As winter slowly gives way to spring, we mark the passing of the 2026 prediction season. We at Gallium are not short of thoughts and ideas for what we expect to cross our desks this year. But now that the dust has settled on the great and the good of marketing and PR’s fortune-telling, we wanted to share our thoughts on what the rest of the industry thinks 2026 will look like for us.
Some we expected; others are good food for thought. Here’s our review:
The transition from SEO to GEO & ‘Machine Readability’
Our take: SEO is not going anywhere, but adapting is key
You couldn’t avoid the words ‘SEO’ (or ‘Search Engine Optimization’) and ‘GEO’ (‘Generative Engine Optimization’) in 2025. That’s unlikely to change.
In 2025, it was all about GEO and how it’s changing the game for PRs and marketers. There’s some truth there, but it’s far from the full picture.
LLM use will increase. That’s almost a given. But “traditional” search will still be a strong pillar for brand discovery. What it does mean is a greater emphasis on brand building is essential.
Storytelling must be at the top of the agenda. It’s not even necessarily being the loudest voice in the room; instead, your brand needs to be consistently everywhere your audience is. A long-term earned and owned media strategy with storytelling as its focus will be vital to staying relevant in today’s attention economy. While big stunts get attention, it’s the long-term rallying cries that will drive real visibility.
The ‘Lo-Fi’ Revolution, authenticity & “the trust gap”
Our take: Being honest and real will build your communities for you
The Lo-Fi trend will be a short-term fad, but there’s a truth underlying it. Against AI slop, it’s not just about raw and unpolished content; it is authentic content that will win.
Rather than focusing on the virtues of lo-fi or hi-fi, or chasing the latest marketing trend, instead create work that is firmly orientated to your current and developing communities. This requires a deep understanding of your audiences to know how to talk directly to them. This is what authenticity means.
This isn’t just a consumer play. B2B brands, where PR efforts have traditionally been categorized as salesy at best, and dull and derivative at worst, should take advantage of the current renaissance of creativity in this space. Talk to sales prospects as humans, not as organizations.
This brings us to the issue of trust. The oft-quoted Edelman Trust Barometer 2026 report states that 68% of consumers now “trust brands less than they did five years ago.”
Trust is built over the long term through dependability, empathy, and integrity. Taking an authentic approach to your comms and speaking directly to your audiences is how you can overcome this widening trust gap while building, developing, and harnessing communities.
Narrative control & the new crisis management
Our thoughts: Scrap the generic holding statement and address crises with bravery
The cycle of outrage and the speed of information are faster than they’ve ever been. Everything happens in real time, under the harsh microscope of social media, adding a new need for speed from brands finding themselves in a crisis.
A simplistic holding statement no longer cuts the mustard when it comes to audience expectations. On-demand content means you must move at their speed to stay ahead and maintain control over the narrative.
In short: as nature abhors a vacuum, so too does the 24/7 social-first newscycle.
No one, journalists and audiences included, wants the statement equivalent of hold music. Instead, address crises rapidly and do so with thought and empathy. Remember that the medium is the message, so don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach across every platform. Most crucially, speak to resolutions and avoid the no-fault apology at all costs.
The keys to success lie, as ever, in the preparation. Crisis comms plans should not just be about escalation points — instead they should feature detailed scenario planning and be stress tested through role-playing scenarios. After all, if you don’t practice fire drills, you shouldn’t be surprised if you get burnt.
Lastly, the best crisis comms results come from being brave. Companies investing in their brand should be able to rely on that strength when it matters most. If there is currency and caché to be deployed, then a crisis is the time to spend it. So be brave in addressing the issue, and put the strength of your brand at the forefront to remind your audiences why they love and trust you.
Media fragmentation & PR’s evolution
Our take: We need to seek opportunities in new places
The overriding theme of the 21st century in the world of media can largely boil down to one word: fragmentation.
The ongoing breakup and lessening impact of the great traditional media institutions means a net-new operating environment for everyone. The trouble is that the environment is a landscape of ever-shifting sands.
This means that PR can no longer just mean “press”. The world of (earned) media is now diverse, requiring a shift to more niche media and taking a social-first approach. The reality is that if substack journalist-influencers, medium bloggers, and TikTok influencers aren’t a part of your earned media plans, then you’re going to have to play catch-up.
This approach also speaks to a truth seldom acknowledged in the world of PR: while chasing the great media institutions can lead to the trophies, does it lead to impact? In pursuit of brand fame and influence, meeting your communities where they are may create greater long-term positive results.
The ‘human premium’ or leadership-led branding
Our take: Creating thought leadership that actually leads
Thought leadership can create conversations, build a profile and hold value. Or, at least it has the potential to if it is done right.
Much thought leadership today is nothing more than an overused buzzword or corpo-jargon, churning out ‘safe’, non-committal opinions that do little other than contributing to an over-saturated and noisy attention economy.
Whether consumer or B2B, thought leadership must be fixed. Keeping with the thread running throughout these trends, the answer lies in being brave: creating thought leadership that has actual thoughts which can lead the agenda of the day. It’s about creating calls to action, moving people to address a crucial issue — not just shouting more words into the void.
Thought leadership — done right — offers a chance for your brand to cement a position aligned with that of your audiences. It is a chance to show that you care about them and their needs and wants, and a powerful tool for building trust and influence. It also offers the chance to create faces for your brand, showcasing the beliefs and ideas of key people behind the brand, and a space for audiences to align with them.
In short, 2026 is shaping up to look like a re-focus on purpose-led content, seeking new opportunities in niche media spaces, and embracing the evolution of PR with more emphasis on your audiences than ever before.
If you are finding yourself unprepared for the year ahead in light of these predictions, or if you want to make your PR work even harder this year, why not drop a line at to chat about how we can help you chart the waters of 2026?