Evin is thoughtfully licking the tuna marinade off his fingers, chasing it down with beer and nodding his head in agreement, confessing, between smacking lips, that he is even more confused now about public relations than he was when we left the docks. Maybe you are too. You’re not alone. True PR professionals are like the great philosophers on Mars Hill or the great astronomers of tomorrow exploring and discovering worm holes and black stars of their profession...
It’s a proven fact that were you to round up twenty or so PR professional and lock them in a room together ...and not let them out until they’ve reached consensus on what is and isn’t PR and reduced their collective thoughts into a definition of manageable length at the end of a couple of weeks you’d find a room full of bones and depraved, maniacal writings clawed into the walls, ceiling and floor.
In 1988, The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) issued a common and brief definition for PR that stated:
"Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other."
It’s only about 13 words -a very manageable length that can easily be memorized by most entrepreneurs even as we’re winching up the sails and watching the spinnaker stir innocently then suddenly pops wide open with enough force to rip off your finger were it caught in the line.
I don’t think Evin realizes yet that sailing can be a contact sport. At least with me it can. My crew and I are well known to claims adjusters and surgeons.
When PR’s own trade society is so vague in its definition of the practice, no wonder much of the world lives in an under-informed zombie-like trance about it meaning and purpose.
Feeling bad about Evin nearly losing an important digit to the gloriously colored spinnaker, I rewarded him with this little nugget:
The PR practice is best understood by virtue of its objectives moreso than its many mediums.
I show that in bold face because it is important and because I was yelling the comment down the companionway to Evin, sitting at the nav table getting that finger stitched up.
Seeing down into the cabin is a bit of a stretch from the helm but I was glad to see Evin nodding in agreement, sucking blood off the finger and telling me through smacking lips that he was still following me. After the bleeding stopped and the stitches appeared to be holding he even came back out to cockpit –but this time having noticeably switched gears from beer to margarita.
What a trooper. I really like this guy’s persistence. Sure sign of an entrepreneur.
“PR generally has the goal of building effective relationships over time versus aggressively moving the sales needle today or tomorrow,” I told him. “Although PR certainly CAN and WILL move the needle today or tomorrow, it’s really geared toward building a more substantive impact on long haul.”
Evin clung to the rail and kept the big frosty cup as others took in the spinnaker without incident and winched in the sails for a beam reach.
“Goodwill... awareness... integrity... PR builds these for you,” I said, in my slow, smooth Southern gentleman’s calm drawling voice. “And because of them your customers and prospects will feel comfortable and confident about taking action on your behalf. For instance, voting a certain way, buying a certain way.”
The wind freshened. A big gust grabbed the sails and we lurched forward a quarter point off the swells. The swells were getting larger. The bow rose up high and we slammed down hard. A wall of water came down on Evin as if it had been thrown from a pail.
The Macarena formation down below stumbled and half collapsed into a heap.
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