How The PR & Communications Industry has Navigated 2020 to Support the Evolving Needs of Clients

Like almost every single industry, the world of PR and communications has had to adapt to the COVID-era and learn how to operate in volatile times. However, one of the huge advantages for those businesses and individuals working in public relations, is that we are used to operating in a crisis or high-intensity mode almost every day for our clients. The very nature of PR is to be adaptable, so while no-one was prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic and its far-reaching implications from health to the economy, as an industry we were well-equipped to pivot our services and continue to serve our clients at full speed.

The agencies that have been able to offer industry-leading expertise in areas such as reputation management, crisis communications and employee engagement, as well as seamlessly transition to a fully remote and digital client experience, are surviving the best right now. But will, and should, these structural changes be permanent post-COVID?

1. An increased focus on reputation management

In today’s interconnected world with instant communication and 24/7 media reporting via traditional media outlets and social channels, reputation management has never been so important. Even before the pandemic, our clients were beginning to dedicate an increasing amount of time and money towards establishing effective reputation and risk management procedures from the ground up. COVID-19 and the events of 2020, including the Black Lives Matter movement and other social justice issues, have accelerated this trend as an organization’s reputation is most at risk when it fails to demonstrate competence and transparency in public.

2. Improving employee communications and engagement

When a crisis occurs, CEO’s and senior leadership often focus their communication efforts on external stakeholders, but as we have seen this year, consistent and effective internal communication is also hugely important and will likely determine how fast and how well an organization can recover. We have worked with our clients to deliver timely and deliberate decisions from senior management to their staff, to ensure employees feel safe, informed and appreciated. This can be done through regular CEO letters, videos and platforms like Yammer. Frequent communication showing that senior leaders care about employees’ well-being, not just the business, is even more important as we navigate the remote working environment.

3. The digitization of services

While we all miss in-person interaction, overall, the PR and communications industry has been able to successfully switch to working fully remote. In line with that transition, we have seen an increasing demand from clients for more creative solutions for traditionally in-person services for example events, resulting in the creation and production of more visual assets like videos, which can also be leveraged across social platforms.

Another notable shift is media training. Typically, these are conducted with CEO’s and senior leaders in their offices, offering valuable 1–1 interaction, but as COVID spread across the U.S., businesses (including TV show hosts) moved to work from home. This created a unique environment where both the interviewer and interviewee had to re-skill to be able to effectively deliver a strong interview through a remote camera — offering the same level of energy, engagement and personality as if they were actually in the studio. However there has also been a benefit to switching media training and subsequent broadcast interviews to remote — the ease of access to industry experts, who without the travel time, are able to comment on news as it breaks.

No one has been immune to the challenges of 2020, with everyone having to adapt both personally and professionally to be able to make it through the year. As we near year-end and reflect on the adjustments we have made as an industry over the past several months, I believe some of these areas, as detailed above, should continue to be a focus for clients moving forward as they formulate their business strategy for 2021 and beyond.