‘Tis the season for trends! As put eloquently by PR Daily Senior Editor Allison Carter, “Making predictions for the last three years has been pretty pointless. But let’s try anyway.”
It’s difficult to predict how events will play out. Even when we outline “anticipated results,” there is always a mix of unpredictability and lack of total control over how audiences will receive news. However, when planning strategy, it’s helpful to look at market trends and themes that might inform campaigns, allocate resources, and ultimately improve how you communicate with your customers, partners and stakeholders.
In Allison’s recent article, “PR Daily’s top 6 trends for 2023,” she recaps several trends PR Daily predicts for the year to come. Below I’ve outlined a few of those trends and a couple of other communications themes that will likely impact how PR professionals engage in the coming years.
- Further integration of external and internal communications. As Allison notes in her article, we’ve seen a continued merge of internal and external communications. Across Communiqué PR’s clients, we’ve seen a similar motion. It’s always been important to have consistent messages and ensure that what you share across audiences is clear. While the information a leader communicates to employees will not be the same details they share with a reporter, you never want teams to be surprised.
Think in terms of good storytelling being an important element to bring the reader and audience along with your narrative. This is true across internal and external comms. Actions should match commitments and inform the broader communication objective and the story the company wants to tell. Connecting PR and internal communication teams can improve the effectiveness of storytelling across all audiences. In 2023, we’ll likely see more of a united communications front.
- Increased investments in strong copywriting. Writing has been a critical communication skill in high demand for years. Whether through long or short-form content development, writing is heavily present in nearly all PR strategies across our client portfolio. Strong writing skills help businesses improve how they tell their stories, which can differentiate how customers see and want to engage with the brand. Through strong writing, we’ve grown our role across clients taking on additional support, including blog development, newsletters and other business writing campaigns.
As Allison highlighted, communication professionals appreciate the importance of writing as a skill. In Ragan’s Communications Benchmark survey, 40% of the respondents are interested in having writing training in 2023. If improving writing is not on the radar, it should be. It’s not always an easy skill, and different groups value different messages. Partnering with strong writers and embedding them in strategic communications strategies will improve storytelling in 2023 and create opportunities to better engage with customers and achieve growth.
- More short-form videos. Another trend shared by PR Daily was increased focus and investment in short-form videos. Like writing, this is a need we’ve seen across our clients. It’s not necessarily feasible to create a fully functioning media studio in the new year, but it will be wise to learn more about the types of videos that best resonate with customers and different video platforms that automate video development, as well as what vendors can create strong video content. We’ll see more instances of short and engaging videos that attract customers and share new and existing content in more visual ways.
- Heightened focus and use of AI. By now, you’ve likely heard of OpenAI’s ChatGPT tool. The Forbes’ article, “Here’s What To Know About OpenAI’s ChatGPT—What It’s Disrupting And How To Use It,” provides a thorough overview of the platform. The discussion of AI and automation replacing jobs is not new. This tool, however, is impressive and has caused many recent conversations about the potential of AI. People have shared different use cases on Twitter.
In 2023, we’ll see more marketing teams use AI to improve their strategies. It will be exciting to see how the conversations, use cases and results of AI in action evolve.
- Sharper emphasis on customer engagement. Companies are competing for consumers’ attention, engagement and long-term loyalty. When brainstorming PR strategies across content development and thought leadership, it will be essential to recommend approaches and themes that will drive engagement.
These strategies could include a customer newsletter, interactive surveys, more engaging design projects, or direct email campaigns that help companies understand and connect more closely with the customer’s voice in mind. Next year, I anticipate seeing customer engagement shape PR activity more than in past years.
It’s fun to think about the themes we’ll reflect on in December 2023. While the five areas above are not necessarily new or surprising, next year will present new learning opportunities and the chance for PR to help companies grow.