From support to strategy: what do clients expect from PR now?

Public relations is always evolving, but the role it plays has fundamentally changed in recent years. While media relations and storytelling remain essential elements of effective communications, on their own, they are no longer sufficient to meet what clients require today.

We now operate in a digital age where anyone can publish content and AI assistants can generate copy in seconds. While the quality of this material is up for question, there is no doubt this has caused a transition within our industry. The real value of PR now increasingly lies in the thinking behind the message.

The shift in client expectations

PR agencies today must offer more than just content creation. They need to provide the strategic guidance and proactive insight that shape the messaging long before a single letter is written.

Cision’s ‘Inside PR 2026: Trends, Challenges, and What’s Next’ report demonstrates this clear shift in expectations. Drawing on insights from nearly 600 PR professionals across the U.S. and UK, it found that senior leaders are increasingly demanding measurable business impact, with 32% of executives and 33% of agencies prioritising revenue and return on investment (ROI) over general brand awareness. In other words, PR is now expected to shape business outcomes, not just headlines.

Traditional PR still counts, but it doesn’t lead

That is not to say general brand awareness doesn’t hold a place in modern PR work. In fact, it is still considered a guiding priority according to Cision’s latest report - and rightly so. As mentioned in other blogs in this series, press releases and editorial contributions still play a vital role in how organisations appear to the world, especially in terms of AI visibility.

However, these elements alone are no longer the core strategy. They are the output and must be tied into broader campaigns to be truly valuable. Agencies are not hiding from the fact that an AI tool can generate a press release and identify journalists to send it to in order to secure coverage. If anything, this new reality demonstrates the value of media relations, and – perhaps most importantly – the planning which must take place before a campaign goes live.

How visibility is changing

Businesses now need to rethink what ‘brand visibility’ means in today’s landscape and recognise it as a key driver of ROI, rather than a secondary metric.

For example, Large Language Models (LLMs) are becoming a driving force in how people discover and evaluate brands, with research indicating that 66% of senior UK B2B decision-makers now use tools like ChatGPT, Co-Pilot and Perplexity to find and assess new suppliers.

It is becoming essential for clients to understand how LLMs are describing their brand, products and competitors, and how content can be developed to optimise their presence within these emerging ‘discovery channels’. This is why we launched our Optimisation Strategy for Citations and AI Relevance (OSCAR) service.

Recently, we conducted an LLM visibility analysis report for a client looking to break into the data centre sector. Powered by OSCAR, we examined relevant prompts and content formats favoured by specific AI systems through specialist analytic tools and a review of current visibility scores. Consequently, we were able to paint a clear picture of their LLM presence within the target market, provide targeted recommendations to enhance it, and – crucially – qualitative and quantitative benchmarks to track their progress. This discoverability campaign is already demonstrating the value of our strategic approach.

PR as a strategic driver

OSCAR is yet another example of how Proactive PR has moved beyond traditional offerings to deliver analysis that now sits at the centre of brand strategy and shapes how organisations communicate.

For clients, this shift makes us the perfect partner to bring more than execution to the table - one that challenges assumptions, interrogates narratives and blends creativity with insight to drive stronger, more strategic outcomes.

Want to explore the value Proactive PR can bring to your PR and marketing? Get in touch here: https://www.proactivepr.com/meeting