Strategic Conviction: How Business Strategy Empowers PR Efforts

In a dynamic and ever-evolving communication landscape, Roopa Unnikrishnan, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at IDEX Corporation, delivered a keynote address on “How Business Strategy Can Super-Charge your PR Efforts”. This shed light on the critical intersection of business strategy and public relations. Her insights provided a roadmap for how strategic conviction can supercharge PR efforts, creating transformative outcomes for individuals, teams, and businesses.

The Messaging Maze: Getting it Right

She began by acknowledging the complexity of the messaging world, emphasising the need for clear and compelling communication. Citing Tim Cook’s film we got a glimpse of the messaging maze. She stressed the fact that she is in a company bearing the tagline “Trusted solutions, Improving lives” which was an insight into the multifaceted nature of messaging in today’s corporate landscape.

Understanding the Anatomy of Consistent Value Delivery

Revolving around the consistent delivery of value, her address led on to its profound impact on a brand’s reputation. She defined this consistency through many dimensions, including superior returns compared to peers, sustainability over time, resilience in the face of external factors, adaptability during CEO transitions, and the ability to weather market disruptions – all while maintaining a pristine, flawless reputation.

Supercharging PR with Business Strategy

Significantly, the keynote underscored how business strategy can be the catalyst for PR success. Consequently, she outlined a straightforward approach for strategic communicators, encompassing three crucial steps: developing a strategic communication plan, constructing a compelling narrative & meticulously measuring and analysing the impact.

What are the Essential Skills for Strategic Communicators?

She elucidated the fundamental skills required at the strategic executive table. These skills encompass hyper-focused objective alignment, robust target audience analysis, unwavering consistency with organisational messaging, transparent two-way communication, continual learning, and comprehensive measurement and evaluation.

The Art of Authentic Storytelling

Roopa stressed the importance of compelling and authentic storytelling, emphasising strategic messaging, effective narrative construction, a multichannel approach, stakeholder mapping and prioritisation, and at the same time, adherence to legal and ethical standards.

In her closing remarks, she highlighted what drives strategic conviction, and  emphasised the transformative power of high-impact communication within organisations. She put the spotlight on the critical role of PR professionals in storytelling and their contributions to organisational value and success.

With the Fireside Chat focusing on navigating communication in changing times, Arijit De, Chief Client Officer at BCW Global, engaged in a conversation with Roopa Unnikrishnan, emphasising the evolving nature of communication in contemporary times. Dey emphasised the importance of effectively “landing the message” and shared insights into planning messages with a focus on diverse and targeted communication.

The ESG Imperative

Roopa Unnikrishnan delved into the nascent concept of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) in India. But why do you need to get the ESG gig right? She underscored the need for organisations to prioritise sustainability and highlighted the significance of creating a safe environment aligned with sustainability goals. She said – “If the heart of your business is sustainability, choose and deliver it! Deliver what you can and you get accolades”.

The Future of Social Media Conversation

De posed a forward-looking question. What about the trajectory of social media conversation? Where is it going? Unnikrishnan’s response was clear: social media is here to stay, with both mega platforms and curated spaces offering unique opportunities for engagement. She encouraged individuals and brands to choose their preferred platforms wisely and actively participate in shaping the digital discourse. “Choose your poison and go after it!” was her advice.

Finally, Roopa Unnikrishnan’s keynote address provided invaluable insights into the symbiotic relationship between business strategy and effective corporate communication, offering a roadmap for PR professionals – to navigate through the intricate, specialised world of messaging and storytelling.

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Shree Lahiri

Shree is the Senior Editor at Reputation Today and hopes to move from one focus area to another in the editions that will be released this year. Having worked in Corporate Communications teams, she has experience of advertising, public relations, investor and employee communications, after which she moved to the other side – journalism. She enjoys writing and believes the power of the pen is indeed mighty. Covering the entertainment beat and the media business, she has been involved in a wide range of activities that have thrown open storytelling opportunities.

She can be reached at: @shree_la on twitter