A common refrain we hear these days from Public Relations executives, both in-house and in consultancies is that they are dealing with new-age bosses. Either young CEOs, in their 20s and 30s or older ones who have come from various domains because of which their understanding of Public Relations is zilch. There needs to be an annual orientation to help these business leaders get acquainted with the basic concepts of Public Relations along with their peers.
One concept we are working on bringing to life, is a weekend retreat. This will be a collection of a dozen masterclasses ranging from Storytelling to Dealing with the Government to Managing Media to focusing on Diversity and Inclusion. The idea is to invite 50 young business leaders ranging from CXOs to Marketing Heads to Founders who invest 48 hours learning the basics of the art and science of reputation management from the gurus of the profession.
The two-day experience will also include working on a campaign so they understand what can be done and what cannot be done in the process of tapping earned media. The retreat is aimed at making Public Relations go mainstream and instilling a belief in business leaders that the CEO is the Chief Public Relations Officer of the organisation.
This will also help in making the life of the corporate communications lead and the consultancy on record easier. Because there seems to be a lot of confusion on what Public Relations can achieve. A lot of young leaders are influenced by incorrect concepts and lopsided theories. Favourable articles can never be bought. Some media outlets offer schemes in order to make a quick buck but intelligent audiences can figure what has been paid for and what has been earned. Another aspect that CEOs and business leaders, including founders of new-age companies miss out on are the power of owned media. This is a great weapon available in the age of digital to all leaders and very few are exploiting its potential to the fullest. Using social media, writing blogs, recording podcasts are a sure shot way to build thought leadership.
I am confident that if this weekend programme takes off we will have better campaigns, more meaningful Public Relations and a lot more goodwill earned in the years to come especially from organisations who sign up for this. We hope to announce it in the next couple of days. Those interested can sign up by paying a fee for this fully residential programme.
Each of us has a fire within us to build our own brand and that of an organisation. When we put our best foot forward and do things passionately we become Firebrands. Let us create a world of Firebrands by focusing in the right way on reputation management.
What better way than to learn from the masters of the craft in an environment that is world-class!
He is also the Founding Dean of the School of Communications & Reputation (SCoRe).
He can be reached at @amithpr on twitter.
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