Public Relations : The Rejected Cornerstone.

As I was fighting insomnia a few hours ago I bumped into this lovely blog on  How to Identify Your PR Niche. Reading through it I discovered it had answers to many questions that I have been asked by both new entrants into the practice as well as seasoned ones who intend to venture into consultancy.

Public Relations is quickly becoming the cornerstone of any organizations after continuously being rejected by many professionals, because they believed that PR was an addition to the business and not part of the business. This year will even see more competition as many of the digital communication roles are moved from advertising to Public Relations as brands strive to get space in the blogosphere.

Blogs and webzines will quickly creep into the space currently being occupied by web banners and other online advertising tools in order to generate online conversations with the targeted online audience. In Kenya I expect many bloggers to move away from just plucking tit bits from press releases to deeply analyzed pieces that will keep readers glued to their blogs.

Nonetheless, all sorts of outfits have discovered the power of persuasion. Charities, trade unions and protest groups create stunts and “facts” as powerful, and sometimes as dubious as the piggy demonstration we had last year. Did they achieve their objectives? Only time will tell.

Battle for communication strategies: May the best PR team win

As the tempo for 2014 picks up, many are already folding their sleeves for the roll out of the communication strategies for the year. For the next few weeks, conversations will revolve around getting budget approvals for the year as well as aligning the communication plans with the business objectives for the organizations.

But wait, have you thought about the people who will be rolling out these strategies?

Though built on principles that have lived for ages, modern day PR is a practice that is based on continuous execution and creative roll-out that heavily relies on the individual brilliance of the teams behind the campaign. A brilliant team is able to get the word out as well as build lasting natural connections with your target audience.

To create a powerful brand, one has to maintain a consistent set of defining features. For instance, world over, Coca-cola has continuously employed emotive communication to engage its audience; this has gradually grown to make it an impregnable brand. Just like communication, the consistency of the teams driving the campaign will play a major role in its success because they are able to pick the learnings of the previous years and inject in new ideas for the 2014 plans.

A bad race only remains so if you do not learn from it.  This is why it is important to never quit a race. In 2014, I will carefully examine how I faired in my 2013 race and then modify my training to win this year’s race. Maybe my racing was right but my opponent proved better. Trust you me, I won’t leave anything to chance; I will train harder and smarter for all my campaigns in 2014.