Magnificence of Social Media!

This is what I call the good, bankable power of Social Media - inviting stimulating engagement, furthering knowledge, endorsing professional nous and acknowledging interaction.

Well played LinkedIn! Now to see Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, youTube, Pinterest take the game of healthy interaction up a few notches and pave it soundly for 2018!

We brazen, unabashed Millennial folk!

We have become a shameless, self-aggrandizing, self-promoting global society.

Otherwise, how do you explain that we, unabashedly, confer such lofty titles on ourselves - Visionary, Clairvoyant, Maven, Global Leader, Evangelist and so on!

Up until now when the millennials are beginning to ride over, it was up to others to call us thus!

I am waiting for the time, when we will begin to label ourselves as Moses, Noah, Jesus, Lord Krishna, Lord Ganesha of Business, the Chanakya of Strategy!!

What do you think?

Picture courtesy - Google Images

How to Become a PR Wizard! PR 101 (Part 2)

As the PR Head of your Organization, you have to learn to be a master juggler, adept at handling a large assemblage of roles. You must be skilled at walking the tight rope between all the relevant publics through which you must deftly manoeuvre your brand message. You must deliver the optimal performance on each of the multitudinous functions that are the subsets of your larger responsibility.

You have to be a fine and respected Spokesperson for your Brand and know how to handle a crisis situation with utmost attention and finesse. 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 -

1. Do not be a fish in the pond, be a whale in an ocean.

Grow your horizon beyond the local and national and benchmark your work and yourself internationally. Better still, be Glocal with local sensibilities and a global perspective.

2. Develop healthy and productive relationships. 

Develop sound and meaningful 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 the most important.

Nurture an outstanding rapport with your colleagues – a lot of them end up being your media talent and ably assist you in excellent Reputation Management and in the successful representation of the Brand Identity.

3. 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 exquisite lobby flower arrangement, the uniquely artisanal products at the Spa, the enchanting towel origami in the rooms, the bespoke wine bottled specially for the hotel, range of patisserie inimitably offered by your Pastry Shop, the Christmas decorations that set you apart, the distinctive and latest fleet of limousines – the options are endless and exciting. 

4. 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 into 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. Finally, Travel turns you into an interesting person and a great conversationalist.

5. 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.

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.

6. The business of Entertaining.

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 strong affinity for food as a stream of work along with the 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 PR, Sales and Brand management strategies that revolve around food and beverage.

7. You must hone your skill in Public Speaking.

As a PR representative of your Company, there will be zillion platforms where you will have 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.

8. Develop an expertise in Event Management.

As a Hotel PR person, this chunk of responsibility falls into your lap. The fun and exciting part is that 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.

9. Work and web well with the Significant Others at Work.

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 a scholarship to children with special needs, support a community developed around sustainability and green belt model.

There is a lot you can do, as payback 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.

10. Crisis Management.

The role of a hotel PR is extremely pertinent and influential for the eclectic range of crises you are 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.

11. Communicating with Internal Publics.

Pay a lot of heed to Internal communications because the internal publics are an immensely significant set of publics.

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 skillful and well-versed brand ambassadors.

12. Diversity in Daily Work.

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 stay on top of your game.

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 that 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.

 *******

Picture courtesy - Google Images

Control your mind!

So, who's complimenting you?

Five Simple Strategies to beat the Competition in 2018 and beyond!

Hospitality is a dynamic business that runs double speed just to stay firmly in place. It is, forever, under the influence of forces that urge it to embrace change more frequently than most other industries. First of all, it is the customer base that demands change or updation continually; then the other hotels in the region or elsewhere that push you to look within and finally the times that tend to get dated faster than you can plan and implement.

The Bottom line is almost always the plank from which business strategies spring up and from where Company Vision gets its focus. And to keep a healthy bottom line, hotel companies must always endeavour to retain their leading position (if they are market leaders; otherwise aspire to be one), increase their market share and always stay ahead of their Competition.

With 2018 close on our heels, a lot of the industry mavens and trend forecasters are working overtime to predict what will be the new developments, what will last and what will be thrown into the relics of history. Yet, it is a given that the virtues that have stood the test of time continue to guide brand growth and brand relevance.
Below follow five basic and essential steps to keep you ahead of your game, regardless of your geopolitical, cultural, time-driven coercions – 

1. TQC - Total Quality Control

This is what separates the grain from the chaff. Your quality consciousness is one singularly important facet that puts you on top of the heap, regardless of your size, location, features or specialty.

I am completely swept off by hotels that do not drop the ball in the faultless crustiness and chewiness of breads in the morning baskets, in the perfect grainy texture of their mustard, the freshness of ALL fruits and cheese and cold cuts on the vast buffets, the crispness of their fresh smelling, spotless linen, the perfect point on which their temperature control rests, the poise and the pleasant disposition of the immaculately trained staff, the little thoughtful gestures exhibited at welcome and turndown. I appreciate these much more than the design, the period or modern furniture, the art deco objets d’art, the number of awards showed off in their press gallery.

I am of the strong contention that if hotels and the big guns that run them can ensure quality control in the tiniest of facets then they have definitely got the big picture right. Those who aim for the surface sheen, the outwardly, the meatier in-your-eye things and skim over the finer aspects are quite missing the point.

2. Competition Check

Those of us in Public Relations and Sales & Marketing have the privilege of enjoying a great perk at least on the upside; until it comes down to hard work and serious study that is tagged to it. Great because it entails wining and dining at competition hotels! The somewhat downside because it involves checking out the menu, the ambience, the rest of the accoutrements that form part of fine dining (this does take away the gay abandon with which we’d rather like to wine and dine), a kind of studious approach that the exercise lends to an evening we would wish to be carefree and the serious report that we must fill in and submit the next morning. Like us, our brethren from the Food & Beverage and Kitchens brigade are also extended ample opportunity within the month to dine several times at the fabulous places housed in other hotels in the city.

Then there is the new hotel FAM that we go for to familiarize ourselves with the latest in town that will fight tooth and nail with us for the share of business our geographical location attracts.

I remember on a sabbatical to the United States while working with a hotel chain, that was a member of The Leading Hotels of the World, I was encouraged by my boss to approach the other member hotels in the cities I was visiting across the east and west coast and seek a stay in order to check out their brand and product.

Like with most other products – durable, FMCG, experiential, ethereal – it will always be imperative to know what and how well the Competition is doing. 

3. Brand Benchmarking

In these tough times of economic recession, lack of guest loyalty, availability of too many options, the advent of newer chains that come attached with the strings of their unique features and discerning facets, it makes a whole lot of sense to continually benchmark internally and raise the bar amidst the other players in the industry.

Guests will stay with you for the overall goodness of your product and will return only when they see a different value for themselves from the rest of the pack that hounds and courts them and solicits their business.

4. Eye for Innovation

There is always an opportunity to better your best; to present an idea in a more superior way than the next good guy in town. And that is where your inclination for innovation comes in. Faster Wi-Fi, more well-stocked minibar, a much more improved in-house laundry, greater hassle-free check-in and check-out, far more efficient in-room and butler services, more refined ease of conducting business affairs while still in the Limo, a stellar guest history software that remembers every tiny detail about the guest – the penchant to reinvent yourselves and keep your R&D skills razor sharp will always stand you in good stead.

5. Trending in Technology

While with a lot of other things we can set our own rank (think permutations in infrastructure, preferences in design, choice of services’ routine and template), with technology we can only follow what has been devised by the denizens of the Silicon Valley and madly copied and distributed in tech labs and IT firms.

From Apple founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne down to Zuckerberg’s Facebook, the A to Z of tech wizards are stumbling over each other to present the next big and better craze.

While many other things are in our hands, technology is in the hands of those who dive deep into the sea of innovation and swim back with one magnificent creation after another. With technology making the world smaller and hospitality always endeavouring to bring the world closer, it makes sense to keep up with the latest offering in personal and business technology, especially when the competition has just reworked and jazzed up their tech menu and offerings for the guests. 

The five above will always guarantee to keep your Brand alive and kicking, your think tank busy, your creative teams satiated, your employee base motivated and above all, your guests happy.

When caught in the jargon of business theories and the loop spun by the new age witchdoctors; do reflect on these basic tenets and see how your business continues to thrive and outperform.

Have a successful and satisfying 2018!

*****

Pictures courtesy - Google Images 

  

Superb Writers 2017!

Today I was added to the list of Superb Writers 2017 by Vin Clancy.

Vin Clancy, a noted Twitterati, is a UK based Award-winning public speaker specializing in growth hacking, internet marketing, and personal branding. He says, "I help people use the internet to improve their lives." He is also a "Listerateur," or a master craftsman of lists if you please, pooling together great talent into cohesive, easy to follow and easier to reap lists. Vin has created a reservoir of great creative minds and Thought Leaders by drawing up an awe-inspiring bunch of 69 lists on Twitter. About Superb Writers 2017, Vin Clancy has this to say - "These lot are going somewhere :) follow them!"

Top 20 of all time!

I note it with immense joy and gratitude that two of my articles are amongst the 20 best of all time on Bizcatalyst 360. 

In fact, they appear at Numbers 1 and 3.

This is Manna for any Writer, and certainly a spot of divine motivation!

Thank you!