There are a large number of ways in which the practice of two-way symmetrical communication can be applied to help achieve tangible, money-making business objectives. It may mean that the speed at which money is made is not as quick as initially hoped, it may mean not quite as much money is made and it will definitely involve more ‘process’ being involved to achieve the objective of making money.

Mining and oil & gas companies frequently face ongoing where they can benefit from the application of public relations’ guiding theory, two-way symmetrical communication. Market research; negotiation; and adapting operations and objectives to more closely meet the needs of their stakeholders help organisations achieve optimum business outcomes than those that don’t.

I’ve been driven to distraction of late by yet another cunning, self-hating term that public relations has come up for itself to hide, no doubt, the distaste it feels, and it feels non-PR people similarly feel, for the term ‘public relations’ itself. The term is ‘stakeholder relations’.

Public relations is an art AND a science. Art in the aspect of creativity, communication and idea genesis. Science in research and strategic planning. Whatever happened to the social scientists PR professionals are meant to be?

In this public relations and marketing case study, the essential challenge addressed involves creating an inbound marketing strategy for an infrastructure company. The strategy integrates the following dimensions: 3rd party credibility, strategic alliances, thought leadership and internet communication.

Recent research I undertook on behalf of a major Australian corporate underlined how effective intelligent sponsorship can be for increasing positive brand mentions in regional and suburban print media. It’s a much harder slog to generate this sort of coverage in metro and/or broadcast media, however. School education communication can also be a boon for engaging the community.

When devising a communication strategy, the SWOT phase of will look at the communication elements of relevant organisations, thus helping to build the best possible stakeholder communication, engagement and advocacy strategy. One very important element of the SWOT process is social media, which when implemented should provide social proof and enhanced stakeholder engagement, especially if dialogue leads to change and not simply social chatter.

Gaining editorial media coverage will be a key tactic in generating awareness and support of infrastructure projects, but its primacy will be determined by market research and internal stakeholder liaison. The application of strategic alliances will also help give credibility to the project and expand its communication ‘footprint’.

The holy trinity of public relations – thought leadership, 3rd party credibility and strategic alliances should be default characteristics of any public relations strategy. This is underpinned by an ever-increasing need for a content marketing vision and plan, an element that contemporary PR can simply not do without.

In building a communication strategy, both for infrastructure projects and other initiatives, it is imperative that business objectives, approaches organisational leadership aspires to take with the project and the organisational culture are considered. In fact, they should drive the communication and engagement approach – bearing in mind that any communication leader has a responsibility to counsel leadership on what approaches are likely to lead to best-possible outcomes.