“PR value must be considered in terms of ROI measured over an extended period of time”

As part of our series on ‘PR Conversation’, we at Adgully are speaking to some of the industry leaders from both PR agencies and the corporate communications world about how PR as a business and communication tool has evolved and grown over the years. In the last 10 years, PR has taken a different dimension, especially after the entry of social media in a big way. While the PR business has grown, some of the challenges that the industry is facing have also multiplied as clients are becoming more demanding and are expecting their consultants to be on their toes to manage their brand reputation, as news today travels fast and clients are expecting quick response and action in case of a crisis situation.

Akansha Pradhan, Head - Corporate Communications & Responsibility, DHL Express India, speaks to Adgully about the progression of PR in the era of social media, using nano influencers to amplify messages, adopting a proactive communications approach in pandemic times and much more.

You have been in the PR industry for over a decade. What are the new dimensions and trends that you have seen in PR in these years? What does the road ahead look like for the PR industry over the next 5 years?

The role of the Public Relations professional has changed dramatically over the years. In a world where mainstream media is shrinking and people are turning to social media for information, PR professionals need new skill sets and an understanding of digital communication.

As I see it, the digital era has reshaped our world permanently. Over the last 17 years or so, PR tools have evolved to meet the needs of today’s reporters. In my opinion, those who are best able to communicate, adapt and amplify their message will be the ones that will survive.

Today, we need to pay heed to the evolving applications/ mediums that are coming up every few years. A decade ago it was okay to be just on Facebook and Twitter. Today, you would be ignorant if you do not evaluate LinkedIn and Instagram. You do not have to be on all platforms, but be aware where you want to engage your audience. Each platform works differently – blogs, Pinterest boards, etc., are more passive. However, jumping on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc., is akin to jumping on a treadmill. You need to keep pushing content regularly till you hit a certain threshold, if you want to get noticed. Else the algorithm will knock you right off the audience’s feed.

That said, even 5 or 10 years down the line, the basics will remain the basics. A good story will still work! So, likely we will be writing press releases, albeit the message may come packaged in a new way. This could be a CEO blog on LinkedIn, an Insta story, a YouTube short, the online newspaper, etc.

Using nano influencers clearly helps amplify messages. A great example of influencers was the 2012 Ice Bucket Challenge that gave not only visibility to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a rare disease, but raised $220 million for the cause! To today’s clarion call on social media that is amplifying the message for COVID aid and relief. Lives can be saved, if you know how to use a medium!

If there is one thing that I have learnt over the years is this simple mantra – whatever content you create, ensure it has an a.u.r.a., that is, content that is authentic, usable, relevant and actionable.

Digital has become a powerful communication tool and managing online reputation is a challenge as the medium is dynamic as news travels fast. How is your company geared to manage the online reputation to project a positive image and maintain the brand equity?

The key to maintaining a positive image, whether online or offline, is transparency and consistency. It is essential for us as brands, to be honest with our audiences and update them on varied announcements, occurrences and offerings regularly through corporate communications.

We have seen, in the rare scenarios where there is a room for a negative context, our teams are swift at not only tracking and reporting the issue real time, but also resolving any complaints or confusion that this reportage has stemmed from.

We are always looking to build on our brand proposition and purpose.

If I could spell out a good brand PR framework, it would be:

  • Attention: Grabbing the attention of your potential customers/ reader. This can be done through traditional news headlines, writing blog posts that are further reshared by people with high social scores (higher score = higher visibility), or developing targeted communication campaign for your specific niche. Finding the right balance is key.
  • Interest: Keeping your reader/ audience interested and making them want to learn more about your story or product or service offering by giving them valuable information that is useful to them.

For example, in my industry when customs or regulatory changes happen, they need to be communicated – most recent being around O2 concentrators. This information is posted as a traditional news story on a national wire, it is a LinkedIn long-form post and a short sharable video. This how you keep relevant!

  • Engage: This is the start of a conversation and it can be done by commenting, liking or sharing posts on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. If you have jumped on the social media treadmill, then you need to keep posting and engaging. It can also mean finding a way to become part of larger causes and discussions by joining larger hashtag conversations and global trends.
  • Convert: So, pure-play PR doesn’t focus on sales conversions. However, if you have told your story well, and you have your readers’ best interest in mind – they will come to you when your offerings align with their needs and wants.

We all speak about external communication, but equally important is internal communication, which needs to be handled with kid gloves. What are your views on this and how important is the role of internal communication especially during the pandemic when you had to stay engaged with your employees?

We saw the pandemic as an opportunity to expedite our adoption of digital mediums across the board. You see, we always had our eye on the global and macro-level trends, and we were always gearing towards a digital play. Hence, we pivoted fast into new online formats.

As you may know, as a business we have always put our people first. Therefore, internal communications has inherently been a key focus area for us. This holds true, especially amidst the pandemic, wherein it became increasingly important to reassure employees through regular updates about the company, their leaders as well as their colleagues and friends at work. In line with this, we increased the number of communication going out to the employees.

We started campaigns like Yellow Yoddha, which was a way to applaud the good work of the DHL Samaritans, who went out of their call of duty to help others. We also turned our monthly internal magazine into a weekly. This helped people, working from home, get a sense of the developments across departments.

So, while the pandemic jumpstarted our digital adoption, this approach and direction fortunately for us, worked in our favour.

PR measurement and effectiveness of PR has always been a subject of debate. As a PR professional, what steps the PR industry should take to bring in uniformity so that everyone speaks one language when it comes to PR measurement?

There has been some debate about whether there needs to be consolidation within public relations so that everyone speaks the same language when it comes to PR measurement.

As I see it, measurement indices have been highly debated, given the subjective nature of storytelling – which is the main tool of PR. While in advertising, value can be attributed basis direct sales conversions and the cost per click, in PR the methodologies must be more nuanced. Simply assigning a commercial value to a PR campaign basis the demographic it reaches and the positive feedback it generates is hardly an objective evaluation of its full impact and spillover effect.

In my opinion, for a fair assessment, PR value must be considered in terms of return on investment (ROI) measured over an extended period of time. It cannot be equated to a simple sales campaign.

As professionals, we know for a fact that positive media coverage generates sales – sometimes immediate and sometimes over time. It is critical for companies and clients alike to acknowledge that brand reputation and customer loyalty is not built in a day.

I have been able to track PR impact against the following indices at times:

  1. Map the stock value/ movement with your announcements, if the company is listed locally
  2. Map the potential revenue generated to a press action that had a specific business activation or call-to-action
  3. Track readership and reach of the message
  4. Track brand recall year-on-year with a media dipstick survey to assess brand perception.
  5. Participate in independent brand studies, whenever an opportunity arises.

Getting the right skillset and training has always been a challenge in the PR profession. What is your view on the same and what would be the valuable tips that you would like to give to the budding young PR professionals?

The skillset and training required for PR professionals have changed with the times. The foremost advice I would give budding PR pros is to read and remain informed about not only what is happening in your sector, but also other industries, and in other parts of the world. Having a wider canvas to work off from allows you to be able to correctly process, share and deliver your message.

When you are starting off, become a solid asset to the team by having a strong grasp on editorial calendars, publication schedules and release dates so that your team and the brand you represent, can accurately plan ahead for opportunities.

It is also imperative to ask yourself where your key audience is – both geography and platform wise. Then learn to talk to them in their language and accepted platform style. Young professionals need to study digital and social media to understand how the conversation has changed. Sometimes the text advice might be already outdated!

The most talented PR pros would also have both strong soft-skills like empathy and persuasive ability with hard skills like data analysis.

Do you feel the traditional role of interpersonal communication, which was so critical to the profession, has somehow been put to the back burner because of too much virtual engagement? How are you experiencing that, is it bringing down the efficiency and the final output?

I reckon this past year we have each evolved to adapt to communicating virtually not just at work, but also with our loved ones. While the touch element will always be imperative to an industry as interpersonal and network led as ours, these are unwarranted times wherein we must adapt to this shift.

To the second part of your question – yes, it’s true that we have had to put a lot of the interpersonal bits on the back burner, but I don’t think it has brought down our efficiency or final output. If anything, this change in communication is actually more efficient and productive because we can do so much at once when communicating virtually. We are able to multitask which makes us work faster with better results at times.

Your PR partner plays an important role in building your brand reputation and also helps you in shaping a positive opinion of the company. How do you measure your agency’s performance and evaluate them every year?

When I look at the past one year, while many struggled in keeping their business afloat, our proactive communications approach helped us in becoming the voice of logistics industry. Be it setting up work from home systems and policies, the digital push or later on about vaccine transport, we had an opinion which was voiced accurately across different platforms. This also showed in numbers, with our media share being way higher than competition. And to say the least, my PR agency had a key role to play in this as they played their part as my extended team.

We also evaluate ourselves, as a joint team, on our ability to adapt and not blindly rely on traditional PR practices like events, print interviews, etc. While these things will remain important components of our strategy, it is essential that we continue to recognise how the digital reader is now consuming news.

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