CHAPTER FIVE

PUBLIC RELATIONS

5.1. Meanings of Public Relations

The universally accepted definition of public relations (hereafter PR) as per Edward Burneys
popularly known as the father of PR is “It is a planned & sustained effort to establish and
maintain mutual understanding between an organization & its publics.” ”However, Quentin Bell,
another PR consultant thought the word persuasion would be better than mutual
understanding.
The Public Relations Society of America defines public relations as “a strategic communication
process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their public.”
Essentially, public relations specialists manage an organization’s public image and reputation.
Public relations: the professional maintenance of a favorable public image by a company or other
organization or a famous person. The public relation is often looked down on by the media.
Public relation is an important element in promotion mix. In the area of globalization, the most
of multinational companies make concrete efforts to manage and maintain its relationships with
its customers. Most of the multinational companies have its public relation department that
makes all effort to monitor the attitude and perceptions of customers.
PR refers to the variety of activities conducted by a company to promote and protect the
image of the company, its products and policies in the eyes of the public.
In public relations and communication science, publics are group of individual people and the
public. General public is the totality of such groupings.
Types of PR
 Strategic communications
 Media relation
 Community relation
 Internal communications
 Crisis management
 Public affairs
 Online and social media communications

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Objectives of PR
There are many objectives that may be achieved through expert public relations activity.
Objectives that may be sought include:
 Prestige or favorable image and its benefits.
 Promotion of product and sales, idea and rewards.
 Goodwill of Employees.
 Prevent and solve Labor problem.
 Goodwill of stock / shareholders.
 Overcoming misconceptions and prejudices against the Company/group/organization.
 Goodwill of customers/consumers.
 Formulation and guidance for making policies.
Keys to Success in Public Relations
1. Management must understand and cooperate with PR activity.
2. Public relations counselor / manager must be of sound Character.
5.2 Components of PR
a) Corporate communication
b) Media relation
c) Community relations
d) Crisis management
e) Events management
A Typical Organization Chart of A PR Department

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Duties of PR Department
PR department has multifarious duties to perform so these are generally enumerated as
below:
(a) Writing and distributing news releases, photographs & feature articles to the press,
compiling press lists.
(b) Organizing press conferences, receptions and facility visits.
(c) Maintaining a media information service.
(d) Arranging press, radio and television interviews for management.
(e) Briefing photographers and maintaining a picture library.
(f) Editing and producing staff magazines or newspapers and organizing other forms of
internal communication e.g. videotapes, slide presentations, wall newspapers, etc.
(g) Editing and producing external journals aimed at distributors, users, customers, etc.
(h) Writing and producing print material such as educational literature, company
histories, annual reports, induction literature for new staff, educational posters for
schools, etc.
(i) Commissioning audio - visuals such as synchronized slide presentations and
videotapes together with their distribution, cataloguing, showing and maintenance.
5.3 The Need to Public Relations
One of the major functions of public relations is shaping the image. It generates positive
publicity for a company, an individual or a government and enhances its reputation. The
Government uses Public Relations to keep the public informed about the activity of government
agencies, explain policy, and manage political campaigns. The Companies use it to handle
relationship with many groups affected by a company’s product and policies: consumers,
shareholders, employees, and the managing body.
PR- helps organization’s management teams in achieving institutional or corporate goals. It
brings into the affairs of companies’ transparency, accountability, respect for citizens’ rights and
programmes evaluations.
What is the need of public relations?

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Public relations increases brand credibility. To bridge that trust-gap between a business and it’s
clients or customers, the business can hire someone in public relations, the expert works on
increasing their credibility within their given industry and increasing their overall reputation.
PR improves channels of:
Media relations- preparing position papers on issues of importance to the organization.
Guest relations- guest reception activities.
Publications- is something that is written and printed. Eg. Magazine & academic books.
Marketing publicity-is the public visibility or awareness for any product, service, person
or organization. It may also refer to the movement of information from its source to the
general public.
Others
SPECIAL USES OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Crisis Management: There is hardly any company or organization which does not pass through
some kind of crisis in its life. It is imperative that a crisis management program should be in
place to effectively counter such a situation, like having a permanent crisis management team,
who should take cognizance of crisis both likely and unlikely.
Desk top Publishing: The printed house journal, the world’s oldest form of organized PR for
now more than 170 years. The print has the permanence and portability which can be retained
and read almost anywhere at any time and by a wide readership. Desk top publishing has made
this very simple and effective.
Corporate Identity: The creation of corporate identity scheme is often a PR responsibility,
because it applies to all aspects of an organization and is significant part of total communication.
Parliamentary Liaison: It covers relations between organizations, perhaps using specialist
consultants with the government, houses of the parliament. PR helps to create a favorable lobby
on various counts and for different reasons and objectives. Basically it is of two kinds; firstly,
keeping politicians and civil servants aware of an organization’s interests, and secondly; keeping
organizations aware of parliamentary activities and procedures.
Financial PR. Financial PR has become very important growth area, calling for special
knowledge, calling for special knowledge of the financial world, and how it works.
Countering Crisis with Strategy:
7 C’s of PR are effective means of strategy to counter crisis
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Credibility: Communication starts with Belief, built by the institution on performance.
Context: A communication program must confirm not contradict the message
Content: Message should have meaning for recipients
Clarity: Message must be put in simple words.
Continuity & consistency: communication is an unending process, requires repetition to achieve
results but with variation
Channels: All established channels of communication should be used.
Capability of the audience: Take into consideration the habits, reading ability, and prior
knowledge.
In general, Public relations help organizations to develop and maintain relationships with all of
its key publics and stakeholders by effectively communicating with these groups.
Aims of PR in Nene Profit Organization
– To gain acceptance of an organization’s mission.
– To develop channels of communication with those an organization serves.
– To create & maintain a favorable climate for fund raising.
– To inform & motivate key organizational constituents such as employees, voluntary
workers, trustees to dedicate themselves & work productively in support of the
organization’s mission, goals & objectives.
1.4 The Publics
The publics of Public relations can be various yet these can basically be divided in to two major
categories such as internal publics and external publics. A generalized list is given below:
 The Community
 Potential Employees
 Employees;
 Suppliers of services and material
 Investors --- the money market
 Distributors
 Consumers and users
Opinion leaders- are individuals who exert a significant amount of influence within their
network and who can affect the opinions of connected individuals. Opinion leadership is

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leadership by an active media user who interprets the meaning of media messages or content for
lower end media users. Typical opinion leaders are held in high esteem by those who accept their
opinions. Good examples of key opinion leaders are political figures, columnists and celebrities
who are known for their work. Characteristics of opinion leaders: they are knowledgeable in
their field. They are respected and trusted by their followers. Their views carry weight and
significance. They interpret the media messages and put them in to context for the wider
population.
1.5 Media Relations
Media relations involve working with media for the purpose of informing the public of an
organizations’ mission, policies, and practices in a positive, consistent and credible manner.
Typically, this means coordinating directly with the people responsible for producing the news
and features in the mass media.
Public relation has become a significant and powerful industry, particularly in recent decades.
This industry and its actors mainly work through the media to spread information, persuasion
and opinions to the public on behalf of their clients. Publicity is the predominant goal.
Networking, relation-building, news production and activities intended to be published in the
media are thus part of the everyday work of PR agents such as information officers, PR
consultants and spin-doctors.
Media Relations
I Print Media:
Press: National & Regional newspapers, magazines, directories, year books & annual reports
etc...
Printed Material: Educational, informative, prestige, promotional, balance sheets etc..
Direct Mail: Personal letters, direct correspondence, mailing information etc.
House Journals: Company newsletters both internal and external
II. Electronic Media:
1. Radio -- National, Local, International etc.
2. Television – National, Regional, Tele text etc.
III. Other Media:
Exhibitions: Special PR exhibitions, Trade & Public shows, trade fairs local and overseas.

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Airships: Gas filled air balloon ships for promotional purposes.
Electronic Bill Boards: New concept & replacements for conventional bill boards. Digital bill
board displays combine the benefits of traditional billboard advertising with the convenience and
innovation of current technology. Digital billboards are also referred to as LED signs or digital
signage. They generate high recall for ads and positive consumer attitudes.
Mobile Vehicles: New type of scrolling computer aided advertisements.
Media for Internal Publics (Co Newsletter)
Objectives
1. The value of understanding teamwork and commitment by employees in achieving
bottom line results.
2. The need to build a strong management-employee communication network for more
than job related also key business & public issues.
Media for External Publics: Newspapers, Magazines, Radio& Television.
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