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Public Relations = Brand Building
By Bina Emanvel on Sep 22, 2008 in branding, clientservicing
Strangely, it was a client who taught me this equation, when I’d started my career in PR. I still remember the conversation with the MD of the company, him extolling the importance of PR in his company and me getting very impressed with what had landed in my lap. I was suddenly glad that I had decided to go for PR after college and the follow-up job given to me as my first PR assignment ever, started to make sense. What’s surprising is that not once during the meeting did he mention ‘media’, ‘coverage’ or ‘output’. “I do not want my PR agency to give me press coverage; I want you all to help me build my brand.” I was a convert for life.
Now, I am still to come across another client who shares this opinion. We all know how our monthly dossiers often become nightmares without the big numbers. Though I try to stick to the hallowed equation, I sometimes do find myself juggling interactions and press releases which only serve the purpose of the great Indian CC Output. It’s almost funny how clients can get obsessive about these things. I’m sure PR in India has a long way to go before our clients start to acknowledge the equation, but honestly, how many of us believe in it ourselves?
As PR professionals, we know it in our heads that that PR is about two-way communication with, and building perceptions among, the target group, which most definitely requires media to maintain third-party credibility. All this jazz roughly translates to focussed communication aimed at improving/adjusting/inspiring brand-image. When the target customer reads in her favourite magazine that the latest mobile phone from the client company is a must-have luxury gizmo, many things happen at once. The reader’s awareness of the brand improves a notch; the phone registers in the mental ‘things I want’ list; the customer’s old phone gets a thought or two; the client company gains brownie points for being premium; if the client is already premium, the ‘price on request’ below the phone description adds a little to the aspiration value, improving product desirability; and so on. All of this might or might not lead to a sale but definitely adds to the branding campaign.
Of course, we could say that after years in the industry we do not need to think about the consequential process at all and that we automatically know what to do. Yeah right!! Few clients even LET agencies decide between a release and a press conference for an announcement. Let us say we go for a press conference, what do we do? We start inviting everyone on the media list, start drafting collateral for the press kits, follow-up with the media, arrange for AV, follow-up some more, conduct a recce of the venue, follow-up, prepare a briefing document, follow-up even more while the poor journalist from a small regional daily is wondering why his readers would be interested in a business alliance between two purely B2B industrial manufacturing companies! Of course, he will attend the conference because his favorite Mr. PR ‘so-and-so’ invited him and of course he will give ‘coverage’ because the same so-and-so won’t stop calling if he didn’t.
In the end, what we have is a fat dossier and a big number for the CC output, and a happy client who thinks the press conference was a huge success, and by the way, also thinks that his PR agency is a media post office.
More than convincing the clients, we need to convince ourselves of the importance of what we do, in the larger scheme of things. The value we bring to a client’s brand is not the number of clips we generate in a quarter but the real impact they create, isn’t it? The equation only makes sense because brand building is exactly what PR is meant to do in the first place. (Picture source: Dadawan)
On Sep 22, 2008, Priyanka Batra said:
Dear Bina,
Well I think, such clients are less in number. In my opinion the prime responsibility of PR professionals is to convey the company’s or say client’s message in right way to right audience.
Now message varies from company to company and within a company it may vary from year to year.
Ex 1: Company 1 wants to introduce its new product to customers. (Here press releases are more important ).
Company 2 markets a product that is well recognized in market, but in this case, the company wants to highlight the customer service that it gives w.r.t that particular product. (Here press releases may not be that important,but, establishing credibility is more important).
Any suggestions from your side?
On Sep 22, 2008, Bina Emanvel said:
Hi Priyanka,
True, we are here to communicate to the right audiences at the right time. But what is the purpose of this communication? Whether we use press releases or social media tools, the objective is to influence perceptions. This adds to brand value, doesn’t it? Clients who think this way might be rare but we sure can show them the value of a PR campaign by stressing the brand building bit. Do let me know your thoughts on this. Cheers!
On Sep 23, 2008, Saurabh said:
Hi Bina,
“a fat dossier”, I get to hear from my collegues abt this creature but the end product is surprisingly unsatisfactory(to the client ofcourse)…. Good read Bina.
On Sep 23, 2008, Bina Emanvel said:
Hi Saurabh, ‘fat’ dossiers usually fair better than the leaner ones:-), which may or may not have fantastic articles, which might work for a mass product. Else, its hell! Cheers,
On Sep 24, 2008, Vikas Kumar said:
Hi Bina
Good to see that these kind of clients are in the industry. Most of the time clients are concerned with the press coverage only. People should understand that PR is a tool of brand building so start thinking beyond press coverage.
On Sep 24, 2008, Kavita said:
Hi Bina,
I would like to add here that PR = Brand Building + Brand Sustenance + Brand Enhancement also.
Do let me know your thoughts on this.
Kavita Kapoor
On Sep 24, 2008, Anony Mouse said:
But, but my clients always want fat reports. Else no cheques. I worked out an algebric equation -
Thickness of report is inversely proportional to time taken by client to hand over the cheque.
Sad, sad, true, true.
Let’s be under no illusion that we are building brands. We are in the business of massaging egoes.
On Sep 24, 2008, Bina Emanvel said:
Hi Vikas. Some clients have started to see the relevance of PR in the brand management exercise, thankfully! Education goes a long way in this case. Cheers
On Sep 24, 2008, Bina Emanvel said:
Hi Kavita, your equation also holds good, especially in case of established brands. Else, brand building is always the first, and also the hardest, step usually.
On Sep 24, 2008, Bina Emanvel said:
Anony Mouse,
while I agree with your first 3 observations, I completely disagree with the last one. We are in the business of Public Relations, of which media relations is probably the single most important part. We might have to massage some egos along the way, but I hope and pray that does never becomes a definition of what we do.
Even the most ‘conservative’ of clients would regard PR as a media agency, and I have cited an example primarily to highlight how things can be different. Fat dossiers are great and will get in the monies. Aiming at brand building coverage is what’ll bag us the ‘client delight’ we all strive for, at some point.
On Sep 25, 2008, Anony Mouse said:
@Bina - At the end of a long, tiring day, when you have some time to be with yourself, curl up in your cosy couch, put on some soft music, close your eyes and think back on the years you have spent in the industry. Be fair, be honest. Think about all you have done. Don’t think theory, think practcial things. While we think we are in the business of brand building (that expression gives legitimacy to an undefined and shapeless Indian PR industry), we are really massaging egos. Access to CEOs and MDs mobile numbers doesnt mean we are doing something revolutionary. We have an amzing ability to yap, most of us also have fantastic sense of humour, we can also charm people easily, but thats about it. Hundreds have been ‘groomed’ by Perfect Relations, Genesis, 20:20s of the world but what have we been able to achieve. At the end of the day, Bina, you are at the position you are in because you have been able to deliver coverage. Will you get your bonus because your agency did fantastic work with a focus group which didnt involve media? Will your agency take up a client because it’s small, has a fantastic idea but cant pay? Most likely, no. The big bucks lie in fat coverage reports submitted to companies who can pay, which in turn takes care of your and my salary.
But i think you disagree with me…
On Sep 27, 2008, Bina Emanvel said:
@Anony Mouse
I agree that a huge chunk of our work involves maintaining great relationships-with media and clients, for coverage as well as for retainer fees. Communication with purpose is what I am talking about in the post. The purpose happens to be just coverage in many cases. What I’m talking about is quality coverage or quality communication leading to building of brands, which many PR consultancies are exploring successfully. With our client base expanding to include international players, we are under pressure to perform, not just in terms of numbers but also in terms of impact.
‘Relevance’ of coverage could be a small step in this direction for clients demanding fat coverage reports only. Cheers