What Public Relations is Not! And What it is.

Public relations suffer from a deep perception crisis, and right from the academics to media, to corporate leadership, have diverse views on what this profession is all about. 

One can gauze the understanding of the chief PR person of a public sector organisation when he, sharing his "success" story, mentioned that the best PR lesson he learnt was to take care of his boss's dog, his wife and his kids and he never ever he had any problem in his career since then. 

This shocking revelation in front of an audience left the veterans speechless, while many others just wondered at such a disclosure.  Not his fault since in many public sectors and government organisations, earlier, provided a promotional avenue to their clerical staff to get into public relations whose primary job used to be running an errand or managing the reception. 

In the last four decades of my engagement with diverse fields of communication, right from being a journalist to public relations practitioner and visiting faculty to various educational institutes, it remains an enigma for many, including some of the corporate where PR does not go beyond 'Press Release' or media relations. 

There are numerous myths that surround the profession even today to a large extent, though senior communicators and businesses are taking serious note of the practice. 

Several professional bodies like the Public Relations Council of India, Association of Business Communicators, International Public Relations Association, and Indian PR Consultants Association, are making efforts to educate the management and introduce the professional practice. 

Young communicators opting for public relations often fall prey to the whims of the uninformed management leadership and are relegated to tasks far below their roles. 

In fact, the practice of public relations profession began with their role as firefighters in an hour of crisis but a young professional Ivy Lee put to rest the misbeliefs in the minds of the managements that PR is not to hide the truth but to be honest and truthful and proactive in sharing information with stakeholders. 

Public Relations is not: 

• Advertising
• Liaison
• Lobbying
• Propaganda 
• Ensuring publication of Press Releases in media
• Manipulating facts (spin-doctoring)
• White-washing/Hiding facts, especially during a crisis  (fire-fighting)
• Entertaining media people and keeping them in good humour

Public relations practitioner is a professional who is trained to manage communication effectively between an organisation and its stakeholders (or 'publics') to achieve desired results. 

Multi-Dimensional

A professionally trained communicator with knowledge of psychology, sociology, public administration, anthropology, linguistics, behavioural sciences, management principles, technology, data mining, business environment auditing, with a vision to judge the future impact of an organisation's existence,  can make people, corporate, public bodies, the governments, effect the change, what Mahatama Gandhi said, "you want to see in the world".  

The Changemakers

The young communicators entering the professions must feel proud of the fact that they are the changemakers who can bring about the desired change in the lives of the people, their perceptions, and their thought processes, just through sound communication techniques.

PR is all Pervasive

Organisations thrive through their stakeholders, which are diverse and different for every organisation.   Their study and communication consumption patterns defines the organisation's success story. How the stakeholders perceive a brand, an event, a person, depends upon the successful communication strategy. 

So the public relations practitioners should learn the fundamental nuances of communication tools, techniques and tactics, while the managements need to learn to harness the hitherto unutilised or underutilized Power of PR. 

 

10 Business Tips for Startups

 Image by Karolina Grabowska from Pixabay 

Here are the ten business tips for startups. 

1. Start with Why. If you are already in business write down the reasons or purpose of your business. Why are you in business? What niche area you are serving? What are the pain points that you intend to solve? How your business would address specific issues.
2. How you are different? Explore the businesses in your domain…the competition. What are they doing and what are their marketing strategies? What is the USP of the products in the market? Have you innovated?
3. Strategy to Excel: Compare your product/service or offering vis-a-vis the competition. How it is or going to be different from others? Are you building into your system some ease-of-usage, better turn-around-time, or improved quality with same or less pricing? What shall be your USP?
4. Design Excellence: Is there an improved design? In product, packaging, delivery, usage experience?
5. The Team: Do you have the team on board which are not square pegs in round holes.? People matter. Having the right team for each process is essential.
6. The Right Resources: Do you have the right financial resources to implement your plan, your ideas, and innovation? Who shall be providing the resources for your success? What kind of partnerships you shall evolve?
7. Do you know your customers? What are their psychographs and demographics? What are their preferences? Why should they be using your product? How do they make their choices?
8. What is the market size you intend to cater to? Local, national, or international?
9. Your Business Environment: Your organisation is affected and impacted by the business environment; be it government policies, economic or political situation, social or cultural considerations, international trade, etc. Are you aware of it as to how you can operate within existing business environment?
10. Communicate: List out all your internal and external stakeholders who matter to your organisation, your product or services. Be specific and develop communication strategy that resplonds to their needs, and which can influence them positively and create a favourable image for your organisation / brand.
    
    These are just some of the tips that a business management pro should look into. These may not be complete, but 10 most crucial pointers to start with for any startup, or an existing organisation. 

Journey of CorePR since 1986

Thirty-three years of managing communication for diverse industry sectors and organisations makes me look back with satisfaction for having helped organisations, brands, and individual celebs including authors, garner limelight for themselves in a highly competitive world.

CorePR was born in September 1986 as a one-man startup (the term did not exist at that time) which gradually graduated into a private limited company. 

That was the time when little did corporate know about public relations as a profession or business, except a few beyond Delhi.  But that was the time when some of the big corporate like Crompton Greaves and Pepsi were looking at Punjab and gave me the opportunity to begin. 

Already I had met several leading PR professionals in reputed companies across the country during my stint in PR with a German company, which included Mr KS Neelakandan, Vice President at Pfizer, Mr Ajit Gopal, the PR head with Indian Airlines, Mr Anil Basu of Goodyear, who had helped in my journey as a PR practitioner. 

The firm belief that effective communication practice can help resolve any issue  in the world, whether it is improving employees sense of belonging, internal communication, training the stakeholders, or reaching out to different external audiences like customers, financial institutions, or the need for changing the government's policies.  The holistic approach to communicate the right message in a desired format through right media at the right time, made the difference. 

The best part remains in PR practice, especially working with small enterprises and startups who have a long journey to traverse, to seem them achieve their goals through effective communication practice. 

From the initial years of concept selling and educating clients about the PR Power, till date, the outcome-based approach to address specific pain points has continued to reap tangible results for our clients.   

How to Elevate Your Startup with PR

Emboldened and inspired by the 'Startup India' many startups are emerging, and youngsters especially, are enthused to setup their own enterprise.  At the early stage, the promoters are more concerned about their product, streamlining operations, hiring the team, and looking for funds to give wings to their ideas. 

However, in all this exercise, PR - the Power Tool to empower any organisation, remains ignored, and those who consider it, keep it on the back burner, since it holds the least importance in the initial stages.

How can PR help a startup grow?

BUILDING BRAND 
The moment the founders conceive the idea, the role of PR starts to help them define the organisational's mission and vision.  They can help in getting the visual identity of the organisation created effectively which can communicate the concept to diverse audience.

INTERNAL INTEGRATION 
Integrating all stakeholders within the organisation is the first step that PR professional can help put together by establishing robust internal communication channels, both formal and informal, for complete transparency, and keeping everyone on the ame page.
Shared goals contribute to the internal strength that gets projected to the external stakeholders strongly paving way for startup's growth.

EXTERNAL IMAGE MANAGEMENT
Every aspect of the branding for consistent reproduction and projection needs expert imaging specialist as also take care of the communication needs of external stakeholders, be it collaborators, technology providers or knowledge partners, financial institutions and individual investors, government institutions and academics, to name a few.

Every group's communication needs to be strategically designed to achieve the desired objective.

MEDIA MANAGEMENT
One of the significant partners for any organisation is the print and electronic media.  Though most founders are young and social media savvy, the importance of print, radio and television channels cannot be discounted.   Even in the print categories, there are dailies as well as vertical or industry specific periodicals that need to be targetted to share your story.

The PR professionals work with the startups to provide them media exposure as well as design opportunities for them to showcase their story through speaking assignments in professional conferences, social clubs, community meetigs, etc, that also adds up to some media coverage.

Good stories published in media also gets public support and supports talent hunt.

FUNDING
Getting the startup founders ready for pitching and presenting to the investors is another key area where properly pitched stories make a difference.  All the buildup through marketing communication, media coverage portfolios, help in generating investors' confidence in the startup.

Engaging PR agency or professionals right from the very beginning can only change the entire scenario for a startup. 

'PR Voice' is out

The January-June issue of PR Voice published by Dr. C.V. Narasimha Reddi is out. The online version can be viewed and downloaded here. 

NIRA RADIA TARNISHED THE REPUTATION OF PR

Dr. C.V. Narasimha Reddi
Editor, Public Relations Voice

Controversial Corporate Lobbyist, the owner of Vaishnavi Corporate Communications Pvt. Ltd., which handled public relations programmes of Tata Group of Companies who was questioned by CBI and Enforcement Directorate about her alleged involvement in the Rs 1.7 lakh crore Spectrum Scam in a surprise move announced “ to give precedence to my personal priorities of family and health, I have decided to exist the business of Communications Consulting”.

THREE IN ONE
She owns three companies Vaishnavi Corporate Communications Pvt. Ltd. that dealt with lobbying and public relations of Tata Group of companies, another subsidiary Neucom Consultancy to handle public relations of Reliance Industries and the third one Noesis Consultants which was set up with a number of bureaucrats including Pradip Baijal, Former Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India as a Policy Advocacy Agency to look after government affairs.

An analysis of the performance of these three companies bears an eloquent proof to the fact that Nira Radia was not only just a public relations practitioner but also a lobbyist and a public affairs consultant.

Though she might have quit her business of corporate communications, her Three-In-One role as a lobbyist, public relations practitioner and public affairs consultant has not only tarnished the reputation of Indian public relations profession but also generated a significant decline in the media and people’s trust about public relations profession, which in fact with all limitations is in the take off stage. This incident may be regarded as if ‘adding fuel to the fire of the discipline’.

It is unfortunate that for no fault of public relations professionals, their image is now at stake. It is for this reason perhaps Tatas have appointed Re-diffusion as their new public relations agency, before she decided to quit. As such the survival of her company was in a dilemma and that there was no alternative except closing it down.

ALLEGED ALLEGATIONS
Among others, the alleged allegations against her include: ‘the 5800 tapes revealed how Nira Radio hobnobbed with politicians, bureaucrats and the media, besides influencing the government in getting A Raja appointed as Union Minister for Telecommunications. Therefore, it is proved beyond any doubt that she has exceeded her role as a public relations professional and acted as a lobbyist and public affairs consultant without any code of conduct and ethical considerations. If her soul consciousness is clear, she should not have closed her business leaving 250 employees in the lurch and to their fate.

PR is Distinguished from Lobbying
It is against this background Public Relations Voice as the only journal of Indian PR professionals not only disassociates with the activities of Nira Radia as a corporate lobbyist but also clarifies the distinction between public relations, public affairs and lobbying. In fact lobbying and public relations are two distinct disciplines from the point of view of academies as well as professional practice. These two areas adopt different approaches in strategy, tactics, objectives, target audience, media choice, message formulation, type of presentation and also in cost effectiveness.

If public relations is the management of a two – way communication process between an organization and its public to promote the corporate mission, services, products, reputation and gain public understanding, lobbying is a process in which a paid lobbyist or a pressure group seek to influence those in power. It is also influencing legislators, politicians or the government and persuade them to support or oppose a change in the law. Under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of US, the lobbyist should register and identify with the Congress and disclose his/her clients, the issue areas in which lobbying is being done and that roughly how much is being paid for it. However, the lobbyist’s have to influence those in power with legitimate means by making presentations with facts and figures. Violators in America face civil fines of up to $50,000 under the law.

Self-Imposed Lobbyist
In the case of Nira Radia, she became a self imposed lobbyist without any rules and regulations either formulated by the Government or industry and acted with her own methods to influence the Government in the cause of her clients. The need of the hour is to bring in a law as to regulate the process of lobbying in India as promised by the then Union Minister for Company Affairs so that such incidents may not be repeated as to mar the image of public relations profession. The PR professional bodies of our country must also come forward to make representations with the Government of India to regulate lobbying so that they could not encroach the public relations areas.

We seek your comments on this statement so as to evolve a comprehensive report to make a presentation to the Government of India.

Value Based Media: The Need of the Hour

Towards Peace and Prosperity of the Country
Dr.C.V.Narasimha Reddi

A three day Media Conference 2011 on ‘ Valued Based Media’ which was organized by the Media Wing of Rajyoga Education and Research Foundation of Prajapita Brahmakumaris Ishwariya Vishwavidyalaya from September 16 at Mount Abu, Rajasthan has resolved that the media in our country should adopt ethical, moral and spiritual values as part of its code of conduct and serve towards social and public good rather than the commercial and business interest.

ONE GOD:
This conference assumed greater importance as it coincided with the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations of the Brahmakumaris which was inaguarated by the President of India, Smt. Pratibha Patil on 16th September. Referring to the theme of the celebrations ‘ One God; One World Family; Smt. Pratibha Patil observed that Brahmakumaris was not a religion, but it was a spiritual fraternity promoting a spiritual and value based living among the people from all walks of life from different nations, cultures and races.

Rajayogini Dr.Dadi Janaki, Chief of Brahmakumaris in her inaugural address said that the evil of corruption which had contaminated our society like cancer could be contained by the media by cultivating spirituality and values such as love, truth, honesty, tolerance etc.

Earliler Rajyogi B K Karuna, Vice-Chairman, Media Wing who welcomed pointed out that mass media had a greater role in the socio-economic development and in creating harmony among different sects of the society. In her valedictory address Smt. D.K,Aruna, Andhra Pradesh, Minister for Information and Public Relations said that the unholy alliance of media with market and business interests, without social purpose, the journalism would cause hindrance to the success of Indian democracy. Therefore, she urged that media should evolve a self-regulated code of conduct by incorporating moral and spiritual values towards establishing a value based society. Over 1500 delegates representing media persons, public relations professionals, academicians, Brahmakumaris from all over the country and Nepal attended the conference.

7 Point Action Plan
Deliberating through six plenary sessions, six parallel dialogues, one insight session and after undergoing three Rajayoga meditation sessions, the conference arrived at the Seven Point Action Plan for adoption by media.

1. To accord priority to social and public good by practicing and promoting ethical, moral and spiritual values

2. To consider core human and media values as essential pre-requisite for economic and all round development of the country

3. To practice Rajayoga meditation as a means of acquiring spirituality and value based healthy, lifestyle towards peace, prosperity of society.

4. To develop the inner spiritual powers of the soul among media persons to mirror as watchdog in containing widespread corruption and negativity in people’s life

5. To work towards creation and spread of audience friendly, interactive, social, cultural, moral and spiritual messages through internet, electronic, film and print media for the benefit of both young and old.

6. To become positive and practice by effecting the process of spiritual self-awakening and empowerment of values for building better society.

7. To support and supplement the noble causes of well-meaning organizations like the Brahmakumaris Society for Media Initiatives for values, Global Forum for Public Relations etc which are aimed at promoting spirituality, ethics, positive and healthy values in professions and society.

It is hoped that the delegates who attended the conference and exposed to Rajayoga Meditation will adopt spiritual values as part of their life and also publish/broadcast the action plan-2011 in their respective media for action.

Social Media Facts

This presentation is about world's largest voluntary service organisation, Rotary International, which is using social media very effectively to reach out to its over 1.2 million members across the globe.  The facts are astounding the way the online communication is changing the way we communicate today.


RI Social Media video from Rotary International on Vimeo.