Within seconds she highlighted half a dozen different things that needed sorting out – trays of food that were half-empty, veg that was clearly past its best, and signage that provided no real information. Not to mention the shop, which looked like it was stuck in the last century.

However Mary’s comments weren’t designed to upset the three scouse sisters that run the shop in Merseyside. She was simply flagging what their customers, or rather potential customers, were thinking. Mary worked closely with the Liverpudlian ladies to demonstrate that their consumer’s tastes had evolved and that it was time that their business did too.

She taught the three shopkeepers to think outside the box, which ironically led to the greengrocer’s launching a locally-sourced fruit and veg box delivery service. This offered their customers the convenience that they craved and the local produce that they were looking for, while at the same time helping the women to boost their revenue by reaching new customers.

Once Mary had worked her magic, the store looked absolutely terrific. The shop was packed full of customers and you could tell that the shopkeepers had fire in their bellies, ready and waiting to take on the supermarkets that had gobbled up so much of their trade.

The comparison with PR is crystal clear. Consultancies that haven’t recognised that the media landscape has changed dramatically in the last few years or don’t see why they should stop doing what they’ve always done and integrate online PR into their client work, will be left behind, struggling to provide what their customers require.

The same is true for the clients that we as PR professionals represent. Companies that don’t start engaging with online audiences soon, alongside their traditional targets, may find that their competitors do. Allowing the businesses that you compete with to get a head start online is quite simply a recipe for disaster. But unfortunately, it’s a recipe that many organisations in the UK seem to be following.

At the end of the day you don’t have to be retail royalty, like Mary, to manage a successful business long-term. You’ve just got to have faith in what you’re doing and never ever stop reviewing and improving your company. To put it bluntly, you shouldn’t be afraid of change, you should be afraid of not changing. When you sit back and rest on your laurels, that’s when the really scary stuff starts to happen.

“The idea’s simple. We’re asking you to list the three communicators living or dead who have most influenced your way of thinking professionally and perhaps personally too. Who do you think the real innovators are? Who’s been most responsible for kicking the industry forward? And just who are the communication PRunks?”

Rather than pick three innovative communicators that have influenced me, I’ve chosen to pick three innovative inventors that have truly transformed the way people communicate, and thereby influenced every person working in the public relations industry.

Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone.
Bell invented the telephone in the late 19th century and changed the way we all communicate . The first successful phone call in 1876 started with this: “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.” I like that fact. I cannot imagine the PR industry without the telephone. Having to send press releases by post or telegram is unthinkable now in a world of 24/7 news. Without the telephone we’d have no fax machines, internet connections or e-mails either.

Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the world wide web.
Berner-Lee invented the web just seventeen years ago in 1991 and in that short time has changed the PR industry in ways that we still don’t fully understand. Nowadays every business worth its salt has a company website and online coverage is often seen as more important than news in that very last century medium that is the printed press. Everyday PR’s across the world do research online, read the news, make press lists, engage in Blogger outreach campaigns, network with others in the industry, and many other things thanks to the web.

Ray Tomlinson, the inventor of e-mail.
Tomlinson wasn’t the first person to send an e-mail in 1971, but he was the first person to invent an e-mail system that let users send a message from one computer to another. Previously users could only send messages to other users who used the same computer. E-mail has thoroughly transformed the PR industry too. We use e-mail for everything from sending press releases to receiving information requests from journalists, and even brainstorming ideas with colleagues sat next to us. If only we didn’t have to put up with all that pesky spam…

Now it’s my turn to get tagging. I tag Richard Millington, Chris Norton, and Tom Harle.