We invite you to participate in the 2025 Communications Benchmark Report survey.

Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council is fielding this survey to identify needs, challenges and progress across the industry.

Now in its seventh year, this annual benchmarking survey is an invaluable tool to assess and inform the state of internal and external communications. The survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete. Your answers will be confidential, and the results will be aggregated and anonymized.

In return for your participation, you will receive exclusive access to a summary of the survey findings — with crucial data to inform your decisions and navigate what’s ahead in 2025.

Complete the survey by Dec. 6.

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Modern communications would be impossible without a wealth of tools and technology to help us. Whether you’re gathering employee pulse surveys, keeping media contacts up-to-date or collaborating with AI, commtech allows us to work faster and better.

But getting the budget and buy-in for these tools isn’t always easy.

Ragan Communications is fielding a new survey to better understand what commtech tools matter most, how communicators get budget and how they see the tech stack evolving in the near future.

Please take a few moments to complete this survey and share your insights. In return, we’ll offer a $150 discount to a virtual Ragan conference of your choice.

Complete the survey by Oct. 10.

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This past spring, Ragan partnered with Ruder Finn’s internal communications arm, rf.engage to learn how communicators implement AI, and how they plan to use the tech to advance their internal communications work in the future.

Ruder Finn and Ragan’s “The Great Divide in Internal Communications” report surveyed communicators in North America and the U.K. across all levels of seniority and a vast range of industries. The results identify clear gaps between how AI is perceived and its application to internal comms efforts.

“Change of this magnitude is not straightforward, so it’s no surprise that gaps are appearing as organizations come to grips with how these technologies can deliver transformational benefits,” said Ruder Finn CEO Kathy Blooomgarden. “The key to success is to remember that any business solution must bring people along, underpinned by communications, and be linked directly to thoughtful integration within existing ways of working.”

Hearing the AI triumphs and challenges in the Ragan community has taught us that the opportunities to become AI champions are vast—opening new pathways for communicators to serve as strategic advisors who mitigate risk by crafting governance policies and setting guidelines, holding up the communications potential of this tech to spread the influence of comms across the business.

A closer look at the largest gaps reveals where, and how, comms can secure that influence.

Understanding the gap between priorities and usage

Ragan and Ruder Finn’s research found that communicators recognize AI’s potential but lag in implementing it. On average, the report found a 16% difference between top internal comms priorities and the extent to which AI is used for those priorities.

While 57% surveyed consider executive messaging and positioning a top priority, just 34% are using AI tools to streamline their exec comms. Communicators can train a secure generative AI tool like ChatGPT4 to write in the style of their executives by providing examples of past messages, describing attributes of the executive’s voice such as tone, formality and sentence structure, and even spelling out words, phrases and language to avoid. Vetting any drafts with relevant stakeholders, including the executive team and counsel, will inspire further confidence to scale this process and close the gap.

As exec comms is an underutilized AI use case, overcommunicating the drafting and editing processes also builds trust between comms and senior leaders to remind them of the human element and EQ required for the messages to resonate.

Similarly, 56% of communicators consider employee engagement a top priority, but only 39% use AI to assist with employee engagement. While that implementation rate is slightly higher than with executive communications, a 17% gap still exists.

A genAI tool can also help draft internal newsletters, memos and announcements consistent in an agreed-upon brand voice. This can even be harnessed to personalize onboarding materials for new employees that tailor key information about policies and values to each hire’s specific role.

AI-powered sentiment analysis tools, meanwhile, can interpret open-ended pulse survey answers or social sentiment from intranet posts, analyzing the language to craft a summary of how employees feel about a new change or initiative.

Whether comms sit under the HR function or not, championing these use cases positions with an early adopter mindset positions communications in an advisory capacity that strengthens trust to close the gap.

Of course, this is contingent on effective training around each new AI tool and use case. A closer look at adoption level by seniority can inform your approach to scaling training.

Seniority adoption gaps underscore training opportunities

The research found that C-suite communicators are twice as likely to use AI than less senior internal communicators — 83% of C-suiters surveyed said they use AI daily, compared with 41% of senior and mid-level respondents.

C-suiters were also 25% more optimistic about AI in internal comms than their less senior counterparts.

This cohort is not a monolith. Segmenting the C-suite by age found that 100% of C-suiters 43 and under use AI daily compared to just 58% of C-suiters age 44 and over.

These discrepancies in daily use and optimism can be solved with training. How’s that going so far?

While around half (53%) of C-suiters aged 43 and under said they were satisfied with the AI training they received compared with 42% of C-suiters aged 44 and over, a much wider training gap exists between the C-suiters surveyed and other communicators.

Just under a quarter (24%) of C-suiters said they were satisfied with their organization’s training, while the number of satisfied senior and mid-level comms pros was just 8%. Concerning as those numbers are, the dissatisfaction shouldn’t be mistaken for disengagement — 64% of communicators across all seniority levels said they want to learn more about AI’s applications for internal communications.

Putting this all together, we’re looking at a C-suite sample that’s more comfortable using AI for internal communications tasks, and happier with the training being offered, than others who sit in the function.

Considered alongside the paltry level of training satisfaction across the board, this makes sense — those who don’t consider their level of training to be sufficient are less willing to dive in.

While demonstrating comfort with ambiguity is a valuable leadership competency, the risk management remit of internal comms pros, coupled with the myriad reports on what happens when AI implementation scales irresponsibly, may explain the gap between a desire for training and satisfaction with the training received.

This begs the question of how specific and detailed the AI training that communicators currently is. Are you surveying your team to address the root causes and concerns driving apprehension? While most training includes a focus on human-centered prompt creation using generative AI tools to draft executive messages and employee engagement content, your training can also go much further to explore things like:

• Launching and sustaining an effective cross-departmental AI task force.
• Shaping AI governance and crafting internal guidelines for cross-functional use cases that prioritize transparency and security amid the latest regulatory developments.
• Streamlining employee experience comms around recruitment, engagement analytics and the intranet.
• Building a blueprint for successful AI implementation that aligns communicators on each step, from committees to execution.

These insights are a reminder that comfort levels and competence are not one and the same. The most effective upskilling programs are personalized to each employee’s role and preferred style of learning.

Learning those preferences from the outset, and then training your communications function in kind, will ensure that they are empowered and equipped to bring the rest of your workforce along the adoption curve.

For more on the internal comms AI gaps among various industries and company sizes, check out the full report here.

Ruder Finn will unpack the results during Ragan’s Internal Communications Conference, Oct. 16-18 at Microsoft HQ in Seattle, WA. Register now!

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The cohort of people aged 12-27 are prized for their youth and purchasing power, but they can pose a particular challenge for PR professionals using traditional media methods to catch their eye.

About half of TikTok users under 30 use it regularly to scroll for news and politics, Pew Research found. But social media isn’t the only way of reaching these teens and young adults.

Research conducted by Morning Consult found that Gen Z men and women display markedly different news consumption habits. Men consume much more news than women – a pattern that plays out across generations. Depending on the news source, men are between 7 percentage points and 14 percentage points more likely to consume news than women.

That makes Gen Z women a particularly tricky group to engage with on news topics. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

Roughly a third of men engage with traditional television, digital and newspaper sources while about a quarter of women do the same, depending on the source. Both are more likely to gravitate toward television over news sources you read, indicating the generation’s bent toward video in all formats.

The data also shows a willingness to engage with paywalled media, including the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. However, there is little interest – especially among women – in deep-dive political content, as found in Politico, which saw the lowest engagement rates for both men and women.

However, it’s worth noting this is far from an exhaustive look at how Gen Z engages with news. It measures the largest, most popular national media in the country, without allowances for local media sources or softer news content. Still, when targeting hard news stories for Gen Z, this list can help you cull through your options and make the best decisions about where to reach this prized group.

But obviously Gen Z doesn’t spend all their time watching the news. They partake in several hobbies that PR professionals can also take advantage of to get a sliver of their attention.

Sports can be a popular way to get in front of these audiences as well, through partnerships, adjacencies or influencer deals. And Gen Z still loves sports – again, mostly men. Sixty-three percent of Gen Z men regularly engage with the NFL, with another 62% tuning in for the NBA; that’s compared to 42% and 33% for women, respectively.

While not specifically related to news, both Gen Z men (51%) and women (41%) listen to podcasts at least once a week, offering a different way to position sources and principals without going to legacy media. Podcasts, with their plethora of topics, also offer opportunities for narrowcasting messages to hypertargeted groups of people.

Both men and women are devotees of music (75% and 76%, respectively) and playing both console and computer video games at least once a week.

When it comes to live events that might be ripe for activations, movies and hosting parties are most popular – likely speaking to the smaller, student or early career incomes of this young group. Concerts and sporting events are also popular, but in smaller numbers, again, likely driven by higher costs.

The brands they love most

We see stark divides in what brands Gen Z men and women are most interested in. Men lean almost entirely toward tech brands: YouTube, TikTok, Apple, Netflix and the iPhone make up the male-centric top five. Meanwhile, women are more info food and fashion, with their top five consisting of TikTok, Starbucks, SHEIN, the iPhone and Temu, with McDonald’s at Number 6.

The bottom line

As with any generation, there is no one-size-fits all plan. Gen Zers are in vastly different stages of their life – a 27-year-old member of the generation has more in common with their elders in the Millennials than a 12-year-old schoolkid – and show deeply differing attitudes toward news and consumption.

While PR professionals make broad statements about generations, a truly successful strategy will move beyond age and gender cohorts to understand the most likely purchasers for their goods and services on a deeper level. Unless you’re one of a handful of megabrands, every person 12-27 is not your target audience. It must be more nuanced and thoughtful – and that includes your media mix.

Good luck.

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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The HarrisX – Ragan CEO/Communicators Perceptions Survey needs CEOs, CCOs and senior-level communicators to share their opinions on a variety of topics including the state of comms in the workplace, evolving attitudes about AI, how strategies are shifting around DE&I, ESG and brand safety. We’ll share the preliminary findings, including how CEOs and communicators differed in their responses, leading up to Ragan’s Communications Week, Nov. 12-14. Full results will be shared in a special report following Ragan’s Future of Communications Conference this fall.

Take the survey here.

For those who take the time to share their insights and who provide their email, we will send a copy of the final, aggregated findings and executive report.

Your views are important to us and your answers will be kept anonymous.

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With all the ways the world of work has shifted business priorities over the past few years, it should come as no surprise that investments in the communications function have changed, too.

Ragan & PR Daily’s 2024 Salary and Workplace Culture Survey, we polled comms pros to find out how much they make.

The findings revealed that some interesting findings about salaries, bonuses, and how employees feel about them. The data also shows big differences in wages and bonuses between generational demographics, meriting a closer look.

The deeper details of comms salaries and raises

The survey polled more than 500 comms professionals, with a plurality of respondents working in a corporate environment (48%). Broken down by seniority, 30% of respondents were manager-level employees, 19% were specialists at 19% and 14% were directors.

Source: Ragan

The survey data also reported that 53% of communicators earned in six-figure salaries. Additionally, 78% of survey respondents reported receiving a pay raise in the last year, which is a higher rate than in 2023 (75%) or 2022 (71%), showing an upward swing in compensation for comms pros.

Who’s most likely to receive a raise

The higher up the organizational chart an employee sits, the more likely they are to see a raise. The C-suite, managers, and specialists all reported receiving pay bumps at a rate of over 80%, while associate-level employees and account supervisors, saw pay raises at a rate of just under 60%.

Overall, 55% of respondents found that their raises were too low, while just 16% thought they were generous or very generous.

Source: Ragan

However, not all respondents received a raise to begin with.

Thirty percent of Gen Z respondents reported no salary increase, while a further 10% of Zoomers reported that their pay raise was less than the previous year. Compare that to Millennials (10%), Gen Xers (6%), and Boomers (1%), who each saw rates with no salary increase in the single digits.

Economic headwinds impact everyone in the workforce, but these numbers show that younger comms employees are less likely to see compensation increases year-over-year.   This should cause all communicators working within the HR function to assess how raises fall along generational lines, and what it means for your employer brand. This trend can make it hard to recruit and retain top young talent, but it’s also a tough place to build from when attempting to foster a positive work culture.

Meanwhile, 84% of men reported receiving a salary increase, while 77% of women reported the same. This is a reminder that, even though the communications function is largely populated by women, the gender pay gap still exists.

A deeper dive into bonuses

Bonuses are another major factor in whether an employee either joins or stays in an organization. 38% of respondents reported a raise that was larger than the one they got the year before, but 50% stated they either got a bonus that was smaller or the same amount as the previous year.

Additionally, the survey showed a split in feelings about bonuses— 39% saw their bonus as generous in amount, while 36% felt it was too low.

While people might have a lot of reasons for showing up to work every day, compensation is a major, if not the biggest part of the puzzle. With the knowledge of how their employees feel about their compensation and a read on how things are trending, communicators are empowered to work with leaders and make strategic decisions about salaries and bonuses that benefit both the employer and employee in the long run.

For more information and insights, check out the executive summary of our Salary and Workplace Culture Survey.

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications. In his spare time he enjoys Philly sports and hosting trivia.

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The HarrisX – Ragan CEO/Communicators Perceptions Survey needs CEOs, CCOs and senior-level communicators to share their opinions on a variety of topics including the state of comms in the workplace, evolving attitudes about AI, how strategies are shifting around DE&I, ESG and brand safety. We’ll share the preliminary findings, including how CEOs and communicators differed in their responses, leading up to Ragan’s Communications Week, Nov. 12-14. Full results will be shared in a special report following Ragan’s Future of Communications Conference this fall.

Take the survey here.

For those who take the time to share their insights and who provide their email, we will send a copy of the final, aggregated findings and executive report.

Your views are important to us and your answers will be kept anonymous.

The post Ragan and HarrisX unveil 4th annual CEO/CCO Perceptions Survey appeared first on PR Daily.

In a hyperpolarized, even more divisive U.S. election season than 2020, companies want to play it safe with their words and actions.

While communications leaders play an outsized role in navigating election-related initiatives as the guardians of reputation, these efforts often happen behind the scenes.

With this in mind, Ragan partnered with The Conference Board to learn how CCOs and CMOs are preparing for the November U.S. elections.  This report, based on a survey of 103 communications and marketing professionals, highlights how cautious, vigilant, and preemptive companies are to mitigate potential internal tensions and external attacks to protect their reputation.

Here’s what stuck out.

• New tasks for communications teams. “New key tasks for communications teams include monitoring and addressing misinformation about companies that serves a candidate’s political agenda, further enabled by AI, and minimizing the likelihood of people misconstruing brand messages as partisan,” writes survey author Denise Dahlhoff, PhD, director of marketing and communications research at the Conference Board.  “While reputation management has long been a key responsibility of communicators, the current hyperpolarized environment combined with an election season is raising the bar.”
• Reputation management starts internally with comms coaching employees on keeping their political activism separate from their work and preparing executives to speak about their organization’s stance on political issues when relevant to the business.
• Addressing employee activism proactively. Even outside of election seasons, employees increasingly expect their employer to take a stance on social/political issues. “While it’s not necessarily in companies’ best interest to comment on issues that stakeholders raise unless they are core to the business,” writes Dahlhoff, “they need to be ready to respond to such requests by having processes in place to decide on whether and how to respond to issues and explain their reasoning.”
• More education. Comms and marketing leaders encourage voting, but could be doing more to educate their employees on the election process, misinformation, and deepfakes. “A strong democracy fosters a strong market economy, and companies will benefit directly from educating employees about AI-generated misinformation,” Dahlhoff writes.
• Avoiding polarizing external messaging. Companies are not planning to modify external messaging plans, but will be more cautious about potentially divisive topics. “Recent ESG backlash has already made companies adept at not letting their sustainability initiatives become targets of political attacks,” concludes Dahlhoff. “To preempt controversy, brands can always highlight more universally appealing brand values and benefits, including economic benefits, new job creation, new customer groups that provide additional revenue, inclusivity, decent workplace conditions, and equitable pay for employees.”

Get the full results here, and stay tuned for more coverage later this week.

We also invite you to our joint webcast with The Conference Board on June 25, 11am-12pm ET, “What Initiatives Are Communications & Marketing Taking for the Elections”, to discuss the survey findings with General Mills CCO Jano Cabrera, and Judy Rader, CCO and SVP of corporate affairs at Constellation Energy.

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For the third year, Ragan Communications and the Institute for Public Relations will partner for the Ragan Research Award. This year, undergraduate junior and senior students are invited to apply with a 250-word abstract on the topic of misinformation and its impact on Gen Z.

The chosen applicant will develop their idea into a 6-page research brief and receive a $1,500 stipend, their paper published on IPR’s website, a profile on PR Daily highlighting their work and an informational interview with Ragan Communications CEO Diane Schwartz. They’ll also be honored at IPR’s Distinguished Lecture Dinner in New York City this December.

“Combatting misinformation will take the brightest minds in the PR industry. That includes the youngest,” said Schwartz. “Their unique perspectives on how these threats impact their own peers will help all of us better protect the information ecosystem.”

Last year’s winner, Colorado State University PhD candidate Sera Choi, investigated response strategies after AI crises. You can read her full paper here.

Enter this year’s Ragan Research Award here. Entries are accepted through June 16.

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We’re all feeling the pinch. Your dollar doesn’t go quite as far as it used to. Expenses from homes to hamburgers are getting more costly.

Is your pay keeping pace with inflation and the rising cost of, well, everything?

Find out how your pay compares to industry norms by taking Ragan and PR Daily’s Salary & Workplace Culture Survey. By confidentially sharing information about your wages, benefits, perks, office schedule and more, you’ll help professionals across the communications industry see what they should expect — and help employers craft more competitive compensation packages.

Your responses will be confidential and the results anonymized. As a participant, you will receive the annual Ragan Salary Survey & Compensation Report with all the findings. You’ll also receive a $150 discount to a Ragan virtual conference.

Please complete the survey by April 24.

Take the survey today, and contribute to greater transparency and equity in the communications industry.

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Figuring out the best medium for reaching external audiences is never easy. There are so many factors to consider: who you’re trying to reach, the messaging, the timeline and the budget.

But when we take a step back from specifics and look at the big picture, what are the best tools for reaching an audience?

This is one of the dozens of questions the Ragan Communications Leadership Council Benchmark Report answered. Hundreds of communicators shared their insights into all aspects of their practice, from how their teams are organized to their views on AI. Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council members can view the full 66-page report. But as an Insider, let’s give you a little, well, inside scoop.

Social media still reigns supreme

The survey asked respondents to choose the three most effective tools for reaching external audiences. Perhaps unsurprisingly, social media remains the No. 1 way of reaching a broad audience. Seventy percent of respondents said it was the most effective tool for reaching external audiences. It’s logical, of course: More than 62% of the world’s entire population uses social media, and 91% of Americans do. Given the wide variety of social platforms, it’s all but assured you’ll find a niche that your audience calls home and where you can deliver effective messaging.

However, there are drawbacks to social media, too. X has been in a constant state of upheaval for more than a year now; TikTok’s continued existence in the United States is in peril; and other platforms leave communicators scrambling to adapt to changing algorithms.

In other words, never put all your eggs in one basket.

That, perhaps, is why the second most effective method of reaching audiences is the much-maligned press release at 43%. While perhaps not as effective as it was in the glory days of media relations, this is still a tried-and-true method of getting important news out to a large number of people quickly, whether that’s through the press, by posting on a news wire service or putting it on your own website.

Going one step further and into owned media, brand journalism storytelling/website were the third most popular methods for reaching external audiences at 28%. As traditional media has continued to decline, creating avenues for artfully telling your own stories has become more important. Using SEO, social media and other techniques for helping audiences discover your content gives you a unique sense of control over your own story without the need for a middleman.

Rounding out the top five responses were speaking opportunities and conferences (22%) and email (20%, notably down from 25% in the 2023 survey).

All of these platforms give strong opportunities for storytelling and drawing audiences into a deeper, more intimate connection with your brand.

Which of these media do you find most effective for reaching external audiences?

To view the full report, become a member of Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council.

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Amid the turbulence of the past few years, the outline of a new breed of communicator is taking shape.

Insights from the 2024 Ragan Communications Benchmark Report, an exclusive research project for Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council, paint a picture of communicators at the center of some of the most important conversations shaping the culture of their organizations.

The challenges are clear. Disinformation and misinformation erode the trust needed to attract customers and engage employees. A burgeoning backlash among a vocal group of stakeholders against priorities like corporate social responsibility and diversity, equity and inclusion continues to gain steam. Within the workplace, shifting power dynamics are pushing leaders to rein in popular hybrid and remote work arrangements.

Combine those trends with economic nervousness, global geopolitical tensions and a surge in technological innovation, and an opportunity emerges for communicators to reinforce the strategic value they bring to their stakeholders.

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

The full 66-page report, based on a survey of 1,000 communicators worldwide, is available exclusively to members of the Ragan Communications Leadership Council and includes detailed analysis of the best practices emerging among the community of communications professionals.

Key highlights include:

• The skills and competencies comms teams are prioritizing to reskill and upskill.
• Detailed data on the rapid rise of generative AI investments.
• The most effective channels for internal and external communications.
• Key opportunities for measuring the effectiveness of communications.
• How the boundaries between internal and external communications continue to blur.
• Tips and tactics to reboot culture and rebuild trust and employee engagement.
• How shifting priorities around ESG and DEI are influencing strategic direction.
• How comms tactics are changing in response to a rising emphasis on in-person work.

Download your copy of the 2024 Benchmark Survey Executive Summary today to see how your communications efforts measure up. To receive a full copy of the report, become a member of the Communications Leadership Council.

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Gen Z adults are big believers in themselves. Specifically, 67% believe it’s very (25%) or somewhat (42%) important to have a strong personal brand, according to new research from Morning Consult. Those percentages far outstrip even their generational neighbor Millennials (51%) and U.S. adults as a whole (a mere 40%).  

Morning Consult attributes this spike in self-branding to Gen Z’s love of influencers and their use of creator-driven apps as entertainment: When you see other people building a brand, you’re more likely to see the value in building one for yourself, even if you’re not streaming for millions of fans. But there’s also a darker potential reason for the emphasis on personal branding. As Morning Consult Brand Analyst Ellen Briggs writes: “Their coming of working age happened amid waves of mass layoffs and broader economic uncertainty. Under these circumstances, being a known entity with a public portfolio of work safeguards against job insecurity and serves as a calling card to attract better opportunities.” 

Where and how Gen Z builds their brands 

Unsurprisingly given Gen Z’s love of video content, they vastly prefer to show off their personality and expertise with visual content over written. Sixty-six percent of the generation prefer to build their brand with video versus just 27% who favor written.  

We also see this play out in the social networks Gen Zers use to foster their image.   

For Gen Z, Instagram reigns supreme by a wide margin. Its ability to combine still images, videos and text captions offer a wide range of creative options. Next comes YouTube, nearly tied with TikTok — again, very video centric. 

But then look at what comes in fourth place for Gen Z: Good old Facebook. It seems news of its demise has been greatly exaggerated. The platform still offers a huge audience, tons of posting options and easy integration with Gen Z favorite Instagram. And after all, it’s clearly where Millennials are still hanging out — 63% of the older group turn to Facebook for their brand-building needs. 

Just as notable are which platforms Gen Z tends to shy away from. X sees relatively little use, ranking just above Pinterest and personal blogs, while professionally focused LinkedIn is used by only one-in-five members of Gen Z working to build their brands. 

So what can we glean from this? Gen Zers are gravitating toward more lifestyle-focused networks rather than hard business, like LinkedIn. Part of this could be attributable to age— while the survey only spoke to adult members of Gen Z, many may be in college or else entering trades that don’t benefit from the buttoned-up social platform. Or they could be embracing a brand that spans both personal and professional rather than pigeonholing it into one side.  

What companies should know 

Gen Z’s emphasis on personal branding presents a number of opportunities — and a few challenges — for corporate brands. 

First, this proliferation of people building brands means an army of microinfluencers who might be strong partners with targeted, dedicated audiences. When everyone is carving out a unique niche, that allows for better targeting from people who have already put in the work to build an audience you want, often for reasonable rates.  

It also offers a vivid window into the lives of hordes of people and what matters to them. By seeing how they choose to brand themselves, brands can better understand what values matter to their audiences writ large. How do they present themselves? What products do they already have an affinity for? What values do they espouse? By consuming this content, communicators can learn to build better content that resonates. 

Finally, it does present a challenge for employers. While these may be personal brands, their behavior will still reflect on their employer — for better or worse. You might have a worker who gets famous and becomes a brand advocate for you — or one who behaves badly and becomes a liability. Either way, it’s worth keeping an eye on these accounts and creating policies about how employees navigate their relationships with their employers and content partners, just to ensure your own brand is protected. 

How do you build your personal brand? 

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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A massive, concerning gap exists between the levels of trust government communicators believe the public has in the information they provide and how the American public actually perceives it. That’s according to the 2nd Annual National Survey of Government Communications & Public Affairs, conducted by Ragan Communications, the George Washington University College of Professional Studies and the National Association of Government Communicators. 

The survey, conducted by Schoen Cooperman Research, asked three distinct groups of people — the general public, government communicators and private sector communicators — about their opinions on an array of topics related to public affairs and information. And the differences are stark. 

Sixty-nine percent of the general public have not much or no trust in information provided by the government. Yet 51% of communications professionals who work for government entities believe that the public has “somewhat” or a “great deal of” trust in the information they provide. The actual percentage of Americans who trust governmental information is just 30%.  

In a similar vein, only 36% of the public answered that the government is effective at communicating with them, while 58% of government communicators think they’re doing a good job.  

This wide gap in the perception between government entities and the public they seek to serve should serve as a wake-up call to government communicators.  

When asked why they distrust the government in an open-ended question, the most common answers from the public included dishonesty, self-serving interests and polarization. Communicators as a whole, however, identified core issues in public trust as polarization, mis- and disinformation and poor communications styles, the survey found. 

Now, there are key limitations to the survey to consider. The survey only asked about “the government” as a whole. It’s possible that respondents have different views of local, state and federal governments, or of different agencies — for instance, they may trust the military more than their state’s revenue services department . They may also not make distinctions between statements made by politicians on the campaign trail versus information coming from their county’s sheriff’s department on road conditions during a snowstorm.  

So let’s look at solutions.  

The survey also asked how the government can improve trust in its messaging. In the open-ended question, an overwhelming 69% of the public said honesty and transparency are the best solutions. 

That sounds great in theory. Transparency is a goal to always strive for in any communications practice. But in a post-truth society, what does honesty mean? For instance, despite broad-based scientific agreement, 30% of Americans do not believe climate change is caused by humans. Drawing a connection between humans and the changing climate is honest but might not be perceived that way. 

It’s certainly a dizzying task for communicators, especially with looming elections that 58% of government communicators are eyeing with concern. But the first thing the community can do is to recognize the gap that exists and understand that with nearly any communication, they are starting from a trust deficit. Each campaign, speech, press release or interaction with the public is one tiny chance to begin to win back trust. 

But one way that trust can still be hurt is through the use of AI. The survey found that 61% of the general public believes governments should not use AI in its communications due to concerns over privacy and personal data risks. Fifty-eight percent of the public said that the use of AI would decrease trust in government communications. This is a clear warning: Be careful and transparent when using AI tools. Be clear about how they were used and what it means for the public.  

Additional results from the survey will be revealed during Ragan’s Public Affairs & Speechwriting Virtual Conference, held Feb. 21 from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. ET, and during the 2nd Annual National Survey of Government Communications & Public Affairs (GPA) Rollout event held at the George Washington University Library on Feb. 29 at 8:30 a.m.  

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

The post Government communicators think most Americans trust government info. The public disagrees. appeared first on PR Daily.

So you’ve fought hard and secured budget and buy-in for a new tool you’re convinced will make your working life easier.  

Congratulations! 

But now you’re faced with the often-daunting task of launching that tool to your department – and getting them to use it. 

Hurray. 

Ragan’s Inaugural CommTech Survey sheds light on the obstacles external communicators face when rolling out new tools that help them measure, track or create content. 

While the full report is available exclusively to members of Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council, a membership community for senior communicators shaping the world’s best work cultures and brands, the executive summary is free for all – and we’re sharing a few additional insights with you.  

The survey of hundreds of communicators found that training on new tools can be tricky and inconsistent: Upon introducing new tools, more than two-thirds of organizations provide training on either a consistent (18%) or case-by-case basis (51%). The remainder instruct employees to learn from tutorials (24%) or expect them to figure it out on their own (7%). That means only 18% of employees are trained in all the tools available to them, with nearly a third expected to fumble along on their own with tutorials or blind button clicking. That’s a problem, especially when investing big bucks into an advanced tool.  

But it’s the open-ended responses that are the most revealing.  

When prompted, respondents cited a number of obstacles about rolling out new technology to their communications department, including: 

• “Lack of a strategic vision in the organization.” 
• “Fitting the tool into a preexisting workflow.” 
• “Making use of all the valuable features.” 
• “If it isn’t set up correctly at the beginning, it will be a nightmare later.” 

In other words, helping people see how the tools can help them, using it to its fullest and simple technical rollout can all pose major problems. Some of these can be solved with partnership with other departments, but some point to cultural issues around strategy, change and learning. 

What are your biggest obstacles to rolling out new technology? Let us know in the comments, then download the free executive summary. 

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn. 

The post These are the biggest challenges for launching new CommTech tools appeared first on PR Daily.

Technology can make or break a communications department. 

Sure, you can do a lot with incisive words, bold visuals and smart strategies. But ultimately, modern communicators rely on tech stacks to find journalists, engage internal audiences and understand what’s driving business results to demonstrate the value of the function 

Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council, a membership community for senior communicators shaping the world’s best work cultures and brands, conducted an exclusive study on how the industry is making use of communications technology. From budgeting and getting buy-in for new tools to what’s missing from communicators’ tech stacks, Ragan compiled a wide range of insights to help you better understand what tools are critical to the modern practice of comms. 

While the full report is available exclusively to CLC members, the executive summary is free to download. 

You’ll get insights including:  

• How budgets are expected to change in the next year. 
• The best ways to get buy-in from leadership for new tools. 
• How organizations tackle training for new tools. 
• The tools communicators wish they had. 
• And much more. 

Download the report today to make your organization more efficient and competitive in today’s tech-savvy world.  

The post Ragan’s inaugural CommTech survey sheds light on industry tools appeared first on PR Daily.

Wherever you fall on this spectrum, we want to hear about it.

Ragan Communications and The Conference Board have partnered on a new survey, the next part in a series, to better understand how communicators like you are incorporating these tools today — and how they might continue to evolve in the future. This brief, 8-question survey will help our entire industry plan for an ever-changing future.

Please share your thoughts by September 26. All respondents will receive the complete report in late October.

Thanks for sharing your expertise!

Take the survey now.

The post RESPONSES NEEDED: How is AI changing your professional life? appeared first on PR Daily.

With 2023 proving to be another year of rapid acceleration and change for communicators, the future feels uncertain. Sweeping advances in artificial intelligence tools promise to alter the way we write and work significantly, while changing economic forces keep the talent wars raging. Through it all, the opinions and perspectives of communications leaders will play an outsized influence in shaping the future of the function.

Ragan Communications, in partnership with HarrisX, wants to better understand how senior communications leaders view the future of the field. We’re looking to hear from director-level and above communicators whose crystal balls are polished and ready to look ahead.

Please take the survey here by Friday, Sept. 8 — and thanks for contributing.

The post Senior-level insight needed: What are your perceptions on the future of communications? appeared first on PR Daily.

All these questions and more are answered in Ragan’s 2023 Salary & Workplace Culture Survey.

While the full report is available exclusively for members of Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council, you can download the executive summary for free.

In this overview, you’ll learn:

• The average industry pay by job title, region, gender and more
• How many communications professionals received bonuses and how they stack up year-over-year
• Overall levels of satisfaction with compensation, benefits and more
• The benefits communicators value most
• How workplaces are handling return-to-office versus hybrid versus remote work
• And much more

Download the free report today to ensure your organization’s benefits, pay and policies stack up — as do your own.

The post Ragan’s 2023 Salary & Workplace Culture Survey: See how your pay stacks up appeared first on PR Daily.

Are you using the right tools for today’s dispersed work environment? What do you consider the most effective communications channels at your organization? And, ultimately, how are you measuring success around employee engagement?

These questions and more are explored in the 2023 State of Communications Report from Ragan and PoliteMail.

This survey will take about five minutes to complete, and you’ll receive the full results report when it’s published.

The deadline to complete this survey is May 11, 2023. Please share your expertise.

The post Can you help? 2023 State of Communications Report appeared first on PR Daily.

Your eyes are one of the most important parts of your body, and they deserve special care.

Still, many have misconceptions or questions about the insurance that can help them access that care — or don’t even know they need it.

That’s why Transitions Optical and Ragan Communications need your help to better understand who purchases vision insurance and why — and just as importantly, who isn’t getting this insurance and what barriers they face, particularly among diverse populations.

Please fill out this brief survey. Your time and insight will help improve communications and access to vision insurance. You’ll also be entered into a drawing for either a $25 Ray-Ban gift card or a free ticket to Ragan’s Workplace Wellness Conference.

Your answers will be kept anonymous.

Please take the survey here by Tuesday, May 2.

The post Your opinion needed: Help us understand how you use vision insurance appeared first on PR Daily.