If you’re considering your 2023 PR strategy, we recommend exploring how your business can adapt to and take advantage of current and projected PR trends. Incorporating these into your wider PR strategy will help your business stand out among editors’ inboxes and help you achieve editorial coverage. To get you started we’ve outlined five trends that are set to shape the PR landscape in 2023.
Mission & vision based storytelling
Environmental and social responsibility has become a key challenge for businesses in recent years. This is partly because customers are more socially conscious than ever and prefer to shop with businesses who align with their personal values. In 2023 it is essential to adopt mission and vision based storytelling. We recommend communicating what your company’s environmental and social goals are and being transparent about how you intend to achieve them responsibly.
The personalised pitch
While it can be tempting to pitch your product or service en masse to an extensive list of journalists, you might find this doesn’t always secure editorial coverage. Instead of pitching far and wide, we suggest you target and personalise your pitches this year. Start by researching which journalists have written about similar products or services to yours. Then, read the publications they write for and tailor your pitch to the specific interests of both the journalist and their readers. Along with a catchy headline, this will help you to stand out among the hundreds of emails many journalists receive each day.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is becoming more and more important in the editorial landscape. Facilitated by ‘networks’, affiliate marketing allows brands to work with content publishers on a performance basis to promote their goods and services. Magazines and newspapers are businesses which need to generate revenue. Therefore, we’re seeing that editors are increasingly keen to feature products that can drive affiliate revenue. Affiliate marketing is also low risk: you only pay out commission if a sale is made plus you can see exactly where your sales are coming from with the data.
Read our blog post explaining more about affiliate marketing here.
Short form content
Attention spans are short these days so it’s no surprise that TikTok, Instagram reels & YouTube shorts are becoming increasingly popular. This means they’re equally important for your communications strategy too. In fact, it’s projected that in 2025 TikTok will have 15 million users in the UK (Social Shepherd). Now is the perfect time to increase the size of your audience and keep them engaged by sharing content that showcases your brand’s personality and tells your story visually.
Influencer marketing
It’s predicted that brand spend on influencer partnerships will grow by 23% in 2023 (The B2B House). While we encourage you to continue nurturing your relationships with journalists and traditional media outlets, it can be worthwhile to work with influencers too. Partnering with an influencer can increase your brand awareness and connect your business with new audiences. To succeed with influencer partnerships we recommend choosing trusted influencers who have strong engagement, speak to your target audience and whose values align with your own brand values.
To find out more about how FF&M can help you own your PR in-house for the long term and build your 2023 PR strategy, contact us via hello@fallowfieldmason.com.