Double your PR activities in times of recession

While the economic slow down is threatening to approach , majority of the companies, whether small or big start taking preventive measure of cutting the cost to maintain the equilibrium of profits in one way or other. It is said, that the  companies first and  foremost target is the marketing budgets, which includes advertising ,promotions, and PR spends. 

But a major question that arise , Is this the right way to take preventive actions? Their are hundreds of people saying No and thousands saying Yes as an answer to this question. But if we analyse the situation in detail, their is a mix that emerges. 

Advertising spends are low as majority of the company rates the advertising with the conversion of the business, but at the same time this creates a specific amount of advertising is also necessary, as it will give you more chance to promote, as your competitors will also take the same decision to stop advertising, so your visibility is more. More the visibility ..more the chances of conversion.

On the other front, if we discuss about PR and digital promotions, these two mediums can create awesome miracles because majority of the times PR and Digital promotions are 1/10th of the marketing budgets. Again the level of visibility and influencing the influencers , through  PR campaigns and social media platforms will give you charismatic effect, to an extent it will lead to some unbelievable results in terms of conversion to business.

The more you engage yourself through PR , the more you will get intensive effect and exposure in terms of visibility and reputation management . Recession is a demon but if you use PR as a weapons against the demon, surely you will get the fruits of victory.

Political PR: Emerging arm in PR industry

Indian politics and politicians getting more organized and scientific: PR strategists to play pivotal role in Elections-2014

Public Relations has always been taken as a tool to promote or propagate companies (corporate), but as diversification is the rule to grow, PR industry is also into diversifying phase. The new area to  for PR industry is non other than politics, politicians and political parties. 

Yes...until now the strategies of the political parties for the propaganda and publicity was decided based on the experiences and success stories of the past and that too just before the announcing of agenda. Some outdoor mediums of publicity and tons of advertisement budgets were used to promote the  party and its working. But now the picture has changed to a great extent. Even the political parties and the politicians have realized the importance of a well designed PR strategy and using it continuously to achieve the  desired results. 

As a PR professional, we generally say that " PR is a continuous process through which the person/ company can achieve the desired results in terms of visibility, reputation management and opinion engineering." All the above terms  are absolutely important  for any political party, due  to which PR can play a pivotal role in creating overall awareness about the party working, top leaders (like we do for top officials and promoters of the company) etc:.   

The best case study of political PR is the PM candidate announcement by a leading political party in India.  The candidate of the political party had done some wonderful work in his area (state) as the state head, but the most important task was to promote the entire work, which was beautifully and tactfully done by some PR firms. The entire gambit was to put the state head to a level, which can create and  change the opinion of citizens across the state to a certain extent. For this various  events , shows, surveys and relationship meetings were also coordinated by the consultants. 

The mind boggling success in enhancing the image and engineering the opinion of the above politician has created a big market for political PR in India, as other politicians and political parties will surely follow the trend.

Satyagrah: A case study of digital PR, crises mitigation and online reputation management

Satyagrah featuring THE Big B, Ajay Devgun, Arjun Rampal and Kareena Kapoor is currently running successfully across all theatres. The Prakash Jha movie typically showcases the agression and anxiety of a common man againt the corrupt system spread in all government departments across India.

As a PR professional, the movie (Satyagrah) is actually a case study about the success of digital PR , crises management and creating online reputation management. On the century celebrations of Indian Cinema, a movie like Satyagrah is surely to become a point of discussion across the communication industry.

Lets talk about the first major crises, showcased in the movie, where Devgun goes to the police station to get bail for Dadduji (Big B) , but inspite of central connects he fails . Finally like a professional PR consultant, he creates a strategy using all major mediums of advertising and communication like outdoors, creating FB page, tweets and circulating the message and MMS to target audience resulting to build a pressure on government and freedom for Dadduji.

Here devgun managed the crises situation by creating a NGO kind of setup , taking help of local leader (Arjun Rampal) and using Social media machinery to attract the attention of variuos media personnel to a remote area like Ambikapur.

Now the film runs fast and during the entire movie, you will mostly find the FB page, tweets, comments on Fb, LIKE to FB comments to establish the viscocity of agitation. Till now directors use the medium of breaking news and machines printing thousand of copies of the incident or agitation to showcase the viscocity. But this movie is the first movie which showcased the social media to established the seriousness of the agitation.

It is the social media or digital PR and online reputation management which actually incarnated DADDUJI from a retired Principal of a village school.

Client Servicing or Client Serving: The argument continues...

As a PR professional all of us use the word client servicing for about hundred times in our day to day work. But many of us feel that rather than doing servicing (which means to rectify the errors and create a smooth functioning) we just serve our client (give the client what he wants).

Majority of the times when a servicing team goes for a meeting the client comes up with a list of demands or deliverables; he is looking from the PR consulting firms. Out of them, if they are categorized some of them do not have any kind of editorial attraction. But still the PR professional tries to manage and create some story in one way or other and pitches to the media.

At this juncture, majority of the times media clearly denies or sometimes due to relationship they take a negligible note of the same in the media, which cannot be even counted as a mention. At the same time when the client is paying x amount of fees, clearly denying about the possibility of coverage for a event or press release, which is not editorially strong is a major issue.

Some points which can be kept in mind:-

• Aware and educate the client from day 1 about the difference between news worthy and non news worthy information

• Create a clear picture of what media wants in the mind of clients

• Try to educate the client to share all major developments and updates with client servicing team, as it will help to create various media opportunities and get better coverage.

• Be a consultant to your client and not just a execution model for your client requirements.

 

Forming PR strategy in Indian way

With MNC PR firms entering in India- the Public Relation is seeing  a western touch in execution of strategies. To this their are questions which will arise which strategy is more effective?  

At this juncture I would like to quote an example of some multinational food chains who are successfull in India. If we talk about Mcdonalds or Subways, we need to understand that they adapted the spices and acclimatized their products with a spicy pinch so that it can appeal the  Indian  audience. Not only that some MNC terribly  failed in Indian market in the startup faze as they were not ready to add the Indian taste in their delicacies.

In the same manner, PR which is all about communicating the  message to target audience through various mediums has to have an Indian taste. Their are different languages in different states . Not only that these language has different dialects in different regions in the same state. Due to this the media priority  is different in different regions. Regional media is the king and not only that a small news paper (which we term as Category B or C ) in general is no.1 in a specific region, so before forming a PR strategy for any client, a PR professional has to consider the media diversity of  the particular region.

When MNCs are entering the PR industry  in a big way...adding indian taste to PR delicacies would be mandatory . For this knowledge of culture and region will play a pivotal role in forming and execution of PR strategy.

The PR strategy saw a major change post pandemic, as now majority of the audience hardly picks up a newspaper to read, It's digital news , which is the buzz word of modern times. These doesn't mean that importance of print brands are negligible, but this brands and their portal guys have to compete with the individual journalist, who run their own news portals and get huge traffic on their websites should be given importance to spread the information incase of local news /event specific to the area.  

The agencies or professionals need to give importance to regional news portals , due to high traffic on the portals, along with facebook pages of the particular geographical locations.  

Lord Narada- The celestial communicator

The evolution of modern public relations started about two decades ago, but slowly and gradually it started spreading across the globe. If we talk about evolution of PR in India - their are mythological references of PR professionals or communicators in our ancient scripts. At this moment,I recollect an article disseminated to us by a veteran PR professional Mr Utpal Trivedi- during my mass comm orientation.  The article had a picture of a Lord Narada - the celestial communicator of deities. 

This illustration was cited only to create a rough image that PR has been the profession which was present before millions of years.  Lord Narad was known for his communication strategies and planning . Like modern PR professional- he has been described running from Vaikuntha to Kailasha to Bhramloka, Prithivilok and even Patalok. He has also been described pitching for an idea which can  ultimately achieve a desired result in terms  of crises mitigation. 

PR Strategy: A perfect combo of PR tools will help to increase the visibility

Public Relations is all about planning and executing strategies, but it has to be planned and executed only after the PR professional has an exact brief or in other words he/she diagnose the pain points and positive points of  product or service for which  PR is actually done.

Here comes the need of a perfect PR strategy, but with the increasing medium  of communication, PR professionals have to adapt more mediums of communication, so that it can reach to each and every nook and corner of its target audience. Generally PR combo refers to Advertising and PR combo-but here we are referring to various mediums as told earlier. Now lets go ahead with the mediums of PR 

PRINT :- If you divide the word PR+INT you will find PR int (int stands for interest). Majority of the clients are highly acclimatized with Print medium. So the combo never avoid targeting the print medium. Generally mainlines are the prime target, but you cannot avoid the regional leaders as they possess 90% of the readership stake across the country. With the changing scenario regional media is getting stronger day by day. Again the B2B and B2C category of magazines very important to target the niche market audience.

ELECTRONIC:- It is said " Seeing is Believing" and because of this electronic media is again an important constituent while planning  a PR strategy.Currently their are various news channels and infotainment channels, which can be used as a medium to reach the audience in a perfect manner.

WEB:- Don't mistaken yourself by considering web as social media, as this medium is a huge group of news portals which serve the information in fresh and instant way. With growing awareness and  use of internet all major mainlines and regional are also having their e-paper on web, which is again an important medium to reach to your target audience.

SOCIAL MEDIA:-  Facebook is not only your social media tool, but their are many other tools like Blogging, Twitter handles , Linked in  and now YouTube , which can play a pivotal role in churning your information in such a manner that the client's online reputation is managed properly.

Use Vision - Mission - Values as magnetic poles to attract journos

Whether a Startup or  SME , every company has vision, mission, values which are actually the core strength for any companies. As a public relation professional, I firmly believe that  the vision mission and values should be carved  and crafted in such a manner that any journos, who glace through it should get a fair idea about the working of the company.

Company profile just suggests the working of the company, but Vision Mission and Values are the soul of the company.

Do try it sometime ..........

Blogs: an upcoming medium for PR

YYYY.blogspot.in or ttttt.wordpress.com is now common on internet. There are thousands of active and pseudo active blogs on internet, which are started either by a common man or a person who has some background of journalism, just out of interest, hobby, or curiosity.

Let me be frank, that bloggers and blogging is yet not taken seriously in India in comparison to other countries. But don’t underestimate this community as they can create or destroy the reputation of any brand.

Today, I would like to discuss on blogs: as a medium of communication in contest to PR. If you visit some media groups, you will find many bloggers who have either put a request for some or the other information from the PR agency for their upcoming story on their blog. It’s high time we accept blog as an important medium for PR as the blogs reach is the world, and any or every material posted on it surely read by people, whom we term as our target readers.

While chatting with one of my friend, who is also a PR professional with a London based agency, I came up with interesting information, that PR professionals organize bloggers conference like we organize Press Conference in India. I know that this trend is slowly picking in metros but it is negligible.

If blogs are synchronized properly with your online and offline strategies, there are all chances that the blogs will prove a great tool in achieving your PR goals.

Every campaign is marinated with PR( 4T1P)

The headline is slightly weird , but it is a fact that any  or every campaign has a PR value attached to it. The only issue is to find the right value at the right time and pitch to media in such a way that the strength is accepted and writtern in a big way.

The 4T1P approach:

•  Time
•  Target media
•  Target message from the campaign
•  Transformaion of campaign to a movement.
•  Place

 

Weird Campaigns - a great tool in modern PR

A public relation is all about visibility and reputation management. Generally the client servicing personnel are engaged to dig out new information, which is worth sharing with media. But as PR is a continuous process to achieve visibility of a particular client through various strategies, many a times the company doesn’t have anything which is worth sharing with media.

In this situation, either the PR exercise goes for a duck or client servicing personnel comes up with old wine packed in new bottle theory. This is because the traditional PR promotes a practice of highlighting your client is sections, columns of newspapers, magazines etc:. But as a PR professional there is much more one can do for his or her client.

At this point let me introduce a word called “Weird”.  I know it sounds weird but if another word called campaign is added to the word, it can create wonders.  For this recipe, the client servicing personnel should be equipped with independence to think weird, and out of the box.

Once you can think of it the recipe is simple:-

Ø Focus on your client’s brand, vision, mission or values and select a relevant campaign, keeping in mind the target media.

Ø Check with one or two journalist or internal media relation team about the feasibility of idea.

Ø Don’t be afraid to discuss about the weird campaigns with your client. Be clear even if he is a CEO or CMD of the company.

Ø Be a consultant and not a clerk to your client.

Social media (digital PR) -an important medium for PR

Just type the keywords of your company...and if you come across atleast 10 articles related to your company or product , it means you are saved. This is the current way to find information about any company or product. So please dont avoid social media, because your prospective employee, vendor, supplier or customer will first do "google" and try to find the information.

So always try to spend a part from your PR budget behind social media or ask your consultant or PR agency to target portals, and other sources of social media for presence of the mighty web. Slow and gradual increase on web will help your brand to come into consideration by people who can associate with you as employee, supplier, trader, distributor, or customer.

Your profile on linkedin, facebook or your tweeter handle also helps you to get mileage in terms of visibility but you cannot avoid the traditional mediums like print and electronic media as they also reach to the mass as well as class.

Do startups need PR?

Their are about a few thousands of difficulties any startup face before coming to a juncture called squareup position. One of the biggest constraint for any startup is the financial crunch, and because of that they generally avoid doing PR or employing PR agency.

Not only that their is another notion, where it is believed that PR is done after you achieve some success in your business /project. OR ...PR is used to project your success. But in reality if a crisp and clear communication strategy is executed by a startup, it can ease the access to its target market , which include potential  clients or customers, influencers, and target decision makers.

Whether the startup is a B2B or B2C business, PR is a magnificient tool for them, as they can create and change opinions about themselves and their products . Also they can create awareness amongst the minds of potential clients/customers making them believe and come  to a conclusion of a mind frame called "Lets try". The startups can get superb results by spending about 1/10th of the budgets in comparison to the advertising budgets, which is a cost effective tool.

A huge space is also given to startups by publications, which can help to project their strengths and xclusivity in the minds of readers.But this is possible through a PR plan , which can executed directly or by hiring some consultant or a PR agency.

PR creates Opinon Leaders

Public Relation has always been seen as a major tool to create opinions in the minds of target market. But here I would like to bring another aspect of it and that is creating Opinion leaders through PR. Opinion leaders are a crucial target for any public relations program. Why? Because they have the ability to influence other people’s actions through interpersonal contact. The challenge for PR professionals is identifying the right subjects and right person from a company to establish them as opinion leaders so they can build their understanding of and support for their organizations, enabling them to be advocates for those organizations and their actions.

Opinion leaders are in a position to influence other people’s actions because they:

–are respected.

–have a view that carries weight in a community.

–are catalysts for the formation of public opinion.

–are highly interested in an issue or issues.

–are better informed than the average person.

–are believed to have more knowledge of a subject or issue.

–are avid consumers of mass media.

–are interpreters of media content.

–actively search out information on a subject.

–like to let their opinions be known

–actively share information.

 

 

PR is not about disseminating advertorials but newsworthy information

Many a times, it has been observed that the thin line border between advertisement and PR is not mantained due to one or the other reason. Due to this, press release which contains information related to advertorial are focussed and disseminated, but their are various norms followed by individual publications like "no company specific coverage", due to which any information which has advertorial strength will never be entertained by editor or reporter.

So how to ruleout this issue?
   The best possible and available option is share newsworthy information with the media. Media personnels are always agressive and looking for newsworthy information, due to which they supplying news worthy information to them will create wonders in terms of coverage of a particular company. Their are tons of information, that can be shared with media other than financial figures, new targets or expansion, which can lead to good articles in respective media.

PR is all about being concise , clear and colorful

PR has always being treated as raw subject against the advertising , but actually it is more colorful, concise and  clear. A company gives  an advertisement in a newspaper, which is read by mass, but if they are asked just three hours later, half of the readers cannot recollect even the colors used in advertisement.

If the same content is given in a form of advertorial advertisement (which is paid), or shaped in a form of story(which is editorial) the response and recall value is tremendous. The influencers are influenced with the  help of PR and not advertising, as the medium of article has a third party accredition.

But the messaging script should be concise, clear and colorful (colorful here refers to generating interest )