I moved to the US in June 2014. Having worked in media relations for the majority of my career back in India, I assumed I was prepared to plunge into the industry in a new country and start right where I left off. After all, I had worked for two multinational firms, coordinating several initiatives with teams across the globe. How different could it really be? Turns out, I was in for quite a surprise.
Increasing awareness and making meaningful audience connections are among the goals of every PR effort. Yet, the techniques used by firms in different countries to achieve such goals can vary. To demonstrate that point, here are a few of my preliminary observations as someone who has practiced PR in both the US and India:
Media placements – US PR practitioners and their clients seem to place a higher value on online coverage than their counterparts in India do. While the companies or teams that I worked with in India also understood the importance of digital presence, the emphasis was always on garnering print coverage. Digital placements were considered more as a bonus, but never enough to stand on their own.
Calling a journalist – In the US, it is common practice to call journalists on their landline from a landline (preferably the company landline) to follow up on a story. Calling journalists on their cell phone is considered rude or an intrusion of privacy if one doesn’t already have an established relationship with them. In India, the cell phone is king. Most PR professionals there have access to journalists’ cell phone numbers and vice versa. Also, the different areas codes make it easy to distinguish a cell phone number from a landline number. It is normal to call a reporter’s cell phone. In fact, more often than not, reporters in India do not answer or entertain calls from landline numbers.
Pitching a story idea – I’ve worked on numerous pitches in my career as a communications professional. In India, if I had an interesting story idea, I would simply pick up my phone and call the journalist to pitch the idea. If interested, the journalist would ask me to follow up via email with more details. Here in the US, it is quite the opposite. Many journalists don’t appreciate a phone pitch. Instead, it’s customary to write a pitch that is likely to grab attention, email it to the relevant media outlets and then finally follow up with a phone call. Of course, there are exceptions to this. When a PR professional has an established relationship with a journalist, calling first to pitch a story is acceptable, especially when it’s a natural part of the conversation.
Media-rounds – Meeting journalists regularly (even weekly) over coffee or at their work place – known as “media-rounds” – was a norm in India. The purpose of the media-round is to build a relationship with relevant journalists and understand their areas of focus so we are better able to pitch them appropriate story ideas. While this is also true in the US, many times it isn’t as practical to regularly meet with media face-to-face. A number of factors, including the sheer size of the country, proximity of the spokesperson to the journalist and over-burdened staff at various outlets, make it rather difficult to conduct media-rounds – or “deskside briefings” as they’re known here – as frequently.
In conclusion, it’s fair to state that PR in the US and PR in India is the same in several aspects, yet different in a few others. My observations are based solely on my experience within organizations and industries with which I have been associated and may or may not hold true for media relations in general. But despite any differences between the two countries, my passion for communications and public relations is as strong as ever.