2023 is right around the corner. A new year always brings unknowns, but this year preparing your digital PR and marketing strategy is more important than ever. 

This week the focus is on communication – something that is vital to every aspect of our lives. 

And if you are working in marketing, PR, social media, or communications in the workplace, it is the very core of your profession.  Although there are the accepted rules of good communication that have stood the test of time, technology has disrupted, and in some cases completely upended, the process. 

If you thought we’d reached a point where all businesses were up to speed digitally, think again.  According to a CMO survey, digital marketing spending reached 58 percent of marketing budgets, reflecting 15.8 percent growth over the last year. While most have made a good start, and more than half now report that they are in making good progress, only 11 percent of companies have fully institutionalized the digital transformation process.

One of the duties of a PR person is to monitor the environment and give feedback to the executives of a brand so that they can align their vision and their activities with the trending sentiment of their publics. However, this can prove to be a tricky tightrope act.  Witness the Coca Cola debacle of "sensitivity" training intended to lessen racial tensions in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.

With most of America staying safer at home, the demand for online content has sky-rocketed. There’s been a 22 – 27 percent increase in social media impressions in the last month, depending on the platform.

You keep hearing that it’s vital to learn how to use data and analytics, but the very thought gives you a headache. You’re a PR person, not a data scientist. (And that’s probably the last thing you’d ever want to be.)You love your job and you thrive on creating content and messaging that builds awareness, authority, and affinity for your brand.

 Although Google’s algorithm is very complicated and includes over 250 different elements, luckily for us they’ve been very open and clear about what gets good ranking in their search engine. Their stated goal is to organize the information on the internet and give their users the very best possible experience and result when they search for something online. With that in mind, their parameters for ranking make perfect sense.

If you're studying PR, or you're working in the industry, the recent study from USC Annenberg should be by your bedside. The report covers the disruption of the PR industry, what's changing, what talent is needed in the new model of PR, and where the industry is headed.

Digital technology is constantly evolving and changing and as it does, it affects how we craft our business communications.  Keep your eye on these five content trends that affect your PR and marketing strategy:

Brands and organizations are naturally interested in the journey of their customers, supporters or members.  Where did they find out about us, what fires up their interest, what moved them to become a customer or client or patient, and what prompts them to act as an advocate?

The TEKsystems report on the Top Digital Skills CMOs are looking for in 2018  has analytics top of the list.While measurement has long been a vital part of marketing, it hasn't always been part of the required PR resume. That's changing. In a recent post PR News stated:

"Data analytics and insights will be more valuable on your resume than "people skills" or great writing."

If the idea of technology invading the practice of PR freaks you out a little, perhaps all you need is a different perspective.  Yes, technology can be daunting, but it can also make your life a lot easier, help you achieve better results and demonstrate the value of your work.

These three tools can do just that.

PR Measurement is fast becoming a hot topic of conversation among PR practitioners.

“Measurement has to be a focus for PR.  In the digital world everyone has to start to look at the metrics to help them drive strategy.”

Eileen Sheil, Executive Director of Communications at the Cleveland Clinic.

This is an interview with Eileen Sheil about the changes in the practice of PR and the need for measuring the value of our work.

It's that time of year when predictions and suggestions are made for the new year.  Forbes made a list of the digital skills they see as the most important and TEKsystems polled 250 CMOs to find out what skills they're looking for in 2018. Distilling all this data down into one list, here are my picks:

There's been a lot of discussion around women’s rights this year. One issue that hasn’t received much attention is women's financial literacy and the ability to make her own financial decisions. While the other issues are important, this one could be the most important of all.  The ability to make wise financial decisions affects everything else you do for the duration of your lifetime.Almost half (46.8%) of the U.S. labor force is women. Fewer companies offer a guaranteed pension and even Social Security may not be as secure as we once believed it to be. And, as a woman, you‘re likely to be single at one time or another, due to divorce or the death of a spouse.  So understanding financial basics and learning to manage your finances is essential.  To do this you need to be financially literate.

The Digital World is all around us.  It’s created by the convergence of the virtual and the physical and digital transformation is happening at a dizzying pace. Digital has become so intertwined with our everyday existence it touches almost every aspect of our lives.

The one thing you can rely on in Social Media is that there will be change.

Each year new networks pop up and some go away. The major social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter) have been fairly stable for the past five or six years, but that might be about to change -Twitter just reported a dismal Q4 for 2016: 16 cents per share on revenue of $717 million.

As the lines between traditional PR and digital PR blur there are many new avenues for brands to reach and engage with their stakeholders. Many of these opportunities require new digital skills that were previously not part of the PR training regimen.

Digital PR and SEO are traditionally worlds apart.  But that gap is disappearing and with the new Google's updates, PR skills could just be the missing link that gets the best SEO results.

VA Secretary Robert McDonald put both his  corporate feet in his mouth this week when he suggested that veterans should not complain about the long wait time for an appointment to see a doctor at the VA.  After all, said McDonald, people waiting in line at Disneyland never complain.  It's not about the wait, he said.  It's about the satisfaction of the experience once you get there.