Is it PR? When courier boys become power brokers!

When courier boys become power brokers

"...in any ministry, if there is no vested interest in a proposal, nobody is interested to push it forward and upward. It gets a silent burial."

Last month, just a few days before the Nira Radia tapes kicked up dirt, I was in a radio debate on the "future of PR", which was moderated by Sanjay Pinto, of NDTV.
Sanjay Pinto, at one point, strongly made a statement that the PR fraternity were mostly doing a 'courier' job. Oh yeah! I smugly smirk now since Nira Radia just proved what heights a proactive 'courier' girl can reach!

Lobbying - is the second oldest profession
Lobbying to get the attention of powers-that-be towards an issue did not start with Nira Radia. All the industrial bodies were formed to collectively conduit the aspirations of an industry. What do CII, NASSCOM or any industrial body do in the months before the March budget presentation? Go to Tirupathi and pray?
Come on now, grow up, please. Accept the reality in any system where there is concentration of power, influencers will thrive like amoeba. In the corridors of power at Delhi or any nation's capital, every file in every ministry has the tag of a lobbyist.
In fact, in any ministry, if there is no vested interest in a proposal, nobody is interested to push it forward and upward. It gets a silent burial.

Have’t YOU lobbied?
Everybody who snort self-righteously and bemoan the state-of-the-nation should ask themselves whether they have patiently waited for the school's decision in giving admission to their son or daughter. How many contacts they would have tapped into to reach the correspondent or the Head mistress?!

Don’t equate PR with lobbying
PR is much more than mere Lobbying. Content marketing or collaborative marketing using social media apart from traditional channels will become the mainstay of the PR industry.
Unfortunately, since PR industry has no entry criteria, the influencers who have no other apparent skills, cloak their murky services under the euphemism of PR. That provides them a formal front.

What the PR industry should do
Like the advertising industry which has unified to provide diploma courses, the PR industry should come together and make a curriculum. At least a short course will set the path for giving a semblance of professionalism and be a step in regaining respectability. 

SreeRam, Communications Consultant, Chennai, India.
9340006600, nathansmedia@gmail.com

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HOW TO WRITE A PRESS RELEASE WHICH GETS PUBLISHED

• GIVE HEADLINE MATERIAL -
" 22 year old girl kicks the shit out of 3 eve-teasers at Nungambakkam "
Now compare it with "KravMaga is popular in Chennai."

• Remember the publication is looking for NEWS, which will interest its readers. So give headline material the journalist can build his story upon.
• ( … and get an opportunity to slip in the info you want to convey. :-) )

• GIVE A SYNOPSIS UPFRONT

• Remember journalists are always running against deadlines. Especially those in dailies.
• So start with a bullet pointed Executive Summary, which captures the salient points in less than 150 or 200 words. Most of the experienced journalists can immediately churn out a good story with this synopsis itself.

• DONT WRITE A COMPANY PROFILE IN THE GUISE OF A STORY

• Don’t C&P the "About Us" from your company website. It’s an immediate put off.
• Make the story relevant to the headline. 

• CUSTOMIZE TO THE PUBLICATION'S PROFILE
Slightly reword the story to suit the Publication's profile.

• General Interest - " 50 million computers infected with SreeRam virus"
• Business - " 60% PCs of corporate India infected with SreeRam virus"
• Life Style - " Are you spamming? SreeRam virus targets your mail box. "
• Teens - "Beware! Torrent downloads come with SreeRam virus."

• HAVE GOOD MANNERS

• Don’t mass mail a general draft to every journalist in your address book. Address them by name and send individual mails.
• Don’t be bossy - “PFA our press release as a word doc. Kindly Publish". Remember the DELETE button is a few cms away. So, at least give a synopsis in the body of the mail and then inform the journalist that the story is in the Attachment.
• Please don’t attach 20 MB high resolution images as a zip. If you are attaching pictures, take the trouble to optimize them to say 10 cm width @ 300 dpi., preferably in CMYK.
• Send large files separately after getting the consensus of the journalist.
• Wherever possible, follow-up with a phone call or email.
• And for Dog’s sake rum a spll cheque.

SreeRam is a Chennai based marcom professional.
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