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PR in selected sectors and
organizations
L 10
Ing. Jiří Šnajdar
2016
Public relations functions are categorized by the
publics with which relationships are established and
to whom appeals are made to understand and/or
accept certain policies, procedures, individuals,
causes, products or services.
Practitioners who perform specialized functions
may play a management role, operate as a
communications technician, or function in a dual
role.
Community Relations
A public relations function consisting of an
organization’s planned, active and continuing
participation with and within a community to
maintain and enhance its environment to the benefit
of both the organization and the community. This
can involve partnerships, volunteer activities,
philanthropic contributions and public participation.
Employee Relations
Employee Relations Dealing and communicating
with the employees of an organization. This can
include team building and employee empowerment.
Government Relations
Dealing and communicating with legislatures and
government agencies on behalf of an organization.
Financial Relations
Dealing and communicating with firms and interest
groups within the organization’s industry.
Media Relations
Dealing and communicating with the news media
when seeking publicity or responding to reporters’
questions.
It also involves setting up and maintaining a
professional and mutually beneficial working
relationship with news gatherers and gatekeepers,
in part by becoming known as a credible source
and as a provider of factual, expert information
whether or not that information results in media
coverage.
Public Affairs
Dealing and communicating with government and
groups with regard to societal (public) policies,
action and legislation.
Unlike government relations, where the practitioner
works strictly on behalf of an organization, public
affairs also is concerned with the effect of public
policies, actions and legislation on its publics.
PR Tools and Techniques
Creation and maintenance of a good public
reputation is a complex and ongoing process.
Without an effective PR, it is very difficult to reach
the attention of the target audience and much less
to influence their opinion and decisions.
But when the relationship with the target group is
finally established, it needs to be maintained in
order to keep it on a high level. The process works
similar to the interpersonal relationships.
Common PR Tools and Techniques
In order to build a relationship with the target
audience and maintain it on a high level, PR
specialists use a variety of tools and techniques.
Some of the most common ones include:
Attendance at public events. In order to attract
public attention and keep it engaged with a
particular organisation or an individual, PR
specialists take an advantage of every public event
and the opportunity to speak publicly. This enables
them to directly reach the public attending the event
and indirectly, a much larger audience.
Common PR Tools and Techniques
Press releases.
Information that is communicated as a part of the
regular TV or/and radio programme, newspapers,
magazines and other types of mainstream media
achieves a much bigger impact than
advertisements. This is due to the fact that most
people consider such information more trustworthy
and meaningful than paid adds. Press release is
therefore one of the oldest and most effective PR
tools.
Common PR Tools and Techniques
Newsletters.
Sending newsletters – relevant information about
the organisation or/and its products/services directly to the target audience is also a common
method to create and maintain a strong relationship
with the public.
Newsletters are also a common marketing strategy
but PR specialists use it to share news and general
information that may be of interest to the target
audience rather than merely promoting
products/services.
Common PR Tools and Techniques
Blogging.
To reach the online audience, PR specialists use
the digital forms of press releases and newsletters
but they also use a variety of other tools such as
blogging and recently, microblogging. It allows them
to create and maintain a relationship with the target
audience as well as establish a two-way
communication.
Common PR Tools and Techniques
Social media marketing.
Like its name suggests, it is used primarily by the
marketing industry. Social media networks,
however, are also utilised by a growing number of
PR specialists to establish a direct communication
with the public, consumers, investors and other
target groups.
Common PR Tools and Techniques
Public Relations and the Internet
The Internet has caused a revolution in communication
by giving a voice to those that previously could not have
been heard. This has opened a whole new world of
opportunities for both businesses and individuals that
were unimagined in the era of the traditional media.
These still play an important role in shaping the public
opinion but with the entire globe moving to the online
world to search for information and buy
products/services, a PR that does not effectively
communicate with the online community can no longer
effectively shape and maintain the desired public image.
Common PR Tools and Techniques
Challenges of the Internet for PR
Although the Internet is one of the greatest inventions in
human history, it has dramatically changed the world
and above all, the communication. The world wide web
has opened a number of opportunities but it has also
opened a number of challenges, especially for the PR
sector that has mastered communication with and
through the traditional media.
While PR specialists virtually had no competition in the
era of the traditional media, the democracy of the
Internet has forced them to compete with the entire
world.
The Internet has given just about everyone the ability to
share their opinion just about everything with the entire
world in a matter of seconds.
The ability to reach thousands or millions of people in
virtually no time gave PR specialists a powerful tool but
it also made their jobs more difficult, especially in case
of an attack on integrity of their clients.
Just imagine restoring the client’s reputation if the first
page of search engine results contains mainly
compromising or damaging content.
Public Relations Disciplines
In order to represent the client in the best manner
possible, public relations has to cover a wide range of
areas.
All communication with the target audience and media
can be carried out by a single PR specialist but the
profession is getting increasingly specialised. According
to the areas covered, we know the following PR
disciplines:
Financial PR.
Like its name suggests, it is focused on financial
matters including investments, disclosure agreements,
takeovers, adherence to government regulations, etc..
Due to the complexity of the financial matters, financial
PR often includes a staff of lawyers who present the
client’s financial matters in a way that creates and
maintains a positive perception of the client in the
public.
Rather than with the general public, the financial PR is
usually specialised in communication with the media,
stockholders, businesses and the investor community.
Consumer PR.
This PR discipline is specialised in presentation of
products or service with an aim to attract publicity and
make them attractive to the target consumer audience.
Although consumer PR in a way helps promote
particular products/services and subsequently increase
the sales, it has little in common with marketing.
Crisis communication.
PR services are especially sought after in crisis
situations in which PR specialists are often the best
“lawyers”. The goal of crisis PR specialists is to get the
situation under control in a way that causes minimal
damage to the client in terms of public image and
reputation.
In order to prevent the client from losing good
reputation, crisis PR requires excellent communication
skills in order to tell the other side of the story and
change the public opinion.
Government PR.
It refers to a discipline of PR which is specialised in
engaging with the government bodies with an aim to
influence policy making.
The methods and tools used also include lobbying but
the latter is not enough to win the support of the
politicians for a particular position.
Government relations should not be confused with
government communication which refers to
communication between the government and the public.
Internal PR.
This PR discipline is focused on communication within
the company or organisation. Most organisations that
utilise internal PR usually have their own PR
departments with staff who undertake training which
make sure that relevant information is communicated to
the employees on time.
PR for profit organization
A business or other organization whose primary goal is
making money (a profit), as opposed to a non profit
organization which focuses a goal such as helping the
community and is concerned with money only as much
as necessary to keep the organization operating.
Most companies considered to be businesses are for
profit organizations; this includes anything from retail
stores to restaurants to insurance companies to real
estate companies.
Public relations is more than just media relations efforts.
There are other tactics and strategies that can be
implemented to reach your target audience.
Ask a roomful of professionals to define Public
Relations and you'll receive a number of different
answers, and most of them would be a narrow
representation of the entire PR picture.
Public Relations is not just publicity, working with
journalists, or community events. It is about building
relationships with the bottom line to a hotel's balance
sheet - its customers. Today, getting the consumer's
attention to tell them about your property is not easy.
Research abounds on the decline of paid advertising
effectiveness.
Today's consumers respond to dialogue, relationships,
interactions, and honest communications.
Businesses in any industry, including hospitality, need to
implement and execute integrated marketing
campaigns. More and more, these campaigns find
public relations taking the lead because PR has always
been about relationships with multiple audiences.
There are many tactics in the public relations tool box.
Media relations, or publicity, is usually the first that
comes to mind, followed by special events. However,
the list doesn't end there.
New technologies and mediums include blogs, vlogs,
podcasts and vodcasts. On a broader level, PR is
evolving into content development that helps a business
create experiential marketing concepts for consumers.
While most people are familiar with media relations
and special events, it's still appropriate to quickly
cover what is involved. Media relations, of course,
involves building relationships with journalists. The
end goal is to get your hotel included in travel
articles, business articles, etc.
However, when dealing with the media you need a
newsworthy story. Special events include grand
openings, ground breaking ceremonies, charity
events, etc.
Consumer promotions are an excellent way to
extend an advertising budget while gaining publicity
and exposure.
Promotions involve no exchange of cash; instead a
business simply provides its product on an in-kind
basis for media exposure.
An example would be a hotel providing a two-night
stay to a radio station in a key origin market. The
station then gives the certificate away to a listener as
part of an on-air contest. These opportunities exist
with broadcast outlets, retailers, charity events and
more.
A printed or e-newsletter is an excellent opportunity
to communicate your message.
Start a dialogue and find out what information your
audience wants, then give it to them.
Do they want to know about special packages? Do
they want to know about new amenities?
Perhaps, your hotel is located in an area with great
fishing and it's important to your audience to know
which fish are running and when.
The Internet and new technologies also mean new
tactics.
Blogs are increasingly becoming mainstream.
These online personal diaries provide commentaries
on a variety of topics including current events, daily
life activities, even a stay at your hotel. Increasingly
many businesses are developing their own blogs to
share information on product developments, new
services or corporate news.
Public relations and marketing is moving beyond
talking at the consumer.
Now, tactics are being implemented that interact with
the consumer. A Web site is a great informational
tool, but if a consumer only visits once, never to
return, its impact is minimal.
Imagine a site with updated content from a blog, a
site with new podcasts, a site that creates a virtual
experience for consumers to return multiple times,
learning more about what you have to offer and
building a loyalty to your hotel.
However it is defined, public relations is still about
building relationships and connecting with your
audiences.
Large or small, any property can benefit from
effective PR efforts. After all, you can't spell profit
without PR.
Promoting Your Not-for-Profit through Public
Relations
Public relations is vital to the success of not-forprofit organizations.
No matter how important your cause is, you should
not expect that everybody will know about it or even
about your organization. Proactive communications
is essential to success.
From building awareness and credibility to
supporting fundraising efforts, a well-executed,
strategic public relations program can make the
difference between achieving one's goals or falling
desperately short of them.
Tips and Tactics
The ultimate goal of most public relations programs
is to generate positive media coverage in the
publications and outlets that are read by an
organization's target audiences. It's no different for
not-for-profits.
Whether the media coverage you seek marks the
beginning of a campaign to influence the public on a
particular issue, initiates a fundraising campaign, or
is simply the basis for increasing awareness of your
organization, there's a good deal of advance
preparation that needs to take place before you land
that story.
Tips and Tactics
There are five important tactics that your
organization can use to generate the desired media
coverage, whether you have a dedicated PR person
or not:
• Framing the story and writing a news release
• Targeting and connecting with the appropriate
media
• Distributing your news
• Developing experts and promoting them as a
reliable source
• Monitoring and measuring the effectiveness of
your efforts
Tips and Tactics
News releases are a great way for a not-for-profit to
build awareness about a cause or to begin a
fundraising campaign.
A news release should be written in a journalistic,
rather than a marketing, style. It should be
objectively written as though a reporter were writing
the story for you.
Most important, your release needs to "inform"
people, NOT just "sell" them something.
Tips and Tactics
It should include a headline that grabs the reader's
attention and speaks directly to the "news"; a lead
paragraph that contains the information most
relevant to your message, such as the five W's
(who, what, when, where, why) and a short
boilerplate description of your organization.
The release should always list a contact who can be
reached at any time in case a reporter has follow up
questions.
Tips and Tactics
Targeting, Influencing, and Reaching Appropriate
Media
Knowing where members of your target audience
get the information that drives their decisions is one
of the most important aspects of a PR program.
Once you have this information, determine which
reporters cover news related to your organization or
causes. There are many ways to do this, some more
time- and cost-effective than others.
Developing Experts and Promoting Them to the
Media
Developing experts within an organization and
creating platforms from which they can provide their
opinions is vital to securing lasting media coverage.
A nonprofit should always have a few experts on
hand to discuss the organization's objectives,
explain the cause or point of view on a particular
subject in detail, and provide support to sponsors
and donors.
Profiling key spokespeople on the organization's
Web site or in widely available expert databases
gives reporters easy accessibility to these experts.
If your expert can respond to something that is
currently in the news, consider sending out a media
advisory alerting reporters to the availability of the
spokesperson and his/her position on the topic.
Monitoring and Measuring the Effectiveness of Your
Program
You should always know what articles or postings
have been written about your organization or what
news of interest to your nonprofit has been
published on the Internet and in print.
There are many of Web sites and other on-line
information sources that could potentially post
something of interest or importance to you, and
there are several methods you can use to find this
information.
The most basic approach to "monitoring" is
manually searching the Internet by inputting
keywords into search engines, which can be time
consuming and redundant.
A more sophisticated approach is signing up for
RSS feeds or subscribing to a service that monitors
news sources and provides reports that link to
articles based on specific keywords.
These services allow you to stay on top of what's
being said about your organization and about
entities with differing viewpoints, enabling you to
make more informed decisions, tweak messaging,
and get an overall gauge of the organization.
With a program or campaign that includes all of
these fundamental elements—news releases,
targeting and distributing to appropriate media,
developing experts, and monitoring and
measurement—you have a full-circle approach to
your public relations efforts.
Thank you for your attention.