Public Relations: Always Be A Step Ahead

A lot of GPs now have to buckle up to be a step ahead of their patients.Unlike in the past when doctors would scribbble certain unfathomable words in their clerking of patients' diagnosis and eventual prescription, and willy-nilly hand such over to their patients who hardly queried their conclusions, many patients book search and google-search their health issues before appearing in the consulting room.

At times,these patients are even armed with medical jargons of their ailments and medicament before seeing a doctor .Thus,a good medical doctor-whether in primary or secondary care-should always be at least a step ahead of their patients to be relevant in this age.

The scenario painted above clearly relates to our Public Relations profession in modern times as the uninitiated now stumble on or deliberately search for materials to read to actually prove that the job is more of a vocation than a profession.

To continue to be relevant and be at that vantage position we have always occupied,there is the need to consult current books and journals.How many of us in public relations profession have 2014/2015/2016 books on public relations and allied professions such as online journalism,advertising and even photography?To be modest,yours truly is not asking this for the sake of rhetorics.Most of us take these things for granted and believe we already know enough!

Once in a while,some of us are confronted with the challenge of certain charlatans-in line of our duty- who poke their nose in our job .e.g media relations.In education sector for instance,these impostors may be PhD holders or individuals with retinue of degrees but the truth is that they do not have what it takes to do the job of public relations because they are not trained,they are not certified;they are not licenced or schooled in that profession.But because they are jealous that we set the pace for media discussions,that we are involved in production of the convocation brochure or newsletters,that we featurise the best graduating student's valedictory speech,that we prepare the speeches of the chief executive and arrange his featuring on a media programme and other things relating to our job,they attempt to malign our progress,badmouth us and pretend that every Tom,Dick and Harry can do the job.

As a thorough-bred professional, not to worry!As practitioners,when we are beleaguered with this sort of rigmarole,it is our duty to tell the charlatans what they do not know about our profession and probably using some of our technical jargons which they will only find time to decipher. At least, this puts them off the track.

In recent past,I invested in some current professional books--Advertising for Dummies,The PR Masterclass and New Rules for Marketing &PR--delivered to me by one of my mentors,I was alarmed at how much I had learnt from these books and others I later got.Honestly speaking,without these books,I was a bit backward in the know-how of this noble profession.Although the books were quite expensive,I never regretted buying and wading through them.We should not underestimate any source of our knowledge as PR practitioners.Be a step ahead: a good counsel for the public relations practitioner.

Very importantly too, Nobody is an island of knowledge(in PR we think internationally and act locally!).There are times we need local wisdom and experience that are not contained in one single book.This writer is a beneficiary of knowledge from consulting trusted PR professional colleagues when, once in a while, at crossroads.He has smiled in the end.

If you are in our profession and you have never been in a sort of fix,expect it someday depending on the sector you are in.One quick and easy way to fix that is consultation(apology to Mr Tope Adaramola, the current Chair of Ogun State Chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations who has always done this pro bono!).Let us consult our colleagues and learn from their experience especially our veterans amongst us. They have seen and they have conquered many at times in the profession.

Without mincing words, a public relations practitioner,the one who knows their onions, is a cynosure of all eyes because their work speaks for them.We of this honourable profession are somewhat envied as our colleagues in other specialisations within the same organisation believe we always steal the show.But they sometimes forget that we have the trumpet and need no one to blow it on our behalf.Our tools are words manifested through planning, reading,writing,speaking and listening.

Public Relations professionals are speech makers,speech writers,opinion writers,copy writers,brand managers,comperes,events managers,news writers,editors,bloggers,content writers,wordsmiths,broadcast presenters, broadcast managers, believers, promoters, bibliophiles, moving encyclopedias, mixers, propagators, and paparazzi combined. The list is not exhaustive here.While we may seek to be an all-rounder,some areas of strength can easily earn us a selling point in our varying assignments.

For us professional public relations practitioners to prove their mettle, we should always--in our various assignments--think of a step ahead of charlatans, quacks and imposters. This indeed makes us to continue to be relevant in their jobs.

** Katib is a certified public relations practitioners and currently works with Crescent University, Abeokuta, Nigeria/08096629914