UNIT-I
1. Defining Public Relations: Functions and Types of Publics
What Is Public Relations?
Public relations is a strategic communication process companies, individuals, and
organisations use to build mutually beneficial relationships with the public.
A public relations specialist drafts a specialised communication plan and uses media and
other direct and indirect mediums to create and maintain a positive brand image and a
strong relationship with the target audience.
In simple terms, public relations is a strategised process of managing the release and
spread of organisation-related information to the public to maintain a favourable
reputation of the organisation and its brands. This process focuses on –
What information should be released,
How it should be drafted,
How it should be released,
What media should be used to release the information (usually earned or free media is
used for the same).
Objective of PR:
The main objective of public relations is to maintain a positive reputation of the brand
and maintain a strategic relationship with the public, prospective customers, partners,
investors, employees and other stakeholders which leads to a positive image of the brand
and makes it seem honest, successful, important, and relevant.
Functions of PR: As per the different roles a PR plays, the functions can be divided into
these parts:
Media Relations: Establishing a good relationship with the media organisations and
acting as their content source.
Investor Relations: Handling investors events, releasing financial reports and regulatory
filings, and handling investors, analysts and media queries and complaints.
Government Relations: Representing the brand to the government with regard to the
fulfilment of policies like corporate social responsibility, fair competition, consumer
protection, employee protection, etc.
Community Relations: Handling the social aspect of the brand and establishing a
positive reputation in the social niche like environment protection, education, etc.
Internal Relations: Counselling the employees of the organisation with regard to
policies, course of action, organisation’s responsibility and their responsibility.
Cooperating with them during special product launches and events.
Customer Relations: Handling relationships with the target market and lead consumers.
Conducting market research to know more about interests, attitudes, and priorities of the
customers and crafting strategies to influence the same using earned media.
Marketing Communications: Supporting marketing efforts relating to product launch,
special campaigns, brand awareness, image, and positioning.
Types of Publics:
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2. Evolution of Public Relations
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Evolution of PR in India:
Despite being over a century old across the world, began in India in the 1950s, when a group of
public relations practitioners formed the PR Society of India in 1956 in Bombay under the
leadership of Kali H. Mody. He led the body till 1960, followed by S. Mandietta who was
President in 1961 till 1965, with F.S. Mulla who became the President from 1966-69. It was
under Mr Farruk S. Mulla, this informal body was registered under the Indian Societies Act
XXVI of 1961, in 1966, and he became the founder President of Public Relations Society of
India.
At the same time, around 1965, another body, the Public Relations Circle had been founded and
registered in Calcutta. It was the first-ever association of professional PR practitioners in Eastern
India.
In 1968, the first All India Public Relations Conference was held in Mumbai in 1968, where
the members of the Calcutta Public Relations Council decided to disband the regional body, and
merged with the Public Relations Society of India to strengthen the national body. Another
significant contribution of this conference was adoption of the International Code of
Ethics (also called Code of Athens) on 21 April 1968.
The founder President Farrok S. Mulla was able to extend the reach of the PR body by
establishing Regional Chapters at Delhi, Madras, and Calcutta.
One of the landmark achievement of this professional body of PR practitioners was to bring
together leading international PR experts to India when Bombay hosted the 9th Public
Relations World Congress from 19–23 January 1982 with active participation of
International Public Relations Association (IPRA). At that time, the PRSI was headed by
Mr K.S. Neelakandan, Director Public Relations with Pfizer Limited, who was also the
Executive Chairman of the World Congress.
Though there were several individuals and small companies which started even before that, they
offered PR with the limited scope of media relations only. It was only natural that the
entrepreneurs who began these services came from a background of journalism, seen as a natural
hunting ground for the nascent PR industry.
From nobody knowing about PR to it becoming one of the world’s most popular job, PR has
come a long way in India. There was a time people only knew about journalism and advertising
but PR was considered similar to HR. Today it is very commonly said by a layman too, “You
need PR!”
The PR industry is fast expanding in the country. Public Relations is to communicate to the
public with a view to changing their mindset in a certain direction. Also, its purpose is to create
goodwill for the communicating organizations, eventually leading to support from the public.
Today PR agencies have also started doubling up as digital agencies, social media agencies by
offering a plethora of services like content marketing, events management etc. in order to
become a one-stop-shop for all the needs of the client. PR has evolved and still continues to fast
evolve in India. Today, most of the big PR agencies in India are multinationals and have global
networks and outreach. Gradually, the Indian PR industry is receiving more and more attention
for creating innovative strategic communications, building significant brands, dealing with crisis
and improving customer communication. A lot has moved online offering a boost to the industry
wherein campaigns have now become 360 degrees touching all aspects of the marketing mix.
3. Scope of PR: Issue Management, Lobbying, Corporate Social
Responsibility, Public Opinion, Advertising, Propaganda, Publicity and PR
as a marketing tool
Issue Management – “The monitoring or scanning of the organisational
environment in order to identify issues and trends, adapt to changes, and/or to
decide on managerial or communicative actions aimed at creating mutual
understanding with relevant stakeholders.” Corporate Communication Research.
The area of issues management is a natural fit for the public relations consultant or
PR team, as they have extensive knowledge of the organisation, the industry and
the environment, and are highly organised people with a high risk/opportunity
awareness. Issues management also requires a certain set of skills commonly found
among PR practitioners:
Strategic communication and planning skills, as well as listening and
observation skills.
Strong research, data gathering and analytical skills.
Relationship management skills, both inside and outside the organisation,
including internal stakeholders e.g. employees, and external stakeholders
e.g. suppliers, investors and customers.
Hands-on crisis management experience.
Public relations can play a vital role in the development of successful issues
management outcomes, which benefit both the organisation and its stakeholders.
Lobbying- Political scientists have long recognized the legitimate uses of lobbying
in a democracy. Lobbying, as an accepted and legal process, allows the voice of
citizen groups, associations, labor unions, corporations and others to be heard in
the political arena. Lobbyists break down complicated issues and present the most
pertinent information to legislators, staff members or committees in short
documents or in quick one-on-one exchanges. This adds to the extensive research
and evidence that usually accompanies proposed legislation. Increasingly,
lawmakers rely on lobbyists for information. Lobbying is a discipline within public
relations where the general intention of the activity is to inform and influence
public policy and law. 'Lobbyists' are practitioners who execute planned and
sustained efforts to deliver specific objectives within this broad profile of activity.
In 2012, the CIPR, PRCA and APPC agreed on the following definition.
"Lobbying services" means activities which are carried out in the course of a
business for the purpose of:
(a) influencing government, or
(b) advising others how to influence government.
Corporate Social Responsibility- Corporate social responsibility can encompass a
wide range of initiatives and actions, but it’s largely understood as a concept where
businesses incorporate social and environmental concerns into their day-to-day
operations. Companies that pursue CSR strategies often do so with two goals in
mind. The first is to take action that reflects the ethical concerns and beliefs of
upper management and other stakeholders — most CSR initiatives exist to do more
than increase the bottom line. The second is to use CSR as a valuable way to
improve customer loyalty, communicate to them that the business shares their
values and express that they are an organization customers can trust.
What is CSR in Public Relations?
Establishing a culture of CSR is important, and public relations plays a critical role
in establishing a brand’s trustworthiness. The relationship between PR and CSR is
essential — companies must communicate the tangible steps they’re taking that
reflect their ethical foundation and beliefs. However, it can be a challenging
tightrope to walk. PR professionals need to be adept at telling the CSR story in an
honest and authentic way without coming off as performative or suggesting that
the business is only pursuing CSR as a marketing tactic.
The communication tightrope is easier to walk when businesses begin CSR
strategies for the right reasons. Companies should only pursue CSR efforts in
which they truly believe, not as a publicity stunt — savvy millennial and Gen Z
consumers can spot the difference. Only after the CSR initiatives have been
implemented should PR come into play — then it’s all about communicating the
work the business is doing. Done differently, CSR is purely for marketing
purposes, which can seriously damage a brand’s reputation and erase any of the
benefits of corporate social responsibility.
Public Opinion- [Link]
Advertising- [Link]
advertising/
Propaganda- PDF Shared.
Publicity-
Publicity is media attention for your product, service, or business. It can include
traditional news sources, like news shows and newspapers, and new media, like
podcasts, blogs, and websites. (Instant formation of Public Opinion through
Media Coverage, Ex. Divya Dutta’s Publicity stunt for Kareena Kapoor in the
movie Heroine), it can be positive or non-positive (negative in a certain way).
Learn more about how publicity works.
What Is Publicity?
Publicity creates public awareness of yourself, your business, or your brand,
products, or services through media coverage and other forms of communication.
It's often part of a marketing campaign. Publicists help to manage publicity for
individuals and businesses with a goal of increasing positive publicity and
minimizing or responding to negative coverage.
How Publicity Works
Traditional advertising has its limitations. It's expensive, and it can be difficult to
know whether you're reaching your target audience.
Publicity won't necessarily take the place of traditional advertising, but it can raise
your profile. Even better, the best publicity strategies don't involve buying
advertising time or space.
There are multiple ways to generate news stories about your business.
1. Press release: Use press releases to alert the media to newsworthy events or
changes regarding your business. Press releases use a specific format, tend to
be short, and lead with the most important information. You can find
templates online to follow or hire a writer or publicist to craft one for you.
Once your release is written, you can distribute it to local media outlets, put
it on your website, and distribute it using a service like PR Newswire.
2. Network: Develop contacts within the media to increase coverage of your
business. You can do this through networking, introducing yourself and your
business, and getting in touch when you hear about newsworthy items,
whether they involve your business or not.
3. Volunteer: Get involved in charity drives, local events, or industry
milestones so your business will be mentioned in press coverage of those
events.
4. Self-promotion: Pitch yourself as an expert source for news stories using
resources like HARO. Journalists are often looking for people to contribute
their knowledge for news articles. Keep in mind that you can't directly
promote your product or service when acting as a source. Instead, you're
promoting your expertise, which helps potential customers see you as an
authority in your field.
PR as a Marketing Tool- [Link]
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4. Ethics in PR, PRSI Code, IPRA
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show insecure for once, but you can continue as it is an authentic website of PRSI)
