Rethinking how influence works when everyone has a voice.
The era of mass media is fading fast. Rising in its place are niche communities, independent creators and audiences that expect communication to be a conversation, not a broadcast.
In this decentralized environment, PR pros can no longer rely on traditional media outlets to reach large swaths of consumers. A new game requires a new playbook.
During a panel discussion at Ragan’s Future of Communications Conference in Austin, Texas, last November, experts outlined three rules for navigating the modern media landscape.
- Get permission: No one likes an uninvited party guest. Or a snoop who keeps tabs on other people’s business. Yet this is often how brands come across when they start posting in comment sections on Reddit or sending highly personalized messages to shoppers who’ve only browsed their website a handful of times. It’s important to understand how consumers want to be approached. They need to opt in to an experience rather than have that experience forced upon them. “It’s about permission,” said Susan Oguche, founder of the consultancy Brilliance Communications. Brands need to make sure people are “confirming that they want to be part of this,” she added.
- Remember the “R” in PR: As journalists leave established media companies to create their own Substack newsletters or YouTube channels, the focus is shifting from the institution to the individual. This means the way forward involves investing more time and energy in relationships, as opposed to increasing the volume of transactions. “It’s all about going back to the ‘R’ in PR,” said Joe Gallo, director of communications at PayPal. “It’s having those coffees with reporters. Having meals, lunches. Just understanding what they’re looking for in their own careers. Building friendships, essentially.”
- Pick something and stick with it: One-off campaigns aren’t convincing. Inconsistent and disconnected messaging only undermines what brands say next. As distrust continues to grow and online trends come and go at a quickening pace, the best way to establish credibility is to plant deep roots and be patient. “Brands need to do things for longer,” said Tod Plotkin, CEO and founder of Green Buzz Agency, a video production company. “Campaigns are too short. If you lean in for something for six, eight, 10 years, you actually get associated with it. It’s not just in one ear, out the other.”
Watch the full session, titled “From Mass Media to Micro-Marketing: Winning in a Decentralized World,” on Ragan Training.
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