Why PR can be automated
Although there are opportunities to automate PR, nothing will change until PR pros change their mindsets.
Notable journalist Tom Foremski recently asked whether PR can be automated, especially given the advances in automation in the advertising world. In it, he states:
“The PR industry is heading for a serious showdown with ad agencies gunning for PR budgets. Ad agencies have algorithmic buying and selling of ads, there is already a large automated component to their business. Where is the equivalent component for PR? Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, recently predicted that within 20 years most jobs will be automated. Why are PR jobs so special that some of the work won’t be automated?”
Can you automate PR? The answer is the same for public relations as it is for any other industry: Absolutely.
There are plenty of opportunities for automation, from PR metrics and analytics (which are largely automated already, thanks to a suite of wonderful off-the-shelf analytics products like Google Analytics) to PR processes themselves. Ask an account coordinator at any PR firm which parts of her job are dull and repetitive, and you have tasks suited for automation.
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