Communications professionals know that the only constant is change.
Messaging best practices evolve, communication channels transform, and budgets fluctuate, often slowly and all at once.
The year ahead promises more of the same, raising important questions for PR professionals and the clients they serve: how to cut through the noise to craft authentic connections with customers, how to tailor storytelling for the channels customers use most, and how to adapt our PR approach to best serve our clients’ bottom-line results.
These pressing questions require strategic, actionable responses.
Here are three ways PR agencies can harness the latest trends to best serve their clients in 2025.
#1 Help clients embrace brand authenticity and transparency
People are tired of brands positing that they are perfect. They don’t want to hear PR spin, corporate-speak, or false promises.
In contrast, consumers love it when brands feel real and authentic.
For many people, a company’s authenticity is the deciding factor when deciding which brands to buy from and which to ignore. According to one customer survey, 86% of customers say authenticity helps them determine which brands to support.
Practically, this means that consumers value honesty and relatability over perfection in brand messaging.
This is especially relevant as generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini allow brands to create endless content for a nominal cost.
According to one study, 50% of consumers say they can tell the difference between AI-generated content and authentic content created by humans. A separate Forbes analysis found that consumers often have negative reactions to AI-generated content, and many (especially Millennials and Gen Z) can easily spot it in advertisements, email copy, social media posts, and calls to action.
That doesn’t mean PR professionals should avoid these tools entirely. Leverage GenAI to brainstorm content ideas, iterate ideas, and streamline the content creation process.
As Forbes reports, “AI is useful as a tool to start with but experts suggest it takes a human, personal touch to make content resonate.”
When PR professionals help their clients prioritize authenticity and transparency in ways that are genuine, they enable their clients to establish genuine connections with audiences that maximize short-term selling opportunities and long-term loyalty.
#2 Empower clients to prioritize compelling brand narratives
A company’s brand narrative, the compelling story that encapsulates a brand’s values, mission, and identity, bridges the gap between the brand and its audience to foster deeper emotional connections and drive customer loyalty.
However, only 33% of communication leaders feel confident in their ability to tell a compelling brand story.
This can have a negative impact on everything from customer engagement to revenue growth, making crafting a compelling brand narrative a key strategy PR agencies can offer their clients.
Partner with clients to identify authentic stories, like customer success, innovative projects, or social impact initiatives, and craft them into compelling narratives. Couple these efforts with analytics to ensure stories are optimized for the platforms and audience segments that matter most to the client.
The outcome: a more distinctive brand identity that drives emotional engagement and sets your clients apart from competitors.
#3 Position PR as a strategic business driver for clients
Clients increasingly recognize PR’s potential to influence business growth and market positioning.
One analysis found that 92% of communications leaders agree that C-suite executives have sought their counsel more in the past year than in previous years, giving PR leaders an opportunity to position themselves as a strategic business driver for clients.
To capitalize on this opportunity, PR teams should work closely with client leadership to define PR strategies that align with their broader business objectives, developing measurable KPIs to showcase how PR efforts increase customer retention, enhance brand awareness, or drive sales growth.
As always, the PR profession will continue to change in the year ahead. Clients’ needs will change, customer preferences will evolve, and mediums will mature (or become less prominent).
That’s why we must stay adaptive and strategic, understanding the latest trends and continually updating our practices to ensure we remain relevant, effective, and valuable.
This year, that means focusing on authenticity, compelling storytelling, and demonstrable business impact to help clients navigate the communication challenges of 2025.
Jenna Guarneri is the founder/CEO of JMG Public Relations and the author of “You Need PR.”
Illustration credit: Mikki Orso
