Paromita Ghosh is one of the most well-known faces in the city’s Public Relation circle and the owner-director of Candid Communication, a leading PR agency of eastern India.
Talking on the need for PR in the post-Covid-19 era, Paromita highlighted that PR is also included among the ailing industries amid the global pandemic. “Every industry is facing problems and PR is not an exception. The gap between the PR agencies and the customer has grown due to the lockdown and different necessary protocols. But, the agencies came back with new ideas as seminars have been converted into webinars and meetings are done via online meeting apps and many more. The only thing we need to be ready for is different and creative ideas,” feels Paromita.
She said that multi-tasking will be the key to growth in the post-Covid-19 time as we should be ready with different ideas and different goals to be achieved in different ways. She added, “Utilize your social media and blog presence more than ever. Locked up at home, people are unsurprisingly glued to their computers and smartphones more than ever. Not only that, but they’re feeling alone, uncertain, and scared. This is why it’s so important to engage continuously with your customers via social media and other online channels, while also making sure that you cater to their needs rather than your own.”
As a smart PR person, Paromita thinks, one should look at the news which is coming up in the pipeline and see how we can adapt our announcements to be more in tune with the issues and needs created by the Coronavirus outbreak. “A global pandemic obviously isn’t the best time for conventional PR and marketing, or for product launches. So, without usual press releases or announcements, one of the best and most effective ways is to stay in the public eye by focusing on thought leadership,” the PR expert suggested.
Now that the Coronavirus has changed the world, it’s vital that you change your style of messaging, advises Paromita. “While communicating externally, think carefully about the words and language you are using, regardless of whether you’re writing on LinkedIn or in a newsletter or on Twitter or in a press release or on a blog.”
Ultimately, it’s the post-Covid-19 future one should keep in mind when updating his/ her PR and marketing plans, feels Paromita. “Sooner or later, the Coronavirus pandemic will end, therefore, we need to think how the extra time can be best spent,” she opined.
For the PR aspirants, Ghosh advised, “Know Your Audience, Choose the Right Platform, Find Your Creative Angle, Write an Exceptional Press Release, Distribute Wisely, Build Relationships with Journalists, When reaching out to media personnel, make your email short and sweet, leave the details for the press release.”
According to her, nothing is more important than following up with your outreach. “Whether you reached out to five outlets or five hundred, you MUST (and I repeat, MUST) follow up with each and everyone, and most likely, more than once. Plain and simple,” she signed off.
The author, Sayani Banerjee is associated with Adamas University Media School.
