Public relations (PR) is the process of

maintaining a favorable image and building

beneficial relationships between an organization
and the public communities, groups, and people it
serves.

“Public relations is a strategic communication

process that builds mutually beneficial
relationships between organizations and their
publics.
• Building Product Awareness
When introducing a new product or
relaunching an existing product, marketers can
use a PR element that generates consumer
attention and awareness through media
placements and special events.
• Creating Interest
Whether a PR placement is a short product
article or is included with other products in
“round up” article, stories in the media can
help entice a targeted audience to try the
product. For example, around the holiday
season, a special holiday food may be
promoted with PR through promotional
releases sent to the food media or through
special events that sample the product.
• Providing Information
PR can be used to provide customers with
more in depth information about products and
services. Through articles, collateral materials,
newsletters and websites, PR delivers
 information to customers that can help them
gain understanding of the product.
• Stimulating Demand
A positive article in a newspaper, on a TV
news show or mentioned on the Internet, often
results in a discernible increase in product
sales.
• Reinforcing the Brand
In many companies the public relations function is
also involved with brand reinforcement by
maintaining positive relationships with key
audiences, and thereby aiding in building a strong
image. Today it is ever more important for
companies and brands to build a good image. A
strong image helps the company build its business
and it can help the company in times of crises as
well.
 EDITORIAL AND
MEDIA RELATIONS BROADCAST
MATERIAL

CONTROLLED FACE TO FACE

COMMUNICATIONS EVENTS

Media relations involve taking news to the editors,

taking editors to the news, creating relevant news
stories and managing the news. Building good
relationships with the media is obviously a benefit.
The personal contact with editors is covered in the
first two tasks above. The other two relate to the
need to produce a regular supply of news items as
part of the deliberate, planned and sustained
publicity effort.

Editorial and broadcast material is the ‘product’ of

public relations. It covers press conferences, news
releases, personal interviews, feature writing, case
histories, press visits and journalist briefings. News
releases and press conferences are the most
commonly used methods of gaining publicity, but
as you can see, there are many other techniques
which can be used –

a. Press Conferences:
A press conference is held in order to brief
members of the media about a major news event.
You might be familiar with these conferences
being used by a political figure, or maybe by the
police during an enquiry into a serious crime. The
technique is equally applicable to PR for a
company or product.
Editors and feature writers receive many
invitations to such events. The subject has to be
particularly interesting or topical.

The cider makers, H P Bulmer, used to own the

steam engine, King George V. They used
steamtrain runs as a location for press
conferences, and always found a willing audience.

b. News Releases:
A news release is an item circulated to the media
in the hope of getting it placed in a publication.
Editorial matter is seen and read by more people
than advertising in the same magazine or
newspaper. The contents of an article also gain
credibility by having the implied support of the
publication.

Whereas advertisements are seen for what they

are, editorial comment is often considered
objective and unbiased. The drawback of relying
on publicity is that the editors decide what will be
published and when it will appear. If a news
release is set out in a way that is unsuitable for the
publication, then it might be modified before
insertion.

This modification could change the balance and

meaning of the release. The release could, of
course, be rejected. Rejection is more likely with a
major publication which is inundated with releases.
Specialist journals, however, are often pleased to
receive items about product successes, new
contracts, innovations, export achievements or
people in the industry. In some cases the specialist
journals could be the best media to reach your
target.

News releases are a ‘one-way’ communication,

which do not give an opportunity for questions.
Press conferences do give an opportunity for
‘twoway’ exchanges but only with the media
editors, not with the eventual target audience.
They are often used to support a news release
where it is felt the story could be enhanced by
contact.

Controlled communications is the area of publicity

material for company use. It includes annual
reports, educational material, leaflets, audio-visual
presentations, and any material that could be
successfully placed to support organisational
objectives. This low-cost material is a luxury for
some organisations because of the time required
to plan and prepare it. The benefits are even more
difficult to measure than advertising or other main
media publicity. But such channels should not be
ignored. The less usual ways of reaching
consumers could prove effective just because they
offer a different approach.

These include other ways of reaching the chosen

audience direct. Conferences, exhibitions,
lectures, shopping centre events, demonstrations,
open days, public visits and many more are
examples of activities used to facilitate contact.

Exhibitions are an excellent way to present an

organisation to its customers. They can be
expensive, but can also be a simple, low-cost
‘shell’ construction. Whatever the cost, it is
important to ensure that an exhibition is as
effective as possible.

This means being proactive in inviting visitors to

your exhibition stand, rather than reactive, waiting
for visitors to appear. The role of PR, as well as
direct mail, in attracting visitors must not be
ignored. The cost of such an exercise is only a
small proportion of the cost of the exhibition as a
whole, and usually is money well spent.
 BASIS FOR ADVERTISING PUBLIC RELATIONS
COMPARISON

Meaning A technique of drawing Public Relations is a

public attention to
products or services,
mainly through paid
announcements, is called
Advertising.
Media Purchased
practice of strategic
communication that aims
at building mutually
beneficial relationship
between the company and
the public.
Earned

Communication One way Two way

Focuses on Promotion of product or Maintaining a positive

services, with an aim to image of the company in
induce the intended the media.
audience to buy.

Control The company has full The company can pitch the
control over the ad. story, but has no control over, how

METH
Placement
media uses or does not uses at all.

Guaranteed No guarantee
ODS
Published As long as you are willing Only once

OF to pay for.

PUBL
Credibility Less High

IC
RELA
TION
S
1. Sponsorship: The PR method of sponsorship of a
product, name, or cause is now big business with
huge sums of money involved, especially in motor
rally and sports sponsorship. There are both national
and international companies who deal exclusively in
sponsorship schemes and personalities. It is all very
costly and there is sometimes a limited choice of what
is available for your client to sponsor that makes
economic sense and will attract media and consumer
attention.

2. Films and videos:

Films are giving way now to videos as a PR method

of communicating, for videos are generally cheaper
and can be easily seen by many more people. Film
and video companies exist who will do the script,
production and distribution of such materials. A good
understanding of video making and its potential will
help you in your PR work.

3. Education as a public relations activity

Commercial enterprises, such as banks and food

manufacturers, may all have educational PR
programs, as do some non commercial organizations
such as the British Dental Association and the Health
Education Council. One major educationally based
public relations campaign mounted in recent years
was that for Information Technology Year on behalf of
the Government.

Some banks in the past have distributed banking

educational games devised for use in school to teach
young people about banking and the use of money.
The attachment of a particular bank's name to the
game generates goodwill from teachers and parents
today's customers and helps recognition of the bank
among students at an early age tomorrow's
customers. This benevolent commercialism does little
harm, but educationalists rightly want only that which
really serves their students' interests.

One campaign by a leading washing powder

manufacturer went into schools with an educational
program because it was an effective way of reaching
the mothers who were its prime target. An educational
lesson was devised involving each primary school
child with a colored card of a house. The child had to
take the card home and get different fabric cuttings
from her or his Mum. These were brought back to
school and curtains and rugs were cut out of the
fabrics for the house, each being labeled as to the
fiber, e.g. wool, cotton, silk, polyester, nylon. The
teacher then involved the class in discussions about
these fabrics and the fibres in them. This became an
excellent and creative lesson. One has only to think of
the remarkable story of growing, harvesting, and
weaving cotton with its social and industrial history to
realize the enormous learning potential of such a
project. The child involved the mother at home in the
project by hunting out scraps of fabric, discussing
what they were, and then bringing back home the
finished house. A teaching pack was sent separately
to the teacher for her use in this project. In this way
three different groups were used, each linking with
the other the teacher who is both an opinion former
and a consumer, the child who learns about the
manufacturer and may become a potential future
customer and who acts as a messenger to the mother
who is the manufacturer's prime commercial and
marketing target.

4. Financial public relations

This specialty has been the big growth area for PR in

recent years. You will need a degree or professional
qualifications, preferably law or accountancy, unless
you are already an established financial journalist or
parliamentarian. Your work will cover the following
main areas:

Maintaining the confidence of a company's

shareholders, investment analysts, and the media by
a regular flow of information on aims and
achievements. Dealing with special situations such as
takeovers and mergers, transferring from private to
public company. Stock exchange procedures and
regulations. International capital markets PR
strategies related to international quotations and fund
raising.

5. Financial public relations and the media

The financial media whether printed or broadcast, is

the life blood of the financial public relations
consultant. He must always be on the move with
those who influence, control and make the complex
world of finance go round, and this includes those in
the media concerned with money, investment, and
economics. Financial media normally has immediate
and easy access to any client. Top financial
journalists can make and break company reputations.
If you work in financial public relations you are not a
generalist you are a keen specialist for your work is
not, as you might suppose, just about money but
about investment, capital, tax, financial packages and
products, stocks, shares, bonds, management and
corporate reputations. There is a lot to learn about
financial media. Start now by reading the Financial
Times regularly.

6. Special interest public relations

The environment is a popular topic these days and

there are many special conservation groups all
around the country. These are just one kind of special
interest group. Perhaps a group dedicated to the
conservation of a particular kind of architecture has
started in your area. This group must put across its
views and gain popular support and understanding for
its campaign. Putting up posters and sending out
press releases is no longer really enough in the face
of so much publicity effort by so many special interest
groups these days. 
 Coca Cola: Share a Coke
Coca Cola is one of the most recognized brands in
the world, yet it continues to look for ways to bring
people together in an inclusive, accepting fashion.
The "Share a Coke" campaign customized bottles
and cans of Coke with 250 of the most common
Millennial names and terms such as "friend" or
"family." Consumers could go to the store and find
a Coke for themselves and one for a friend.
This clever campaign promoted not only inclusion,
but also created a desire in people to not exclude
themselves, making sure that they got a bottle with
their own name. This went viral with social media
posts proudly displaying people who were drinking
the personalized Coke with friends or family.
 Burger King's Proud
Whopper
Gender issues have been given an increased
amount of attention in the media and in public
awareness of gender issues. Burger King took a
controversial stance when it started the Proud
Whopper campaign. It took the Whopper, Burger
King's main product, and changed the wrapping to
a rainbow, in support of the Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning/Queer
(LGBTQ) community. As customers unwrapped
the burger, the inside of the wrapper simply stated,
"We are all the same on the inside."
Although controversial, this campaign became the
number one trending topic on several social media
platforms, and it got not only attention but also
support.
 :
Thus, it can be concluded that public relations
play a vital role in the growth and success of
the organization. Suitable area should be
selected and implemented for achieving good
public relations.