Public Relations is for the Aspiring Champion

The recession (in our minds) is certainly impacting businesses adversely – especially the business of marketing communications and brand advisory.

Immediate and quantifiable ‘short term’ gains have become the yardstick to measure success. Brief to an agency is simple and curt – “Get me databases, if not sales”. But in this contest of quick wins, there is still one desire that has not fallen prey to the slaughter of downturn, and that is, a leader’s pursuit for strengthening personal equity.

Aspiring head honchos continue to demonstrate willingness to spend in promoting themselves appropriately. And here in lies the “sweet spot”. While an individual’s aspiration for personal glory can position her/him amongst the deserving, her/his thought leadership can be a big draw for the business too.

As a marketer, I constantly seek thought leaders who pursue corporate fame in a world driven by social capital, and guided by the media opinion. For me, this is not the age of media-shy backroom champions. It’s time for thought leaders who step out to get noticed.

Hey YOU, Let the brand lead!

A couple of days back I was discussing with a group of professionals on how to make a “lifestyle” organisation (controlled and driven by an individual) brand-led. While writing a valid prescription was an easy float, persuading ourselves about acceptability of our reasoned counsel (by the individual) was of course a challenge. After all, our opinion was diametrically reverse of what an individual-driven organisation would want to believe. Here are a few samplers:

• In a dynamic business environment, it is “miraculous” for an individual to be an able practicing professional, a visionary leader and a competent manager at the same time.
• It is essential for an organisation to innovate in entirety to stay relevant in a transitioning marketplace, which fairly often is contrary to the management belief of a successful entrepreneur professional.
• It is difficult for an entrepreneur professional to pledge to an inclusive brand-driven culture and realign his/her style accordingly to live the brand continually.
• An individual-led organisation has only a few “engaged” employees, owing to centralised decision making.
• Most importantly, entrepreneur professionals usually end up building a culture (by default) that relates better with their failings, as oppose to getting inspired by their accomplishments.

Sounds critical? But that’s the hard reality of most individual-led organisations, irrespective of what they sell – service or product. Insistence on the individual’s lifestyle approach forms the core of such businesses, with reference to past successes used often to run down progressive suggestions for change. It’s all about “me” and little about “we” in such organisations. Needless to say, the employees pay back such employers with comparable indifference. They take their salaries; they build their relationships (using collective goodwill); and then walk away someday, with it all. Left behind is the professional entrepreneur with a bruised ego and an unsettled question – Why did s/he leave me? Unfortunately, here too the question ends with a “me”.

But Hey! Wake up. The new market order, post recession, has set in. It is integrated, open, evolving, competitive and intolerant business environment. It has all the ingredients to test your metal and business acumen. If you led an organisation and want to grow beyond your kith and kin, you will have to open up for self-appraisal. You will have to call for an objective third party business audit. Once done, the findings will have to be systematically analysed for putting together a workable strategy, appropriately administered over a period of time.

The point to note is that building a brand-led organisation is in the best interest of all lifestyle entrepreneurs. If they want their business legacy to continue, professional entrepreneurs will have to let the brand take the lead. Otherwise, they will certainly consume the business in their lifetime, leaving nothing for the generation to follow. That will be so selfish!

Is it good to follow the leader?

As a keen student of professional services domain, I was perturbed to see the predictable pattern of management many law firms in India follow in pursuit of new business. Therefore, I decided to talk to a few of them and understand the cause of such banality in their approach to growth. Well! Hitting the root was not a tough ask. Plainly speaking, most of the law firms got inspired by their contemporaries in the UK and the US. For them, it was safe to follow the leader. Hardly a surprise, the managing partners were focused westward.

Hang on! Why am I talking in past tense? A few lawyer friends I met yesterday insisted that nothing has changed at most places. According to them, bigger law firms continue to “differentiate” themselves by adopting effective ways of western law firms, while the smaller firms continue to follow bigger law firms in their effort to “equalise”.

The Great Content Challenge

If marketing is not working for you, blame it on your commitment. In 99.9% of the cases you will be RIGHT if you did so.

Marketing is not about hiring a manager and asking him to go around like a walking advertisement saying "We are different”. Neither is it about putting out some pompous claims in a low-cost media. Marketing needs serious investment, both in terms of budget and “relevantly different” content. Unfortunately, budget is in short supply and differentiated content is missing in most business scenarios.

Everyone tries to compare their business case with a Google or an Apple. What they conveniently let pass is the relevantly different consumer proposition put forth by the two companies in the most articulated fashion and form. What the wannabes fail to see is the story behind the two giants and each of their products, which is nothing less than a classic.

Most importantly, what the wannabes skip is the “quality of content” these companies create in the process and successfully communicate (through their talented employees) to wows the world. To come to the point, in today’s stage and age your brand needs powerful stories in short burst told by the best narrators at appropriate forums in the most engaging manner. Anything less may keep your brand going, but trust my word, your angst of not being perceived as the best in your business will haunt you forever (like it does today).

My association with the world of marketing and branding in India has been quite an experience... More so in a ROI-driven impatient era, where long term goals have been replaced with short term gains. Therefore, I thought of starting this space to document my journey and share with others my learning, reading and insights into the world and ways of marketing.