PR Trends for 2023: Be a trendsetter not a follower

PR Trends for 2023: Be a trendsetter not a follower

Picture the scene:

You’re out for coffee with a friend and they introduce you to a friend of theirs that you haven’t met before. You go through the usual pleasantries. Where are you from? What do you work as?

PR professionals have all been faced with the latter question and while we are communicators by nature, we often fail to come up with a definitive answer to describe what it is we actually do.

At its core PR is about storytelling and, in truth, the best PR is often something that isn’t visible to the eye. It can be subtle and steadfast and the result of hours upon hours of behind the scenes planning and preparation.

PR is about storytelling, problem solving and trend setting. As we find ourselves at the beginning of a new year, it’s a good time to reflect on PR trends for 2023 and how we as an industry can use these trends to amplify our clients’ stories.

Diversity and Inclusion:

Diversity and Inclusion cannot be an afterthought or a tick box exercise for Irish businesses. In the context of gender pay gap reporting and the ever-changing hybrid workforce, it’s more important than ever that companies have a robust Diversity and Inclusion strategy backed up by high impact actions that are making a real difference.

More and more in 2023, we will see PR consultants working closely with businesses to support them in telling their DE&I (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) story and making it a core part of their PR strategy. It’s also paramount that we as an industry look at our own DE&I strategies and ask ourselves how can we actively make the sector more diverse and reflective of the world we live in.

Measuring Impact:

Making a positive impact is one of our key values here at Drury. We believe every campaign we work on should be underscored by measuring its impact. These days measurement is so much more than AVE, reach and coverage clippings. In 2023, PR professionals should all rethink how we approach measurement and the onus lies on us as communicators to educate clients on newer, better ways of measuring meaningful impact. A PR measurement framework should be developed that incorporates factors like sentiment, share of voice, website traffic and tracking of behavioural change.

Creation and Integration:

Content creation and integrated campaigns may sound like buzz PR phrases, but they will continue to play a major role in how we tell stories in 2023 and beyond. A press release and photography may have been sufficient in the past for some campaigns but now there’s a real demand for campaigns to have a fully rounded and integrated approach that includes innovative digital and social media elements. This trend is only set to grow and grow in 2023. Depending on the audience you want to reach, content can be as diverse as LinkedIn specific employer branded posts or short and snappy TikTok videos.

Paid for Content:

Paid media and partnerships with influencers will expand in 2023. Where appropriate, consideration to paid media should accompany every PR strategy. In the competitive earned media environment, paid media allows key messages to land and is particularly helpful for campaigns that are niche.

Similarly, utilising influencer partnerships will prove more and more useful for brands in 2023 and assist them in reaching targeted audiences, particularly audiences that aren’t plugged into traditional news channels. At Drury, we regularly work with brands to help them find the right influencer to assist in telling their story. Consumers can sense inauthentic messages or when an influencer doesn’t share the same values as a brand, so it’s important that PR collaborates with brands on influencer mapping and takes the time to find that perfect match.

Good Old Fashioned Media Relations:

Trends come and go but media relations will always be an integral part of a PR consultant’s toolkit. While we relied on emails and virtual Teams calls during the pandemic, making calls and scheduling networking coffees with journalists will become an even larger part of our work weeks in 2023.

Having open and collaborative conversations with media about the type of stories they are interested in should be at the top of every consultant’s to-do list for Q1 2023. These conversations will help build connections and will be the foundations for successful PR campaigns over the next 12 months.

The new year is also an optimum time to review media lists and consider diversifying media pitches and targets. For example, podcasts are becoming a more popular and targeted medium and offer clients the opportunity to talk in detail about campaigns and projects to an interested listener.

To conclude…

Taking the trends outlined into account, the New Year is an appropriate time to evaluate PR tactics and decide whether they could do with a refresh of innovative ideas or some added creative thinking.

In a world full of trends, the responsibility lies on us as PR professionals to cut through jargon and find out what ones are worth following and what ones are just fads!