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MC101: PUBLIC RELATIONS

SULAY JALLOH

Public Relations

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DEFINING PUBLIC RELATIONS

as defined by Cutlip, Center and Broom

Public Relations is the management function that establishes and maintain mutually beneficial relationship between an organization and the publics on whom its success or failure depends.

PUBLIC RELATIONS AND ADVERTISING

Though there are some similarities between public relations and advertising (they both try to persuade), their essential difference is that:

1)Public Relations is a function of management while advertising is a marketing function.

2)Advertising uses all communication methods except for interpersonal communications; public relations, on the other hand, uses all forms of communication.

3)Advertising is sponsored (paid for), whereas PR messages are usually free.

4)In many instances, advertising, especially corporate advertising is used to help further the public relations agenda.

PUBLIC RELATIONS AND OTHER RELATED TERMS

Common practices at times misinterpreted as public relations:

1)Press agentry: The staging of events to attract media or public attention to a person, product, organization, or cause.

2)Publicity, a practice which attempts to place favorable stories in the mass media. Like press agentry, publicity is also just a tool of a public relations campaign. In addition, publicity is primarily a one-way process whereas PR is essentially a two-way communication.

WHAT PUBLIC RELATIONS PEOPLE DO

1)PR involves interpreting, monitoring, and trying to influence public opinion for its own parent organization.

2)PR concerns itself with communicating and explaining the actions of its parent organization to its various publics.

3)PR is a management function, its main purpose to council and assist management in setting and achieving goals

PUBLIC RELATIONS INDUSTRY ORGANIZATION

Internal vs. external PR departments; both have distinct advantages and disadvantages.

An internal department (on the company payroll):

  • has more in-depth knowledge about the company,
  • can be assigned, working on project on short notice,
  • offers cost savings with cheaper in-house operations.

External PR agencies, by contrast, offer fresh, objective viewpoints and greater operational flexibility.

ORGANIZATIONS WHICH COMMONLY EMPLOY PUBLIC RELATIONS

Public relations can be practiced anywhere, but most efforts come in the areas of:

.Business.Entertainment and sports

.Government.International pubic relations

.Education.Investor relations

.Hospitals.Politics

.Nonprofit organizations.Crisis management

.Professional associations

PR DEPARTMENTS AND STAFF

Though no two internal PR department organizational structures are identical, the one thing most have in common is that the PR director reports directly to the president. External PR agencies, somewhat similar in organization to an ad agency, are more complex because of the wider range of services they provide.

A Typical Public Relations Campaign

A typical PR campaign involves the following four stages

1.Information Gathering

2.Planning

  • Strategic
  • Tactical
  • Management by objectives, or MBO

3.Communication

4.Evaluation

1. Information Gathering

Information can come from several sources: organizational records, trade journals, public records, research, polls, surveys, advisory committees, personal contacts, and so on. Information gathering is a crucial first step in the process, since what's learned here will influence all that follows.

2. Planning

There are two general types of planning: strategic and tactical. In short, strategic plans are your long-term goals, the what part of you want accomplished. Tactical plans are the ways and means by which you can best get those long-term goals actually accomplished.

3. Communication

In the third stage, PR personnel decide which media channels are best suited to get planned messages across to their various publics. Communications might take the form of interviews, press releases, press conferences, video news releases, paid advertising, posters, e-mail, staged events, speeches, demonstrations, an open house, tours, press kits, information booths, faxes, letters, etc.

4. Evaluation

This stage tries to answer the question, "How well did it work?" and is generally accomplished through the use of sophisticated analysis techniques using questionnaires, polls, surveys, panel discussions, meetings, and various audience responses.

ECONOMICS

Companies, nonprofit groups, and government agencies spend large sums of money on PR, but the total figures are difficult to hard to measure. One estimate PR firms in the U.S. earned more than $2.8 billion in 1999.

External PR agencies earn revenues in a number of ways; some, for example, perform a specific job for a set fee; some charge their clients monthly retainers; others will charge by the hour; still others will charge by time plus expenses.

PR ONLINE

The Internet has already had a significant impact on how PR professionals gather information and communicate messages to their various publics. For example:

•Internet has streamlined how PR data is distributed to media

•PR staffs can more easily monitor their efforts in the media

•The Internet offers a huge creative and information resource

•Company web pages are now directed, produced by PR staff

•downside: easier corporate sabotage; many of the Internet’s strengths can easily be turned against an organization

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