Kevin Welman, Director at ByDesign Communications, looks at PR trends. His prediction for 2025 is that we’ll ride in on 2024’s coat-tails. And, far from being ragged and tatty, 2024’s coat is remarkably well-maintained. For starters, it was the first ‘normal’ year post-Covid, which is in no small measure due to light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to loadshedding, and to our Government of National Unity living up to its promises. Overall, there’s a marked upswing in optimism and stability that should kickstart a socioeconomic uptick. Within this context, the communications industry needs to be ready to play its part.
Here are four more trends that merit some discussion:
Communication And Business Strategies Are Aligning
The lines between the comms delivered by agencies, and their clients’ business goals, are converging, with corporates giving their agencies more oversight of their strategy than ever before. In turn, this is enabling the measurement of return of investment in terms of both spend and strategic success. Another benefit for companies that are being more transparent with their agencies is that this ROI measurement will stand them in good stead when it comes to delivering award-winning work.
AI Is Learning Its Place
My standpoint on AI tools like Chat GPT hasn’t been overly positive. These tools are hyped as the solution for more creative output, faster, but the simple truth is that they don’t deliver on creativity, and the tools curtail our ability to apply free, new thought. Instead of generating original content, they regurgitate existing ideas, and present them very well. So, I’m pleased to see that usage has moved away from content creation and towards saving time and money. Need research? Want to streamline processes? Need to pull the main themes out of a two-hour-long planning session? AI is your friend but the human overlay and combination of efforts are crucial.
Hyper Targeting Is Delivering Spot-On Results
The ability to laser focus on delivering the right content to the right people, at the right time, is critical. And the clear leader in this race is LinkedIn. While the platform falls under ‘paid media’ its value is justifying the spend, and bolsters the gains from ‘earned media’. LinkedIn is here to stay. Does this mean that other social channels will fall by the wayside? Time will tell. But it’s my opinion that agencies which don’t use LinkedIn to its full potential are likely to see the wayside up close.
Video Is Killing The Radio Star
As our first digital-native generation grows into a targeted group of consumers, savvy communicators are realising the value of video content. This generation is adverse to reading and consumes the overwhelming majority of the information that influences their decision-making via video be that reels, Instagram or TikTok.
In the traditional media space, publishers that combine video and print are more likely to last the course. Overall, PR and its practitioners are in a positive space. 2025 is going to demand less same-same, and more up-your-game.
BYDESIGN COMMUNICATIONS
www.bydesigncommunications.co.za
