The act of listening while everyone is talking

There has been a dramatic shift in the way PR is viewed since the pandemic struck the country in 2020. The demand and need for PR have grown and brands are beginning to look at innovative ways to leverage their brands and strengthen their equity through PR. Parallelly, the media landscape has also evolved and the consumption pattern of news and content has rapidly taken a shift. Having a focused and well thought out PR strategy is pivotal for brands to look at, with the changing behaviour and new trends that one notices in content consumption.

Adgully’s latest column, titled PR OPINON, features views and insights of Industry leaders from the PR and communications world. In this episode, Sukanya Chakraborty, Senior VP & Head – Corporate Communications, VFS Global, writes about the overwhelming information that people are receiving as they navigate the current times, and how, if approached the right way, the here-to-stay hybrid models will not only help businesses make the most of their talent, but also help them find innovative and cost-effective ways to strengthen consumer engagement.

Physical boundaries no longer define workplaces, and different time zones are no longer a challenge. Global expansions have made organisations see the value of convergence of people from different geographies, cultures, and experiences. This makes it essential for smart organisations to incorporate models that foster seamless cross-culture communication. This aspect has become even more critical in today’s time when the world is collectively navigating a never-seen challenge, all while being remotely connected.

How does one communicate with teams, customers, and other stakeholders, at the same time? The first step towards ensuring that the global vision and messages reach the audience is to deliver all the key communication simultaneously across markets, with local relevance built in. Additionally, the pandemic has resulted in consumers often having mixed emotions and reacting first on social media and sharing their comments, viewpoints, and experiences. This has made ‘listening’ more important than ever before, and it is important that brands not only focus on quantitative data but also overall sentiments. This can be valuable for organisations to build effective strategies for enhancing the brand's day-to-day engagement with their audiences. Additionally, this can help mitigate crisis scenarios before they escalate beyond control.

Organisations must tailor their global communication strategies to meet local demands and aspirations while keeping the brand identity intact – one of the most successful strategies in strengthening a company’s relevance in local markets. With so much information around us, when organisations actively invest in listening, the advantages are plenty. Using technology to predict behavioural patterns help develop strong recommendations for outreach and make way for a holistic engagement. Big data, along with increasingly sophisticated analytical tools, ensures a wealth of customer behaviour and attitudes at their disposal. However, if companies want to unlock the value of such data, they must make this an active part of business decision-making – rather than an infrequent research exercise. The richness of the insights that come out cannot be undermined, especially to understand what is best suited for the region, inclusive of the audience sensitivities.

When organisations talk about comprehending local landscapes, the focus is on numbers and metrics – this includes volume, sentiment, and influencer scores or the number of consumers engaged. While this method is beneficial, it becomes reactive. What helps build a more profound connection is going beyond numbers and keywords to identify unusual and untapped insights. In addition to helping brands build a deeper relationship with their audience, uncover the best promotional channel, and anticipate their needs in advance, technology has another upside. It can truly be an enabler when businesses use their power in conjunction with other facets, including the evolving needs of consumers, having the right approach to understand them, and building a culture that they truly trust and can relate to. With significant industry changes, including Google’s plan to move away from third-party cookies on its Chrome browser, Firefox rolling out enhanced tracking protection, and Apple announcing similar changes in its latest operating system upgrade, the need for marketers and communicators to actively leverage tools that leverage third party data effectively becomes challenging. As it has become harder to reach customers by targeted outreach, capturing leads with email marketing and marketing automation is becoming a key tactic in today’s times.

While digital will continue to be a critical focus, it is also vital to stay abreast with the constantly evolving local landscape by maintaining a stable connection with regional teams. Getting a first-hand understanding of the on-ground scenario, changing local regulations and customer feedback helps organisations develop and implement strategies tailored to the region’s nuances. For instance, at VFS Global, we took this approach to build a stronger connect with customers during the lockdown. With local restrictions and heightened focus on health and safety, customers were increasingly looking at services and facilities that could be availed from the comfort of their homes. Sensing this evolving need, we scaled up our Visa at Your Doorstep (VAYD) service, allowing customers to complete visa submission and biometrics from the comfort of their homes. In India, we saw a six-fold rise in demand between January and July this year.

While the evolving nature of the pandemic makes it challenging to predict the future precisely, the use of technology is slated to change the way companies interact with their stakeholders, both internal and external. It is time we acknowledged that people are receiving overwhelming information as they navigate the times, and if approached the right way, the here-to-stay hybrid models will not only help businesses make the most of their talent, but also help them find innovative and cost-effective ways to strengthen consumer engagement. Taking cues from evolving conversations and developing strategies that effectively take the brand’s global purpose at the heart of local needs is what will set the communications efforts apart.