I personally interviewed over 50 graduates for a spot at the School of Communications & Reputation. One of the questions I asked some of them was how many alphabets are there in the English language? Invariably the answer was 26. The correct answer is one alphabet with 26 letters in it. That’s a trick question. Well, I wanted to share that as the starting paragraph of this column because I’m sure one out of three people had the fundamental understanding wrong about  Public Relations profession

In a chat with my colleague Anubhuti, she shared an interesting infographic about something which had 26 words mentioned from A-Z. She then asked me if there was the ABC to understand Public Relations profession.. That prompted me to coin this. This is in continuation and to complement the House of PR, about which I wrote a few weeks ago and can be found here.

Public Relations profession is misunderstood. I have been having an off and on discussion with few people on Twitter to make them better understand this profession.

Here are my 26 cents on it to understand Public Relations Profession better.

Authenticity

All Public Relations should begin and end with efforts to reach stakeholders while being authentic. It is a simple word and has strong meaning.

Business purpose

Public Relations is pointless if it is not aligned with business purpose. Very often public relations activities are planned mindlessly which do not have an end goal.

Credibility

Public Relations programmes should be crafted with an intent to create increased credibility for a brand or organisation.

Data

There is plenty of data available, which if carefully tapped can guide the creation of smart Public Relation campaigns. The ability to slice and dice it will be key.

Engagement

Most public relations outreach is built to attain engagement between a brand or organisation and its stakeholders. This is also an objective of a campaign.

Familiarity

While advertising creates awareness, the right public relations helps to create familiarity.

Goodwill

There is no greater currency in the world of business and personal relationships than that of Goodwill. It goes a long way in helping brands grow.

Honesty

If relationships are not carried out with honesty then it is clearly quackery. So, good public relations is not about burying a story but honestly admitting that one messed up and making amends.

Issue Management

Public Relations plays a major role in salvaging difficult situations for brands which are in the realm of issue management. If not managed well, they turn into crisis and disaster.

Juxtaposition of communication and campaign

The foundation of good Public Relations is well thought out campaigns that are used to communicated to audiences with common sense.

Kindness

At the heart of Public Relations is kindness. Without it, the relationship between a brand and public is meaningless.

Leading from the front

Public Relations happens from the top. A chief executive or a leader of government is the chief PRO ably assisted by a communications director. There is no ambiguity.

Media Intelligence

Earned media plays a significant role in good public relations. Given this, the ability to have the right media intelligence is of utmost importance.

Neutrality

Public Relations can fight for a brand in the court of public opinion. But PR can play the role of bringing warring factions together. Being neutral in such situations is paramount.

Openness

Transparency is an important factor in achieving public relations goals. It all starts with a culture of Openness.

Perceptions

Ultimately, public relations programmes are initiated to create right perceptions and correct wrong perceptions.

Quest for blind faith

Every brand dreams of blind faith that customers should have in them, given that the service or product quality is superior.

Reputation is everything

The other name for public relations is reputation management. The past, the present and the future life of a brand collectively makes it what is.

Strategic storytelling

Good public relations is built on good strategy. And good strategy invariably includes great storytelling. Strategic storytelling is the big deal in PR

Trust creation at the core

It all boils down how PR efforts lead to trust creation. A great product that is not trusted because either the after sales service or the people who own it are dubious can be harmful.

Understanding brand management

It is critical to ensure a fair understanding of brand management to be able to devise relevant public relations campaigns.

Visuals

A picture tells a thousand words. Video is the future of communication. No better way to share these through the transformative power of earned and owned media.

Written word

The written word will always remain strong and powerful. Hence, writing skills of a high calibre are crucial to be able to drive great Public Relations

X Factor of Counsel and Connect

The bedrock of Public Relations revolves around people. Therefore, the ability to offer counsel and connect with stakeholders is an aspect that makes or breaks brands.

Yes we can attitude

Worthy Public Relations efforts are all about a Never Say Die or a Yes we can attitude. Because despite all planning sometimes there are unexpected situations.

Zealousness

Being devoted and diligent are what rock stars in Public Relations are made up of. If you are not one already, you can be one today. All it needs effort.

Hope these 900 words help in creating a better understanding of Public Relations  profession, which is both an art and a science and often misunderstood.

-Amit Prabhu

Public relation profession

Amith is the Dean of the School of Communications & Reputation (SCoRe)- A post graduate institute of Public Relations built by the Indian PR community. He is also the founder of the PRomise Foundation which organises PRAXIS, India’s annual summit of reputation management professionals. He can be reached @amithpr on twitter.

This blog post originally appeared on Reputation Today’s online page