By Polly Ikonen
There’s a saying: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Land conservation is definitely a long game, and land, especially here in California, is expensive. So, a successful conservation project usually involves multiple partners.
As the media relations team of record for numerous land conservation organizations, Landis has had the privilege of helping our clients not only announce their good news, but do so in close coordination with a constellation of active partners – be they public land management agencies, Tribal organizations, park systems, or funding or stewardship partners.
Balancing the needs and publicity goals of multiple players around one story is a delicate act. It requires time, patience, diplomacy and a deep knowledge of media relations best practices. That’s where having a strategic communications agency involved can be really useful. Over the last 25 years that our environmental practice has grown, Landis Communications Inc. (Landis) has brought value and expertise to navigating partner relationships that have ultimately benefited all participants.
One recent example of partnership success was on behalf of our longtime client Peninsula Open Space Trust, known to most as POST. In January, Landis Communications helped POST to announce the protection of a long-contested property of both environmental and Tribal significance an hour south of San Jose. Sargent Ranch – part of the Juristac Cultural Tribal Landscape – represented one of POST’s largest projects ever and involved multiple partners: The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and its affiliate Amah Mutsun Land Trust, Green Foothills, Valley Water Agency, Santa Clara County Parks, and others. Landis helped to convene the communications representatives from all players, map out a communications strategy, and lead the media outreach implementation that balanced a full array of strategic and tactical needs.
While Landis was POST’s agency of record, we were able to advise all players of best practice considerations and had the media relationships that ultimately served everyone’s best interests. Using Landis as a central resource for the partner group also ensured that POST’s interests were centered and still resulted in media attention that every party wanted. Read the full story in our case study here.
In conservation, going far is never a solo effort. It takes organizations willing to work together, and a communications strategy that helps every partner move toward the same goal. With more than 25 years of environmental communications experience, Landis Communications helps conservation organizations tell those stories in ways that advance their missions and their partnerships. Have a land conservation or environmental success story worthy of attention? We’d love to help.