By Dhiya Zuhairul
GOMBAK, 14 November 2021: Participants of a webinar organised by the Institute of Public Relations Malaysia (IPRMSA)-IIUM Chapter were provided with useful insights on the continued relevance of traditional Public Relations despite the current digital era.
Public Relations (PR) is important to feed off on brand awareness and to give positive impressions of a brand or company. The options of PR fall into two categories; traditional PR, and digital PR, while sharing the same fundamental goals, these two approaches serve in different executions.
The talk held on Saturday (13 November) featured two invited speakers discussing on the issue – Ms. Edna Zacharias, Communication Director of Citrine One (PR Agency), and Ms. Esdira Aijalida from International Public Relations of MyFundAction HQ (NPO).
In a one-hour and a half programme, the speakers discussed perceptions and contemplations regarding traditional PR and its relevance today.
Ms. Edira, with 20 years’ experience in the marketing and public relations industry, said: “In the day of digital, of course it is still relevant, but the tricky part is, how do you do traditional PR?”
Firstly, Ms. Edira said that traditional PR is a mindset component that we could use along with the digital world.
“How you communicate with different audiences will build on how much they would trust you or your brand especially if you work for a non-profit organisation. This is because there are a lot of scams from so-called NGO’s.” In this regard, she said, PR should show transparency especially with the finance.
“Every stranger that you meet is your new database,” Edira emphasised. “We have to know what’s happening to the organisation and not just in our own department in the company.”
Hence, she encouraged participants to combine traditional PR with digital approaches.
She also gave tips on how to counter spread of negative perception with positive attitude. For example, if a brand has been attacked with negative feedbacks, it is the PR’s duty to handle it with professional approach such as doing press conferences with the media to clear up the issue as it is the fastest way to get the right message across.
Meanwhile, Ms. Edna Zakaria in sharing her knowledge on the relevance of traditional PR today, said traditional media is gaining a huge amount of interest from the readers when press releases were given out to announce the event.
She talked on how digital media tactic may not move the need as paying for influencers is expensive and they may not meet the expectations as to create ample amount of brand awareness.
“Social media is not just about likes and share on getting brand awareness, but the key is also to have engagement.”
The talk ended with a Question & Answer session and closing remarks from both speakers.
For more insights on this talk, readers may click the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbEQPVRHu10***