Merritt Group

From the Merritt Group family to yours. Wishing you a season full of inspiration, connection, and a second helping of your favorite treat.

Continuing our 2026 PR and marketing predictions series, we’re sharing Partner Michelle Schafer’s perspective on how authority and influence will shift as LLMs reshape discovery. She lays out the pressure points teams can’t ignore if they expect to stay competitive next year. Here are her top insights for 2026: - GEO Will Reignite the Value of Earned Media & High-Quality Content Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) will force marketing teams to rethink how they earn visibility. As LLMs become the default discovery layer, the brands that rise to the top will be those that invest in authoritative, credible content that AI systems trust. In 2026, winning GEO strategies will prioritize earned media that LLMs actually cite, including trade publications, analyst evaluations, research reports, and high-quality vendor content. AR/PR programs will shift from awareness plays to AI-visibility engines, built to influence how generative models rank, summarize, and recommend brands. - Deep, Domain-Expert Creator Partnerships Will Outperform Generic Influence Influence is shifting from who’s the loudest to who’s the most trusted.  Long-term partnerships with niche creators - whether in cybersecurity, AI, healthcare, IoT, or other technical domains - will drive stronger engagement and higher credibility. These creators bring authentic expertise and trusted communities, enabling brands to reach the right audience with content that feels real, relevant, and peer-validated. In 2026, sustainable impact will come from embedded relationships with subject-matter creators, not one-off influencer posts. - Precision Pitches Will Replace the “Spray and Pray” Approach for Good Journalists’ tolerance for irrelevant, mass-blast pitches has hit a breaking point. With shrinking newsrooms and more noise than ever, reporters expect PR pros to bring real value - context, insight, and tailored angles that demonstrate genuine understanding of their beats. In 2026, successful media relations will require deep research, personalization, and strategic storytelling. PR teams that deliver thoughtful, customized outreach will stand out; those that rely on volume-based pitching will be ignored. #MerrittGroup #MarketingPredictions #PRPredictions #Leadership #MarketingStrategy

MG was on-site at #ISCEast 2025, supporting the event, assisting reporters in attendance, and spotlighting what is resonating in the #security landscape right now. Always energizing to help amplify the show’s energy and the voices shaping the industry! Abigail Allen, Katie Pesek

Say hello to our Account Director, Eddie! We put him through a rapid-fire Q&A, and let's just say... the answers did not disappoint. From hidden guitar skills to an Antarctica dream trip, Eddie brings personality, passion, and positivity to our team every day. Swipe through to learn more about the people who make our culture so great! #TeamSpotlight #FridayFeature #AgencyLife #MerrittGroup

We’re back with another installment of our “2026 PR & Marketing Predictions” series at Merritt Group, and this time we’re highlighting Shahed Ahmed, Executive Vice President & Partner, who shares a forward-looking view on how AI, buyer behavior, and strategy will define winning brands next year. Here are Shahed’s top predictions for the year ahead: - By late 2026, every high-performing marketing team will run with AI agents embedded in their workflows for research, reporting, SEO, QA, production, and more. The differentiator will come from knowing how to orchestrate them, govern them, and weave them into workflows without losing strategic coherence. - At some point in 2026, more than half of early-stage B2B and B2G discovery will begin inside AI assistants like ChatGPT and Gemini. Brands will need to show up in AI answers just as much as in traditional search. If a competitor convinces the models of authority better than you do, they will be the default answer that your buyers see first. - Buyer behavior is shifting too quickly for brand messaging to be a static, once-a-year exercise. The brands that win in 2026 will treat messaging as a dynamic thing, using AI to track signals in category movement, competitor claims, media and analyst sentiment, and how buyers consume information to fine-tune their messaging regularly. - As paid digital gets more crowded and expensive, more marketers will invest in owned communities across Slack, Substack, Discord, forums, user groups, and events. Paid will still matter, but community and engagement will carry equal weight. More insights are on the way! Follow along as we continue unveiling our partners’ predictions for what’s ahead in 2026.

The Echo Awards are launching to spotlight journalists making an impact across the public sector, and MG is proud to be among the founding firms supporting the effort. Take a moment to think about all of the great journalism that helped shape our understanding of this dynamic market in 2025 and nominate a deserving reporter here: https://theechoawards.com/

We are delighted to share that our collaborative work with the #SamsungGovernment team earned two Viddy Awards this year! Our MRV-D video took home platinum, and our health & human performance solutions launch video received gold, a proud moment for everyone involved and a reflection of the creativity and purpose driving these campaigns. These projects showcase the strength of our partnership with the #SamsungGovernment team and our shared commitment to bringing these solutions to life. We can’t wait for what comes next. Watch the award-winning health & human performance solution video below. Galaxy for Business, Chris Brown, Samsung Electronics America, #SamsungGovernment

Exciting news to round out the week! Our #SamsungGovernment team has been recognized with two Viddy Awards. Our Mission Response Vehicle Demonstrator (MRV-D) video earned a platinum award, and our newest launch video highlighting Samsung health and human performance solutions received gold. We’re thrilled to support the incredible work happening across the Samsung Government team.

Authenticity vs. sales: where do cybersecurity influencers draw the line? In this clip from our two-part Lay of the Brand series on cybersecurity influencers, John Hammond of Huntress dives into what separates genuine advocacy from paid promotion: - How can cybersecurity experts stay authentic while working with brands? - What do audiences expect from influencer partnerships in such a trust-driven industry? Don’t miss this series to learn the secrets of cyber influencer marketing from John, Robin Campbell-Burt of Code Red, and Michelle Schafer of Merritt Group This two-part episode starts here: https://lnkd.in/eUi7S77H #CybersecurityMarketing #InfluencerMarketing #LayOfTheBrand #CybersecurityInfluencers #B2BMarketing #BrandAuthenticity

As we continue our countdown of 2026 PR and marketing predictions, we’re excited to share the next perspective in our series, this time from our resident marketing pro Jayson Schkloven. Here are his predictions for the 2026 year: Beware of AI-driven content glut. Brands will need to be more mindful of customer backlash resulting from AI-driven content glut. Marketing teams will have to learn the balance between smart AI automation and keeping a personal touch in the content and creative they develop. Otherwise, they will risk losing brand preference among buyers and, more importantly, generative search engines, in a sea of generic content that lacks impact. Primary buyer demographics have shifted. Buying decision makers are increasingly younger and digital-native. Millennials and Gen Z are now in the B2B and B2G technology driver’s seats and expect more B2C-like experiences. I think this will impact both their buyer’s journey and the creative and content we produce to reach them. Specialist agencies will unite for the good of the client. Diverse specialist marketing and creative agencies will need to work better together for the good of the client. In-house marketing contacts oversee and coordinate campaigns across an increasingly hybrid mix of agencies with unique capabilities - from AI-enabled content production firms to influencer relations agencies to digital measurement teams. These hybrid agency teams must do away with territoriality and demonstrate their individual value through successful collaboration.