Defining Coming Trends in Public Relations
by Michael Doyle


Looking back on the last several years of the Covid-19 Pandemic, 
it is great to see this crisis mostly in the rearview. 
It was just as the world entered this era that I had taken early 
retirement from my position as a Legal Instruments Examiner, at 
the Department of Veterans Affairs. Precisely, February 29, 2020, 
was the date I retired.  I had every intention of buying 
an RV and traveling across the United States of America to 
photograph and write about the scenic beauty, historical sites, 
and the mixed and varied cultures that make up this great 
nation. With the pandemic erupting across the world, including 
this nation, I put my mind to other thoughts and decided to 
attend Purdue University to study mass communication.  

The transmittal of Covid-19 and its variants was concerning 
at that point, that decision was amended to attending Purdue 
University Global to minimize the risks. With that revision 
in process, Plan C became to pursue a Bachelor of Science in 
Communication as way of studying mass communication without 
incurring the risk of exposure.  These studies were begun 
August 26, 2020, with graduation achieved on March 14, 2023, 
with the degree accomplished with honors (magna cum laude).  
Of those areas that interested me the most in the studies, 
one of these areas that was most intriguing was public 
relations.

Now that I have graduated, and am waiting for the commencement 
ceremony, my mind has wandered into the desire to find out 
what the contemporary concerns and issues are seen as most 
pressing at this time. The defining questions beginning with 
just what trends are expected in the near term future.  
Doing a bit of research on these topics, there seem to be 
some certainties.

1) The ESG Movement will continue its growth. More companies 
are embracing the concept of ESG (Environmental, Social, and 
Corporate Governance). As these companies mandate that their 
corporate policies support environmental and social measures, 
these have increasingly become seen as viable measures to 
gauge solid corporate stewardship. Mostly, it happens to be 
for the world itself too.  There can be missteps such as the 
recent Budweiser Light fiasco, but by and large, many 
consumers consider this to be a good turn in corporate 
policies. The ESG score will be seen to define how these 
corporations are perceived.  Perception is 85+% of what makes 
a good company an example of excellence.  Being seen as 
excellent keeps a company on the cutting edge and most times 
drives a healthy, growing profit margin. That is, if one 
watches the missteps such as taken by Budweiser Light and 
not misgauge the customer base. 

2) The Mindset of the workplace will continue to change. With 
changing demographics comes five generations with individual 
sets of factors complicating that mix of workstyles. 
Incorporating millennials and Gen Alpha (between 11 and 25) 
brings different paradigms to the workforce that require 
engagement strategies to absorb styles, needs, desire and 
perceptions about work-life balance. This will only continue 
to shift with the workforce inclining toward these mindsets.  
It will also require accepting the changing needs and 
inclinations of older workers. 

To start with, there is an increasing need to accommodate 
mindsets that desire to work from anywhere it chooses to 
work from as long as the work is able to be appropriately 
accomplished. That is to say corporate culture is becoming 
increasingly on-screen. Work-from-home, hybrid schedules, 
and in-office work routines are increasingly a matter of 
choices that work for the employees as much as the traditional 
ideas of corporate culture. This will only continue to evolve 
as millennials and Gen Alpha continue to grow as a larger 
part of the workplace demographic. Those companies that can 
adapt to these changes most will accordingly thrive best.

3) Technology will continue to be the strongest driving force. 
Anyone older than the millennial generation will be deeply 
aware of the changes that technology has brought to life 
including the workplace. The sheer number of different 
communication tools existing today conceivable only the 
wildest dreams a short time ago. We now have Zoom, email, 
and text (available on multiple applications from Googlechat, 
to Whatsapp, to Telegram.  In addition, the plethora of 
social media tools has enhanced communications, however 
problematic these can sometimes be in a wide variety of ways.  
the useful social media tools are Facebook, Instagram, 
Linked-In, YouTube, and Twitter. With all of these 
communication tools comes the challenge of deciding which of 
each of these tools is the best channel to communicate 
with consumers, stakeholders, and other target audiences. 
It will be up to trusted public relations personnel to best 
advise which of these choices will best enhance the brand 
message in the right time and way needed per individual 
circumstances.

4) All of this leads to the need for Public Relations to 
continue to evolve. While public relations grew from the 
"news" perspective, the communication spectrum has grown 
immensely. Companies and brands are running internal and 
external newsletters, funneling articles and news releases 
and otherwise essentially marketing the brand layers in a 
number of channels.  This includes sponsorships, social 
media, and the wise use of social media influencers.  This 
is say almost nothing of strategic communications and crisis 
management. These blended services require a holistic 
approach and this trend will only likely increase as time 
goes on. 

Our world and its continuous changes will require public 
relations personnel to adapt to the a spectrum of evolving 
perceptions and use the available tools wisely. It is a 
never ending process of being able to skillfully guide 
companies and other brands deftly to face the coming 
changing and trends unique to their cultures and needs.  
It is an exciting time for all. Are we ready for this? 


(c) April 17, 2023  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved