SYBMM PUBLIC RELATIONS NOTES

CH -1 WHAT IS PUBLIC RELATIONS?

Public relation is very simply put, encompasses the techniques and processes via
which you manage and mould how, when, and in what way you communicate your
message to a desired audience so as to have maximum impact.
Public Relations is a dynamic business tool which can transform the performance of any
company, be it public or private limited orrmultinational. It is an important part of
marketing mix and widely used tool for publicity.
Public relation is all about reputation i.e. what you say, how you say, what others say
about. It is a two way communication process between an organization and public.In
order to be able to affect the attitudes, behaviour and perceptions of the audience, it is
necessary to communicate your message in no unclear terms.
Investing on Public relations will help the organisation to achieve its obective effectively
and smoothly. Public Relations is not creating good image for a bad team. !ince false
image cannot be sustained for a long time. "hough the organization product or services
are good it need an effective Public Relations campaign for attracting, motivating the
public to the product or service or towards the purpose of the programme. It is not only
encourage the involvement from the public and also resulting in better image.
#n effective Public Relations can create and build up the image of an individual or an
organisation or a nation. #t the time of adverse publicity or when the organisation is
under crisis an effective Public Relations can remove the $misunderstanding
Public relations involves%
i& a two way communication process between an organisation and its public
ii& communication with a view to changing the mindsets of the public in a
certain direction
'e can therefore define public relations as a form of communication used to
persuade or influence people using ethical means. It is important to understand that
communication here,i.e.in public relations is are receiver phenomenon.
It is controlled not by the sender but rather by the receiver or, in other words, the
audience. (or e.g. if the speaker is gifted and delivers a speech effectively in )indi but
the audience does not understand )indi, no real communication takes place
.
"he 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. *ommon activities include speaking at
conferences, winning industry awards, working with the press, and employee
communication.
Why does a coma!y !eed PR ?
Public Relations is a dynamic business tool which can transform the performance of
any company, be it public or private limited or multinational. It is an important part of
marketing mix and widely used tool for publicity.
PR helps in building positive image of the company. It also Increases awareness of
company, products, staff, retention , customer relationship, regulators and others
Public Relation is cost effective and long process.
Public Relation is about reputation . +o matter how good the organization may be, if you
don,t communicate with your target audience , put message across they might loose
out to competitors
#t the time of adverse publicity or when the organisation is under crisis an effective
Public Relations can remove the $misunderstanding.
"E#INITIONS O# PUBLIC RELATIONS$
Public Relations is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and
maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its publics.-
- I!s%&%'%e o( P')*&c Re*a%&o!s+ USA
.Public relations is the attempt by information persuasion and adustment to engineer
public support for an activity, cause, movement or institution.-
- Ed,a-d L. Be-!ay
PR is a philosophy and function of management expressed in policies and practices
which serve the public to serve its understanding and goodwill-
- The P')*&c Re*a%&o! soc&e%y o( Ame-&ca /PRSA0
HISTORY O# PUBLIC RELATIONS
/any historians credit I1Y LEEwith being the originator of modern crisis
communications.
0ut Ed,a-d Be-!ay, nephew and student of S&2m'!d #-e'd+ is generally regarded as
the father of .Public Relations-.
In the 1nited 2ingdom S&- Bas&* C*a-3e 3456784796& was a pioneer of public relations.
"he #&-s% Wo-*d Wa- encouraged the development of public relations as a profession.
"he committee of Public Information 3 a*so 3!o,! as %he CREEL Comm&%%ee& was
started by many PR professionals including Ivy :ee, ;dward 0ernay , <ohan '. )ill and
*arl 0yvoir.
1! *ongress had been investigating Rockefeller=s work on behaIvy :ee, who has been
credited with developing the modern news release 3also called a $press release$&,
)e emphasized news value over ads or publicity stunts and believed companies must
strive to earn public confidence)e espoused a philosophy consistent with what has
sometimes been called the $two>way street$ approach to public relations in which PR
consists of helping clients listen as well as communicate messages to their publics
In the words of the Public Relations !ociety of #merica 3PR!#&, $Public relations helps
an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other..
In practice, however, :ee often engaged in one way propagandizing on behalf of clients
despised by the public, including !tandard ?il founder <ohn @. Rockefeller.
!hortly before his death, the 1! congress had been investigating Rockefeller,s work on
behalf of the controversial +azi Aerman company IA (arben
;dward : 0ernay
;dward : 0ernay was the profession=s first theorist.)e drew many of his ideas from
!igmund (reud=s theories about the irrational, unconscious motives that shape human
behaviour.
)e authored several books, including Crystallizing Public
Opinion /14560+Propaganda /14570+ and The Engineering of Consent /14890.
He %a'2h% (&-s% co'-se o! P')*&c Re*a%&o!s)e saw public relations as an :a*&ed
soc&a* sc&e!ce: that uses insights from psychology, sociology, and other disciplines to
scientifically manage and manipulate the thinking and behavior of an irrational and
:he-d *&3e: ')*&c.
;ROWTH O# PUBLIC RELATIONS
Public relations is a BC
th
>century phenomenon, barely 4CC years old.In the B4
st
century,
the field is evolving and improving every day.#s BC
th
century rolled on, big business
came back into style.!mart companies such as Aeneral ;lectric, Aeneral /otors and
#"D" learned that it takes both words and actions to earn a good reputation.
!everal reasons can be attributed for the growingpopularity of Public Relations
profession %
;-o,%h o( Co-o-a%es$
0usiness was growing day by day, that gave a raise to many impediments. "he
needs to face challenges like managing reputation, target customers, employees
and effect communication gave arise to Public Relations.
;*o)a*&<a%&o!
Alobalisation is purely an economic process > it has deep social, cultural and
environmental consequences. Public relation plays a vital part in communicating
about integration of national economies, capital flows , foreign direct investments
etc.
I!%e-!a* comm'!&ca%&o!$
;mployees are important to every organization ."hey need to be communicated
regularly about the latest developments in the organization which keeps them
motivated and also give them a sense of belonging which leads to productivity
and profitability. "his requirement is fulfilled by Public Relations
;-o,%h o( Med&a
"he media has been growing rapidly in the last decade or so. "he number of
vehicles or mediums to communicate has also increased. Public Relations thus is
an effective means of communication through the growth of media.
;ROWTH O# PUBLIC RELATIONS IN IN"IA
"he growth of public relations in India can actually be seen at different stages.
@uring the first 'orld 'ar 34749>4745&, 0ritish government in India set up a Ce!%-a*
P')*&c&%y Boa-d.
"his was the first organised PREInformation set>up of the Aovernment of India.
It was later called the Ce!%-a* B'-ea' o( I!(o-ma%&on, which later changed to the
B'-ea' o( P')*&c I!(o-ma%&o!, and functioned as a link between the Aovernment
and the Press.
"he government had started realizing that a set up was needed to know what the
media thought and wrote about them. !oon after I!dee!de!ce /14890+ the
government of India set up a full>fledged /inistry of Information and 0roadcasting.
# systematic and organised practice of public relations began with the Indian
railways much before we attained independence.
The ;-ea% I!d&a! Pe!&!s'*a- /;IP& Railways as it was known then, for example,
carried on a campaign in ;ngland in the BCs to attract tourists to India. "he
importance of public relations was known to the 0ritish and they made well use of
it.PostIndependence theAovt of India set up the /inistry of Information D
0roadcasting , employing professionals to look after the functions of PR
It was not only the government but slowly the private sector in India also woke up to
the need of public relations. PSU=s *&3e ON;C + BHEL+ NTPC+ I!d&a! o&*+ 1SNL etc
played a significant role in giving a professional status to PR .
Ta%a=s set up their Public Relations @epartment &! M'm)a& &! 1486."here were
other companies too such as "'!*o+U!&*e>e- and others which did many public
outreach activities. Infact the "atas also came with a course on public relations in
47F5.
PROCESS O# COMMUNICATIONS
In public relations, we can say that the process of communication involves the
following three progressive levels%>
AWARENESS > "he message should reach the public.
ACCEPTANCE > "he public should agree with the message.
ACTION - "he public should act or interact accordingly. process of
*ommunications
PUBLICS IN PUBLIC RELATIONS
It is important to understand that communication here, i.e.in public relations is a
-ece&>e- he!ome!o!"herefore, the most important aspect of public relations is to
focus on the ?3ey ')*&c= or in other words, the people who will receive the
communication or who are target audience.
"raditionally the term ? ')*&cs=meansany group with a common interest. In PR
perspective Gpublics, and target audience are synonymous
Publics is your board of directors, employees, shareholders, vendors,
*ustomers, dealers, +A?, Aovt , media H.."he need, desires, interest of each one of
the publics is different 1nderstanding and communicating the right message is indeed a
vital skill.
INTERNAL PUBLIC
"he ;mployees who work for an organisation are termed as the Internal publics./ore
often they are ignored. Regular communication with them is important as they are the
BRAN" AMBASS"ORS of the organization Regular information about the
organisationkeeps them motivated and gives them a sense of belonging.Proper and
regular communication should be devised by the PR personnel
Re@'&-eme!%s (o- a! E((ec%&>e &!%e-!a* PR
"o build a team and to achieve corporate obectives
It is important for the employees Einternal publics to be well versed with the
policies and obectives of the organizations.
(ree flow of information should be cascaded from top management to the
employees . PR person should ensure that a climate conducive to the free
flow of information is created.
PR person should ensure that there is an understanding between the top
management and employees.
"o facilitate the growth and advancement of the employees regular training
programs should be organized by the company.
PR person must ensure that management values feedback from the
employees and keep open channels of communication.
EATERNAL PUBLIC
;xternal publics in a broad category are customers, vendors, shareholders, potential
employees, community , +A?, Aovernment etc.;xternal publics constitute as an
important audience for the company with whom the communication is important.
# two way smooth channel of communication between the organisationand its
external public is essential .;ach industry has its own set of external public
BASIC PUBLICS a-e $
1. C's%ome-s
5. Sha-eho*de-s
6. Po%e!%&a* em*oyees
8. Comm'!&%y
B. S'*&e-s a!d 1e!do-s
C. "&s%-&)'%o-s a!d "ea*e-s
9. O&!&o! Leade-s
7. ;o>e-!me!%
CUSTOMERS
*onsumers who use a product or service of an organisation."hey can be
categorized into numerous demographic segments such as #ge, Religion, !ex,
marital status , income group and so on.*ustomers cannot be ignored and taken for
granted .
"he management of an organisation must regularly communicate to its customers
about various activities .*ustomer queries should be answer promptly .
Regular information should be sent to customers such as letter, circulars etc. as
this helps in strengthening the relationship
SHAREHOL"ERS
!hareholders invest in the company and hold shares.#ll important information such
as dividends , share transfer application and procedure , #A/ s, statutory notices,
circulars etc.
POTENTIAL EMPLOYESS
PR is about reputation and it is important to enhance the corporate image thereby
encouraging more employees to oin the company .
SUPPLIERS AN" 1EN"ORS
"hey are the backbone of an organisation.*ommunicating with them through
seminars, visits etc. is important as they are a strong link between the customers
and the company
"ISTRIBUTORS D "EALERS
"he dealer is a trader who carries out business activity with the company and they
need to be communicate regularly on process , policies, norms etc."ools such as in
house ournal, seminars , dealers meets should be held regularly as this is one of
the medium of communication about the company .
OPINION LEA"ERS
Individuals with the necessary skills set , knowledge , personality , position with in a
certain group exercise influence on others."hey could be a opinion leader of one
product while for other he E she may be customer."heir opinion influences others
thus can be critical.
?ne has to carefully select the media through which one can reach them as these
opinion leaders may be widely dispersed.
;O1ERNMENT
!everal companies dealings are covered by the Aovernment and its various
departments, so its important to have regular communication.*ompanies should
maintain relations with Registrar of companies, labourdepartment , sales tax,
exercise department , import and export department etc
"herefore, the most important aspect of public relations is to focus on the Gkey public, or
in other words, the people who will receive the communication. :et us consider the
following list of productsEservices and public who use these
.
P-od'c% E Se->&ce P')*&c
Hos&%a*s Patients
Me-cha!%s *ustomers
Schoo*s !tudents
Te*e>&s&o!Iiewers
Radio :isteners
I!s'-a!ce coma!&es Policy holders
.