The Biggest Obstacles For PR Pros In 2017

Every new year comes with new opportunities and new challenges. 

We asked some of our colleagues in the PR industry: "What are the biggest obstacles PR professionals face in the coming year?" Here are some of their responses.

"With so much swirl in D.C., it may take a couple of months for other industries like technlogy or travel to get back to the share-of-voice that they're accustomed to, or they'll have to fight harder and get creative to maintain or grow it. It may be a good time to experiment with different, more targeted approaches like exclusive or feature placements that don't rely on the echo-chamber effect that could be dampened in the coming year for all but the most prominent players."
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-- Jeannie Entin, Founder, FlipTurn Communications

"For one, probably the same that it's been for a while: demonstrating the real value of PR. 

"The other obstacle goes back to the Trump presidency. Obviously, Trump's win caused a lot of businesses and analysts to rethink how connected they are to "middle America" or the general population. PR pros, in turn, will also need to really consider their communications strategies and messages on behalf of their clients. What we thought we knew about America no longer applies."

​-- Alysha Light, Founder, FlightPR

"Contributed content written by your clients to position them as experts in their industry, is a hot trend and will continue to be a very important part of your PR strategy in 2017. With that being said, media outlets are constantly getting bombarded with guest thought leadership pieces from publicists, which means that you need to make sure you're submitting high quality, stellar content on fresh topics. Also, the Editorial Directors for these media outlets that take contributed content, are constantly changing so it's going to be a little difficult keeping up with who you should be pitching."

-- Kristen Tishchhauser, Co-Founder & CEO, TalkTech Communications

But not everything in 2017 is negative for PR pros...

"I've been in this industry for over 25 years and I believe PR professionals are in a sweet spot right now. Most businesses realize they need PR/Marketing support and are taking PR more seriously. It's not the first thing to be eliminated when budgets get tight anymore."
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-- Jamie Brown, Founder, DirectPR