This insights post is a summary of the blog post published by Wisse Kommunikatie. View the full insight at: PR is meer dan zichtbaarheid. Waarom doen we dan alsof dat niet zo is?.
PR is a profession that is constantly evolving
At least, that’s what we say. In practice, discussions are still strikingly often reduced to visibility and publications—as if reputation automatically follows once you appear in (national) media. That idea is persistent and increasingly hard to reconcile with how reputations are actually formed today. Media are changing, attention is fragmented, and reputation emerges in many more places than before.
For years, PR success has been measured by one simple outcome: media coverage. Land a national article, check the box, move on. However, that mindset is outdated—and increasingly ineffective it now requires a different way of looking at PR.
Publication is a Moment, not an Endpoint
Reputation today isn’t built in a single headline or a one-off mention. It’s shaped through repetition, consistency, and presence across a fragmented media and digital landscape. A publication is a moment, not a finish line. Without follow-up and context, even strong earned media quickly loses its impact.
Earned and Paid as One Story
The distinction between earned and paid media is still often treated as a matter of principle—as if one is virtuous and the other suspicious. Reality is far more complex. Newsrooms are under pressure, online channels keep multiplying, and audiences move seamlessly between journalism, (social) platforms, and communities. For many organizations, relying solely on earned media is simply not enough to remain structurally visible.
Paid content or partnerships are not a weakness, as long as they contribute to a clear positioning. The real question is not whether something is paid, but what it delivers and whether it contributes to the overarching goal: recognition, credibility, and continuity.
Reframing the Challenge and Opportunity
Perhaps most importantly, PR has become something much bigger than media relations alone. Employees, customers, partners, platforms, and now AI systems all play a role in shaping reputation. That’s where Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) enters—not as a technical add-on, but as a natural extension of modern PR. The same questions PR has always asked now apply to algorithms: Who is trusted? Who is cited? Whose story gets repeated?
PR has grown up. Success is no longer about isolated wins, but about building a story that holds up everywhere it appears—human conversations and machine-generated answers included. To get more details and insights read the article: PR is meer dan zichtbaarheid. Waarom doen we dan alsof dat niet zo is?.
