Writer. Editor. Writing and covering tech with Akriti Rana at ABP, Indian Express, TechPP, The Mobile Indian, and 91 Mobiles.
MEDIA/ PR LESSONS TECH BRANDS CAN TAKE FROM THE INDIAN ELECTIONS: The media is your way to access the media’s consumer. Your audience is not the media but those who read or follow it. The media’s effectiveness depends on how much its consumer believes what appears in it. If the media is perceived as corrupt or sold out, it loses value as its consumers are unlikely to believe in it. When you start corrupting/ buying out the media, it starts saying what YOU want rather than what its consumer needs to know. It loses credibility. A sold out media ignores its consumer, the very people you are trying to reach through it. You also get used to having your own opinion treated as the truth. This makes you less responsive to those who point out when you are wrong. A culture of mutual sycophancy sets in. So, you end up paying people to carry what you say and they carry it because of the money/gifts/ favours/devices you give them. But what you are saying has no value to the consumers you are targeting, because you yourself have eroded the credibility of the media. The loss of credibility of some media leads to the growth of alternate media, which often thrives on simply criticising everything you do. This is seen as credible because hey, everyone who praises you is seen as having sold out. At the end of it all, you spend a truckload of money trying to reach a media’s audience but are unable to get your message across because the media itself has been damaged. What’s more, your strategy has led to the growth of a collection of loud critics, which you cannot control. The solution: 1. Never forget that your target is not the media or the media person, but their audience. A happy media house or media person counts for nothing if their audience don’t believe what they say. 2. Never do anything to compromise the media’s credibility. 3. Recognise that media coverage is not synonymous with “positive coverage.” Even critical coverage can have its plus points. In fact, how you handle your critics is a better measure of your ability than how you handle those who praise you. Anyone can handle their own fans! 4. Keep an eye on not just what the media are saying but its impact on its audience. Remember: the media’s audience is your target, not the media itself. A glowing positive story is of no use if it does not get across to the audience or is not believed by it. 5. Build strong relationships which do not compromise credibility of either party. Remember that when you corrupt someone you can converse with, you are sowing seeds for the emergence of someone who will rebel and won’t speak with you. Finally, recognise that if someone is asking you for money to mislead his or her audience about you or your competitors, they will take money from your competitors for exactly the same. That’s about it for now. Thanks for your patience. #Media #Communications #PR #PublicRelations
