Talking about the corporate public relations strategy, unfortunately, even the leading journals for entrepreneurs are focussing just on media relations.
That is the result of a very unfounded, unprofessional, and incomplete understanding of how does public relations work. What do PR practitioners do?
No wonder, over the years, public relations has been reduced to mere media relations.
Instead of taking a consultancy stance to help businesses succeed, even the PR agencies, largely, are spending their time in wooing media and pitching stories.
The current pandemic has revealed the inadequacy of mere-media approach, or an asymmetrical approach to public relations.
Majority of organisations, whether government or public sector or the corporate sector, found themselves at a loss during the pandemic in the absence of effective communication strategy.
There was none in fact.
The inadequacies of internal communication were evident. The top management was at tenterhook in handling the crisis with a large workforce being rendered jobless with layoffs.
There is a better need to have a broader understanding of public relations practice, which is a holistic solution-oriented approach through strategic communication.