People are vital to communications. Not only do they make up the audiences marketeers try to reach, but they are often the sole ‘asset’ a communications team or agency has.

While those of us who have been in the industry a while will have developed a deeper understanding of diverse audience groups, this doesn't apply to new recruits.

And if the majority of new PR recruits come from a degree background - where they can afford tuition fees and want to spend three (plus) years at university, this is going to make for very small pickings in the diversity stakes.

For instance, in the UK, the PRCA estimate over 90% of PRs are white. And that's just the start.

In an age where we are seeing the ‘democratisation of everything‘ and where immediate, social, interaction is becoming increasingly important in communications, there is nothing which can compare to belonging to an audience ‘tribe’ to intuitively understand how to communicate with the audience.

For that reason we need more diversity in the industry - and that means recruiting from more diverse sources. I set out how the industry can do this here.