We’re halfway through 2025 and there's no question that AI is transforming marketing. It’s generating press releases, scheduling content and surfacing SEO headlines at speed.
But when it comes to public relations — the kind that builds trust, shapes perception and earns media coverage — human strategy still matters more than ever.
Here’s what we’re seeing so far this year:
1. AI Can Create Content, But Not Credibility
AI can help write a release or summarise a report. But credibility doesn’t come from automation. It comes from earned trust — from a journalist choosing to tell your story, not just copy-pasting your headline. That kind of trust is built through human connection and smart positioning.
2. Newsworthiness Can’t Be Automated
The most valuable skill in PR isn’t writing — it’s recognising what makes something worth covering. AI can’t sense a cultural moment, tap into emotion, or see the bigger picture. Finding the right hook, framing the story and tying it to what’s happening now still requires media instinct and timing — and that comes from experience.
3. Journalists Want Relevance, Not Spam
We’re hearing this firsthand — journalists are being flooded with templated, AI-written pitches. Most end up ignored. What cuts through is relevance, thoughtfulness and value. PR professionals who understand what a journalist actually needs are getting the coverage. That insight is still human.
4. PR Is Personal
Great PR is built on relationships — not just with the media, but with clients, stakeholders and audiences. AI can’t follow up, negotiate an exclusive, or read the room during a sensitive moment. These are human dynamics. And they matter more than ever in a noisy, fast-moving media environment.
5. The Best PR in 2025 Is Human-Led and Tech-Supported
AI is an excellent assistant — it can help us streamline admin, track coverage and even brainstorm ideas. But the strategy, the judgment, the story selection and the media engagement? That still comes from people who know the craft.
The tools might be changing, but the fundamentals of great PR haven’t. It’s still about telling the right story, to the right people, at the right time. In 2025, the PR pros who win will be the ones who blend smart tech with sharper instincts — and never forget that trust is earned, not automated.
