Horasis Inspiring Our Future

António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations

Competing in a Leaderless World

Horasis Extraordinary Meeting to be held on Horasis’ new ground-breaking digital conferencing platform on 1st October, 2020. 

Horasis will gather 1000 of the most senior members of the Horasis Visions Community, including several heads of governments and key ministers to overcome the profound economic, political and social disruptions caused by Covid-19.

Horasis is a global visions community dedicated to inspiring our future. Horasis provides strategic foresight to public and private entities who envisage growing into global and principled organizations.

Covid Vaccination Availability, Changing World of e-Commerce, AI as Force for Good, and Rekindling Education Post Covid-19 are some of the important topics that will be discussed at The Horasis Extraordinary Meeting on 1st October.

“The world will not go back to a ‘new normal’ using a simplistic resetting of legacy systems,” said Frank-Jürgen Richter, Chairman of Horasis. “Extraordinary times demand extraordinary transformation. All public, private and social sector leaders must collaborate to design strategies to lead society through these trying times.”

Top Speakers from around the World like Nana Akufo-Adda, President Of Ghana, Ajmal Ahmady, Governor Of The Central Bank, Afganistan, Nina Angelovska, Former Minister of Finance, North Macedonia, Shaukat Aziz, Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pierre Buyoua, Former President of Burundi, Tarun Anand, Chairman and Founder, University Business Schools, India, Vivek Atray, Former Director IT and Tourism, Chandigarh, India will chair a session on "Competing in a Leaderless World" starting at 01:30 PM IST. 

Some other speakers include Shashi Tharoor, Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, Satya Brahma, Chairman, Network 7 Media Group, Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways, India and many more will help the global community to Unite. Inspire. Create.

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. 

 

Business Model for a Successful Startup

Every time is the first time. And every new customer you meet, it is the first time that you would be making your presentation.

The key is to create your pitch to every prospect with the same spirit, hardwork, efforts, to establish your credibility.

Here is a sure-shot formula for success in your business, i.e. WxWx3Ws+H

a. The first W is the Why of your business. Mission of your organisation or your offering. Why are you in the business you are in. Be clear. Be specific. Till the time you take it beyond your own self, you won’t find the true mission of your work. This is the core, the entire spirit of your engagement, or in short, the purpose of your being.

Each one of us is Born to Serve others. Ask yourself, how does your product or service is making a difference in the life of others. What problems it is going to solve?

b. The second W is to be multiplied, because this is another crucial element to your success. Who? Who are the people whom you intend to serve. These are the people, your customers, for whom you have devised the product. Do you know all these ‘people’ who are going to make a success of your business? They are both internal and external.

Internally, they are your cofounders, collaborators, investors, board of directors, and the entire team members, down to your office boy and tea-wallah, sweeper, etc.

Externally, the ‘WHO’ form the largest chunk who are the reason for your existence. Your distributors, dealers, channel partners, logistics support, vendors, retailers, customers, and their families, the community,
the media, the government, financial institutions, etc.

Once you start drawing your list of ‘Who’, you will be surprised to know how you need to create strategy to reach out to all those people.

c. Theeafter we have 3Ws, i.e. What, When, and Where. They relate to your product/services, the team of experts, your USPs and technical advantages over competition, when can one get them (or the timing factor) and where.

d. The H, How, explains the process you are going to adopt to solve the people’s problems. In the online domain you would find thousands of replicas of various products, but only one amongst them excels and shines just because of the excellence in execution, which is the differentiator.

When you pitch to your client, your presentation should not be more than 6 to 7 slides, because no one has the patience and time to go through lengthy presentations.

Your passion and knowledge about your product and how it connects with the prospective customer, would not require longish explanations. Keep them Short and Sweet.

The first slide, Why would take care of your values and objectives, while your research on Who would matter the most.

Before the pitch, study your customer/prospect whom you are going to make the pitch.

Don’t keep it general.

Modify it to suit specific issues that your prospect is facing, which would require a little research about the organisation to whom you are approaching. Address their specific needs, and you have hit the nail.

Take care.

 

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. 

CorePR: 5 Things You Need to Do

CorePR: 5 Things You Need to Do: Holed up at home?   Everyone is.  World over. It could be a blessing in disguise. For many of us, who remain busy day-in...

5 Things You Need to Do

Holed up at home?   Everyone is.  World over.

It could be a blessing in disguise.

For many of us, who remain busy day-in-and-day-out in our worldly pursuits, hardly get time to introspect.

All of us are on Fast Forward Mode.  There had not been any Pause button in our lives. Come what may.  Until now.

As curfew and lockdown has forced us into our homes, it is time to reflect and do things that you always wanted to do, but never did.

Here's a list of 5 things that you should be doing every day.

1. Maintain a Journal
Pick up a small notebook, diary or download 'Keep', a Gmail app on your mobile to take note daily.
The morning ritual should be to jot down what you intend to accomplish today.   Have a schedule.  Go over it and get into action.

2. Get Ready
When you are locked down and no one is there to look you up, you tend to relax and stay in your night suit.   Getup in time.  Get Ready.  And start working on your 'to do' list.  If you are working, reflect on the new things you would do at your job to make work much more efficient and productive.   And if you are an entrepreneur, it is time to plan and prepare a strategy to take your business to newer heights as soon as the normalcy returns.

3. Learn a New Skill 
You wanted to play a musical instrument, set up a blog, or learn cooking....just go ahead and do it.  Enough YouTube videos are available to revive your hobby or learn a new skill and utilise your time more fruitfully.  For entrepreneurs, this is the time to look for more opportunities for your enterprise to grow.

3. Reconnect with a Friend/Colleague/Relative
Haven't we lost touch with the people around us?  Many have not talked to their parents. Though they might be there on social media, remember, there is nothing like getting in touch with them and reconnecting.  You would simply love it. 
For business people, stay in touch with your employees and customers.

5. List Your Gratitude
Before sleeping gets back to your journal and jot down your list of Gratitude.   All the people you talked to, all the loving care that you got from your family, the food that was served to you, the air that you breathed and a whole lot of things you feel you are grateful for.  Thank the Almighty for all those gifts that you received today.

There is much more that every one of us can do.   But in the next 21 days, this is the habit-forming schedule if practised regularly, religiously and with a commitment.  It would turn you into an amazing person.

Indian wireline broadband pricing likely to fall by 50%; segment to generate Rs 80,000 crore over 5 years

Indian wireline broadband pricing likely to fall by 50%; segment to generate Rs 80,000 crore over 5 years

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. 

What is the Big Idea?

Communicators agenda for the next decade
 

The big agenda for the next decade is communication.  In this information age of big data, the nuances of the science and art of managing communication have also changed.  drive growth, change, and success for organizations, governments, and nations.
On the global front, technology is shaping the trends and artificial intelligence is communicating with the people in a big way transforming the way we live, enjoy and work, besides, of course, redefining the relationship between an organization and its various stakeholders.
Another major trend sweeping the global economies is diverse technology-driven flow of information  breaking barriers between brands and consumers, employers and employees, necessitating evolution of every business to keep pace with new technologies and redefine management of internal and external relationship.
The Big Change is that every professional, and every business is transmuting into thought leadership domain, to combat the competition and excel.  The organizations would have to turn into learning ones in order to maintain dynamic relationship with its various stakeholders in the midst of rapid technological changes.
Earlier, the communication strategists monitored business environment in a limited way within their existing ecosystem focusing on specific ‘publics’.  The future now depends upon evolving processes and systems to track insights into consumer behavior with a need for customizable responses at the individual level.

The old paradigms of ‘slow and steady wins the race’ has since long shifted to agility, measured with turnaround response time.

For the PR fraternity involving communicators in every area of operations have a challenge at hand to become a part of the BIG change.   The success would depend on getting into the loop of dynamic learning, making decision, and executing or responding. Digital world has already opened limitless opportunities. It is time to stay attuned to the rapid transformation and how organizations are evolving with the new technology, where communicators need to interpret big data, understand the patterns and create response triggers to address the issues involved. This would determine the success of the PR practitioners, and their organizations. 

The time is ripe for the PR practitioners to join in this vital conversation at the 13th Global Conclave at Jaipur, to create a winning road map for the future.

(C.J. Singh is a corporate communication consultant with over three decades of experience as a journalist, broadcaster, author, corporate brand manager and consultant, having founded one of the first PR consultancies in Chandigarh way back in 1986.  The article was published in 'Kautilya', the journal of the PRCI Young Communicators Club in its February 2019 issue, published during the 13th Global Communication Conclave held at Jaipur, India)

Communication professionals to mobilse funds for Kerala

#keralafightsback - Communication professionals to mobilise relief funds

Mobilising its mite for the Kerala flood relief, national communicators’ body Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) has decided to donate the entire ‘early bird’ fee collection for the forthcoming 13th Global Communication Conclave to be held in February next, with the theme PR – What’s the Big Idea?

PRCI will donate the collection to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, said PRCI chief mentor and chairman emeritus M B Jayaram. The Conclave venue will be announced in the next couple of days.

PRCI has fixed the first early bird registration fee at Rs 3,000 per delegate for the two-day Conclave and it is valid till September 16, 2018. The registration form and he payment gateway details are posted here.

PRCI has appealed to all communication professionals to generously donate for the #keralafightsback project and send the word across their organizations and clients as well. “This is the least that we can do for the flood-ravaged Kerala,” said Kumar.
The previous Global Communications held by PRCI have seen large participation and delegates number crossing 500.

Headquartered at Bengaluru, PRCI has close to 30 chapters and floated a global platform called World Communicators Council with the aim of bringing communication professionals from various spheres on a common platform.
PRCI has successfull launched social communication projects such as #MissionMumbaiLocal, #SaveParsikHill, #PotholesRforever and #IamMangroveIamDying.

With #keralafightsback, PRCI salutes the true resilient spirit of Kerala - Gold's own country.