'PR is no longer limited by geographical boundaries as it used to be’

An agency always focuses on establishing a network of contacts across the region, understanding their cultures, values, media preferences, and trends. They always make sure to provide all possible facilities to their clients/stakeholders. Despite all of this, they come across certain challenges too. Some of the key roadblocks include building face-to-face relationships, getting top-tier coverage, managing client expectations and keeping data organised.   

In conversation with us, today is Nikky Gupta, co-founder and CEO, Teamwork Communications Group, where she elaborates on important points for strengthening regional reach and the significance of both traditional and digital communication.

Excerpts:

Today, where every professional is inclined towards the virtual world, how important is it to maintain face-to-face communication with clients?
 
In the digital age of smartphones, social media, texts, emails and instant messages, communicating has become faster and easier than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic further re-emphasised the importance and inevitability of digital technologies in the world. Regardless of industry or profession, we all know building relationships is essential for business growth and there’s no better way to foster professional relationships than old-fashioned face-to-face interaction. In my opinion, it is vital to see the people you are speaking to and interpret their reactions. When presenting in a meeting you can gauge a person’s understanding and interest in your presentation by observing their facial expressions, posture, and gestures. Also, in-person communications feel more authentic and personal. Imagine trying to explain an intricate project in an email and then spending the whole day fielding questions. Instead, you can engage them in person, explain the entire plan, receive advice, and answer all questions in one face-to-face meeting. This ensures everyone is on the same page at the same time. Also, face-to-face interaction helps in building credibility.
 
However, when meeting in person isn’t an option, video conferencing provides a great alternative. The face-to-face connection allows you to be present and engaged in the meeting, regardless of your physical location.
 
After using the amalgamation of digital and traditional practices, what has been the success ratio for agencies?
 
There were a lot of sceptics in the beginning because they thought digital media and technologies would erode traditional channels. Before the technology and social takeover, brands were keener to position themselves in front of the audience using traditional techniques such as newspaper ads, TV appearances or radio mentions – all mediums that had the ability to direct customers to a brand. However, with the growing need for immediate information, and the changing ways in which consumers access it, brands have been forced to react, needing to dominate every publicity platform possible to remain visible. Today, the best marketing strategy for mass visibility is to marry the simplicity and effectiveness of traditional techniques with the instant value brought through digital channels.
 
Today, at Teamwork Communications Group, we're able to provide integrated PR communications for clients, online and offline, and we're also able to reach diverse audiences across several demographics, including those who spend most of their time online. Our messages can reach young people who're social media savvy and also reach the aged, traditional audience who depend on newspapers, magazines, television and even radio. Lastly, we're able to measure performance better using media monitoring software, workflow applications, and analytics.
 
What are the provisions that you have in place to ensure and strengthen regional reach?

The most important thing is enhancing one's knowledge of the region in question. Building capacity and brand equity is also very important. Of course, leveraging referrals is inevitable to gain regional reach. For us, as an agency, it’s about building a network of contacts across the region, understanding the cultures, values, media preferences, and trends, as well as understanding what works for each location or area. Beyond that, we have a network of journalists and editors of different media outlets, bloggers and other media professionals in the region.
 
In today's world, influencers have also become a key component of brand management, so we get to build relationships with celebrities with huge following on social media because they come in very handy. These are all options that'll give you the reach you desire.
 
How have new tools like data mining and data management helped professionals in data mitigation?

PR is mostly about data; how you get them, manage them, and use them for your clients. With data mining and data management, we're able to collect useful data from several algorithms and warehouses online, which help us to identify and aggregate patterns and behaviours so that we can create the right PR messages that get the best results for our clients. Data mitigation simply means moving the information from one platform to another and this is a very important part of PR too.
 
The error margin is lesser, and the ROI is way much more for the clients, because we're able to target the right market using the right messages and the right communications channels.
 
How have PR agencies been successful in expanding their territorial reach in the advertising and marketing space?

Personally, I believe expansion is subjective. If you've decided you want to focus on a particular city, country or region, you should make the most of it; be the best PR agency in that space. If you're able to gain trust and reputation in your sphere of influence, it'll only be a matter of time before you can expand. However, digital technologies have also helped a lot. Today, PR agencies in India are able to service clients in the US, UK and other parts of the world because they can negotiate, transact, get briefs, and execute projects from anywhere in the world. PR is no longer limited by geographical boundaries as it used to be. With the Internet and the benefits, it offers, the reach is limitless and this is evident in the way we've operated in the last two decades.
 
At Teamwork Communications Group, we are aggressively working to ensure our company strengthens and expands its service offering spectrum for providing integrated and omnichannel communication support to our clients for faster communication requirements and effective business results. We are currently operating in over 65 cities of India through a network with direct offices in Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad, and aiming to set up offices in all the metros by the end of next year. Besides, towards the end of 2022, our Singapore office will also be operational.