When the pandemic suddenly hit, it felt like the entire world had stopped for a period of time. And then eventually, it restarted with some new changes which now has become a part of our daily lives. Standing in 2022, it can be observed that everything has changed, and with that, so has the industry of PR in new age. One principle that has emerged and has been followed by every company is that, if the company or the brand wants to sustain in the market, it needs to keep up with the world dynamics. It is essential for PR professionals to adapt with the changes as much as they can to have a better understanding of the consumer psyche as it is not possible to play by the book every time. With the emergence of the pandemic, the PR professionals understood that crisis can appear in any way and in any form at any time. It is them who needs to be prepared to face and tackle such unexpected situations, completely based on their understanding, knowledge and experience.

Technology has been a very big part of the change that the pandemic had created. We all are well aware of its existence since India was running on digitalisation and majority still is. Gaurav Chaudhury, the biggest technology influencer on social media platform has been a great help to everyone out there facing problems regarding the changes. There is nothing better than to use technology to connect to the world, especially when it comes to “thinking globally”.

There are a few tings that a PR professional should keep in mind to compete and sustain in this new age.

1. KISS – Keep It Simple Sister!

This is to emphasise the power of simplicity. People or consumers are not at all fond of jargons. If you want to communicate your message to them, ensure that they are understood properly with the use of simple and comprehensible language and strategies.

2. 360 Degree Communication –

In this new age, there cannot be just one medium through which communication can be effectively done. Communication needs to involve traditional media as well as the digital, including influencer marketing and obviously the social media platforms.

3. Proactive Crisis Communication –

As mentioned earlier, crisis can happen at any time and in any form when you least expect it. In this case, what PR professionals can do is to show proactiveness by imagining the worst-case scenarios that can occur with the brand or analysing every crisis situation happening around the world, and associating them with their own brand, and then preparing the solutions accordingly. This helps to prepare the defences before any crisis strikes.

4. Social Media –

No matter whatever message you are communicating, social media is your best friend. Today, the audience base in social media platforms is huge and versatile. So take advantage of that.

5. Media Relations –

This is one of the most important tasks of the PR professionals. You have to maintain a good relationship with the media/journalists because you never know who you are going to need in the time of crisis. No matter what, never give up on the media relations.

A company or a brand focuses on its key objectives namely, product, revenue, growth and people, where people impact the other three. However, it is the brand reputation which impacts all the four objectives.

As PR professionals, we should know our business inside and out, so much so that we could hold a conversation about it for hours long. It is essential for us to become the subject-matter experts. This quality is especially needed when dealing with start-ups as they have to be treated as babies.

The key learning of the masterclass is:

“Be consistent about your message of the brand. You and your employees should be able to resonate with it”.

– Aneesha Ghosh

Aneesha is a student of School Of COmmunications and REputations (SCoRe) – Class of 2022 – Spring Batch. She has done English literature. She is Born and brought up in Kolkata but currently based in Mumbai. She is a single child and she strongly believes in changing one life if not the whole world. She can be reached on Twitter as @AneeshaGhosh2 and on LinkedIn as Aneesha Ghosh