PR professionals are important. Whether you like it or not, they make the job of spreading information easier!
In my 3 years (and counting) of PR, I have come across many methods of conducting PR activities. But the best is a healthy mix of the traditional with the contemporary. And in my knowledge, IT WORKS!
Traditionally PR is only about Press Releases, Press Conferences and Media Interactions. Very limited interfacing. Now this has evolved. With the need for that little extra, that personal touch, some PR people take the extra step and stick their necks out! They interact personally with media, and understand their needs in a better fashion in order to dole out ideas to the client which will work.
Most agencies have realised the need for journalists meeting the client as a pure information sharing exercise. Not all have the capability of singing the right note to lure the journalists. What separates the wheat from the chaff is the ability to influence a person without being disruptive.
PR since long has been important, since the bigger companies have no time to sit and reach out to the media, to share their information with them, but since it was the only medium to reach out to potential business deals and customers, they hired professionals who would do this on their behalf, either from within the company or, as time would make it, through PR agencies.
As the economy progressed, smaller companies came into existence and they held in their eyes, the dream to be seen on the same platform as their bigger and probably better competition as a possible option to the market runners. So for them, PR became an important tool.
The older breed of professionals are a little strait-jacketed in terms of visibility options, but the newer strain of workaholics understand the dynamics and are open to the concept of being part of the industry.
From the media perspective, although they tend to be high maintenance, the PR professionals are a boon to them. Had it not been for PR, the media would forever have to try their investigative skills to figure out where the information came from in the first place. Getting their hands on the right source with the right information, is of key importance to them, and it is PR people who facilitate this. Yes, sometimes - it may happen, that information cannot be shared, which is then dubbed as a failure on the part of PR people.
Even here, the older strain of journalists feel that PR of today are too infectious and are trying to hard to make the journalist do the company's bidding, whereas, the newer line of reporting specialists understand how to improvise and get the best of both worlds, the information and the source!
Please do drop in your comments and suggestions below.
For Bouquets and Brickbats, please email me at partha@parthasrinivasan.com
Partha Srinivasan, Publicity Consultant
