OFF-MUTE 🔈
🗓️ Last year we skipped our annual predictions because it felt more like wishing vs. planning.
🔮 Looking ahead to 2023, we’re predicting more swings of the proverbial pendulum.
🧘♀️ Will we ever come back to center?
⚖️ Our CEO Beth Monaghan reminds us that the act of rebalancing can be wobbly (read her PR Week op-ed).
💬 So, what does this mean for communicators? Here’s what the senior team at Inkhouse sees in our near future:
#1: Back to Fundamentals. Everyone’s debating if companies should quit Twitter given the tumult caused by Elon Musk’s takeover. Whatever Twitter becomes, and whatever evolves next, the basics are true: go where your audiences are. Control what you can: your words and actions. They speak for themselves no matter what platform you’re using. And be ready for change. Our Executive Vice President Keith Giannini says that Twitter, TikTok and Facebook are all limping into 2023 in some level of turmoil. We’ll also see emerging platforms and maybe even some old school word-of-mouth as the primary means of consuming information and news next year.
#2: ROI over Hype. The press will want more proof. The days of unicorn valuations and demonstrating potential by the size and stature of your venture round are waning. Why do you matter? What problem are you solving? How? And is it working? Our Executive Vice President of Story Crafting Samantha McGarry says that authentic stories will be the winners (which is a good time to mention our Story Crafting strategy sessions).
#3: Customers Take Top Billing (again). For more than a year we’ve been saying that your employees are your number one audience. Of course, your employees are still important (unless you’re Elon Musk), but a down economy will force a shift in communications because businesses need to make money.
#4: The Next Innovation Wave Will Begin. The press will be looking for the early laps of waves bringing in the next innovations. Amazon rose out of the dot-com crash. Early-stage venture capital organizations are already investing in the next generation of innovations. We've got our eyes on tech fighting climate change, protecting consumers and saving enterprises time and money.
#5: Creators are the Present and Future of Digital Marketing. Our Vice President of Digital Content Strategy Christine Montes says that TikTok has created a landslide of #nofilter content across all social media platforms. Overproduced content, although beautiful, isn't "real." People want to see content in its rawest and purest form. With artificial intelligence having a heavier influence on what shows up in our news feeds, and people having shorter and shorter attention spans, it’s time to double down on custom content, community engagement and partner collaborations.
#6: Design Has to be Accessible. Our Vice President of Creative Services Michele Trio says that it’s the responsibility of creators to make sure design is intuitive to all users regardless of their situation, abilities or context. In web design specifically, there is a growing need for accessible visuals and language. Having a site that every visitor can navigate, interact with and feel seen is more than just good customer service — it can increase conversion, boost your SEO and help you reach a bigger audience.
#7: Be Ready for New Chaos. With rebalancing comes additional swings that no one can predict, although over here, we’re pretty good at imagining the worst and most bizarre cases. Accidental data transfers, hacks, workplace violence, racism left unchecked, faulty business models, layoffs, and unionization—that’s just scratching the surface of what we’ve seen. Every company needs a crisis plan before the fact, even if you’re one of the good ones — not everyone who works for and with you has the same good intentions. If you bristle at the word “crisis,” we can call it an “issues” plan, but have one. An intentional plan can turn a massive crisis into a single news cycle.
#8: Newsletters Are Back, Or They Never Really Left. Our East Managing Director Ed Harrison says the venerable format is as relevant as ever both for earned — Axios, Puck, MorningBrew and hyper-focused offerings on Substack — and owned content. According to our client Sinch, the online publishing industry has more than quadrupled its sending volume over the last two years and Axios’ “Smart Brevity” has codified a “less is more” template to help comms teams go directly to their audiences in a mobile-first format. They need to be part of your owned and earned plans for 2023.