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This is a test.

No, not of the emergency broadcast system – but of our resilience as an industry in a time of uncertainty. We recently tuned into a webinar discussing Ragan’s 2025 Communications Benchmark Report – The New Workplace Reality, and came away with some valuable takeaways for marketing communications professionals. The 7th annual edition of the report – a survey completed by 900 communications professionals – explored the topics of AI, DEI, organizational culture, and future needs for learning and development.

The discussion highlighted the current volatile environment for communicators, characterized by constant change, crisis, and the essential need for growth. Key areas experiencing disruption and requiring ongoing development include internal comms, PR, social media/marketing, business acumen, leadership, and technology. One area that remains the same from previous years is that foundational skills are critical – everything from strategic communications, planning, storytelling, and writing, to financial literacy, technology, measurement, and leadership.

While today’s rapid news cycle keeps comms professionals on their toes, the discussion highlighted that there is still opportunity. In our line of work, we can expect three constants: change, crisis, and growth. While the first two are the “fires” that typically receive most of our attention, growth is a fire we must always tend to.

The new workplace norm is that uncertainty is the new reality. The report’s authors underscored the importance of focusing efforts on the most effective channels for internal and external communications and measuring the results. Now is also a time to invest in learning and development to ensure that you are ready to meet new challenges.

The report also found that many organizations are experiencing significant culture changes and business challenges. Respondents shared that top stressors included political unrest and its impact on the workforce, layoffs, C-suite transitions, and efforts to engage a hybrid workforce as more organizations implement some type of hybrid RTO policy.

When asked about the challenges for effective communications, three areas rose to the top: the number one challenge was a lack of staff (45%), followed by too many last-minute requests (39%), and the third was a lack of budget (37%). Communicators juggle a range of responsibilities that may pull them away from strategic work. Unplanned fire drills, competing priorities, and time constraints mean that not every hole can be filled simultaneously; the use of effective channels is key.

Top investment priorities include investing in content production (51%), hiring more full-time staff (48%), and investing in team training (33%), making it clear that content is still king. Skill development for teams is also a top priority as organizations seek to ensure employees can best serve their clients.

The report also highlighted that the two most effective channels for external communications were social media (69%) and press releases (43%) – no change from 2024, but perhaps a surprise for folks who thought press releases were going the way of the fax. Press releases are still a very efficient and effective way of getting news out to a large number of people and news outlets simultaneously. In addition, social media’s ability to reach a broad audience and its relatively simple ability to extract useful metrics on what works continues to drive its growth and adoption.

Most communicators measure their efforts regularly, but nearly 60% measure monthly or quarterly—likely because data tells a clearer story over a 30, 60, or 90-day time period than it does in any given week, which may have a spike in activity or a quiet period that skews the measurement of outcomes.

When asked what gets in the way of effective measurement, the top three answers were lack of time (58% – same as 2024), lack of proper technology (42%, down from 2024 as more tools become freely or cheaply available), and lacking the expertise to analyze key data. Skill development here is a significant area of opportunity.

When asked what specializations communicators will need to future-proof their roles, respondents overwhelmingly agreed that understanding how to use generative AI was number one (46%). This was followed by crisis or issues management (41%) and executive communications (28%).

Finally, respondents agreed that the most essential skills and competencies were strategic communications planning (74%), relationship building (61%), project management (39%) and emotional intelligence (38%).

Communication pros must equip themselves with the skills and knowledge to navigate the future. This will help build trust and demonstrate clear impact—two non-negotiables in today’s landscape.

To learn more about how Zer0 to 5ive can help your company build trust and find its voice, drop us a line.