Be it at a personal level or at a professional level, everyone is going through a transition, which holds the possibility of changing them forever. This applies to PR Trends 2021, too.
This change in human behaviour has also brought in a tremendous shift in consumer consumption patterns, with digital and social media at the forefront. With the lockdown and stay at home situation, individuals had no choice but to transit to various digital platforms for their day to day needs and survival. From basic grocery and daily domestic needs to meeting people or even buying high-end fashion and luxury products, people have moved to social media platforms.
While digital and social media was pegged to be the next big thing in India, this kind of burgeoning of people, across multiple age groups, is something that marketers and advertisers were not ready for. Also, with the global economy being in an unpredictable state, budget allocations towards marketing have been affected.
In such a challenging situation, there was a great shift in brands and clients in moving towards using PR as a tool, for creating visibility, since not only does it get earned media value but also is a cost-effective viable.
PR or Public Relations had to date been a small part of the marketing pie, but in the last few months, there has been a noticeable shift. Brands and clients have started understanding the value that earned media brings to the table and the need for it to sustain any business in such a wavering economy.
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Here are a few areas, where PR will be required in 2021:
Business Owners
Business Owners, as all know, are the face of the business they run and need to be present in the media for the various stakeholders. Their names go synonymous with the company and media presence helps build trust and credibility for them. It allows them to showcase their journey and work thus adding trustworthiness and reliability. The challenges which any business is facing currently are not unnoticed and going forward there will be a huge need and demand for PR services in SMB, SME, and traditional businesses.
New Age Entrepreneurs
A key area where PR will be required heavily is within new-age entrepreneurs or technopreneurs who have come up with technology-driven models and business solutions. Raising awareness of the product and reaching out to the right TG is their aim and correct media placements will help them in achieving it. The right time, platform, and story will play a pivotal part in scaling their business.
Small and local businesses that sprout during the lockdown
The nationwide lockdown saw a plethora of small and local businesses come up. There has been a wide sprung in homemade brands of bakers, chefs, artists, beauty, health & immunity boosting products, amongst others. A lot of these brands, who plan to continue and escalate it as a business model, will need PR support and I foresee a great demand in this category. Also, since they are majorly Instagram first brands, their approach is more new age, and they will be open to expanding their reach via newer mediums.
Consumer-facing brands
With new homegrown players entering the market, on the consumer side of businesses, the market has become extremely competitive. Large and mid-sized players, who have been holding a strong foothold are seeing a shift in consumers buying and supporting local Indian brands. To maintain their brand recall, consumer loyalty, and stay in business, larger players will have to come up with innovative marketing and engaging PR campaigns to keep them afloat in the near future.
Corporate PR
Multinational companies and large conglomerates have always needed media support and presence to converse and update the stakeholders on the happenings within the company. This area will continue to require PR, in terms of earned media to keep the trust and faith in the company going.
To sum it up, the need for Public Relations is going to rise steadily in 2021, and PR professionals and agencies will have to come up with strategic solutions for clients. Focussed PR trends will play an integral role here and with the media landscape evolving rapidly, it will be challenging as well as interesting to see how it goes.
The piece has been authored by Sonam Shah, Founder & CEO, Treize Communications
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