Team Comment: PRedictions for 2020
With the New Year well underway, the team at Jargon PR takes a look at what we expect will dominate the PR industry in 2020. From improved collaboration to increased demand in standout content, we’re looking forward to what the next 12 months have in store in the technology and corporate PR industry.
Collaboration with marketers
One of the main trends we can expect to see over the next year is a shift towards increased collaboration between PR and marketers.
“PR strategies will be driven by emotion with more human elements. To create more meaningful content, local and micro-influencers will become more ‘popular’ than macro-influencers. Because of this, PR professionals and marketers will begin working together to share knowledge and maximise opportunities.”
Lily Fox, Junior Account Executive at Jargon PR
“In 2020, we can expect to see more technology PR professionals and marketers working together and sharing knowledge. As audiences are becoming increasingly wary of the content they are presented, we need to ensure all content is authentic and transparent. To successfully serve clients, PR agencies need to first build strong and honest partnerships with clients. This then encourages the client to share more with the agency, creating a true collaboration.”
Emily John, Account Manager at Jargon PR
Focus on storytelling
In 2019, we saw an increase in B2B companies taking a more direct approach and focusing their marketing and PR strategies towards sharing their own story, which we expect to continue in 2020.
“Companies will continue to invest in leveraging the likes of Twitter, LinkedIn and increasingly Instagram to emulate their PR efforts across traditional and online outlets, by driving their own community engagement beyond media coverage and delivering a consistent brand story across all channels. This will spark a surge in self-generated content amongst B2B tech brands – such as podcasts, social blogging and video campaigns – to differentiate, engage and thrive with unique social storytelling.”
Dani White, Account Manager at Jargon PR
“In the B2B tech industry over the next 12 months, it will be key to look at the people side of a story, making sure that business’ efforts are focusing on the benefits of the technology for people, rather than just the cost-saving benefits for companies, for example.”
Katherine Rabey, Senior Account Manager at Jargon PR
Producing standout content
Many markets within the technology industry are becoming much more saturated and increasingly competitive. As a result, businesses need to ensure their PR strategy stands out from others.
“The main trend in the technology and corporate sector in 2020 will be a higher demand to drive the brand message. There will be a bigger pressure on ensuring relationships are built within the industry with journalists as it gets harder to place content due to increased competition. This is also the case as more and more publications only accept paid-for opportunities.”
Katie Ward, Account Executive at Jargon PR
“While one-off press releases can be hugely beneficial for technology companies, we are seeing more and more clients turn announcements into a more cohesive, broader PR campaign. This can include commissioning a research project to gain some valuable bespoke insights to back up your announcement, and creating a white paper to promote these results, as well as using the themes for thought leadership, comment opportunities, and social media.”
Katherine Rabey, Senior Account Manager at Jargon PR
“A growing challenge we will expect to see going into 2020 for B2B clients is discussing niche subjects with the press. Many clients have a specific target audience and in a crowded market, it can be difficult to communicate original content. However, this shouldn’t be seen as an obstacle, but a gentle push towards creativity and innovation.”
Emma Sausman, Junior Account Executive at Jargon PR
“Tech journalists are becoming increasingly inundated with press releases and it has been reported that they spend less than a minute reading them. Journalists are under immense pressure to provide high-quality content, and this creates huge PR opportunities. Producing engaging content that is automatically ready to publish is invaluable for building relationships with journalists and gaining media coverage for clients.”
Emily John, Account Manager at Jargon PR
While we see greater collaboration between PRs and Marketers, and campaigns get more competitive, there is lots we can be looking forward to in 2020 in the technology PR space, including Jargon PR’s new monthly ‘Team Comment’ blog series, which will include regular commentary on topics regarding the PR industry. Keep an eye out for our next Team Comment blog coming in February!
