2024 PR Predictions: Bramble Style

Skinny jeans and laugh-y emojis aren't the only trends to watch next year. In 2024, we’re welcoming a new kind of media landscape. One where newsrooms are shrinking, consumer attention spans are at all-time lows and brands are louder than ever. In our world of PR, we foresee five major trends that will shape our year. Let's break them down, shall we?

1. A back-to-basics approach to PR

In 2023, we saw more reporters wanting to hear one good story idea over 3-4 mediocre ones. This type of pitching really only comes from having a good story to tell and developing an anchor of trust with the journalist.

If the reporters know that you will consistently bring them good ideas, then they will be more inclined to take your call or answer your email.

2. Virtual first meetings and check ins

As they say, time is money! All we have in this world is our time and our energy. When we have limited time to work in a day, we see that PR check ins and calls will continue to be a quick online call versus a half-day or full-day event. These allow for the highest efficiency so that more billable hours can be spent on media relations, pitching, writing and the like. For PR firms like Bramble, this allows us to service multiple clients in one day and be as efficient with our own time and achieve the best work life/balance as possible.

3. Firms using PR firms for the first time

The pressure to create thought leadership or get your company’s name into the world is stronger than ever. Trying to accomplish this in your free time or assigning this task to an employee who doesn’t understand the world can lead to much frustration and missing the mark on your goals. It’s important to work with a PR firm that understands your firm’s needs and how to best tailor your strategy to fit what you're looking to achieve. And we will be straight with you about what is do-able and what might be more of a long-term goal. You need that kind of expertise from professionals who know this industry. In 2024, we are expecting that more firms will be working with a PR agency for the first time and learning all the great things we can do together as their guide.

4. Leveraging AI Tools ethically

As a Millennial who was born with a computer mouse in my hand, you’d think that I would be welcoming AI technology in with open arms – but something about it just gives me the ick. Maybe it’s because I’ve tried using tools like ChatGPT and Bard to help me with some of my writing, only to get less than ideal blocks of text that would take me longer to edit and fix than to actually write. Also, there’s the very real question of “where is this information getting pulled from?” It could lead to accidentally plagiarizing a piece – which is a no. 1 no-no in the journalism world. Next year, we see these tools continuing to get better at what they do, but also PR professionals learning better ways to use the tools to help them in their jobs. I’ve found that asking an AI bot for some starter ideas can be a great way to go from a blank word document to that moment of inspiration. AI will not be replacing PR professionals this year, but in fact, be another great tool in our content writing arsenal.

5. Crisper, more creative pitch and story ideas are a must

If you only had 3 seconds to get someone’s attention, what would you say? They say that people make a decision about what they are reading – be it a headline, a social post or a video - within 3 seconds or less. The attention part is tricky and many marketing and PR people use hook-like tactics to get you to face their message. But what next? How do we get them to stay a while? The answer is finding something that strikes a chord within the reader. It would need to be a topic that is relevant to them, that is engaging, entertaining or educating in some way. These topics would need to be applicable to your client and to the greater context of your industry, market or state of the world. There’s a lot that goes into a pitch and so many elements to think about – but the number one thing we know will not change is the demand for creative ideas that engage with audiences who you are trying to reach.

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The Bramble team is excited going into 2024 with our amazing clients who get our POV and we get them. If you’d like to learn more about what to expect in the PR space going into 2024, feel free to reach out and let’s have a chat.

Happy New Year!