The Universal Goal

There are and will continue to be lots of public relations strategies. This, of course, is a good thing when it comes to communication. It is, in fact, the essence of the act of attempting to relate to a public. All the strategies add up to one basic goal: building bridges. If one wants to persuade a particular public to take a certain action, then they must connect with that public. If one wants to establish lasting ties with a particular public, then they must also connect with that public. The connection involves establishing a two-way means of exchange or interaction between the one doing the outreach and the one on the receiving end; in other words: bridge building.

Without the essential element of bridge building, then public relations does not occur. Instead, whatever communicating is taking place is designed to manipulate or maneuver others into taking on certain beliefs or actions. As it has been defined hundreds of times over the pat century, public relations is about one entity devising strategies to create some sort of connection with another. While the connection may be in limited or vary in terms of scope or length of time, it must occur. Bottom line: if there is no such building of a metaphorical bridge or connection between two publics or entities, then whatever has led to the two coming together is not public relations.

Public relations is about the identification of commonalities shared by multiple publics. This is very much as it is when two individuals come together and try to determine what they might have in common. (Perfect example: a blind date.) Such a joint effort is public relations as its most basic and simple. In such a scenario, the participants are practicing public relations. Their shared goal is the construction of a bridge by which they can communicate and, ideally, build on their evolving relationship. For any long-term success to be achieved, that bridge must be built. No bridge, no successful public relations.