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Bridging Worlds: Lessons from Two Decades across Corporate Boardrooms, Agency Halls and the Entrepreneurial Fire.
Joining a PR agency, straight after the masters degree was an eye opener – pardon my language – a hell of an eye opener! There is no excuse for hardwork (lets keep smart work for later), constantly learning & relearning your basics and never forgetting that your boss puts her neck on the line for you (everytime). Apart from this the agency gifted me with the best lifelong friends and mentors as a blessing. In the high-stakes arena of public relations and communications, I’ve spent more than two decades navigating the delicate dance between perception and reality. My journey? An interesting path from the polished corridors of corporate to the raw thrill of bootstrapping…
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Your SEO Budget Got a Promotion. It’s Now Called “PR.”
There’s a particular headline that’s making PR people sit up a little straighter in their chairs: Gartner Says PR Budgets Will Double by 2027. So pop the champagne! Share the LinkedIn posts. Let’s add a fresh slide titled “The Vindication Slide” in new-business decks! The reason? According to the Gartner-backed prediction covered by Inc., earned media budgets are set to double by 2027, on the theory that AI is replacing traditional search as the primary way people discover brands and that AI leans heavily on earned media rather than paid media. The logic, on paper, is elegant: Google traffic is declining while ChatGPT traffic more than doubled year-over-year in 2024, with weekly active…
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Should we define a new PR JD?
It’s 2024, a new year with a new outlook and a lot has changed in terms of approach, audience, mandates, and expectations. Today, PR is not just about storytelling or managing media, but it is pretty much defining and establishing narratives, it is the heart and center of a campaign. Expectations are no longer restricted to brand awareness but slowly have gone towards generating effective ROI, especially with the lines of marketing and PR being blurred now. Add to this, technology and digital disruption, inflation, talent and skillset challenges there is a massive shift being seen which has revived our profession. Does this mean our profiles have changed? Is it…
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Rise of consumer activism – PR boon or bane
In the digital era, the landscape of brand communication is evolving rapidly, with the emergence of influencer and consumer activism reshaping the dynamics of consumer-brand interactions. The recent controversy surrounding Bournvita, a popular powder supplement, exemplifies the significant influence wielded by social media influencers and the power of consumer activism in shaping brand perception and consumer behavior. In today’s digital age, characterized by widespread internet access and the ubiquity of smartphones, brands are facing unprecedented challenges in managing their reputation and navigating unforeseen controversies. Social media platforms serve as powerful amplifiers, capable of swiftly disseminating information and fueling public discourse. Against this backdrop, brands must prioritize robust crisis management strategies…
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Strategy calls for strategy communication
After a bundle of workshops, a new business strategy is finally ready. Congratulations! But to be honest, the real work is still ahead. Even a brilliant business strategy is very easy to kill before it gets to take off, and the easiest recipe for this is to forget your own people when communicating the strategy. This serious mistake is still, unfortunately, and based on my experience, a common failure in many organizations. From the comms agency perspective, strategy communication is one of the most asked services we right now have – almost regardless of the geographical market where the client is operating. To discuss this, the Founders and Partners of…
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Importance of Internal Communications in these challenging times
In a world separated by a mere six degrees of separation, one would think that communicating effectively would not be a challenge. However, despite having multiple channels of communication, we find that people seldom talk to each other or communicate effectively. This often opens gates for ambiguities and leaves room for ‘guessing games.’ For organizations, the COVID-19 pandemic has only further underscored the importance of communicating proactively and effectively. With most of the workforce working from home, the constraints on physical connectivity have only increased, putting a strain on effective internal communication and hence necessitating the need to focus on how companies communicate with their internal stakeholders. What we do…
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Influencer Marketing: The Way Forward
As the world changes and moves to even more digital formats, one of the greatest pivots we have witnessed in these times has been the rise and rise of Influencer Marketing. As traditional media options shrink, Influencer Marketing and Outreach is gathering strength. In this new fragmented universe, where we all notice media and individuals vie for eyeballs, what is the future of Influencer marketing? Will it be the new way brands communicate with consumers? How will the Public Relations Industry navigate it? These were some of the questions raised in the PRPOI Live discussion on the subject of Influencer Marketing. Witnessing participation from Pankhuri Harikrishnan, Founder Fetch Consulting, Jia…
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Podcasting and PR
6 things PR professionals must keep in mind while pitching to podcasts Podcast. The new buzz word in town. A medium that is being adopted by every influencer and leader today. Business owners, entrepreneurs, chefs, singers, teachers, youtubers, bloggers, actors and people from various other fields including you and me are the reason why this medium is growing at a rapid pace of 58% every year. Though not as popular as mainstream mediums like video or newspapers in India today, it is fast catching up and ranks as number 3 in the world as the preferred medium of media consumption. I strongly believe it is here to stay and will…
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Building a team geared towards growth
“The new normal”, are probably the three most despicable words in the last couple of months. But reality check tells us that the world we knew, is not going to be the same place anymore. The planet after this long-holiday will be coming out in a new avatar. And this is the sign for all of us to evaluate and plan a better future for building our teams. Collaborate to contribute better and let your teams know that this too shall pass! Keep it Simple Silly Yes, go back to the basics. Stay connected, talk often, understand their personal circumstances and maybe time to instil little more empathy across the…
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Essentials to build a career, with fundamentals as a PR professional
Last week I had an excellent chat with good folks at PRPOI. Over sixteen years of working and transitioning from a communications professional to a Sales and Marketing person. If you ask me if I could do it all over again, would I do it the same way, I’d tell you mostly yes. Mostly because I would just learn the lessons quicker (don’t we all wish the same), work harder but yes, I would do it the same way. Here are the ten lessons learnt that I penned down during the week. These are the things I learnt from some amazing people I got to work with, some people who…
