Public relations battle is a marathon, not a sprint –Danny Ayalon 

Public relations

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | 2009 defines Public Relations as “the
professional maintenance of a favorable public image by a company or other organization or a
famous person.”

Many organizations are struggling with the fact that someone who is really good in new media
helps pull the brand or company they connect by virtue of their own name recognition.

However companies tend to be suspicious of PR professionals and agencies that, in their eyes,
spend time gaining publicity for themselves. They think it comes at a cost to clients -- they will
not get better results for the brand than those who focus on it exclusively, at the expense of
their own popularity.

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Nature of the Work

An organization's reputation, profitability, and its continued existence can depend on the
degree to which its targeted public supports its goals and policies. Public relations specialists—
also referred to as communications specialists and media specialists, among other titles—serve
as advocates for clients seeking to build and maintain positive relationships with the public.

Public relations specialists work in busy offices. The pressures of deadlines and tight work
schedules can be stressful.

Some public relations specialists work a standard 35- to 40-hour week, but overtime is
common, and work schedules can be irregular and are frequently interrupted. Occasionally,
they must be at the job or on call around the clock, especially if there is an emergency or crisis.
Schedules often have to be rearranged so workers can meet deadlines, deliver speeches, attend
meetings and community activities, and travel.

Public relations specialists handle organizational functions, such as media, community,

consumer, industry, and governmental relations. Furthermore, Public relations specialists draft
press releases and contact people in the media who might print or broadcast their material.
Public relations specialists also arrange and conduct programs to maintain contact between
organization representatives and the public. For example, public relations specialists set up
speaking engagements and prepare speeches for officials. These media specialists represent
employers at community projects; make film, slide, and other visual presentations for meetings
and school assemblies; and plan conventions.

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People who handle publicity for an individual or who direct public relations for a small
organization may deal with all aspects of the job. These public relations specialists contact
people, plan and research, and prepare materials for distribution. They also may handle
advertising or sales promotion work to support marketing efforts.

Some public relations specialists work a standard 35- to 40-hour week, but overtime is
common, and work schedules can be irregular and are frequently interrupted. Occasionally,
they must be at the job or on call around the clock, especially if there is an emergency or crisis.
Schedules often have to be rearranged so workers can meet deadlines, deliver speeches, attend
meetings and community activities, and travel.

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In any kind of human activity may it be in industry, commerce, education, health, local
government or social service, they need to understand and use public relations and
communication. Public relations involve two-way communication between an organization and
its public. It requires listening to the constituencies on which an organization depends as well as
analyzing and understanding the attitudes and behaviors of those audiences. Only then can an
organization undertake an effective public relations campaign.

Public relations should be seen as a management function in any organization. An effective

communication, or public relations, plan for an organization is developed to communicate to an
audience (whether internal or external publics) in such a way the message coincides
withorganizational goals and seeks to benefit mutual interests whenever possible.
Form of communication that is primarily directed to image building and that tends to deal with
issues rather than specifically with products or services. Public relations uses publicity that does
not necessitate payment in a wide variety of media and is often placed as news or items of
public interest.
It would be better to make a checklist to find out the exactly the organization wants and what
the PR person himself wants to achieve.

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These are the 7 points that a Good Public Relations Officer should know

1) Extent of PR function
To what extent the organizations use public relation? The PR function should be recognized as
central to good management and able to act as a unifying force within the organization and in
the way it’s itself. That way a schedule of activity can become campaign and a campaign can
become a programme.

2) Level of PR function
This depends on the nature of business or services being provided by the organization. The
point to think is corporations can be longer operating in an environment of confrontation. They
must have the acceptance of the government and the citizens. Moreover, in handling sensitive
issues,corporate management cannot do away with social, cultural, economic and political
ethos existing in the community.

3) Target public
‘How to handle the target public’ is a frequently raised question for PR person. It has been
acknowledged by the management that the PR person is a necessary link between the
management and the various publics (audience). Fortunate this trust has arisen out of the
services rendered by PR as a professional.

4) Maintaining goodwill
In the long run goodwill always pays. In the early days business and industry could function in
total secrecy without public scrutiny. In the present competitive society all sections of the
economy i.e. private or public are under constant public gaze. It is equally important to guard
the reputation once earned.

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5) Evaluation of work
PR person should always evaluate himself in his work environment. He should always appraise
his own competence, acknowledge potential weakness and thereafter seek expert advice. One
should be aware of and be sensitive to cultural environment or which one is working. While
improving his professional capability a public relation person has to recognize his organizations
responsibility

6) General areas of objectives

It is mainly known as which and what are the particular PR objectives do we tend to achieve. It
mainly consists of changes we want to bring about. Terms like market standing, innovation,
work performance and attitude and Public responsibilities are mainly comes in PR.

7) Communication skills
Managing the strategy and skills of communication are an integral part of business policy and
decision making. Ultimately, PR is involved in the management of organization behavior and
also of the public important to them. PR decides about the methods and media of
communication and when and how to use the target public.

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To do public relations well;

1. You need to have a critical mind -- to develop compelling content. You need to be able to
see fresh angles and points of view in a company, product, or service story so that benefits to
the reader come across in all their glory, without writing a sell sheet in a press release.

2. You need a whole set of new skills -- you need to understand the digital space a lot better,
how to integrate marketing communications, how you set up listening posts, how to measure
the results of your strategies, and be comfortable with new technologies.

3. You also need to learn how to manage your client's expectations – and hence deliver the
hard message of putting skin in the game, directly, or through you, with your results.

To be good at all of this, you will become emotionally vested in the outcome. It however will
bring about some challenges:

 You need to build your own brand to demonstrate expertise without creating
friction at work
 Online you need to toe the company line, and disclose when you're doing that
 You’re called to draw from your personality, along with your experience 
 You’re working at all hours and need to find ways to have a life
 You’re looking to create new trends and the industry is stuck in old ways