Public Relations (PR)

“Public relations is to speak out its advocacy in public, and it builds up a talking platform to achieve its goals and protect the interests of people”

Introduction

Public relations (PR) is an effective way to manage the release and transmission of different types of information between an individual or an organization in order to impact the general viewpoint.

This differentiates it from advertising in terms of marketing communications.
The concern of public relations is to inform the public, prospective customers, investors, partners, employees, and other stakeholders, to maintain a positive or favorable opinion about the organization, its leadership, products, or services.

Public relations experts establish and enhance relationships with an organization’s target audience, the media, and associated public networks.

Basic responsibilities include designing interactive campaigns, preparation of press releases and other content for news, syncing with the press, arranging interviews and conferences for company spokespeople, writing speeches for company leaders, acting as an organization’s spokesperson, writing website and social media content, managing company reputation, managing internal communications, and marketing activities like brand awareness and event management.

Success in the field of public relations requires a crystal clarity of the interests and concerns of each of the company’s stakeholder. The work culture of the organization contributes in maintaining good public relations in the growing market.

Public relations is not a recent phenomenon, it has an interesting history. Many textbooks esteem the establishment of the Publicity Bureau in 1900 to be the founding of the public relations profession.

The concept of propaganda, which later developed into Public Relations was used by the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and others to rally for domestic support and demonize enemies during the World Wars.

Specific public relations disciplines include:

–> Financial PR– Conversing financial outcomes and business strategies.

–> Consumer/lifestyle PR – Gaining public response for a particular product or service

–> Crisis communication – Effectively and actively responding in a crisis

–> Internal communications – Discussions within the company itself.

–> Government relations – Engaging government departments to influence public policies.

–> Media relations – A function that involves building, growing and maintaining close relationships with the news media so that they can sell and promote a business.

–> Social Media/Community Marketing – In today’s climate, public relations professionals leverage social media marketing to distribute messages about their clients to desired target markets.

–> In-house public relations – A professional hired to manage press and publicity campaigns for the company that hired them.

Developing relationships with those who influence an organization or individual’s audiences has a central role in doing public relations.

After a PR practitioner has been working in the field, they accommodate a list of relationships that become an asset, especially for those in media relations.

Each discipline involves, typical activities like publicity events, speaking opportunities, newsletters, blogs, social media, press kits, and outbound interaction members of the press.

Video and audio news releases (VNRs and ANRs) are often produced and distributed to TV outlets in hopes they will be used as regular program content.

Target audience

The foremost aim is to identify the right audience for the product. A fundamental method used target the product oriented audience.

It’s natural to have the interests of different audiences and stakeholders common to a public relations. The effort that necessitate the developing various but complementary messages.

These messages however should be relevant to each other, thus creating a consistency to the overall message and theme.

All audiences are presumptive stakeholders, but not all stakeholders are audiences. For example, if a charity commissions a PR agency to form an advertising campaign to raise money for betterment of orphans.

The charity and the people concerned are stakeholders, but the audience is anyone who is likely to donate money.

Ethics

–> Honesty– Providing truthful and accurate information to build genuine trust among the audience.

–> Advocacy– Presenting different angles of all the facts involved to let people take the appropriate decision.

–> Expertise– Acquiring knowledge and using analytical thinking to maintain credibility as an expert.

–> Loyalty– Being loyal to the all those involved in the whole process but not at the cost of public interest.

–> Spirit of service– this is important in order to serve the purpose of service.

(Penned By Tushar)