by Kristina Kennedy
2024 was an eventful year for tech PR professionals! We witnessed the meteoric rise of artificial intelligence, found our footing in a tentatively stabilizing economy, and guided our clients through another tumultuous election cycle.
As we settle into 2025, we expect to see brands begin to reinvest in marketing. Brand spend is among the first line items to get cut when purse strings tighten, but we anticipate renewed budget allocation in the new year. Brands are shifting away from survival mode, which is good news for everybody – especially marketers and PR professionals!
So, with increased utilization of PR on the horizon, here are Kickstand’s predictions for those of us working closely with tech brands in 2025.
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Optimism in the financial markets will keep growing.
The past few years have seen a massive slowdown in VC/PE funding for emergent tech brands. A lengthy period of economic uncertainty led to smaller funding rounds and fewer IPOs, which meant brands focused much of their attention on extending their runway rather than “growth at all costs.” But the tail end of 2024 saw a pickup in venture capital funding, which we anticipate will continue to increase throughout 2025.This year, we’ll likely see a handful of major IPO events, which will spur the return of venture capital. This will lead many tech brands to shift back into growth mode.
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Media consolidation will continue.
We’re currently seeing a “death of the beat” for tech reporters across a number of publications. Many reporters are now expected to cover a wide variety of topics rather than niche areas of interest. That means brands will need to focus their investments on PR agencies or in-house teams that really know their business. They need support from media experts who have an intimate understanding of their brand and can craft compelling stories that will best resonate with reporters.It’s impossible to expect your average tech reporter to be an expert in multiple different industries – and yet that’s what they’re being asked to cover. PR professionals can step up by using a strong educational approach to build relationships with reporters. Insights backed by proprietary research can help add credibility, improve reporters’ understanding of industry-specific challenges, and help brands stand out from the crowd.
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B2B influencers are on the rise.
Typical perceptions of influencers might involve a social media personality touting a consumer product like a new smartphone or eyeshadow palette. But B2B influencers are woefully underutilized. Consumer markets are much more saturated than B2B, which means brands should be asking themselves: how can we take advantage of this growing channel? How can we be first movers on this rapidly evolving form of marketing?It’s unlikely that we’ll see influencer marketing fully take off in 2025, but brands that begin testing this strategy will be better poised to leverage the channel to their full advantage as it matures. It’s all about playing the long game.
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Agencies need an AI strategy.
We’d be shocked to learn that anybody working in tech PR hasn’t started using AI already. AI touches essentially every tech company out there today, which means we need to know what it is and how it works – not just so we can better serve our clients in the space, but also to improve our internal use of the technology. But with so many solutions on the market we need to be incredibly thoughtful when determining which tools are worth investing in, and which might be superfluous.At Kickstand, we have a committee that’s responsible for reviewing new tools and designing an AI policy to guide how we use them. Developing a universal understanding of AI across the agency, as well as best practices for using it, will benefit everyone. We’d also recommend every agency include a line item in their 2025 budget that’s dedicated to assumed growth in software related to AI.
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The 360° approach will dominate.
The goal of comms has always been to build and defend your brand position amongst the audiences that matter. Getting in front of your ICP, potential investors, job candidates, journalists, and so on is no small feat, and brands need a robust multichannel strategy to do so. PR efforts that embrace an integrated 360° approach will be better equipped to help clients reach their unique goals in 2025.How are you establishing your spokespeople as thought leaders? Are you pitching their POVs to journalists? Backing up those pitches with a robust strategy for executive social media? Have you invested in research to enhance your narrative with data-driven insights? Are you testing out influencer strategy to tap into the networks of B2B content creators?
Smart brands will be the ones who can meet audiences wherever they are, no matter the channel.
We can’t definitively say what 2025 has in store for us (although we can anticipate shifting regulations as a new administration takes office). But no matter what, it’s sure to be another exciting year of growth for our clients.
And a new year is the perfect opportunity to take charge of your brand. If you’re ready to own your narrative in 2025, connect with Kickstand today!
