Getting the Best out of Your PR Agency

One of the critical issues that confronts a PR agency vis-a-vis client is misunderstandings and mismatched expectations.  The PR agency is not a 'vendor' but a partner.  The PR agency must be taken into confidence and engaged in your important board decisions, future plans, and possible pitfalls foreseen by the organisation from any quarter.
You know your business the best. And we know how to get it across to the desired stakeholders and through what means. So, here's what can be done to keep agency-client relationship on the same page, healthy, efficient and effective.

1. Explain what you want
Write down the brief for the PR agency with clear goals and objectives with a timeline.

2. Understand the Deliverables
The PR agency would define the deliverables after understanding the brief. Discuss this out and be very specific in terms of the goals that you as an organisation are seeking. The PR agency, of course, very clearly indicates what it can do or would do and what it will not.  For instance, don't expect your PR agency to be a fire-fighter or a white-washer. We cannot hide the skeltons in your cupboards.  Do good and win stakeholders confidence and trust.

3. Be Transparent
It's a symbiotic relationship between a client and a PR agency. Be open, transparent and honest with the PR agency about the activities and happenings in the company.  In a crisis situation, it becomes important that organisation remain honest in their communication.

4. Media Management
Media is just one significant stakeholder in any organisation's business environment. We keep in touch with them on daily basis and work with them to help them develop stories on the industry that your organisation represents. But do not expect them to write the way you want them to write. We are there to facilitate professional interaction with the media on your behalf.

5. Value the Time
Especially when media needs to be briefed and some facts need to be shared. The prompt response is what is expected to help journalists meet their deadlines. 

Communication Ethics

What are communication ethics? That's a prompt response from a fellow professional when I broached the subject, questioning the very use of the term 'ethics', which, according to him, is no longer valid in today's commercial world. And I remember that in one of the communicators at an international conference scoffed at the term and instead, openly admitted that "we tell lies for our clients". 
Surprisingly public relations largely has remained as a lose expression akin more to wining, dining, and spinning. The recent appointment advertisement of a leading US based production house, that has been widely discussed on the online groups, where the candidates' qualifications and experience have nothing to do with the 'public relations practice' as we know it. 
Another common expression of PR is  "peeyaar" meaning "let's drink", and as another tipsy communicator said laughingly, "There is nothing ethical about PR, Media, Business, and even life".
Well, the recent Murdoch's episode is another blot on the profession of communication despite the father-son duo making public apology.  The general tendency to have shortcuts to success, to money and power has generated a greed-psychosis leading large chunk of humanity away from the power to distinguish between good and the bad. 
What is ethical communication? Communication starts with our own self, and then it gets reflected in our words and deeds. Our intra-personal communication determines the quality of our interpersonal communication or relationship with the outside world.  Someone rightly said that "ethical communication is fundamental to responsible thinking". 
According to the credo formulated for ethical communication in 1999, the National Communication Association Legislative Council, says that :
"Ethical communication enhances human worth and dignity by fostering truthfulness, fairness, responsibility, personal integrity, and respect for self and others."
In late 1950s Rotary adopted the Code of Ethics called "The Four Way Test", which is a system of four questions for any individual to help him or her make an ethical decision in day-to-day activities.  But before these four questions, the title of this Test starts with a pertinent qualifier, i.e. "The Four Way Test - Of the Things we think, say or do."
The way we "think", the way we communicate with ourselves, and the way we interpret external realities to ourselves and formulate or design messages to verbalise them demonstrates the quality of all our communication. Unethical thinking or unethical communication with our own self can damage the quality of our relationship with our outside world. 
The etymology of the term "communication" from the Latin word "communis" means 'establishing commonness', a commonness or relationship with other human beings. And the moment we think about relationship, and the terminology "Public Relations", which seeks to build relationship between an organisation and its diverse publics or stakeholders, will fail the moment it is based on untruth, is dishonest, and unfair to those concerned. 
Communication is critical to our lives. It is the foundation of building a strong, trusting relationship, and an equally trustworthy individual and a great society. 
Whether an individual or a corporate entity, it is incumbent upon them to be honest, truthful, trustworthy, and ethical in its dealings with its stakeholders to ensure a more stable, sustainable, everlasting relationship based on mutual respect and trust. 
Ethical communication is therefore sine qua non to ensure a conflict-free, positively-oriented evolution into a peaceful world. 

Executive MBA for Working Professionals

Punjab Technical University (PTU) has launched an industry-linked Executive MBA program in partnership with its first School of Excellence, PTU’s Gian Jyoti School of TQM and Entrepreneurship at Mohali.

Complimenting PTU’s Gian Jyoti School of TQM, Mr Suresh Kumar, Principal Secretary, Technical Education, Punjab, remarked that the programme is an important step in Punjab’s initiative of developing this region as a veritable knowledge economy and taking it to the next level of excellence by empowering its working professionals in various industries and businesses.

The Executive MBA shall, not only enhance managerial and leadership capabilities of working professionals but more importantly, contribute to bringing competitive advantage to their organizations, pointed out Mr. Keshav Sachdev, former Managing Director, DCM Engineering, during his talk on “Developing Competitive Advantage”.

Mr. Chandra Mohan, Chairman of the School’s governing council, who has been effectively spearheading the Total Quality movement in this region, said that there could be no better timing for the launch of this programme since global competitiveness is becoming increasingly critical for Indian industry.

For this region, Executive MBA programme is a trend-setting and life-changing opportunity for working professionals, said Dr. Buta Singh, Dean Academics of PTU. The School, with its strong linkages with industry, was ideally suited to launch this unique program of PTU, he added.

CEO of the School, Mr. Manish Trehan, informed that this India-specific but globally relevant Executive MBA Programme for working graduates has been designed with a lot of industry inputs. The classes for this 4-semester, application-focused program, will be held over weekends or in the evenings, and will cause no dislocation of career, family life or income for the students.

Admission for July 2011 batch is open to graduates in any field from a recognized university with at least two years work experience on the date of enrolment, for which admission form can be downloaded from the School’s website, www.tqmbizschool.org.

Mr. J.S. Bedi, Chairman, Gian Jyoti Institute of Management and Technology, called upon the companies to join hands with the School in this pioneering initiative and sponsor their employees in order to convert them into useful assets.

PTU's Gian Jyoti Institute of TQM & Entrepreneurship is the first School of Excellence and a constituent unit of Punjab Technical University. Formally launched by President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam in December 2003, the School has successfully spearheaded the quality movement in the region. It runs several short-term executive development and certification programmes for corporates, and B.Tech. in Industrial Engineering and Management (with specialization in TQM) for working diploma holders. The School has also instituted the North-West QualTech Awards for recognizing organizations that have achieved extraordinary results in Quality Improvement. 

A Tribute to Indian Women

On the international women's day, here's Ogilvy & Mather's greatest tribute they created recently. A must watch.

Chandigarh, the city beautiful, is the venue of the 5th Global Public Relations Conclave organised by Public Relations Council of India.  To be held at Hotel Mountview, Sector 10, Chandigarh, 

The Conclave will offer thought leadership, and empower the PR practitioners to upgrade their skills and knowledge to manage communication. This Conclave shall be an exceptional opportunity to meet some of the high profile communication experts of national and international distinction, and exploring the immense potential of PR. 

Another highlight of the Conclave is the presentation of annual Chanakya Awards and ‘Hall of Fame’ recognitions, on the first day evening to be followed by entertainment and dinner.  The PR Collateral Awards would be presented on the second day of the Conclave. 

Register Now
You can get complete details, download Registration Form, the Brochure, and nomination forms for the PR Collateral Awards from our blog.

For any further information, please email now.

PR VOICE

The 13th anniversary issue of India's only magazine for the Public Relations practitioners, PR Voice is out. While you can read its online edition, do subscribe to it, and add it to your library of professional literature and books. It brings to you an update on the activities and case studies as well as new thought processes.

Open publication - Free publishing - More pr voice