There are two sides to every coin, and recent waves of volatility, uncertainty and rapid innovation come with both challenges and opportunities.
In 2025, effective marketing and public relations strategies will heed both sides – they will concurrently mitigate risk while adapting to technological advancements and ever-evolving consumer sentiment. Businesses that truly listen to target audience demands and take a proactive approach to resolving pain points can bolster their reputations and capture new market share.
Here’s a look at some of the top marketing and communication issues leaders will prioritize this year.
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Identifying the Sweet Spots for AI Adoption
Artificial intelligence will play an increasingly critical role in business operations. Now engrained in the mainstream dialogue, businesses must discover how AI fits into their organizations from numerous standpoints, including marketing and sales. Not only does AI reap time- and labor-saving efficiencies, but it can greatly enhance a personalized customer experience. Considerations include:
- Content Creation: AI can inspire and reduce the time it takes to create written and visual content, yet AI should not be used without careful human expertise. In addition to overseeing targeting, positioning and authenticity, astute marketers are needed to assess bias and discrimination, protect against legal and regulatory risks, and ensure ethical practices are followed. If used carelessly, businesses can quickly find themselves in public relations and legal crises.
- Data Analysis: AI tools can analyze data sets, forecast customer behaviors, identify segments for targeting, monitor sentiment, direct A/B testing and more. Marketers can better identify and reach customers faster than ever before.
- Digital Advertising: AI is helping businesses create more personalized advertising experiences from dynamic creative optimization to automated ad buying and retargeting. Again, human touch is still essential for strategy alignment, positioning and risk mitigation, but AI creates opportunities to do more with less and tap niche audience segments.
- Customer Experience: AI is playing a greater role in automating customer interactions through chatbots and virtual assistants. Rather than relying on a call center alone, AI tools can answer many customer questions live and provide support without the lengthy on-hold time.
This is just the tip of the AI iceberg, and capabilities are growing by the day. To start, businesses should establish internal usage policies, experiment with AI capabilities, and then implement defined AI practices and procedures aligned with the company’s vision.
Adapting to Stricter Data Privacy Rules and First-Party Data Practices
For many years, businesses have relied on third-party data sources to personalize online experiences and track user behaviors. “Cookies” are among the most popular third-party data sources – these bits of text files are placed on a user’s device to acquire information about their online journeys. Advertisers and publishers rely on these data sources for effective targeting, yet many consumers claim they are privacy violations.
Last summer, Google reversed its 2020 decision to fully deprecate cookies in the Chrome browser. However, it is still pushing the Privacy Sandbox initiative to one day replace third-party cookies and introduce more privacy-friendly technologies. Further, there are numerous privacy laws being examined at the federal level to further restrict third-party data collection and usage, similar to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) from the European Union.
Cookies aren’t disappearing (yet), but businesses are encouraged to rely more on first-party sources, such as email opt-ins, event leads, social media followers, point-of-sale data and more – essentially the data they can collect from their own channels. As consumers gain more direct control over their privacy settings across the web, first-party data strategies will be even more crucial.
Creating a Seamless Social Media Shopping Experience
An optimized online store attuned to the user experience is critical for any company selling products online. However, focusing on the e-commerce component alone won’t yield the same reach as it once did. Today, more consumers are buying through a social commerce experience – they want the option to purchase products throughout their social media journeys without leaving the platforms. Brands can invest in interactive and engaging shoppable content to bolster sales, meeting customers where they are during the day-to-day. This involves a strategic mix of promotional content and authentic brand storytelling.
Reaching Customers Seeking Value Alignment with Brands
Many of today’s consumers, especially millennials and Gen Zers, want to align with companies that share similar values. Not only are they more likely to trust such companies, but their brand loyalty is viewed as an extension of their own drive to make a positive impact in the world.
Simply having and abiding by a set of values isn’t enough. Businesses should employ proactive communications strategies through paid, earned and owned channels to articulate these values and let target audiences know how they “walk the talk.” To generate influence and brand loyalty, the drumbeat of information needs to be consistent and backed up by action.
Taking a Proactive Approach to Crisis Communications
AI gaffes. Product defects. Data breaches. Supply chain disruptions. Workplace incidents. There is an abundance of scenarios requiring crisis communications, and too often, businesses are ill-prepared to handle the fallout. In an age when a single disgruntled customer can spark a firestorm on social media and breaking news hits inboxes in minutes, a pre-established crisis communications plan can greatly mitigate the financial and reputation impacts of unexpected events.
Preparation is key. Businesses are prudent to invest in a crisis communications plan outlining the crisis response team, protocols, key messages, communication channels, monitoring procedures and media training needs – when there is no crisis. When anxiety and stress are high in the heat of a crisis, even the most experienced leaders are apt to act irrationally or emotionally. An existing plan removes ambiguity, provides reassurance and mitigates potential repercussions.
Engaging Employees and Supporting Change Management with Internal Communications Strategies
Today’s workforce has experienced distinctive challenges in recent years – remote and hybrid environments, “quiet quitting” and generational differences are among the issues requiring thoughtful communications to navigate successfully. To instill loyalty, support professional development and manage business transitions, leaders can implement numerous tactics and strategies to unite their teams. Email newsletters, intranets, town halls and recognition programs are among the options for building trust and transparency.
Acting Now: Time Waits for No One
Whether capturing new market share or mitigating risk, proactivity is paramount. Businesses on the sidelines will undoubtedly be surpassed by competitors embracing innovation and adapting to change. An external marketing and communications partner can help time- and resource-strapped organizations seize new opportunities and navigate the ebbs and flows along the way.
Author: Andrea Aker is CEO of Aker Ink PR & Marketing, a full-service agency in Scottsdale that helps growth-oriented businesses break through barriers to achieve more awareness, thought leadership, leads and revenue. She can be reached at andrea.aker@akerink.com. More at akerink.com.
