Guiding and Protecting: PR and a Coastal Landmark Have Something in Common

There's a special place in my new hometown of Gloucester, Massachusetts, that has meaning for the work I do in communications and public relations.

The historic Dog Bar breakwater is a particularly long jetty -- 2,250 feet -- the extends into Gloucester Harbor.  For more than 100 years, the Dog Bar and its beacons have protected and guided -- protected the boats and business in and along Gloucester Harbor from storm surges and pounding waves, and guided ships passing by the rocky coastline and into our busy port.

Guiding and protecting is a important part of work done by PR and communications professionals.

We guide companies, organizations and individuals through the increasingly complex and evolving world of the media -- traditional and social, online and print, self-published and reported, earned and owned.  We guide them toward the tools, technologies and strategies to deliver their stories through this world -- much like the captains deliver the cargo and passengers aboard their ships.

And we protect those companies, organizations and individuals from potential hazards -- from misdirected messages or from adversaries who might attempt to use the media to attack.

Now, there's much more communications and PR professionals do -- and many other analogies we could use to describe our work.  But for me, this Gloucester landmark is an apt reflection -- and it's a beautiful spot to visit next time you visit our area (if you do come, let me know -- I'll bring you to the Dog Bar myself).