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Walking the Halls: The Value of Immersion in a Client's Culture

By: Marijean Jaggers | 02/11/2008

I've heard it said that the best way to learn a new language and culture is to live among the people who speak the language, live the culture. This technique is called immersion, of course.

In public relations we talk about "walking the halls" or spending "face time" with clients. (Now, those are some P.R. phrases if I've ever heard them.) The idea behind it, of course, is spending quality time with clients beyond the boardroom. We seek ways to immerse ourselves in our clients' environments. Some Standing team members who serve a client with mining operations spent a day underground last year. Kristin and I recently spent time at an industry trade show with another client, surrounded by representatives that spanned their industry. We found the experience so rewarding and enjoyable and believe making the trip and investing the time strengthened our relationship with our client, and helped us gain a deeper understanding of their industry.

It's easy sometimes, to get so focused on our day to day work that we forget to look up and around, outside of our internal environment. The experiences we've had immersing ourselves in our clients' worlds have been so rewarding though, I know many of us are eagerly anticipating our next opportunity to take the client or industry plunge.

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