The Group Chief Executive Officer of McEnies Global Communications, Omolaraeni Olaosebikan, a foremost Public Relations expert, has enjoined practitioners, particularly young and upcoming PR personnel to pay special attention to managing their reputation alongside their official responsibility of nurturing the reputation of their clients.
The owner of the upwardly wholly company with vast expertise and competency in integrated marketing communications services directed the appeal to young professionals in self-reputation management who are often accused of treating clients with levity and with total disregard for professional ethics.
She gave the advice while reacting to some questionable behaviours identified amongst people in the formal image-laundering business during a monthly media briefing in her office with some selected senior journalists.
Whilst she agreed that some organisations are experiencing low patronage on account of soiled reputation and lack of competence, she added that the situation can be salvaged by practitioners through sincere display of integrity and commitment to the practice.
Olaosebikan said: “There is an urgent need for the application of core professional standards of integrity in service delivery and this would undoubtedly make professionals to be more relevant in our ever-dynamic and unpredictable socio-economic environment. Virtues such as trust, honesty, humility and a commitment to transparency should be upheld while transacting business with the clients.
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According to her, “Practitioners within the space of marketing communications, event planning or management, advertising, public relations, etc. must also be able to constantly network to learn from others, as knowledge is key to success in the profession. Practitioners need to improve on their skills and knowledge through periodic training.
“You will all agree with me that our personal knowledge is the bedrock of anything we want to achieve in life and we must be intentional about it. The knowledge entails that we must have a deep understanding of the market where we operate because our business thrives and operates in circles, which follow socio-economic and political trends. Practitioners must have a clear understanding of what the client wants. Knowledge of what is available in the market at all times, including the ones handled by colleagues or other participators within our highly competitive space and this is very crucial.”
Olaosebikan who, also spoke on ‘Strategies for timely closure of transactions,’ lamented that all over the world the perception that PR practitioners have trust issue is rampant because some people collect funds from clients and fail to utilise the funds for the purpose they were meant for.
“At McEnies Global Communications, we do our best to erase many of these negative perceptions and restore public confidence in the profession and our clients are always satisfied with our service delivery and that is integrity which is our core value that can never be compromised,” she said.
She however, said that professionals can change the perception through the way they present themselves to the clients and by extension public, in the course of running the business and execution of tasks so as to meet the increasing demands and satisfaction of the clients.
