Public Relations Born of Adversity

Hey! It’s May 20th, and I’m back in blog action. My “Buzz of the Month” has recently been “Buzz of the Quarter” as a result of the level of adversity in my world lately, so you have my apologies for that.

Speaking of adversity, at this time in our nation’s history, a time that is filled with constant adversity and change, public relations professionals find themselves overwhelmed with the incredibly important responsibility to facilitate effective, honest, informative communications with varied internal and external publics that must also simultaneously reassure and reestablish confidence. During times like this, it helps to remember that public relations in this country was born of adversity.

So, let’s journey back in time and reflect on the ingenious work of Samuel Adams during the Revolutionary War. This guy and his team were truly remarkable. Sam Adams and his supporters understood the importance of communicating with, and gaining the support of the public in order to achieve their organizational goals – mobilize the public, affect public opinion, fight a war, and form a government.

For example, he precisely developed the use of slogans to compress complex information into bite sized, memorable sayings that could be easily remembered and shared: “No Taxation Without Representation”. He coordinated big events with community involvement to create a larger platform for idea sharing in order to solidify public opinion and get attention: The Boston Tea Party. He organized The Committees of Correspondence, a group responsible for interpreting British actions to the colonists and to foreign governments, raising public awareness, and engaging public involvement: One of the members was Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense.

Now, let’s look at the example of the writings of Thomas Paine. His pamphlet, Common Sense, was published three times reaching publication of over 100,000 copies very shortly after being introduced to the public in January of 1776 – talk about viral marketing! Common Sense is often considered the greatest public relations act of the Revolution by assigning blame to King George III for the suffering of the colonists, steeling the resolve of the people and calling for an immediate declaration of independence – talk about swaying the early adopters!

Looking back, these folks were faced with incredible communications challenges, and they worked together to employ a wide variety of tactics – spokespersons, journalists, publications, flyers, slogans, and organized events to achieve their communications and organizational goals. And, we can too! It’s times like these that help us remember the foundational principals of effective public relations and reaffirm our importance and value to the organizations and publics we have sworn to ethically serve. Think about it!

Copyright, Tracy Teuscher, 2009.

Please share your comments and ideas on this important topic, or submit your questions or ideas for a future topic. For copies of previous blog articles, email me at tracy@thebuzzmaker.com .

Tracy Teuscher is a Public Relations Consultant and President of The Buzz Maker! Public Relations. She maintains active membership in PRSA, is on the Board of Directors of the Akron Area Chapter of PRSA, is a member of the SBN Select Committee and her local Jackson-Belden Chamber of Commerce. She currently serves a wide variety of clients, is a freelance journalist for several trade publications, and is currently in the process of achieving Accreditation through PRSA. For more information, visit http://www.thebuzzmaker.com