Everyone in an organisation is a Public Relations Officer- experts
By Zion Rufus
Against the backdrop of building a positive image for brands, communications experts across Nigeria’s public relations space have postulated that the first mistake organisations make is to leave the job of public relations to one office while neglecting the hundreds of staff who are veritable brand ambassadors.
The assertion, presented by Public Relations Specialist and Communications Expert, Jane Akwani emphasized the need for businesses to train their staff on the importance of brand image.
She said: “The best publicity is from within and not from the paid advertising. Paid advertising will attract people but inside information positive or negative will concretize their perception. Everyone in an organisation is a Public Relations Officer.”
“The art of public relations starts from the guards at the gate through to the Chief Executive Officer. The greatest disservice any staff can do to an organisation is to unconsciously demarket their brand. And this is done daily. You’d ask a staff member about their organisation and they’ll throw a casual “I don’t know what they’re doing there” and go further to make snide comments about their organisation which pays their bills,” she added.
Validating Akwani’s standpoint, CX Advocate and trainer, Temitope Bamidele stated: “This line, “the best publicity is from within and not from the paid advertising” resonates with me. In my field, employees and stakeholders are referred to as internal customers. The Customer Experience begins with them. Poor internal culture will always turn off the customers that fancy decor, branding or advertising. The best publicity is indeed from within.”
Customer Support Professional, Donatus Opara pointed: “Yes, constant learning about product knowledge should be done and then we should include/allow these support staff to be in training so that they can understand what they really do at firms where they work. It should be everybody’s business irrespective of your unit.”
On her part, Aderonke Ogapha, a sales specialist believes that brands should continuously educate their staff about the brand and how they should be role models from the least to the top.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
Comment
No comments found.