The 3 hottest PR trends for 2014: Stephen Waddington
In the second of a two-part interview with Cision, Stephen Waddington, digital and social media director for Ketchum Europe and president of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), lists the hottest PR trends and predictions for 2014.
Stephen Waddington
The ongoing shift from traditional to new media. Not so long ago PR was centered on press releases but digital media has introduced a new workflow. We are moving to more agile models of communication. Conversations with clients and their audiences don’t stop after office hours – it’s 24/7.
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Increasing use of data. Companies such as Cision help PRs listen and interpret insights based on data. Why? Because data enables us to move from business decisions taken based on experience, to decisions based on facts derived from hard data which is more powerful, more reliable.
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The PR business has traditionally been lousy at proving its value. Rather than addressing this issue head on we’ve relied of faux proxies such as advertising equivalent value. That’s changing thanks to the work of the Association of Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) and a rigorous focus on setting and measuring objectives both in terms of outputs and outcomes. Practitioners need to align themselves as closely as possible with organisational objectives.
Getting to know Stephen Waddington:
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The first thing I do when I come into work is: Make a cup of coffee.
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My biggest peeve is: Lack of fact checking before sharing or retweeting information.
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If I wasn’t in PR I would be a: Farmer. My wife and I have a small holding in rural Northumberland. In fact that’s where I am right now.
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I wish journalists would: Realise that PRs have an important role to play in communications.
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Five years from now you can find me: An international client leader at Ketchum, helping the PR profession to modernize and grow.
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[…] part two of the interview that will be published tomorrow, Stephen lists the hottest trends in the PR […]