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PR set to enter all-new brilliant phase.

Even as the credit squeeze continues to ravage major economies, both foreign and local, some PR executives have observed that under the recession, more firms embraced PR activity more than advertising, as it is cheaper and gives more stamp of authority than any other communication method.

Tola Bademosi of BD Consult and Kabir Dangogo of Timex Communications agree that PR is cheap and a more authoritative means of communication that delivers value. In Nigeria, they note that PR is now becoming a major strategy for every management. This, they explain, is because it allows someone else to give compliments to a brand that is more accepted by the consumers. 
Ken Egbas of TruContact agrees that the industry vibrancy is coming out. “In Europe and America when they had problems, advertising dropped, and then companies chose relationship with people looking for below-the-line methods to reach people. PR is about to enter a brilliant phase as it never seen before. In time like this, companies are cutting advertising budget and preferring to engage PR consultants to design communication that help them to interface more directly which would help them get a feedback and feed-forward which are also necessary in communication.” 
It is the belief of the marketing communication experts that the recent global economic meltdown may have opened the eyes of many corporations to the benefits of PR. This is evident fact that when crisis hits a company or an economy like it did worldwide, corporations with solid reputation-engineering experts seemed to have come out with less bruises than others.  
Corporations with strong reputations have attracted faster bailouts, better conditions in case of mergers and acquisitions, and overall goodwill from the public. In the Niger Delta, companies that have a strong record of steady production, strong community relations, massive employments for the local people, local content, etc, have come out unscathed in the ongoing violence. Even where there is a kidnap of their chief executives, public outcry is overwhelming, and the hostages often get released faster, sometimes without ransom.  
Public Relations have therefore become new brides in institutions because they have realised that reputation is no more a mere complement or a footnote in the company’s balance sheet (profile), but a core asset beyond the financials.  
BusinessDay checks reveal that more PR consultants are rising up to the challenge. According to Jossy Nkwocha, foremost journalist and now a PR consultant, reputation now plays crucial roles in conducting due diligence on corporations before mergers, acquisitions and bailouts.  
“To enhance image-rating is now very important, not just about frequency of news of the company in the media. Building strong reputation is important as an asset and it will help companies sail through meltdown or crisis situations, and other hard times in the industry. It will help companies sail through situations where others failed,” Nkwocha further explains in an exclusive interview with Media Business.  
He notes that the core-competences of a PR expert that can come in handy in molding reputation include ability to uphold the Mexican statement that PR is involved with analysing trends, looking at their consequences, forecasting the future from the present, capturing the global picture for management, researching on corporations that faced similar situations.  
These experts now scan the business environment all the time and look out for various challenges and changes in the horizon whether technical, political, financial, and forecast or advise (warn) management ahead of time. This is to enable management take proactive actions, to act ahead of time. “The PR manager is not an onlooker anymore in the corporate world, in the business suite. He now contributes to profitability; he is part of determining the bottom line,” he remarks.  
The contributions of the PR manager will help the corporation take proactive actions, not following the crowd. The belief is that every corporation/organisation needs a very good PR manager now, but to achieve ahead-of-time actions, the PR manager must earn the respect of his management to move key proposals because most of the proposals may be radical to them. 
He must come packed with high reputation, competence and credibility to get the respect he needs to function in such high capacity.  
An image engineer must perfectly handle internal PR practice, know the pedigree of going partnerships, turn his corporation into a local bride in the event of a merger, and treat reputation as an invaluable asset to be considered just like the balance sheet; the image quotient (IQ).  
But, in the Niger Delta and in other volatile regions, is the PR manager losing to the security manager in the boardroom? “It’s possible but both managers must work together to create a balance. The PR manager is now an asset, no just the old errand boy image.”  
For the PR managers to play in the corporate intelligence department of corporations, it implies the industry must first separate the quacks from the professionals. 
Nkwocha says this implies that the industry must first understand what PR is. It is different from publicists. 
“The publicists are those who understand their role as merely pushing stories into the media.”  
Getting it right may mean getting the right personnel in the onset. “Corporations often desire competent PR practice and design good PR job descriptions but end up taking the wrong person, either because of godfatherism, quota system, or political consideration, he argues.  
“A good PR expert must do an image audit of a company he is inheriting. This will reveal a lot. Then, he can plan his PR action. He must be alert at all times, knowledgeable, experienced in many areas. Sadly, many only view this from media tasks, or even as a mere journalism practice. Rather, the PR manager must be trained and prepared to handle media relations, employee relations, customer relations, corporate identity management, government relations, community/corporate social responsibility, corporate publications, events management, and crisis management. 
“Persons accepting top PR positions from the media must study the situation before crossing or try and acquire new skills other than ability to write good stories or speak good English before delving into it.”  
The bottom line is that corporations now want PR experts that are practically the eye of their companies, helping to create values that can be measured in tangible terms as profit, helping to save the company from crisis instead of waiting to manage crisis.