10 (more) predictions for the PR industry in 2012

The industry is growing and improving. While it’s harder to crack the streams of tweets and updates that fly at us each day, PR has an unprecedented opportunity to tell stories through new vehicles.

The stakes are higher, though. We have to be smarter and more creative. I used to tell clients not to worry too much about negative coverage because Google’s memory is short. Well, it’s gotten a lot longer this year with archive searches, so you can Google this post next December and call me prescient—or just plain wrong.

1. Infographic saturation

Like all shiny new toys, infographics are suffering from an abundance of enthusiasm. Data visualization is an important piece of content marketing, and one that isn’t going away.

However, in the next year we’ll see a bit of a contraction in infographics as the market tires of the onslaught and demands quality design work based on great data and equally interesting insights.

2. PR skills move well beyond media relations