New Normal and innovative Communication beyond the box; "Filling gaps in the PR industry and jump-starting Reputation Management"

“Empty spaces, what are we living for?

Abandoned places, I guess we know the score, on and on” 

The famous lines from British Rock Band - Queen’s ‘The Show must go on’ seemingly foreshadowed the pandemic and its harrowing tales of people holding on to their livelihoods. The budget cutbacks and legal limitations have affected the PR industry just like any other service industry around the globe from engaging its clients in their thriving communication goals and pre-devised traditional PR tools.

As such, it has become essential that the PR experts and communication professionals started to think above and beyond the box; innovate, learn and unlearn for not only the sake of the livelihood but also for the industry as well as the continuity of its footing as one of the key wings of Marcom industry. 

When considering communications beyond the box, one can always think of incorporating PR with Reputation Management. But before doing so in a market that is highly saturated with digital experts, content managers, and growth hackers, a PR practitioner needs to be able to do what they do best. CONVINCING the CLIENT. Of course, this is not an easy task, due to the very fact that education and actual theoretical knowledge on PR is much less in comparison to the common misconceptions and misjudgments about the industry.

Due to the very fact that there has always been confusion amongst clients on the Public Relations industry and its true capacity, one of the key common misconceptions is that the industry was merely there for publicity boosting and media relations. But what the clients have not been duly educated and experienced on is that PR is actually more strategy, impact, and purpose-driven and the PR professionals are more of consultants rather than publicity agents. 

As such, PR practitioners are the aptest managers of corporate reputation building. Indeed, PR by definition is “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”( Public Relations Society of America). Thereby, one might argue that isn’t it true that PR works more in the spotlight and therefore as an industry that is for the most part proactive and reactive, based on an individual brand or client’s ongoing relationship with its target publics. Thus, PR has been perceived by many Marketing Experts as a forward-facing industry that deals mostly with an organization’s ‘communication process’ and ‘public’ as it has been highlighted through its definition. 

If so fact so, how does one promote themselves as PR practitioners but also Reputation Management Experts? The answer lies within the everyday practices of a PR expert itself. While we engage in improving the public image of an organization, in a cyclic process where we 'wait' for damage to happen and then control it. Then, of course, one would be alert on ‘damage control’ or in PR jargon for ‘Crisis Communication’ rather than avoiding it altogether through reputation risk management.

If the same theory is applied to the overall ideology of corporate reputation, then it is not hard to guess rather than cycling the spin on Press Releases, the PR practitioners have a more pivotal role to play in the field of Reputation Management, where a company has more to lose when its reputation is at risk. Thus, the strategic and intel-driven ability of a PR practitioner to analyze, evaluate and advocate in avoiding any repetitional risk, is the bridge that fills the gap between the traditionally known concepts of PR with Corporate Reputation Management. 

While there are already an established set of individuals that are operating under the umbrella of online reputation management (ORM), the PR practitioners have the capacity of playing a more strategic role that goes beyond the technical world of ‘mentions’ and ‘sentiment analysis’; this is what we call the ‘human touch. This is not a calling for PR insiders for an invitation to invade, but rather a reminder to own up their true capacity.

The PR practitioners can bring forth ‘human touch’ and comprehensive knowledge that does not pummel a client with ‘jargon’. Moving forward from what I mentioned above on crisis communication on a constant basis. Public Relations experts can engage themselves in a more strategic role of taking ownership of a corporation’s reputation. Whereby pre-predicting the ‘damage’ before it comes to the cycle of ‘damage control’, and thus contribute towards a more steadfast goal of reducing reputation risk.