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Who
Stepped Up
Public Relations Campaigns Must Be Inclusive: Public relations campaigns have changed faster than most CEOs and leaders would like to admit, but the quicker they get onboard the more success they'll have. The day of mass communications tools being owned or controlled by the government or corporations are long gone. The fast rise of easy-to-use Web sites, blogs, podcasts, social networks, chat rooms, email campaigns and more have taken control from the elite and given it to the masses, and changed public relations communications forever.
Public relations professionals can learn a valuable lesson from the U.S Navy's challenges in this area. Every effort to secure a location for an outlying landing field for Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach has been met with well organized protesters, which generates media coverage. But most importantly, key politicians are being pressured by these large citizen alliances that are Internet-driven. And once politicians sense a group can cause harm, the group gets its way.
Citizens 1 - Navy 0. However, the Navy isn't done trying. According to a recent article in The Virginian-Pilot, which covers Virginia Beach, Rear Adm David Anderson has convinced Navy leadership that there's a better way to achieve their outlying landing field goal -- with a consensus building campaign. Hummm, now we're getting somewhere.
The admiral said, "When you completely disregard and disrupt communities' and individuals' lives, with this air of arrogance, they're going to call their elected officials now in a way they have never done in the past." And those elected leaders respond by cutting off federal funding, he said.
The admiral is correct and the Navy is smart for letting him work a customer-based public relations campaign to help the Virginia Beach master jet base.
Some PR tips for this type of public relations campaign include:
- It is easier to build bridges than put out fires.
- The days of holding your cards close to the vest and hoping a poorly informed public will be duped are over. The collision between technology and the Internet saw to that.
- Communities have learned how to join forces, pool resources and use political forces to their benefit. Determine your allies and enemies.
- Develop a PR plan that creates a tailored communications loop with all of them.
- Bring residents, local officials, environmental organizations and others to the table early to start building a relationship and to help mute some of the criticism.
- These challenging cases do not have to be David versus Goliath, with the large government organization being perceived as an enemy. Explaining why these issues are important for the greater good and making the community part of the process through smart public relations communications is critical to long-term success.
- Identify which reporter covers that beat and keep him or her in the loop too.
- Pinpoint the naysayers reporters like to use for their fiery opposition quotes. Reach out to them early.
- Don't be fooled into thinking that your open communication and building goodwill will guarantee your organization's success.
- Come to the table with compelling reasons for your requirements and fair compensation for people who will be impacted. In this case, the Navy would be wise in its public relations communications to put the face of young aviators and their families on the front of this issue. These brave young people are the ones who will pay the price with their lives if they can't get the appropriate training before they take on the difficult challenge of landing a 160 mph aircraft on a small landing strip moving through the water.
- Actions of the organization in working with impacted communities are far more important than the words they use. Public relations professionals will be wise to point out to their leaders the value of open communication and fairness.
What product, service, issue or cause are you about to launch that will meet with resistance from concerned groups and harm your business?
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