Media Relations in smaller towns and Cities...

India is a vast country and every few kilometers the language, culture, nuances - everything changes... So how does one look at media relations in these places???

For a consultancy that has had more than its share of "client requirements" for smaller cities and towns - we targeted more than 300 towns in North India for a client several years ago - we have been pretty successful in garnering coverage across regions.

And this was not through some rocket-science, but keeping the basic tenets of PR in mind:

1. Reach Out and Communicate: In the smaller towns, the opportunities are fewer and most media is more than happy to connect with your client, if he/she can get a bite/quote that can give him/her more visibility. So the crux is to reach out and open channels of communication. Just remember - Phones/Faxes are preferred modes over emails/sms here.

2. Respect: We have always believed that respect is a two-way street and sometimes we are so caught up in our own sense of importance, that we forget common courtesies. Most agencies err on the side of "superiority" - we err on the side of caution. Making a person feel good about himself/herself and then getting him the access to the right people, we have realized, helps get better stories than any amount of push/pull from the head office or throwing names

3. Localize: Giving the local flavour, and adding some basic details relevant to that region helps a lot... Customization is the key here... It also gives the media a sense of "relevance" and they can fight to get their stories in better... Wherever possible communicate in the local language and offer quotes and details in the same language. Remember - Google translate is NOT a good idea - it only transliterates and does not translate! Locate a quality translator, often a local media person or someone who the local media can recommend!

4. Brief your client well on the do's and don'ts: It pays to have a short briefing session on the local media, just before the activity, so that the client is fully abreast of what to say and what not to say/do!!!

And last but not the ;least: Please do not crib about roads, heat, power failure, lack of amenities, etc... Remember, there is some nice thing to say about the worst of places and while you are just visitors, these people are residents...

We have had successful stints in most of the places that we have been to, based on only these four tenets and so can all of you!!!

Misconceptions about PR

Most of those who are a part of the PR industry and even those who are not, often have several misconceptions about PR. I am touching upon several of these below that I have personally witnessed in the last two years that I have been in the industry:

Advertising & PR are the same: People believe that all publicity is Advertising and therefore since we are in the publicity business, we are in Advertising.

The most interesting manifestation was visible when one of the team at a clients’ told us that we were the first guys who he had met who were not doing advertising and were only pursuing PR. He told us to rethink our business and include Advertising as well. Oopsie… The rest of the meeting with him went into making him realize the difference between the both, which was rather embarrassing for us as we had been working with them for quite a long time.

Females in the PR industry: Another misconception associated with PR is that PR agencies only appoint good looking girls because they have more “pleasing power” and they attract more attention which helps in getting their work done… How skewed can this get???

I am told that some PR agencies also have strict guidelines about how to dress up professionally. It does not really make sense for a PR person to dress up in “attractively” just to seek attention. But, so deeply engrained are our biases that we believe that only drop-dead gorgeous girls can be good PR people. An academically minded professional who was given additional responsibility of PR was at the receiving end of her own colleagues who did not think that she did not look “PRish” enough for her job. She has since joined the civil services and as luck would have it, is in the Information Services…

I do not believe that only good looks can get the work done. What matters is that a professional needs to be presentable and in our business, interactive.

Because of this mindset, generally only “lookers” are appointed for the PR function by the corporates and PR agencies. Unfortunately, this brings with it another categorization – “dumb”.

Most media believes that most PR women are dumb. And I am forced to concede to a recent statement by Shashi Tharoor which said that “media cannot accept an attractive girl as a serious business professional”.

I wonder if girls will ever be recognized for their professional skills rather than what people believe that they are???

PR a revenue generating exercise: Clients often tend to believe that by undertaking a PR exercise, they can increase their revenues overnight. PR is NOT a sales function, though it assists in adding to the revenues in the long run.

PR highlights the USPs of the organization, creates perceptions which do not exist or shares information about new products and services. PR is a facilitator for information dissemination and perception moulding but not for sales. The best that PR does is brings the buyer and seller at a common platform, but it does not sell!!!

PR is all about having good media relations: Those who know PR believe that PR is not public relations but press relations – and now media relations. The perception is that PR professionals have to have good relations with journalists which can help them get good coverage in the media and most stories can be generated because of good relationships.

I believe that this is wrong… The only thing that matters when it comes to generating a good story is the content and information that we share and the way we are able to communicate it – in short, does it sound convincing to the journalist and whether he/she is convinced that this makes for a good story?