Successful public relations is more than the staging of an event, more than issuing a press release, more than orchestrating a company's response to a crisis.

Rather, it is a set of long-term strategies and activities – strategies and activities that must be constantly updated based on benchmarking and changes in the marketplace. 

PR strategies almost always are unsuccessful if developed and pursued in response to a short-term event or crisis.  Instead, successful PR programs are developed and conducted over a mid- to long-term period, during which companies or organizations can establish stable, open and trusted relationships with opinion-leaders and policymakers during "normal" times, as well as during "crises."  The failure rate for start-ups is 85 to 90 percent and one of the common causes of failure is that the leadership views PR as a fix for a crisis. Too many businesses come to PR too late and without enough budget to do it right.

Executives who think about PR strategically and include it in the budget at the front end, have greater success and can avoid getting lost in the crowd.

For example, a start-up cleaning products company, Method, had a business objective to disrupt an established market dominated by big companies like Proctor & Gamble. They invented a sustainable product with attractive packaging and marketed it first to a core audience of environmentally-conscious consumers in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

After first developing an enthusiastic core environmental audience, their business adding consumers through earned media reports and commentaries about the beautifully packaged product found at less mainstream grocery stores. They maintained this momentum by continuous communication via online newsletters with their cadre of philosophically committed customers. Their customer base experienced further spectacular growth propelled by their public relations campaign, “People Against Dirty,” which included an earned media effort on this clear, resonating message.  Now Method products are a national brand. 

Because PR is a long-term strategy, there are two other essential elements:

• Constantly gathering data and evaluating the marketplace.
• Benchmarking your strategies and activities against similar organizations or your competitors. 

Without constant benchmarking and gathering of market intelligence, a PR program and strategy faces the risk that it will be "fighting the last war," while competitors are using updated information and market data in strategies for moving "ahead of the pack."  

Today, in a world where marketing and product strategies are changing so quickly and the marketplace is so segmented and fractured, every PR strategy needs to be "outward-focused." Companies and organizations must be able to change PR strategies and activities rapidly in response to rapid changes in the market.