The PR Forecast for 2024

This episode was inspired by a recent blog post on SoloPRPro.com – The PR Forecast for 2024. What can we expect in – and from – our industry? How can solos get the most out of our businesses this year and beyond? Let’s find out together.

Transcript

 

Michelle Kane (00:17):

Thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves, people like me, Michelle Kane, and my ever steady co-host, Karen Swim of the hive of PR, the fabulousness of Solo PR Pro, and I should say, Karen, officially Happy New Year.

Karen Swim, APR (00:40):

Yay. Yes. By the time this episode hits, it will be 2024. So hello and Happy New Year, Michelle.

Michelle Kane (00:48):

Can you believe it's, we made it out of 2023. Hopefully

Karen Swim, APR (00:56):

Got out by the seat of our pants

Michelle Kane (01:00):

New year. Let's hope it's not a new dumpster fire.

Karen Swim, APR (01:04):

Let us hope, because 2023 was just a year.

Michelle Kane (01:10):

It definitely had a lot of moments, but we're not going to look back. We're going to look ahead. We are going to address some of the things covered in a recent blog at soloprpro.com, and I encourage you all to head over there and read it. The PR Forecast for 2024, who would we be if we didn't kick off the year just taking a look at what we think is to come? And there were some excellent points that you made, Karen, as always one. Of course, the big thing, and we seem to be talking about this a lot, of course, because it has become a part of our PR lives, is AI. In fact, you say it's raining AI. Yeah. Okay. No, I won't sing it.

Karen Swim, APR (01:58):

It's true. And sometimes I feel like, oh my God, AI again. But the reason that we're talking about it is because it's evolving so quickly. It's being adopted in so many ways in the workplace. And here's the thing that I think PR people need to really watch for, is that there are errors along the way as we're all learning to use the technology. And so we see companies quickly adopting it and feeling like it can replace human beings. It can never do that. And we're seeing this shakeup of people wanting to use this technology and harness the good things that it can do, become more efficient, streamline as everybody's looking to save dollars. So it does create this tension where there's this shakeup towards the end of 2023, we really saw content people being affected by AI and losing work because writing is being done quicker and faster. The AI tool, however, we also see things that are coming out that are not good. We see agencies that are getting pushback from clients because they're using AI to write everything. So we can't lean on the tool too heavily still. I think that the big story in 2024 for us should be the story that we should be writing is AI is a wonderful tool when used ethically, responsibly, and as a tool, not as the replacement. This is not Megan. This is not body in the firm of

Michelle Kane (03:36):

Yeah, no, I completely agree. It is definitely just a tool, a wonderful tool,

Karen Swim, APR (03:42):

A wonderful tool.

Michelle Kane (03:43):

But the fears of replacement, those that use it that way, well do it at your own peril because it is not perfect. I don't care how good it's getting. It's never going to replace the human touch. It's never going to replace, and I'm saying it - never. Just the experience and the depth and the layers that a person can bring. Does it help us? Absolutely. Does it help unpack parts of our brain? Because honestly, I love to write, and yet sometimes depending what I'm writing as I'm loving it, it so it drains you, right? But having this little bit of a help is great, but only you know how to finesse a sentence. Only you know how to make it sing. I forget, I saw it was one of those Facebook posts that goes around, but talking about writing and having a cadence and a rhythm and how that's important to the way your brain receives it, and it's just not there. And I know we were joking off before we started recording, and I won't mention it or read it, but I saw a social media post last night that was so glaringly AI written thanks to the flowery prose that did not sound natural or even it was just bad. I thought, oh, tell me you had ai write your social media posts without telling me you had ai. Write your social media posts.

Karen Swim, APR (05:10):

And let's face it, AI is being integrated into almost every single tool that we're already using media databases to our signature stamps. The world has gone AI crazy. And you know what? In some channels, in some instances, AI completely 100% AI written content may be just fine. It may pass. It's not very good, and it's not very good because for the people who are utilizing AI in that way, because there's plenty of social media platforms that now have an AI component, and yes, they'll generate your posts and generate your visuals. Inherently, there's nothing wrong with that as a starting point or as an ideation point. But again, what happens is that AI should not treated like another member of your team. So you don't want to do away with your marketing team and replace it with AI or you're going to be in trouble. And the laziness, like all laziness in the work setting, you're only going to be able to ride that train for a little while. It's going to stop at some point because people, your audience deserves more and they're going to want better from you.

But the scary part for I think communications people is that you will have these companies, we saw it in 2023 in a way that I have not seen in a long time with a lot of people not believing in PR anymore. They just don't see the value. Big companies, you have groups of CMOs who no longer see the value. And so for those people, they think AI is fine. We will just AI our press releases. We'll AI the stuff, we'll do everything on our own. We'll have marketing handle it because we can draw a straight line and AI will take the place. So I feel like there'll be a little bit of tumult, but I do believe that there will be backlash to anyone who is misusing AI in this way pretty quickly.

Michelle Kane (07:18):

Definitely. Because the people who are receiving these messages, they don't want fake, they don't want glossy, they don't want stuff that's churned out whether they're realizing it or not. Eventually, there will be a backlash. And I mean, think of it this way, as a company, do you do anything without reviewing it first? Do you put anything out there without taking a look at it? Because for those that just rely solely on AI as anything but a tool within your processes, really. Okay, good luck with that.

Karen Swim, APR (07:59):

Yeah, for sure.

Michelle Kane (08:01):

We'll be here to help you pick up the pieces. But yeah, and that is another thing that you did mention in this blog about just the value of PR and how yeah, it really does matter. And like you say, PR has always had a PR problem, haven't we? We're so busy singing the praises of clients and doing client work that all too often we ignore ourselves and our industry and how important.

Karen Swim, APR (08:29):

And I think that we've allowed, unfortunately, everyone else to write our story. We're not the best as an industry at owning our narrative. And it's unfortunate because we get reduced to being media hits and you're only as good as your last media hit. There are PR people, as we all know, that don't even offer media relations services, and there are some that specialize in that. I'm not diminishing the value of media relations. However, the people that specialize in media relations are far from what the public believes they are. They are strategic, they are aligning with the organizational goals. They are providing counseling much more than just, Hey, they're pitching all day. That's all they do. That's not what they do at all. And I believe that a big part of the public really doesn't understand the depth of things that we do as practitioners and the value that we bring to an organization. Unfortunately, what that means is because they don't see the value. We did see a lot of cuts in 2023, but I would like to say that I do believe that particularly for solos and small agencies, don't allow the negative news, the layoffs, and the cuts to drive your 2024 strategy.

Michelle Kane (10:00):

Agree,

Karen Swim, APR (10:01):

There is opportunity in 2024. You have to be willing to innovate the way that you approach things. You have to be willing to take a step back and look as a whole and see the gaps that you can fill and understand. And we did a blog post on this too, what your secret sauce really is, and lean into that because I'm telling you that those who differentiate themselves, those who are willing to modernize their approach, you are going to win in 2024. If you are so busy trying to make yourself look like the traditional agency, you're going to get lost in the mix because there are a lot of companies that would prefer to work with agile, non-traditional agencies. And again, I'm not bashing the traditional agency model. I'm saying don't try to be like them. Stand out and be who you are and lean even further into that special ingredient that is really unique to you and market the heck out of it because there's a place for us. But you have to own that place. You have to step up. You have to be bold, you have to be willing to do your branding. You have to be willing to do your business development outreach. But there is business on the table. This is a huge opportunity for people like us, and I do not want you to miss it in 2024.

Michelle Kane (11:25):

I love what you said. Lean into your secret sauce. And it's so true because all of us as solos at the very outset, our clients are getting advisement from a senior professional. And you're just not getting that elsewhere. And again, again, right? Not to bash agencies, of course not. But if someone needs someone who can come in, assess the situation, get things rolling without having to wait a week for 60 different approvals with the processes, again, that's fine for some. But if there are clients out there who don't necessarily need all that, not that we're not careful, I am the most paranoid, uptight, careful person in the world. But you, you're getting, as Liam Neeson would say, a special set of skills when you go with a solo. And we haven't said this in a very long time, and I am talking to myself again, but yes, put yourself on your client roster this year for 2024. I know I need to get back on that horse. I have not mostly, and I'm sure it's to my detriment, it feels good. It feels comfortable and safe to just serve our clients.

Karen Swim, APR (12:37):

Yes.

Michelle Kane (12:38):

But it's important that we put ourselves out there. We have to poke our heads up and go, “Hey, here I am. This is what I can do for you. This is how I can help you.” And I think getting back to what we were saying about what you were saying about the value of PR, everything we do, everything a company does, everything a brand does tells a story about itself, and PR professionals are the ultimate storytellers. We are the ones who can even look at a customer service interaction and help advise. We can advise on so many levels. Our consultancy is not merely, let's get you in the paper. It is. Okay, so the way that that transaction was handled, that's telling this kind of story. If we make these small changes, it's going to tell a different kind of story, and you're going to walk away with a heavier customer. This is how we affect the bottom line. And again, no, is it widget based? Not always. And that makes it difficult to prove your worth. But we do bring so much to the table at a senior advisory level and as solos, that's what we're bringing.

Karen Swim, APR (13:46):

I also want to speak to a troubling trend that I'm seeing, and that's fewer people accepting less than your market value. My desire is for everyone to have the practice that you want. And so I am not going to be that person that says, if you are not making millions, you're a failure. You are not because you have your own set of income levels and your own goals, but I want you to have what you want to have, not what I want you to have, but what you should have and what you desire. And I want you to have the lifestyle that you want. So we all know that all of us we're experienced, and if we were working in corporate America, we might be making $500-650,000, a million dollars a year, getting bonuses. But that would also come with another price tag. It would mean less flexibility.

It would mean that if you have kids that you couldn't always be home for dinner, that you would miss out on key moments. It mean that you couldn't take off and take three day weekend. So that price comes with another price. So consider all of that, because I know that 2023 was really hard on our industry and hard on us as individuals. We saw lots of talk and lots of attention paid to the mental health of solo PR pros or PR pros in general because PR is very stressful. And many solos really came to a moment of wondering if they wanted to even continue as a solo or if they wanted to go back into corporate America. Sometimes I think that we do look at salaries and benefits and paid vacations, and there are times in all of our careers, and it can happen multiple times where you're like, yeah, that looks pretty good compared to what I'm doing now to work where I want.

But in 2024, I really want you to be really strategic about the services you offer, how you package them, and the price points that you offer. And again, I'm not telling you to aim for a specific number because that's so tailored and so individual, but what I will say to you is, if you're somebody that's looking and saying that, Hey, the salary over here looks really good, I want you to make sure that you do the math that you should be doing, and look at what does that salary really mean? What is it taking to get there? How many hours are they putting in? And make a comparison that actually equates to what you're doing as a solo. And if that number is your goal, I promise you, you can get that number as a solo, whatever that number is, yes, you can get it as a solo.

And if that's your goal, then I want you to be more strategic in achieving your own goals because number one, you don't have to go it alone. I think all solos know that, that we can team up, that we can join forces. You can join forces as a true partnership, or you can join forces as just a consortium of solos. Working together on specific projects can offer a whole different set of services. I love the way that our solos are getting smarter about productizing things and realizing that, Hey, I can have my own little side hustle within my practice by packaging this up and offering this separately. We can all do that. I love that. Yeah. Strategy needs to reign at the top of our list for our own business. We are strategic for our clients. But now I need you in 2024 to make the trend that you're strategic for yourself and how you approach your business and how you offer your services and how you price your services. There is no reason that you should feel like you are struggling in the ghetto of the PR industry while your peers in corporate are thriving in middle and upper middle class status. That line does not have to be drawn. It's up to you. So I want you to be happy, and I want you to be successful because you have what you need that is going to make you feel satisfied.

Michelle Kane (18:07):

Absolutely. Well, with that, you've inspired me. Darn. I'm ready to go. Let's go until we stop recording and my to-do list takes over. But yeah, you know what? Let's promise ourselves, this is a promise that we can make to ourselves as PR pros. And why not start right now with this year? Well, we hope that this has been valuable to you. We hope this is giving you a juicy start to 2024. We will put the link to this particular blog in the show notes, and if you hey, inspire others, share this around, we would love that. And until next time, thank you for listening to That Solo Life.