Participatory PR

Ronald Levy"Participatory PR," which may lead some clients to enthusiastically pay PR firms more, envisions more than a usual "public relationship." Participatory PR is a joint venture between your organization and a public to attain mutually desired goals. The organization not only communicates to a public but participates with the public in the their quest for what they may want urgently.Participatory PR isn't a catchphrase but a lifestyle, a marriage that produces repeated episodes of mutual happiness.You can often see participatory public relations in company towns where most people are happy with their jointly achieved success. It's as if there had been a wedding ceremony in which the preacher says "Company, do you take this town. . ." and "Town, do you take this company. . .?"You can see it also in some store-customer relationships. When my car battery died as I was on Long Island far from my Manhattan home, Sears not only sold me a new battery but the store manager installed it himself in the parking lot and wouldn't take my offered $20. "I'm glad to help you" he said, and he really was. At a growing number of supermarkets, many employees are glad to help you find what you want.Also glad (and better remunerated) will be PR firms that bill tens of millions for guiding not just relations with an exterior public but also internal communications so employees are motivated, plus work with the client's law firm and accounting firm so that what is done is legally safe. PR firms may now be happy with 10% or 15% year-on-year growth, but even for large firms is growth of 33% or more possible for managing participatory PR?The young battery-installing manager didn't want me to send Sears a grateful letter because he possibly wasn't allowed to install that battery. But he said he appreciated my being a Sears customer and was glad to help me. Similarly, clients and publics may also be genuinely glad to help each other when guided by participatory public relations planning and communications.In many company towns, senior company managers are already glad to help town families have good schools, a good hospital and safe streets. The townspeople are delighted if the company reports higher sales and earnings because the people feel "we" are succeeding. Participatory PR can do this, enriching the client and the public abundantly, and also the multi-skilled PR firm.