PR-The way forward

The PR industry in India is increasingly gaining acceptance with a greater understanding of what it entails amongst not just the large companies, but across businesses. The clientele ranges from mighty corporate firms to tech start- ups to budding artists to politicians to what have you.

The reason for this is that PR provides a far bigger bang for the buck than any other form of communication and everybody who has realised this wants a piece of the action. However PR firms today operate in an ever changing media scenario, where newer forms of communication like social media and the concomitant churning in the traditional media have compelled a re-think on traditional PR strategy.

In order to remain relevant PR firms in India need to constantly innovate so as to be able to keep pace with the latest developments and changes both in their media and non-media based approaches. PR firms today have to demonstrably be able to prove the efficacy of their craft. Broadly they need to increasingly focus on the following:

1. Quality Content:  At a time when there is an abundance of PR firms and consultants,  what will distinguish one from the other is the ability to create quality content that is contemporary and effective.

The days of the ubiquitous press release are over. Content creation is specialist business and one needs to have the skills to leverage it equally well to both traditional and social media. Equally important is the ability to reach out to a non-media audience of influencers, and indeed the target customers of the client directly.

 2. Quantifying Results: Traditionally PR firms would quantify their performance by measuring the total media coverage (space or time) in terms of ad rates and multiply it by a further factor ranging from 2 to 5. This often left the clients dissatisfied as they had no way to accurately find out the impact it had in terms of consumer response. However the increasing role of Digital PR has made quantifying pretty straight forward.  You know how many and what type of people have accessed the content and what they think of it.

In times to come Digital PR is going to drive communications campaigns and the fact that this form of PR can show you where the money is makes it a very powerful tool indeed.  You will be able to study the data, extrapolate it and predict a highly effective course of action for the future.

3. Focus: Worldwide (including India) there is a tough economic environment, and firms and companies are looking to save the last dollar or rupee. In such a scenario PR firms and consultants should be able to take a focused and calibrated view of the client’s objectives and come up with plans that show visible results. Media and other exposure should result in leads, sales and expansion for the client. The bottom line is the bottom line.