Articles by Dave Forstrom

I feel like I’m dating myself, but several years ago, there was a great series of commercials from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints focused on the significant impact for good of quality family time. The final words of those commercials left a lasting impression on me: “Family, it’s about…time.”

This concept of “time” rang true to me yesterday while visiting on-site with a client. While discussing her recent search for an agency in Europe, I asked what it was that swayed her to one over another. Interestingly enough, it wasn’t the big name, veteran firepower, or cutting edge programs, but rather a demonstrative commitment to, and focus on, building relationships.

Seems natural, right? After all, we are in the business of “Public Relations.” Remember the textbook definition, builiding mutually beneficial relationships. But many dismiss this in the rush to execute and make things happen. Pitch, pitch, pitch, and no relations.

Building relationships takes and requires time. Time invested in understanding the client, their products and services, their industry. Time invested in understanding key audiences (i.e. media, customers, VC, etc.), their needs, and what makes them tick. Consider your strongest relationships–they’re forged over time, through personal interaction, openness, genuine interest, and selflessness. And their rewards can be endless.

Sure, client expectations may press for immediate results, but a mindset focused on relationship-”building” (a concept alone that requires “time” to develop a solid foundation) will impact those results. Look to your mentors or people you admire in the PR profession–it’s likely these are folks with large rolodexes of media contacts who value them as a true resource, as well as fiercely loyal clients who have been swayed by their passion, depth of knowledge, and selfless focus. They’ve made connections that infer reciprocity.

When it’s all said and done, there are no “quickies” in PR, it’s really about…time.

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We all have moments, where that light bulb in our heads turns on, where we hear, read or see something and it resonates, strikes a chord and moves us to action, or at the least begins the wheels of thought turning. I call these ah-hah moments.

Another befitting word is parallax, as it denotes a new line of sight because of a shift in observational position. This is what is happening in PR right now. The blogosphere and its relative technologies—RSS, wikis, podcasting, etc.—are requiring a shift. A shift in view; a shift in perception; a shift in counsel; a shift in execution.

What’s exciting about all this and why I love PR is that we have the power to be change agents. We bring about the parallax. We catalyze the ah-hah moment.

I spoke a few months ago at the PRSA Chesapeake Chapter Conference in Linthicum Heights near Baltimore. While my presentation focused on establishing a voice of reason amidst crisis, I felt I would be amiss if I didn’t bring up the potential of blogs and RSS in our crisis communications arsenal. To my surprise, these thoughts were met with dozens of blank stares. Not one person was familiar with RSS and only a handful of others had heard of blogs. How is this possible?

Part of me wants to attribute this response to the fact that we’re still in the early adoption phase—just on the cusp of this thing tipping among practicioners—and its still slowly spreading through the ranks and different segments of the industry, beginning of course within the tech field. But the other part of me thinks it’s an evangelism issue.

While I may have been met with blank stares, it was this small part of my presentation that sparked the most reaction and dialogue from the group. You could literally see the gears turning in their heads, as they hurriedly noted some Web sites and suggestions I shared.

Inspired by this ealier interaction, I took a different approach speaking this weekend at a regional PRSSA event at American University. My presentation was aptly titled: “Public Relations 2.0: How New Communications Channels Are Evolving the Practice.” The theme–PR is evolving more than ever as the market has forced us to move from the old school linear approach of ‘managing communications’ to the new school of ‘facilitating mutually beneficial relationships.’ Think about it, as we adapt to the changes brought on by these new communications channels, our practice becomes more and more similar to the traditional marketplace (exchanging goods and ideas/knowledge sharing)–we become more of the facilitator and less of the manager.

There were a few more hands raised this time regarding blogs and RSS, and even more than that–you could see the wheels of thought were turning and they were excited about the promise of the practice.

Perhaps we gained a few more converts this weekend at American U. or on that day back in Linthicum, or more simply catalyzed ah-hah moments that changed views of how our role as communicators is shifting. What I find refreshing and reassuring, is that I honestly believe there has never been a generation of PR pros more adept and ready to take on the challenge and advance the cause. So come follow me, let’s continue to evangelize and catalyze the movement.

Welcome back gang!

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