Tag: Professional

99. RT online Conclave

Posted on by Neha Goyal

As we know, communication professionals have been the solution providers in every critical situation since decades. With this new normal of going digital, work from home and social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Reputation Today in partnership with SCoRe decided to organise its very first online conclave. The RT conclave that was scheduled this month in Delhi has been postponed due to the pervasive outbreak. To have a discussion on the current situation and how to go about it, some of the best communication professionals from PR firms and corporates from various sectors were part of this conversation. The panel of 16 members with a moderator and anchor delivered a short and crisp message in an average of three minutes on topics like How Companies are Dealing with Volatility, Uncertainty, Chaos & Ambiguity.

It was a great opportunity for me to attend and enrich myself with insights on how organizations are responding to the ongoing pandemic, and how reputations are at stake. My 3 key takeaways during such a situation from the #RTConclave are:

  1. Brands should focus on what they stand for, their purpose, how can they give back to society rather than getting distracted during such a challenging time
  2. Being authentic, engaging and having a meaningful conversation in these trying times is important for all communicators
  3. No matter how difficult the scenario is, brands should be empathetic and humane not only to their customers but towards all their stakeholders

But above all, the biggest reminder during this conversation was ‘we the communication professionals are in the people’s business at the end of the day’.

Other than discussing how communication professionals can bring normalcy to this situation, the conversation ended with an action to bring awareness and commitment towards caution and health. People from Reputation Today, PRCAI, SCoRe along with the panellists, pledged to fiercely uphold our profession as never before by promising to stay safe, to stand by their clients and to be ethical no matter what. Anyone from PR fraternity can take this pledge and be a part to communicate better even during these testing times.

62. Increasing role of communicators in corporate houses

Posted on by Neha Goyal

‘Communication in a Disrupted World’

The brands have started changing the way they connect and engage with their audience through their communication. They are no more dependent on following old communication rule only. The medium has changed today than it was decades ago. The professionals have started working in a different space as the technology is changing and so are the preferences of the people.

The medium landscape is now more into social and digital media than traditional media, because of the changing preference among the audience. Today with the availability of news 24/7, the communicators have to monitor news constantly and respond to them quickly to avoid even the smallest of crisis. The complexity has increased for communicators due to which there is a high demand for them in the corporate environment.

Different brands and companies have started having more of communicators to communicate. It helps the firms in development and understanding the communication issue. Now, the firms work more strategically than tactically with the help of corporate communicators. This means that the expectations from them have increased and they are expected to be more knowledgeable.  

 The professionals will now have to handle more of new constraints in this changing and challenging environment. The communicators are gaining the ability to adapt and evolve with those changes is making the companies enhance their communication and look for future differently.

The corporate communicators help the firms to:

  • Be more transparent in communication and build trust among its consumers
  • It helps in building the reputation of an organization by communicating what the company stands for and engaging with the audience
  • Solve the problems faced by customers through communicating and connecting them with employees when required
  • They build the environment of teamwork by having effective internal communication 

The new generations of communicators have to come in the field with more advanced skill sets and have to be proactive in their work. They have to meet the new and advanced challenges and the demand of communicators that are happening in today’s digital time. 

60. Qualities of PR Professionals

Posted on by Neha Goyal

Public Relations is a profession that is underestimated and still confusing for many people. Not everyone gets it right and thinks that the job of the professional is only to send out press releases and some basic ways to connect with people. But today the world is changing and so is the dynamics of public relations. To be a good public relation professional in this changing world, there are certain qualities which are required. An employee with certain qualities feels more confident in the job and can deliver the work which the needs to. The certain qualities required are:

  • Passion & Dedication- It is one of the most important things to have in this field to survive. Without being passionate about their job and dedicated towards it one cannot be creative and give their 100% in it.
  • Building relationships- Networking and meeting new people is really important. It is important to have connections with people and know influencers, journalists, publishers and build a relationship with them. They are the go-to person when they want people to talk about their clients.  
  • Storyteller- To make the message stick in the mind of the audience, the professionals need to be a good storyteller. They have to narrate stories in a way through which the public can get hook to them and remember it.
  • Persuasive- The professionals should have the ability to sell their story to the audience and pursue them towards the narrative about which they speak about.
  • Be outside the box- Being creative and thinking out of the box in today’s crowded market is one of the aspects which is important to have. To leave an impression and stand-out, the professionals need to think differently which will make the audience remember and talk about it.
  • Curious- It is important to have a desire to learn and experiment with new things, meet new people and be adventurous in this field. It helps to get knowledge and broaden the horizons.
  • Reading & Writing- Content plays an important role in this field. Reading voraciously and writing a lot is like a foundation which helps a lot in getting new ideas and be creative. By doing these, one gains a lot of knowledge of different sectors and what is going around the world.   
  • Ability to embrace change- Today things change very rapidly. The professionals need to have the ability to embrace change and look at the opportunities to leverage those changes in their communication and be prepared for what is coming in the future.
  • Positive attitude- Many times, things don’t go according to a plan. It is good to learn from difficult situations and be positive about the things going around. Their positivity helps clients to trust them. They should accept criticism and take it as an opportunity to do better.  
  • Proactive- Being ready to face unexpected situations in this field is important. One shouldn’t wait for someone else to handhold or direct them but they need to take the imitative to do well in their work and come up with unexpected ideas.

PR professional needs to keep upgrading themselves, sharp their skills and shouldn’t be afraid of trying new things. The profession keeps evolving and so should the professionals in it.

24. Ethics- Why Not?

Posted on by Neha Goyal

‘Ethics is the activity of man directed to secure the inner perfection of his own personality.‘

When someone asks about why one should be ethical. Before answering them, you should ask them why not? Why shouldn’t one be ethical? Having good ethics is the secret to success. Today, we live in a competitive space where many a time people don’t know what they are doing is ethical or not. But, that’s not an excuse to be made.

Ethics is a quality that is required and should be followed in every profession. It is a value that tells a lot about an individual and the organisation. It helps both an individual and the firm to grow by being honest and ethical to people around them and mainly to themselves. Ethic is considered as a human code to know the difference between what is right and what is wrong? In life, professionally or personally one could have several factors that might encourage them to do unethical things, but it is on us to choose the correct path. And we should be mindful of what path we choose in difficult situations.

Good ethics help us gain confidence as we do the right things under all circumstances. It will lead us to maintain our honest image. While working in an organization when one comes across a certain situation which they think is unethical, they should always approach the higher authority and try to correct it. There is no question of being biased when it comes to being unethical professionally.   

I am a public relations postgraduate student, at SCoRe where one of the core values taught to us is being “Ethical” from day one. The core value taught to us says that ‘No matter how big the stakes and how tough the competition against us is’ we should always be ethical and honest as it will always help us in the long run.