Being the Public Relations
professional in a Company is akin to being a performer in an international
circus. There is the tight rope walk between all the publics through which you
must deftly manoeuvre your brand message, the juggling act where you have
hundreds of balls of your various functions up in the air, the drama of jumping
through fire lit hoops crafted by the crisis situations your role lands you in,
the jester’s performance since you must keep a smile plastered on your face
even in the most do or die instances and the class acrobatic cum trampoline
show where you jump from one plank of responsibility to another with exhibited
ease.
Jokes apart, the role of a PR
professional is cross-dimensional, multifarious and with new challenges
springing up all in a day’s work.
In Part 1 of this theme we looked
at fifteen of the essential skills that you must equip yourself with in order
to be a top-notch PR player. Let us look at the remaining significant traits in
the second Part -
Do not be a fish in the pond, be a whale in an ocean. There; I went on the habitual cliché. The point I wish to drive home is, grow your horizon beyond the local and national and benchmark internationally. Better still, be Glocal with local sensibilities and a global perspective.
Build Relationships
Develop healthy and productive relationships with a wide array of publics – ranging from Government representatives, diplomats, artists and performers to Travel & Tourism industry folk, eminent community people and hotel guests, the last being perhaps one of the most important.
And yes, you must also have an outstanding rapport with your colleagues – a lot of them end up being your media talent. In any case, you are playing on the same side as them in the winning game of successful Brand identity and Reputation Management.
On a Learning Curve
Stay keen, curious, excited and hungry for knowledge and information. A piqued interest in anything new or offbeat or out of the ordinary makes you a fascinating story-teller and a dynamic PR professional who is always loaded with rich nuggets to share.
It could be the la-di-dah lobby flower arrangement, the specially flown artisanal products at the Spa, the enchanting towel origami in the rooms, the consignment of bespoke wine bottled specially for the hotel, range of patisserie uniquely offered by your Pastry Shop, the Christmas decorations that set you apart, the tailor-made menu conjured up by diving into rich recipes of the legendary past of a regional cuisine, the distinctive and latest fleet of limousines – the options are endless and exciting.
Travel
You must develop a keen inclination towards Travel; it offers education like no other and is one of finest teachers of all. It makes you a global professional who can fit in international and multicultural work milieu with ease. It exposes you to the fascinating cultures and people from around the world. You get to see and learn firsthand a lot of practices that your international hotel adheres to. And Travel turns you into an interesting person and a great conversationalist.
Educate yourself
Read up on issues of General importance. You should have a cultivated interest in a wide range of topics and must make a habit of reading up on them. One of my favourite bosses, and the second mentor in my corporate career, used to nudge us to read extensively. He himself would begin his day by giving a long glance to the finance and business sections of the morning papers and then proceed to read hospitality newsletters as and when his time would permit.
At a meeting, in order to motivate us, he shared a leaf from his experience. One morning, he told us, he had kept busy reading up on the automobile industry and the latest developments in that sector. At lunch, that afternoon, with the Managing Director of an auto major, he managed to build a good connection by showing up as an interested, informed and intelligent hotelier who was on the same page as the important guest and could identify with the guest’s focus and demands with ease.
Wining & Dining
Half of your work time will be spent in entertaining. Half of the other half will go in working closely with the F&B department. Hence, it will make a lot of sense to develop a sort of deep fancy and affinity for food as a stream of work along with appreciation of good food and wine.
This will help you hold your own at Menu launches and Wine dinners, be a knowledgeable conduit between the F&B colleagues and the media, not look like a greenhorn or a misfit and bring high value to those entire PR, Sales and Brand management strategies that revolve around food and beverage.
Public Speaking
You must hone your skill in Public Speaking. As a PR representative of your Company, there will be a zillion platforms where you will need to wield the mike and come out looking like a Pro.
From internal meetings and PR presentations to charity balls, community events and webinars; there will be so many occasions for you to get on the podium and speak, that it will do you well to practice public speaking on a regular basis.
Use a mirror, use colleagues as guinea pigs, grab every chance you get to speak in order to come out as the outstandingly foremost Ambassador that you, in your PR role, are meant to be.
Event Management
Develop an expertise in Event Management. As a Hotel PR person, this chunk of responsibility falls in your lap. While, behind the scenes, there is a lot of hard work, sweat, toil and coordination that goes into it, this is fun and electrifying work too. In the course of your tenure you get to handle a big bag of events ranging from fashion shows, art exhibitions, supper theatre to piano concerts, symphony orchestra and sporting tournaments, to name a few.
Corporate Social Responsibility
You must work with the General Manager’s Office and the HR Department to develop a strong strategy based on Corporate Social Responsibility. Companies have been known to endorse Government-led projects in earmarked villages, sponsor environment-focussed activities, offer scholarship to children with special needs, support a community developed around sustainability and green belt model.
There is a lot you can do, as pay back to the Society and you must partake of this privilege. After all, a Company’s real worth, value and success is truly measured by what it contributes to the Society in which it thrives.
Crises Management
The role of a hotel PR is made dicey and thrilling, at the same time, by the eclectic range of crises you may be called to handle. Crisis Handling and Issues Management are the two extremely important areas of responsibility in your strategic role. At hotels it could range from a simple bad review of a food festival to the dramatic unnatural death on the premises; from the repercussions of a bad speech made by the head honcho to a run-in with the law on account of a questionable activity of a suspicious guest. The gamut is wide and could come with no precedent. Therefore, you must really learn the ropes of handling different kinds of crises, with tutored calm and maturity.
Internal Communications
Because the internal publics are as significant in your scheme of things, do pay a lot of heed to Internal communications. Make sure that you are as focussed on sharing the Company news with the employee base as you are with the media. Work hand in glove with HR on employee events and workshops. Step out and provide media training to an extended set of people, thereby developing an army of skilful and well-versed brand ambassadors.
Personal attributes
With such diversity in your daily duties and a rich mixed plate of responsibilities there are a set of personal qualities and attributes that will help you get head and neck above any comparison.
Some of the important ones are - attention to detail, promptness in responses, capacity to handle stress, ability to deliver on short notice, a talent for genuinely liking people and building relationships, being likable yourself and easy to get along with a varied set of people, multi-tasking, keeping calm under pressure and being passionate about what you do.
If you develop each of the above
skills / traits, then you will have less to rely on sham, superficiality and
spin; all of which have given PR a bad name.
A truly qualified PR professional
brings respect to their own self, their organization and their area of
competence; founding their career on a bedrock of sound PR fundamentals,
performance best practices and work ethics.
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Picture Courtesy - Google Images
Note - This article first appeared on Hospitality Net - http://www.hospitalitynet.org/column/global/154000392/4071398.html
Hey keep posting such good and meaningful articles.
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