The rise of CommTech

The era of communications engineers

Gone are the days when the PR puzzle was only about sending out a press release, regularly contacting key journalists, connecting them with spokespeople, or setting up executive interviews.

CommTech is not just a passing trend but a permanent fixture in our industry. It's time to embrace it and adapt our strategies accordingly.

Measurable objectives, results-driven strategies, and complete alignment with the overall business goals seem to co-shape the PR landscape. Turning business angles & hooks into purposeful and digestible stories that cut through the clutter is what will separate average from top-performing PR pros. 

Wondering about the secret sauce that will boost your endeavors? 

Always planning and orchestrating your strategy with your audience in mind is the answer.

Not to mention that understanding the journalists’ audience and what they find relevant is a matter of equal significance. 

Journalists are those who will get your key message out and elevate your campaign's awareness and impact. Thus, pitching with their audience in mind maximizes your chances of having them onboard. As reported by Cision's 2024 State of the Media Report, “understand my audience and what they find relevant” scores at the top of the most valuable services PR professionals can offer to journalists.

Public relations and corporate communications are being reintroduced, contributing more impactfully than ever to business success. In the coming years, the most successful comms pros will need to recognize an inherent culture shift across the industry, which sits at the intersection of art and science, essentially embracing the role of “communications engineers.”

Communications engineers use actionable analytics to drive their content strategy and backstop their gut instinct, utilizing generative AI and other technologies to become more performative, predictive, and productive. 

The operations mentioned below make the top three of those with the most remarkable integration of technology (Global CommTech Report 2023):

👉 Content creation and production (92%)

👉 Newsroom and publishing on website (89%)

👉 Planning, project and task management (86%)

In the ever-evolving business world where priorities change from one day to another, it is a no-brainer that content creation, either for social or online media usage, is now tech-enabled freeing more time for professionals to focus on strategy. According to Hubspot’s 2024 ‘The State of Marketing report, ’ 2,5 hours per day are being saved using AI for content. However, this should not result by all means in mediocre, cookie-cutter content void of purpose. Also, it is evident that planning and collaboration technologies are gaining significance, indicating a shift towards greater efficiency and automation of mundane tasks. 

The increase in the use of data and analytics indicates a move towards more informed decision-making and greater accountability in evaluation. Embracing this shift is crucial, considering our pivotal position as the "holder of the ring“ in our interactions with stakeholders and in safeguarding our organization’s reputation. With deeper insights into stakeholders and their engagement preferences and the ability to track their developing relationship with your organization, the communicator’s role evolves to become ever more central in shaping strategy and governance.

By linking their relationship management expertise and storytelling prowess with strong business acumen, communications professionals are poised to increase their influence and reshape the strategic role of communications.

Considering the above, I wrap up for you the action items that all communications engineers need to embrace and put into practice:

✔️ Data-driven decisions and strategies unlock new worlds and provide us with another perspective for our stakeholders. Leverage data to reach the right audience with the right content through the appropriate channels.

✔️ Creativity is the key only when combined with a results-driven mindset. Keep your comms objective aligned with the business goals. Imagine driving traffic to your career page and generating top-tier publicity for the ‘careers’ keyword while your company prioritizes the focus on existing talent and the internal mobility program. There would be no value at all, and your efforts would result in impactless outcomes.

✔️ Welcome artificial intelligence as your new working buddy. Keep your copywriting skills sharp, and let effective prompting drive your content to new heights.