What Are The Pr Trends You Need To Know About For Your 2025 Marketing Plans?

Marketeers are always looking forward – so as we reach the peak of Summer here in the UK, the first draft of your 2025 Marketing Plans are no doubt well underway.  As we all know, in media terms, Christmas starts in August!

So, if your Q3/4 is all about battling out the budgets with Finance, you’ll want to be armed with the latest insider knowledge on why to invest in PR.   Marketing budgets now need to stretch further than ever before to encompass a marketing mix that now reaches from online advertising to digital, PR and social media – so it pays to have done your research.

Here’s our thoughts on 3 key forecasts and trends to consider for 2025 planning:

1. TRANSPARENCY

The rapid transformation of media in recent years has meant that consumers have greater control over their media consumption and an increased confidence in building their own news and information sources. We’re able to do our own research into products and services online – quickly building a comprehensive comparison to make an assessment on what most suits our needs or desired outcomes. This means that companies need to work harder to ensure that the information that customers find or are given is trustworthy and accurate. And, that this ensures they can cultivate genuine relationships with their audiences. So, simple techniques such as regularly updating your social platforms and refreshing your website, as well as providing a robust press office service for journalists, become vital PR tools. This “consumer power” has also come with a side-serving of cynicism and fatigue with the traditional sales pitch, so you might need to think smarter about how you communicate your USP.  What you say about your company really matters – now more than ever, you need to justify any claims with supporting data, provide hard evidence and give examples of best practice.  For example, it’s no longer enough to say that your company is based on environmental values, you need to be able to back that up with proactive campaigns and current initiatives, strong policies and impact data.

2. AUTHENTICITY

Increased media space means there’s a real opportunity to increase your share of voice – but that opinion needs to be authentic, credible and engaging.  So, spokespeople selection and development should be the cornerstone of your annual PR plan. For the year ahead, it’s worth reviewing your spokespeople portfolio – role changes and organisational restructuring may mean that there are changes to be made. Once you’ve got your “line up” sorted, turn your focus to media training and briefing. External media training can still add value to your organisational communications. 24 hour rolling news and “always on” social media means that your spokespeople need to be fully briefed on key messages, with a series of soundbites prepped. While thought-leadership pieces from company spokespeople still land well in trade and business media, consumer journalists often seek expert advice from independent sources. An Edelman “Trust Barometer” report from 2023 underscores this, with 76% of consumers saying that when brands attempts to engage with them often go wrong when they lack relevance or authenticity (52%)¹. What does that mean for your 2025 Marketing Plans? Maximise existing collaborations and partnerships to harness expert voices who are happy to lend their voices to champion your issues. Is there also an opportunity to build new networks next year or bring on board Brand Ambassadors to provide media with independent, credible advice?

3. TALKABILITY

Despite the diversification of media, the emergence of new technologies such as AI and the rise in influencer marketing – don’t discount the importance of “old-school” storytelling. Investing time and effort into creative content can pay dividends for your business – and ensure you have a powerful story that makes an impact.  Work across departments and alongside your colleagues to identify the strongest stories that will help to illustrate the business in the best light and bring your product or services to life. This often means ensuring testimonials and case studies are part of your strategy – the best stories often take time to reveal themselves, so you need a constant focus on this in order to deliver results across the year.  An omnichannel approach to comms means that these stories can be repurposed across internal and external platforms. As such, visual assets are vital to consider in your planning – and budget allocations. With national, regional and consumer budgets increasingly “squeezed”, being able to provide high-quality, high-res images to accompany your press release, thought-leadership feature or case study can make all the difference. The “shareability” of your news is also important – so strong, well-designed social media content for LinkedIn and Instagram can help your story travel organically to reach a wider – even global – audience. So, review your collateral, and if you find it “lacking”, consider where you can boost it to deliver a consistent image and message. Think; graphic design for social media posts, short video clips, logo development, professional head shots and “pieces to camera” for SLT and spokespeople, product pack shots and visual examples of case studies and Best Practice.

At Trinity PR, we’ve been receiving and reviewing briefs for over 20 years! As an independent Agency, the thrill of being selected to consider a brief never fades. So, as you return from holidays and prepare to get your marketing plans for next year “in gear”, if you’r considering bringing on board an Agency to support your ambitious growth plans – we’d love to chat. You may be coming to the end of a long retainer and want to review your options, or you may have a new project on the horizon, such as a new product or service launch, that you feel would benefit from more specific Agency expertise. Give us a call to discuss your brief for a no obligation chat.

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References:

1. https://www.edelman.com/trust/2023/trust-barometer/special-report-brand-trust