Is Public Relations A Quick Fix Job?

Friends, Thank you for reading my earlier blogs and sharing your views. I really feel encouraged after reading your feedback in the comments column. Friends, presenting my 41st blog titled “Is Public Relations A Quick Fix Job” to you.

Is Public Relations A Quick Fix Job?

What is Public Relations?  Is it the face of an organisation?  Is it an effective management and marketing tool?

Public Relations mean different things to different people at different levels. To some it is receive and see off CEO or other higher executives of an organisation at Airport. To others organizing confirmed plane or train tickets, or passes for a famous cultural event. For some it’s fixing appointments with the govt. officials etc. and distributing gifts on festivals to those important persons, For a few it means helping management to organize a press conference or getting the CEO’s photograph published in a news paper. Unfortunately, Public Relations is one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted professions.

When people,  who actually doesn’t know what P R is all about, approaches me to handle or do their P R, I invariably request them to do their ‘K Y S” i.e. “KNOW YOUR SELF”  exactly like banks do” K Y C” while opening a new bank account, and to answer the famous FIVE Ws….What, Why, When, Where, Who in a particular format, because, their K Y S and answers to FIVE Ws helps me in creating “ONE H - i.e. HOW” an effective and result oriented P R module for them.  But when a person, not interested in doing KYS and answering five Ws and expect me to do miracles for them in a day or two after assigning the job, I simply say THANK YOU to such people.

P R is not what all have been mentioned in the opening paragraph of this blog and also not restricted to  Public Relations, Press Relations, Press Releases today, it is  but much beyond that ….Management of one’s ” Perception Reputation”. To be precise, management of mental image of an individual or of one’s product, services, organisation,  in the minds of its target audience which is an outcome of perceiving and observing a person, product, service, organisation for a given period or long time.

Friends, on a lighter note for me, P R is PYAAR (LOVE) but not “LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT” because it is like understanding somebody completely and then accepting that person as “FRIEND FOR LIFE”. On a serious note, Public Relations is a practice in which all the attributes of PYAAR - LOVE such as AFFECTION, APPRECIATION, CARE, COMMITMENT, DESIRE, EMOTIONS, IMAGINATION, KINDNESS, LOYALITY, MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING, PASSION, RESPECT, TRUST, and above all the TRUTH play a strategic role in establishing favourable image and a strong bond of long - term relationships or association of an individual or organization or with its internal and external public.

Also, the most said three words or the seven alphabets “I LOVE YOU” are the essence of both - Life, as well as P R.  Both LOVE and P R should be win-win.  Genuine P R will not be false or fake.  It will present the best side of an individual, product, service, or the organization in front of its target public so that both should get benefited. The organization will get benefit because of better branding, visibility leading to higher sales, and public will be benefited by becoming aware of the existence, availability and quality of a particular product, service, or organization.

And, When We LOVE Someone, We Won’t CHEAT.  P R Doesn’t CHEAT, And is HONEST. (Babji Yana)

In a nutshell, please remember that whenever you approach anyone for P R or related support, don’t expect miracles in a day, give time to the P R handler, have faith in him or her or the agency they represent, let them first understand your existing image, honestly answer to their queries about you, your product(s), your business, your people, your organisation, in a transparent manner – nothing to hide, and thereafter give them a freehand to create the image you wish to have. Don’t advise or give instructions to them, let them prepare their version of you, what your audience think about you and how they plan to create the right perception and reputation of you and your organisation.

Friends, P R is like planting a ROSE PLANT, nurturing it with utmost timely care, and when the ROSE blossom, not to cut and gift it to someone you love, rather taking the ROSE PLANT to a flower show competition and winning the best / first prize, that’s P R. 

Lots of PYAAR aka P R 

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