Building trust with clients, journalists, and audiences is still the goal of every Lakeland public relations. But the tactics have changed in the past years, giving credence more to digital presence rather than the use of the traditional tri-media.

If you want your business to be fully prepared for the changes that will come the PR industry’s way this year, you have to integrate yourself with enough knowledge about the latest trends in public relations.

PR, advertising, and marketing will be more intertwined

Over the past couple of years, we have seen how the lines between these three disciplines have blurred. Companies are trying to integrate these three into a single coherent campaign both to save on cost and also because it is more effective that way.

The audience barely recognizes the difference between these three principles. For them, everything is promotional and businesses want to sell rather than influence (as what PR does).

Today’s PR professionals can become brand ambassadors, social media experts, content marketers, and trend spotters. PR teams are going to rebrand themselves and offer services in the marketing and advertising spheres.

PR must work closely with content marketers

If there’s one good thing that happened in the PR industry over the years it’s the shift from writing articles and publishing them with solely the intention to sell or raise brand awareness.

Today, Lakeland public relations must earn the trust of the audience by providing relevant and valuable information about the products and services they are offering. Content marketing is increasingly becoming a greater priority for PR as the audience now engages with brands through the internet and social media.

Personal branding for business leaders

Gone are the days when people don’t care about who’s running the show. CEOs can hide behind their brands and the public will never give them a second glance when they pass by them in public.

That changes now. The company officials are representative of the business, too. That’s why thought leadership and personal branding have become priorities for Lakeland public relations professionals in the past couple of years.

Google’s algorithm allows for linkless mentions

It used to be that backlinks are the strongest signal of a website’s quality and trustworthiness. The ultimate goal is securing a press mention or write-up where links to your website will be included.

But the problem with this is the links are becoming the priority. Thankfully, Google changed its algorithm and can now understand the context of a mention even without an appropriate link.