Sari Soegondo, co-founder and CEO of ID COMM, summarized at least five things that will affect public relations trends in 2021. These five things include climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, global political shifts, economic recession, and post-truth. These five things force communication professionals to become issue and crisis management experts.

This condition also encourages creating a new balance of relations between internal PR and public relations consultants. “Throughout 2020, many companies chose to terminate their cooperation with public relations consultants due to efficiency reasons. This condition urges internal PR to enhance its capacity,” said Sari during the PR INDONESIA Outlook (PRIO) 2021 event on Wednesday (11/25/2020).

This stimulation motivates PR practitioners to self-learn by attending webinars and virtual courses, gathering tips to enrich and enhance their competencies, and acquiring new knowledge.

According to Sari, PR practitioners must be proficient in budgeting in the future because the demand for PR to convert capital expenditure (capex) into operating expenditure (opex) is increasing. These strategies include shifting hardware and location rental costs to software, digital applications, and subscription costs.

The pandemic also creates new faces for companies and public relations consultants. A new face that prioritizes ethical business is full of empathy, contains philanthropic elements, and places sustainable relationships with communities above all else. As for public relations consultants, they will work much more flexibly in the future. “PR practitioners can work plug and play,” she said. “The pandemic also makes PR agencies flooded with work,” added Sari optimistically.

Impacts on Businesses

So, did those five things also affect the way companies work? “Yes,” answered Sari. Those five things demand companies to transform immediately. They significantly prioritized business practices focusing on environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG). Or commonly known as sustainability.

These five things will also pressure companies to prioritize ESG seriously, supporting their good reputations.

Additionally, said Sari, in 2021 and beyond, corporations/organizations must have communication maturity that aligns leaders, communicators, and all staff. “The pandemic has brought awareness to all of us to build relationships with staff and work partners,” she said. Therefore, continuous positive internal narratives and attitudes are needed.

The communication team is also predicted to work more closely with the HR team, and applied communication knowledge is expected to become more integrated with marketing. This trend shows that CEOs demand PR to maintain their reputation and networks and contribute to the company’s agenda through its function and role. Furthermore, companies’ awareness of the importance of forming and nurturing communities, both offline and online, is also increasing. Therefore, the virtual experience becomes primary and crucial.

According to the woman who is also the Vice Chairman of the Indonesian PR Company Association (APPRI), next year, PR will utilize search engine optimization (SEO) for issue management to build proactive crisis communication strategies. SEO is no longer used only for marketing purposes but also to place PR content at the top of search results.

Source: PR INDONESIA | Ed 69 | Th VI | Desember 2020