L'Ode Rose

Running a business is hard work, and balancing operations, human resources, marketing and more can sometimes feel impossible.

When it comes to public relations, it’s difficult to stay ahead of the curve, but this is one of the most important elements of any brand management.

PR is a delicate art, and it’s vital for brands to pay attention to the shifting trends and changes in order to positively balance their relationship with their audiences.

From micro-influencers to diversity and inclusion, here are the top trends in PR that your brand should focus on this year to truly connect with your customers.

PR trends can come and go, but in recent years, one of the latest trends in the space is the influence of lo-fi content. A product of the Covid-19 pandemic that saw public relations professionals working from home and improvising with new ways to promote their brand that didn’t rely on heavy production, lo-fi centres around the imperfect.

We all have imperfections, so consumers are tired of seeing perfectly posed Instagram highlights and painstakingly polished video ads – now, they want authenticity and spontaneity, and lo-fi gives them exactly that.

By showing your audience the real work that takes place throughout the creation of your products and the development of your brand, you can humanise the process and help them relate to your company on a deeper level – recent studies have shown that customers are increasingly developing humanlike relationships with brands.

So, next time your PR team is working on a big marketing campaign, consider easing up on the heavy production levels, and show your customers that your brand is about more than just turning a profit. Before you know it, your teams will be interacting with customers in a deeper and more meaningful way, and 2023 might just be your best year yet.

With the PR industry heading for an estimated worth of $129 billion by 2025, it’s easy for businesses to invest heavily in their PR strategies and work with the online influencers who have the largest follower count.

However, as part of the shift towards authentic, genuine public relations, micro-influencers can actually have a much bigger impact on the way your audience perceives your brand than their highly-followed counterparts.

Gen Z and younger millennials in particular crave connection with the brands they buy from, and using micro-influencers, who are social media users with smaller but highly engaged follower bases, is the best way to establish this.

In 2023, reaching out to some micro-influencers who perform well in your niche is one of the most efficient ways to instantly boost your brand awareness and reputation.

Diversity Matters

Many brands struggle to strike a balance between true diversity and performative activism, and so often PR teams will shy away from efforts to improve diversity and inclusion in their organisation.

However, going into 2023, diversity is more important than ever before, as consumers turn their attention to brands that vocalise and stand up for what they believe in. In fact, an incredible 70% of customers think that brands should take a public stance on important social and political issues!

As you navigate 2023, try to centre your PR towards communicating your stance on issues around diversity to your audience – if you do so, you’ll be rewarded with an active and engaged audience.

Data Analytics

Once you develop a PR strategy that starts to draw in a diverse target audience, it’s important to understand what works well, and where you can continue to make improvements.

Until recently, businesses have struggled to do this effectively, but in the digital age, a new PR trend is emerging that public relations professionals can use to boost their performance – data analytics.

Data analytics tracking allows brands to measure the impact of their existing PR strategies, and then formulate a strategy for upcoming quarters.

At a minimum, as your brand moves into 2023, priority should be given to social media engagement, web traffic and brand awareness analytics. Not only will this help to build your future PR strategies and marketing campaigns, but it also lets your teams narrow down their goals and focus on doing what they do best.

Final Thoughts

Understanding PR isn’t easy, and with the fast-paced nature of the industry, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by new trends and worry about jumping onto the next big thing.

However, by following this guide and implementing the latest trends, you’ll be ahead of the game as you come into 2023. Focusing on lo-fi content production, working with micro-influencers, promoting diversity and carefully tracking your success through data analytics models is the best way to conquer the year ahead and use PR to your advantage. 

L’Ode Rose is a music PR agency specialising in promoting Scottish artists in France and vice versa to bridge the gap that Brexit has created with Europe. Get in touch today to find out how we can help you cross borders.