PR in the 21st Century: Challenges & Directions

Written by Tijana Kopilovic
Edited by Ivona Vukovic

Truth, credibility and honesty are some of the first things that come to our mind in order to believe a PR person. The difficult part is to convince people that it is not all about PR. When you are telling them a story, the challenge would be for you is that they do not assume that you are just a flag or a brand but also to see beyond that and trust you. The question then and the challenge is to establish an honest relation which is characterized by trust and goodwill.

PR is perceived by some as “spinner”; spinning the truth which might be interpreted as not telling the truth.  It is however rather crucial to overcome that prejudice by establishing a clear and mutually beneficial relation with your audiences. Ten or twenty years back that was much easier for practitioners; they were not perceived or even labeled as a “spinners”. Nowadays, they need to think how to enter the stage; and how they are going to “spin” it if they need to engage themselves in such an act.  And to do that, they  need to be critical to themselves before they enter the stage realizing that their profession is very challenging.

Establishing TRUST will only bring positive results!

Written by Matina Stamatiadou 

Edited by Dr. Dimitrios V. Nikolaidis

Have you ever read a review and be skeptical about it? Has a salesperson approached you about a product or service and you were thinking: "No, that can't be true"? Do you feel like a friend or an acquaintance might be more trustworthy when it comes to evaluating a service? Have you ever thought of yourself as suspicious?  Well, you are.

Companies should aim in keeping their existing customers first and then bring new ones. This is relatively easy since it takes the application of a certain set of principles which are derived from the company's philosophy. People buy from people and customers buy from people they trust; thus establishing trust should be every company's priority!

When trust is absent, customers are not to be blamed. In many instances corporate representatives have lied to them; and sales people have tried to mislead them in buying things they don't need or they have low value.  

With the explosion and power of social media and the e-connectivity among people, establishing trust becomes a necessity. People today have the opportunity to express their opinions and feelings, provide reviews on a product or service and of course criticize wrong attitudes.

Companies that are trusted are more successful, and gain long-term customer relationships.  You can distinguish a trustworthy company easily, just by a question: Who trusts it? Take Google for example, the answer is everyone. Ok, almost everyone.

Google has been

·         on the top of Forbes Most trustworthy Companies over the years,

·         made it second in Forbes Most Reputable Companies In 2015

·        And again on the top of World's Most Ethical Companies (Computer Services) on Ethisphere.

But how do you build trust? From my point of view, through transparency. A company ought to be straightforward with customers, government & employees, be honest about the product or service and have a code of ethics. Moreover, as a company employee; one should engage with people. Listen to their needs and fulfill them; respond to their reviews, both good and bad; understand them and make them feel special, live up to their expectations. Be motivated by feedback, make good use of it and improve performance. Prove the company's worth, over and over again.

Summarizing:

1. Focus on relationships not on transactions.

2. Interact with customers; ask their views; consider their feedback.  

3. Make customers feel significant; show them your appreciation.

4. Develop long relations with customers.

5. People are very different from each other. Handle them accordingly.

6. Commit to a quality service provision.

7. Know the products and services very well.

8. Learn as much as you can about your customers.

9. Show care, empathy.

10. Act naturally, with courtesy.

11. Always KEEP your promises.

In conclusion, I would like to quote Dr. Covey: "Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships."

References:

Kevin Kruse (2012) Stephen Covey: 10 Quotes That Can Change Your Life. [online] Available from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2012/07/16/the-7-habits/ [Accessed on 20/10/2015] 

Don’t let the fear of public speaking hinder your growth!

Written by: Sofija Hristova 

Edited by: Dr. Dimitrios V. Nikolaidis

Have you ever felt anxiety when you are asked to present in class? Did you ever feel like you cannot find the words to express yourself or visibly tremble while talking to superiors? Have you ever felt the cold sweat coming as a wave through all your body and the shaking of your hands while you are talking to people you don't  know? If the answer to even one of these questions is YES then you are facing fear of public speaking or glossophobia.

It is argued that the fear of public speaking is the most common among all phobias. Like any other form of fear, people tend to protect themselves by either avoiding, or by struggling unsuccessfully against this social anxiety. Unfortunately this fear can trick people into avoidance of many opportunities and eventually hinder their growth.

Students that have glossophobia tend to avoid public speaking by choosing or transferring from classes that demand them to speak in front of the class, rather than taking the classes they really want. Further in their lives, they can pass on promotions and assignments that would require public speaking in their work environment. Ultimately they will throw away the career of their dreams, all because they fear something that is not life threatening.

The first thing that should come to mind of a person facing this phobia and is taking the step forward to give a speech that is important for her or his career is to focus on their message they have come to deliver and not on how they feel. Also, these people as they grow they are more often called to share their experience and expertise with groups of people and as a result they become more and more anxious.

As PR students we are taught how to get the audiences' attention, how to apply effective solutions on problems and how to present the idea successfully to our stakeholders. However, people with the fear of public speaking cannot control and frequently fail to practice the theory previously learned and understood. They tend to talk fast in order to finish their speech quickly and it results in loosing breath and to look even more unsecure and anxious. Next, they willingly avoid interaction and eye contact with the audience and it causes the speaker to concentrate more on its thought and thus feel more anxious. The last thing that people with glossophobia tend to do is fighting hard to hide the fear. By doing this they do not fool the audience, but they rather fool themselves.

It is comfortable to know that the fear of public speaking is common in Public Relations industry. But when it comes to public speaking opportunities, there is no time for the PR professional to fear. That is why according randjpr.com there are 6 tips and tricks that will be discussed in the following text on how to overcome glossophobia and do the duty of a successful PR.

• Do your research: The best way to be comfortable with the presentation is to actually be knowledgeable on the topic and prepared to answer every question posed.
• Know your audience: Be sure that the topic discussed is aligned with the interests of the audience, it is relevant and attracts their interest.
• Create an outline: by creating an outline, the speaker will organize their thoughts and they will be able to cover all the subjects efficiently.
• Write the speech as it would be spoken in normal conversation: choosing words that are used in the normal everyday conversation will make the speaker more comfortable.
• Read out loud and practice: by reading out load the speaker can correct all the grammar and also can approximate the time for the speech. With practicing the speaker can feel more confident on the knowledge of the topic covered.
• Do not procrastinate: BE PREPARED!

 As a conclusion, speeches are hard or interesting or fun as much as the speaker is making them. It is not wise to let the fear overcome and hinder the growth of a person and his or her career. And not to be forgotten, practice makes it perfect!

Businesses and Customers: Who is in Control?

Written by: Dimitris Chrysidis
Edited by: Elina Ketikidi

In this article, some thoughts about businesses and customers will be developed in order to understand better who (and if) someone is in control over the other, and the implications that this relationship has on the market.

 

With the rise of capitalism the previous century and the focus on mass production, businesses manufactured and distributed their products with less or no attention at all to customers' opinions and insights.  Today, most of the companies are taking under consideration the views of the customers and then products and services are developed.

 

Around the end of the 20^th century, there was a shift in the way that businesses operated and instead of focusing on the product, they started focusing on the customer.  They adopted a relationship orientation, in which they wanted to develop a lasting relationship with the customers, based on trust and commitment.  Moreover, the companies started prioritizing how to find out what the customer’s needs were.

But what changed and caused this shift? Technological advancements surely aided this transition, but it could have been made earlier as well, even if it would not have been as efficient as it is today. Democratization also had a part to play, since authoritarian regimes stifled civil society and put a lot of restrictions on trade in general. Still though, it would be easier for businesses to keep doing what they wanted, the way they wanted, without having to care about the consumer’s opinion.

 

There are other parameters as well that shaped the situation accordingly during the years, but a possible answer to the root cause of this shift is competition. In a competitive environment, people will always try to come up with ways in order to benefit themselves more than others.  Therefore, although for many years it was fixed that businesses focused on the product and operated in such a way, when the circumstances allowed it (or just made it easier), people to came up with a new way, to do business and to be focused on the consumer instead. This proved to be more efficient and since it had good results it created a new trend and businesses started going towards that direction.

 

If we go a bit deeper and analyze this idea, we will end up in human nature and the way people tend to behave in certain situations. To better understand this, we can look at the Prisoner’s Dilemma, which is an example analyzed in Game Theory, and in short speaks about how two rational individuals might not cooperate, even if it seems that it is beneficial for both of them to do so.  In other words, companies could all come to certain agreements (for example sell a specific kind of product at a fixed high price) in order to always have high profit. In the same way consumers could form organizations which could decide, for example, not to buy (collectively) a specific product due to low quality or high price and therefore make the company adjust the product or its price accordingly. But this rarely happens and even if it does, it doesn’t last long. So we find ourselves in a competitive environment, where people will always try to find ways to gain more than others.

 

In conclusion, it seems that there isn’t a specific answer in the question ‘Who is in control’. It rather depends on the different circumstances at various periods of time, and no matter what the result will be, the market will adjust every time accordingly.

Writing an EFFECTIVE Executive Summary

Written by: Stelios Kehaghias, Ana Cruz & Dimitris Nikolaidis

An executive summary is a short section in your report (usually before the table of contents) that provides an overview of the most important points and offers the opportunity to the reader to get acquainted with the report without reading it. Very often busy executives will only read the executive summary and nothing more. It becomes an important skill however to be able - with economy of words - to provide just enough information in a page or so which sufficiently describes the whole project.

Target

Within a page you should provide a comprehensive overview of your report.

Function

An executive summary can be considered a gateway for your report to be read. Executives that read an interesting executive summary often read the whole report or parts of the report.

Remember:

The executive summary should be brief, meaningful, clear, focused.

A good executive summary needs to be:

Specific - Clear  - Reflective of the key aspects of the report that follows.

An Executive Summary should answer  questions such as:

What

Why (key evidence that supports the reason behind the report)

When

Where (market, department)

How (process)

How much (investment, time, people)

So what (impact, results, expected outcome)

Structure / Content of the summary

The structure of your executive summary should follow the structure of your report.

Make sure you have a strong start, catching the attention of the reader.

Explain what the big picture is.

Use paragraphs and bullet points.

If you have financials make sure you provide a brief overview.

Don’t forget to mention your strong points (i.e. competitive advantage or expertise).

Explain what the company does; or what the main problem is.

Indicative Structure

A  brief company summary

The problem / issues that are addressed

The context (brief analysis of the market) – if appropriate

Alternatives considered

Recommendations and expected outcomes

Urgency / importance

Financial summary

Executive summary (Some general tips)

Make sure it is professionally written; free of errors.

Show confidence.

It is recommended that the length is 1 page.

In long reports the exec summary may reach 2 pages.

Read over and over the Executive Summary.

Is it inclusive enough?

Does it reflect the whole report?

Does it include the important information?

Is it too detailed?

Is there a logical sequence?

Slow Down...Sit back for a Moment and Revisit your Plan!

Written by: Konstantinos Kotidis 
Edited by: Sofija Hristova
 

In a world surrounded by all kinds of media, new and traditional, unlimited interruptions and thousands of stimuli we are exposed to throughout the day (and night), it's really hard to focus on the important and strategic things, either in professional or personal lives. Slowing down and reevaluation are two of the basic attitudes you need to develop in order to avoid confusion and to successfully achieve aims.  Slowing down is more of a psychological approach. No matter how smart, capable, fast or experienced you think you are, you need from time to time to go a step back and try to see things clearly, because life is not a 100 meter race.  Such a skill will certainly help you improve and achieve a more critical view on problems or issues in and out of your business.  Armed with a fresh view and relaxing mind you need to reevaluate the information and the approaches that your public relations plan is based on. Just a second look on things is not enough. The relaxing process will give high importance in the reevaluation step.

In a constant and changing environment, rethinking your objectives and strategies, and revisiting your focus points are a necessity.  An adoption however, of a different approach on the way we do our planning, will help us focus on the strategic elements;  the ones holding a really important role and  will have the largest contribution in achieving our objectives. 

 

PR to the Rescue

Written by Anastasia Koboudis

Edited by Nicki Patta

 

Public Relations isn't only about knowing who your customers are, their issues, finding solutions, or building relationships. What about communication skills? Let's take into consideration the importance and necessity of communication skill. Having great communication skills is one of the most important skills in Public Relations.  Not being able to fluently express yourself, orally or in written, can have a negative effect on your business or the company you represent. Consider the latest problems Volkswagen, the world's largest car company is facing with the faulty emission software. Volkswagen has just hired a new PR manager for damage control. The sole purpose of the new PR manager is to repair the company's public image by, most likely, communicating a message, that this was an isolated incident by a few people in the company and it is not the company's philosophy.

 

For a successful career in the field of Public Relations / Marketing, communicating effectively is a must; skills can and must be developed.  Start practicing today by compiling messages with:

• Simplicity
• Credibility
• Meaning
• Clarity
• Relevance
• Tailor-made to the audience
• Honesty
• Carefully chosen words
• The right Context & Content and
• Well-edited

Reference
Borras, Jo. (2015) VW Cheats EPA Tests, Faces Up to $18 Billion in Fines.[online] Available from:

< http://gas2.org/2015/09/18/vw-cheats-epa-tests-faces-up-to-18-billion-in-fines/ >  [Accessed: 18^th September 2015].