New generation PR: current trends of our time

Public relations, that is, PR is a technology that manages the interaction between an individual or company, as well as the public. It is aimed at creating a positive image of a product or organization on the market, which will ultimately help attract an audience and achieve business goals. Many experts agree that PR is the establishment of effective relationships with the desired audience, as well as their subsequent support.

This PR marketing technology itself has existed on the market for quite a long time. It is clear that it has undergone various changes and adjustments. Methods and solutions have changed. But still, the most dramatic changes have occurred quite recently. In particular, last year has radically changed the rules of the game in PR as a whole. If you have already worked in this niche, then you probably know that until recently a campaign that provided maximum coverage of the user audience was considered successful. But today this is already in the past. Modern business relies on authenticity, the ability to create deep and long-term connections with the audience, social influence. And this means that the approaches to implementing this idea will also be different.

As part of today's review, we will dwell in detail on what modern PR marketing is, what types of it are used in practice today. We will talk about current PR tools, highlight the main stages of such companies. We will provide a number of trends that will be relevant in the framework of PR marketing at the present time. The information provided will help you navigate current trends and establish effective relationships with your target audience, which will have a positive impact on the development of your brand in the market as a whole.

What is PR and what is its value

By and large, PR is part of the overall marketing strategy. That is, any marketing work aimed at promoting a business involves the use of specialized PR tools. In particular, we are talking about posting articles and specially prepared press releases, holding seminars, presentations, creating mailings and performing a number of related tasks. But, despite all this, it is important to understand that PR is not a full-fledged strategy, but only a separate component, albeit a fairly serious one.

In practice, PR is often confused with advertising, or even classified as propaganda, but these are completely different methods. The fact is that advertising is this is an exclusively paid tool, while PR can be free. Moreover, any advertising campaign is always aimed at increasing sales figures, while PR is still mainly used to increase brand awareness, to form the image of a solid and reliable company in the market. PR should not be confused with propaganda. In the latter case, unethical tactics, unreliable or deliberately false information are very often used. PR is a priori focused on the formation of reliable and long-term interaction with the audience. That is, this can only be ensured through an open and honest attitude.

First of all, it is very important to understand that PR is what works for the benefit of the business's reputation, helps to build reliable and long-term relationships with contractors, partners, clients, and in some cases even government agencies, to attract the attention of investors. Also, a well-developed strategy will help to establish good, trusting relationships between the manager and employees./p>

That is, well-implemented PR marketing will help to solve a number of key tasks facing any business:

• increasing recognition in the market of an individual or the company as a whole;
• promoting brand values;
• creation of a positive reputation in the market, loyalty from the audience, partners, colleagues;
• smoothing out conflict situations, resolving crises;
• increasing the company's weight in the market, authority in the relevant industry.

But you can only achieve your goals if you manage to implement the upcoming work as correctly as possible. To do this, it is important to have deeper and more professional knowledge in this niche. And the first thing you should be aware of is the types of PR.

Main types of Public relations

Today, modern marketers use in practice different types of technologies and tools that can be classified as PR. But if you distribute them depending on a number of criteria, you can distinguish 2 main groups. In particular, the following classification is provided:

1. By emotional component.
2. By direction.

To make it easier to understand what exactly is being discussed in this case, let's consider both categories in more detail.

Types of PR depending on emotional coloring

Any company, both advertising and PR, will necessarily contain the so-called "emotional component". If we translate it into a color scheme, then we can distinguish the following types of PR:

• White. This is a classic solution of its kind. It is based on a policy of openness, honesty, transparency. This will include everything that implies absolutely honest work. Information reasons, news that will be used here are truthful. White PR will help build the most trusting and long-term relationships with the audience better than any other method.
• Black. This PR is the complete opposite of the previous option, in all its nuances. That is, unverified, and in most cases deliberately false information is used here, designed to tarnish the reputation of a particular company or an individual. Black PR is mostly used by competitors and all those who would like to cause serious damage to a business. The main methods used here are the publication of compromising evidence, negative information, viral posts on social networks allegedly on behalf of dissatisfied customers. That is, everything that can tarnish a brand or an individual is used here and lead to the fact that the company's clients will fall for such tricks and simply switch to competitors.
• Gray. If white PR is all legal and honest, black PR is false and untrue actions, then gray PR is something in between the two options. That is, here we are talking about forming a positive image of the brand, but using not entirely ethical methods. The most common solution in this case is the publication of reviews, responses about the company on behalf of non-existent clients. In this case, the so-called "purchased" reviews are used.
• Yellow. Surely you have already heard such a phrase as "yellow press" - a publication of dubious reputation, presenting the market with unreliable, and at the same time too flashy information. In essence, yellow PR will be the same. It is aimed at attracting public attention to a company or an individual with the help of sensations, scandals. At the same time, the reliability of such information is highly questionable. Most often, in practice, this technique is used by public figures in order to fill the audience with information about themselves.
• Green. This is a separate area of PR marketing aimed at ensuring environmental protection. That is, it will be everything related to ecology. Most often, this category includes special promotions launched in social networks, open support for charitable foundations.

Practice shows that in reality, most companies use PR with different emotional colors, trying to attract as much audience as possible to their business.

Types of PR by focus

In this case, we classify PR depending on the direction or market niche in which it is used. In particular, the following types are distinguished:

• Political. From the name itself, it is clear that such PR will be aimed at building trust in government agencies, government officials, and increasing the recognition of a particular person who is directly related to politics.
• Business. The action of such PR is aimed at establishing stable and promising relationships with the consumer market. With its help, potential clients are introduced to the company itself, its values, and presented with goods and services.
• Social. Marketers use this type of PR in order to form certain values and ideas related to social initiatives in the audience. Sponsorship and various charitable projects are also actively included here.
• Anti-crisis. Such PR marketing is aimed at predicting possible problems, as well as resolving the consequences of the crisis that has arisen. Here, the main task is to minimize the negative impact of what happened on the level of sales and business as a whole.
• Investment. In this case, marketers will take actions aimed at forming stable support for the brand from investors, demonstrating the investment attractiveness of the business, and attracting new partners.
• Corporate. With the help of such PR, the most comfortable and trusting environment is created within the company, communications with employees are provided and maintained. Here, personnel are also involved in conducting internal corporate activities.

That is, in this case, it is worth choosing the option of a PR company depending on what goals and objectives you are facing at a given time.

Tools of modern PR marketing

To establish a reliable connection with the target audience, maintain communication at a high level, marketers use various PR tools. The most popular and in-demand solutions today include:

1. Press releases for mass media. Here we are mainly talking about informing the public about new products, important events and changes that have occurred in the company.
2. Events that take place within the company. This is what ensures closer communication between staff, as well as contact with the target audience. During such events, you can create a good news hook.
3. Events that are held outside the company. This can be participation in seminars, exhibitions, thematic conferences, special promotions. Thanks to this, it is possible to attract the attention of the target audience, the media.
4. Preparation and publication of expert-class materials, posting comments from specialists. This is what helps to present the company in the most favorable light, display its deep level of knowledge in the relevant industry, present itself in the most favorable light.
5. Sponsorship. This is the PR tool that will require certain financial investments from the company. This will be especially relevant when it comes to such large events as concerts, championships. But this is the easiest and fastest way to ensure access to the widest possible audience and attract their attention to your products and services.
6. Research. This is what can also attract public attention to your brand. Practice shows that quite unusual and high-quality events are instantly distributed on social networks, attracting the attention of leading media. As a result, the number of mentions of the brand increases, recognition increases.
7. Launching work with bloggers. Modern marketers often launch special presentations of their products and services with the involvement of opinion leaders. The specifics of the relationship here can be different: payment for services, provision of goods, etc.
8. Maintaining accounts in social networks, special blogging platforms, and messengers. This solution allows you to gain access to a fairly wide audience. You will be able to convey relevant and interesting information to them, which will simultaneously promote your personal or corporate brand.

Most of these PR tools are combined with each other, which allows you to get maximum results and ensure large-scale audience coverage.

The main stages in the implementation of PR campaigns

In order for your PR campaign to be as successful as possible and fully meet your expectations, it is important to approach its implementation comprehensively and professionally. Here you will have to consistently go through several stages, paying special attention to each of them. In particular, we are talking about the following points:

1. Planning. The overall result of the PR campaign directly depends on how thoroughly you work through this stage. Here you need to identify the existing problem, perform a comprehensive market analysis, and study public opinion. Based on the information received, the main goal is formulated, which will form the basis of the future promotion strategy. In most cases, this can be the introduction of a new product or brand as a whole, the formation or maintenance of a good reputation, increasing brand awareness or an individual, attracting investments, new employees and business partners, smoothing out conflict situations and overcoming the crisis. But there may be other goals. Often, they are set for the marketer by the company manager.
2. Implementation. At this stage, everything that was previously conceived using the PR tools we talked about earlier is put into practice. Mostly, newsbreaks are created, relationships with the target audience, the media, opinion leaders are established, various events are held within the company and beyond. We would like to draw attention to the fact that the more thoroughly the previous stage is developed, the better the results will be during implementation.
3. Analysis of results. This is what will allow you to understand whether you are moving in the right direction and see how your PR works in practice. In this case, you will be able to immediately respond to changes, increasing the effectiveness of the events launched. We would like to draw attention to the fact that these works should be carried out literally from the moment the PR campaign is launched and until its completion. Here it is optimal to use specialized analytical tools that will allow you to collect all the important information, structure it and receive a visual report.

Even before launching a PR campaign, it is important to conduct a comprehensive market assessment, analyze the mentions that currently exist about the brand in social networks and the media. In some cases, it would be useful to conduct audience surveys. Based on this information, it will be possible to build a predicted development of the situation, and already during the PR campaign, monitor how much the current situation coincides with the planned one. The result of the work in any case should be a summary, namely, whether it was possible to achieve the set goal with the help of the launched PR. Forecasts are also made regarding the subsequent development of events and an assessment of how all this will affect the company's reputation.

Current trends in PR

At the beginning of the review, we already mentioned that PR marketing is This is a technique that has been used in practice for quite a long period of time. But in order to get maximum results in practice, achieve your goals, it is important to keep up with the times and follow the trends that are relevant in the market at the moment. This is the only way you can attract the attention of the audience, form the image of a solid and reliable brand, and stand out from the competition. And here, familiarity with the latest trends in PR will be of great help to you. Take them into service to increase the effectiveness of your campaigns. In particular, we are talking about the following points:

• Involve artificial intelligence in developing strategies. Today, neural networks are developing very actively, and machine learning technologies are being introduced into almost all spheres of human activity. This is also relevant for PR marketing. If you choose a good AI assistant for yourself or create one for a specific task literally from scratch, you can significantly speed up and simplify the upcoming work. In particular, neural networks will help you with the preparation of personalized content, will be able to predict potential risks and crisis situations, assess the emotional state of the audience. However, we do not recommend relying entirely on artificial intelligence. You can use it as an assistant, but it will still be important to check and control its work. Full automation can lead to your PR company going the wrong way, and you will simply lose time and invested funds.
• Move away from classic media support. Unfortunately, today this direction has already lost its relevance. Classic media and other “eternal” media projects are gradually becoming a thing of the past. They are being forced out of the market by social networks, blogging platforms, and instant messengers. Therefore, you need to shift your focus to such platforms. You can create them from scratch yourself, thinking through every detail, taking into account the specifics of the business and the characteristics of the audience you are targeting. This is what will allow you to move away from classic media support without any harm to the brand. Here, cooperation with opinion leaders, especially in the digital environment, professional account management on social networks and other Internet platforms will provide you with significant assistance. It is necessary to pay due attention to studying your target audience and then offer such material that will be of interest to them. The entire work process is best carried out in the so-called “single window mode”. This is something that will significantly save your time, but at the same time expand your opportunities for interaction with the audience. That is, creating your own media space without involving third-party media is what will allow you to cover an impressive audience and establish direct contact with potential clients. Cooperation with popular bloggers gives good results in increasing brand awareness in the market. Their selection must be approached with the utmost care. It is important that the niches, as well as the goals, values of the opinion leader and your brand coincide.
• Be sure to follow ethical rules and make your PR campaigns as transparent as possible. Honesty and openness are what any PR strategy should be built on. That is, we recommend betting on white PR. Although in this case the results will not be so impressive and fast, you will receive approval from the audience, will be able to gain an excellent reputation and minimize all possible risks. It is important to understand from the very beginning that attempts to hide compromising information, open lies - this is what can negatively affect the brand's image. Particular attention should also be paid to the fight against disinformation. We have already talked about the fact that competitors often use black PR, launching fake news, open lies in order to denigrate the name of a certain person or company as a whole. If you say one thing, and completely different information about you appears on the Internet or in the media, then the audience may take you for an insufficiently reliable brand. Therefore, it is important to track all mentions of the company, as well as promptly respond to them, smoothing out conflicts or catching in disinformation.
• Add gamification elements to your PR campaigns. Modern users respond positively to various interactive activities, and take part in them with pleasure. Moreover, certain information is best absorbed and remembered in a game format. This means that this way you can most effectively tell about yourself, present your products and services. Game elements also make communication between the brand and customers more interesting, active, and lively, which will help increase engagement. You should understand that the metaverse, gamification, and virtual space are what have become the norm today in providing communication. If you manage to implement everything as correctly as possible, then you have every chance of making your audience co-authors of your PR campaign. As a result, you will be able to form a strategy that will fully correspond to the interests of the audience and the trends that are observed in the market today. All this is especially relevant for businesses whose target audience is zoomers.
• Let's move from interaction with the audience to direct partnership. Any modern business should focus on customer focus. In modern conditions, this means that you need to move away from classical interaction to establishing the most reliable and long-term partnerships. That is, try to make your clients become part of the history of the brand's development as a whole. To implement this, you will need to provide an individual approach to clients, personalize offers, respond immediately to requests, and take into account the interests and opinions of the audience. Thanks to this, you will be able to establish the most friendly and trusting relationships with your customers and receive quick feedback. This is the only way you will be able to see what problems your business has and eliminate them as quickly as possible. At the same time, people will understand that their opinion is important to you. As a result, this will increase loyalty and engagement. That is, you will be able to solve the key tasks facing your business.
• Use social networks wisely. No one will argue that social networks are an integral part of modern life. Here people spend a lot of time communicating, studying interesting information. That is why businesses have actively begun to use such platforms to promote their own goods and services. They are also actively used to launch PR campaigns. Therefore, it is very important for specialists to learn how to make the most of the opportunities they provide them. In particular, with the help of social networks, you can engage the audience in business, promote brands, quickly smooth out conflict situations, and also manage your reputation in general. But here it is very important to constantly monitor what publications about the company will appear on social networks and respond to them as quickly as possible. This will be relevant for both negative and positive responses, misinformation. Your task here is to behave in a balanced manner and not to make rash statements. You must understand that any negativity or scandal that develops on a social network will be immediately picked up by the media, providing it with maximum publicity. And your task is to prevent this.
• Work on the revival of local communities. In order to constantly keep up with the times and stay on trend, you need to clearly understand where exactly your audience is concentrated and actively present your brand in this location. Until recently, on average, only 3 touches were enough to motivate a buyer to perform a target action. Today, this figure has increased to 9. This means that you will have to work much harder. Significant help here can be obtained through interaction with local communities. Focus on returning to regional culture, history, and you will see how much more effective your communication with potential buyers has become. In practice, such an approach will be especially useful for large brands represented in different regions, and even countries. This can be done by focusing on local traditions and values, taking into account the local context. You can also launch a joint work with a local influencer. But again, you need to approach their choice quite professionally.
• Analytics should be the basis of any PR campaign. This means that you should constantly be aware of how your strategy works, what results it gives. Today, thanks to the availability of a huge range of specialized tools, collecting and processing information has become as simple, convenient, and flexible as possible. The more you know about the current state of the market, the characteristics of your target audience, the more accurate your targeting settings will be, and the content you launch will exactly match the expectations of potential buyers. It is also important to understand which generation you are targeting. The same millennials, zoomers, boomers have their own characteristics, have individual preferences. And this must be taken into account when developing a PR campaign, building effective communication. This way you can increase the customer focus of your own business and adapt it to the current needs and interests of the market.
• Look at your PR marketing through the prism of ecology. Recently, more and more attention has been paid to environmental protection. And this aspect should also affect the work of each brand. Thus, today in the world there are many large and small companies that actively support popular environmental initiatives, launch campaigns aimed at protecting nature. Therefore, any business, when developing a PR strategy, should also focus on environmental responsibility, and in a fairly long-term perspective. This is what will allow you to gain an appropriate reputation, and get significant benefits for your own image from this. Only here the main thing is to take a responsible approach to the implementation of these works. Caring for nature is something that should not be done just for the sake of it. All your words should be confirmed by actions. At the same time, do not turn them into a show, because the audience will sooner or later see the catch, notice the inconsistencies. And the results here can be quite disastrous for the brand's reputation and its subsequent work on the market as a whole.
• Focus on a product approach in PR marketing. This means that you need to move your product or service to the forefront, rather than scattering yourself on trifles. In this case, we are talking about launching more flexible strategies during the management of various projects, which will allow you to make adjustments to them based on the analytical data received. Moreover, the work of your PR managers should be carried out in close cooperation with the sales departments. You should focus on key business performance indicators and specific KPIs.

If you use these recommendations, you will notice how much more effective your PR campaigns have become. Yes, there is a lot of work to be done, but the result is still worth it. Moreover, today you have at your disposal a sufficient number of specialized tools that can significantly speed up the execution of these tasks, automate some of them.

Summing up

We hope that the information presented in today's review helped you to understand what modern PR marketing is and by what criteria it is classified, to understand the main tools and how to implement these works step by step. We also provided a number of recommendations, using which you can build a modern and effective PR campaign that will fully meet your expectations.

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