The perennial qualities of professional public relations (in the age of AI)

Author – Jon Clements | Metamorphic PR

Futurist, Jim Carroll, speaking about “Shiny Object Syndrome” says: “It’s what happens when you are so busy chasing the next hot new thing that you lose sight of the real things that matter!”

In public relations (PR) – in its relationship with marketing or an organisation as a whole –one of the shiniest new objects is AI; and there is no shortage of predictions and commentary online about what AI means for PR, marketing and organisations in 2026. It’s natural: professionals want to be seen at the leading edge of what’s new.

However, a relentless focus on the new risks failing to remember the perennial qualities of what makes for effective PR. And these qualities underscore the fact that – regardless of technology – professional PR remains defined by critical thinking, sound judgement based on experience and data and a distinctly human touch:

Here are some of those qualities:

1. Have clarity on what your organisation stands for, based on a foundation of values that are both shared and lived.
2. It’s in the name – your organisation has a variety of “publics”: employees, customers, suppliers, partners, neighbours, investors…even detractors. Know who your publics are and tailor the tone and content of your communications to each.
3. Public relations is two-way traffic: make the time and establish a mechanism and responsibility to enable active listening; digesting what you hear and acting upon it, as your credibility depends on that.
4. Making mistakes is human – but so is offering a clear, sincere and unequivocal apology when something goes wrong. Avoid a fudged and reluctant apology becoming your story.
5. Have a communications strategy that underpins your objectives for the organisation overall, along with your marketing, sales and communications objectives. This way, PR/communications activity is directed at what matters without wasting time and resources on what doesn’t.
6. Nurture your organisation’s subject matter experts and leverage their expertise to heighten the credibility of your PR activity. Their knowledge can help bring new insight to well-trodden topics and, better still, new insights on new topics that your publics didn’t know were important.
7. Invest in and maximise the use of high-quality data. This reinforces your knowledge and expertise when educating the market about critical issues and bolsters the credibility of your solutions to these issues.
8. Journalists are not your friends – though they can be equally critical and credible commentators on the claims your organisation makes to the media. Providing them with material that matters to their readers, listeners and viewers – and being transparent and co-operative when the topic is tricky – is what counts.

9. Getting value from media relations – especially in B2B – is not about being “everywhere”, but where it matters. Achieving a consistent and meaningful presence in the key media outlets for your publics should be the focus.

10. A crisis is only a crisis if your organisation is unprepared. You can’t always predict when or what “crisis” will arise for your organisation, but you can be prepared for the communications response: identifying what the potential risks are that may lead to a crisis, who will be responsible for communicating, how the vital information will flow, who the key publics are for each eventuality and how your organisation would be able to rectify the situation.

PR professionals, marketers and C-suite members need to look forward and be aware of how technology and public perceptions of their products, services, industry and their organisation specifically are in constant flux. New techniques and tools appear on a monthly – even weekly – basis and can’t be ignored

But certain core principles and approaches in public relations should be recognised and treated as the proverbial “baby” that mustn’t be thrown out with the “bath water”.