Whatever your big picture strategy is for 2025, you’ll need to get your PR tactics on point to make it a reality. From working with the media to utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) and crafting better press releases, there are many opportunities to level up your PR efforts next year.
To help you start 2025 off with a bang, we've chosen 10 of 2024’s most compelling takeaways, gleaned from 12 months of reports, analyses, webinars, and expert insight. Here, we present – in no particular order – 10 public relations tactics to bring into 2025.
1. Get in Journalists’ Good Books by Making Their Lives Easier
Among the many things we learned from the 2024 State of the Media Report: Journalists are inundated with pitches, with 25% getting more than 100 in their inboxes every week. They don’t have time to deal with them all, so make sure you make your pitch a great one.
By giving them all the information they need up front (74% want to receive press releases from PR pros, and 61% want original research reports with trends and market data) you’re not only saving them time, you’re giving them fewer hoops to jump through, making them more likely to cover your story. It will also put you in their good graces for future interactions. A win-win all round.
2. Harness the Power of the Press Release
As noted above, nearly three-quarters of journalists want press releases from PR pros. Moreover, 68% named them as the number one most useful source for generating content or ideas (with direct pitches and industry experts rounding out the top three.)
A press release is as powerful as you make it. Journalists want them, but it’s not enough to simply deliver a piece of test. What you include in them matters significantly. Consider a concise, direct headline with your “sell” in the opening paragraph. Quotes from industry experts, multimedia (more on that next), and links to your company newsroom can help to build out your story. Think about how you distribute the press release, too. Services like PR Newswire can help quickly expand your reach and visibility, and this guide will help you craft better press releases.
3. If Content is King, Treat Multimedia Like Royalty
As also noted in the 2024 State of the Media Report, journalists value – and often use – the multimedia PR teams provide. Including photos, videos, or other visuals with your press release can win you major points with journalists, who are hungry for multimedia elements that help bring their stories to life and drive engagement.
The overwhelming majority of journalists surveyed in the report (72%) said they included PR-supplied images with the pieces they published this year. More than a third included data visualizations and infographics (34%), and nearly the same number included videos (33%). Web polls and surveys (29%), as well as social media posts (22%) were also among the most commonly used multimedia among journalists. (Remember to include these assets at a secure external link to prevent flooding their inboxes with storage-hungry attachments.)
4. Use Data to Demonstrate How PR Moves the Needle
The 2024 Global Comms Report found that, for 92% of communications leaders, the C-suite is seeking their counsel more than in previous years. With increased visibility and influence, now there’s an expectation for PR to impact their companies’ and clients’ bottom lines. When asked to choose the factors they believe to be comms’ biggest priorities in the eyes of their CEOs, the majority of comms leaders cited “building sustainable growth and value for the brand.”
For comms teams eager to demonstrate how they are moving the financial needle, data is their biggest asset. By measuring data on your PR campaigns – such as media mentions, share of voice, sentiment analysis, and website traffic – you can more effectively gauge the impact of your campaign efforts. Furthermore, reporting out these metrics will help you demonstrate how your PR activities contribute to business goals and the bottom line.
For further examples of useful, analytics-based PR tactics, it’s worth taking a look at Four Data-Driven Habits of Top Comms Teams.
5. Don’t Discount “Vanity Metrics” in Your PR Tactics (But Don’t Only Rely on Them)
Metrics like Advertising Value Equivalency (AVE) and unique visitors per month (UVPM) can be used to support your ROI, but they do not tell the whole story of your impact; therefore, they should not be the sole ways you measure success.
Here are five public relations tactics to help measure earned media and demonstrate the value of your work, which you can read more about in Beyond AVE: 5 Ways to Measure the Impact of Earned Media.
- Track audience social media engagement metrics
- Check brand sentiment around your earned media coverage
- Evaluate website traffic and referral sources
- Monitor lead generation and sales
- Build media influence and track your SEO progress
6. Align Your Organization on All Things AI
We’re still in the early days of AI adoption, but one thing is clear: this technology is here to stay. Like social media more than a decade ago, generative AI is filtering into the way PR pros work, and it will continue to have an impact long into the future.
PR teams sit at the heart of an organization, and thus are well positioned to stay on top of industry developments and communicate shifting trends with internal stakeholders. They can lead the charge on AI by staying aware of generative tools and their capabilities, identifying exactly what AI should and shouldn’t do for them, then ensure it’s brought into workflows ethically and effectively. For more, read our starter guide for generative AI in PR and comms.
7. Bring Together PR and Marketing
The line between PR and marketing is becoming increasingly blurred. It’s now much more common for PR teams to sit within an overall marketing structure. Whatever your org chart looks like, PR teams and marketing teams need to work together if they want to be successful – this means aligning on shared goals and metrics and ensuring consistent messaging throughout all stages of the customer journey.
One small step that makes a big improvement: having regular check-ins with both teams, with the goal of gaining clarity on what each team does and how you can work better together to achieve success.
8. Put Together a Solid Events Strategy
With the Covid pandemic in the rearview mirror, virtual gatherings are giving way to in-person events and experiences. These are a great way to generate brand buzz and sales leads, but for PR teams, they also offer opportunities to build journalist relationships, increase media coverage and showcase thought leadership.
The PR tactics you use when you turn up to an event can be critical. Whether you’re hosting your own event, sponsoring one, or sending a brand expert as a speaker – or doing a combination of all three – it's important to have an event plan in place. Establish this with your key internal stakeholders, then make sure those dispatched to events are fully briefed on objectives and the purpose it’s serving your brand. Make 2025 the year you make the most of events.
9. Make Media Monitoring Integral to Your Public Relations Tactics
A comprehensive media monitoring platform is crucial for understanding what’s being said about your brand, when it’s being said, and where – and this level of insight has never been more critical for brands. Not only does this data help you manage your brand’s media presence in real time and identify trends as they’re happening, it is also critical for shaping future initiatives.
By analyzing data from previous campaigns and activities, you can identify what worked and what didn't, then refine your strategy moving forward. For example, if you notice that certain types of content or media outlets consistently generate higher engagement or more positive sentiment, you can prioritize these in your future outreach.
Furthermore, understanding which messages resonated most with your target audience can help you craft more compelling narratives. By continually learning from past data, you can ensure that each new campaign is more targeted, efficient, and effective than the last.
A combination media monitoring and social listening tool like CisionOne can help you track the data you need to inform current and future strategies. If you aren’t already incorporating real-time media monitoring into your PR tactics and strategy, now is the time to start.
10. Revisit Your Crisis Communications Plans
Nobody wants to experience a comms crisis, but it’s unwise not to prepare for that eventuality. It can be the easiest thing to de-prioritize, but doing that may come back to haun you. Proactive crisis planning is essential for navigating challenges such as cyber attacks, adverse consumer reactions, and market turbulence. Ensure you’re conducting risk assessments, developing clear response protocols, and in a position to lead the crisis management and comms process.
Make it a point in 2025 to regularly review and update your crisis communications plan, and ensure your organization is prepared to protect its reputation and mitigate risks as they emerge.
Find out how CisionOne can help implement your PR tactics for 2025 by scheduling a demo with one of our experts.
