Meet Veta Ratra, brand consultant for brand building & media relations, who is also the founder of Brand Creators. With the emerging need for the existence of brand identity and its awareness, the PR in today’s world is at its rapid pace. While her clients concentrate on their business, she helps them build, nurture and protect their brands. She shares her success story with TMM.
How did you realize Public Relation to be your calling?
It was never in my plan to enter the world of PR. Instead, I always wanted to explore advertising and while tracing advertising I ended up doing a specialization in PR as an alternate career option. I landed up myself in a reputed PR firm and from there I started enjoying the field. Socializing with people and clients from different backgrounds, conceptualizing strategies started bringing excitement as I began to develop and explore a different side of myself. I came close to my strengths and weaknesses. I realized my appetite for planning and selling and thus made my career in the PR industry.
As a woman, talk about the challenges, you face in the industry?
Each industry comes with its own challenges and so does PR too. Being an industry where the influence of women is important, PR consists of more women than men as per today’s statistics. However, tight deadlines, quick turnaround times, and demanding clients make the profession a little uneasy but all carried gracefully with integrity, value system, and will-power makes it a sweet experience. Not all clients are tough but not all of them are kind too. I have had my share of experiences too where I felt like giving up but I came up as a stronger person than before. My husband’s support, family love , and the kind of trust and support I received from my clients have made me what I am today.
Your thoughts on the dynamic F&B industry in metropolitan cities.
Rising disposable incomes has changed consumer lifestyle and has boosted the F&B industry like never before. With more millennials, increased pocket size, and new international cuisines& brands, the metropolitan cities in India are experiencing new dynamism. The market is getting diverse from diet based cafes to gluttonous restaurants, from multi-cuisine diners to international concepts & regional Indian places, luxury nightclubs, high-end concept places, and more. It is that time for the industry where everything is more versatile and innovative.
How has the F&B industry changed with the surge of PR as the mainstage?
Being a very liquid industry, a strong and versatile PR agency is the most dynamic & effective way to publicize an F&B brand. From rising digitalism to millennials and more trends, PR has been the most binding force connecting digital tools and platforms while driving customer traffic towards the brand. Good PR strategies have helped in earning exposure the brands need to create customers excitement making them come back again. Thus companies need PR to tell the world about their existence, it is the best way for brand awareness.
What is your mantra for a good PR?
Maintaining the right image of the brand and staying true to the core values of the brand is the true mantra of good PR for me. I believe in discovering and shaping each brand’s unique story and helping them share it with the world allowing them to narrate their true value to the world. My mantra is all about a short and succinct statement that encapsulates the brand’s belief and purpose.
You have worked with the bigwigs of the F&B industry. How has been the experience?
The journey has never been swift and smooth without any roadblocks. Right from handling the best of restaurants like Plum by Bentchair, Dragonfly, Ophelia, Local Café, Liv Bar, Prankster, Farzi Café , Made in Punjab, Nueva, Cafe Delhi Heights, Daryaganj, Burma Burma, Molecule, Pra Pra Prank, Unplugged Courtyard, Soy Soi, and more to top-notch restaurateurs, l consider it as my fortune to be working with Priyank Sukhija, Zorawar Kalra, Inderjeet Singh Banga, Vikrant Batra, Umang Arora, Dinesh Arora, Amit Bagga, Akshay Anand and more. Handling the bigwigs of the industry depicts the client’s faith in you. However, sustaining and retaining clients isn’t that easy as it looks, but I take it as healthy competition and a learning drill.
How do you create a work-life balance?
Alexander Kjerulf has rightly said, “Most people chase success at work, thinking that will make them happy. The truth is that happiness at work will make you successful.” Prioritizing my time and focussing on my strengths has helped me balance work with my personal life. Wisely managing personal time and relationships with my family and children and, equal time for work has helped me taste success on that front.
What’s your mantra of maintaining sanity and clarity of mind?
Letting my mind flow and grow has helped me maintain sanity and clarity of mind. Pre-planning and scheduling work beforehand keeps me sane, whereas pre-defined goals and focused vision help me have a clear mind. Being thankful for nature and the people around me has always given me the strength of a healthy mind and maintaining loving and healthy relationships at work and home has helped me balance my life.
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