New Year's Hat Tip For PR Triumphs

There's no escaping the glare of ever-present shine of media, masses, and individuals waiting to pounce on the failures of others. As 2011 came to a close, another round-up of listings of public relations blunders made their yearly trek around the interwebs. (Some examples here, here, here, and here.)

This brief Twitter exchange between Shel Holz and Richard Becker got me thinking about the topic:

I keep seeing posts on PR blunders of 2011. Has anybody written about PR triumphs of 2011? Surely there have been some.
— Shel Holtz (@shelholtz) December 30, 2011

@shelholtz Many public relations triumphs go unseen, which is why they are triumphs. ;)
— Richard Becker (@RichBecker) December 30, 2011

@richbecker And yet the abundance of blunder-focused posts skews the public perception of PR, don't you think?
— Shel Holtz (@shelholtz) December 30, 2011

Indeed.

So let's take a moment to start 2012 with a hat tip to all of the public relations pros who got it right. Congratulations to all of you professionals who achieved strategic communication victories big and small. Great job on deepening those relationships within your communities. Thumbs up for releasing relevant stories and engaging a variety of communication channels.

PR triumphs happen on a regular basis throughout our industry because they represent business as usual for public relations. Often these wins go largely unnoticed.

And that's a good thing.

If an organization's leadership or clients expect business success and acumen from the PR team, then the credibility of our profession is buoyed. When things go wrong, learn from the mistakes (yours and others) and move on to what's next.

Who's with me?

Photo credit: ooberayhay via Flickr Creative Commons