The Future of Public Relations - Is Storytelling Still a Priority?

Sep 16, 2019 | Written By: Megan Salisbury

In the field of public relations, we are storytellers. We work to utilize and develop a strong

relationship with our audience, and most importantly, our clients. Public relations specialists

need to know about the power of influence. As a result, this helps create the type of influence that is needed to have a beneficial impact on the opinions and beliefs of the public. The power of storytelling helps us as public relation professionals to establish a deeper connection to our audience, and at the end of the day, isn't utilizing a fundamental human experience to unite people a power tool? I certainly think so. That's the power of storytelling, my friends.

Our society today relies heavily on technology, but this is not brand new information to any of us. Our audiences attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, and their need for immediacy is at an all-time high as a result of the Digital Age. This desire for immediate information threatens the "brilliant" development that public relations creates through our in-depth narratives. The core of public relations, as I see it, lives within storytelling.

It isn't enough these days for us to write a press release and push to get it out in the media to get information out to the audience just for the heck of it. That doesn't cut it anymore. As new media methods and devices surface and become mainstream, it now becomes our job (dare I say responsibility) to understand how they, the media, can complement the persuasive narratives that public relations professionals, that means you and me, work incredibly hard to create. This engagement with our audience is crucial, and we can use storytelling to benefit our society where media is so heavily fragmented. Storytelling can help give our audience a totally different entry into our clients and their brands, so why aren't we making this a larger priority?