During 2023, the PR landscape has been a whirlwind. We’ve witnessed new and emerging trends, budget challenges and a heavy news agenda – but it’s safe to say the PR industry has become more dynamic than ever. As we approach the new year, it’s important to understand the trends which will spread like wildfire and the must-have tactics for your PR activity.
Why are upcoming and current trends in the PR space important? These trends shape and transform the industry and the brands utilising them. As PR experts, It’s crucial to stay on top of what matters to specific audiences; this is especially important for PR as a huge part of the foundation lies within shaping the minds of consumers.
With this in mind, we have gathered some of our top predicted PR trends for 2024, and the Wild team members share their thoughts:
Opt for a humanised approach and be authentic
This is going to be a big one. While the rise of automation and AI-driven possibilities is undeniable, there’s a growing concern of disconnect. The year 2024 is likely to witness the need for genuine human interactions.
Among AI and fake news, your brand must step up even more. Consumers are suspicious now more than ever of fake information and inauthentic messaging; therefore, we encourage brands to go the extra mile to make their audience feel connected in 2024.
According to Forbes: “As 2024 draws near, the digital world is throwing a gamut of challenges our way, notably the task of discerning the genuine from the deluge of misinformation. Surface-level content might abound, but today’s audiences crave genuine insights that stand out and resonate with depth and clarity amid the digital chaos.”
By incorporating tactics including community engagement, inclusive messaging, interactive content, personalised storytelling and sharing expert advice, brands can humanise their approach and build genuine connections with their target audience.
Our thoughts:
Account Manager at Wild PR, Kayleigh Morgan:
“Authenticity is more important now than ever. The pandemic years have led to a shift in content marketing, messaging, and branding as fake news and misinformation were rife, leaving audiences wary of who and what to trust. Consumers expect brands to be transparent about ethics and values, walk the talk, share real-life stories, provide expertise and advice and go beyond brand comms.”
Digital PR Director at Wild PR, Frankie Lyons:
“Fake news and disinformation will also likely continue to be a challenge. It’s something which journalists are extremely cautious of, so any PR campaigns which rely on data must have robust methodologies that can be distributed alongside the press release to eliminate any concerns from publications.”
Looking beyond financial metrics
While financial metrics will always be important, these won’t always be the sole performance indicators of success – it’s essential to look at the intangible factors that create a positive ROI for brands. Although this may not happen overnight, brand reputation, trust and credibility will become an even bigger focus in 2024. While it can be challenging to track intangible worth for brands, you can increase this by looking at these factors:
- Brand awareness: Although this may seem tangible through accessible social and online analytical data, it’s worth seeking out the people you see as ideal customers and creating content they want to see. Ask existing customers how they heard about you and if they enjoyed their experience. This may be a slower process that doesn’t generate immediate results, but the invaluable data you’ll gather can be harnessed to make genuine long-term improvements and strengthen brand longevity.
- Valuable expertise: Like with trust, measuring how your audience perceives you can be challenging. However, you can ensure that relevant and credible information is easily accessible so customers don’t have to head elsewhere or to a competitor.
Budgets under pressure
Times are challenging for businesses now more than ever. Understandably, businesses are looking to spend their budget on fast and tangible activity (e.g. PPC). However, 2024 is not the time to push longer-term PR efforts to the side.
Brand longevity will be a huge focal point that brands won’t be able to escape in 2024. It’s no longer about the pushy sales messaging and quick-fix results; your audience wants more from you.
Before making any cuts to your marketing spend, it’s crucial to understand your goals over the next year. And a good PR strategy should go beyond just getting featured in media publications. It should support all areas of your marketing mix and elevate brand awareness and consumer trust.
Our thoughts:
Account Manager at Wild PR, Kayleigh Morgan:
“With the UK economy struggling to keep its head above water, many businesses feel the pressure. Companies are focusing heavily on the purchase stage of the sales funnel, looking for quick wins to fill gaps in revenue; however, this means the bigger picture (brand longevity and awareness) is dangerously put on the back burner. We need to ensure that businesses are aware of the different marketing and PR tactics, the reason behind them and how they support brand resilience.”
Digital PR Director at Wild PR, Frankie Lyons:
“One of the biggest challenges the industry will likely face in 2024 is reduced client budgets due to the ongoing crises around the world. With the cost of living crisis still ongoing, consumers are hesitant across the board to spend as they have previously. This ultimately impacts the budgets brands have available to spend on marketing and PR activities.“
Find out more about how your PR budget can help you achieve growth in 2024.
Focusing on personalised outreach
In 2024, the combination of overwhelmed journalists dealing with an influx of daily pitches and the introduction of generic AI content poses a challenge for PR professionals. Standing out from the crowd in this ever changing landscape calls for innovative and compelling strategies.
Be specific with your pitching. It’s important to tailor each pitch to journalists’ specific needs, interests, and preferences – be clear on their vibe. and whatever it is, make sure you match it! This won’t just help you stand out from the crowd, but it will also help you foster trust and long-term industry relationships.
Building strong journalist relationships during 2024 and onwards will warrant attention and detail. When pitching, it’s crucial to remember: what value are you adding to the journalist? Is it new data? Is it expert insight? Make it clear why this is of value to them.
Our thoughts:
PR and Social Media Executive at Wild PR, Lydia Fearnley:
“Gaining coverage in the news is becoming increasingly competitive as there is a growing number of PR firms compared to a reduced number of journalists. Keeping an eye on industry conversations online (especially Twitter) can help uncover key insights about journalist and PR relationships and find better ways to work together. In addition, having open conversations and asking for feedback from journalists helps us to improve our ways of working and achieve the best possible results for our clients.”
Looking to find out how to build positive relationships with journalists in 2024? Check out our latest guide.
The power of expert insight
Expert insight is going to be invaluable in shaping PR success in 2024. Unique expert insights provide depth, exclusivity, credibility, and valuable relevance to communication strategies. Gathering exclusive expert insights for planned or reactive PR not only encourages people to trust your brand, placing you as an expert in your field and essentially the go-to voice for your industry, but it also contributes to building meaningful connections with your audience and stakeholders.
Our thoughts:
Account Manager at Wild PR, Mollie Thorpe:
“I think there’s definitely been an uptick in more expert-driven PR pieces, with fewer ‘hero’ campaigns, which often require an increased client budget. By taking this on board and providing journalists with a client’s industry expertise, we’ve really been able to position our clients as thought leaders in their industry and, as a result, achieved some really great results.”
Senior Account Executive at Wild PR, Ella Kybaluk:
“Don’t underestimate the importance of expert insight. If you can’t provide a journalist with expert insight, your story may not land. Due to such a crowded market, AI tools and the internet, expert offerings add vital credibility, unique insight and authority – this is what journalists need. Ensure you are allowing your clients to feel as though they are the experts in their field and they are confident to offer unique expert advice which journalists seek after.”
Be flexible with your process
During 2024, being flexible with your action plan will be more important than ever. Within reason, of course. If you’ve crafted the perfect campaign with an exciting pitch and a curated media list, but circumstances shift unexpectedly due to the news agenda or a reactive opportunity – be prepared to pivot swiftly. Embrace the change, and don’t hesitate to seize the moment.
Although most PR professionals will be used to being flexible in their work, 2024 will pose the need for proactivity when it comes to reactive and trending opportunities.
The power of influencers
Influencer marketing has become a huge driver across marketing channels, and with the influencer industry set to be worth $22 billion by 2025, it’s no shock that influencers are here to stay in 2024.
Incorporating influencer activity into PR campaigns will be a winner. However, in 2024, the landscape could see a slight shift from celebrities to, instead, micro-influencers. According to research, micro-influencers get the most engagement out of all the influencer types. In particular, TikTok influencers are raising the bar with an engagement rate of 17.96%. This is because individuals who might not boast massive follower counts have deep authority and resonance within niche communities.
Just like micro-influencing, PR has proven to be more effective than traditional forms of advertising. This is because audience members can resonate more easily. Using people who already know and love your brand to tell your story is a great and authentic way to enhance exposure.
Using social media to track PR campaign success
Earned media mentions are a measurable and comparable metric; this allows PR professionals to compare the results of different campaigns and the message positioning across social media and in the press. Measuring social media metrics once a PR campaign is live can provide businesses with accurate data on how well the campaign performs.
This information is helpful for businesses, as it tells them how they can improve their messaging to attract more customers. Metrics include the following:
- Tracking customer engagement
- Measure consumer behaviour trends
- Effectiveness of content and CTA’s
- Performance goals like follower count, engagement, reach, and more
- Profile visits and tags
Artificial Intelligence: Friend or foe?
Here it is, the buzzword of 2023. Artificial Intelligence (AI) isn’t set to leave in 2024, either. AI is one of the most significant PR trends for the coming year, and it will continue to revolutionise PR in the coming years. Although there are fears about the extent to which AI will conquer, it’s an opportunity to work smarter, not harder. Utilise AI to help streamline processes; maybe it’s not your enemy after all?
Some of the ways AI can help assist a PR strategy include:
- Gathering topline insights and data
- Alternate way to inspire PR campaign ideation
- Uncover trends in industries
- Segment your audience based on preferences, behaviours, and demographics
- Develop creative campaign images
Our thoughts:
Digital PR Director at Wild PR, Frankie Lyons:
“Chatgpt has taken the world by storm, and as an industry, we are hesitant about the impact this could have on the quality of content being created. And we should be cautious when it comes to using AI tools for written content creation; however, we’ve seen a rise in PR campaigns using AI-generated images and other creative elements, which I believe could help take PR campaigns on a lower budget to the next level.”
Reflecting on 2023
It’s safe to say that 2023 has been a wild ride! From new trends, groundbreaking research, the ever-expanding possibilities of artificial intelligence, budget constraints, fierce competition, and so on. Amidst this whirlwind, it’s clear that PR is a powerful tool to catapult your brand into 2024.
Managing Director at Wild PR, Katrina Cliffe:
“2023 has continued to be a challenge for business owners. The hangover of COVID-19 and the wider ramifications of Brexit and wars in Europe have all impacted businesses and the various challenges they face in their operations. If anything, the last few years have taught businesses how to enhance resilience and productivity to enhance profitability to weather the storms. At Wild PR, we have made many changes to our processes and the tools we use to enhance our way of working and delivery to our clients to support them with their growth ambitions.”
If you want to see how we can help you reach your new year goals in 2024, contact the Wild PR team, or book a 30-minute introductory call with Katrina Cliffe.