I have observed a very curious trend in media, over the last one year- A whole new breed of young journalists suddenly gaining a lot of ground and visibility in almost all publications and TV channels, across the country. While the seasoned journalist is still very much around, the gen X (Y?) media poses a new challenge, and excitement, tossing out of the window the revered set of media relations pointers we’ve collated since the genesis of PR in India.

Many of these young journalists are smart, savvy and rather fearless. The in-depth stories, the frequent bylines and the probing questions, all demand that we take them seriously. Having had the opportunity to deal with many of them, I have collated a personal reference of pointers that have proved very useful when dealing with a young journalist. I would definitely appreciate additions to this.

1. Be prepared with details: Keeping all the facts and figures, even the most atypical ones, is important as the young journalist asks a lot of questions. While the more seasoned ones know that certain questions will not be answered and will be evaded, the new ones tend to demand for answers and explanations.

2. Do not escalate issues: I have had some big issues where a journalist had behaved in a rather unprofessional/unethical manner. For instance, once a journalist refused to complete a food review as a tiff with a friend had upset her mid-way! Not only had we taken appointment with the client a week in advance, we had made arrangements for the entire F&B for the evening. While it really was tempting to call up her editor and report the issue, we realized that it was best to sort the matter then and there. No matter how close you are to the boss, do remember that today’s rookie is tomorrow’s editor-in-chief. Plus, you also stand a chance of ruffling feathers incase the editor is drinking buddies with the concerned journalist. Be firm and reinforce the importance of the task at hand and inform the journalist of the effort gone into it. More often than not, you will get your message across. If nothing works, ask for an alternative and confirm further action immediately.

3. Follow-up incessantly: Do this with both the journalist as well as the editor concerned. This not only ensures that you get the coverage but also conveys a sense of importance of the story to the journalist. Once a journalist actually said to an executive in my team-“Oh, I didn’t realize this story is so important to your client!” Also, this acts as a reminder and a great way of building relationships with the concerned media.

4. Socialize. Socialize. Socialize: They are a lot of fun and are great friends with lots of journalists. I actually met a very senior journalist through a trainee, over drinks. This is also a great platform for getting to know their psyche and their general opinions. Add them on Gtalk and Facebook; few will refuse an invitation.

5. Do not underestimate: A reputed financial publication in Bangalore has a very talented trainee journalist whose bylined stories are featured in the daily almost every day. When she had turned up at an important press conference a couple of months back, we were all very worried. When she started asking questions, not only did she come across as smart but also very, very thorough. No surprise, the client was impressed and we got a big story.

6. Brief the client: It is most challenging when you have an inexperienced journalist turning up for interactions. Reinforce the importance of the publication to the client and share samples of the journalist’s work, if possible. Also prepare a detailed briefing document, focusing on the journalist’s qualities like depth of stories, style of interacting, industry knowledge, etc., instead of experience.

7. Do not forget to brief the journalist on the client: Share company literature and if possible, have a long chat the day before, on the client. Last month, a new journalist asked the global head of one of my clients to give an intro about the company to him! Enough said, it did not go down well with the client at all. It also makes sense to give the journalist an overview of the client’s industry and competition if he/she is very inexperienced. He will remain thankful for increasing his knowledge base, the client will be happy about the quality of interaction, and you might get a more prominent story in the bargain.

8. Share visuals: Doesn’t matter if the client is in the manufacturing business, share as many pictures/videos as possible. These are definitely more interesting than plain pitch notes and are much more appealing to the younger audience. Plus, I see a lot of pictures getting picked up for industry/trend stories magnifying a client’s participation in them.

9. Draw a line: It is very easy to get carried away when you chat with someone everyday and catch up outside of work regularly. Please remember that even the junior-most of journalists expect respect and professionalism, and rightly so. Maintain the same level of deference that you would employ for a senior journalist and stay away from gossip as much as you can. It will backfire for sure.

10. Share appreciation when you feel a job is well-done: Drop in a thank you note for a great article and call up if you can. Even if a story is not about a client and you think it is fantastic, let them know. Not only is it a great booster for someone, who is new, it also shows that you actually follow their publication. However, be wary of appreciation bordering on flattery. It is easy to catch and leaves a bad taste no matter how close you are. Be honest and you will do just fine.

We generally talk about PR agencies out here on this blog and what we can do to enhance our client and media skills. Well, I found this interesting article on how to become a good PR client. Read on and let us know what does it take to be a good client. What do you think?

PR is most productive when the agency and client people work as a team. The ideal is a blurred distinction between the two organizations. The goals are nearly the same, only the paychecks and business cards are different. Efficient teamwork and friendships develop, with the clients relying on agencies for a full range of strategic as well as tactical communications values. The agency is free to ask all questions, including the hard or perhaps embarrassing ones, and offer help wherever and whenever needed while remembering its charter to client service.

Recently a colleague forwarded me a mail that was supposedly sent out to dozens of media persons by a renowned media personality criticizing a certain journalist about her misbehavior with PR folks and saying PR and journalism are part of the communications industry and should go hand in hand. For a moment I was surprised to see such a mail. Then I realized the mail was fake. He wouldn’t have used a spammy Gmail address to address his media colleagues. So my guess was someone who probably had a tiff with the journalist decided to get back by faking her boss and sending out a strongly worded email.

In another incident, a mail was sent impersonating a colleague of mine, using another Gmail address, to some 40 plus journalists, including senior editors and COBs claiming that certain journalists and a PR person have been involved in bribery to get press releases covered in newspapers. My colleague had to send out a mail to everyone explaining it was not him who had written that mail.

I don’t know who have been doing these, and whether the sender of such mails are from the PR industry or not. However it certainly brings bad reputation to the industry, for the misdeeds of a few unprofessional lot.

Check the content of the mails below. Please note: All names have been removed to protect the identities of individuals concerned.

Fake Mail 1 text: (see screenshot)

All the journalists being a part of this communication industry MUST READ IT……..
The communications industry in India is growing by leaps and bounces. It has gathered an unbelievable momentum and the credit goes to all the pillars – media, advertising, public relations, corporate communications, etc.

However, it is hard to segregate the whole industry into parts as these parts are totally interlinked. Though, it seems that some of the people working in the industry do not realize this fact and tend to believe that they are running the industry on their bare shoulders.

It’s funny to see how some journalists feel so logiclessly above the people who are working in the corporate side. And in this fool’s paradise, they tend to behave not only in an unprofessional but also in a very uncivilized manner with the professionals from public relations and corporate communication consultancies. They must remember one thing that they can only get respect if they are willing to give respect to others.

Recently, there was an incident where Ms. vjvjvjvj from vjgvjvjvj had displayed such a behavior. This is just to remind Ms. vjhjbjbb that if she continues this uncivilized behavior of hers, she may lose out on any stories she is doing through agencies and even of the clients with whose communication agents she misbehaves with. This is a strict warning for not only her but all such unprofessional people in the media fraternity.

All the PR consultancies across India have been informed about this step and any misbehavior with any of the members of these consultancies shall be at the personal risk of the journalist.

The media people who have done anything significant in their careers realize the interdependence of all sectors and always behave in a professional way. The PR industry hopes that you are one of them, because if you are not, it won’t be tough for them to strike you off our list completely.

Fake Mail 2 text: (see screenshot)

Dear all
I wish to bring this to your notice.

Three people - sfdvdfv (sfvfv), rvevevi (Tsevefnt) and aevfdv (a PR manager with fvfvsfdvsdfv) who are extorting money to write press releases and to publish them in their newspapers.

Recently, I experienced it myself, was shocked and ashamed to see their behaviour.

These persons, who claim to be journalists, demand cash and if delayed on account of no reason, use the most vulgar of language and go to the extent of blocking the news in getting it printed. If money is paid on time, without a word, they see to it that it gets prominent display and go to the level of writing it with their names on it and in turn advise us to release it a couple of days later.

Please in future, please be careful while engaging them.

When I was a caterpillar in the PR profession, I used to enjoy learning everything about the media. Making media contacts was one of my favorite roles. I engrossed in it to the extent that I shifted my profile entirely to media relations.

However, one thing that has confused me is pampering the media unnecessarily. I was stunned seeing my colleagues giving endless gifts to the media. It was a shock as in my professional course of Advertisement and PR I have been taught about professionalism. But I could not see any professionalism in taking gifts for attending events or for doing stories.

During my professional traveling so far for events, I have seen a culture that many times the media asks for gifts openly. They ask bluntly about what gift you are giving. It was really shocking when some of them asked straightforwardly for cash in an envelope to attend an event.

It’s not only the PR agency that encourages this culture but somewhere the clients are also responsible for the same. One of the biggest players in automobile industry thinks that if they do not give gifts to media, the event will be considered incomplete. They also think that the media will not write their stories without gifts irrespective of the fact how important the news they are sharing is.

Last year we had a big event in Rajasthan. One night before the event, a government minister died in a road accident. I started getting calls from the media till late night saying that they would not be able to attend the event as a minister has died and they will be busy in that. They asked me what we are giving as gifts. I was left with no option but to tell them and next day I found all media persons at the event. I believe gifts were more important than the death of the minister.

This seems more of buying the media rather than indulging in media relations. Or in other words, we can say this is the another definition of MEDIA BUYING in PR industry.

Later on I came to know that this is not the case in tier two cities alone, in metros, the scene is worst. Even in the capital, so many journalists from reputed media houses attend events just for gifts. Sometimes journalists give phone calls and ask for gifts without attending the event. And of course even after this, the story is not assured. But if the editor will eliminate the story, the journalist will never say that he or she has taken a gift from PR agency so please don’t stop the story. There are journalists who create issues for not getting the gifts. They make excuses for not attending the events from next time and also try their best to stop the stories.

It is a regular practice that has been carried by PR, journalists, and clients. But it creates a problem for small organizations who can’t afford expensive gifts for the media. We have noticed few journalists who try to stop stories of PR agencies that refuse to give gifts.

Another issue I believe which doesn’t make any sense is the pick ‘n’ drop for media. There is no point providing such facilities to media. In exceptional cases like providing drop back facility to female journalists in the night or taking media out for a day is quite acceptable. But calling a cab at your place four to five hours before the event and using the same for the rest of the day is really unethical. It really doesn’t make a sense to provide a cab to such a place which is just half kilometer away from the venue of the event. Still many media persons ask for pick ‘n’ drop for these small distances, despite the fact they get paid from their companies for traveling officially. They say it openly if we want us to attend an event, you have to provide the pick ‘n’ drop. PR agencies need to spare one executive to coordinate the cabs for these special guest of our. Sometime it feels like doing transportation business rather than real PR.

There are also some people who attend events without being invited for it and they openly ask for gifts too. They belong to such media houses, which are not relevant either for PR agencies or for the clients. Some people do not belong to any media houses but still claim to be journalists and ask for gifts. Few retired journalists are sometimes also being noticed attending events for their share. Sometimes they start misbehaving or threatening PR persons and try to show them the MEDIA POWER.

Sometimes they ask for two gifts at one go. Helping media in getting a discount in a clients’ product is acceptable but giving gifts, cabs, and other facilities to them to get the stories done is extremely unethical.

Needless to say that they have stronger network than any other in this industry. They update themselves with all the events everyday with the exact timings and venue. Sometimes clients ask us to find out the events happening on a particular date and we find it difficult to find all the relevant details. I must say it is an indirect learning for all of us.

I have noticed Mumbai as the only place where these practices are not followed. In the rest of the country the meaning of professionalism goes for a toss. I don’t know who is to be blamed for this. PR agencies or Clients? Obviously we cannot blame the media as we only support these practices for one or the other reason. I feel this process will continue like this and media will keep on taking the advantage of it. But still I want to stop this crap. Don’t know how.

I was fortunate to attend the awards ceremony of the Pink slip awards last year where creative awards were given to agency and companies for creative excellence in recruitment advertising. This is a new and interesting initiative from the Times Group to encourage both the clients and the advertising agency to produce great work in the field of recruitment space which helps in companies to draw good talent especially in today’s employment market where there are ample opportunities but limited talent available.

The excellence awards are given across various industries such as finance, banking, pharma, BPO, technology and software etc. What is disturbing a bit here is that the big agencies are not involved in creating communication on recruitment ads and you mostly find mid-sized agency do this of which some of them has become specialist in creating only recruitment-advertising campaign. The larger agency does not recognize this has a major revenue earner and exciting opportunity for their creative team to do inspiring work. Hence invariably designing the recruitment advertisement takes a back seat. I only look forward with the introduction of Pink slip awards we get to spot larger agencies also create purposeful communication with strong idea for their clients and brands in the area of recruitment ads. Lets also remember recruitment advertisements is one of the most powerful way of building the corporate image of the brand internally, externally and to the company stakeholders.

Corporates ought to focus on creativity and original ideas:

In the 80s and in even in the 90’s corporates used print media with powerful communication to sell their companies to attract good talent. Since the only means of communication available was the daily press and business magazines limited space was allocated by media companies to release ads. Most publications earmarked some space and special dates in a week to release these recruitment ads and as a result the recruitment space was cluttered. Most of the appointment advertisements appeared in the supplements of the main issue in black and white for senior positions and you had the classified ads, which permitted companies to release ads for junior posts and walk in interviews.

The country is today in its growth path and industries have started flourishing across category and the need for quality talent is required on a continuous baisis. Earlier we had very few industries that used to advertise for manpower. That has taken a quantum leap and today the industry has grown leaps and bound beginning from BPO, Healthcare, Finance, Banking, Advertising, Media and Entertainment, Insurance, Software &Technology and the growing FMCG and Retail segment. All these up-and-coming industry are giving sleepless nights to the HR team and Search consultants, as there is a huge gap between demand and supply. The HR team is pulling all stocks and strategy to get the right candidate through various communication tools and headhunters. In doing so companies have forgotten the pivotal role and significance on the role of PR and recruitment advertisements, which has a strong pulling power for job seekers to respond. Companies now have realised this and are actively engaged in infusing newness with original idea and creativity on recruitment advertisements to beat the clutter and draw quality talents to their organisation. Also more companies are waiting for opportunity to get their companies covered on HR stories to supplement their image and credibility

What drives to create great recruitment ads?

If you pick up any newspaper containing recruitment ads you will notice high clutter and the paper is filled with a whole of lot advertisements without any differentiation. This has been the perpetual problem even decades back when we did not have job portals. Since most advertisements were in black &white it was all the more challenging for brands to shout and stand out. With the advent of colour the scope to increase one’s bandwidth in terms of creative opened up. To create great communication in the recruitment space the first and foremost objective is to speak truth to your prospects. You should not promise them the moon and disappoint them. Give a complete run down of the company right from its values, culture and the vision of the company. In your communication you must enlighten about the entire structure and the person to whom the prospect would be reporting in the work function. This is most critical as attrition rate invariably occurs due to lack of job satisfaction or the wrong chemistry with the boss. Many companies to create a strong image and build credibility release full-page advertisement to attract talent. This is one way of showing the bigness of the company and communicating to the prospects that we are a large conglomerate with strong guiding principles. Some MNC’s also try follow to create a design & grid with the right tone and style and use them as a template. This holds good if the post one is advertising for is at middle level. But it is always better to try and be different even within that template to catch your audience’s attention.

PR plays an important role in building credibility and image:

While through advertising you are able to get prospects to respond. It is PR with the help of stories in HR is what helps company to establish credibility of their company. Today more and more companies are looking for opportunities to be present on exclusive and industry related stories on HR topics. With huge attrition rate and shortage of talent , stories on HR has been keeping corporates on their toes to bring in attractive and friendly HR polices to nurture and retain talent. Being present in various articles and forums by brands is also being noticed by prospects to get better understanding of the corporates before one deicide to work with a particular company. Since HR is a very important tool in building the corporate image of any organisation companies needs to be more pragmatic and innovative in evolving their PR strategy to attract and retain good talent and thereby strengthening the equity of the corporate brand in the employment market.

Adds values to the corporate brand:

A well thought out communication for a recruitment ad has direct bearing not only on the future prospects but also the stakeholders, business partners and employees within the company. A good recruitment ad also builds credibility and image of the organisation so long as the company paints the correct picture and information of the organisation. The power of recruitment ads also helps in enhancing the position of the company in the prospects mind by maintaining the right style and tone consistently in their communication. This is where creative excellence for recruitment ads will play a major role as that will motivate clients to think out of box and get their brand across in the most unique and outstanding manner instead of churning out the run of the mill formatted ads. Any piece of communication to attract talent must exhibit a good career path to entice the job seekers to respond. If that promise is delivered through strategic recruitment ads we will be able witness more and more HR personnel pushing their communication partners that much extra to create advertisements and implement hard working PR strategy to deliver great value to the brand and motivate and attract quality talent to the organisation.