Public Relations

Introduction to Mass Communication

 Public Relations
• Meaning of Public Relation
• Definition of Public Relation
• Nature of Public Relation
• History of Public Relation
• Types of Public Relations
• Tools and Techniques of Public Relation
• Race Model (Process of Public Relations)
 Public Relations
• Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing the flow of
information between an individual or an organization and the
public.
• The aim of public relations by a company often is to persuade the
public, investors, partners, employees, and other stakeholders to
maintain a certain point of view about it, its leadership, products,
or of political decisions.
 Definition
• “Public relations is a planned process to influence public opinion,
through sound character and proper performance, based on
mutually satisfactory two-way communication.”
• "Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds
mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their
publics."
• Public relations can also be defined as the practice of managing
communication between an organization and its publics.
 Nature of Public Relations
• PR is essentially defensive.
• It is a corporate armor that the company can wear which would
protect the company during adverse times.
• Public relations can also be defined simply as the practice of
managing communication between an organization and its
publics.
 History
• Public relations is not a phenomenon of the 20th century, but
rather has historical roots.
• Propaganda was used by the United States, the United Kingdom,
Germany, and others to rally for domestic support and demonize
enemies during the World Wars, which led to more sophisticated
commercial publicity efforts as public relations talent entered the
private sector. Most historians believe public relations became
established first in the US by Ivy Lee or Edward Bernays, then
spread internationally.
• The second half of the 1900s is considered the professional
development building era of public relations. Trade associations,
PR news magazines, international PR agencies, and academic
principles for the profession were established.
 Types
• Media relations
• Community relations
• Corporate and social responsibility
• Public affairs
• Crisis management
• Social media
• Employee relations
• Integrated marketing and communications
• Media Relations:
Media relations is all about dealing with the media – writing press
releases, scheduling interviews and giving press conferences. The
goal is to generate positive coverage of your company or your
product. Basically, you want the media to do your advertising for
free.

• Community relations:
Community engagement officers work to develop a company’s
relationship with the local (and not-so-local) community.
• Corporate and social responsibility:
Related to community engagement, there is PR that improves the
company’s reputation for ethics, environmental responsibility, and
community and charity works. This area of PR can hugely affect an
organization's business practices.

• Public affairs:
Public affairs, also known as lobbying, is all about getting the
government on your side. Say you wanted a change in farming
legislation so you could sell your product for more money. You’d
need to make contact with a minister, convince them of your case,
and provide them with information so they can talk confidently
about your issue and fight your corner.
• Crisis management:
Crisis managers are quick thinkers who know how to spin an issue.
They can manage teams and delegate tasks. They understand every
media channel so they can tell which problems need a press
conference and which can be solved with a single tweet.
• Social media:
Many companies use social media campaigns as a form of
marketing, but social media also has huge PR potential. Some of a
company’s greatest PR successes (and disasters) can happen on
social media. It’s a place where your interactions with a single
customer are visible to the whole world.
• Employee relations:
Also known as internal PR, employee relations is the business of
giving employees a positive view of the company they work for.
The goal is to keep them satisfied, motivated and loyal.

• Integrated marketing and communications:

Integrated marketing and communications (IMC) isn’t exactly a
form of public relations – it’s a way to take all your activities, from
advertising to media relations to internal communications, and
ensure that you provide a consistent message that serves your
overall strategy.
 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
• Press releases
• Newsletters
• Blogging
• Social media marketing
• Attendance at public events:
In order to attract public attention and keep it engaged with a
particular organization 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.

• Press releases:
Information that is communicated as a part of the regular TV
or/and radio programs, 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.
• Newsletters:
Sending newsletters – relevant information about the organization
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 offering promotional products 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.
• 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.
• Social media marketing:
Like its name suggests, it is used primarily by the marketing
industry. Social media networks, however, are also utilized by a
growing number of PR specialists to establish a direct
communication with the public, consumers, investors and other
target groups.
 Race Model
• RACE module was
suggested in 1963 by John
Marston who is a
communication professor.
 RACE Model
• Research:
Research is an important step in the beginning stages of any type
of marketing campaign. Some good things to know in the initial
stage of a PR plan include target audiences, demographics, what
those audiences like, how they like to communicate, and where
they go to get information. This could be TV, newspapers,
magazines, social media, etc.
For example a firm needs to know it’s customers wants , desires
and needs ; one of the best tools that might come in handy in such
as situation is a Marketing information system(MIS) ; it helps the
company studying it’s market preferences , behaviors ,
consumption patterns and purchasing power.
• Action:
The next step is Action Planning. Here, a strategic plan is
developed from the research that determines what information
to communicate and the best ways to reach the desired
audiences with that information. The information needs to be
newsworthy. It needs to be able to capture the attention of the
desired audiences and contain content that they can find value
in.
Example After the company have understood it’s market wants
, needs , desires ; the proper action right now is to develop a
product that met their wants , needs , desires .
• Communication:
The third step in the RACE model is Communication. This
involves getting the information and content developed in your
action plan to the appropriate and most effective media outlets.
Media contacts and contact lists can be very valuable resources
in this step to help you distribute information efficiently.
In the same example after the firm have developed an adequate
products to it’s target customers, now it has to determine the
best media tool to promote it through for the customers.
• Evaluation:
The final step is Evaluation. It is important to track the results of
your PR campaign and analyze its effectiveness. Determining a
ROI is a good way to evaluate the effectiveness of your plan. To do
this, you must monitor all the press generated by your campaign,
estimate a value for that press, and compare the value of the PR to
the expenses associated with generating that PR.
A firm ought to figure out whether it’s problem have been solved
or not. Here comes the role of feed back; the firm would notice
changing in it’s sales or customer’s awareness