Generative AI makes PR a key business priority in 2026: 35 PR and marketing predictions

Thirty of these PR and marketing predictions are from real humans; the five short ones at the bottom are from various LLMs and it’s interesting to see the similarities and differences between what they wrote among each other and the people here

Yes, the header image was created by AI. Grok did it.

I asked it to “strive to make it feel surreal and mystical,” and I got corny instead.

But I’m running with it.

It’s late. I’m hours deep. This annual post is a ginormous bear to compile.

And the doubters can see that I do, in fact, have a sense of humor, however wry and lacking it might be.

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Alternatively, you can fill out this Google form: 2027 prediction invitation request. I won’t use your email for anything other than contacting you about predictions next year.

If you prefer audio, you can catch these posts on The B2B Marketing and PR Podcast. The audio comes out one week after the blog.

Some things you should know

• There is no order of merit or ranking to this list; the first prediction is not necessarily the ‘top prediction’; I just put them in an order I thought made sense for my readers;

• As evidence, I submit to you my own prediction at the bottom – number 29; and

• As always, I wrote or chose each subheadline from the submitted copy.

A brief history of booms for PR

Social media was a big boom for forward-thinking PR in 2008.

Content marketing was too in 2010. That is, the real stuff, not that ‘marketing content’ crappola that gets erroneously called “content marketing.”

Not all, but many, of the predictions below are about PR. As you read through the PR predictions for 2026 below, one thing will become obvious: generative AI is good for the public relations business.

Indeed, I’ve seen several quantitative studies, like this one, that suggest that’s true.

Onward with this year’s predictions

Many thanks to all those who took the time to send in a prediction.

1. PR is essential for AI visibility; assess risks for crisis comms

“Leaders will continue to prioritize PR and brand reputation as part of their overall marketing and comms programs. There are countless risks to brand reputation nowadays, so having a strategic approach to PR and brand reputation will be critical. Positive brand mentions across various high-authority digital channels are also critical for AI visibility, which highlights another reason why a proactive PR and brand awareness strategy must be part of your overall program.

Additionally, combating brand reputation attacks by bots will need to be incorporated into your crisis comms plan. This includes how you determine human vs. bot comments/feedback and how you respond based on volume/sentiment of human vs. bot.”

~ Nikki Little, CMO, Franco

2. AI drives interest in the paid, earned, shared, owned model

“This is probably a little self-serving, but we’ve seen a huge shift this year toward owned and earned media in AI answers, which build the foundation of a PESO Model® program. Combine that with paid and shared media and you have visibility engineering that allows you to build credibility and trust among LLMs and humans. So, my prediction is that this will become an even bigger deal in 2026 as companies focus on GEO, which really is PR.”

~ Gini Dietrich, Founder, Spin Sucks

3. Agentic AI tackles the rote work for customer marketing

“We see customer marketing becoming increasingly autonomous as agentic AI continues to advance. In 2026 and beyond, customer marketers will no longer have to spend most of their time digging through data and notes to find out what customers really want, like and use in your software, and who might be a good candidate for upsell or advocacy. Intelligent systems will handle the data gathering and sorting and free up marketers to focus on the things they are good at (and love to do), like creating strategies and creative initiatives that drive retention, expansion, and stronger customer connections.”

~ Hunter Montgomery, CMO, ChurnZero

4. Agentic AI replaces the PR dashboards in the morning

“We will see a next generation of AI for sophisticated measurement and monitoring. The newest AI models can now genuinely handle nuance and context in a way older systems could not. Combined with increasingly sophisticated multimodal processing across text, video, and audio, this creates the conditions for reputation measurement to finally move beyond its traditional reliance on media mentions and basic sentiment scoring.

Organizations will be able to identify mentions of their brand within specific contextual situations rather than relying on keyword matching. They’ll be able to assess whether coverage genuinely reflects key messages or subtly diverges from them, and they’ll be able to measure perception at the level of individual products or business lines with a granularity that was previously impractical.

The shift from reactive analyses to predictive risk intelligence: The industry has been moving from reactive to proactive for some time. The next phase of this evolution is genuinely predictive: understanding not just what has happened, but anticipating what is likely to happen next.

This includes the ability to identify potential reputation risks before they fully materialize by recognizing early-warning patterns in coverage and conversation. It means understanding the likely trajectory of developing stories rather than simply reporting their current state. Perhaps most notably, it will enable stress-testing of communications strategies against synthetic audiences.

‘Always on’ AI agents: The emergence of agentic AI (systems that operate continuously and autonomously rather than responding to discrete queries) will change the operational reality of reputation monitoring. Rather than analysts reviewing dashboards each morning, organizations will deploy AI agents that monitor the landscape continuously, identify emerging issues in real time, alerting relevant stakeholders proactively, and develop initial response recommendations.”

~ David Benigson, CEO and Founder, Signal AI

5. Generative AI is a boost for PR

“Generative search will ensure: (1) earned media coverage will become a key goal again, as it feeds the LLM machine. (2) Owned media properties (like newsrooms) are a good second, and (3) the press release might be back from the grave as AI rewards structure: a press release offers exactly that.”

~ Bart Verhulst, Co-Founder, Presspage

6. Consumers distance themselves from social media

“In 2026, I predict that consumers will continue to distance themselves from social media, especially younger audiences savvy to AI, both in written and visual media. Marketing and PR professionals will need to find ways to reach audiences who prefer a better balance of their analog and digital worlds, using authentic creative that doesn’t scream ‘created by AI.’”

~ Jesse Radonski, Account Manager, Liaison PR

7. SEOs analyze AI ‘dark visibility’

“In 2026, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) or AI Optimization (AIO) and AI Visibility Monitoring will remain on a steady growth trajectory. Most marketing and comms teams and leaders should easily get on board with AI Visibility Monitorin,g given the rise in software options, but those tools mostly lack the ability to uncover what I am calling ‘dark visibility’.

This missing piece occurs when a searcher starts a conversation with an AI application, and that application doesn’t know the answer to the query from the information it has in its training model. In these cases, the AI application goes out to the open web and either performs a Google or Bing search, or accesses website content directly.

In theory, these ‘searches’ could show up in AI monitoring tools, but only if you’ve set up the right prompts to track, but what happens is they request information from your website server, which creates a log. These log files can be analyzed to understand that ‘dark visibility’, and that’s where I see technical SEO’s playing a major role in analyzing AI visibility.

For Generative Engine Optimization, I expect budgets and executive buy-in to expand slightly and those brands that do engage in high-quality SEO and GEO programs will be positioned to outlast their competition. I believe this will future-proof their visibility no matter where ‘search’ goes.

If AI applications become the new search platforms (and they aren’t yet), they’re set. If AI search specifically is a bubble and searchers continue to use Google at the rates they do, they’re still set. Yes, we are in a zero-click world, but people are still searching for information, and optimizing your website and third-party content outlets will remain critical.

I could see this as the ‘re-coupling’ of SEO and Digital PR.”

~ Scott Benson, Founder & Principal Strategist, Benson SEO

8. AI becomes a more reliable assistant

“There is no doubt that AI will be the biggest driver of change in public relations in 2026. As 2025 proved, the potential to save time on operational tasks to focus on strategy is immense.

We aren’t just talking about research, editing, or text correction. We’re talking about AI’s ability to process different sources and documents, providing synthesized analyses that lead us to valuable strategic insights much faster – be it regarding the market, competitors, or the company itself.

The potential for strategic mapping is fantastic! ‘grounded’ tools like NotebookLM, when well-sourced, allow us to run prompts and agents with peace of mind, free from the fear of hallucinations.

The latest AI versions literally offer even more refined reasoning – they are the fastest, sharpest assistants we’ve ever had. In crisis management, where response time is never ideal, these skills become a truly valuable differentiator.”

~ Luciana Lima, PR Account Manager, FSB Comunicação

9. Press releases are cool again

“The press release is cool again. Meaning that more will be written than in previous years to post on wires for AI/SEO purposes to find companies and their news. Old-fashioned, down and dirty PR will always matter, but in a bit of a shifted way. Now, with that said, many of these press releases will have no true news value but still will be a way to boost SEO results.”

~ Jason Brown, Principal and Founder, PublicCity PR

10. Incumbent brands scramble to recapture visibility in AI

“History will repeat itself. The incumbent brands aren’t focusing enough on how AI-search, dictated by PR coverage, is driving customer discovery. They’ll start scrambling towards the end Q2, but not before the forward-thinking brands create a solid foundation. It will be very similar to how the big brands previously slept on the rise of performance ads and had to play catch-up later.”

~ Bill Byrne, Managing Director, Remedy PR

11. A need for human perspective, context and meaning in content

“We certainly don’t need more information…thanks to AI, we are literally drowning in content. But we do need real humans who can add perspective, context, and meaning to that information. Brands that equip their founders and internal experts to meet that need will stand to gain more brand visibility, so expect PR teams to focus their energies and service offerings on thought leadership in 2026. We’ll see more founders (finally) recognize the business value of building a visible personal brand via social posts, podcasts, interviews, contributed articles, Substacks and more.”

~ Kathy Casciani, Principal, Azul PR + Communications

12. The trifecta of PR, SEO and brand tackle AI

“AI may actually save the practice of (real, human) PR. First, the amount of annoying AI slop journalists receive from lazy PR practitioners will make authentic human connections and content even more appreciated going forward. Second, the core of generative AI optimization (AIO, GEO, whatever one wants to call it) is the combined, expert application of three key disciplines: traditional SEO (high-quality, properly structured content); PR (spreading the organization’s thought leadership far and wide); and branding (tightly tying your brand to your expertise). So, contrary to the fears of some in last year’s roundup, AI isn’t going to destroy (real, human) PR – it may actually make it more vital than ever.”

~ Tom Pick, Senior Digital Marketing Consultant, Webbiquity LLC

13. AI is table stakes; soft skills matter more

“Last year I predicted AI would be limited to the first draft, little did I know and what I am seeing in the classroom, especially, is it is increasingly becoming the only draft. However, I am going to double down on my prediction from last year. AI is level-setting a number of skills in marketing and communications. Now, anyone can deliver a basic plan, but what is going to truly set things apart is the humanness, tone of voice, and resonance with the audience. Those who can master the ‘soft skills’ will stand out. Watch for a return for creativity and art – in a world of sameness, consumers will connect with things that are different, unique and imperfectly human.”

~ Dr. Wendy Zajack, Faculty Director & Associate Professor of the Practice, Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies

14. AI is a tailwind for PR

“AI search has created a tailwind for PR going into 2026, as brands recognize the impact journalistic citations have on LLM visibility. PR teams are starting to report on Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) metrics, and in some cases will take ownership of the discipline. Tactically, that means media strategies will factor in citation frequency and how key messages are picked up by LLMs. It also drives closer coordination not just with the Web/SEO team, but content marketing, paid media, and affiliate marketing to get the outcomes they seek. GEO is a team sport – and PR has an important role to play.”

~ Morgan McLintic, CEO, Firebrand Communications

15. Niche outlets matter more

“In my opinion, AEO/GEO was all the rage in 2025, and you’ve either figured it out or you aren’t going to. The media landscape is changing faster than ever before. So many of the journalists we’ve worked with and admire have started their own podcasts and Substacks (like Kaya Yurieff and Scalable podcast). In 2026, we’ll keep educating clients on how to hit their business goals by reaching the right audiences, which are becoming increasingly niche. We’ll continue pitching major mainstream outlets, but we’ll also focus more on Substacks and podcasts as a platform for our clients to share a deeper vision with an incredibly engaged audience.”

~ Kalie Moore, CEO and Founder, High Vibe PR

16. PR and SEO budgets merge under GEO

“In 2026, PR will fully move into a GEO mindset: earned media as infrastructure for LLM visibility, not just reputation. We’ll see PR and SEO budgets converge to systematically generate authoritative, structured, always-on coverage that feeds both search and models. The key KPI: how often, and how credibly, your brand is retrieved when users ask an LLM.”

~ Nicola Comelli, Co-founder, Point-out

17. Deepfakes get a paragraph in the crisis comms plan

“With the benefits of AI come some drawbacks. PR and communications professionals need to prepare their clients for AI-generated deepfakes. Up to 8 million deepfakes are expected to be shared online by the end of 2025, up from 500,000 in 2023 (source: Citigroup). It means public relations pros need to monitor what is being said about their clients and be prepared to address any deepfake incidents. This should be built into crisis planning. It’s also more important than ever for companies to stay out in front of their audiences, taking every opportunity to speak in their own voices to build their reputation as a trusted expert in their space.”

~ Michelle Garrett, Consultant, Garrett Public Relations

18. Strategic communications prioritizes relationships and reputations

“Increased investment in strategic communications, with brands prioritizing relationship-building and a reputation-first approach to marketing and corporate leadership. We’ll also see more proactive reputation-protecting strategies in litigation and legal matters, as corporate defense teams become more comfortable pushing back against disinformation campaigns from plaintiffs.”

~ Megan Paquin, Chief Executive Officer, Paquin Public Relations

19. AI causes marketing firms to eye a pivot to PR

“PR pros are going to need to get exceptionally good at demonstrating the value of what we do. As AI-driven search becomes more common, earned media demand has surged and, unsurprisingly, a wave of marketing agencies that have never truly specialized in PR are now adding it to their service lists. The practitioners who can clearly articulate and prove the impact of PR will be the ones who stand out and win in a crowded market.”

~ Britt Klontz, PR Consultant and Founder, Vada Communications

20. AEO wins over search marketing

“AEO will overtake SEO: More people are turning to chatbots and AI tools for searches over traditional Google searches. These LLMs pull their information from credible third-party sources, rather than keywords found on websites. That means that if a brand wants to show up in an AI search, it needs to do more than just optimize its website. It needs to ensure it earns quality articles on reputable online sites and that it has solid LinkedIn reviews or thought leadership pieces. Simply relying on SEO will no longer be enough to land a brand at the top of a search.”

~ Andrea Chrysanthou, Principal, Amplify

21. A human touch tops AI slop

“Everyone will be talking about and using AI, but human touch marketing will have the biggest conversions.”

~ Nina Cleere, Owner, HARO Helper

22. Soft skills: AI can’t read a room

“Harnessing the power of soft skills to read the room to lead the room. Whatever kind of marketing or PR you are looking to do in 2026; harnessing the power of soft skills will help you to achieve more impact with more ease.

Why? Because we are experiencing a leadership crisis in every sector and every industry at every level. People are desperate and ready for change but are unsure what it now looks like.

What used to work in previous weeks, months or years no longer works in light of how markets have shifted, people have evolved and the AI revolution has taken hold. In order to read the room, you need to be able understand what is not being said, deeply listen even if you disagree, and be more present to empathize with others whilst stepping out of your echo chambers.

These echo chambers, whilst they are safe and secure they do not help us to evolve, grow and develop as the leaders and humans we are here to become. People have to become more able to agree to disagree and become more open-hearted and open-minded in discussions instead of shutting each other down out of desire to be right.

There’s nothing soft about soft skills they can be very hard to master and yet harnessing the power of them whilst it can provide you with the best ROI imaginable; as they at heart are all about human connection, which is priceless and unfortunately, many have lost this and are seeking it to make their lives have more meaning.”

~ Caroline Jane Eddins, Intuitive PR Strategist and Soft Skills Expert, The Blondepreneur

23. Every PR team will turn to GEO tools for help

“Recent reports forecast that 75% of searches will be done through AI or LLMs like ChatGPT by 2028. To help brands achieve AI visibility, PR teams must start understanding which media outlets top LLMs are sourcing from. By early next year, every PR team will be using Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) tools to help regularly identify, prioritize and target media outlets.”

~ Justin Hall, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Voxus PR

24. Creative destruction: decimation of entry-level jobs; growth of creators

“I see two ongoing trends that appear to be in conflict but are actually symbiotic.

The first is the clear growth of AI integration, especially agentic AI; the maturation of agency GEO practices; and (sadly), the downside of AI integration – the decimation of entry-level positions in PR and marketing. There’s also a real risk of skills atrophy, especially at junior levels.

But at the same time, we’re looking at growing trust for creators – just look at the Substack explosion. There’s also a hardening of trust in and even identification with certain celebrities and influencers (e.g., were you Team Justin Baldoni or Team Blake Lively?) PRs and marketers can leverage these ‘fan loyalties’ when they suit the brand or situation.

Not strictly related to PR or marketing, I’ve also noticed professionals developing emotional relationships with AI agents. I don’t mean the romance or sex chatbot stories we’ve read about, but more a sense of loyalty and reflexive dependence on the AI agent under pressure or when the stakes are high.

An AI agent recently helped me out of a potentially disastrous email server crisis on a Sunday night when I couldn’t call anyone, and I’m feeling something between gratitude and hero-worship.”

~ Dorothy Crenshaw, Consultant, Crenshaw Consulting

25. Generative AI extends the news’s shelf life

For decades, PR teams have measured success in short cycles. A story was considered “strong” if it peaked in the first 48 to 72 hours.

In 2026, that model will break. As AI tools continue to train on trustworthy content, your material can resurface days or even weeks later. The impact compounds over time because AI rewards consistency and clarity.

This leads to new ways of measuring success, including:

Longer visibility windows

Citation patterns across AI tools

How your narrative clusters with competitors

LLM share of voice (SOV)

These signals help you see your influence more accurately and help your teams understand which stories have long-term value.”

~ Erik Carlson, President & Chief Executive Officer, Notified

26. AI gets better at PR “tasks”, but not “jobs”

“In 2026, more startup founders will experiment and use AI for press release writing. But after a few months, the realization will hit most of them: AI can write and its facts are getting better but using it does not result in building relationships or results! They will then hire PR professionals to implement quality campaigns. And yes, the PR pros will use AI but in a smart manner, e.g. for research or media database building.”

~ Michelle McIntyre, President, Michelle McIntyre Communications LLC

27. Lazy PR becomes over-reliant on generative AI

“I think 2026 is when AI starts to feel too comfortable in PR. Like it’s always open, always running, always helping, and people stop being careful. The danger isn’t AI itself, but that people will just go with the first draft of whatever AI produces. That’s when you get the product quality that we’re already seeing, including generic writing, questionable facts, and pitches that just don’t feel like a real person wrote them. 2025 was the honeymoon phase. 2026 is when everyone starts getting pickier about quality.”

~ Justin Goldstein, Founder, PR73

28. Next year brings ‘agentic hell’

“We’re at the gates of agentic hell. That burning sensation? It’s coming from places you can’t see. That’s why AI agent observability will be one of the most important technology hills to climb in 2026 for marketers and businesses.

When it comes to agentic systems, infrastructure instability is the norm, with 70% of regulated enterprises rebuilding their AI agent stacks every three months or faster. Marketers and brands are relying on agents at an exponential rate, but they need more insight as agent-to-agent transactions increase across vendor ecosystems – where things get even riskier.

Agents are infectious. That’s why we need more ‘observability Penicillin’ to keep the plumbing healthy.”

~ Matt Garrepy, Chief Digital Officer, Solodev

29. Sources familiar with the matter have the credibility of an AI ghost

The number of businesses that overlook basic trust signals is stunning. Press releases are commonly published on wire services without contact information. Blog posts lack dates and bylines. Company ‘about us’ pages lack stories, names, faces, and, as remote work evolved, even places.

Credible reporters and analysts will get a pass, but for businesses, sources familiar with the matter have the credibility of a ghost. Brands that continue to publish undated and poorly sourced content anonymously are going to be lost if people continue to gravitate toward generative AI for answers and away from traditional search.

Old-fashioned Google may have surfaced your stuff, but generative AI won’t. Google was striving for relevancy and presented 10 blue links that you could choose from: the searcher decided what was true. Generative AI aims to provide the answer with confidence and it’s going to pass over content that lacks those trust signals.

The biggest obstacle to generative AI adoption is it’s tendency to hallucinate. It just plain makes stuff up and it does it all too often. Software companies are plowing investment dollars into this problem; another way to address it is revisiting the training text.

You’ve probably heard the saying ‘garbage in equals garbage out,’ and that’s one way generative AI is going to solve this problem. In 2026, if you are a brand that still publishes its content anonymously, generative AI is going to toss your copy in the algorithmic garbage heap.

~ Frank Strong, founder and president, Sword and the Script Media, LLC

Predictions FROM generative AI

In January of 2023, a couple of months after ChatGPT was first launched, I borrowed an idea to interview with the machine (An “Interview” with ChatGPT: What is Public Relations? How has PR Changed? Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Comms Pros?)

Since many of these predictions are about the impact generative AI will have on PR, I thought it was only fair to give the machines a chance to weight in too.  I asked a handful of the major LLMS the same question I posed to the respondents above, though I limited the answer to just four lines, because in my experience, generative AI will ramble on if you let it.

In four sentences or fewer, what is your prediction for marketing or PR in 2026?

Below are their answers – produced by generative AI tools. As with the above, I wrote (or chose from the text) the subheadlines.

30. PR uses synthetic media like deepfakes for influencer collabs

“Marketing in 2026 will likely see AI-driven personalization reach new heights, with hyper-targeted campaigns using real-time data from wearables and IoT devices to predict consumer needs before they’re expressed.

PR strategies will increasingly rely on synthetic media like deepfakes for influencer collaborations, raising ethical concerns over authenticity and misinformation. However, stricter regulations on data privacy and AI usage may slow adoption in some regions, creating uneven global practices.

Overall, the integration of augmented reality in experiential marketing will blur lines between digital and physical worlds, but at the risk of alienating privacy-conscious audiences.”

~ Grok

31. PR and marketing converge, putting a premium on trust

“The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be the most significant shift, moving from a disruptive force to an essential, embedded partner in both fields. AI will automate production tasks, making the new critical priority Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to ensure brands are cited as trustworthy sources in AI-generated search results.

As a counterpoint to automation, success will hinge on authentic, hyper-personalized storytelling that clearly links communications to measurable business ROI. Ultimately, PR and marketing will continue to converge, placing a premium on trust and transparency in an increasingly skeptical and polarized media landscape.”

~ Gemini

32. Trust and authenticity are key to differentiation

“By 2026, marketing and PR will be increasingly AI-orchestrated, with hyper-personalized content, predictive media outreach, and real-time optimization becoming standard. Trust and authenticity will be the main differentiators, pushing brands to invest more in transparent storytelling, community building, and credible human voices. Earned media will blend more tightly with owned and creator channels, blurring the line between PR, marketing, and customer experience. Teams that combine data fluency with strong narrative instincts will outperform those relying on scale alone.”

~ ChatGPT (answer when not logged in – no link)

33. Trust and authenticity will be monetary currency

“By 2026, marketing and PR will be deeply AI-augmented, with teams using predictive models to test narratives, visuals, and timing before campaigns ever launch. Trust and authenticity will become the primary currency, pushing brands toward smaller, credible creators and transparent messaging over mass influence. Earned media will blur with owned and paid channels as journalists, creators, and brands co-create content ecosystems. The winners will be organizations that can move fast while proving they’re real, human, and accountable.”

~ ChatGPT (answer when logged in)

34. Authenticity and transparency will dominate

“By 2026, marketing and PR will lean heavily on AI-driven personalization, delivering hyper-targeted campaigns that feel almost conversational. Authenticity and transparency will dominate, as consumers increasingly demand brands to demonstrate real values rather than polished slogans. Immersive experiences through AR and VR will become mainstream tools for storytelling, blending digital and physical engagement. Finally, crisis management will shift toward real-time response powered by predictive analytics, making reputation protection faster and more proactive than ever.”

~ CoPilot

35. Humans focus on narrative, taste, and product-level strategy

“Marketing and PR in 2026 will be defined by AI-native workflows, where agentic tools handle execution while humans focus on narrative, taste, and product-level strategy. Search and discovery will shift toward conversational, AI-mediated environments, pushing brands to optimize for “generative engines,” zero-click experiences, and AI “buyer bots” rather than just traditional SEO and websites. In PR, pressure to prove direct business impact will intensify, with budgets flowing to teams that link reputation, brand building, and media to revenue, pipeline, and trust metrics. Overall, human-first creativity, credible measurement, and real-time narrative intelligence will become the differentiators in an AI-saturated media and misinformation landscape.marketermilk+7​

1. 1. https://www.marketermilk.com/blog/marketing-trends-2026
   2. https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-emea/consumer-insights/consumer-trends/digital-marketing-trends-2026/
   3. https://business.google.com/us/think/consumer-insights/digital-marketing-trends-2026/
   4. https://onclusive.com/resources/blog/pr-trends-2026-expert-predictions-insights-shaping-the-future-of-communications/
   5. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2025/10/13/10-generative-ai-trends-in-2026-that-will-transform-work-and-life/
   6. https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/strategy-planning/trends-content-marketing
   7. https://laruepr.com/blog/pr-media-trends-2026/
   8. https://www.cmswire.com/digital-marketing/6-marketing-technology-trends-to-watch-this-year/
   9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD_xh0DasN0
   10. https://sink-or-swim-marketing.com/blog/top-2026-marketing-trends-you-need-to-know-now/”

~ Perplexity (used the copy button and it came with links!)

2026 predictions from around the web:

• Forrester: Predictions 2026 – the race to trust and value
• PR News: Four strategies PR pros should consider for 2026
• Marketing-Interactive: Future of PR – what agencies are prioritizing for 2026
• Marketing Dive: Will 2026 be more volatile for marketing? Here’s what the numbers say
• Kanter: 2026 Marketing Trends – creativity, inclusivity and growth through tech
• Jon4Growth: 2026 marketing predictions (these are FIRE!)
• Dotdigital: 2026 marketing predictions
• Marketing Dive: These are the trends shaping Gen Z in 2026
• Social Media Today: 15 Social Media Marketing Trends for 2026 [Infographic]
• B2B Marketing: 5 B2B Marketing Predictions for 2026: What We’re Seeing in APAC
• Hexcode Marketing: marketing trends you will see in 2026
• Forrester: 2026 predictions guide for B2B marketing, sales, & product
• Sword and the Script: 5 surveys hint at where B2B marketing spends money in 2026

Yesteryear ‘predictions posts’ published here:

• 2025: Machina or ex-machina: ~40 marketing and comms predictions for 2025
• 2024: Will humans have to re-write AI’s draft of history? 42 marcom predictions for 2024
• 2023: Hopes, Dreams and Sage Advice: 40+ Marketing and PR predictions for 2023
• 2022: 20 PR and Marketing Predictions for 2022
• 2021: Seeing Around Corners: 30 Marketing and PR Predictions for 2021 
• 2020: 30 Pragmatic Marketing and PR Predictions for 2020
• 2019: 26+ Thoughtful Marketing Predictions that Could Actually Happen in 2019…
• 2018: 20 Insightful PR and Marketing Predictions for 2018
• 2017: One Prediction Each for PR, Content Marketing and Social Media
• 2016: 11 Shrewd PR and Marketing Predictions You Can Bank On
• 2016: One Bold Content Marketing Prediction for 2016
• 2015: 6 Pragmatic Content Marketing Predictions for 2015
• 2014: Focusing on a Few 2014 Content Marketing Predictions

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