Tracy Lamourie and Brian Stephens of Caissa Public Strategy on PR Post-Pandemic

We spoke to a number of PR pros about the future of the industry post-pandemic.  We got a variety of thoughts.

First up, Tracy Lamourie is the author of the upcoming book GET REPPED – Build Your Brand With Effective Public and Media Relations. She’s an effective public relations consultant, and shared her thoughts with us, “If we are looking at the industry as a whole, I don’t think the pandemic actually either helps or hurts the Public Relations industry.   Covid may have slammed agencies that do their primary work in things like VIP events, concerts, conventions and speaking engagements – but for those able to pivot their skills to the promotion of other projects – there is no shortage of work. 

For the first few weeks of the pandemic I panicked – at that time a good 75 percent of Lamourie PR & Media work was related to those kinds of in person events – travel to 7 cities in 4 states on 3 different projects in 3 different industries and the related events was suddenly halted.   Like everyone else I was in a state of shock wondering how my business would get through it.  But as soon as I stopped worrying and headed back to my desk – projects started rolling in – from authors wanting to get their books into the hands of people who might be tired of netflix after a month homebound, from entrepreneurs launching new ideas since their office jobs had ground to a halt, to a myriad of new podcasts to promote.  Artists still need to get their music out there, and they may need the help of a strategic publicist to get heard in the absence of stages and new artist showcases.  In addition, if your PR work includes consultation as well as media, there are a whole lot of businesses looking for new ways to present themselves and their services,’’ added Lamourie.

Brian Stephens, CEO of Caissa Public Strategy, noted that “The future of public relations is going to be centered around effective communication. To me, that involves more owned media/thought leadership content, segmented by audience group with clear goals/messaging. That messaging and one’s (an individual’s or a company’s) influence must be backed by data. It must add value. And it must influence. I can’t say whether the pandemic will help or harm the industry as a whole, but I do know that all businesses will be in this state of disruption for another year or two, if not longer. Because of this, PR practitioners must continue to advocate for what they’re doing right, or encourage their clients to do the same, and how they are providing value.”

We will keep speaking to more PR experts in the weeks to come.