40% of PR professionals don’t expect their budgets to grow in 2023, with 1 in 4 (25%) admitting that they are seeing their PR budgets reduce.

When also asked to estimate the overall marketing budget being invested into PR, the majority (25%) answered they were seeing around 5%, with just 10% of respondents stating that up to 50% of their marketing spend was being invested into public relations activity.

The 2023 JBH PR Report – undertaken by the Manchester based digital PR and SEO agency JBH – surveyed 155 agency and in-house PR professionals.

Survey responses for the report were collected between February-March 2023, with some of the most notable takeaways from the report being:-

• Just one in three (33%) of PR’s report to their clients/company on backlinks
• One in six (17%) of PR’s are paying for editorial coverage for their clients
• 70% of respondents say volume of coverage is the primary KPI in PR activity
• Online and broadcast tops the list as the most desired form of coverage from brands and clients
• The most common techniques implemented by PR’s in 2023 are proactive PR, reactive PR, and feature pitching
  
• More than half (53%) of PR professionals admit that they are finding it more difficult to secure coverage through their pitches and campaign outreach in 2023 compared to previous years
• More than two fifths (42%) of PR’s are confident that the headcount within their team will increase this year

Jane Hunt (pictured, above), CEO of JBH, said: “There’s no denying that 2023 is proving to be a trying time for those of us operating within the marketing industry. Budgets are under more severe scrutiny than ever before, and every penny counts when it comes to being able to prove the huge value that we know well executed PR activity can have for brands and clients.

“By collecting and understanding how others in the industry are tackling campaigns, outreach and measurement in the current climate, as well as their general experiences of the industry, it is our hope that The JBH PR Report gives PR’s at all levels a deeper understanding into the approaches being taken by their peers.”

More in depth information and analysis of The JBH PR Report can be found here: https://jbh.co.uk/state-of-pr/