The One Constant in PR is Change.
As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “the only constant in life is change.” Personally, I wasn’t always so welcoming to change. Yet, it’s one of the first pieces of advice I give anyone starting a career in communications: Be flexible. Get comfortable with change.
I’ve learned to be more flexible in my professional life (really just life in general!), and after 25 years in this business I’ve become very good at embracing change.
What have we learned from previous downturns and market uncertainty if not adaptability? I was laid off from my first real job after college, and I dropped everything (including a good chunk of my savings) to take off for Europe with just my best friend and a backpack.
Maybe that time was more about letting go and having fun, but later downturns taught me what a business needs to do to navigate the unexpected: Be flexible. Get ahead of it. Get creative.
We’ve discovered that providing our clients and partners with new services and more support during challenging times cements and strengthens relationships. Because in public relations, we are in the relationship business. We think hard about what our clients need to survive and thrive, we innovate, and this serves everyone’s interests and lifts us all together.
A more holistic approach to marketing and communications is essential in today’s world—we can’t work in silos any longer. Teams know they need to align strategy more closely and efficiently across global, marketing, social, internal comms, sales and marketing, and executive priorities.
So in true Offleash changemaking fashion, we are excited to expand our services today. We’ve built a unique agency model (we chose the name Offleash for a reason!), a world-class content practice, and a specialized, one-of-a-kind research arm, and we recognize the potential of bringing integrated marketing and consulting services in-house to better serve our CMOs.
Last year, we brought on our colleague and Vice President Kelly Hall to build our new integrated marketing practice. A former CMO, Kelly brought her experience and expertise to the Offleash team, and she’s helping clients at every stage to explore areas like ABM, influencer relations, event marketing, advanced analytics, and so much more.
Fortune favors the bold. For agencies and businesses, this can be the time to invest and innovate. Previous downturns allowed the bold among us – investors, startups, market disruptors – to come out ahead. Taking a page from that playbook with a nod to our core values (Integrity first. Be bold. All in.), we are investing not only in new services, but also in our new website, look and feel.
The future of PR isn’t about doing the tried and true, in the same way it’s always been done. As changemakers, we have to keep thinking beyond the next bend in the road. Yes, the only constant is change, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.