This is according to a new global benchmark report released by Outcomes Rocket, which surveyed 858 marketing and communications professionals across industries and company sizes worldwide.

The study found that 84.1% of respondents believe PR will take on a larger part in supporting sales and business outcomes by 2028.

At the same time, 73% expect PR to become even more strategic as organisations adapt to changing ways people find and consume information.

The findings indicate that PR is moving beyond its traditional role of generating awareness and media coverage. Companies now see it as a business function that supports credibility, customer trust and revenue growth.

Seven in 10 organisations said PR now plays an important role in their go-to-market efforts and this is also seen in company structures.

Nearly half of respondents, 48.7%, said PR is fully integrated with marketing and sales teams, while another 36.6% reported partial integration.

Despite that thriving influence, many organisations still focus their PR efforts on awareness rather than direct business results.

Increasing brand awareness is the leading objective for 66.3% of respondents. Reputation management follows at 39.4%, while only 14.4% said supporting go-to-market campaigns is a key priority.

Just 17.1% listed visibility in emerging search environments among their main objectives.

The report also highlights the gap between the importance companies place on PR and how they measure its impact.

Half of the organisations surveyed still rely mainly on traditional indicators such as media mentions, impressions and share of voice.

Although 43.7% connect PR activity to website traffic and 41.3% track referral visits from earned media, 11.5% admitted they do not systematically measure PR impact at all.

For many teams, proving business value is difficult.

Budget limitations emerged as the most common challenge, cited by 30.9% of respondents. Another 26.7% said they lack clear tracking processes or key performance indicators, while 25.4% struggle to connect PR activity to sales and revenue outcomes.

The study found that organisations are also failing to maximise the value of media coverage after it is secured.

Only 13.1% share earned media coverage directly with sales teams, while just 6.1% incorporate PR insights into sales training and enablement programmes.

Meanwhile, 33.2% use PR content in marketing campaigns, but only 21.7% repurpose media coverage into blogs, newsletters or other owned content.

Budget trends point to maturing trust in PR, although investment remains measured.

On average, organisations allocate 14% of their marketing budgets to PR. Nearly half, 47.7%, increased PR spending over the past year, although most described those increases as modest rather than substantial.

The report also found that 44.8% of organisations increased PR investment because of changes in search and content discovery, while 32.5% reported no change in spending.

Most companies manage PR internally. More than a third, 35.9%, operate dedicated in-house PR teams, while 34.9% handle PR through broader marketing departments. Only 8.4% rely entirely on external agencies.

Another key finding centres on governance and policy.

While the use of automation and digital tools has become global across communications teams, only 21.4% of organisations have formal, documented and enforced policies governing their use. More than 70% lack fully established guidelines.

Respondents identified data privacy and compliance as their biggest concern, cited by 40.1%. Accuracy issues followed at 37.9%, while 29.2% worried about losing a consistent brand voice.

Even so, the report found limited evidence of major negative consequences so far. More than a third of organisations, 35.4%, said they had experienced no major issues. Only 6.6% reported reputational or quality-related problems.

Over the next two years, respondents expect automation to be the strongest force driving PR. Nearly half, 46.6%, pointed to automated workflows as the biggest trend, followed by growth in digital PR activities at 38.2%.

Summing up the findings, Outcomes Rocket said PR has reached a turning point as organisations connect communications efforts with commercial outcomes.

“The data shows that PR is no longer a supporting function. It is a strategic driver of visibility, authority, and business impact.”

The company added that while PR’s influence grows, many organisations still face gaps in execution, measurement and governance that could limit their ability to demonstrate business value.

The report is based on a global survey conducted in March 2026 among 858 marketing and public relations professionals drawn from sectors including professional services, technology, education, ecommerce, healthcare, financial services and manufacturing.

The report positions 2026 as the inflection point where marketing moves decisively from generative AI pilots and proofs of concept to agentic execution at scale.

Drawing on industry research from Gartner, Forrester, McKinsey, Anthropic, HubSpot, and Netcore’s operating insights across global enterprises, the report concludes that consumer agentic marketing in 2026 will be defined by multi-agent systems, Brand Twins, Agentic Commerce, human attention, outcomes-based pricing, and profitability.

Multi-agent systems move from pilots to performance

A core finding of Netcore Agentic Predictions 2026 is the transition from isolated AI assistants to orchestrated multi-agent systems (MAS) that operate across the full marketing lifecycle; content, segmentation, decisioning, optimisation, and insights.

The data points to rapid momentum:

• Multi-agent systems outperform single-agent architectures by 90.2% on complex tasks (Anthropic, 2025)
• 56% of organisations report improved scalability after adopting multi-agent approaches (Forrester, 2025)
• 50% of enterprises say MAS adoption creates competitive differentiation (Gartner, 2025)
• Gartner recorded a 1,445% surge in multi-agent system–related queries between 2024 and 2025

The report notes that specialised agents now operate under an always-on orchestrator, continuously adapting to customer behaviour and business goals in real time.

This replaces fragmented stacks and manual coordination with self-optimising marketing engines.

Brand Twins replace reach with relevance

The report introduces Brand Twins as a defining construct of the consumer agentic era. These are always-on, brand-owned AI agents that deeply understand individual consumers and act on their behalf, moving marketing away from mass outreach toward relevance at scale.

The urgency is driven by attention collapse:

• 73% of consumers skim content, while only 27% engage meaningfully (HubSpot)
• The average human attention span has fallen to 8.25 seconds, lower than a goldfish’s 9 seconds (Samba Recovery)

According to the report, Brand Twins continuously learn consumer intent, preferences, and behaviour, enabling fewer but more relevant interactions. Marketing becomes quieter, more contextual, and increasingly trust-led.

Agentic commerce reaches a tipping point

E-commerce is identified as the first sector to fully feel the impact of agentic AI. Key indicators cited in Netcore Agentic Predictions 2026 include:

• By 2030, AI agents will influence 20% of e-commerce transactions (Gartner)
• By 2028, 33% of organisations will adopt agentic AI
• By 2028, 15% of AI agents will make daily autonomous decisions (Gartner)

The report predicts the emergence of agent-to-agent (A2A) commerce, where brand agents and consumer agents negotiate pricing, promotions, inventory, and recommendations in real time, making commerce dynamic, adaptive, and continuously optimised.

Human attention becomes the ultimate growth moat

As consumers increasingly rely on AI agents to filter choices, the report forecasts a dual-audience reality – humans and AI agents acting in parallel.

This shift elevates attention as the scarcest resource:

• Human attention spans declined from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds by 2013, and continue to compress
• AI agents act as gatekeepers, screening relevance before humans engage

The report concludes that brands capable of appealing to human emotion and agent logic simultaneously will convert attention into loyalty, customer lifetime value, and long-term growth.

Outcome-based pricing replaces martech sprawl

One of the report’s strongest predictions is a structural reset in how marketing technology is priced and evaluated.

The data highlights widespread inefficiency:

• 55% of marketers are dissatisfied with martech cost versus value (MarTech)
• Martech cost sensitivity rose from 37% in 2023 to 61% in 2024
• 99% of marketers underutilise their martech stack
• 40% cannot measure ROI, and 18% report no clear ROI (SalesManago)
• 47% of leaders cite stack complexity as the barrier to realising value (McKinsey)

The report predicts a shift toward outcome-based pricing, where brands pay for measurable results, conversions, revenue, and customer lifetime value—rather than licenses and usage.

The CMO is redefined

As execution becomes autonomous, leadership accountability moves upstream.

65% of CMOs believe AI will fundamentally change their role within the next two years (Gartner, 2025)

Netcore Agentic Predictions 2026 forecasts the evolution of the CMO into a Chief AI and Chief Profits Officer, responsible for orchestrating AI systems and directly owning growth outcomes.

“2025 was about proving that AI works. 2026 will be about proving that it delivers,” said Rajesh Jain, Founder & MD, Netcore Cloud. “As autonomous agents take over execution, marketing’s real constraint is no longer technology – it’s attention, outcomes, and accountability. Agentic systems fundamentally change the equation by making growth measurable, continuous, and owned. This is not a tooling upgrade; it’s a new operating model for marketing.”

This transformation in marketing strategy will shift traditional channel-based approaches and usher in a new era of personalized, autonomous engagement. These AI agents will act as persistent digital concierges, seamlessly spanning marketing, sales and support to create hyperpersonalized experiences.

“This marks the end of channel-based marketing as we know it,” said Emily Weiss, Senior Principal Researcher in the Gartner Marketing practice. “Marketers must prepare by putting strong data governance in place, tracking customer journey changes weekly, and integrating agentic systems into martech stacks to enable secure, ethical personalization at scale.”

“This marks the end of channel-based marketing as we know it. ” — Emily Weiss, Senior Principal Researcher

By 2027, Brands Will Allocate 50% of Influencer Marketing Budgets to Content and Creator Authenticity Initiatives

Initiatives will include identity verification, content provenance checks, and anti-deepfake measures, with the goal of optimizing engagement and monetization in AI search environments.

This shift is driven by the surge in AI-generated content and the growing visibility of social-originated content in search results.

A Gartner Consumer Community survey of 335 U.S. consumers, conducted in October and November 2025, revealed 78% of consumers say explicit labeling of AI-generated content is “very important” or “the most important factor” in maintaining trust.

“Trust is now the most valuable asset in influencer marketing,” said Weiss. “Brands should adopt clear labeling conventions, invest in third-party verification tools, and monitor creator engagement quality to ensure transparency and compliance as AI-generated content becomes mainstream.”

“These predictions signal a fundamental redefinition of marketing, from channel-based strategies to AI-driven personalization, and from engagement metrics to trust metrics,” added Weiss. “The brands that act now will lead the next era of marketing. Those who delay risk falling behind as technology and consumer expectations evolve at unprecedented speed.”

While fintech has historically dominated, attracting significant investment, other sectors, such as mobility, health tech, and edtech, are increasingly gaining traction. 

In all of these, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not just a buzzword; it’s a transformative force poised to revolutionize every facet of the tech ecosystem, particularly marketing. I spoke at length about this last month on a panel at Growth Camp.

Nigeria’s online population shows a remarkable enthusiasm for AI with 70% of them utilizing generative AI far surpassing the global average of 48%. Furthermore, 87% express optimism about AI’s potential, seeing its benefits outweighing the risks.

This ingrained receptiveness, coupled with a booming digital economy, high internet penetration, and a growing middle class, positions Nigeria as a fertile ground for AI-driven marketing innovations.

The impact of AI in the global marketing industry is already profound, with a 2023 Sprout Social Index report indicating that 81% of marketers surveyed believe AI has had a positive impact on their work, particularly in creative areas like content ideation (78%) and productivity (73%).

Gartner predicts that by 2025, 30% of outbound marketing messages from large organizations will be AI-generated, a significant leap from less than 2% in 2022.

In Nigeria, while AI adoption in marketing is still in its early stages, its influence is undeniably growing. The Nigerian AI market is projected to reach $1.40 billion by 2025 and potentially $4.64 billion by 2030, signifying an economic transformation. Early adopters are already seeing tangible benefits:

• Hyper-personalization at Scale: AI enables brands to move beyond generic messaging. By analyzing vast amounts of customer data – behaviours, preferences, purchasing patterns – AI can deliver hyper-personalized content, offers, and recommendations. Nigerian platforms like Konga are beginning to implement AI-driven audience insights, while fintech companies and banks can leverage AI to analyze transaction data for targeted offers, improving customer retention and acquisition. This capability is particularly crucial in Nigeria, a nation with diverse cultures and languages, where AI can help break down complexity by studying distinct customer behaviors.

• Enhanced Efficiency and Productivity: AI automates repetitive and time-consuming tasks, freeing up marketers to focus on strategic thinking and creative endeavors. From monitoring category trends and spotting opportunities to crafting briefs, brainstorming, processing data, summarizing reports, and writing, AI fast-tracks the entire marketing process. This is especially vital for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria, who can now leverage AI tools like Hootsuite, Canva, Midjourney, and ChatGPT to analyze social media data and design affordable campaigns, enabling them to compete with larger players.

• Smarter Advertising and Optimized ROI: AI is revolutionizing ad targeting and budget allocation. Programmatic advertising platforms, powered by AI, automatically buy and place ads in the most effective channels, reaching the right audience at the right time. This ensures every Naira spent on advertising is maximized, leading to higher returns on digital ads compared to traditional methods.

• Revolutionized Content Creation: Generative AI platforms like ChatGPT and Midjourney are transforming content creation, enabling businesses to produce engaging content quickly and cost-effectively. This is breaking down traditional barriers in the advertising industry, making high-quality content and ads accessible even to smaller brands and SMEs that previously lacked large production budgets. Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools can even help brands write ads in multiple Nigerian languages, broadening their reach.

• Superior Customer Experience: AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants provide 24/7 customer support, handle routine inquiries, and offer personalized recommendations, enhancing customer satisfaction and engagement. Nigerian banks and e-commerce platforms are increasingly deploying these tools to streamline operations and improve service delivery.

Despite the immense potential, the Nigerian tech marketing ecosystem must proactively embrace and advance its AI capabilities. This requires a multi-pronged approach, integrating both technical prowess and strategic foresight:

1. Robust Data Infrastructure and Management: The effectiveness of AI hinges on high-quality, structured, and clean datasets. Many Nigerian businesses currently lack this foundational element. Investment in data collection, cleansing, and robust data management systems is paramount. This includes establishing secure data warehouses, implementing data governance frameworks, and prioritizing data privacy in line with regulations.

2. Upskilling and Reskilling the Workforce: While AI will automate mundane tasks, it will not replace human marketers entirely. Instead, it will augment their capabilities, requiring a shift in skillsets.

There’s an urgent need for comprehensive training programs focused on:

1. • AI Literacy: Understanding AI principles, capabilities, and limitations.
   • Prompt Engineering: Mastering the art of crafting effective prompts for generative AI tools.
   • Data Science and Analytics: Interpreting AI-driven insights to make informed strategic decisions.
   • AI Tool Proficiency: Hands-on training with various AI marketing platforms (e.g., ad optimization tools, CRM automation, content creation AI).
   • Ethical AI Practices: Addressing concerns around data privacy (a survey in 2024 found that 68% of Nigerians are concerned about how their data is used in AI marketing), bias in algorithms, and responsible AI deployment.
2. Localizing AI Models: For AI to truly resonate in the Nigerian market, it must understand and incorporate local nuances. This involves:
   
   • Training AI on Nigerian-specific datasets: Incorporating Nigerian-specific language patterns, local dialects (like Pidgin English), and cultural contexts into AI training datasets for NLP models.
   • Developing culturally relevant AI assistants: Building chatbots and recommendation engines that reflect Nigerian consumer behavior and preferences.
3. Investing in AI Tools and Platforms: Businesses, particularly SMEs, need access to affordable and user-friendly AI marketing tools. This calls for:
   
   • Local AI software development: Encouraging Nigerian tech startups to build AI solutions tailored to local market needs.
   • Strategic partnerships: Collaborating with global AI providers to bring cutting-edge tools and expertise to Nigeria.
   • Cloud computing infrastructure: Investing in scalable cloud infrastructure to support the computational demands of AI.

Shaping the Future Narrative

1. Championing a “Human-in-the-Loop” Approach: Emphasize that AI is a powerful tool to amplify human creativity and strategic thinking, not replace it. Nigerian marketers possess invaluable insights into local culture, consumer psychology, and market dynamics that AI cannot replicate. The focus should be on leveraging AI to handle the mundane, allowing humans to excel in nuanced understanding, relationship building, and emotionally intelligent communication.

2. Fostering Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing: The advancement of AI in Nigerian marketing requires a collaborative ecosystem. This includes:
   
   • Industry associations: Leading discussions, setting best practices, and organizing workshops on AI in marketing.
   • Academia: Integrating AI and data science into marketing curricula in Nigerian universities and developing research focused on local AI applications.
   • Government: Implementing supportive policies and initiatives, such as the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, to accelerate AI adoption and development. The Startup Act of 2022 is a positive step, providing tax incentives and legal support for startups, which should be extended to AI-focused ventures.
3. Showcasing Success Stories: Highlighting real-world examples of Nigerian businesses successfully leveraging AI in their marketing efforts will inspire broader adoption and demonstrate tangible ROI. This includes case studies from various sectors – fintech, e-commerce, agriculture, and healthcare – illustrating how AI has optimized campaigns, enhanced customer engagement, and driven growth.

4. Addressing Ethical Considerations Proactively: As AI becomes more integrated, discussions around data privacy, algorithmic bias, and job displacement must be transparent and proactive. Developing ethical guidelines and frameworks for AI in marketing will build trust and ensure responsible innovation.

5. Shifting the Mindset from Cost to Investment: Many businesses may view AI adoption as a significant upfront cost. Thought leaders must articulate the long-term strategic value and competitive advantage that AI offers, framing it as an essential investment for future growth and market leadership. The potential economic boost from AI in Africa, estimated at up to $100 billion annually from generative AI alone, underscores this imperative.

The “AI Craze” is not a fleeting trend but a fundamental shift that will redefine the competitive landscape of tech marketing. For Nigeria, with its burgeoning tech scene and enthusiastic embrace of digital innovation, this presents an unprecedented opportunity. 

By strategically investing in robust data infrastructure, upskilling its marketing talent, localizing AI applications, and fostering a collaborative and ethically conscious ecosystem, Nigeria can not only benefit from the AI craze but lead the charge, solidifying its position as a dominant force in the global digital economy and pioneering a new era of intelligent, hyper-personalized, and impactful marketing.

The time to act is now; inaction is the greatest expense.

The Writer

Emmanuel Moses is a Marketing professional with half a decade of experience working for some of the most reputable brands in Nigeria: startups, individuals, and communities. He has made huge strides in expanding the reach of several brands and individuals across several communities and industries in Nigeria, working directly with them to drive change in their sectors.

Most notably, Emmanuel played a key role at Selar, a leading e-commerce platform for digital creators across Africa. During his time leading Product Marketing, he spearheaded performance-based marketing campaigns, user acquisition and retention initiatives, as well as brand marketing strategies that significantly contributed to the platform’s growth and visibility across the continent.

Today, Emmanuel serves as the Product Marketing Manager at Nestuge, one of Africa’s leading platforms for digital creators, where he continues to work at the crossroads of strategic marketing, brand development, and user acquisition.

According to McKinsey, companies leveraging customer behavioural insights outperform peers by 85% in sales growth and more than 25% in gross margin.

In today’s hyper-competitive business environment, understanding your customers isn’t just beneficial but essential.

Customers’ data have become the lifeblood of sustainable growth, enabling businesses to make knowledgeable decisions whenever the needs arise. ​

Harnessing the data is no longer a luxury but a necessity for businesses aiming for growth. Let’s look at how you can transform raw data into growth-driving strategies for your business.

The value of customers’ data

Every interaction your customers have with your business generates some data. It could be through purchases, website visits, social media engagement, or customer service interactions. When utilized correctly, these data provide the window into your customers’ behaviours, preferences, and needs.

It is not enough to collect data; you must turn it into actionable insights. Collecting data is just the starting point.

The real power lies in analyzing the data to extract implementable knowledge. Nothing makes you stay ahead of the curve in modern business like working with insightful data.

Data helps you to track key performance indicators (KPIs). KPIs are quantifiable measurements you can use to focus attention on the metrics most important to your business. You choose the most important KPI that best fits what you want to achieve and aligns with your business goals.

Data-driven sales and marketing 

Data and insights from your customers are crucial in driving the desired growth. One of the ways it does that is in aiding effective sales and marketing, and in tailoring your strategies to serve your customers better.

When you understand your customers’ demand patterns, it allows you to efficiently allocate your resources to meet those demands.

In the end, this will save costs and improve your profitability. Instead of relying on guesswork, use data to execute your sales strategies, and to create personalized marketing.

For instance, by analyzing purchase history or browsing behaviour, you can tailor recommendations, offers, and communications to individual preferences.

This also helps you to predict customer’s needs in the future. When you understand your customers’ behaviours across different touchpoints, you will create smoother and more satisfying customer journeys.

Data drives customer experience

Your decisions should be data-driven rather than based on assumptions. Analyzing customer data can help you give them a better experience. Through data, you determine optimal customer engagements that align with their perceived value and interests.

One important data that has been helpful for proactive engagement with your customers is predictive analytics.

This analytics involves using historical data to forecast their future actions. For instance, if data indicates that a customer typically purchases a product every month, you can proactively send reminders or special offers around that time to increase the likelihood of repeat purchases.​

More so, the information you get from your customers’ data ensures that your offerings align with their expectations and desires. It is when you have an astute grasp of the trends and your customers’ behaviours that your business stays ahead. Remember, personalized experiences resonate more with most customers.

Data enhances product development

No one develops a product blindly anymore; you have data to help you. Inside your customers’ data are hidden needs and trends that are thoughtful in developing new products.

Customer feedback and usage data can highlight areas where products or services may fall short. This will help you to refine your products and create offerings that resonate with them.

By addressing the pain points, you refine your offerings to better meet your customers’ needs. The whole purpose is to transform data into practical game plans that would make you lead and build lasting customer relationships. ​

When you assess the data you gather in your business, it will help you adjust your strategies as may be required for optimal results.

As we conclude, for data to truly drive growth, it must be ingrained in the company’s culture. This means ensuring that your team understand the importance of data, have access to relevant insights, and are trained to interpret and act upon them.

This will help you to adapt, innovate, and maintain a competitive edge.

Flam is building the infrastructure to make that possible. The company has raised $14 million in Series A funding to scale its AI Infra, making it easy for marketers to turn any touchpoint into an interactive, app-less digital and 3D experience.

The round was led by RTP Global, with participation from Dovetail and other existing investors, bringing Flam’s total funding to $22 million.

To date, Flam has been transforming advertising by turning traditional ads into interactive MR experiences. A simple QR code Scan or a link will let users instantly immerse in an experience that can showcase a product, tell a story, or unlock a deeper layer of the brand — all without needing to download an app.

Flam’s platform allowed brands to launch interactive content via QR codes or link on any touchpoint – Digital, Broadcast TV, Mass Media, Retail, OOH, packaging, even WhatsApp messages.

One scan or a link click, and consumers are instantly immersed in an experience that can showcase a product, tell a story, or unlock a deeper layer of the brand — all without needing to download an app.

Starting this year, Flam has been accelerating R&D on its app-less GenAI infrastructure that enables brands to create, publish and measure high-fidelity MR, 3D & Digital experiences in <300 ms on any smartphone.

The same infra already powers campaigns for Google, Samsung, Emirates and hundreds of global enterprises and agency powerhouses.

“Our mission is to turn every touch-point — Digital, Broadcast TV, Mass Media, Retail, Stadium Fan engagements —into an interactive digital experience,” said Shourya Agarwal, co-founder & CEO of Flam.

“We are laser-focused to ship the GenAI tools that brands and enterprises have been yearning for. Flam has galvanised marketers around the world now we’re taking it to the next level with a full stack enterprise suite of products across channels; to make them engaging, measurable, interactive.”

The platform is already being used by 100+ global brands, including Google, Samsung, Emirates, Britannia, and Mahindra, with real-time mixed reality campaigns that have reached over 380+ million users.

From turning product packaging into shareable stories to activating 3D demos on TV ads and billboards, Flam is helping brands create experiences that feel native to how people consume media today.

Flam will expand its partner program for creative studios and global platforms, enabling Fortune 500 brands to move from pilot to rapid global roll-out. Upcoming product development includes GenAI-driven 3D asset generation, Democratising MR deployment at scale, Enterprise Suite of Products across Industries, and Infrastructure for broadcasters and fan engagement.

With its Series A secured, Flam aims to redefine how consumers interact with ads, retail aisles, live broadcasts and fan moments—turning content and interfaces into shoppable, shareable experiences that deliver measurable ROI. 

“This capital unlocks the next chapter of Flam’s deep‑tech roadmap. Our edge‑compute architecture already streams hyperreal mixed‑reality in under 300 ms; the next milestone is a fully generative pipeline that lets brands create, personalise, and publish Digital & 3D experiences on the fly—secure and at scale,” Amit Gaiki, co‑founder & CTO, added. 

Nishit Garg, partner at RTP Global, commented: “The time for MR is now — and Flam is uniquely positioned to lead this wave. What excites us is not just the technology, but the clarity of vision and speed of execution. Shourya, Malhar and team are building a category-defining company—and we’re excited to be part of their journey in this next phase of growth”.

While, Amal Parikh, managing director at Dovetail added: “With Limitless applications, strong execution and clear vision we believe Flam is set to redefine how brands connect with consumers.” 

Flam currently employs 120+ people across engineering, AI, creative tech, and go-to-market teams. The company expects to grow to 180+ employees by the end of 2025, with expansion across the U.S., Europe, and Asia already underway.

“The World is meant to be experienced. Immersive media shouldn’t just be a video,” added Shourya Agarwal. “That said, the creation of immersive media should be as easy and ubiquitous as a video. Flam is here to power enterprises precisely for this.”

I have shared my thoughts on this topic across multiple LinkedIn posts, and I felt compelled to provide a structured education on the subject.

Measurement education is a core pillar of AMEC Measurement and Evaluation , and as a strong advocate for data-driven PR, I believe it is crucial to guide PR professionals through this recurring challenge.

The reality is simple: If sales are not part of your key performance indicators (KPIs), then Return on Objective (ROO) should be your holy grail, not ROI.

However, for PR campaigns where sales are indeed a primary goal, PR professionals cannot work in isolation — they need to engage with the “three wise men”: Sales, Finance, and Marketing.

A fundamental mistake many PR practitioners make is attempting to justify PR’s success using ROI without understanding the financial principles behind it.

ROI, in its true form, is a financial metric that calculates the profitability of an investment using the formula: ROI (%) = (Net Profit / Cost of Investment) x 100. For PR professionals aiming to showcase ROI, collaboration with the Finance team is essential to align media metrics with revenue generation.

However, in most cases, PR is not a direct sales function, which means using ROI as a blanket metric leads to misinterpretation and misplaced expectations.

This is why AMEC’s Barcelona Principles (which emphasize outcome-based measurement over outdated methods) encourage PR professionals to focus on measurable objectives rather than vanity metrics like Advertising Value Equivalency (AVE).

For those unfamiliar with these principles, I strongly recommend exploring them as a foundation for modern PR measurement.

One of the most misleading approaches in PR measurement is relying on AVE to demonstrate ROI. To put this into perspective, AVE in PR is like measuring the quality of a meal based solely on the price of its ingredients. Just because a dish contains expensive components does not mean it tastes good or satisfies the customer.

Similarly, AVE assigns a monetary value to media coverage based on ad rates but fails to measure the true impact, sentiment, or effectiveness of PR efforts.

If a PR professional presents AVE as ROI, they are essentially equating visibility with tangible business outcomes, which is a flawed and outdated perspective.

The goal should always be to measure what matters — impact, sentiment, engagement, and business outcomes — rather than placing a fictitious monetary value on earned media.

As a PR measurement specialist with over a decade of experience, I have consistently advocated for the prioritization of ROO over ROI for PR campaigns that do not have direct sales objectives. PR’s role is often about shaping perception, building credibility, and enhancing reputation — elements that do not always have an immediate or direct financial impact.

ROO provides a structured framework for evaluating PR performance based on predefined, measurable objectives.

By aligning PR efforts with specific business goals — whether it be increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, improving customer sentiment, or strengthening stakeholder relationships — PR professionals can provide meaningful insights without force-fitting sales metrics where they do not belong.

For PR to demonstrate true ROI when necessary, it must integrate seamlessly with Sales, Finance, and Marketing. Without correlating PR metrics with their data, PR teams cannot accurately tell the story of their contribution to revenue generation.

Marketing provides valuable insights into lead generation, Sales tracks conversions, and Finance ensures financial accountability.

When these three functions work together, PR professionals can move beyond justifying their efforts with media impressions and start proving their impact in terms of business growth.

This is why aligning client or executive expectations from the onset is critical. By setting realistic measurement parameters, PR professionals can avoid the trap of being asked to prove ROI on campaigns that were never designed to drive direct sales in the first place.

The path to effective PR measurement is rooted in education, collaboration, and the right frameworks.

We must continue advocating for methodologies that reflect PR’s strategic value — beyond press clippings, beyond AVEs, and certainly beyond misaligned expectations.

Measurement is not about justifying PR’s existence; it is about demonstrating PR’s impact with the right metrics that align with business goals.

As PR professionals, our focus should always be on setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) objectives that align with organizational priorities. This way, measurement becomes a tool for strategy rather than just a reporting mechanism.

As we move forward, I encourage PR professionals to embrace continuous learning, engage in industry conversations, and challenge outdated measurement methods.

PR measurement is not static — it evolves with trends, technology, and business needs. Let us elevate our practice by ensuring that measurement is not an afterthought but an integral part of our communication strategy from the start.

Would love to hear others’ thoughts on this!

Every investment, technology and methodology is defined by the value they deliver to the organisation and its bottom line.

As Harvard Business Review puts it – these roles are tenuous and set up for failure because they were originally defensive, focusing on control and risk and not on business value. It was not a role that would deliver the commoditisation of the data that the organisation wanted.

This is reflected in data released in the Data and Analytics Leadership Annual Survey 2023 – the CDO role grew from 12% to 82.6% from 2012 to 2023 and yet only 35.5% of companies believe the role is successful and only 40.5% say that the role is understood within the business.

It was a sentiment echoed at the Gartner Data and Analytics Summit 2023 where less than half of data and analytics leaders (44%) believed their teams delivered value to the business with limited funding (13%), resource limitations (29%) and talent (39%) proving the biggest obstacles to success.

Technical leaders need to find ways of working with the data and the technology to ensure it is oriented more closely to the business.

The business hat, so to speak, must be firmly on the digital C-suite’s head when looking at how they can optimise data, analytics, and systems to support every unit within the organisation.

HR, finance, supply chain, marketing – every unit requires a slice of the digital insights pie to ensure they too are optimising for success.

Value is the bridge between IT and the business. Now, CDOs, CIOs and CAOs must reimagine their architectures and approaches to ensure this value is found throughout their digital transformation and investment strategies. However, there are challenges.

The first is the impact of the cloud. Often perceived as an extension of the data centre, the cloud is a risk factor. Digital leaders need to understand the impact of having data in private and public areas while deftly navigating the challenges of linking and managing the data seamlessly between different cloud implementations.

This is further complicated by data security, change management and data sovereignty. Teams are struggling with vast quantities of data that’s not linked or is duplicated and their data governance is still in progress.

This is a complex landscape to navigate and manage, made even more challenging thanks to limited skills availability. There are not enough people with the expertise and training to get the value from the data.

Teams need to align the business roadmap with the technology investment to ensure the value created aligns with expectations.

This should be further balanced with a focus on improving processes to ensure that the business can better leverage the data through analytics tools or AI capabilities.

In addition, there is value in focusing on storage solutions that reduce the cost and complexities associated with vast quantities of data – instead, using tools that refine governance while increasing value and accessibility. These tools must help teams reduce data duplication, improve movement, and optimise costs.

BCX has developed an agile stable of data and analytics tools and capabilities designed to clean, refine, and manage the data for the organisation.

This high-level expertise translates into providing data-as-a-service capabilities with teams that have exceptional skills and a deep understanding of the challenges faced by the digital C-suite.

It’s the support that goes into the granular with any organisation, allowing for the business and the teams to create a data culture on a strong foundation of data literacy and visibility.

The BCX skillset and technology repertoire ensures the organisation can effectively build data value with the right levels of scalability and with AI, machine learning and intelligent toolsets optimising processes and streamlining data capability.

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What is the intention behind your marketing plans and actions? How will it drive the results that you want? This is where having data comes into play.

Make data-based decisions

Your marketing numbers tell you a lot about the state of your business – where and how you are winning or losing. Data is the weapon of modern business. Like a sword, it is only as useful as the person who wields it. To make good marketing decisions, you must depend on accurate data.

Every marketing effort that is not measurable is no marketing. How will you know if all of your marketing effort was a good investment, an expense, or a waste of resources? Are you delivering the right values to your market? Only your data will tell.

You must learn to make data-driven decisions by relying on data to measure the effectiveness of marketing efforts.

This allows you to adjust your strategies and tactics based on key performance indicators. When you ignore your numbers, you will struggle in business.

And when get some market insights from the numbers, keep doing and improving on what is bringing the result.

Don’t let your customers go

In the marketplace, it’s not what you think that matters but what the customers think and do about what you are giving to them. That is why someone shared that, ‘Marketing is so basic that it cannot be considered a separate function.

It is the whole business seen from the point of view of its final result, that is, from the customer’s point of view.’

Your customers are your business power base. So, if you don’t stay in touch with your power base, you’ll never attain power in your business.

When it comes to lead generation, a happy customer is the best tool. Find out why they buy and build on that. That to me is the most important aspect of the voice of the customer (VoC). Let’s face it, enterprises that can harness the power of extremely loyal customers win!

Unlocking the opportunities inherent in referrals

You may have had people use your products and services in the past, and you think that’s all. No! Intentionally engage them as your referral agents. Make them talk about you both on- and off-lines; it has a way of generating a ripple effect.

The real key to earnings is repeat customers, and those that they refer to you. Referral or recommendation works wonders; it is one sure way of driving business growth. More than 70% of the jobs that I have done for a couple of years now came via referrals and recommendations. Interestingly, we intentionally moved those customers to actions.

Referrals are often the best source of new customers. Hence, it makes sense to look at maximising opportunities from existing contacts. A referral is ‘pre-sold’ – they are coming to you because they genuinely need what you offer. That is to say, a referral is the key to the door of resistance.

We shall continue this discussion in Part 3, and dig deeper into the subject of referral which is at the heart of intentional marketing. See you then.

…To be Continued

Tony Ajah is a Business Growth Strategist, and the author of BUSINESS SENSE, and ON BECOMING AN ENTREPRENEUR.

He maintains a personal blog, where he shares proven business ideas and principles for SMEs.

However, the uncontrolled accumulation of large amounts of data is not expedient and leads to system inertia, so reducing this “data gravity” will be an important goal in 2024.

As part of this, we expect IT and marketing departments to invest more in technical solutions to harmonise different data sources.

This will give them more control over their data and at the same time more flexibility to focus on creative tasks, such as the conception and implementation of creative campaigns.

Generative AI places an even greater focus on building better quality data bases. The principle of “garbage in, garbage out” applies particularly well to generative AI (artificial intelligence).

Already, 77% of managers are concerned that their company will not be able to take full advantage of generative AI due to poor data quality (source: Salesforce State of Data & Analytics, November 2023).

With total data volumes predicted to increase by an average of 23% in the next 12 months alone, IT and business departments are in a race to ensure the quality of the data underpinning their generative AI initiatives is better than their competitors.

AI prompting – Questions are becoming more important than answers

What questions and prompts do we feed artificial AI with? This is what companies will be dealing with in 2024.

A key challenge in dealing with AI will be which core competencies marketers should have. Companies will have to spend more time on how they ask questions in order to not only get meaningful answers, but also to gain insights that set them apart from others.

Salesforce will help its customers with the Prompt Builder. Because in the future, it will be about overcoming conformity as more and more companies use AI for their marketing. It is also crucial to evaluate success factors for how AI models are trained.

The use of AI will not replace employees, but rather relieve them of manual tasks. In the interaction between humans and machines, they remain the decision-makers.

First party data strategy and loyalty programs – loyalty will have no limits

Loyalty is increasingly seen as a central component of the customer experience in many companies and is increasingly becoming a top priority.

Until now, customer loyalty programmes have often been transaction-oriented and relatively inflexible.

In future, however, loyalty experience will become a central component of the entire customer journey. From in-store advisory services and customer-centric service centres to mobile apps and virtual experiences, there are virtually no limits.

The basis for this? First-party data! With a first-party data strategy, companies answer questions such as: Where can I find out more about customers? Where can I learn more about their interests? And how can I use these insights in real time?

The “reach” yardstick, which was very high with third-party cookies, is therefore out. The watering can principle is no longer relevant in marketing; precision is more important than ever.

Retail media – continues to gain ground

Addressing customers when they are in the mood to buy – this makes retail media one of the most important marketing trends in 2024.

The ROAS (return on advertising spend) for retail media is high compared to other forms of online advertising.

Retail Media benefits from the seller’s detailed first-party data: advertisers can market their products to a very specific target group by booking banner advertising with the retailer for a target group with an interest in certain products.

Personalisation – Cool or creepy?

One of the challenges in the coming year is how companies can get consumers to trust them with their data in order to create added value through personalisation with first-party strategies.

According to the Salesforce State of Connected Customer Report, consumers are becoming increasingly sensitive when it comes to personal data.

Transparency is therefore still one of the most important tasks for companies, as the unsolicited disclosure of data is a “no-go”, and they only trust companies to a limited extent when it comes to handling data.

There is also a considerable discrepancy in how this data is handled: Consumers often find it “creepy” when they are approached by companies in a personalised way without knowing where the company has the relevant information.

So when it comes to the question of whether personalised marketing is a criterion for success, the only questionable answer is: it depends.

Ikea recognised this a few years ago with its “Ikea Data Promise” and showed what is important: guaranteeing consumers security, transparency and control of their data and showing them how they benefit in concrete terms when they share their data with companies.