!1!Intro To Public Relations (PUR 3000) Outline Ch. 1-7 Chapter One: “Defining Public Relations” 1) Definition a) “Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics” i) The combination of social media & public relations has revolutionized the way organizations and individuals communicate to their key constituent publics (1) The challenge within PR is to cut through the “clutter” to deliver an argument that is persuasive, believable, and actionable 2) Prominence of Public Relations a) The field of public relations has grown immeasurably within the 21st century i) Multibillion-dollar business, practiced by 320,000 professionals (1) “New media outlets will create more work for PR workers, increasing the number and kinds of avenues of communications” (2) 250 colleges/universities offer a PR degree program (3) US government has thousands of communication professionals, who keep the public informed of government activity (4) Largest PR firms are owned by media conglomerates Omnicom & Interpublic Group b) All elements of society (companies, non-profits, governments, religious institutions, sports teams) wrestle with competition, security concerns, popular opinion, and therefore are increasing PR to communicate their stories 3) What Is Public Relations? a) Strategic process, which focuses on helping achieve an organizations goals. Its fundamental mandate is “communications” and its focus is “building relationships.” [FROM CLASS NOTES:] i) PR is most effective when it’s based on ethical principles and proper action!2!(1) Without these two aspects, achieving influence is either transitory or impossible: “You can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time” 4) Planned Process to Influence Public Opinion a) RACE i) R: Research attitudes about the issue at hand ii) A: Identify action of the client in the public interest iii) C: Communicate that action to gain understanding, acceptance, and support iv) E: Evaluate the communication to see if opinion has been influenced b) The key to the process is action… you can’t have effective communication or positive publicity without proper action! Performance must precede publicity, act first and communicate later i) PR = performance recognition c) ROSIE i) Research ii) Objectives iii) Strategies iv) Implementation v) Evaluation (1) Proposed to encourage a more managerial approach to the field d) “PR must serve as an honest broker to management, unimpeded by any other group. Its advice to management must be unfiltered, uncensored, and unexpurgated. e) No amount of communications-regardless of its persuasive content-can save an organization whose performance is substandard 5) Public Relations as Management Interpreter a) Every organization has public relations, whether they want it or not. The trick is to establish good public relations i) PR professionals act as the organizations interpreters (1) They must interpret the philosophies, policies, programs, and practices of their management to the public (2) They must convey the attitudes of the public to their management 6) Public Relations as Public Interpreter a) Finding out what the public really thinks about the firm and letting management know b) History is filled with examples of powerful institutions and their PR departments failing to anticipate the true sentiments of the public i) Example: President Clinton “forgot” candid communication skills that earned him the white house and lied to the American public about his affair with an intern, which led to his impeachment and tarnished his administration and legacy!3!7) The Publics of Public Relations a) Practitioners must communicate with many different publics-not just the general public i) Technological change, particularly social media has brought greater interdependence to people and organizations ii) A “public” can be defined as when a group of people face a similar indeterminate situation, recognizes what is indeterminate and problematic in that situation, and organizes to do something about the problem (1) Within PR, more specifically, a public is a group of people with a stake in an issue, organization, or idea (a) Internal & External: (i) Internal are inside the organization: supervisors, clerks, managers, stockholders, board of directors (ii) External are those not directly connected with the organization: the press, government, educators, customers (b) Primary, secondary, and marginal (i) Primary publics can most help or hinder the organization. Members of the federal reserve board of governors who regulate banks would be primary public (ii) Secondary publics are less important, marginal publics are the least important of all (c) Traditional and Future (i) Traditional: employees and current customers (ii) Future: Students and potential customers (d) Proponents, opponents, and the uncommitted (i) Proponents are those who support it, opponents oppose it, and uncommitted have yet to make a decision (ii) Normally changing the opinion of skeptics calls for strong persuasive communication. Within politics the uncommitted public is crucial [FROM CLASS NOTES:]!4!8) The Functions of Public Relations a) There is a fundamental difference between PR and marketing/advertising i) Marketing promotes a product or service, PR promotes an entire organization ii) Functions associated with public relations work: (1) Writing – the fundamental public relations skill (speeches, brochures, etc.) (2) Media Relations – dealing with the press (3) Social Media Interface – websites, Facebook, Twitter, monitoring the web and responding to appropriate organizational challenges (4) Planning – special events, media events, management functions (5) Counseling – dealing with management and its interactions with key publics (6) Researching – attitudes and opinions that influence behavior/beliefs (7) Publicity – marketing related function, generating positive publicity (8) Marketing communications – promoting products, sales, creating marketing material (9) Community relations – positively putting forth the organizations messages within the community iii) Other functions (1) Consumer relations – interfacing with customers through written/verbal communication (2) Employee
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