Part (b): Influencing public opinion.

Public Relations (PR) is as old as the human race itself and serves as a platform on which
intricate relationships are built. It is important to note that the opinion of the public towards the
company generates goodwill and that is any corporation’s greatest asset. According to Cutlip,
Center and Broom (2006); they define public relations as, “the management function that
identifies, establishes and maintains fully, the mutual beneficial relationships between an
organisation and the various publics on whom its success or failure depends…”
The starting point is the conceptualisation and development of sound policies that are in the
interest of such publics in order to gain public understanding as well as approval (influencing
the public). So how does public relations achieve this? This can be achieved by the adoption
of Marston’s R-A-C-E objectives.

Research

influencing the
Evaluation Action
public opinion

Communication

Public relations facilitates researching and conducting evaluation on a continual basis, the
programmes of action in order to achieve informed public understanding and coherence
necessary achieve organisational goals.
1. Research: background checks on the target audience
2. Action: the development and conceptualisation of public relations policies that are
designed towards the target audience
3. Communication: the deliverable aspect of the public engagement i.e. the message
4. Evaluation: Post-mortem of the PR campaign.
Marston’s R-A-C-E objectives were extended to cater for managerial approach and was varied
as R-O-S-I-E
In this way, public relations can influence the publics by using
 Corporate communications (goal oriented communications)
 Publicity
 Media relations
 Research

Evaluate Objectives

Implement strategize

Public Relations is viewed as being responsible for planning and implementing the
organisation’s effort to change public policy. Some scholars even suggest R-P-I-E with
emphasis on the planning aspect as being the core part of Public Relations.