Taking a Punch

One ingredient as much as any other that helps distinguish good boxers from not-so-good ones is the fighter's ability to take a punch. In boxing, of course, being the kind of sport it is, eveyone gets their "clock rung" at least one. Granted, the trick in boxing is to hit your opponent as often and hard as possible and to keep the times you get hit back as little as possible. Nevertheless, when it comes to fisticuffs or any other kind of meaningful or intense interaction, reality dictates that eventually all parties are going to get hit. The question then becomes how well one responds when suddenly they have suffered a setback, disappointment, a failure or a punch. In communication, as in the case of boxing, it helps separate the good ones from the not-so-good ones.

Public relations professionals spend a good deal of their time coming up with creative and sometimes innovative strategies to support a client either through promotion or establishing alliances or partnerships. Some of these strategies are complex and some are not. But more to the point, sometimes these strategies, no matter how well funded or planned, fall short. They miss the mark, leaving the public relations expert with the challenge of figuring out what to do next. This can be frustrating and sometimes even expensive. But it is part of the reality of communication.

Working in the communication industry means dealing with failure or disappointment on a consistent basis. Things do not always go as well as you would like no matter how well planned and executed your outreach strategies might have been. This is one important reasons why public relations generally comprise multiple strategies, why good professional communicators do as much as pre-planning and research as they can before launching a campaign, and why many communication efforts are not one-shot-deals. Sure, missing the mark once or even several times can be frustrating. But setbacks can also be turned into the basis for a successful campaign. too.