Bob Brody
Bob Brody

My client could easily have given up on me right then and there. She would have had every right, and it would have come as no surprise to me. Six months in, I had achieved none of our primary objectives. Zippo.

But no. My client, representing a distinguished East Coast university, cut me some slack. More specifically, she extended me the opportunity to get it right – and, in effect, redeem myself.

And gradually we turned it all around. I got to know her better and she me. We brainstormed and strategized how best to tell our story – chiefly how to leverage new research and highlight student and faculty successes.

Within a few months our thought leadership campaign started to break through. We landed a byline in Fast Company. A few months later we scored an essay in Fortune. Soon after that came a first-person piece in The Harvard Business Review. And so it went for the next two years.

And before those two years had passed, we managed to shepherd through 18 first-person pieces to publication – articles that accomplished exactly what the client had originally set out to do. Those publications, in top-tier news outlets as well as higher education journals and business trades, capitalized on proprietary research and touted student successes, all while delivering our key messages.

In short, we found our voice. We came together to say what we needed to say. And, in the process, we burnished the university’s reputation.

How did we pull off this feat? Well might you ask.

But first, let me tell you about a client whose behavior was the exact opposite.

The client was a soon-to-open agriturismo, a hospitality venture in Tuscany, Italy -- a farmhouse set in the countryside that blended tourism with agriculture. The owners had converted an abandoned property into a one-of-a-kind, next-generation, world-class facility -- hyper-organic, ultra-green and super high-tech. The 20-acre site featured a 12th century tower and bespoke amenities such as homegrown fruit, vegetables and wine and a lake populated by flamingos.

My daughter and I teamed up to represent this client for a three-month trial period.

But two-and-a-half months in, our client decided to ditch us. “We’re seeing no return on the money we’re spending,” the client informed us, and told us to discontinue.

We explained what we had accomplished to date. We had developed a comprehensive media strategy, an array of pitch notes meticulously tailored to media targets and conducted aggressive media outreach.

Indeed, just recently we had secured an interview with a major newspaper that was soon to be published, as well as tentative interest from a Wall Street Journal columnist and a CNN freelancer who asked us to follow up the next month.

The client remained unpersuaded.

So in defending our record, we attempted diplomatic delicacy, but pulled no punches and just let it rip.

“By every measure, we're just getting going,” we told the client. “Your expectations regarding public relations are unrealistic, your summary of our performance is inaccurate and you're pulling the plug prematurely. All in all, you're doing yourselves a disservice.

“Just as you took almost 10 years to develop your business,” we said, “so does public relations take longer than the 10 weeks you've given us so far.”

Here, then, are the three top reasons why we succeeded with our university client – and, by implication, why we failed with the hospitality venture.

Number one, the client established clearcut objectives from the outset. That mandate never deviated more than an inch here and there. I knew exactly what I had to do to get us where we had to go.

Number two, my client gave us time. Sometimes that’s what’s needed more than anything else. Patience, often followed by still more patience. Rarely, in my 34 years practicing public relations, have I seen PR accomplish anything of significance within the first months of collaboration. No plant ever sprouts overnight. Or, as Moliere wrote, “The tree that is slow to grow bears the best fruit.”

Number three, a spirit of partnership prevailed. At no point did our engagement feel anything like – as occasionally happens – a master-slave relationship. With every email, every memo, every biweekly team call, our mutual trust and respect grew.

In the end, we were equals. We treated each other as equals, and each of us contributed equally. From first to last, we knew what was most important – that we were in it together.

***

Bob Brody, a public relations consultant, served as a media strategist and editorial specialist at Weber Shandwick, Ogilvy Public Relations and Howard J. Rubenstein Associates. He is the author of the memoir "Playing Catch with Strangers: A Family Guy (Reluctantly) Comes of Age," and contributes essays to The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, among many other publications.