Herding Cats

Don't let any one tell you public relations is easy. It's not. At least some times. There are occasions when people are in agreement when it comes to such aspects of a campaign as messages, strategies, and goals. When this happens, the challenge of implementing efforts to connect publics or promote products or people can actually be fun. But then there are times - more often than not - when not everyone does agree on a particular aspect of a campaign. This is when public relations is at its most challenging. For a campaign to have a concrete chance of succeeding, everyone involved in it needs to be actively supportive. If this is not the case, then the campaign is akin to a leaky dam: there are holes that always need plugging.

Presently, I am involved in a public relations campaign designed to promote sustainability at my university. Everyone supports the effort, of course, because it is good for the environment as well as the institution's pocket book. Unfortunately, not everyone supports the proposal to use a fictitious character unique to our institution as a symbol for sustainability. Thus, when a decision is made about this - and one is coming soon - not everyone will be happy. As a result, will these people give the overall campaign the support it needs because a key decision they did not support was made? This is a genuine concern and will require a strong public relations effort to keep them on board as the campaign moves forward.

In public relations, this sort of dual challenge is not unusual. For external efforts to succeed, a strong internal effort is required. That internal base is important because it provides the external effort with a solid foundation of support. This includes persons to volunteer to help carry out strategies So often I have seen campaigns fail because they lacked that foundation or because it was too weak to last for any significant period of time. Internal publics must not be ignored. Rather, they need be constantly nurtured and respected. At times, doing so can feel as fruitless and impossible as herding cats. But public relations practitioners should not let that discourage them even though this effort requires non-stop attention. After all, often it is an organization's internal publics that provides the manpower, budget and energy that determine the external efforts success.