This research commissioned by PRophet, the first-ever AI-driven PR pitch platform built by and for PR professionals, and conducted by The Harris Poll in the summer of 2022, has revealed PR professionals’ true feelings around how tech – and more specifically AI – is affecting the PR industry, and a range of other industry issues.
We invite you to learn more about the findings of this report, which was published on September 13, 2022, by accessing the entire executive summary below.
Majorities of PR professionals identify a dramatic change over the years in their strategies for getting earned media pickup (74%) – some going as far as describing the process as impacting their overall ability to be successful in their role (42% obtaining quality earned media pick up and 39% predicting media interest in pitches). The vast majority (90%) wish there was more they could do in the initial project planning to help gain greater earned media pickup.
Personal relationships with journalists are more important than ever (89%) yet maintaining and best utilizing these relationships are not without struggle for many PR professionals. When ranking importance of key aspects of getting earned media pickup head-to-head, 45% rank quality content as most important, but personal relationships with and understanding of what journalists are interested in are considered most important to many (28%; 28% respectively).
While PR professionals do not necessarily consider themselves tech laggards (5%), many are lacking a clear strategy (47%) and are relying on their gut when it comes to pitching (72%). Use of PR tech platform trails behind other approaches (54% currently using to help better pitch content), yet interest in such platforms (95%) appears to exceed potential drawbacks.
Data privacy is a key concern for PR professionals when sharing pitch materials with a PR tech platform (84%), yet overall understanding of what information is stored by PR tech platforms is low (80% are aware media list may be stored, 54% are aware the story angle may be stored). And four in five (79%) PR professionals say that having lower data privacy risks has a major or moderate impact on their likelihood to utilize one PR tech platform over another.
PR professionals want to be a part of the changing future of PR (94%) and AI is a key way for them to do so. PR professionals already see the value with 92% saying they believe AI is worth exploring and identify benefits when crafting PR materials, like predicting media interest and sentiment (55%). Majorities even identify the potential for AI to allow professionals to spend more time on higher value tasks (90%). All of this points to PR professionals being ready to use AI tools to help them improve their strategies moving with – not resisting – the future of the industry.
