It’s that time of year again.
Time for experts to make predictions about what to expect in 2025. But – it’s really difficult (if not impossible) to predict what lies ahead.
This is why I focus on asking public relations and marketing professionals for ADVICE, not predictions.
For this 2025 marketing advice post, I asked 25 of my most respected colleagues for their answers to help you plan for the year ahead.
Here’s the question I asked: What ONE piece of marketing or PR advice would you offer to brands as we head into the new year?
2025 Marketing and PR Advice
1) If I had to choose just one piece of advice for companies as we head into 2025, it would be this:
Build your brand like you never have before.
Invest in your brand like you never have before.
Help your people build their personal brands like they never have before.
In the era of AI-enabled search and a tumultuous, chaotic macro environment, people will have less time, energy, and space to think than ever before. They will be distracted. They will be under tremendous pressure. They will use every tool at their disposal – and more than anything, they will default to who they know and trust.
The only way to be on that mental shortlist is to build your brand.
– Christopher Penn, Co-Founder and Chief Data Scientist at TrustInsights.ai
2) Because everything is getting ingested by AI bots, make sure that mentions of your brand are surrounded by words that indicate your industry, services and topics. This is true even in audio and video formats, because the transcriptions are making their way into the AI training data.
If you’re being recorded, make sure you speak your elevator pitch and that it includes a simple and descriptive version of what you do!
When that audio gets transcribed and the transcription gets crawled by AI, AI will be more likely to associate you with that service and more likely to recommend your brand when your audience asks AI for a recommendation.
– Andy Crestodina, Co-Founder / Chief Marketing Officer, Orbit Media
3) History proves it NEVER works to turn off PR and marketing when times are tough.
If you expect the bleeding to stop on its own, you’ll die. Your customer isn’t going to magically come back. When they’re ready to buy, they’re going to look for what’s top of mind, or the hot new thing. If you can’t be one, you have to be the other. That’s how it works.
Ever own a car? It takes effort to keep it shiny and running smoothly. Want it to turn heads or win races as it gets older? That takes more effort. The same holds for your brand.
– Bill Byrne, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Remedy PR
4) We will continue to see a shift away from third-party data reliance. This means we will need to master the art of building direct relationships with audiences through high-value owned media and building community. It’s a little bit of a throwback to 2008-2012 in that we’ll see a renaissance in email marketing and community building, with brands creating more sophisticated content hubs and knowledge centers. We will need to create compelling reasons for audiences to willingly share our information.
– Gini Dietrich, Founder + Author, Spin Sucks
5) Stay the course. The unexpected will become the norm in 2025, creating a never-ending stream of distractions. There’s something to be said for marketing and PR functions to simply keep the scent of the trail.
– Lou Hoffman, CEO, The Hoffman Agency, www.Hoffman.com
6) Elevate public relations from a tactical media or communication function to a strategic management role focused on stakeholder relationships. Organisations succeed when they view public relations as a management function that helps understand and navigate relationships with all stakeholders. The value can be measured through its contribution to marketing and sales, intangible assets, licence to operate, and the crisis mitigated or well-managed.
– Stephen Waddington, Founder and Managing Partner, Wadds Inc.
7) Avoid the temptation to pump all your budget into performance marketing.
Marketing budgets are likely to improve in 2025. However, bigger budgets are going to come with bigger expectations and metrics. The pressure for short-term results will be high as too will be the temptation to pile most of the budget into campaign-style demand generation or performance marketing efforts. The risk of this is blowing through the Q1 budget – and even if you make your Q1 numbers – you have to start all over from zero in Q2, Q3, and Q4. Resist this temptation and instead consider building strategic marcomm programs that are slow to start but yield compounding returns in the long run. Truly strategic programs focus on delivering information that prospects and customers want rather than what a company wants to tell them. Helping people first is what attracts an audience – and in doing so earns the trust and understanding that prompts prospects to raise their hand and request a closer look at the wares being sold.
– Frank Strong, Founder & President, Sword and the Script Media, LLC
8) In this world of AI-generated and commoditized content, meaningful, original insights win. Think of something that can’t be replicated. For instance, it could mean brands promoting individual voices who share their process or something unique to them that will help readers know, like, and trust them. Or it could be conducting original research and answering your audience’s most pressing questions.
– Michele Linn, Founder, Mantis Research
9) With the emergence of AI, it is more important than ever to double down on being human. The most important place to do this is in the most human of all marketing channels, social media. Craft your content for social media to be as conversational as possible, including the use of images and videos that include the people of your organization.
– Neal Schaffer, President, PDCA Social, https://nealschaffer.com
10) Uncover the subject matter experts within your organization and give them a platform. If your founder or other individuals within your organization possess expertise on a topic that aligns with whatever it is your organization sells, take advantage of it. Particularly if your company is a service-based brand, sharing what you know on social media, podcasts, articles and more helps you establish trust and authority with your audience, and puts a human face on your brand. With all the AI-generated cookie-cutter content out there, featuring real insights from real humans within your organization in your content is a great way to stand out amongst your competitors, connect with customers and create opportunities for your brand.
– Kathy Casciani, Owner/Principal, Azulcommunications.com
11) AI is fast and easy, but remember the human element. All of our content, PR, and marketing needs to be centered around real pain points experienced by real people. AI cannot replace conversations with our ideal clients.
– Bill Woods, Co-Founder and CMO, 50 Marketing
12) In 2025, more emphasis needs to be put on podcasts, whether you encourage clients to start their own or be guests on other shows. Guesting allows for a potentially greater reach to new audiences and allows trust already given to the host to be extended to the guest. We saw how podcast interviews helped in the election, and the data speaks for itself. There are more podcast listeners tuning in than watching the news; the demographic is younger, and the trust is greater. Podcasts need to be a part of your strategy!
– Michelle Glogovac, THE Podcast Matchmaker™, Author of How To Get On Podcasts, and Founder, The MLG Collective
13) My advice for companies as we head into 2025 is to focus on data-driven decision-making.
In today’s digital age, there is a wealth of data available to businesses. By leveraging this data to understand customer behavior, market trends, and competitive landscapes, companies can make better decisions that drive growth and success.
Specifically, companies should invest in tools and technologies that enable them to collect, analyze, and interpret data. They should also develop a data-driven culture that encourages employees to use data to support their decision-making.
– Juntae DeLane, Founder & CEO, Digital Delane www.digitaldelane.com
14) Marketing and PR pros have a long way to go in making all our content accessible. Making content accessible expands our reach. It gives people choices for consuming the content. Some may prefer to read instead of watch the video. Some may prefer to listen to the video instead of reading the post or watching the video. And some may want to watch the video with the sound off, therefore they need captions. What is new this year is the Department of Justice said government organizations must comply with accessibility guidelines. Any business or organization that does business or receives money from the government will need to comply, too. This includes marketing and PR.
– Meryl K. Evans, International speaker and trainer in inclusive marketing and communications, meryl.net
15) As we approach 2025, crisis communications must focus on speed, transparency, and adaptability to meet rising public expectations in a rapidly evolving landscape.
Speed means leveraging real-time monitoring tools and predictive analytics to respond swiftly to emerging issues and crises.
Transparency involves openly acknowledging situations, sharing accurate updates, and demonstrating accountability to establish and maintain trust.
Adaptability requires flexible crisis communications plans that evolve in real-time, using cross-channel communication to address shifting narratives and the needs of your audiences.
With the rise of AI-driven tools and decentralized information channels, communicators must embrace new technologies and approaches to navigate the complexities of an increasingly interconnected world while building resilience and trust with their impacted, affected, and interested audiences.
– Shawna Bruce CD, MA (DEM), Director & Owner, M.D. Bruce & Associates Ltd.
16) To move the dial and make sure to fill your funnel and nurture those leads so the bottom of the funnel never dries up and cash flow ceases, invest 3-5% of revenue in your marketing budget and hire the right person. Marketing is not a cost center. It is a revenue generator and investment if done right. Find someone who is not a cookie-cutter, out-of-the-box solution that scratches the surface. Ask questions. Find value.
– Gina Tabasso, Founder, Barracuda B2B Marketing and Manufacturing Resource Group
17) My strongest piece of advice would be to test a message with a diverse audience before approving, printing, recording, or releasing material. Ensure that your message is received as intended before you label the last version as final.
– Tricia Richards-Service, PhD, Founder and President, I Need A Speaker, Inc.
18) For B2B companies, I urge them to loosen their grip on boring corporate branding. We’ve finally understood that businesses sell to people, not logos. In addition to that, there is a need for natural human-created content; it’s time for us to create less polished, more “real” content that customers can trust and relate to. It’s time to connect through people, not social commercials.
– A. Lee Judge, Co-Founder/CMO, Content Monsta
19) One piece of PR advice for companies entering the new year is not to wait. This may seem obvious, but companies often hesitate on PR because it’s considered a luxury instead of a necessity until it’s too late, at which point PR professionals are expected to work miracles. Whether a company seeks to build trust with its key audiences or an issue is developing that could escalate into a crisis, collaborate with your in-house PR team or a consultant right away. An innovative and comprehensive PR program takes time, and the sooner it is put into action, the quicker a company will begin seeing results.
– Jared C. Meade, MPS, APR, MPRCA, Founder & Principal, Rayne Strategy Group
20) To borrow from the title of David Meerman Scott’s now seminal book, the “new rules” of marketing & PR are, in some ways, still being written. What becomes even more important as the world continues to change in ways we can’t anticipate is to remember what I think are the “golden” rules of marketing & PR: be human, transparent, and truthful. Being human is how you’ll generate meaningful connections with your community, and transparency and truthfulness will solidify not just those relationships, but your brand and reputation as well.
– Shonali Burke, Arts Administrator & Non-Profit Leader, shonaliburke.com
21) It’s easy to get distracted by all the things you could do or feel like you should do in the new year. Instead, focus. Commit to one (or maybe a few) core things that truly matter to you and your business—a differentiating premise, a distinct point of view, a new skill or product or service. Then, go deep and wide in that area.
– Carmen Hill, Principal Strategist & Writer, Chill Content LLC
22) In the early ’90s, C+C Music Factory released a song titled “Things That Make You Go Hmmmm…” In 2025, create content and campaigns that make your audience go “hmmmm…” I’m not suggesting that you spread falsehoods or be controversial for the sake of being controversial. However, you do need to force your audience to stop what they’re doing, pause, and ponder the statements or perspectives you’re sharing. Cause them to think differently and you’ll be remembered.
– Dennis Shiao, Founder of B2B marketing agency Attention Retention.
23) This was the year of leaning into non-traditional ways to reach our audiences, and we’re going to see even more of that in 2025. It’s not just sponsoring big in-person events, placements in tier one media, or using last year’s tactics with this year’s messaging.
Think big and new and out of the box, yes—and be really thoughtful about it.
I suggest leaders develop their strategy with a lot of intentionality, and that starts with a few questions:
- Where is our audience sharing their time and attention?
- What does our audience want and need to hear from us to earn their trust?
- How can we deliver stories and narratives to our audience that feel like a gift?
Nail those questions, and I believe you’re off to a great start to not only earn attention and trust, but revenue.
– Gina Rau, Global Head of PR and Communications, 6sense
24) AI will continue to be the hot topic in Google Ads management in 2025—which is too bad because that’s so 2024. Today, AI is baked into different parts of the Google Ads platform, such as bidding, broad match, and some campaign types. For my team, leaning into AI is part and parcel of daily account management.
If you really want to drive the performance of your Google Ads program next year, you should focus on applying an audience-first approach. Use your first-party data to segment at the campaign level—by inclusion and exclusion—to really hone in on the audiences you want to reach. That’s what drove our biggest client success stories in 2024, and we’re going to lean into this approach even more in 2025.
– Pauline Jakober, Google Ads Consultant for Marketing Teams, Founder at Group Twenty Seven
25) In 2025, companies need to stop thinking of social media as a content distribution channel and start treating it as a customer experience (CX) platform.
Social media isn’t just about broadcasting, it’s about conversations. Your customers turn to these platforms when they need help, have questions, or want to share experiences with your brand. This makes social media one of the most dynamic, real-time ways to meet and exceed customer expectations.
Brands that succeed in 2025 will embrace social care: prioritizing fast, human, and meaningful interactions that not only solve problems but also build loyalty. Don’t just schedule posts and call it a day—engage. Answer questions, celebrate wins, and, yes, even resolve complaints in a way that turns critics into advocates.
– Brooke Sellas, CEO, B Squared Media
My PR Advice for the Year Ahead
And my 2025 marketing and PR advice for B2B companies that want to stand out?
Make sure you’re investing in public relations as part of your marketing program. This is solid advice no matter the year, but it will be even more vital in 2025 as we see AI-based search increase in popularity. You’ll want your brand to show up everywhere. Earned media through PR can help you achieve that.
Need help planning or executing your PR initiatives in 2025?
Learn more about my freelance PR consulting services here. Book a no-obligation call to talk about your needs here.
About the author: Michelle Garrett is a B2B PR consultant, media relations consultant, and author of B2B PR That Gets Results, an Amazon Best Seller. She helps companies create content, earn media coverage, and position themselves as thought leaders in their industry. Michelle’s articles have been featured by Entrepreneur, Content Marketing Institute, Muck Rack, and Ragan’s PR Daily, among others. She’s a frequent speaker on public relations and content. Michelle has been repeatedly ranked among the top ten most influential PR professionals.
100% of this blog post was written by me, the human.
Featured image is courtesy of Adobe Express.
