Sunday, July 19, 2009

The Public Relations we see today...

The Public Relations scenario we see today is a result of many changes in the economic conditions in the country in the 1970s and later in the 1990's.In 1970s the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi endorsed public relations as a vital function in management.This gave a major boost to this profession and changed it's status to a better one than before.As we all know the 1990s brought about some important changes in the economic policies in India.Our closed socialist thinking was forced to come in contact with the forces of liberalisation and globalisation.India was soon to become a mecca for multinationals coming and doing business here as never before and soon Indian businesses also moving abroad for greener pastures.

Public Relations as a profession became very crucial to companies as they started regarding it as a key managment function.The negative image of a PRO being 'fixers' reduced but still had its traces, especially in the public sector.The public relations manager became part of strategic decision makings of a company.The job of public relations officers moved to becoming image makers than mere guest relations officers.Though ofcourse there was not much formal education in public relations in the 1990s still the importance of a PR professional having command on his/her communication skills and writing skills became a top priority.Many PR agencies sprung up which were keen on offering public relations services to companies.

The change in the economic scenario and acceptance of this profession in the social and political and business scenario helped this profession grow as we see today.The media too started taking the public relations practitioners a little more seriously.When it comes to communicating crisis or any other important company announcement, the media knows they can approach a PR professional attached to the company.

Though ofcourse even today we see that advertising is given a little more importance than public relations when it comes to making budgets avaliable for each of these functions by companies, but slowly this scenario will change as more and more public relations professionals enter this profession with adequate training and formal education, which is now avaliable. They will make their clients realise the importance of this profession and its slow yet promising positive effect on images of not only companies but governments, politicians and celebrities.The last 10 years have seen reform in the education sector with respect to this profession and there is growth in diplomas, undergraduate degrees and post-graduate degree programs in India which offers formal education to candidates keen on pursuing this profession.

We are at a very nascent stage when it comes to doing public relations in India.We have to go a long way combining professional expertise and a sound academic background which will help us offer public relations services better.

What do you think?

3 comments:

  1. hi meena nice useful post..
    from:srinivas.gemini@gmail.com
    india

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  2. True, only thing is USP must be 'unique' in reality, and must have 'selling' element.

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