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Public Relations
An Introduction
A working definition
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Public relations is a leadership and management
function that helps achieve organizational objectives,
define philosophy, and facilitate organizational change.
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Public relations practitioners communicate with all
relevant internal and external publics to develop
positive relationships and to create consistency between
organizational goals and societal expectations.
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Public relations practitioners develop, execute, and
evaluate organizational programs that promote the
exchange of influence and understanding among an
organization’s constituent parts and publics.
A two way relationship

Public relations work is all about developing
effective relationships between organizations
and groups that are important to them,
including the media, customers, employees,
investors, community leaders and members,
activist groups, and government agencies.
These relationships should benefit both
parties.
Public Relations
Distinguished

The distinction between advertising and
PR is more easily made: advertising
involves paying a medium (TV, radio,
newspaper or magazine, for example) for
airtime or column inches in which to put
across a promotional message.
The content of an ad is always
controlled by the advertiser, unlike the
content of editorial pages or programmes,
which are controlled by journalists.

PR v/s Advertising Cont.

The Institute of Practitioners in
Advertising defines advertising as follows:

“Advertising presents the most persuasive
possible selling message to the right
prospects for the product or service at the
lowest possible cost.”
PR v/s Advertising Cont.
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‘selling message’ distinguishes the two
disciplines – PR aims not to increase
sales, but to increase understanding.
Sometimes, of course, understanding a
product or service improves sales, but PR
does not claim a direct causal link.
Marketing v/s PR

The Institute of Marketing defines
marketing as: ‘The management process
responsible for identifying, anticipating
and satisfying consumer requirements
profitably’.
Marketing v/s PR Cont.

The two central words here are
‘consumer’ and ‘profit’. Understanding the
consumer and producing products or
services that will satisfy consumer needs
to the profit of the supplier is the
traditional arena of marketing. There is a
clear exchange – money for goods or
services. It is easily measured.
Marketing v/s PR Cont.

Marketing campaigns are often preceded
and followed by research to measure the
degree to which an attitude or behaviour
has changed after the marketing activity.
Have more people heard of the product
now? Have they bought (or used) it, or
are they more likely to?
Marketing v/s PR Cont.

However, public relations campaigns are
often harder to quantify. Many
organisations– the armed services,
charities, local and central government,
for example – do not have goods or
services to sell. But they do all have
messages to communicate and –
importantly – to receive.
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They need to maintain
relationships with all those who
may work for them, give time or
money, raise complaints, or vote
for or against them.
Propaganda v/s PR

Propaganda is the dissemination of
information aimed at influencing the
opinions or behaviours of people. As
opposed to impartially providing
information, propaganda in its most basic
sense, often presents information
primarily in order to influence its
audience.
Propaganda v/s PR

Propaganda often presents facts
selectively (thus lying by omission) to
encourage a particular synthesis, or gives
loaded messages in order to produce an
emotional rather than rational response to
the information presented. The desired
result is a change of the attitude toward
the subject in the target audience to
further a political agenda.
PR v/s Publicity
Publicity results from information being
made known. Hence, publicity is a result.
 This result maybe uncontrollable and it
maybe good and bad publicity.
 Behaviour has a great bearing on whether
publicity is good and bad and PR is very
much about the behaviour of individuals,
organizations, products and services.
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IMAGES

There are several kinds of image and we
will now consider five kinds: the mirror,
current, wish, corporate and multiple
image.
The Mirror Image
This image is the one people in an
organization, especially its leaders,
believe to be the impression outsiders
have of the organization.
 This could be an illusion bred on wishful
thinking because knowledge and
understanding of outside opinion is
lacking.

The current image
This is the one held by people outside the
organization, and it may be based on
experience or on poor information and
understanding.
 The current image depends on how much
people know and in a busy world their
knowledge will be less perfect than that
of those people within the organization.

Mirror v/s Current Image
One of the jobs of the PRO maybe to
interpret the attitudes of outsiders to
management, who may well have false
ideas about outside opinion.
 These outsiders could be important
publics: they could be potential staff,
customers, shopkeepers, politicians,
journalists, TV and radio presenters- all
kinds of people whose comprehension of
the organizations is important.

The Wish image

This is the desired image, the one
management wishes to achieve.
Again, it is not so much a
favourable or preferred image as a
true one.
The Corporate Image

Here we have the image of the
organization itself rather than of the
products and services. The corporate
image may be made up of many things
such as company history, financial
success and stability, quality of
production, export success, industrial
relations and reputation as an employer,
social responsibility and research record.
The Multiple Image
A number of individuals, branches or
other representations can each create a
particular image which does not conform
to a uniform image for the total
organization.
 The problem maybe overcome by the use
of uniforms, vehicle liveries (decorations),
symbols, badges, staff training and in the
case of shop design, name displays,
interior layout and display materials.
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Good and Bad Images
An ideal PR image should only be a true
impression based on experience and
knowledge and understanding of facts.
 A better image has to be earned by
putting right the cases of the bad image –
whether they be faulty behaviour or faulty
information.
 If PR is to be credible, it must avoid false
image making.

What makes a good PR
Practitioner?
Ability to get on with all kinds of people:
this means understanding, sometimes
tolerating people, not flattering them.
 Ability to communicate: that is, explain by
means of spoken or written word, or by
visual device or photography.
 Ability to organize: planning
 Personal integrity in both professional and
private life.

Cont.
Imagination: that is a creative sense, as
when designing a house journal, writing a
script for a film or videotape, planning
campaigns and seeking solutions to
problems.
 Ability to find out: that is to have ready
access to info.
 Ability to research and evaluate the
results of a PR campaign, and learn from
these findings.

Publics of Public Relations
Publics Defined

Publics are those groups of people,
internally and externally with whom an
organization communicates.
Ten basic publics
The community
 Potential employees
 Employees
 Suppliers of services and materials
 Investors- the money market
 Distributors
 Consumers and users
 Opinion leaders
 Trade unions
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The media
Analysis of Ten Publics

The community will depend on the type of
organization. It will be different for a
department store, local authority, factory,
research lab, hotel airport, hospital,
prison.
Potential Employees

Potential employees may exist in
other organizations, or can be
recruited from schools, colleges
and universities, or from overseas.
Employees

Employees can be of many kinds,
some of which are: management
and executives; laboratory, factory
and warehouse workers; office
staff etc.
Suppliers

Suppliers can be two kinds, those
who supply services such as water
and energy, and those who supply
raw materials, components,
packaging and professional
services.
The financial publics

These begin with the local bank
and, if it is a public company- its
shares being sold on the Stock
exchange- investors will consist
not only of buyers of securities but
also investment analysts (who
advise on sharing and buying) and
big share buyers.
Distributors
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Those who handle the goods in
bulk between producer and
consumer- vary in kind and
number according to the
organization. Thus distributors
may include wholesalers,
commission agents, retailers, etc.
Opinion Leaders

Opinion leaders or formers
comprise all those people whose
expressed opinions can harm or
help an organization. According to
the organization, opinion leaders
can be numerous and ever
changing, ranging from parents to
politicians, priests to protestors.
The Media
The media are your organization’s
direct route to your publics.
 Publishers, producers, editors,
journalists have total control over
what your publics see and hear in
their media.

The Publics
Primary Publics: The media- External
 Editors
 Journalists
 Reporters
 Feature writers
 Press photographers
 TV producers & editors
 Radio producers& editors
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Internal
Associate companies
 Candidate employees
 Existing employees
 Management
 New employees
 Overseas associates
 Shareholders
 Trade unions
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Ultimate publics
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Academics
Children
Competitors
Customers and
consumers
Distributors
End users
Financial institutions
Foreign governments
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General public
Health authorities
Investment analysts
Investors
Opinion leaders
Suppliers
Teachers
Wholesalers
Trade unions