Last year I launched #FuturePRoof, a crowdsourced book and community with the bold ambition of asserting the value of public relations.
The aim was to kick start the biggest conversation ever about the future of public relations and underline its role as a management discipline driving business growth.
The initiative has been a huge success, so much so that a second book, #FuturePRoof: Edition Two, has followed hot on its heels.
As before, the book is a best practice guide for anyone in the communications business, but this time it draws together over 40 practitioners at the top of their game from around the world in a series of 39 essays.
The first #FuturePRoof guide secured over 2,500 sales and downloads.
Within a week, #FuturePRoof: Edition Two has already been ranked among the top ten books on Kindle variously in management, sales and marketing and public relations.
Helping public relations professionals make sense of change
A key strength of #FuturePRoof: Edition Two is that it helps public relations practitioners make sense of the changing world around them, while providing an eye to the horizon.
Topics include audience insight, influencer relations, tools and technology, as well as agile strategy and business models.
Examples of the contribution of practice to public affairs, marketing, investment and crisis, are all cited. Challenges such as planning and measurement are tackled.
Staff engagement and employer advocacy Ð and the tools you can use to achieve this Ð is a key theme.
Other chapters focus on emerging technologies like livestreaming, augmented and virtual reality and artificial intelligence and how these can be used by public relations practitioners today to organisational benefit.
The opportunity is there for PR; we just
need to take it
Many of the themes are consistent with Dr Jon White’s book How to Understand and Manage Public Relations published in 1991. Twenty-five years on, public relations is experiencing something of a resurgence in confidence thanks to technology and new forms of media.
Thinkers and doers are working together to create projects such as #FuturePRoof, building on work of previous generations.
Professionals recognize that if public relations is to be taken seriously as a management discipline, they need to close their competency gaps in order to provide strategic advice at management level.
What’s more, the industry is waking up to the fact that if the public relations team is guiding organisational strategy, it makes common sense for other disciplines to answer to the PR function within the corporate hierarchy. This is a fundamental change, although one that has yet to gather pace.
Ultimately the industry has a lot to offer, and is a great place to be. According to theÊPRCAÊPR Census published this summer, the sector is worth £12.9 billion and growing by about ten percent each year.
Everyone working in the business ought to think about where the industry is heading next and upskill accordingly in order to capitalize on the opportunities continuing to come our way.
Both editions of #FuturePRoof are available in hard copy via www.futureproofingcomms.co.uk. #FuturePRoof: Edition Two is available on Kindle via tinyurl.com/j8ocm4z.
