Dubai: Concerns over budget cuts are not confined to ad industry professionals alone — their counterparts in PR are having the same thoughts.

As much as 34 per cent of respondents in a survey conducted by an industry group expect lower investments in communications this year compared to 13 per cent in 2015. But 35.1 per cent of industry professionals were hopeful of some growth.

Two out of three respondents see PR related spending by their clients staying the same or growing, down from 87 per cent in 2015, based on the findings from Mepra (Middle East Public Relations Association).

The survey flagged other concerns too. It showed “worrying results when it came to the way the industry attracts, develops and retains people”, according to a statement Four of the five lowest scores for industry practice related to how it treats people, with the two absolute lowest combined scores for practice and performance coming in “graduate recruitment” and “attracting local talent”.

These are based on feedback from 138 respondents, 100 in-house departments, 34 agencies and four senior independent consultants. Respondents had more than 13 years’ experience in public relations on average.

While media relations was the most important PR discipline in 2015 (with a score of 4.64 out of a possible 5), respondents expect this to be overtaken by social media this year (rising to 4.81/5).

The fastest growing disciplines are expected to be “influencer engagement” (up 12.4 per cent), employee engagement (up 10.0 per cent) and integrated communications (up 9.2 per cent).

The most important issues facing the industry are ‘the need to demonstrate results’ (4.59 / 5.0), ‘the importance of social media’ (4.54 / 5.0) and ‘return on investment’ (4.36/5.0).

“This study shows an industry which is maturing and growing in confidence,” said Ray Eglington, Group Managing Director at Four Communications Group, and the Mepra board member responsible for the study. “That maturity and confidence will grow further in the future if it takes note of these warning signs about investment in people. The industry needs a radical rethink in how it approaches these areas.”