Today’s digitally native consumer brand challengers need to know how consumers are changing in order for their  DTC brands to grow.  The media landscape is distributed and yet overwhelming. The average daily time spent with major media, including television, newspapers, magazines, radio, and digital formats, amounted to 12 hours and 30 minutes (Statistica). This means that consumer brands and their consumer pr agencies need to stay engaged with how consumers are discovering and purchasing products. When looking at consumer PR trends for 2023, several things stand out.

Consumers are More Socially Conscious Than Ever Before. 

Emerging consumer brands and emerging industries can not afford to ignore this trend, because it has been on overdrive since the pandemic. Whether the brand dives deep and engages in purpose-driven PR or takes a stand on social impact issues, consumers are voting with their wallets, and the up-and-coming generations have big expectations for businesses to contribute to improving society, not just the bottom line. 

• 68% of consumers say brands celebrating what brings us together and emphasizing our common interest would strengthen the social fabric
• 63% of consumers buy or advocate for brands based on beliefs and valued (Edelman)
• 59% of consumers will pay more to purchase from a favored brand — a 4% increase since 2022 (Marigold)

Consumers Want To Find Products Through Trusted Sources

Let’s face it: everyone from your niece to your Mom is looking for credible information, and search is still one of the most critical places for consumers to find trusted information. Google knows this, and they’re doubling down on making sure their search results are from trusted sources. From consumer tech to CPG, consumer brands who want to grow must align with trusted sources.  It is no surprise that, over all, social media is not a trusted source for adults; however, they still use it as a discoverability tool. They then go search for more information.

• 90% of searchers haven’t made their mind up about a brand before their search. (Zippia)
• 68% of GenZ adults turn to social media for new at least once per week. (Morning Consult)
• A considerable 82% of consumers trust print ads more when making a purchase decision. (Zippia)
• Only 20% of GenZ named Instagram their favored platform. (The Atlantic) TikTok and SnapChat were #1 and #2, respectively.
• 90% of U.S. consumers find targeted ads intrusive and annoying. (Zippia)
• Online-only news sites are second only to social media as the most commonly used GenZ medium (Morning Consult)
• The average person is now estimated to encounter between 6,000 to 10,000 ads every single day (lunio)

New Technologies Give Rise to Consumer PR Trends

The era of AI search is here – owned content needs to shift to long-tail search (Algolia) and there’s more. Voice search, most often done on mobile phones, is also on the rise. Consumer brands need to create content that reflects these new search methodologies and remember to take full control of their owned content in order to feed the algorithms.

• 41% of US adults use voice search daily, higher in comparison to countries globally. (Google Mobile Voice Survey)
• 25 to 49-year-olds use voice search more often than any other age group (PWC)

As you look at these trends, consider how you will use these ideas in your consumer PR strategies and with your consumer PR agency. You also might appreciate our report on how to make your earned product reviews more Google-friendly. As a consumer PR agency, we have a distinct approach that sets us apart. If you’d like to learn more, contact us today.