Protesters oppose self-storage units

November 20th, 2006

Despite a promise from officials to put off building a controversial public storage facility, a group of about 60 residents protested Saturday against potential projects in the Southern California Edison industrial corridor in East Pasadena, according to the Pasadena star.

Protesters were carrying signs that read “Preserve Open Space, No New Public Storage.”

This is a public relations nightmare.

Of course, sometimes such protests can’t be avoided. But then again sometimes they can. The best thing to do is to talk with the stakeholders in the community long before they rally in protest and gain supporters for their cause that might otherwise not have cared. You need to communicate the benefits of self-storage, but you need to do it through multiple channels to multiple audiences in a language that speaks directly to them.
Public relations, community relations, government relations and media relations can do wonders to garner support for proposed facilities. It can save you many thousands of dollars as you work to get your approvals because you’ll see less resistence if you educate the interested parties with a convincing argument.

Once you get the protesters against you, you have to shift to crisis communications mode in attempts to stem the tide of negative feelings.

The moral of the story…whatever action you can take to build relationships with the community stakeholders at the onset of a project, do it…but consider all the audiences and their potential concerns — and then address them point by point.
Click here to read more about this public relations nightmare.

Entry Filed under: Public Relations, Community Relations, Crisis Communications