The tribe of public relations professionals has often been described as spin doctors and is accepted as among the bunch of best storytellers in any professional world. It’s about advising their clients, on what to talk and whatnot, when to talk and when not, how to talk and how not, and whether to talk or whether not. All of this depends upon case to case, situation to situation, strategy to strategy, and time to time in the field of corporate communications and public relations.
Whether a routine image building or an expanded and blown-over crisis situation, spin doctors are there to tell the stories that create an image and bring relief to persisting situations for the entities dealing with them.
Words are powerful and they have energies to create thoughts, which leads to action. They can impact individuals and the masses equally. Words can motivate, influence, heal, hurt, harm, soothe, calm, and energize people depending upon how they are used and in what context over which audience. They create, build, and deliver the messaging to audiences, often as planned by the spin doctors.
The life of a corporate communications professional revolves around these words, whether written or spoken, that can make or break a situation, that can set an agenda or destroy a narrative, that can invoke feelings and emotions or just silence them, that can facilitate decision-making or prevent undesirable decisions, so on and so forth.
Over the centuries, the written word has been the most powerful tool we humans have ever witnessed, documenting everything from history, mythology, scriptures, stories, tales, and ideas for that matter. Non-surprisingly, it has also become the sharpest tool being used by corporate communications and public relations professionals.
Well, where does the true power lie in words, this is the quintessential question one must address and try to understand while practicing mass communications. The real power lies in the meaning of words and how they are interpreted by the audience. Also, what matters most is how they are chosen and what kind of words are used in what context. Many times similar kinds of words can have entirely diverse meanings in varying situations, and therefore the challenge is for corporate communications and public relations to best use them as per the situations.
The impact of words on the human mind and behaviour is well-established depending upon how and in which context they are being used. The words used for delivering a simple warm greeting by many people can sometimes become a war cry and make people fight and even kill each other. It depends upon how that narrative is set and in what context those words are used.
Using the right and appropriate words in communications can help build trust among the audiences and capture larger mindshare at all the relevant touchpoints of any brand. Words can inspire customers to stay connected with the brands, remain loyal to the brands, become ambassadors to the brands, and instil a sense of extreme comfort and trust in the brand they are influenced by, for a much longer period of time.
Leaders whether political, social, or corporate often use strong and powerful words that facilitate the mobilization of the masses towards certain causes driven by them. Whether social reforms, political upheavals, or corporate one-upmanship, the leaders make use of the words, that are energetic, motivational, influential, driving, and enabling followership.
Corporate communications and public relations professionals often shoulder the responsibility of picking and choosing the right words for those whom they are advising as their chosen words in the leaders’ communication have the power of shaping the destiny of millions!
The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.
Praveen has been closely associated with many national and international events related to cinema for children, art and culture. He has a well-rounded experience that cuts across all key sectors of PR & Corporate Communications.
He started his career with URJA Communications, an advertising agency specialising in technology brands, where he was instrumental in developing the PR division. Post this, he had a stint with Horizons Porter Novelli, a global public relations consultancy. Thereafter, he was heading the IT & Telecom division at Clea PR, a leading Indian public relations and communications company followed by a fairly long stint with Omnicom Group agencies viz. TBWA\India and Brodeur India.
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