Guest Speak

PR for Bharat: Digital Transformation and IPOs Flood

Public relations for Bharat offers two major areas for future growth: (1) PR practice transformation due to Digital Bharat (non-English languages); (2) Flood of IPOs, especially SME listings from across India. Traditional PR focusing on print and TV media, though still important, has a much smaller role to play today. But, we need to remember that ‘CONTENT’ was, is and will continue to remain the core of all PR and only the medium for its delivery changes. 

Digital Bharat

A lot has already been written about Digital, data analytics and AI challenges and opportunities in the field of PR. But, as in traditional PR, while focus was mostly on English mediums, the same could be also be said for Digital in India. But, Bharat, where possibly 70% plus of population does not follow/use English, is an important target audience for PR professionals to further explore. 

Rajkot-based Akila was one of the first Gujarati newspaper to go online and even today it is one of the best online source for news on Saurashtra region and even Gujarat. On a lighter note, I remember during my media days over 15 years back, many English journalists based in Ahmedabad would be checking Akilanews.com portal daily to look for news items of their interest.

Here is an example of one of the most successful media house in Digital Bharat space. The Dainik Bhaskar group has been the pioneer in going digital and today Divya Bhaskar Digital in Gujarati language is way ahead of any other Gujarati media house in the digital space. This Group is perhaps the first in India to have its own Gujarati and Hindi news app with ‘paid’ subscribers. DB Digital in Ahmedabad office has over a 100 members team – completely separate from the print media team. In fact, the Dainik Bhaskar group’s digital foray from a simple news website, to news via social media (FB & Instagram) to its own paid app is in itself a great story. 

The question for PR professionals now is what do they need to do to take advantage of the digital transformation undertaken by regional media groups like Dainik Bhaskar and find ways to reach their PR clients’ target audiences.

The masses like to see videos/photos and do not spend much time on written texts. Again, taking the example of Divya Bhaskar Digital, they have a dedicated 30 employees’ team to only prepare/edit videos to upload on their digital platforms. 

How many PR firms/professionals consider preparing engaging videos for their clients’ important announcements? Few corporates have started sharing video-based announcements with media, but again they are mostly in English. 

Another important area that PR professionals need to consider is tracking the online/social media posts of regional media editors and senior journalists relevant to their client’s operations and try to understand the issues that they are focusing on. Many journalists are active online in their personal capacity as well as on behalf of their media house. Through these posts, a PR professional can better understand the online individual’s areas of interests and can therefore better engage with this media person during one-on-one meetings.  

Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) Flood

Of the large number of companies, especially in the SME segment, which have got listed on the NSE/BSE over the past several years, many of them will be interested in PR services. Many of the listed SMEs and even some of the mainboard post-IPO listed companies are not based in the major metros and this is a big opportunity for PR professionals to tap.

As per SEBI data, between 2013-14 and 2023-24 a total of 1,239 IPOs took place, out of which 922 were SME IPOs and 317 were Mainboard IPOs. In calendar 2024, there were 243 SME IPOs and 83 Mainboard IPOs. PR professionals have a significant opportunity to tap these listed companies, as many of them will require PR support on a project-basis or on a regular basis.

Regional PR firms and professionals can emerge as the major beneficiaries from the large number of SMEs which have got listed in the past years. Out of a total 340 equity issues in 2023-24, close to 200 were from the Western region, around 70 from Northern India, 50 from the South and rest from the East.

Promoters of many listed SMEs may not even know what PR is and can do. But, this is both a challenge as well as an opportunity for PR professionals.   

To conclude, PR professionals need to remember that ‘Change is the Only Constant’ – so you need to adapt and move ahead on an ongoing basis.