Is the phone call dead in PR?

Recently, I made a decision about a client of mine: I was going to call her once a week.

As with most clients, I conduct most of my business with her on email. I provide updates via email. I share files. I provide advice. I don’t spend a lot of time on the phone with clients (at least one-on-one; we do lots of status and planning calls).

I decided to change that and give my client a weekly call. Just to check in, or chat, if we didn’t have business to tackle.

And you know what? I think my client likes it.

You know what else? I do, too.

My situation might be different since I’m an independent consultant and don’t see or hear from many people during the day. But this is a trend in our industry (and others): The trend away from voice-to-voice.

Blame smart phones. Blame millennials. Blame email.

Whatever, we’ve been inching away from phone calls for years.

In fact, now reporters prefer email or Twitter. If I had told you email would become the preferred pitch back in 1996 (when I graduated) you would have called me crazy.

Yet, here we are. The phone is dead, according to many in PR. But, I say the death of the phone has been greatly exaggerated. Here’s why:

No one else calls people–you’ll stand out if you do