Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing the flow of information between an organization and its publics.1 PR aims to gain an organization or individual positive exposure to their key stakeholders, while downplaying any negative exposures. Common activities include speaking at conferences, winning industry awards, working with the press and employee communications.

Definition

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) claimed in 1988: "Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other."[Citation needed] According to the PRSA, the essential functions of public relations include research, planning, communications dialogue and evaluation.

Edward Louis Bernays, who is considered the founding father of modern public relations along with Ivy Lee, in the early 1900s defined public relations as a management function which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures and interests of an organization. . . followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance" (see history of public relations).

Today, "Public Relations is a set of management, supervisory, and technical functions that foster an organization's ability to strategically listen to, appreciate, and respond to those persons whose mutually beneficial relationships with the organization are necessary if it is to achieve its missions and values." (Robert L. Heath, Encyclopedia of Public Relations). Essentially it is a management function that focuses on two-way communication and fostering of mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its publics.

There is a school of public relations that holds that it is about relationship management. Phillips explored this concept in his paper. Towards relationship management: Public relations at the core of organisational development in 2006 which lists a range of academics and practitioners who support this view.

The Industry Today

The public relations industry is most prominently separated into two camps - in-house and agency. As industry consolidation becomes more prevalent5 organizations are more often faced with a choice between boutique firms or large global agencies. Smaller firms typically specialize in only a couple topic areas so they have a greater understanding of their client's business and stronger relationships with journalists in a specific market. They are also often cheaper and grant more attention to smaller clients. Larger firms have access to more resources and experts in certain areas of public relations.

Almost any organization that has a stake in how it is portrayed in the public arena employs some level of public relations. Most often one or more PR managers that work for the company works with a team of agency employees that work on several different accounts. Large organizations have larger dedicated teams for PR.

Public relations are an important management function in any organization. An effective public relations plan for an organization is developed to communicate a message that coincides with organizational goals and seeks to benefit mutual interests whenever possible.

A number of specialties exist within the field of private relations, such as Investor Relations or Labor Relations.

Methods, tools and tactics

Public relations and publicity are not synonymous but many PR campaigns include provisions for publicity. Publicity is the spreading of information to gain public awareness for a product, person, service, cause or organization, and can be seen as a result of effective PR planning.

Publics targeting

A fundamental technique used in public relations is to identify the target audience, and to tailor every message to appeal to that audience. It can be a general, nationwide or worldwide audience, but it is more often a segment of a population. Marketers often refer to

economy-driven "demographics," such as "white males 18-49," but in public relations and audience is more fluid, being whoever someone wants to reach. For example, recent political audiences include "soccer moms" and "NASCAR dads." There is also a psychographic grouping based on fitness level, eating preferences, "adrenaline junkies"etc...

In addition to audiences, there are usually stakeholders, literally people who have a "stake" in a given issue. All audiences are stakeholders (or presumptive stakeholders), but not all stakeholders are audiences. For example, a charity commissions a PR agency to create an advertising campaign to raise money to find a cure for a disease. The charity and the people with the disease are stakeholders, but the audience is anyone who is likely to donate money.

Sometimes the interests of differing audiences and stakeholders common to a PR effort necessitate the creation of several distinct but still complementary messages. This is not always easy to do, and sometimes – especially in politics – a spokesperson or client says something to one audience that angers another audience or group of stakeholders.

Lobby groups

Lobby groups are established to influence government policy, Corporate policy or public opinion. These groups claim to represent a particular interest. When a lobby group hides its true purpose and support base it is known as a front group.

Spin

In public relations, spin is sometimes pejorative term signifying a heavily biased portrayal in one's own favor of an event or situation. While traditional public relations may also rely on creative presentation of the facts, "spin" often, though not always, implies disingenuous, deceptive and/or highly manipulative tactics. Politicians are often accused of spin by commentators and political opponents, when they produce a counter argument or position. In the modern

world, most PR practitioners are discouraged to use spin because it is fundamentally counterproductive to the industry's ultimate goal of building relationships with constituents.

The techniques of "spin" include Selectively presenting facts and quotes that support one's position (cherry picking), the so-called "non-denial denial," Phrasing in a way that assumes unproven truths, euphemisms for drawing attention away from items considered distasteful, and ambiguity in public statements. Another spin technique involves careful choice of timing in the release of certain news so it can take advantage of prominent events in the news. A famous reference to this practice occurred when British Government press officer Jo Moore used the phrase It's now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury, (widely paraphrased ormi squoted as "It's a good day to bury bad news"), in an email sent on September 11, 2001. The furor caused when this email was reported in the press eventually caused her to resign.

Spin doctor

Skilled practitioners of spin are sometimes called "spin doctors", though probably not to their faces unless it is said facetiously. It is the PR equivalent of calling a writer a "hack". Perhaps the most well- known person in the UK often described as a "spin doctor" is Ala stair Campbell, who was involved with Tony Blair's public relations between 1994 and 2003, and also played a controversial role as press relations officer to the British and Irish Lions rugby union side during their 2005 tour of New Zealand.

State-run media in many countries also engage in spin by selectively allowing news stories that are favorable to the government while censoring anything that could be considered critical. They may also use propaganda to indoctrinate or actively influence citizens' opinions.

Meet and Greet

Many businesses and organizations will use a Meet and Greet as a method of introducing two or more parties to each other in a comfortable setting. These will generally involve some sort of

incentive, usually food catered from restaurants, to encourage employees or members to participate.

There are opposing schools of thought as to how the specific mechanics of a Meet and Greet operate. The Gardiner school of thought states that unless specified as an informal event, all parties should arrive promptly at the time at which the event is schedule to start. The Kolanowski school of thought, however, states that parties may arrive at any time after the event begins, in order to provide a more relaxed interaction environment.

• Publicity events,p seudo-events, photo ops or publicity stunts

• The talk show circuit. A PR spokesperson (or his/her client) "does the circuit" by being interviewed on television and radio talk shows with audiences that the client wishes to reach.

• Books and other writings

• After a PR practitioner has been working in the field for a while, he or she accumulates a list of contacts in the media and elsewhere in the public affairs sphere. This "Rolodex" becomes a prized asset, and job announcements sometimes even ask for candidates with an existing Rolodex, especially those in the media relations area of PR.

• Direct communication (carrying messages directly to constituents, rather than through the mass media) with, e.g., newsletters – in print and e-letters.

• Collateral literature, traditionally in print and now predominantly as web sites.

• Speeches to constituent groups and professional organizations; receptions; seminars, and other events; personal appearances.

• The slang term for a PR practitioner or publicist is a "flak" (sometimes spelled "flack").

Politics and civil society

Defining the opponent

A tactic used in political campaigns is known as "defining one's opponent". Opponents can be candidates, organizations and other groups of people.

In the 2004 US presidential campaign, George W. Bush definedJohn Kerry as a "flip-flopper," among other characterizations, which were widely reported and repeated by the media, particularly the conservative media. Similarly, George H.W. Bush characterized Michael Dukakis as weak on crime (the Willie Horton ad) and as hopelessly liberal ("a card-carrying member of theAC LU"). In 1996, President Bill Clinton seized upon opponent Bob Dole's promise to take America back to a simpler time, promising in contrast to "build a bridge to the 21st century." This painted Dole as a person who was somehow opposed to progress.

In the debate over abortion, self-titled pro- choice groups, by virtue of their name, defined their opponents as "anti-choice", while self-titled pro-life groups refer to their opponents as "pro-abortion" or "anti-life".

Managing language

If a politician or organization can use an apt phrase in relation to an issue, such as in interviews or news releases, the news media will often repeat it verbatim, without questioning the aptness of the phrase. This perpetuates both the message and whatever preconceptions might underlie it. Often, something innocuous sounding can stand in for something greater; a "culture of life" sounds like general goodwill to most people, but will evoke opposition to abortion for many pro-life advocates. The phrase "States' rights" was used as a code for anti-civil rights legislation in the United States in the 1960s, and, allegedly, the 70s, and 80s.

Front groups

Many of the techniques used by PR firms are drawn from the institutions and practices of democracy itself.[citation needed] Persuasion, advocacy, and education are instruments through which individuals and organizations are entitled to express themselves in a free society, and many public relations practitioners are engaged in practices that are widely considered as beneficial, such as publicizing scientific research, promoting charities, raising awareness of public health concerns and other issues in civil society.

One of the most controversial practices in public relations is the use of front groups—organizations that purport to serve a public cause while actually serving the interests of a client whose sponsorship may be obscured or concealed. The creation of front groups is an example of what PR practitioners sometimes term the third party technique— the art of "putting your words in someone else's mouth." PR Watch, a non-profit organization that monitors PR activities it considers to be deceptive, has published numerous examples of this technique in practice. Critics of the public relations industry, such as PR Watch, have contended that Public Relations involves a "multi-billion dollar propaganda-for-hire industry" that "concoct and spin[s] the news, organize phoney 'grassroots' front groups, sp[ies] on citizens, and conspire with lobbyists and politicians to thwart democracy.

Instances of the use of front groups as a PR technique have been documented in many industries. Coal mining corporations have created environmental groups that contend that increased CO2 emissions and global warming will contribute to plant growth and will be beneficial, trade groups for bars have created and funded citizens' groups to attack anti-alcohol groups, tobacco companies have created and funded citizens' groups to advocate for tort reform and to attack personal injury lawyers, while trial lawyers have created "consumer advocacy" front groups to oppose tort reform.

Public Relation is a management function that involves monitoring and evaluating public attitudes and maintaining mutual relations and understanding between an organization and its public. Public could

include shareholders, government, consumers, employees and the media. It is the act of getting along with people we constantly come in touch with. PROs ensure internal cohesion in the company by maintaining a clear communications network between the management and employees. Its first objective is to improve channels of communication and to establish new ways of setting up a two-way flow of information and understanding.

Public relations as a separate career option has came into existence when lots of private or government companies and institution felt the need to market their product, service and facilities. Public image is important to all organizations and prominent personalities. The role of public relation specialist becomes pertinent in crisis situations when the correct and timely transmission of information can help save the face of the organization.

Public relations describes the relationship an organization has with its various publics: clients, employees, community, stakeholders, suppliers, distributors and the media that transmit messages to some or all of these groups.

Communication with these diverse audiences requires not only specialist skills but also in-depth knowledge of their needs and expectations.

The question then isn’t, “do you need public relations?” because like family relations, you’ve already got them.

Thereal question is; how to best manage these relationships? That's where Heusler's team of marketing consultants can help.

The functions of Public Relations (PR) can be grouped into two loose categories: organizational and societal. Many viewpoints of the functions fall into both categories and are not mutually limited. The scope of organizational functions of PR involves actions concerning the company, and societal functions of PR interests' activities regarding society. Organizational functions of PR are activities that interact with or affect organizations while societal functions of PR have to do with actions that connect to the public. Communications management, media, government affairs, publicity, investor relations,

community relations, consumer relations, and employee relations are organizational functions while marketing communications, consumer relations, public affairs and issues management plus social responsibility are societal functions. An industry must develop a positive he public relations function

Public relations programmers encompass both marketing and corporate dimensions:

Marketing public relations is used in conventional marketing situations to influence customers. As such, it forms part of the marketing communications mix which also encompasses advertising, direct response, sales promotion and personal selling.

The principal decision to be made when formulating a marketing communication plan lies between a push strategy and a pull strategy, or more likely the combination of the two.

• Push strategy: involves directing effort at intermediaries so that they are motivated to direct their promotional effort at customers, thereby pushing the product down the distribution channel.

• Pull strategy: involves aiming promotional activities at end users so that they demand the product from intermediaries, thereby pulling the product down the distribution channel.

Corporate public relations is used to influence customer and non- customers publics and is particularly relevant in a marketing context when these publics have to be influenced in order to gain market entry. An example of this is a pass strategy which has become increasingly important as public and media attention focus not only on an organisation’s products and services, but also its response to critical issues facing society at large:

• Pass strategy: applies when there is a need to enter markets blocked or protected by parties other than end users; examples include government, pressure groups, and other opinion formers, as well as employees

In reality most marketing communications campaigns use a mixture of both push and pull, although emphasis might be placed on one strategy or the other. Frequently corporate public relations will be employed in parallel to implement a pass strategy to address markets where access is constrained either by non- customers target audiences or non-product related issues. Examples might include a lobbying campaign to amend the regulatory climate or an educational programme to overcome concerns over the introduction of new technology.

HOW DOES PUBLIC RELATIONS DIFFER FROMMARKETING?

Public Relations is a unique management function that adds value to an organization by helping it to manage its reputation. It is the art of building beneficial relationships between an organization and the public – community, employees, investors, media, government, customers, etc.

Marketing is the management function responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer demands profitably. It is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals.

PR builds relationships and creates goodwill for an organization, whereas Marketing is concerned with customers and selling products and services.

Public Relations immediate goal is mutual understanding of the organization with its public, on the other hand, marketing’s immediate goal is sales.

PR communicates with the public of an organization, whereas marketing communicates with the markets of an organization. Public Relation’s implicit goal is positive perceptions whereas marketing’s implicit goal is profit.

Public Relation’s measure of success is expressed public opinion or other evidence of public support. Marketing’s measure of success is the number of sales or the revenue it generates.

Public Relations promote the entire organization whereas marketing traditionally promotes products and services.

Marketing is about changing behaviour, while public relations are about keeping or changing reputations. Both these aims work well together. Changing behaviour is a lot easier if you have a reputation thats consistent with that particular behaviour – it can be said that reputation is a pre-requisite for marketing.

Similarly, what is done to change the organizations behaviour does a lot to influence the reputation, even though that may not be the aim of the marketing activity itself.

Thus, in simple words, it can be said that marketing is concerned with the direct sale of products or services and the development of markets, while Public Relations is concerned with the public perception (image) of those products or services, or of the outfit creating them.