In the last decade, PR has evolved as sustainable content curators: Pooja Trehan

In the last 10 years, PR has taken a different dimension, especially after the entry of social media and the rapid shift to digital, especially in the pandemic period. At the same time the industry has been facing stiff challenges, moreover client expectations have also increased, with more emphasis being given to digital and online reputation management. The industry has undergone a radical shift and the current times have pushed the industry to change gears.

In conversation with Adgully, Pooja Trehan, Director - Marketing Communications, SugarBox Networks, speaks at length about the changing face of Public Relations, how PR has embraced digital, building brands through content marketing, and much more.

The PR industry in the last 10 years has evolved and is changing, especially after the pandemic. What are some of the significant changes that you have noticed and what are some of the learnings?

In the last decade, we have evolved as sustainable content curators. Gone are the days where one could send out a press release and cross their fingers for a successful outcome or manage a client basis media rounds. Today, as PR and Communications professionals, our objective is to be true interpreters as storytellers and not merely adapt to an interpretation for our benefit. The roles we play are that of strategic advisors, who juggle well with data analytics, yet rely on impactful qualitative results. Our faith is on the strength of messaging, supporting business goals, thinking beyond a single story, and integrating campaigns internally as well as externally. As boundaries blur between various mediums, we should continue to stay focused on disrupting and innovating and be the future-forward change-makers.

You have been both on the client and agency side. What are some of the key challenges one encounters as a PR professional while representing the corporate communication side of an organisation?

Understand your audience. That’s all we need to do. Be it an agency or a corporate role, in both situations one has to effectively manoeuver and manage internal stakeholders. This also equips us as professionals to understand the talent pool and strength of both the agency as well as the brand we work with. As PR professionals, if we have a pulse on our client’s needs and eventual deliverables, apply the same framework when working in a Corporate Role, that is, to understand the requisites of your Leadership team. Once this perspective is crystal clear, then respecting your agency for their insights and expertise will come naturally. Because we should never tell them (our PR partners) on how to do their job; just as our Leadership teams wouldn’t tell us how to run a Corporate Communication campaign (its true!).

At all times, we should refrain from becoming mere channels to deliver information. When in a Corporate role, our responsibility should be to share timely business goals and objectives, which could then be supported diligently by our external PR partners. This will only become a reality when we, as professionals, look beyond media visibility and think of a larger landscape – the capability to influence stakeholders equitably across the spectrum.

You are also actively associated with PRPOI. How are you helping the PR industry and what is the end objective of this organisation and what are some of the interesting steps you are taking to strengthen PR as an industry?

I have often heard my mentors and seniors in the industry say, “the best way to learn is to teach”. And that’s how one should evolve! As the PRPOI Co-founder, the focus is to spot the industry trends and keep learning about what’s changing and what’s new. Curiosity and hunger to pick new skills of the trade and then sharing them with a larger audience, is what we strive to work for at PRPOI. Upskilling in the PR and Communications domain is always a challenge, owing to the practical differences of current curriculum versus industry reality. This gap is evident across various sectors, not just PR and Communications. Hence, our (PRPOI) attempt is to offer free upskilling options, where industry veterans could take us through what’s relevant and what has moved far away into the stone-age, through virtual sessions on the PRPOI digital platforms. Aligning with this objective, at PRPOI, we curate content across various digital platforms, discuss topics that probably raise questions or have the potential to teach something diverse and new, and ensure leaders from the fraternity speak about their struggles and growth opportunities as well. Our (PRPOI) goal is to make upskilling the critical need of the hour, now and for the future.

How has PR embraced digital? What are some of the changes you have witnessed in PR with the advent of digital in a big way?

Metaverse. Artificial Intelligence. Virtual Reality. Crypto Currency. Non-Fungible Tokens. Bitcoin. Every possible social media platform. Short form video formats. There is nothing or no “Intellectual Property” that isn’t immersed in the digital-stratosphere!

So, PR and Communications has had to embrace Digital. Similar to how we treated television or radio channels as different modes to speak through, digital media today fits into that role of being a new format for communicating the right message. However, this platform calls for far more intelligence, owing to the speed of possibility, where visibility could either spiral into crises or appreciation, at a snowballing rate. Also, each platform functions differently, thus the need to understand customisation of the message to eventually achieve the end goal. Considering the analytics on the digital medium are pretty specific, versus other platforms (can debate the archaic format), the ROI equips you to plan better campaigns. Today, PR and Communication campaigns should view digital media as the funnel to amplify the messaging, to a far wider audience and at a quicker turn around than expected. This is how two powerful swords exist, next to each other.

Where is traditional PR headed with the transition to digital? What will be the position or status of traditional PR five years from now?

In all honesty, PR is far more traditional today than ever before. What’s really changed is the medium. If you want to assign ‘media relations’ or ‘press release’ dissemination as traditional PR, by all means do that. From that perspective everything has changed. But that’s a false categorisation. PR and Communication professionals have been the age-old barons or influencers of that ‘perception’ you want audiences to see (or experience). It’s been a well-oiled engine for centuries now, where any PR professional was always bothered to influence the right media platform to publish that one particular story, about their brand (or so called clients), in order to influence or design an enhanced perception. This is exactly what we do today as well (don’t throw brickbats, hold on). But, we have evolved to use the power of analytics, market intelligence of a new geography, building stakeholder visibility beyond the ‘Owners’ or ‘CEO’, adapting to the new mediums, growing a better skillset and doing lots more. But this doesn’t take away from the core of being an evangelist of a story we want the world to remember.

So, five years from now or a decade from now, what changes is how well we evolve with our ever-changing audiences and continue to build impactful communication campaigns. That’s the shorter answer to it!

What’s your mandate for Sugar Box Networks on the communication front? What are some of the innovative thoughts or creative ideas that you plan to bring to build the brand? 

At SugarBox Networks, the mandate for Communication is to manage the Culture & People, Media & Reputation, and Advocacy campaigns. Essentially, the organisation-wide acceptance to build a brand through content marketing – to employees (internally) and prospective audiences (externally), is a great starting point.

We work very closely on cross promoting our organic content from one platform to another, from one audience to another. From using all forms of mediums– print (national and regional), magazines, websites – and technology – podcasts, video interviews, digital channels, blogs – to integrating with design – Caricatures, e-flipbooks, Infographics, Emailers – storytelling at SugarBox is an enthralling journey.

Deep-diving into the tech-side of the brand and evaluating how one can contribute to (or help influence) the larger business goals, as a Communications professional, is a commendable opportunity to grow with. The coming months will be filled with collaboration-visibility for our partners, strengthening our employer brand, enhancing employee engagement campaigns – simply through stories that speak benefit for each audience.