SMART SKILLS
Prospects in PR
Usha Albuquerque

Launching a new book? Releasing a new product? If you're smart, then you'll first hire a public relations firm. Right from collecting finances to getting those snobbish journalists to write about it, public relations can do practically anything to make your product get noticed.

It's the glitz and glamour that get noticed first, the substance comes much later. And in this age when getting noticed holds the elusive key to success, public relations (PR) as a career has suddenly catapulted to centrestage.

Public relations is that magical pill that helps Laloo Prasad Yadav stay in the news constantly. It also keeps us reading about the Page 3 people! PR is the most visible aspect of the advertising and communication field. In an age when image consciousness holds the key to success, the scope and influence of PR is constantly widening. Public relations is an image-building exercise that can apply to anything from companies and products to people, projects or ideas. Its main components are social contact and communication, and perhaps, for this reason, public relations is perceived as a glamorous and alluring career.

Public relations is distinct from advertising in that while the latter aims for an immediate sale of a product, service or idea, public relations takes a more subtle, approach, with a view to the long-term gains accruing from the generation of public goodwill.

Image building involves the creation of a perception and a public identity. With regard to an organisation, this would mean the projection of a `work culture' or philosophy. For individuals, it requires advising them on every aspect of personality--from dress, hairstyle and deportment to public statements and appearances as well as controlled publicity of personal interests and activities.

Public relations is a function of management. It involves implementation of a strategy to develop relationships with sections of the public, whose support and goodwill is necessary for the success of a venture

There are several areas in which public relations is practised to achieve a variety of objectives. These include:

Corporate houses, where the aim is to portray the organisation as more than just a profit-making venture. This is done by publicising corporate attitudes and activities as beneficial to society.

In the government sector too, the main objective of public relations is to convince the people that the schemes or policies being implemented are for the greater good of the community.

The tourism/hospitality industry lays great stress on public relations to positively influence attitudes towards a destination or place of stay.

FMCG companies begin to project the benefits of a product well before its launch, to ensure its immediate acceptance by promoters, distributors, retailers and consumers, when the brand reaches the market.

Public figures like movie stars, sports persons, authors, musicians or politicians use public relations to enhance their image with the objective of furthering their careers.

Remember developing an image is not so simple: there's a master strategy behind every smile, every handshake of a Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Although this is relatively new in India and requires specialised knowledge of and commitment to the cause, lobbies/pressure groups espousing causes in areas like environment, human rights, political ideology, education, children's welfare and so on, raise public consciousness by publicising an issue and thereby, influencing public opinion and policy makers.

There are several departments within a PR company. The Media or Press Relations Department is responsible for handling media coverage of the client. This involves arranging press conferences, issuing releases or statements, and, in general, keeping in touch with members of the print and visual media. Public relations companies can also be called upon to handle internal communication of an organisation. This involves compiling and editing of an in-house newsletter; organising social gatherings or direct communication like films, slide shows or group discussions.

Public relations often includes activities conducted in order to keep the public aware and in touch with the organisation being promoted. This could be in the way of exhibitions and fairs, or sponsorships of sports events, cultural activities or television programmes. Often PR companies have event management departments or work with professional event managers for handling such programmes.

Although it is possible to get a job in public relations without any formal training, candidates who specialise in the field face much better prospects. Most public relations courses are postgraduate courses. The postgraduate diploma courses in public relations require a bachelor's degree in any discipline, preferably with social sciences, liberal arts and humanities subjects.

Many companies, however, hire graduates in disciplines like sociology, psychology, economics, marketing and business management. They do look for certain personal attributes in the candidate. These would include an attractive personality, a liking for people, sociability, and the ability to get on with all kinds of people, as also excellent inter-personal skills, the ability to speak and write well, initiative, good news sense and a sense of salesmanship.

As public relations covers every area of an enterprise, there are employment opportunities open in the public relations department of companies, government organisations, hotel and tourism organisations, consultancy firms, international organisations and non-commercial institutions.

With an increasing number of companies becoming aware of the importance of public relations, this career is growing in size and importance. In the corporate sector, where a short time ago only a few companies employed public relations personnel, most have now set up full-fledged departments to take care of this need.

Public Relations jobs can also be handled on a free-lance consultancy basis.

Many public relations managers have successfully opened their own consultancies and advise industrial and business houses, financial institutions and celebrities on ways to improve their public image.

It has also been known that a persuasive candidate has been able to sell the concept of the job to an organisation that did not realise it needed public relations.

Today politicians, film-stars, writers, singers, designers — anybody who wants to be a somebody — first hires a public relations team. It's the fastest and least tiresome route to your two minutes of fame. And in this age of satellite television and sensational journalism, with even political parties hiring advertising firms to project themselves, those trained in PR have a great future ahead.

— The writer is a noted career consultant