Your brand - the next media company!?

Today, brand-building is all about what unique story it has to the consumer, and how well the story blends into the mind/life of its aspirants.

The use of the word aspirant is deliberate – isn’t a prospect passé?

Whats your brand noise? Where are you placing it??

In all the brand clutter, the ‘unique’ brand story ought to be so compelling, and weave itself seamlessly into the consumer’s life story – present and future.  Its only consumers aspire to blend the brand story into his own life story does the brand survive and flourish. So, the consumer ought to be an aspirant, not a prospect.

In that backdrop, every brand needs to have an ongoing, compelling and unique story. And these stories are built in by sheer content which the brands generate – content that stands out across media, across social platforms, and that generate comments and likes in the social universe.

Author of a famed book on the subject, Michael Brito, made a guest post here on why its important for your brand to be a perennial content engine - Brian Solis blogpost

So, whats your content generation today, and where are you telling your story? Where all is it being amplified??

Will PR professionals lose jobs due to AI?

Will PR people lose jobs?

It’s the year 2020, and almost every other sector and its experts have given their thoughts on how technology like AI and machine learning would change the way business is done in their spaces.

The PR business is no exception, and for a few good years now, we all have seen the impact of automation in the day to day operations of any PR agency. Automated pitches, data mining and collation to compile a dynamic and updated (current) media database, effective use of tech and data tools to map the niche sectors in the media, shooting out mailers and invites, pre event and post event releases etc to the media – the influence that automation has had has indeed been a blessing in disguise for the PR professionals, and the industry as a whole.

The impact of AI, will be all pervasive, and the biggest gain from it for the trade will be the fact that a lot of routine chores which need investment of human capital will get automated. Right from the process of researching to create pitch documents for prospects, scan the internet for coverage in nook and corners, online and digital dissemination of releases and press information, and tracking coverage online and offline – proper deployment of AI tools will be a blessing for the PR professional.

Needless to say, this would also mean that there has to a good commitment on the part of the PR business (individuals and companies) to spend time, energy, and the monetary resources that are needed to deploy the necessary AI tools. This would also mean that a certain scale is needed to make use of AI, and maybe only agencies of a certain size, and span of operation would be better equipped to make full use of AI, thanks to the fact that they are have the breadth and depth of clients, who could support and benefit from AI.

What of the job losses owing to AI and its profound impact? Honestly, the alarm over AI being a tool that will replace humans is just noise, and fear mongering. Good and long term client benefiting PR is all about two crucial aspects – the ability to strategize for a prospect/client, and later execute every single element in the PR plan. Strategy is yet, and will remain, all about thinking and applying the PR persons mind as to what will be a good PR plan, and how it can be split and delivered to the last mile. No amount of technology will ever replace the human thinking, which results in the strategic elements of image management. All the impact of AI would be in the execution and delivery space, and it will be only good that a lot of work, which is kind of rote will be accomplished my AI in much lesser time, and with greater accuracy.

In that sense, any PR person and agency must happily embrace AI, and set in motion the process of investing, training on  people, to be AI ready. 

May be year 2020 will be a decisive year for this action in PR businesses across the globe.

Crisis ready?

For some reason, the word ‘crisis’ is associated with ‘panic’, and most of today’s organizations tend to immediately get pushed into a panic mode at the distant sight of a crisis. What then happens when there is a real crisis on hand, is anyone’s guess.

There are examples all over of how even the communication savvy leadership/PR team of an organization, gifted with a fair amount of media leverage, gets into a shell and resorts to denial mode when it’s time to speak and write more information, to be virally sent out to every media outlet possible.

The cardinal rule in handling PR in times of a crisis is to get immediately speaking and sending our fact statements to the entire gamut of media houses – including web2.0 and social platforms. The singular intent once the information/details of the crisis is handed out is to deliberately invite media conversations, with the intent of giving more and more details possible. Never give a remote sense that your organization is shying away from the media – even when the crisis in not your own making, when you shy away, the immediate conclusion is that the organization wants to hide facts.

While there can be well documented papers (by your PR agency or internal communications team) of how to respond when there is a crisis, it’s easy to manage a crisis when some basics are in place.

Just see if these things are in place in your organization, anytime round the year:

• a designated spokesperson, who will instantly be updated on any crisis that may have hit – he is the points man for all information to be given – facts, details, images, live feed and whatever.
• Handpicked communication team that swings into action – gets into an auto pilot mode in any mishap – which is connected and networked 24/7/365 to take the crisis PR initiatives. Stay abreast all through the crisis life cycle, and ceaselessly and tirelessly handles all queries from every corner of the globe.
• a communication mechanism (call it a protocol) which communicates to all the key decision makers and every internal stakeholder in the organization the details and occurrences of any crisis that may have hit, how the consequences will be managed, how internal/external stakeholder interests will be protected, what are the cost consequences and the impact on the organizations’ fiscals et al.
• a standard template that captures all the finer details of any mishap that may occur, roll it out into the form of a media release, so that the same can be handed to the media fraternity  and follow up questions taken.
• a mechanism that ensure that all the state authorities are informed of the mishap in the shortest possible time, with as much details as gather-able in the least lead time.
• A media room which gets activated when such an event happens, where all the journalistic fraternity can report from, with all information fed to them officially, live wire.

These may sound baby steps – yet, in the crisis management plan, many  times its lack of this basic preparedness that brings in misery to the organization, than the actual crisis itself.

Make sure your organizations is set ready in the first steps of managing crises. – As the old adage, being well prepared is half the battle won.

That’s true in managing a crisis too.

Information integrity - the paramount in PR practice

If there is just one thing, which you can say is a make or break deal, in the practice of good media relations, its information integrity.

Nothing else reigns at the top, if you make a list of do’s and don’ts in the practice of good media relations.

What is information integrity? In common parlance, it is nothing  but the integrity or truth in every word you speak about your clients, when confronted with simple straight forward questions, or even more complex questions that may happen in times that are not normal, viz. a crisis happens, some annual revenues and competitor strategy leaked in the news etc.

As a PR and communication professional, what is your first reaction when some journalist or media outlet raises questions on some issues of propriety, some product quality issues, or even some basic information like headcount, commitment to safety and so on?

Make it a point, rather cardinal rule that in all your responses, you will only rely on hard facts and truths, come what may. What must be communicated to the media, might, at times look inconvenient and even mean that the image takes a temporary setback as of that time. Even when it comes to that, reliance on untruths, or twisting facts just to escape a question will mean a reputation death knell for your organization. And that will have a long term negative impact that will take eons to overcome.

Whereas, when you rely on facts, and truth, and also supplement it with the corrective steps you are working on, and mention a time frame for closure, that by itself serves to up the credibility of what you say, and also is a positive for the image of your organization. Anything else you do, which is the opposite of this, is only going to affect your long term reputation index.

Media and the journalists hate to discover that the client has churned out lies and not relied on facts when giving out information, be it a press note, or a press meet. Some of the errors may appear to be trivial, making you think whats the big fuss about it.

Much as it is the journalist’s responsibility to check the facts in any story – that said, if you are representing a client, you are the custodian of the facts mentioned in any media information that disseminates from your end.

Factual errors are not the big ones like the client concealing the facts or misrepresenting reality, in a crisis situation. Simple errors like getting the name of the person/product spelt wrong, getting the timeline of events wrong, or just spelling the CEO’s surname wrong – such errors come easily to the notice of the consumer – the reader of the viewer of the news, when and if it finally gets there.

And if it does, at stake is the credibility of the journalist, the media house, and your own client. In most cases, such mistakes creep in, in minor details which we tend to take for granted.

As a PR professional, make sure that the eye for detail is in play, every time, with every client. When you claim to manage reputation of clients, the least expected from you is to ensure information integrity.

Public Relations - How quickly can we be in the news?

This is a common refrain among both prospects and clients, when you try signing them, or the moment, just weeks after you get them on board to handle PR – how soon can we see us in the front page or the business page? That’s a question the client asks the PR agency, just days after you commence the formal engagement.

In a sense, most PR professionals fall prey or give in to the pressure that is built in the question, almost like if you can’t get a client media visibility quickly, and then you are not a very competent professional. There’s always a hypothetical someone who said he could get the coverage in a weeks’ time of the sign up, and that too in the form of a lead story. 

Every client wants to make to the front page!

 

This builds a kind of latest pressure, and a craving to get the sign on done – leading the agency or the PR person to resort to falsehoods, and wrong promises on how quickly the coverage will come – some cases, we have seen promises of even just a few days or one week!

Reality in PR and the media relations front is this – there is no way an agency, how big or small, how well known or otherwise can command coverage over a pliant media. This is next to impossible, and if at all someone keeps this as a pitch point or USP, you may well consider that the agency is lying through the teeth. The only objective here will be to get you on board, and walk away for now; later on come up with some template excuses as to why it did not happen.

Media coverage is a process, and never a one off event, where someone mails a press note or press release, and presto, it is taken out by the media who are just starved of information. Once the agency or person gets a client on board, and then the first few days or sometimes even weeks passes by in getting a good understanding, and then identifying the stories that can be told. It is only after these initial warm-ups, that the actual PR kickoff starts. Any coverage or media visibility whatsoever will occur days or weeks after the kickoff, with the aid or an irresistible PR pitch, and smart follow ups.

In the absence of all this, if there is someone who promises you quick media results, it is so evident that he or she is pulling a fast one, and using the client enthusiasm, to make a gain on the basis of a false promise.

The best answer to a question on how swiftly the client can be seen in the media is – we will do our best to make the appropriate and best pitches as quickly, and then follow up with the journalist. Lets see how quick it can be, and yes, if it is soon, then may be luck is smiling on us besides the efforts. This is the best reply.

Promising anything to the contrary, by portraying that the agency or you hold in a lot of media clout is the worst mistake to make in PR. Besides ruining your reputation as a sane and well planned media professional, this will also ensure total and avoidable client dissonance.

Good PR is now all about co-creation!

This is an age of round the clock news breaks, and news agencies around the world are in a frenzy to get what they perceive as ‘breaking news’ to the consumer. But this is also the age where media houses are under intense scrutiny from their consumers, and also critics who are more informed and equipped by the social media to counter any misrepresentation or mistake in facts that come out along with the  breaking news and views.

So, in this age of social 3.0 or whatever, where news and views are shaped by the minute, how does one serve as a better PR professional?

The PR professional serves his set of clients, equipping them with the right news to be communicated at the right time in the targeted media – conventional, and social.

His or her expertise in the communication business is meant to serve the image needs of the client seeking to build a reputation, and also the media houses, who in turn are dishing out news to their consumers.

The well equipped and informed PR pro is someone who can facilitate the journalist with the right bits of information and right facts, illustrate what will be trends in any industry in product, service or innovation, and beef up the journalistic armor of his consumers at the other end.

From being just release pushers or press conference specialists, the PR profession has completely morphed into a new avatar – that in which each PR professional or PR agency is co-creating and collaborating with their consumers – the clients and the journalistic fraternity as well.

There is intense competition for eye balls and viewed/read column centimeters, and every right 140 or so characters which are pregnant with news-breaks, and news shapes (setting trends for what would make bigger news in the media).

For the well meaning journalists and media houses, who want to be a credible source of breaking and shaping news and views, the need of the hour is people who can collaborate and co-create.

And the onus to take this place is on PR professionals who want to make a difference to their clients. The one question which a PR pro or agency must ask them-self  everyday is – are we collaborating and co-creating?

That is a recipe that will make all the difference, be it now in 2020, or in the next decade!