What are the new PR Trends for 2014?

One of the biggest trend in the industry seems to be inevitable equation of PR with digital or social media.  Digital media seems to be predominant in the western PR world, where the digital media professionals are trying to dabble into PR strategies. This may be alright for the western world, though I do not completely agree with this emerging trend, especially when we look at Public Relations function holistically.
Even PR Newswire in one of their articles on PR trends for 2014, limits itself to  "engaging digital audience with engaging content" as a major element.  Somehow the focus on print, radio, electronic, and outdoor has been pushed to the back burner, and has come to be known as "traditional" with digital, mobile and social channels ruling the roost.

• The major trend for me in the high-speed information exchange global network, imperative too, would remain the PEOPLE.  You may call them publics, stakeholders, targetted groups, and what not; it is the human element that would be the foundation of all communication.  The tools can differ to reach out to them. Yes, the technology is relegating today's reality into obsolence in a jiffy. It is time to go back to the basics of communication management, and review the fundamentals.  
• For people living in under-developed and developing countries, the information needs to be interpreted to them and involve them for their own benefit and convenience.  Therefore understanding their needs and aspirations is the key to the success of any communication. 
• Secondly, we are crying hoarse about "engaging" the recipients of our messages through lively content.  The "message" had always been the key element in a successful and effective communication process.  Yes, the PR practitioners need to upgrade their skills and expertise in understanding the technological strengths and weaknesses of various digital outlets and develop content according to the channel for communication being used for delivery of the message. The diversity of social media has made it imperative to develop content appropriate to the channel being used and understanding whether it is ultimately reaching the targetted audience or not. 
• Thirdly, the outcome of a PR exercise or a communication campaign would be another emerging trend.  No longer the popular measurement tools would suffice. The corporate especially are looking at RoI on each spend on communication, and tangible impact, which is possible only if the PR fraternity moves beyond the myopic selection of media to spread their message.  A campaign needs to have holistic view of the communication issues at hand and how this is going to impact the thinking, and the lives of the people involved. 
• Lastly, but not the least, it is time for the professional bodies to actively engage themselves in upgrading and standardising the academics, research, continued training, and accreditation.  The professional practitioners would have to come forward to demand for it in order to achieve excellence for the PR profession, and have a talent pool of practitioners.

As we move into 2014 in a few hours from now, let us contribute to the success of PR movement. 

TiE Newsletter

How does it matter to me?

"How does it matter to me?" or in chaste Panjabi it is often remarked, "Kee farak penda hai?" or even when some of the manufacturers, businesses or service providers are confronted with the short-cuts being deployed in their processes, they would quitely quip, "Sanoo kee" (What to me?).

We confront this issue in Indian businesses day in and day out, the reason it gets a beating in the international markets, and even now are facing the flak from the global MNCs operating within the country who continue to have an edge over local trade and business because of the quality and reliability that they offer.

It is time for the Indian businesses and trade to look beyond their own immediate benefits or profits and take care of the ultimate user of one's products and services by building trust for their brand.

More often than not, the PR agencies everywhere are asked to project a 'good image' of the organisation or its brand, and ensure editorial coverage in media.  And invariably, many of the agencies get into action of pursuing the media persons with their releases to get space, without double-checking the authenticity of the organisation's claims.

In order to meet the global competition, to scale up their own operations and capture newer markets, the mantra is standardisation.  And it is high time that the industry understands it in case it wishes to be a part of the positive change that everyone wishes to bring about of 'India Shining' or that of 'Incredible India'.

But why standardisation? The standards do not mean getting an ISI mark on a product.  It does not mean establishing norms of operations.  Standardisation is a process of self-discipline, a conscious attempt to understand the impact of the product/services on direct consumers and the public or the world at large.  Standardisation means being conscious of one's social responsibility and ensuring that your products or services are safe, reliable, and trust-worthy.  And that is the first step towards creating a great exciting brand.

When the world is engaged in combating environmental issues, energy efficiency, efficient management of resources, and portability of products and services anywhere around the globe, easing the lives of the people, in short, looking for overall positive change, the standardisation is the key, as the International Standards Organisation is focussing this year on the World Standards Day theme, "International Standards Ensure Positive Change".

This change, as Mahatama Gandhi said, begins with us: 'Be the Change that You Want to see in the world',  Because everything that we do matters to someone, somewhere.

Five Golden Rules to Professionalise PR in India

Dr. C.V Narasimha Reddi is a PR guru who has continued to serve the profession through relentless study, innovative thought processes that he shares on various national and international fora, and inspires the PR practitioners through his deep knowledge and erudition to see the profession progress.  I had the opportunity to seek his response to some of the questions that confront the profession today.

CJ:  Dr. Reddi, how do you view the evolution of Public Relations practice in our country? 

Dr CVNR:  Public Relations in India was born out of propaganda in ancient India and it has passed through publicity in British India which has graduated as Public Relations in the independent India.

Due to several factors such as general elections, five-ar plans, nationalization of banks, emergence of public sectors, growth of industries, public relations developed as a discipline.  However it has entered into an era of global public relations with the introduction of new industrial policy 1991 that envisages economic liberalization, privatization and globalization.  Globalization not only created competitive marketing environment but also resulted in trade wars like car wars, cell phone wars, media wars, pricewars etc.  This competitive environment resulted in an upswing of public relations activities.  In fact public relations in India has grown quantitatively, it is yet to grow qualitatively to gain the management recognition.  The need of the hour is professional excellence.
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CJ: Compared to Europe and US, what bottlenecks nipped its growth in the country, and why it continues to remain, largely, a subset to other professions?

Dr CVNR: The bottlenecks or challenges being faced by Indian public relations are also applicable both to US and Europe.  However public relations in the West has grown more professional than ours.  The following are the key challenges that make our public relations a subset to other professions.

• The challenge of defining public relations or the challenge of identity crisis with several nomanclatures like corporate communication, public relations, public affairs, corporate affairs, public information, publicity etc.
• Lack of professional public relations education in the Indian Universities and also lack of induction and inservice training for PR professionals 
• Lack of PR text books and case studies of international standards. 
• The weakest link in the chain of public relations practice is lack of research and evaluation of PR programs to demonstrate its results to the management. 
• Organizational and social ignorance of the value of public relations practice towards organizational excellence
• Lack of defined job profile are formally recognized managerial level function for public relations within the organizational structure. 
• The overlap and / or encroachment of other managerial disciplines into PR from finance, HR, or marketing. 
• The varied background of public relations practitioners drawn from different fields like journalism, marketing, advertising, business management, etc. 
• Though public relations is a strategic management function, PR practitioners now function only as technicians, implementing the PR strategy designed by other management professionals; public relations is not placed at the top management level on par with HR or marketing.  PR professionals must play both strategic and technical roles.
• The last and most important challenge that public relations mostly acts as one way communication without any importance to the feedback.

CJ: What are the five most important things that you feel must be done to further professionalise the PR practice in our country. 

Dr CVNR: The following five golden rules can professionalize Indian PR as to enable our country to sustain as world's largest democracy and to become world's 3rd biggest economy.

• Introduction of management, business and public relations education for PR practitioners in the Indian Universities with emphasis on research 
• Establishment of training institutes at organizational levels, state levels and national level for imparting induction and in-service training besides providing coninuing professional development training by PR professional bodies.  Conversion of Indian Institute of Mass Communication New Delhi into National Communication Unversity.
• The need of a strong public relations national professional body PRSA [USA] and CIPR [UK] and adoption of code of professional ethics and introduction of accredidation of PR practitioners.
• Production of PR text books and case studies of International standards
• Every PR professional must endeavour to change himself / herself in tune with the changing communication technologies.  They must acquire communication skills in speaking and listening, reading and writing.  Most of the PR practioners, a British Librarian said have no reading habits.

CJ: What future holds for PR?
Dr CVNR: A bright future beckons Indian PR because of the following factors:

• India is the largest democracy in the world with over 75 crores voters
• India which was known as a country of snake charmers, starvation deaths and famines has now become a global economic player, poised to become worlds third biggest economy next only to China and US.
• India will emerge as worlds largest English speaking nation
• India will witness media explosion with over 1 lakh news papers, 50 crores copies of circulation, thoiusand TV channels, 500 Radio Stations, 100 crore mobile phones and 20 crore internet connections.  Media explosion will provide greater opportunities for growth of public relations communication.

In conclusion I quote from the 1st Prime Minister of our country Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who said "Freedom from Information poverty is as important as freedom from hunger".  This sums up the role and function of public relations in India.

TiE Mentor is out

The latest issue of the quarterly newsletter of TiE Chandigarh-Punjab Chapter is out.  This is a part of the PR initiative to strengthen the internal communication by sharing activities report with TiE members.
Please click here if unable to view the newsletter.

How can Incredible India's image refurbished?

A trip to Europe is a learning experience, provided you are totally open minded and free to move as a commoner.  A visit to any of the cities is a pleasure as the technology and well-oiled system makes your visit a sheer pleasure, and suddenly you realise, what a great amount of efforts that our country needs to put such systems in place.
Whether it is traffic, visits to the monuments, or simply travelling on European roads, makes one wonder the extent of systematic communication that has been put in place for hassle-free movements.
I often wonder what our delegations from various departments, be it sports, tourism, or even municipal councillors do when they visit abroad. I'm sure with all their baggage of VIP mindset, chaperoned visits to various places, and pampering meted out to them being the official guests, no learning can happen for them.  And it has not, of course.
Our monuments are not only least preserved but infrastructural support is missing.  Information for the visitors is scanty.  Signage and direction signs are scare.   And top it all, the people manning the information desks are either missing or simply not interested in helping out.
Private public partnership for manning tourist destinations, sight-seeing tourist buses, information counters, is perhaps the best answer that Europeans have found it the most successful model, especially when we as a country intend to present to the world, 'Incredible India', and when even many state governments are vying to have a pie of tourist inflow and foreign investment.
The key to success of any such campaign lies in integrating a completely sustainable system of communication, which involves :
a. What you see: How well maintained our tourist destinations, roads and other public places are.  How do they look in the day and at night. Have we taken care of lighting them up?  And what about the public behaviour of waiters in the restaurants whose personal hygiene is at its worst.
b. What you hear: People's experience matter the most. There are numerous travel advisor websites that carry people's impressions.  Are we doing something to follow and respond to negative imaging? When a visitor reaches India, what does he/she hears?  Are the people at every contact point ready to interact intelligently, empathetically, ethically and professionally?
c. What you smell: Many of our public places have those most-neglected corners in the buildings which are extensively used yet sparingly cared for...the toilets.  The smelly toilets right at many airports (thankfully Delhi is good), to various tourist places is a bane for the visitors.  And the same holds true for many of the hotels and restaurants.
d. What you taste:  Tasting has many connotations. Some experiences would leave an irreperable taste.  But most eating joints, the service in the offices and other public places, especially street food, requires strict hygiene norms.
e. What you touch:  Right from the railway compartments to bus shelters, transport buses, taxis, and railings make a traveller smirk at the years of sweaty soot that one hates to touch.

These may be small pointers yet the true Incredible India image is a distant dream, because of the lack of training, information, and the systems.  The PR practitioners in each of the cities need to look into those small little things that need to be transformed, and provide professional support to the government as well as private sector, to refurbish this image which can conform to the values 'Incredible India' intends to create in the world.