performance. In the report’s framing, the opportunity will not convert automatically into influence. It has to be operationalised.

    For organisations and CEOs, the implication is equally strong. If they want communications to function as a true strategic partner, they need to bring it into decisions earlier, provide closer access to leadership, resource it properly, and recognise reputation, trust, employee engagement, and stakeholder alignment as business-critical issues rather than peripheral concerns. The report even suggests that some companies are beginning to elevate reputation into shared business goals and leadership accountability.

    The report’s final perspective is practical rather than theoretical. Across its “playbook” sections, it repeatedly returns to six or seven concrete ideas: have a clear vision for the function, align communications with business strategy, combine planning with insight, improve governance and process, build multidisciplinary teams, invest in people and specialist skills, and prove impact through measurement. That makes the report less a prediction document than a management guide for how communicators can turn heightened relevance into durable strategic authority.