A few weeks ago I found myself on a college campus, offering a guest lecture on communications and public relations. I love that environment. Classrooms always seem to fill me with hope and energy about the future. And it feels good to share something you know with people who want to hear about it.
But then, that question came. And I wasn’t ready for it.
It is funny. In preparation for a college lecture you go through in your mind every feasible thing that the students could ask. You want to be prepared not just to appear competent, but to convey the message that you care about the students, the professor who invited you, and the institution hosting you. But I had made the mistake of missing the most obvious question.
The student raised her hand and asked – looking right at me with friendly intensity – a question that maybe all communications people ask themselves. “Do you think this profession of communications or public relations or marketing really matters anymore?”
Gulp. Like a good lasagna, her question had multiple layers, and lots happening in between. I was trying to understand what she really meant, and I imagined she was thinking about technology, about the eroding trust in communications and institutions, about Artificial Intelligence, about consolidation and uncertainty in the business model in our industry, and a thousand other things.
I paused and came up with some answer that no doubt allowed the lecture to continue but may not have said anything profound or really responded to this sincere inquiry. So today I am answering the question here in this blog post. I will share it with her personally, but wanted to share it publicly as a reminder of why I love what I do, and to ask others to share how they would answer the question.
1. Communications is personal. One of the most common phrases heard in this tradecraft is about “winning hearts and minds.” Is there anything more personal than what happens in someone’s feelings or thoughts? While there are algorithms and focus groups and mathematical models that can predict and inquire, the task of communications is deeply personal and must be personalized if it is going to work. This may seem naïve to the person who sees a computer replacing everything we do today. But I think that the deeply personal mandate of communications is what separates great communications from everything else.
2. Public Relations can unite. I know that some people envision public relations professionals as “slick” or as telling the client or audience what they want to hear. But that is not the community I have learned to know and love. The best public relations campaigns – and the people who power them – are efforts to unite people. Even while politics or conflict seem to divide people at every turn, the public relations industry can build bridges and open windows for understanding. Do you remember that time when as a child you found yourself caught in a lie, or trying to cover up something you had done? In the absence of a way to get out of the situation, the only option available seemed to double-down into the lie or retreat inward to avoid embarrassment. Sometimes the polarized people we are today act just like that child. We need a way out, or a way to come back together. Public relations campaigns can offer that space to work our way out of the web of intransigence. Whether we are talking about politics or X, sustainability or science, finance or faith, there is a way for sincere public relations to bring people together.
3. Marketing can create meaning. I have seen a profound shift in the way that the term “marketing” is used, just in the past few years. Whether about a product or a message or cause, marketing is today seen as a powerful current that can drive growth or division. Think of the products that you are seeing advertised today to the next generation of youth. The expectation from products and engagement is that there is meaning in every transaction. Whether ways to change the world or just improve your afternoon, it is no longer as simple as “tricking someone into buying something.” Marketing is about matching the values of a person to what the idea or product stands for. Is there anything more meaningful than this kind of matchmaking?
The question of this student brought me back to a schooling of the basic kind. I had to ask myself those “Communications 101” questions of myself. Does any of this tradecraft matter today? Absolutely. It matters more than ever. I admire the people of this tradecraft because it is changing not in spite of the people who do it for a living, but with and because of them.
Finally, everything starts with trust (and ends without it). In a world that trades in cynicism and doubt, that student was also asking why she should trust me and communications in general. As communications professionals, the way we answer that is by working to earn and deserve trust through authenticity, clarity, and bravery.
How would you have answered this student? Help me answer it better for myself, for our community and for our shared future.
