Brand thyself! Which adjectives will use you use to describe yourself as a brand? You pay more for a branded product. The reason why you choose a particular TV set, laptop, mobile phone or a jewellery brand over the other had to do with the perception we had about the brand, right? When asked to search for any information on the web, you generally say “let me Google it” because that brand has become synonymous with the search. Every company likes to describe its brands in superlative terms, but the users have their own opinion. It is the user’s opinion that matters about a brand. You advertise your products based on readership or TRPs, watch films based on star ratings, and make purchase decisions based on users reviews. The brands that are perceived as innovative, aesthetically appealing and customer-consumer friendly, command a premium over their competitors. Brands are objectives. If you had to describe yourself using FIVE adjectives; a. Would these be the same as the ones others had used for you? b. Would these be the adjectives that you would want to be known for in the eyes of others? You are the CEO of “Brand YOU”. So what you should do to keep your brand alive, active, accepted, acknowledged, stand alone, and recognised by your target audience? Checklist to maintain “Brand YOU” Seek Feedback: In marketing terms, it is called “consumer research”. You need to know exactly what others think of you. Start with your friends and family. Build a few relationships where people can give you unfiltered feedback. Identify the areas of improvement that come up most often. Then, ask yourself which of these you would like to be associated with your brand and which ones dilute your brand? Build your expertise: The world is changing fast. Make sure you are constantly learning and reinventing yourself. Identify an area where you will be better than others. If you wish to pursue your career as a PR professional, then make sure you are an expert in Public Relations. That means knowing about your area of specialisation in-depth- say corporate communication. Then learn about other adjacent areas of Public Relations as well e.g. soft skills, advertising, event management, and creative writing. Each time you come across a new idea, try and make your own notes about how you could use this piece of knowledge. If you are a better writer than a speaker, then write a blog. If you are better as a speaker, then try speaking in professional forums. Communicating your personal brand is an important step in brand building. Keep a check on your digital reputation: Your online reputation travels very fast. Do not post disparaging comments about others. Think before you post or comment. Your digital reputation is far more complicated to maintain. It is a powerful tool that can build your personal brand, but a wrong move can also destroy “Brand YOU” very easily. It is not what you say about yourself-it is what others think and say about you, and behind your back. Beyond work: Your hobbies are not only great stress-busters, but also can actually be an integral differentiator of “Brand YOU”. There may be many PR professionals but you could be the only one to blog on films etc. Your understanding about the film making techniques and talent could make your personal brand special. Great advertising not backed by a matching product or service is a recipe for disaster. Building a brand requires careful thought and sustained effort. So, Start Today. Create “Brand YOU”. - Abhijit Bhaduri

Is Public Relations A Quick Fix Job?

Those who doesn't know what PR is all about, when approach me to handle their PR, I invariably request them to answer the famous 5 Ws....What, Why, Who, Where and When.  

Their answer to 5 Ws helps me in creating an effective and result oriented PR module for them. 

But when a person, not interested in answering 5 Ws and expect me to do miracles in just a day or few days after assigning the job, I simply tell that person; "My Dear, first go and understand the meaning of PR than come back to me, if you still want me to handle your PR?"  

PR is not only Public Relations, Press Relations, Press Releases but much beyond that..... “Perception Management”, to be precise, management of mental image which is an outcome of perceiving  and observing a person, product, service or organisation for a given or long time.

PR is PYAAR but not “LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT”… It is understanding somebody completely and than accepting that person as friend for life.

PR is like planting a ROSE PLANT, nurturing it with utmost timely care,and finally when the ROSE blossom, not cutting and gifting it to someone you love, but taking the ROSE PLANT to a flower show competition and winning the best / first prize, that’s PR.   

In a nutshell, whenever you approach anyone for PR or related support, don’t expect miracles in a day, give time to your PR handler, have faith in him or her or the agency, let them first understand your existing image and give them freehand to create the image you wish to have. Don’t advise or give instructions to them, let them prepare their version of  you, what your audience think about you and how they plan to create the right perception about you.

Lots of PR <3  

Corporate Public Relations is all about…….

Communicating and managing the corporate image as well as its perception amongst its target audience. Image of the corporate reflects not only its reputation and standing, but also influence its publics i.e. employees, shareholders, investors, stake holders and decision makers.

At the bottom of every activity lies enthusiasm of its employees and satisfied customers and they are the actual AMBASSADORS of the organisation.

Role and responsibility of Corporate PR is to create, maintain and preserve the positive image of the organisation and its brand(s) , managing its standing and reputation, media relations, customer relations,  external relations, internal & external communication, crisis management and corporate social responsibility (CSR).   

Corporate PR raises awareness of an organisation and builds confidence and is of great important when the organisation is entering into new market(s) or planning or undergoing change.

Main function of Corporate PR is to connect with various publics using different means and tools to facilitate building and managing relationships. Knowing your target audience is essential to run and execute an effective PR strategy. 

Lots of PR <3

PUBLIC RELATIONS & MEDIA

Thomas Friedman, foreign affairs columnist, New York Times asserts,

“This is the age of globalization and the countries that succeed best at globalization are those that are best at glocalisation i.e. taking the best global innovations, styles and practices and moulding them with their own culture”.

Though Public Relations as a practice in India has come a long way into establishing its need and indispensable role with country’s corporate world. Compared to the stimulating application of Public Relations in the global market, Indian PR industry still has miles to go.

Where the Corporate India is breaking all the barriers to adopt the most innovative of strategies and processes to chart out the most viable and effective communication plans, the role of Public Relations is still largely a media relations game that can potentially influence the key constituencies either by creating a perception, or informing/educating through NEWS. Media is one indispensable channel/mode towards achieving one or more Public Relation objectives of a Business.

Recently a corporate communication professional working for a financial institution was called for an interview by a well known business house. During the course of the interview, the candidate was asked how strong his relationship was with the media. Could he ensure nothing negative appear in the press about the organisation.

When a public relation agency goes for a pitch, the first question asked is CAN YOU GET A FRONT-PAGE STORY in a pink paper or COVER STORY in a business magazine or PLANT STORIES AGAINST COMPETITION? If the P R Agency says NO then the chances of its losing the business are very high. The competition is so intense that some firms succumb to such unreasonable demands as promising editorial space in publications by the column centimeters.

Has the PR industry been able to deliver? Is it growing fast? Is it still doing the same old stuff wining and dining journalists, planting and spiking stories? Is it a mere tool for corporate narcissism? The truth lies somewhere in between.

So what is Public Relations? Is it the face of the organisation, an effective management and marketing tool? The Public Relations mean different things to different people at different levels.

To some it is receive and see off CEO or other higher executives at Airport. To others organising confirmed plane or train tickets, or passes for a cultural event. For a few it means helping management to organise a press conference or getting the CEOs photograph published in a newspaper. Public Relation is one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted professions.

In fact the best definition of Public Relations comes from author Michael Levine in his book “Selling Goodness”.

“When the circus comes to town and you paint a sign about it that’s Advertising. Put the sign on the back of an elephant and march him through Beverly Hills that’s Promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor’s flower bed, that’s Publicity. And if you can get the mayor to laugh or comment about it, that’s Public Relations.

AS PER FRANK JEFKINS A RENOWNED PR EXPERT “PUBLIC RELATIONS CONSISTS OF ALL FORMS OF PLANNED COMMUNICATION, OUTWARDS AND INWARDS, BETWEEN AN ORGANISATION AND ITS PUBLICS FOR THE PURPOSE OF ACHIEVING SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES CONCERNING MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING”.

So Public Relations effectively reach out to Investors through Investors Relations and Financial Communications, Employees through Internal Communications, Government and Regulatory Bodies through Lobbying. Public Relations also   include Event Management, Marketing Consultancy and Brand Management.  But it is largely perceived as Media Management. Media Management is one of the important components of Public Relations. 

The job of Public Relations is to facilitate a journalist to get the correct information in the right perspective. Media Management is the key attribute of Public Relations worldwide. It is a single vehicle that has the mass reach. Media is the quintessence of Public Relations. It is the last mile connectivity. After a whole lot of research and strategy it has to end with media. All the strategy and plans of the organisation finally must be translated into stories that appear in the media. Only then would the stakeholders know what the organisation is up to. 

Media is very important in the whole value chain. Media is part and parcel of the Public Relations industry as it helps to effectively mould the public opinion and perception. But the real trouble begins when publicity-hungry organisations turn media shy at the first sign of the trouble. There could be several reasons and at that time organisations tend to calm up and ask their PR Heads to keep the media at bay or kill the stories. This is where they antagonize the media. When the going was good, the journalist was CEO’s good friend but the moment the boat rocks, the journalist becomes persona non grata. 

Many a times the media is blamed for not being accountable and responsible, and it become a fashion to say “It is a trial by the media”. But we must understand that the media themselves face tough competition within the fraternity. With electronic media, newspapers, news-magazines and the internet fighting for an audience’s mind space and a retailer’s shelf space, media are forced to chase issues that will appeal to its viewers and readers.

Organisations for their part use pressure tactics also to prevent a story from appearing. But forced Public Relations do not work at all and failures cannot be camouflaged. It is here that an organisation’s investment in reputation helps. If an organisation has been historically known for its transparency and best trade practices and where promises are matched with performance then it can be sure that media will not go on overdrive. First deserve then desire is the name of the game.

Media Management or Relations is an ongoing cultivation process...................

Your organization's strategy for media coverage needs to go beyond trying to land one big story; you want the media to know that you are THE organization to contact whenever they are doing a story on a subject that relates to your organization's work, and that you are a reliable source for information and stories.  In short, you want to be quoted or referenced in a variety of stories, not just one. 

Therefore, don't think that every media release is going to result in media coverage- it's not. But sustaining regular press contacts will build recognition of your organization among reporters, and the result will be ongoing payoffs down the road. As coverage for your organization is generated, you won't just be reaching new audiences you will also be reaching existing clients, reminding them of what your organization is doing and what they have chosen to be a part of.

Lots of PR :)

PUBLIC RELATIONS & BOLLYWOOD

Public Relations, or most commonly used 'PR', is a sustained, long term and an ongoing activity to create and maintain positive image of an individual, celebrity, political leader, organisation, corporate, state or even a country like INDIA, amongst its target audience. 

In case of Bollywood, PR takes an additional responsibility of managing the image of a film celebrity. The role of PR is to very cautiously craft the image of a film celebrity amongst its target audience. 

When celebrity's image is tarnished because of their own actions or utterance in public, here PR plays the role of a crisis manager and does crisis management and damage control by reaching out to media with their version of the happening to get favourable media coverage or at least celebrity's point of view across the target audience to maintain positive image of their client.

In Bollywood, not only the film celebrities are clients of PR practitioners, but filmmakers,  producers, directors, production houses, film studios, casting agencies etc also engage PR practitioners for promoting and maintaining their right image. PR employs different  tools for  image and perception management of their celebrity clients i.e. award functions, parties, film related events e.g.Music Launches, Film Premiers etc., product launches, public speaking opportunities, print media, electronic media. online media, blogs, social networking sites etc.  

The Bollywood have understood the power of PR in reaching out to the target publics, hence every film or TV serial maker or production house earmark a substantial amount for public relation activities to reach their target audience based on demographic and geographic groups. Amount is spent on getting favourable coverage of the film  or TV serial in the media. Beside this, amount is also spent on film premiers, meet and greet the actors at shopping malls, interviews of popular TV & Radio shows, promotion of a social cause or supporting fundraising events.

Bollywood also make effective use of PR tactics in promoting their films to get nominations for  international film awards.  You would agree with me that getting accolade for a film or a TV serial is also a result of well crafted PR campaign. 

Lots of PR <3