Public relations is a staff function within s company which is concerned with the purposeful and ongoing attempt to establish a mutual understanding with all the stakeholders (both internal and external) of the organization.
Staff functions are differentiated from line functions. Staff functions are supportive functions. Examples of staff functions are public relations and human resources. Such functions directly support line functions. Read the rest of this entry »
The difference between the Internet and the Web
There is an important difference between the internet and the World Wide Web or the Web. Internet refers to the entire infrastructure which allows otherwise incompatible individual computers to communicate with each other, regardless of where they are located. Basically, the internet refers to all computers, telephone or cable lines and network cables that make it possible for any computer to mcommunicate with any other computer, as long as they are connected to Read the rest of this entry »
Examples of PR activities which require use of media
One such activity is sponsorship. Sponsorship refers to a situation when an organization supports a cause or event via contribution of some of its resources, which may include monetary and other resources. Examples of sponsorships include supporting sports events, charities and providing education grants.
Media, medium and channels
Media refers to the channels via which particular message of the public relations campaign reaches stakeholders. Medium makes it possible for the campaign to reach stakeholders through the use of one or more channels. It can refer to mass media or to individual. Channel refers to a tool which is used to carry information. A channel is a medium of communication.
PR and media
Media refers to the channels via which a message of the public relations campaign reaches stakeholders. Media is not only an important stakeholder for a business but also make it possible to communicate with all other stakeholders of the business.
Types of media
Media can be of two types, controlled or uncontrolled. Controlled media are usually paid media over which businesses have some control. An example of controlled media can be the annual report. Uncontrolled media is unpaid media over which organization does not have control. An example of uncontrolled media is a news release. Media representatives, such as editors of a newspaper, will have control in such situation regarding whether this information will be published and in which form it will be published.
Choosing the media
When choosing appropriate media, public relations practitioners should consider which media is accessible to targeted stakeholders and which media they prefer. Available budgets should also be considered.
Internal communication is directed at internal stakeholders. Internal stakeholders include employees, management and shareholders. Many firms consider employees and customers to be the two most important assets of the business.
The profit and growth of organization are mainly the result of customer loyalty. Customer loyalty is the result of customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is mainly a result of value provided to customers by the business. Satisfied employees and organizational alignment, which refers to situation when employees are aligned with and internalized the values and beliefs of organization, will deliver better value to customers. This will result in enhanced customer satisfaction and customer loyalty and greater growth and profit for the business.
Since internal communication is one of the important ways to ensure organizational alignment and employee satisfaction, internal communication is of crucial importance.
Philip Kotler, a well-known marketing expert, advises that in any organization with a service component, there are three types of marketing that occurs in the organization.
Internal marketing occurs between the organization and employees.
External marketing occurs between the organization and customers. It concerns design and implementation of the marketing mix.
Interactive marketing occurs between employees and customers. Its effectiveness depends on how well employees can meet customers’ needs.
External marketing cannot occur without internal marketing which refers to motivating and educating employees to be able to meet the needs of customers through interactive marketing. Therefore, for effective marketing, all three types of marketing should be undertaken efficiently.
Print publications can be used for internal communication and include newsletters, magazines, annual reports and bulletin boards. Internal communication media can also include audiovisual media such as power point presentations, videos and audio recordings of the messages.
The combination of different audiovisual media is often used. For example, a power point presentation made by the CEO of the organization may also include a number of video or audio messages. Along with a number of audiovisual media, such presentations are amongst the most used media for interpersonal communication. It is a form of interpersonal communication media.
Interpersonal communication media refers to communication which occurs face to face. For example, interpersonal communication media occurred in the previous example because the CEO was presenting to his team in a face to face format. Other examples of interpersonal communication media are staff meetings, interviews and training sessions.
Another example of interpersonal communication media is informal communication which is also called an organizational grapevine. An organizational grapevine refers to informal and unsupervised communication within the organization. It allows to rapidly disseminate information throughout the organization. Organizations need to use informal communication media to its advantage.
Mass media is generally considered to be an uncontrolled type of media. Mass media refers to media which targets a broad audience of various stakeholders and include, but not limited to, the broadcast media, which is television and radio and the press, which is the newspapers and magazines.
The press is a type of mass media and includes newspapers and magazines. The advantages of press over broadcast media include information being presented in greater depth. Further, when information is presented in the press, it is portable. Individuals can take newspapers or magazines with them and read it anywhere.
The press is also often passed from one individual to another. For example, if one likes certain articles in a magazine, he or she may bring this magazine to his or her friends and family to share it with them. Friends and family will likely take a look at the entire magazine and not only at the recommended article. Some individuals even cut out and keep articles or information that they find particularly interesting or useful.
However, the press also has certain disadvantages. The disadvantages include the fact that the management of the press usually prints what will sell and the information in the press may not be objective or may even be distorted. Moreover, the readership of the press may not be as big as claimed by the newspapers and magazines. Many individuals only read newspapers over morning coffee or on the way to work. Moreover, with newspapers now available online, many office workers read the headlines only online and read specific articles only if it is particularly relevant or interesting. Therefore, a lot of information in the newspapers and magazines gets ignored by a large proportion of the readership.
Broadcast media offers certain advantages over the press. It may reach a larger audience than the press. This is especially true as more and more people around the world gain access to this media. This media offers various sounds or combination of sounds and colors which enhances the message. It is also watched or listened to mostly at the leisure time. Therefore, on average, the messages communicated may enjoy higher attention of the target stakeholders. Moreover, if an organization targets illiterate stakeholders, than broadcast media is more relevant when compared to the press. When it comes to advertisements, with broadcast media, individuals are almost forced to listen to or to watch the advertisements. With the press, individuals have more control over which advertisements to take notice of and which to ignore.
Disadvantages of the broadcast media include that it is expensive and may be time consuming to arrange. Further, for messages to be absorbed by the stakeholders, it needs to be absorbed immediately as it is being broadcast.
Various exhibitions and shows are also a type of mass media. Their advantages over broadcast and the press media include the ability to engage in two way communications with the targeted stakeholders and therefore have better control over media and have better chance for creating a long-term relationship with the stakeholders.
Other types of media include folk media which refers to such media channels as puppet shows, gossip, music, community theatre, city or village celebrations such as festivals and family or community celebrations and events such as weddings or funerals.
There is also private media, which refers to media which an organization creates for its own consumption. An example of private media includes videos, literature and private exhibitions, such as factory tours, produced by an organization.
Lastly, there is of course a digital media, which can also be called a new media or technology driven media. New media channels include websites, blogs, video and audio podcasts, online forums and social networking websites.
Public Relations campaigns must be data driven. Data, data, data must guide your thinking and approach. Many, many public relations firms simply follow the crowd. They generate press releases, contact authors and so on. This will get a company’s name out in the market but will not build a brand. Below are three forms of collecting data:
Market research – is research with intent to find information on specific issues, problems or opportunities. It is conducted when a need arises and not on an ongoing basis.
Market intelligence – it is an ongoing process of obtaining relevant information about the business environment on a formal and informal basis. Formal market intelligence procedures occur when specific personnel are assigned to search for any relevant information on the business environment. Informal market intelligence procedures refer to ongoing scrutiny of newspapers, magazines, industry related publications, relevant books and any other external sources which may contain relevant information on the business environment.
Internal data – refers to data which is collected from internal reports of the organization. Internal reports may include billing reports, reports on inventory levels, at cetera.
The role of public relations in an organization
Public Relations is a supporting function of the organization that purposely channels the ongoing effort of building, maintaining and enhancing acceptance and support of an organization by relevant internal and external stakeholders. The objective is to establish, maintain and enhance a positive image of the organization. It seeks continuous feedback from stakeholders and responds to such feedback.
Public Relations is both a proactive and a reactive function. It is proactive whenthe function attempts to create and enhance organization’s reputation with the external stakeholders. It is reactive when function attempts to rectify any damage done to the image of the organization by an event or issue.
There were four major drivers which resulted in the increasing importance of public relations as a profession and as a function within organizations. One of the drivers was democratization throughout the world and the importance of communication in a democratic society. An evidence for democratization was the fall of the Berlin Wall and demolition of the USSR.
Another driver that led to the increasing importance of public relations as a profession and function within an organization is developments in communication technology which led to increasing transparency in the business world and increasing awareness of consumers and other stakeholders as well as level of their knowledge and power. Other drivers were increasingly larger organizations and growing conflicts and changes among various groups within society such as women’s rights movements and animal rights movements.
The role that the public relations function plays in organizations is not consistent. In some organizations public relations practitioners play a minor role and have no input into management decision making. In other organizations public relations practitioners play a more important role, have an input into management decision making and the head of the public relations function reports directly to the CEO of the organization. Public relations also often are sub functions of another function of the organization, such as marketing.
It is suggested in the literature on public relations that for public relations to play an important role in the organization, the organizational structure has to be established in a way where there is a strong fit between public relations and the organizational structure. In other words, the organizational structure needs to allocate an important role for public relations.
Marketing and Public Relations
Marketing is a functional area of management and refers to everything that is undertaken by an organization to market products and services.
Marketing and public relations functions are often confused. However, the two functions have different main objectives. Public relations function focuses on establishing good long-term relationships between organization and all internal and external stakeholders. It focuses on establishing a proper image and enhancing the company’s reputation. Marketing, on the other hand, focuses on acquiring customers and keeping them content. Therefore, public relations focus on all internal and external stakeholders of an organization and marketing focuses exclusively on customers of an organization.
Marketing and public relations functions often work very closely, especially in large organizations. Close collaboration of the two functions results in synergy benefits. For example, if the goal of the marketing department is the introduction of the new product to the market, the public relations department can work collaboratively with the marketing department by taking steps to obtain publicity with the help of press conferences and news releases. This way, the public relations department can arrange for a product to be announced by the media in a way other than advertisement. Publicity is usually perceived by stakeholders as more credible than advertisements.
Marketing is a line function and public relations is a staff function. Line functions refer to functions that perform primary activities which are necessary to achieve an organization’s objectives and which directly contribute to the bottom line, such as marketing and operations. Staff functions are those functions that support functions that perform primary activities. Examples of staff functions are public relations and human resources.
Overall, marketing focuses on selling organization’s products and services to customers and public relations focuses on selling the company itself to all internal and external stakeholders.
