Skills PR pros should have – Expert
No doubt, the Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) industry has been described as a dynamic one that is driven majorly on the wheels of creativity and innovations.
However, this notwithstanding, Public Relations practitioners are said to be regarded as those at the lower rung of the ladder in the IMC where clients only use their services as the last resort.
But to get out of this box and become relevant in the IMC industry, the Managing Director, Digital PRWire, Mr. Celestine Achi, has advised PR practitioners to have a mastery of the profession through the acquisition of some of the major skill-sets.
According to Achi, apart from embracing digital technology which has become a fulcrum of successful PR practitioners, other skill-sets, they (PR practitioners) should acquire include:
ENGAGEMENT ECONOMY
To Achi, one of the major skill-sets that a good PR practitioner should have is the ability to key into the new engagement economy, a trend that big brands like Google and Facebook are championing in the digital space.
Achi who explains the new engagement economy using the words of Columnist Chandar Pattabhiram says the new engagement economy is a world where everyone and everything is connected, fundamentally shifting the relationships between buyers and sellers.
Achi further states that Digital PRWire has keyed into the new engagement economy because it helps brands and PR agencies to engage and interact with their consumers and clients.
According to the Digital PRWire boss, the era when PR agencies used to send press releases without bordering if the audience interacted with the content of the message is over.
He says, “PR today is not just about sending your press release to different news portals. How about the engagement? Who is engaging or interacting with your piece of content.
“In Digital PRWire, we won’t just send your press release, we will not just amplify it but we will make sure that the right target audience interacts with such content. This is what the new engagement economy is all about and that is why we decided to key into it”
LINKBUILDING
He points out that link-building is also one of the five major skill-sets that every PR practitioner should possess.
Achi stresses that link building deals with the process of getting external pages to link to the page of the PR agent’s website.
According to him, it is one of the many tactics used in search engine optimization (SEO), just as it drives a lot of traffic to such a page where many people can view the campaigns of the PR professional.
STORYTELLING
Achi explains that story telling technique deals with the ability of telling a compelling story that can easily persuade someone to do something.
He stresses that with the growing trend of fake news and their negative effects on brands, PR professionals and reputational managers should deploy enough story telling techniques to avert negative stories that can endanger their client’s products on social media platforms.
The Digital PRWire boss points out that the growing trend of fake news has led organizations like Google and Facebook to reinvent their technology, noting that Google has added its fact check feature to search results globally.
According to him, storytelling is a major skill set of effective public relations, as it seek to influence reputations, perceptions and behaviors.
“To meaningfully relate to journalists and our target audiences, we need to tell compelling stories. We can’t simply announce news or offer a quote – what we share with target audiences needs to be in the context of a larger story to help us connect with others and show why our clients’ news matters.”Achi says.
AMPLIFICATION
He says amplification or content amplification is very necessary and serves as one of the major skill-sets a PR professional should have.
Achi stresses that it deals with the amplifying of the content on channels where potential customers are already engaged.
According to him, amplification is merely the distribution of the content of the PR message to platforms where its client’s customers are already engaged like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, newspapers and WhatsApp among others.
He notes that PR agencies need to amplify their messages because it helps to spread the content of the message to reach a wide range of audiences.
Citing the words of Jeff Domansky, Achi says: “Without amplification and distribution, your content is just a noise maker.”
BIG DATA ANALYTICS
According to the MD of Digital PRWire, big data analytics is the process of examining large and varied data sets in order to uncover hidden patterns.
He also pointed out that it helps to unravel unknown correlations, market trends, customer preferences and other useful information that can help organizations make more-informed business decisions.
Achi says that big data analytics is considered among the major skill-sets that every successful Public Relations Officer should possess, stressing that it would help the practitioner to know the trend and patterns of consumer behavior towards his/her client’s brands.
“These are the major skill sets, once you have these in your hands; there is no better time for any PR professional than now. Unfortunately our brothers that are journalists are even doing better than most PR pros, it is either they get onboard or they become laagers” Achi states.
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