2025 taught us that the old comms rules are dead. 2026 will show us who writes the new ones

As we wrap up 2025 (🫠) and look ahead to 2026, the comms industry is approaching a pivotal crossroads. All year, we’ve been experiencing transformation after transformation where we’ve had to balance technological proficiency with human-centered communication strategies while being cultural crystal balls and preparing for unexpected challenges in an increasingly complex media landscape (see ’s latest media landscape map below for a laugh and cry).

We’ve been through the ringer this year. The demands have never been higher, the pace never faster, and the expectations never more intense.

But while many comms teams are feeling the heat as they plan for 2026, I can’t help but rub my hands together… because comms consultants are uniquely positioned to absolutely crush it. From what I’ve gathered from my many conversations with comms peeps across the Smart in Public podcast, Comms People, , and and other communities / conversations that I have my dirty paws in, there’s a lot of pain happening. Not just because of the pressure we’re feeling to find new and faster ways to measure and perform, but because there’s so many new playbooks being written… and we’re trying to learn all of them, instead of simply knowing which one to follow. The pain is coming from trying to use our past experiences and knowledge to shape an unknown future with unfamiliar tools and systems.

Now, as a former athlete, I’m a big believer in the ‘no pain no progress’ mindset. But what if progress doesn’t have to hurt anymore? What if we could focus on the top 10 things first that are causing us pain, and work on fixing those together as an industry?

So with that in mind, here’s 10 comms industry pain points for us focus on fixing for 2026 and some new mindsets on how to approach each of them.

Forty-four percent of communications professionals struggle to align their metrics to revenue or business KPIs, and the inability to measure impact effectively ranks as the second biggest challenge to communications efforts. That’s not great, considering we’re already fighting for our lives out here trying to show how we provide value. Tactically, in 2026, I think it’s safe to say that simply generating media coverage isn’t going to be enough. C-suites demand concrete proof that PR drives business outcomes. In the tech sector especially, C-suites and boards demand clear ROI and a direct connection between PR efforts and business outcomes, requiring agencies to demonstrate how PR drives tangible business goals—whether it’s filling the top of the funnel, accelerating customer decision-making, or creating differentiation.

The new mindset: Lead with outcomes, not outputs. Before you even pitch a program or potential client, ask: “What does success look like in dollars and deals?” Then reverse-engineer your entire proposal around those metrics. Create a simple dashboard that tracks three things: business metrics (leads, conversions, sales), brand metrics (awareness, sentiment, search volume), and media metrics (coverage, reach, engagement). Send this monthly. When you tie your work directly to revenue from day one, you become indispensable rather than expendable. Smart consultants also build ROI case studies from every engagement, making future sales exponentially easier.

While three in four communications professionals feel confident in their organization’s ability to take advantage of AI, and 37% use generative AI to review or optimize content, there’s still significant uncertainty about how to integrate these tools effectively. PR professionals work in the most AI-impacted occupational category while practicing skills that AI has proven exceptionally capable of performing. AI algorithms can now assess influencer authenticity by evaluating factors like follower demographics, engagement patterns, and even detecting artificial followers and bot activity, fundamentally changing how PR professionals work.

The new mindset: Become the “AI + Human” hybrid your clients need. Adopt a simple framework: use AI for the 80% (first drafts, research synthesis, media list building, sentiment analysis) so you can focus your expertise on the 20% that matters (strategy, relationships, crisis judgment, high-stakes messaging). The key mindset shift: position AI as your assistant, not your replacement. Tell clients: “I use AI to handle the heavy lifting so I can spend more time on strategic thinking for your business.” This transparency builds trust and justifies your rates. Experiment with tools privately—whether through communities like Comms People or on your own projects—so you bring proven capabilities to client work, not experiments on their dime.

Companies have been scaling back and doing more with less following recent inflationary times, leaving communications teams stretched impossibly thin. The pressure to deliver premium results on shoestring budgets has become the new normal. Corporate teams are asked to maintain the same output with fewer people, smaller budgets, and higher expectations—a recipe for burnout and mediocre work.

The new mindset: This is your golden opportunity. Companies are choosing consultants for their cost-effectiveness and flexibility over full-time employees. Position yourself as the “flexible capacity” solution. Create tiered service packages: strategic advisor (10 hours/month), execution partner (40 hours/month), interim leader (full-time project). Show the math: a $150K salary with benefits and overhead becomes $200K+, while your $10-15K monthly retainer delivers senior-level expertise without the commitment. The winning consultant mindset: you’re not competing with agencies, you’re competing with headcount. Frame your pitch around “What if you could have a VP-level strategist for a quarter of the cost—and only when you need them?”

Media continues to fragment, with PR practitioners needing to look beyond legacy media as social media influencers and podcasters gain influence at the expense of traditional outlets. Journalists are turning to independent platforms and taking their audiences with them, making media relations more challenging. According to USC Annenberg’s annual Global Communication Report, 60% of PR leaders predict that social media influencers will remain crucial to PR success in 2025, with one in five Americans now getting news directly from influencers.

The new mindset: Specialize in what corporate teams can’t keep up with. Pick one emerging channel—Substack journalists, LinkedIn creators, podcast hosts, or platform-native influencers—and become the go-to expert. Build relationships there before clients even know they need them. The strategic move: maintain a “media relationship portfolio” across traditional and new channels, then customize it for each client’s audience. While in-house teams struggle to justify time building relationships with “non-traditional” media, you’re already connected. Your pitch becomes: “I bring ready-made relationships with the 47 Substack journalists and 23 podcast hosts who reach your exact audience.” Resources like Comms People can help you spot trends and compare notes with other consultants, but your real edge is being nimble enough to build these relationships proactively.

Being “too reactive” versus proactive has forever been a big challenge for communications efforts. Teams spend their days putting out fires instead of building strategic narratives that prevent crises. The constant firefighting creates a vicious cycle: no time for strategy means more crises, which means even less time for strategy. The pace of our technology shifting does not help this.

The new mindset: Structure your engagements to force strategic thinking. Use the 60/40 rule: 60% of your retainer hours go to proactive strategy and planning, 40% to reactive execution and support. Build this into your contracts and protect those strategic hours fiercely. Start every month with a 90-minute strategic session reviewing upcoming opportunities, potential risks, and narrative positioning. Create a simple “early warning system” for clients—monitoring tools, stakeholder check-ins, and competitive intelligence—that catches issues while they’re still manageable. The mindset shift: you’re not selling hours, you’re selling the peace of mind that comes from having someone thinking three months ahead while they’re dealing with today. When you test strategies and get feedback from other consultants before presenting to clients, you arrive with battle-tested approaches rather than untested ideas.

The demands on comms professionals are intensifying—it’s not just about mastering traditional skills anymore. We need to embrace new platforms, get comfortable with AI, and become fluent in data, research and measurement. The industry is moving too fast for the “same old” approach. 55% of companies are investing in upskilling their employees in generative AI and 64% expect AI to significantly improve their productivity, but training and adaptation take time. Add to this the emergence of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)—optimizing brand presence in AI-powered search results from ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s SGE—and the skills gap becomes a chasm.

The new mindset: Turn continuous learning into a competitive moat. Dedicate 5-10 hours per week to upskilling. Schedule it in your calendar like client work. Focus on high-value skills that corporate teams lack, which are advanced analytics interpretation, AI prompt engineering for comms, crisis simulation, or platform-specific expertise. The secret is to learn in public. Share what you’re learning on LinkedIn, in newsletter form, or through quick posts. This positions you as a forward-thinking expert while you’re still learning. Join communities (like Comms People or others) where you can access frameworks and get mentorship without waiting for corporate training budgets. The consultant’s edge isn’t knowing everything—it’s knowing how to learn fast and apply immediately.

Crisis preparation has evolved from a contingency plan to an ongoing strategic priority, whether facing environmental disasters, health emergencies, or sociopolitical division. One viral tweet can escalate into a full-blown crisis in minutes. Comms people must become unifying, calming messengers to guide raw and uncertain internal and external audiences, counseling leaders to be responsible, accountable and respectful ambassadors.

The new mindset: Build a “crisis portfolio” that showcases your experience across multiple industries and scenarios. Create a crisis response framework you can adapt quickly: pre-approved holding statements, decision trees for different scenario types, stakeholder mapping templates, and 24-hour action plans. Offer “crisis retainer” packages: clients pay a small monthly fee for priority access if something hits. The psychological edge: when you’ve guided five companies through five different crises, you bring calm confidence that internal teams (who pray they’ll never face one) simply cannot. Network with other consultants to share crisis scenarios and response strategies—this collective intelligence makes you exponentially more valuable than any single corporate crisis manager.

In an overcrowded marketplace where every agency claims to be “strategic” and “data-driven,” standing out feels impossible. Generic positioning leads to price-based competition and commoditization. When everyone says the same thing, clients default to choosing based on cost or existing relationships.

The new mindset: Niche down ruthlessly, then own it completely. Don’t be a “PR consultant”—be “the consultant who helps SaaS companies navigate product launch crises” or “the crisis specialist for healthcare organizations facing regulatory scrutiny.” The riches are in the niches. Once you pick your lane, demonstrate expertise relentlessly: write about it, speak about it, share case studies, build IP around it. Price 30-50% higher than generalists because you’re not selling time, you’re selling specialized expertise and reduced risk. Test your positioning with other consultants to refine your value proposition before taking it to market. The mental model: you’re not competing with 10,000 PR consultants, you’re one of maybe 20 specialists in your specific niche.

There’s increasing segmentation of what I’m calling ‘new media’ (newly merging outlets like Substack, LinkedIn Pulse, podcasts, etc.) and keeping up with the latest social platforms, formats, and best practices feels like a full-time job in itself. Video content and social media remain prevailing PR trends, with 81% of PR professionals saying LinkedIn is critical to their communication strategies and 77% using Twitter for the same purpose.

The new mindset: Choose two platforms to master deeply rather than spreading thin across all of them. Learn the data that matters for those platforms and tie it to your strategy. Create a system that is scalable AND sellable to your ideal client. Become the person who truly understands LinkedIn algorithm changes and B2B influence, or the Threads expert who knows how to build authority there. Create a “platform playbook” for each of your chosen channels: optimal posting times, content formats that perform, engagement strategies, and measurement frameworks. Your positioning: “While corporate teams try to be everywhere, I help you dominate where your audience actually is.” Share real-time platform learnings with your network to stay sharp, and bring fresh insights to clients quarterly.

Perhaps the most underestimated pain point: the loneliness of flying solo. The consulting journey can feel like being born—crying, unemployed, and alone Comms People. Without colleagues to brainstorm with or validate ideas, self-doubt creeps in and bad decisions multiply. You second-guess your pricing, your strategies, and your worth.

The new mindset: Proactively architect your support system from day one. This isn’t nice-to-have, it’s mission-critical. Build three circles: (1) a peer circle of 3-5 consultants at your level for regular check-ins and idea validation, (2) a mentor circle of 1-2 consultants ahead of you who’ve solved the problems you’re facing, and (3) a community circle for broader learning and opportunities—whether that’s Comms People, a local consultants group, or an online community. Schedule recurring “co-working” sessions with peers where you work in parallel and break for advice. The mindset shift: professional relationships aren’t networking, they’re your competitive infrastructure. Consultants with strong peer networks earn 40-60% more because they get reality checks on pricing, feedback on proposals, and emotional support during hard client situations.

The future favors the flexible, the specialized, and the connected. While large organizations struggle with bureaucracy, budget cuts, and the challenge of keeping teams current, independent consultants are building agile, informed, and mutually supportive networks.

As we head into 2026, the question isn’t whether AI will replace PR professionals or whether corporate budgets will return to pre-pandemic levels. The question is, ‘How will you position yourself to capture the opportunities in this transformed landscape?’

For comms consultants, the answer is this: combine your hard-won expertise with technology and platforms, strategic positioning, continuous skill development, and a robust support network. Build your practice around outcomes, not outputs. Specialize ruthlessly. Master the tools that multiply your impact. And connect with other consultants who can provide the reality checks, feedback, and moral support that make the difference between struggling and thriving.

The industry’s pain points aren’t going away. But for consultants who are prepared, skilled, supported, and strategically positioned, these challenges represent the greatest professional opportunity in decades.