The journey, less or well, travelled!
BOTH THE JOURNEY AND THE DESTINATION ARE CRUCIAL!
The road much travelled, and yet, much misunderstood, is how I describe Public Relations (PR) in today's world. Public Relations is all about planned, strategic communications and how to build and convey choice perception of the subject matter being profiled. Who you tell your story to i.e. the stakeholders or audience, how the story is to be told bit by bit, in what setting the communications is to be staged, keeping in mind the overall objective, goal and strategy of this exercise, are all so important and key towards casting the right, desired image.
Hence, both the journey and the destination are important and crucial towards achieving the goals. One cannot exist without the other!
Anyone can communicate BUT when conducted with no prescribed agenda and plan, it sure can go awry. Like a great novel where each word, sentence and paragraph will relate to a wonderful chapter that captures the essence of the subject matter and the setting of the scene; likewise a well-planned strategic PR agenda can build the choice image and positive awareness of a person, company, brand or project in a most effective manner, possible.
It is a highly specialised skill that takes years to hone, as one needs to be aware of how the media works, the people factor who make crucial decisions on what to feature, which media will help build the profile and the plot, what contents should be shared with the audience being wooed, and eventually the desired results when printed or posted!