Content Rules and Rules

The time for content has come and how. Press Releases though not yet passé, don’t catch enough attention. High quality cutting edge content is the new mantra to engage one’s traffic audience. Can’t get that to them, you are in big trouble. Period.

But the reality is that content as a means of pitching your products and services is not new or novel concept. Most companies have been using content in the shape of blogs, reports, surveys, news-letters et al for a number of years. Only they didn’t know that what they were doing was creating content.

However it is in the sharply focused leveraging of content as a means to expand one’s product or service footprint by way of holistic brand building and more efficient lead generation that one has moved away from the traditional methods of positioning content as an effective marketing implement. This requires for organizations to get their acts together in the areas of both editorial and marketing. Among other things, it requires a firm handle on the PR, SEO and social media aspects of one’s outreach strategy.

More than anything, including making prolific PR the mainstay of one’s strategy, one needs to focus on quality. With a multiplicity of media channels, including the all pervasive social media the emphasis of this cannot be overstated. This is on account of the fact that the target audience now has the wherewithal to provide feedback that you need to respond to. You put out inane marketing drivel, they will just disconnect.

People are no longer going to lap up anything you dish out. They will respond if you are talking to them about something that addresses their concerns. Lastly you will eventually run out of marketing spiel to hand-out. You really do need to work very hard on the content that you advocate, or it won’t work for you. Just updating your posts or getting out press release after press release amounts to little more than some pompous spamming.

In order for your content to be able to set the social media space on fire, it needs to be useful, entertaining and catchy. If it is not, then you are either not enhancing your online prestige or are busy downgrading it.

The changing face of PR

The face of the PR industry is changing at a rapid pace, even without many of the people who are a part of the industry and should know better, realising it. The landscape that is evolving is increasingly dominated by digital media, and those that are unable to discern in which direction the wind is blowing will eventually fall by the wayside. Quick results are expected in an era where social media get the news out way faster than traditional media platforms. As a result traditional media outlets are metamorphosing into digital news platforms, putting out news content on their websites, which is shaped by the expectations of a social media savvy target audience.

There is no denying the fact that the younger lot joining the PR workforce has a more instinctive and organic relationship with technology and are able to understand its nuances and can leverage its power far more effectively than their seniors. It is for the latter to pick up a few tricks on how to do that and thereby learn to use technology in a way that enhances one's ability to outreach, profess and obtain effective consumer attention(not media attention), like never before.

In these changed circumstances the PR agency model

as we knew it will probably change dramatically from the way that it is structured right now. There is already a perceptible shift underway  in the nature of PR agencies. More and more PR outfits are smaller and specialised outfits that are better able to service the quick turnaround expectations of their clients. It may not be the case today that PR firms that pay lip sympathy to tools like blogging, social networking profiles and online video, and so on, will fold up, but they will surely one day- as surely as the email enervated snail mail. The writing is on the wall, and PR professionals ignore it at their own peril.

As time marches by one will see a decline in influence of traditional journalists and opinion influencing analysts and the rise and rise of the power of the blog.  This is not surprising in a scenario  where three new blogs  are being created every two seconds! Brands now have to receive inputs and evolve and not attempt to bring the consumers to speed as was the case in the past. The best way to find out about the reputation of a brand is not by referring to all the ads, newspaper and television coverage one has garnered, but the rank it obtains in an online search. It's time for the PR thinking heads to change tack or other specialists will take over.

Impact of social media on PR.

We all hear a lot about how social media are revolutionising corporate and social communication. But is that really the case? Do we see any real and concrete evidence of that happening around us? Or is it something that we all talk about(media agencies and corporates) and at best give perfunctory importance. What for example is the impact of social media on brand perception? How does the access to social media empower the customer? Do the social media help increase customer loyalty?

These are metrics which need to be studied and quantified. And the important thing to remember is that one cannot approach social media randomly and hope to achieve great results. You have to plan and be very methodical. Your messaging through these media determines the type of image you portray. So if you are given to sending out over the top messages, that is how your brand image will be perceived; so you have to be careful that whatever you put out is in absolute synergy with how you want your brand perceived. So be certain that people form the right impression.

The next thing to do is to choose the right vehicles and link them to your blog. A good blog which has an interface with vehicles like twitter, linkedin, flickr, facebook, etc will help generate a buzz. It is important to have a consistent pattern. A good way of communicating is to go out there and 'socialise'-for instance participate in discussions and fora that are of common interest, but always remember to control the exchange of information in a way that it adds value and does not detract from it.

Social media are in fact great in helping you connect with you target audience in a way that no other media can match. It gives you the opportunity to interact personally and directly as well as resolve problems in a better and more empathetic manner. Social media also obtain great and honest feedback and allow you to conduct research in a more thorough fashion giving you the opportunity to give your target audience exactly the product and service they desire and not a close approximation.

So social media can enhance brand value in the most efficacious way, provided you figure out the right way of doing it. This is because no other media lets you feel the pulse of your target audience, this up close and personal.

What does PR mean to people in India

Organised PR as an industry is of recent vintage in India, and most people have a very fuzzy idea about it. From pan chewing, safari suit wearing public sector Public Relations officers, to shady wheelers and dealers who somehow wield influence with the media to people who could sell you news space or time, much like advertising executives; there are many preconceived notions about PR as an industry.

There is no concept of PR being the science of communication and advocacy. Something that the legendary Philip Kotler enshrined as one of the 4 Ps (promotion, remember) of Marketing  Management. That it is a subtle, long term and organic process which necessarily has to take a holistic approach, and is not restricted to obtaining media coverage is lost on most companies that engage the services of PR firms. Almost always success is measured in terms of media clippings, or electronic footage, a firm supplies at the end of the month. Monthly deliverables, which is exactly the wrong way to go about approaching a company's PR objectives, is usually the first thing that most prospective clients want a commitment on from their PR firms.

Frankly for most clients using PR effectively involves a learning curve. The initial days are tough with the clients expecting coverage on demand."I want to figure in about half a page of that leading English daily on such and such day!" By and by as the advocacy starts gathering momentum and the multiplier effect gathers steam, the clients come around and figures our what the whole business is about.

Just to let people have an idea about the heft of the PR function, I am going to list out its salient features-

• PR strategy and planning
• Personal branding
• Reputation management
•Press Releases
•Press conferences
•Media interactions/interviews
• Site visits/tours
• CSR
• Internal communication
• Analyst and investor relations,
• IPO support
• Building brand awareness
• Social media engagement
• Issues management
• Crisis communication
•Financial results and reporting
• Mergers and acquisition
• Product or service launches
• Thought leadership
• Media briefings
• Event support
• Media training
• Editorial content: white papers, case studies, articles, newsletters, opinion pieces, etc

Posted 20th October 2011 by Vipin Labroo