PR is on the up and up!

According to a new report from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the USC Center for Public Relations at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism this week, 75% of marketers surveyed plan to ramp up their staffing and spending with regard to public relations over the next five years. Adweek offered detailed results as to the the study’s findings.

The study highlights three crucial trends that will affect PR moving forward: social listening, digital storytelling, and real-time marketing.

From a bird’s eye view, the study shows how much PR itself is evolving and at that, becoming even more essential for businesses’ marketing tactics. As BusinessWire notes regarding the study, much of this can be linked to the digital revolution and the corresponding speed within which businesses, clients and the public now communicate: “The result is a convergence between PR and marketing and a shared use of specific tools aimed at building a bridge with potential clients and customers.”

As PR and marketing converge and the landscape continues to skew digital, it’s important to remember that the data also bolsters the tentpole, evergreen notion of the industry: to tell stories that resonate at the time those stories should be told.

We don’t need to reinvent the wheel — maybe just trick it out a little bit.