Few years ago there was this song "Yeh jo public hain woh sab jaanti hain..." became an instant hit and I think if you listen it carefully we can definitely learn few things about Public Relations! Search Google and there are chances that you would find it somewhere on the web to listen and download - Free! But what is the 'public' in PR? In this small note I have tried to give you my understanding of the 'P' of PR - more suggestions are welcome!Historically for us our primary public was journalists and if you knew few or many journalists in the field, you can very well say that you have mastered the art of Public Relations. Many PR agencies have started and survived on this unique skill. It's an art and I have seen many fellow professionals have mastered it. There was a company, there was a journalist, and there was a PR guy who knew both. The marriage rocked and even today it is a successful model. The sophistication started coming in from the B school kids and when so called ad guys started talking about IMC and 360 degree communication and so on - in order to make it sound interesting they have started using the new jargons like positioning, messaging, strategy and so on... They lost out somewhere but the jargons continued in the PR field and it is getting even more complicated day by day - PR 2.0, PR 2.5, PR 3.0, and whatever next!
If you ask me to define the 'public' in PR - my definition is simple. Public is the set of people who are connected to you in your business Eco system. Public is your board of directors, employees, shareholders, customers, buyers, investors, dealers, distributors, NGOs, political leaders, bureaucrats, media, a person who is writing this blog... The list is endless! And sometimes many businessmen wonder, do they really need to talk to so many people? But, if you want to be a businessman and that to a successful one, you really need to. You need to pay attention to the every information need of all your public(s), you need to respond to their questions and satisfy them in real time. In today's environment, you can't ignore even an individual who is part of this public - and yes! Google never forgets.
Anyone, who wants to be successful in life need to develop public relationships that matter to him or her and believe you me, it is not very difficult and you don't need an IIM to teach you that. We will talk about the means to manage and maintain those relationship in our next few posts - till then, happy relationships!
Labels: clientservicing, PReducation
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Companies, as they run on profits, need to benefit out of these relationships as well. Short term can be boost in sales, publicity, etc. Long term can be building a reputation.
I guess there is some debate on the term 'PR 2.0' copied from web 2.0. Guess it's just PR, just the media changed.
PR 2.0 not only the media, but the process of engagement has also changed. It takes communication to the next level that is collaboration.
I think the interesting part is that we are going back to the 'Read Write community' and not remaining 'Read Only' community.