PR pros are on the frontlines in good times and bad. We are here to trumpet corporate achievements and mitigate reputational damage. However, in some cases, PR isn’t the silver bullet to deeply rooted organizational issues or product flaws that can’t be fixed overnight.
We often hear the phrase, “It’s just a messaging issue,” and perhaps there is some truth to that but you can’t rely on your communications team to message their way out of an issue when that same team is kept in the dark. A strong and consistent PR strategy begins with treating them as a valued asset to the organization with in-depth knowledge of business goals and objectives, product, client and partner issues and sales successes and failures.
Without that critical knowledge, any message crafted is half-baked and may come off insincere at best or at worse a flat out lie that does more harm to the business. PR can help sidestep issues or promote other parts of the business when areas are underperforming, or time is needed to resolve an issue. But by keeping us in the dark, the lights might go out on everyone.