Technology and competition drive change. In today’s business environment, you could truly say that the only thing constant is change. For businesses, change and innovation can be a two-edged sword, as much as a company pushes for change, it can hurt them in the end. Case-in-point, Google, Yahoo and AOL were all once on top of the Cyber pile, today they are racing to find their handhold as many of their competitors–probably ones they helped–race by at breakneck speed.

No one is exempt from change; this can be a great threat or strength to any organization. The challenge for the PR Pro is how to deal with change. The advantage depends on the situation; if, for example, you are trying to introduce a new way to travel (read: Segway), you may find some resistance to change, for obvious reasons–price point, tradition, feasibility. On the other hand, if you are introducing a new, less expensive type of gasoline, you will probably have the upper hand from a PR perspective.

The savvy–and probably successful–PR Pro will know how to leverage the message and strategy to use change to his or her advantage. Knowledge and familiarity of key publics, perspective, as well as a handle on history will probably help you most. As an example, when dealing with people, there are some things that just do not change. For one, disclosure and honesty are always good ways to garner support or understanding from key publics, everyone is very familiar with the Johnson & Johnson Tylenol crisis and you probably know why it was considered a landmark PR case study–if not, you might want to catch up.

Even if you’re the PR Director for Google right now, you can leverage your message correctly to use change to your advantage. Talk about how Google has been a catalyst for change and innovation, talk about what Google is doing to stay up with the trends and times. Bottom line: the good PR Pro will always look for ways to keep a good PR message out there. With the speed of information exchange at an all-time high, today it is better said: no news is bad news! You have to keep your publics informed or they’ll turn elsewhere for that info.

My Two Cents: Look at change as an opportunity to be creative, innovative. Look at it as a chance to shine, the more you do, the more successful you’ll be.