Every year, the internet is filled with several Communications and Public Relations (PR) predictions on the trends that will shape the industry for the year. These predications and trends are a unique source of information for professionals in the industry. Not only do they provide an outlook into the focus areas of the Communications and PR industry from a global perspective, they also give professionals an opportunity to be proactive in the work that they do.
While not all the trends will be immediately relevant to you from your local context, it is important to pay attention to them and see what can be incorporated to improve and amplify your results.
If you’re wondering what trends to pay attention to in 2024, we have curated a list. Before we share the list, here are some of the top trends we have our eyes on at The Comms Avenue:
1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Generated Content
If you’re tired of the talk about AI and AI tools, we’re sorry to inform you that this is not going to die down any time soon. More than ever, it is important for Comms professionals to understand how to leverage AI tools to optimise their work, generate creative content and gain data that improves the perfomance of our strategies and tactics.
Don’t just stop at ChatGPT. There are many more tools that you can use for different tasks. Experiement with them this year.
PS – Do ensure that you use AI tools responsibly and ethically.
2. Humanisation and Empathy in Communication
While this is not a new trend, but with what is happening globally in terms of the economy and the society at large, there will be a greater emphasis on being human and showing empathy in our communication. This is not a time to send a one-size fits all message. You have to properly segment your audience and send them personalised messages and content that are tailored to their needs. This requires you to do more work but it is one of ways to connect better with your audience this year.
What this means is that you should prioritise quality over quantity. It’s not about the number of content you push out but how well they resonate with your target audience.
The bottomline is this – be human and be empathetic in your communication and messaging.
3. Data and Measurement
We’ve heard it a number of times – “what is Communications and PR contributing to the bottomline?” If you’ve been struggling to show the impact of your work, this is the time to develop your skills in measurement. Not only will you be required to develop creative strategies, organisations and business leaders will expect to see results that can be translated into numbers. Having a good understanding of how to collate, track and analyse data will help you to achieve this.
We do valuable work as Comms professionals but if we don’t measure our results, we will continue to occupy the back seat in organisations. We know you don’t want that.
Like we shared at the beginning of this blog post, there are other Communications and PR trends you need to be aware of. These are a few we ecommend for more insights:
- PR Trends and Predictions for 2024 by Prowly
- PRCA – SW 2024: What lies ahead for PR? by PRCA
- Five of the Biggest PR Trends in 2024 by Curzon PR
- Communication Trends and How to Spend by Ambitious PR
- Shaping the PR Landscape in Nigeria: Trends and Insights for 2024 by Odion Aleobua
- Five predictions that will change the communications world in 2024 by Ragan Communications
