What is PR or Public Relations?
Let us begin by taking a look at some of the definitions of this seemingly small but actually vast subject.
IPR UK, 1948
Public Relations is a planned, sustained and deliberate effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between the organization and its publics.
IPRA, 1978, Mexican Statement
PR is the process of analyzing trends, predicting consequences and counseling organizational leaders and implementing planned communication programmes which by achieving mutual understanding will serve the interests of the both the organization and the public.
Research Students, 1976
PR is a distinctive management function which helps to establish and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance and co-operation between an organization and its publics; involves management problems and issues; helps management to keep informed on and responsive to public opinion; defines and emphasizes the responsibility of management to serve the public interests; helps management to keep abreast of and effectively utilize change; serving as an early warning system to help, anticipate trends; and uses research as well as sound and ethical communication techniques as its principle tools.
IPR UK, 1994
PR is all about reputation- the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you.
So, in a nutshell, Public Relations activity is aimed at creating an understanding and between an organization and its publics through sound communication techniques. Publics- constitute internal (employees, management, stakeholders etc) and external (customers, media, general public at large). And publics precisely are our target audience as far as a PR activity is concerned.
It is not an easy task, because it is the management of communication. Traditionally Public Relations creates a favorable atmosphere in which an organization can function well. An effective or well thought out PR activity considers the following factors:
- Market changes
- Current tastes and trends
- Free flow of communication.
The following are the phases involved in a PR activity:
Fact finding:
It is the primary task of a PR professional. The company profile, history, past successes & failures, competitors, competitors’ strategy, stakeholders, the mindset of the local community, overall image- he/she should know all of it right from scratch. It may seem unnecessary, but when you are shelling out bucks, and there’s the reputation of the company at stake, then no amount of preparation is enough. It always helps to be prepared.
Planning:
Once the facts are collected and spread out on the table to be studied, it is time for planning. The plans include the means of the communication, the desired message, the activity, how it is going to be implemented, when and where. Planning is Q&A time, and you wouldn’t want to make mistakes here.
Execution:
The final blueprint is ready and it’s now time to put it into action. The key here is to avoid going overboard and sending out the right messages.
Evaluation:
If the plan is important, the evaluation is also important. Get the feedback and study the mistakes. All those negative comments are important as you’ll know what not to do in the future. So keep the results safe. If they are good, try to maintain them. If they are ok, try to better them and if they are bad- well, you might have to start figuring out what went wrong, right from square one!
The above is simply a basic idea about public relations. There’s more to it and it’s coming soon. Until next time, you just might want to know what the qualities of an ideal PR person are, according to Pfizer Ltd, Science for the world’s well being:
“A PR practitioner today is supposed to possess a broad academic record which includes a wide study of semantics, economics, history, sociology, philosophy, political science and law; great qualities of adjustability, elasticity of mind, the capacity to get along with people of different racial stocks, in environments very different from those in which they had been brought up, an intimate knowledge of human psychology, the vagaries of mass mind, an adaptability to comprehend the basic impulses, aspirations, the fears that move and unmoved human beings….”
And now, the icing on the cake..
“…All these are considered some of the essential qualities which a PR person must possess.”
Good luck to all aspiring PR professionals!
