The Good Comms Edit - Issue #17 - 06.07.26

A Monday briefing on the biggest shifts in PR, marketing and brand storytelling.

Every industry has its signal and its noise and one of the challenges of working in communications right now is that there is a lot of noise. New platforms popping up every other week, new AI tools making audacious promises, dozens of new reports and endless temporary trends.

This week, three signals caught my attention, not because they were necessarily the biggest stories in marketing right now, but because I think they reveal something interesting about where communications seems to be heading next.

1. Search is becoming less important. Brand is becoming more important.

This week, more publishers and marketers continued to report declining referral traffic from traditional search as AI-generated answers become a larger part of how people discover information.

For years, marketing teams focused heavily on discoverability ...

• SEO

• keywords

• rankings

• clicks

  
  

Increasingly, the challenge may become something else entirely ... memorability.

If fewer people are clicking through to websites, brands will need to work harder to ensure people remember who provided the information in the first place.

Why it matters

For the past decade, many organisations have relied on algorithms to introduce them to new audiences. The next decade may reward brands that people actively seek out by name.

What I'd be thinking about

If search traffic disappeared tomorrow, would people still know who you are? OR have you accidentally built a discoverability strategy rather than a brand strategy?

2. Trust continues to move from institutions to individuals

Recent communications and creator-economy research continues to point in the same direction ... People increasingly trust experts, creators and individuals more than organisations.

This isn't necessarily because organisations have become less trustworthy, it's because people are looking for signals of humanity.

They want ...

• expertise

• personality

• accountability

• perspective

  
  

People are often better at communicating those things than brands.

Why it matters

The strongest organisations are no longer hiding the people behind the logo, they're bringing them forward, front and centre.

We're seeing it everywhere ...

• founder-led brands

• creator partnerships

• employee advocacy

• personality-driven newsletters

• thought leadership

  
  

Increasingly, trust has a face.

What I'd be thinking about

Who are the trusted humans inside your organisation and are they visible enough? (and willing to be showcased publicly!)

3. Owned audiences are becoming strategic assets

Over the past few months, I've noticed a growing number of brands investing in ...

• newsletters

• podcasts

• membership communities

• subscriber programmes

  
  

They're everyehere right? Why? Because rented audiences are becoming far riskier. Algorithms change, platforms change and the rules of the 'game' change. A direct relationship with your audience remains one of the most valuable assets a brand can own.

This isn't a new idea of course, we've been talking about it for years, what's changing is the urgency.

Why it matters

For years, social media growth often felt sufficient but brands are rediscovering the value of building audiences they actually own.

The smartest organisations aren't choosing between social media and owned channels, they're using one to strengthen the other.

What I'd be thinking about

If Instagram disappeared tomorrow, how many of your audience could you still reach?

The answer to that question is often surprisingly revealing.

The Pattern

Across all three stories, the same theme emerges ... Communications is becoming more direct.

Brands are becoming less dependent on intermediaries and algorithms and institutional authority and instead focussing on ...

• trust

• relationships

• recognition

  
  

The brands that thrive over the next few years may not be the loudest but they may simply be the ones people remember, trust and choose to hear from.

Karen's Take

The phrase I've found myself coming back to this week is ... "Don't build your marketing on borrowed land."

The platforms are wonderful and algorithms are useful and search very much still matters, but the organisations building resilience right now are investing in things they can keep like their reputation, their relationships and their audience, everything else is just distribution.

At Everything & Nothing, these are the kinds of signals we're paying attention to ... not because they're trendy, but because they reveal how communication is changing beneath the surface.

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About Everything & Nothing

Everything & Nothing is a PR, marketing and communications studio working with organisations, artists and brands who care deeply about how they show up in the world.

We help people find the signal in the noise shaping clear, credible stories that build trust over time. Our work sits at the intersection of strategy and storytelling, combining sharp thinking with calm execution, and a belief that good communication should feel human, considered and purposeful.

We’re interested in work that lasts, not just what lands loudly, but what lands well.

Enjoyed this edit? The Good Comms Edit is published every Monday ... a gentle, thoughtful briefing from the world of PR, marketing and modern storytelling.

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