If you’re a fan of immediate results and/or gratification, public relations is not for you.
But public relations is important, even if it takes a while to see the results of your program. And even then, it’s hard to measure PR’s impact.
Consider this: You host an announcement that draws plenty of positive media coverage. The coverage highlights the messages you wanted to promote. The utility looks good in the public eye.
So, what’s the initial impact?
You’re a utility, so you haven’t increased your sales, so to speak. You haven’t lowered your costs or increased your efficiency. And the next day, the media (and the public) is talking about something else.
That doesn’t mean your PR program is a waste of time, but PR practitioners know that whenever any business (not just utilities) wants to trim expenses, it looks to terminate or scale back any outside counsel contracts and/or reduce in-house staffing.
That’s likely a mistake.
Public relations is a long game: It can take years to build your brand, not to mention goodwill, respect and trust. Yet it can be ruined in a single moment; that means you always need to have some sort of PR effort ongoing, even if you can’t see tangible evidence of its value.
Even when nobody in the media shows up to your event or you hear crickets when you send out a press release, you’re building a foundation for when you will be covered.
And you must think about your overall achievements.
By its nature, public relations is somewhat akin to cold call sales. Most of the time, you’re going to fail, but when you hit, it makes it that much sweeter,
Remember that the cumulative impact is what counts and can buy you some forgiveness if something unfortunate occurs.
That cumulative impact is partly in recording good moments for posterity. It’s also partially to keep your utility in the public eye. And a significant chunk is to be in a position where you can generate future publicity.
Even if I haven’t convinced you of the value of public relations, consider it a necessary evil that’s part of doing business – a necessary evil that sometimes bears fruit.