Public Relations careers have evolved from being largely about media relations, cocktail parties and networking events, to a more dynamic practice where the art and science of influence is used extensively.
Simply put, it has grown from interacting with journalists to let them know what your brand is doing, to engaging more integrally with all kinds of stakeholders and influencers. As this scope has increased, so has the excitement in this public relations careers, and the unique opportunities that it can offer.
PR is one of the few professions where, no matter how young you are, you may get to sit alongside CEOs and advise them directly on how to manage their or their brand’s reputation. This is even more likely when the advice involves use of new social media platforms, with which millennial are more hand on. That’s how public relations careers give you unique opportunity to connect with (& learn from) senior industry leader which will otherwise take years.
As a PR professional, it will not be enough to know everything about your client’s brand or product. You need to know about the client’s stakeholder ecosystem, as any part of it can impact reputation. consequently public relations careers give you a detailed idea about how large organisations work, a rare opportunity for communications (or other) professionals
PR consultants frequently work on more than one industry at the same time. As you grow, you may become a part of a single practice (entertainment, FMCG, finance etc.), but in the early years you get to work on clients from a variety of industries. It also means a very rare and valuable exposure to multiple industries at the same time.
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The need for a PR professional comes in to create the impact that cannot be created by other communications approaches like marketing and advertising. Whether it is reaching the unreachable audience, influencing those who do not easily get influenced, or tackling a PR crisis which can ruin even the healthies brands, PR professionals create impact that is strong and long lasting.
There is a huge overlap in the skill required to be a journalist or an advertising professional, and in the nature of work that they do. Advertisers (broadly speaking) articulate the brand’s positioning and message and find the best way for it to reach their audiences, and journalists (again, broadly) create content on certain ideas and stories to be consumed by their audiences. PR professionals do both. (And so, if you can’t decide which of these career lines to pursue, go for PR!)
One of the most exciting parts of being in PR is that no day is the same. While there are tasks you will perform regularly, you will work on a variety of clients each with their own sets of expectations and branding objectives. And since brands are getting more connected in so many ways with their audiences, the opportunities (& threats) can come from any direction, making it necessary for PR professionals to be on their toes, and very street smart.
As a part of public relations careers, you are linking your client companies, their brands, their CEOs and other senior leaders with influencers in all kinds of media. As a result of this, you get to network with some extremely influential people, a rare opportunity that can help you create a very strong professional asset.
As a PR professional, it will be essential for you to stay connected to a variety of news sources to make sure that major events and news stories reach you as quickly as possible. Over time, PR professionals find ways to make this a habit, and very often find themselves to be aware of news before it reaches others.
For e.g. our students of PR help build the world’s largest PR summit – PRAXIS each year. On this two day platform alone, they have a chance to meet over 500 of India’s most prominent PR executives, including half a dozen Global CEOs of PR consultancies, nearly a 100 heads of corporate communications, and as many heads of Indian PR firms.
While it is not necessary for you to be creative to get into PR, PR will invariably make you think outside the box. A typical PR campaign tries to influence audiences who are tough to find and tougher to influence, and hence your approach needs to be creative. Take the example of Savlon Wash Hands Chalk Sticks’ campaign, created by PR Pundit, which was the first Indian campaign to win at Cannes Lion, in 2017, for addressing hand washing by children in rural India, by infusing soap in chalk sticks (Watch the campaign video.)
Indian PR is booming, and anyone who gets specialised training today will get a head start in the world of PR, as PR firms are thirsty for talent. A study by The Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI) found out that by 2020, there will be a need for 5000 well trained post graduate PR professionals just in the top PR firms of India. Which is a very big number given there are very few institutes training students specifically on PR (SCoRe is in fact, the only on dedicated only to PR education)
Of course there are several other perks associated with a career in PR. Can you think of some more? Would you like to know more about PR or whether it is the career line for you? Drop us a line here or just call us for a counselling session at 98115 72673
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