Recently, I read the report on public relations consulting industry by a leading industry association based on a random survey of PR professional projecting the size of the Indian public relations industry at USD 3bn or an incredible INR 12,000 crores!! It claimed that the industry will double by 2010. The numbers seem incredible. As I was deliberating on its contents, I received an enquiry from a highly respected journalist who writes exclusively on public relations seeking some insights into the size of the industry. It was interesting to see some of the back of the envelope calculation he had done.

He estimated, given the industry reportedly has 30,000-40,000 professional the average billing per professional would be a minimum $75,000/- pa or INR 3mn per annum. At this level of billing per professional, we would be competing with some management consultancies!

Clearly, it does not seem to be the reality on the ground. I wish it were.

Interestingly, the same report mentions “Lack of understanding of PR: It may come as a surprise but most people still have a very vague notion of PR” as one of the constraints to attracting good quality talent into the profession.

What is public relations? Let me share with you my notion of public relations.

Whilst I am told there are 386 definitions, I learned only one definition of public relations “A planned, deliberate, sustained campaign aimed at enhancing trust between a company and its various publics”

What the definition failed to tell me was the aim of achieving the trust? That I was told would depend upon the objective of your programme. Therefore, I put two and two together and concluded – the objective of a public relations programme is to “achieve trust that provides a reassurance of action taken by a stakeholder in relation to that particular company.”

So what skills and capabilities we need to achieve trust that provides reassurance and be seen and recognised as true blue professionals? I share an excerpt of a conversation with my young colleagues entering the profession.

“What business are we in?” A question I often ask. Answers range from reputation managers to communication specialists!

We are in the business of influencing behaviour,” I say. I am asked: why do we influence behaviour? “To help create preference,” I reply. We help create preference for whom? “Our clients company, its products or services, etc, etc.” I reply.

How do we achieve that preference? Is effective media relations enough? Here’s where encourage them to discover their own answers. I urge them to read Crystallizing Public Opinion by Edward Berneys to understand how he understood and used public relations. He should know. He coined the term ‘public relations’. Incidentally, he was the nephew of Sigmund Freud and he wrote this text around 1920, a few years after the First World War.

Do we really see ourselves as students of the art and science of influencing behaviour? Do we work acquiring the knowledge and skill for understanding and influencing behaviour? Are we able to merge our understanding of human behaviour with its application in the commercial world?

The point I am making is that our myopia in seeing the true purpose & application of our own profession is responsible for how others see and value us. Isn’t it ironical, a profession which claims to help ‘manage image’ suffers from a lack of it?

When we can improve our own vision, work towards understanding and influencing behaviour, apply that knowledge in the commercial world by choosing the most appropriate tools and channels, only then will public relations be truly understood and valued for its contribution.

This has been my journey and learning as I made the leap of faith from hotels, business school to public relations! I remain a student of fathoming the exciting depth of understanding the true value of public relations.

This article has been contributed by our special guest writer, Ashwani Singla, for our GuruSpeak series.