UNIVERSITY OF MINES AND TECHNOLOGY, TARKWA CAMPUS

FACULTY OF INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION

INTRODUCTION TO
PUBLIC
RELATIONS

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 Course Contents
1. Lecture One – Public Relations Defined
2. Lecture Two – The Foundational Principles of PR
3. Lecture Three – The RACE Process
4. Lecture Four - Types of Organizational Images
5. Lecture Five – Persuasion
6. Lecture Six – Finding and Generating News
7. Lecture Seven – Public Relations in Developing
Countries
8. Lecture Eight – PR Trends

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 LECTURE 1 - PUBLIC RELATIONS DEFINED
This course provides an overview of the public relations profession. It describes the
profession’s history and evolution, the four-step public relations process, strategies and
tactics, ethical challenges, and the foundational principles followed by public relations
professionals.

In this first lecture, we attempt to define what public relations is and trace the evolution
of the profession from its beginnings to the present. The idea of public relations has been
around as long as people have sought to persuade other people to get them to do
something, not do something, or keep on doing something. But public relations became a
formal profession in America roughly between the late 1800s and early 1900s. In the
1800s, public relations techniques were used to encourage settlement in the American
West. Railroad companies – laying down new tracks across America – employed former
journalists to create flyers and pamphlets describing the vast opportunities in the
American frontier. And many believe the railroad companies first used the term “public
relations.” While railroad companies were promoting westward expansion, the very first
celebrity “press agents” were promoting clients such as Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, and
Davy Crockett.

In public relations history, the late 1800s were known as the Age of the Press Agent. The
characteristic feature of the age was hype – or exaggeration. Press agents were concerned
more about creating legends and selling tickets to shows than truthful portrayals of their
clients. The man who is credited for moving the public relations profession to its next age
was Ivy Lee. In 1906, he published his “Declaration of Principles” which advocated
truthfulness and openness and thereby ushered PR into the Public Information Age. The
main difference with this new age was the emphasis on the accuracy and honesty of the
information issued by public relations people. Ivy believed the best way to practice
“public relations” was to ensure the public had truthful information.

During this time, as the public increasingly found its “voice,” corporations began to be
concerned with public opinion. Only 20 years earlier had the railroad tycoon uttered his

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famous words: “Let the public be damned!” Things had changed. Business executives
began to realize that an angry public could make doing business much more difficult, if
not impossible. That’s why many companies began to employ public relations
professionals whose job was to keep the public informed. The goal was to provide
accurate information to an organization’s stakeholders (anybody or institution that could
be affected by the organization’s business). The first big test for this newfound profession
was persuading the American people to enter World War I.

To do so, President Woodrow Wilson established Committee on Public Information (also

known as the Creel Committee) in 1917. The committee’s most famous member was
Edward L. Bernays, known as the father of modern public relations. The committee’s
success persuaded Bernays to open a public relations agency after the war to apply the
committee’s techniques to commercial interests. Major corporations such as General
Electric, Proctor & Gamble, CBS, and the American Tobacco Company hired Bernays to
conduct a wide variety of public relations activities. In 1923 Bernays published his
landmark book, Crystallizing Public Opinion, and established the profession’s theoretical
foundations. Using theories first introduced by his uncle, Sigmund Freud, Bernays wrote
about how to move people to do what you want them to do. By doing so, he transitioned
the public relations profession into its third major age: scientific persuasion (and the two-
way asymmetric model). Using the tools of social science and psychology, Bernays
showed his clients how to tap into their audience’s deepest needs and wants.

The scientific persuasion age of public relations lasted for about 30 to 40 years until the
1950s and 60s when activism (i.e., public protests about perceived corporate power and
greed) necessitated a shift toward relationship building. When public relations
practitioners saw their primary role as identifying, building, and sustaining relationships
between an organization and its stakeholders, the nature of the profession changed. Now,
instead of emphasizing one-way communication, organizations began to place increasing
importance on two-way communication.

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Furthermore, if these relationships were to be sustained, they had to be mutually
beneficial – where both organizations and their stakeholders benefitted. When
relationships became the primary focus of public relations activities, spin (i.e.,
intentionally making something appear better than it is) became counterproductive to
long-term public relations goals. And that’s because spin destroys the most important
ingredient for a vital, healthy relationship: trust. Spin can take many forms. At one end of
the spectrum is lying, either by commission (saying it directly) or omission (intentionally
withholding important information). At the other end of the spectrum is an exaggeration –
making a product or service appear better than it is. Whether it’s lying or exaggeration –
or something in between – spin destroys trust and undermines an organization’s attempt
to build valuable relationships. It should be noted that the shift to relationship-building
does not negate the profession’s emphasis on persuasion. Public relations professionals
spend a great deal of time persuading an organization’s many stakeholders that the
organization is worthy of being in a relationship together. That is achieved by
demonstrating that the organization is being responsive to stakeholder needs. That means
adjusting policies, positions, and products to fit stakeholder needs. Public relations
professionals have always realized the importance of influence with senior management.

Beginning roughly in the 1970s, public relations professionals began to increasingly

identify themselves as “business people first, and communicators second.” As a result,
public relations became more concerned with establishing measurable objectives aligned
with organizational goals, and demonstrating a tangible ROI (return on investment). After
all, if businesses were going to allocate resources to public relations activities, they
deserved to know what kind of “return” they could expect. Did the public relations
activities boost the organization’s reputation? If yes, how? Did it increase sales? How
would you know? The need to “demonstrate results” has led to a variety of innovations in
public relations measurement – most notably in social media – where organizations are
still assessing the value of engagement. The emphasis on business strategy ushered more

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public relations professionals into senior management where PR input could be made
before policy formation or product creation.

As a result, public relations became more effective because PR activities became more
proactive and less reactive. With proactive public relations, organizations can plan and
execute strategies and tactics on their timeline – rather than having to react to a PR
problem. It is in these reactive situations that organizations will be most tempted to spin –
to make things look better than they are. While it is impossible to avoid reactive public
relations entirely, many PR problems can be prevented through proper proactive
planning. At the beginning of the profession in the early 20th century, public relations
were narrowly focused on media relations/publicity. Consequently, most practitioners
were former journalists who understood news and how to craft an effective media story.
Today, however, public relations is much broader. In addition to media relations, public
relations practitioners work in the following areas: employee relations, investor relations,
community relations, public affairs, lobbying, and social media, among other areas. As
the scope of the profession has expanded, so has the skill set practitioners need to be
successful. Writing continues to be the core skill public relations practitioners need to
possess. But employers are also looking for research skills, good interpersonal
communication, media, and cultural literacy, critical thinking skills, and business
knowledge (i.e., what makes businesses more effective). Today, the trend is combining
advertising, marketing, and public relations into integrated marketing communications
(IMC) or strategic communications. Under these integrated models, public relations work
much more closely with advertising and marketing to achieve consistent
messages/strategies and realize cost efficiencies. Today, public relations is practiced
worldwide. Some of the profession’s fastest growth is overseas – especially in developing
countries and emerging markets. In any place or situation where, public support is key to
an organization’s success, public relations will be valued.

Some Definitions of Public Relations

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Some dictionaries have misleading definitions of public relations of which one of the
silliest is the following from the New Collins Concise Dictionary of the English
Language: ‘the practice of creating, promoting, or maintaining goodwill and a favorable
image among the public towards an institution, public body, etc.

Even people who practice public relations do not agree on one simple definition of public
relations. Each practitioner has a slightly different definition, depending on his or her
particular public relations experience. That experience is affected by the social, political,
and economic environment. Consequently, the demands on writers have different
emphases. However, definitions have been composed that express the meaning of public
relations to the satisfaction of most practitioners and professionals worldwide or globally.
The four most acceptable definitions are discussed below.

The (British) Institute (IPR) of Public Relations.

The IPR defines it as ‘public relations as the planned and sustained effort to establish and
maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its publics.

Analysis

The word ‘planned’ means it is significant that PR is not seen as something haphazard but
an organized program, which means that like the marketing mix, a factory production
program, or a campaign, it must be planned. Again, something planned is consciously or
deliberately done and seeks to achieve an objective. Therefore, the IPR definition makes
PR a tangible activity. ‘Sustained’ means it should be a continuous activity but not ad
hoc.

The definitions state that the objective of PR is publics’, ‘establish and maintain mutual
understanding between the organization and its publics’ that is, to ensure that the
organization is understood by its publics.

The public of PR is pluralized ‘publics’ because it involves a wide range of people.

Frank Jefkin’s Definition of Public Relations

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Jefking extends the IPR definition a stage further, ‘Public relations consists of all planned
communications, outwards and inwards, between an organization and its publics to
achieve specific objective concerning mutual understanding.’

Analysis

Jefkin develops the IPR’s ‘planned and sustained effort’ more purposely, the effort in the
IPR definition is clearly defined to involve communication problems.

With the expression, achieving specific objectives, Jerkin reinforces the justification of
the claim made by IPR that PR is tangible. If at the planning stage, objectives are set
whether qualitative or quantitative, the results are capable of being assessed.

Either those objectives are achieved or they are not, and the degree of success or failure
can be assessed. If the objective is to increase awareness of a company, a product, or a
service, or convert one of the negatives the of transfer process, opinion surveys carried
out before and after the PR campaign can measure the degree to which awareness has has
or not increased.

The Mexican Statement (1978)

The Mexican Statement which resulted from an international conference in Mexico City
in 1978, with representatives of national PR institutes extends the explanation of PR in
many directions:

‘Public relations practice is the art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their
consequences, counseling organization leaders, and implementing planned programs of
action which will serve both the organizations and the public interest’.

Analysis

An analysis of the Mexican Statement demonstrates the range of modern public relations
practices.

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‘Analyzing trends’ means we borrow from marketing the technique of marketing research
which may adopt opinion polls, and image studies to observe what is going on. This
research is the preliminary step in planning the program.

Next the discovered ‘trends’ (which may be at variance with what management believes
to be the situation (mirror image’ have to be analyzed to ‘predict their consequences’.

With the above knowledge, the in-house PRO or the PR Consultant can ‘counsel
organizational leaders. Advising management is a practical, professional responsibility of
the PRO.

‘Implementing a planned program of action’ coincides with the IPR definition quoted
earlier. The emphasis is on planning. Public relations will not work if it is haphazard.

Rex Harlow’s Distillation of 472 Definitions Reached in 1976

‘Public relations is the distinctive management function that helps establish and maintain
mutual lines of communication, acceptance, and cooperation between an organization and
its publics; involves the management of problems or issues; defines and emphasizes the
responsibility of management to serve the public interest; helps management keep abreast
of and effectively utilize change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate
trends; and uses research and sound and ethical communication techniques its principal
tools.’

Analysis

Harlow’s cumbersome definition tells us what public relations is and what public
relations practitioners do.

‘Distinctive management function’ gives an idea that the increasing professionalization of

public relations has led to its being taken more seriously at the highest levels in
organizations, where a public relations strategy is discussed and developed at the board
level alongside issues like productions, product development, acquisitions s and
personnel policy.

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Harlow’s definition also captures the concept of serving the public interest and behaving
ethically. According to David Finn, when functioning well, PR acts as the anvil against
which management’s moral problems can be hammered.

The Two-Street of Public Relations

The last part of the Mexican City definitions of PR speaks of serving ‘both the
organizations’ and the public’s interest. Barney confirms this when he says;

Public relations is not a one-way street in which leadership manipulates the public and
public opinion. It is a two-way street in which leadership and the public find integration
with each and in which objectives and goals are predicated on a coincidence of public
and private interest.’

Questions for Discussion

1. How would you define public relations?

2. What are the four public relations models?

3. What model is practiced today?

4. Who is Edward Bernays, and how is he significant to the public relations profession?

5. What is spin, and why is it counterproductive to long-term public relations goals?

6. What is the difference between “reactive” and “proactive” PR? And which is more
effective?

7. What are “stakeholders,” and why are they important in public relations?

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 LECTURE 2
10 FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES OF PR
The public relations industry has evolved greatly since it first began in the early 1900s. It
has dramatically changed even in the last decade with the introduction and expansive
growth of social media. The purpose of this lecture is to explore 10 public relations
principles that should remain true regardless of how the media landscape changes in the
next 10 to 20 years. These are principles that have proved to be true over and over again
in the public relations industry and are adhered to by PR professionals all over the world.
These principles are based on the idea that the purpose of public relations is to “identify,
establish, and maintain mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its
various publics” – a classic definition of the profession developed by Cutlip, Center, and
Broom. All of the following principles are designed to achieve that objective.

Principle #1 – Organizations exist only by public consent.

This is one of the oldest principles in the public relations profession. The word “consent”
here means “agreement” or “permission.” But in what way does the public give its
“consent” for an organization to exist? If the organization is a “for-profit” company, its
existence rests upon whether the public buys its product or services. Without this
consumer public, that organization would not exist. If it’s a “not-for-profit” organization,
its existence is dependent upon people giving their time (volunteering) or money
(donations). Without these things, this organization would not exist. More broadly,
though, an organization’s existence is dependent on a wide variety of publics – many of
whom will never buy the product or donate money. That’s because organizations have
many publics that more or less have a stake in what the organization does. These people
or groups or associations are called stakeholders because in some way they can either
influence or are influenced by the organization’s business. These stakeholders include the

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consumers of the product, but they also include employees, government, media, financial
institutions, and neighbors in the community where the organization conducts its
business. All of these stakeholders can either help or hinder your organization’s mission.
The function of public relations is to manage the relationships between these stakeholders
and the organization.

Principle #2- Mutually beneficial relationships require two-way communication.

As we saw in the previous lecture, the public relations profession has evolved from one-
way communication to two-way communication. With the possible exception of the
government, which practices the public information model, most PR professionals
practice two-way communication. What this simply means is that in addition to sending
messages to the public, organizations receive them as well. Today, organizations must
listen to their stakeholders/public – especially given the prevalence of social media. There
needs to be a dialogue, not a monologue. Additionally, organizations must demonstrate
they have heard their publics by adjusting policies and products to their publics’ needs
and wants – as much as possible. If the goal is to build and sustain mutually beneficial
relationships between an organization and its various publics, two-way symmetric
(balanced) communication must be practiced.

Principle #3 – It’s not our job to put a clean shirt on a dirty body.

Many people believe this is the fundamental job of a public relations practitioner – to
make something appear better than it is. Using hype, manipulation, distraction – and
maybe outright lies – the practitioner uses “spin” to put a good face on someone or
something that is essentially not good. While spin may work – and many amateur PR
hacks still do it – it is counter-productive to long-term public relations goals. If our job is
to build and sustain relationships, spin destroys the most important ingredient to a healthy
relationship: trust. Once that trust is lost, it is very difficult to regain it. And, at that point,
the relationship is in jeopardy. If your public has a choice whether to be in a relationship
with you or not (e.g., there are comparable products or services on the market), it may

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decide to severe the relationship. Even if that public decides to stick with you, the lack of
trust will cost you. In their book titled The Speed of Trust, Stephen Covey and Rebecca
Merrill argue that trust is fast. In other words, when you are in a trusting business
relationship, you don’t have to spend a great deal of time parsing out every bit of
communication between you and your public. (Read the quote on slide). Trust in business
– as with all of life – is a valuable asset. Public relations practitioners can help
organizations make better products, policies, and services, and communicate more
effectively with all of their publics. They can ensure that their publics is “heard,” and that
everything the organization does – as far as possible – is in the publics’ best interest.

Principle #4 – Act, then communicate.

The key idea here is that you cannot talk your way out of something you behaved your
way into. Americans have a saying: “Talk is cheap.” Public relations practitioners have a
reputation for talking; the publics needs to see action. If your product is defective…) One
company that clearly understands this principle is JetBlue. In 2007, JetBlue had its first
major public relations crisis. The airline was established in 2000, and for five years
enjoyed some of the best reviews from airline passengers. Then, on Valentine’s Day
2007, the airline showed its lack of experience by not effectively handling a snow-and-ice
storm in New York. Some passengers had to sit in grounded planes for more than 10
hours! But, under the leadership of CEO David Neeleman, the company acted quickly
and then communicated. First, Neeleman didn’t shift the blame and took full
responsibility for Jet Blue’s failure. He then apologized to the passengers who were
involved and the many other loyal passengers who were disappointed by the airline’s
mishandling of the situation. Finally, and importantly, Neeleman discussed the changes
that would be immediately made to ensure the problem did not happen again. (Read the
“What did the company do?”

Principle #5 – Clarity is more important than cleverness.

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Clear communication is difficult. Don’t lose your message by trying to be clever. If your
goal is to build relationships, then clear communication is essential. There is a lot of
focus today on the channels of communication – from the changing digital landscape
(e.g., media convergence) to the ever-expanding social media toolbox. Selecting the right
channel to reach your audiences is critical. The wrong channel ensures that your message
will not be delivered. But using the right channel does not necessarily mean
communication will take place; it only means the message was received. For a message
to be acted upon, it needs to gain the attention of the audience, be understood, and
address the audience’s needs and wants.

Principle #6 – Activity does not equal results.

There is a difference between production and outcome, between activities and results.
Your clients or bosses will expect that your public relations strategies and tactics will
“move the needle.” In other words, something has to happen as a result of your public
relations efforts. The public relations situation needs to change. More than ever before,
organizations are seeking – even demanding – and tangible ROI (return on investment).
They want to know if they spend money and resources on public relations that will yield
a return in the form of better stakeholder relationships, less opposition, stronger support,
improved reputation, positive attitudes, greater cooperation, and more customers buying
the product or using the service. Because there is more client demand to demonstrate
results, measurement tools are becoming increasingly sophisticated. It is no longer
sufficient to simply count press clippings. Clients want to know the quality of those
clippings. Are they positive or negative? How many of the organization’s key messages
were included in the stories? Who read the stories? Ultimately, organizations want
behavioral results: winning an election, increasing product sales, and sold-out attendance
at an event. The more public relations professionals can demonstrate real results – that are
tied directly to the organization’s goals – the more valuable they become.

Principle #7 – Never refuse an opportunity to tell your side of the story.

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This is one of the most common public relations errors. If you don’t tell your side of the
story, someone else will: a former (angry) employee, competitor, victim, or sour
neighbor. If the media is doing a story, they need a quote. Let it be from you, and not
from these people. When the news is bad, many organizations refuse to talk to the media.
Instead, they say, “No comment.” To the public, however, “no comment” means “we’re
guilty.” It also means “we’re uncooperative.” By telling your side of the story (especially
in a bad situation), the public relations professional can help “frame” the story in the best
possible light – without, of course, making a bad situation look better than it is (i.e., spin).
But, the fact is, there are usually multiple “frames” that can be legitimately applied to the
same situation. The media usually will pick the most dramatic frame because it makes for
a better story. Your job as the PR professional is to make sure the frame is fair and
accurate – and also to suggest another frame, if necessary, that more accurately reflects
the reality of the situation. All of this requires that the organization cooperates and works
with the media to help them get a story. Understanding a journalist’s job – from what they
need to when they need it – is fundamental to establishing constructive media
relationships.

Principle #8 – Manage expectations.

The key to fostering healthy relationships with all stakeholders is managing expectations.
For example, if a company exaggerates product claims, consumers will be disappointed
when the product falls short. Likewise, when PR practitioners hype (exaggerate) an
event, attendees will be upset when the reality doesn’t match the rhetoric. The same is
true about pitching a story to the media. Journalists will stop using you as a news source
if you consistently offer “fluff” stories with little or exaggerated substance. This principle
is also true, by the way, in maintaining positive relationships between PR practitioners
and their clients. Your clients (and bosses) need to know what public relations can do, and
what it cannot do. For example, if an organization has a negative reputation in the eyes of
its publics, PR professionals cannot change a negative into a positive overnight. And

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ethical practitioners – aware of long-term public relations goals – will not put a clean
shirt on a dirty body.

Principle #9 – Practice public relations proactively, whenever possible.

According to freedictionary.com, “proactive” means “controlling a situation by causing

something to happen rather than waiting to respond to it after it happens.” Public
relations is more effective if it is planned, intentional, and controlled. Reactive public
relations put an organization on the defensive and create an environment ripe for a spin.
Proactive public relations requires that organizations are continually monitoring various
environments, assess relationships, and identify and track issues that may affect the
organization. Research shows that most organizational crises could have been prevented
through early intervention. The goals of “issues tracking” are to prevent problems and
take advantage of opportunities. In terms of managing relationships, organizations should
be continually filling the “reservoir of goodwill” or “making deposits into the emotional
bank account.” Both of these metaphors speak to the idea of proactively and intentionally
managing relationships. If the reservoir of goodwill is filled, there will be something left
in times of drought (a crisis with that particular stakeholder or stakeholders). Likewise
with the emotional bank account. If it’s full, you’ll have something left even if there’s a
big withdrawal (i.e., a crisis).

Principle #10 – Be a bridge, not a barrier.

There are at least two ways to practice public relations – and they are the opposites of
each other. One way to practice PR is to be a barrier that protects an organization from its
publics. This kind of PR uses one-way communication, doesn’t listen to stakeholders in
any meaningful way, ignores the media, and uses spin to help an organization not take
appropriate responsibility. The problem is, if the organization wants to maintain
relationships with its stakeholders, “barrier” public relations doesn’t work – at least in the
long term. Short term, being a barrier can work. But as soon as the stakeholders know
that they have been lied to or manipulated – or are simply not being heard – the

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stakeholders will leave (i.e., use another product or service) or protest if they cannot
leave (i.e., neighbors near a factory, etc.). But long-term, being a barrier is counter-
productive to organizational goals. And, in today’s world where transparency is becoming
increasingly important, barrier PR simply won’t work. A much more effective (and
ethical) way to practice public relations is to be a bridge that connects an organization to
its publics. Practitioners who see themselves as bridges use two-way communication with
the organization’s stakeholders, conduct transparent dialogue through social media and
respond affirmatively to journalists’ needs. The world doesn’t need any more spin
doctors. But it does need bridge builders who can foster dialogue, create mutual
understanding, and build cooperative, mutually beneficial relationships.

Questions for Discussion

1. What does “organizations exist only by public consent” mean?

2. What does spin destroy in a relationship?

3. Why should an organization act before it communicates?

4. Does the principle of “Never refuse to tell your side of the story” mean that the public
relations practitioner must answer all media questions?

5. What is the value of “managing expectations”?

6. What is the difference between being a “bridge” vs. being a “barrier” in public
relations?

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 LECTURE 3
The RACE Process
Effective public relations is accomplished through a process known as RACE (Research,
Action, Communication, Evaluation). This process is used to practice proactive public
relations – PR that is intentional, planned, and strategic. There are four fundamental
questions asked in the RACE process.

Research is the first step. Nothing happens before doing research. Research helps
determine objectives, messages, strategies, and tactics. The first step in the research is to
clarify the public relations situation. Both the public relations practitioner and the client
need to have a clear understanding of the situation before them. Without that, public
relations plans are developed that do not accurately address the situation.

One of the most important aspects of situational analysis is identifying the stakeholder(s)
or public(s) that are most involved in the situation. Since public relations is essentially
about identifying, building, and sustaining relationships between an organization and its
various publics (stakeholders), situational analysis allows an organization to focus on one
(or more) stakeholders where either a problem or opportunity exists.

If it is a problem, what kind of problem is it? Two common public relations problems are
awareness and reputation. If it’s an awareness problem, the stakeholders lack awareness
about the organization and/or its products and services. If it’s a reputation problem, that

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means the stakeholder is aware of the organization but does not have a favorable opinion
toward it.

Those are two very different kinds of public relations problems that require different
strategies and tactics.

But the situation may not be a problem at all. It could be an opportunity (i.e., launching a
product or leveraging customer enthusiasm). Whether it’s a problem or an opportunity,
the situation needs to be clearly defined.

Once the audience/public/stakeholder has been identified, now it’s time to do an audience
analysis. The goal at this stage of your research is to learn as much as possible about your
target audience. What do they know about the situation? What would you like them to
know? What are their needs, concerns, and wants? How do they get their information?
What do they read, watch, and listen to?

This kind of audience analysis goes beyond demographics that simply make distinctions
based on ethnicities, age, gender, etc. More useful research, perhaps, delves into
“psychographics”: values, attitudes, and lifestyles. The fact is, the more you know your
target audience, the more likely you will be able to craft a motivational message,
delivered by the right source, through the right channel.

In addition to the situational analysis and the audience analysis, your research should
also include an organizational analysis. One common way to do this is to conduct a
S.W.O.T. analysis, which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

The public relations practitioner needs to know how to “position” the organization in the
face of the situation – whether it’s a problem or an opportunity. Once the S.W.O.T.
analysis has been completed, the public relations practitioner will be more effective in
maximizing strengths, minimizing weaknesses, capitalizing on opportunities, and
guarding against threats.

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One question that often arises is, “What constitutes a threat?” A threat is anything that
threatens the success of the organization, from aggressive competition to poor legislation
to organizational mismanagement.

Analyses of the situation, organization, and audiences can be conducted in a variety of

ways. Research can either be primary or secondary, qualitative or quantitative. Primary
research involves generating new information; secondary research uses existing
information.

Despite being called “secondary research,” this kind of research is conducted first.
Public relations practitioners analyze existing information from organizational websites
and electronic databases, among other sources, to gain an understanding of the situation,
organization, and target audience.

Since the information is available, it is the research most commonly used by public
relations practitioners – either first or exclusively.

If, however, there are significant gaps in the secondary research, primary research is
conducted – if there is enough time and money. If practitioners have both of these are
their disposal and can conduct primary research, they can choose qualitative or
quantitative methods.

Qualitative methods produce “soft” (as opposed to “hard”) data that sometimes is called
“exploratory.” Using qualitative research techniques such as focus groups, in-depth
interviews, observations, or surveys with open-ended questions, public relations
practitioners can gain valuable information about the situation, organization, and target
audience. But they cannot extrapolate the data gathered scientifically to a larger audience.
That’s why the data is called “soft.”

However, using quantitative techniques – such as surveys with closed or structured

questions and random sampling – practitioners can produce “hard” data. Using statistical
analysis, the practitioner can make some definitive statements about whether the whole–
sample population was representative and randomly sampled.
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Given the fact that quantitative research is more costly and time-consuming, it is not
conducted as much as qualitative research. Plus, crafting a scientifically valid quantitative
study is beyond the skill set of most PR practitioners.

So, whether it’s primary or secondary, quantitative or qualitative, the practitioner needs to
conduct research before developing a plan. The research will help determine the strategy
and provide more credibility for the practitioner before his or her clients. Finally, research
is used to measure the results of the campaign – the essential last step in the RACE
process.

Once the research phase of the process is complete, the practitioner can move on to the
second phase: planning (or action). Now we understand more about the situation, the
organization, and the audience, we can determine what to do about it.

The first step in the planning process is to set goals and objectives. Goals are the
overarching purpose of the public relations efforts (e.g., To become the 4 low-cost leaders
in the category). Objectives support goals, and they need to be S.M.A.R.T.: Specific,
measurable, Agreed Upon, Relevant, and Timetabled. It is also important to remember
that objectives should measure outcomes, not the means to those outcomes. For example,
the objective should NOT be measuring how many news releases are produced in a given
period (the means), but rather the outcome of those news releases (for example,
awareness).

Once the goals and objectives have been set, then the practitioner can create the theme
and messages for the campaign. The theme is the overarching message – the one
“takeaway” – you want your target audience to receive. Other messages flow out of – and
support – your theme.

Your themes and messages are designed to support your goals and objectives by tapping
into what you learned about your target audience through your research. Those messages
need to be clear and understandable to your audience; delivered by a credible source (i.e.,
credible to that audience); and targeted at audience needs. Psychologist Abraham

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Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs” helps practitioners understand what kinds of needs are
being addressed, from “lower-level” physiological needs (such as food, safety, shelter) to
“higher-level” needs (such as living up to one’s potential).

Ideally, these messages should be copy-tested with representatives from the target
audience to see if the messages make sense to the audience and achieve the desired effect.

Once the themes and messages have been developed, then the practitioner needs to
choose the channel through which they will be delivered. These are the strategies and
tactics. The strategy is the main way you plan to accomplish your objectives. For
example, there are many different PR strategies, from traditional media (pitching stories
to print and broadcasting media) to social media (using Twitter, Facebook, etc., to build
online communities) to more interpersonal strategies (creating slide presentations for key
audiences).

Research has shown that the most persuasive form of communication is interpersonal
(one-on-one, or one before a group). In those settings, the communicator can receive
immediate feedback and answer questions from the target audience. Interpersonal
communication strategies, however, can be used only when the target audience is small
and identifiable.

Larger audiences, which are more difficult (or even impossible) to reach through
interpersonal means, need to be reached through the media (either social or traditional, or
both).

Once the overall strategy is set, the practitioner decided exactly how to implement the
strategy through tactics. For example, if the practitioner has chosen a social media
strategy as the best way to achieve the public relations objectives, then he or she needs to
recommend a specific way to “flesh out” that strategy. That tactic could be a Twitter
campaign designed to involve consumers in creating the next version of a product (e.g.,
creating a new flavor potato chip flavor for Lay’s). Or, it could be a campaign designed to
get more “friends” on Facebook.

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The last part of any public relations effort is measurement. The practitioner needs to
determine if the objectives were successfully met. There are different levels of measure,
starting with the easiest – and least valuable – production. At this level, the practitioner is
simply measuring what has been produced: counting “communication assets.” Of course,
your clients need to know what has been produced for the money they have expended on
public relations. But that says nothing about the results of that production.

Increasingly, practitioners need to demonstrate results. Organizations need to see a clear

ROI (Return On Investment) for dollars spent on public relations. At the lowest level of
measuring results is “awareness.” Practitioners can measure awareness through a variety
of means. For example, to measure whether the public relations for an event were
successful, the practitioner simply needs to count the number of attendees (and possibly
the media coverage in the aftermath).

The next level up is an attitude change, which can be measured only if the practitioner
knows the current attitudes before the PR campaign. Depending on the size of the target
audience, that may require scientific survey research, which can be expensive and beyond
the skill set of most practitioners.

The most valuable public relations efforts are those that change behaviors. Most
practitioners consider “behavior change” the gold standard of public relations objectives.
Ultimately, public relations objectives need to support organizational objectives. That
means public relations should motivate people 6 to buy a product, use a service, adopt an
idea, or vote for a candidate. These are the kinds of results that make public relations
essential for organizations.

Discussion Questions

1. What is the value of research in public relations?

2. What is the difference between a goal and an objective?

3. What are some of the factors that help make messages effective?

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4. What is the difference between a strategy and a tactic?

5. What does ROI mean, and why is it important to public relations?

LECTURE 4

TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONAL IMAGES

Sigmund Freud pointed out that individuals in any cohesive organization identify with the
ego ideal of the leader. As an organization expands and matures, this ego tends to become
the collective aspiration of its people. Industrial psychologists have long known that
people if they have any choice in the matter, will not work for an organization when they
disapprove of its image. In other words, employees’ attitudes often represent quite
accurate conceptions of an organization’s image of itself. When employees are indifferent
to the organization’s ideal of itself, as reflected in its imagery, they may stay on the
payroll but will do nothing beyond the minimum demanded. According to Harry
Levinson, every organization has an image. The only question is whether it has the image
it wants to have. The following are the various images under PR:

The Wish Image

The wish image, known as the desired image is the one management of an organization
wishes to achieve. Again, it is not so much a favorable or preferred image as a true one.
For instance, the management of the game, the mall in Accra wants people to think of the

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mall as a place where they could enjoy shopping as a day’s outing, full of color and
pleasure instead of the usual drudgery. This wishes image mostly applies to something
new when outsiders are yet completely uninformed.

The Mirror Image

This image is the one people in an organization, especially its leaders, believe to be the
impression outsiders have of the organization. This could be an illusion bred on wishful
thinking because knowledge and understanding of the outside are lacking in common
situations, often based on ‘everybody loves us’ fantasies. An opinion or image study
could reveal that a very different and perhaps unexpected and disconcerting perceived
image exists.

Current Image

This is the one held by people outside the organization, and it may be based on
experience or poor information and understanding. Public relations deal with a world of
hostility, prejudice, apathy, and ignorance which could result in an unfair current image.
The current image depends on how little or how much people know and in a busy world
their knowledge will be less perfect than that of those people within the organization. For
example, those living in a particular country know more about their own country than
foreigners living hundreds or thousands of kilometers away. This is the great
communication problem of the Third World: the current images of most developing
countries change their names!

Not surprisingly, therefore the mirror and the current image can be very different, and this
variance may not be appreciated by management. One of the jobs of the Public Relations
Officer (PRO) may be to interpret the attitudes of outsiders to management, who may
well have false ideas about opinion. These outsiders could be important to the public:
they could be potential staff, customers, shopkeepers, politicians, journalists, TV and
radio presenters all kinds of people whose comprehension of the organization is
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important. It is not just their good opinion that is necessary it is also necessary that their
impression, their mental picture of the organization or its people, or services is correct not
favorable, but correct. A PR image results from a correct impression. A prison is not
likely to win a favorable impression but at least it can be correctly represented- whether it
is men’s or women’s what sort of offender is imprisoned there, whether it is an “open” or
top security jail, how many convicts share a cell and so on.

The Corporate Image

Here we have the image of the organization itself rather than that of the products or
services. The corporate image may be made up of many things such as the company
history, financial success and stability, quantity of production, export success, industrial
relations and reputation as an employer, social responsibility, and research record. Marks
and Spencer plc has an excellent corporate image which has been established
internationally. A corporate image is important in financial PR, the success of new share
issues often depends on the corporate image.

The Multiple Images

Several individuals, branches, or other representations can each create a particular image
that does not conform to a uniform image of the total organization. There can be as many
images as there are, say sales staff. The problem may be overcome by the use of
uniforms, vehicle liveries (decoration), symbols, badges, staff training, and in the case of
shops by the use of identical shops design, name displays, interior layout, and display
material, as seen with the chain stores. An airline is a good example of many devices to
produce a recognizable corporate identity. The liveries of aircraft-such as distinctive tail
fin designs-and the dress of air crews all contribute to this standard identity.

Good and Bad Images

Good or bad publicity enjoyed or endured by public figures, resulting in good or bad
current images. It has been argued above that the ideal PR image should only be a true
impression based on experience and knowledge and understanding of the facts. It follows
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that an image cannot be “polished” (since it would distort it). A better image has to be
earned by putting right the causes of the bad image whether they be faulty behavior or
faulty information. To attempt to falsify an image is an abuse of PR. There are many
erroneous ideas in management and marketing circles among the people who buy and
abuse PR and so help to give it a bad name that falsifying images is a legitimate task.
This is not the case. If PR is to be credible it must avoid false image-making. The
importance of this stand lies in the fact that the media are prejudiced about PR to the
extent of expecting false image polishing. It is not helped when advertising agents, who
are so often ignorant about PR, claim that they aim to polish the image of this or that
client. PR practitioners make no such claims.

Public relations does not seek to create a favorable image. An image cannot be created: it
can be only what it is. It may be necessary to establish a correct image but it may not be a
favorable one. How does one create a favorable image of the prison service, customs, and
Exercise, The Inland Revenue, or even, sometimes, the police, the Post Office, or British
Rail? But unpleasant or bad things can be explained so that they are understood. The
word ‘favorable’ is best forgotten in public relations for the world is a mixture of good
and bad.

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 LECTURE 5

PERSUASION

At the heart of public relations is persuasion – the ability to gain public support for a
decision or course of action. Public relations practitioners must understand how
persuasion works, from theoretical and practical perspectives.

Let’s begin with the practical, and then move on to the theoretical. When public relations
practitioners are trying to get a target audience to do or believe something, not do
something, or keep on doing something, they are engaged in persuasion.

There are three components of persuasion: (1) the recipients of a message, (2) the
message itself, and (3) the source of that message.

When considering the recipients of the message, we need to answer three questions.

The answers to those questions will help us craft a message that resonates with the target
audience and accomplishes our communication objectives.

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We then need to be clear, as we begin to craft the message, what is it exactly we want our
intended recipients to do with our message? A lack of clarity at this point will prevent our
message from being effective. At this point, we should also consider how our message
might be received by unintended recipients. Why? Because proactive public relations is
better than reactive public relations.

Finally, after our message is crafted, we need to select the right source (channel) to
deliver the message. We need to choose the most credible source for that particular
audience. This is critically important. We may have done our research well and crafted an
effective message. But if it’s not delivered by a credible source, the entire persuasive
effort is likely to fail.

There are other reasons why persuasive campaigns fail – and succeed. Persuasive rhetoric
has been studied for thousands of years. The Greeks made an art of it, and contemporary
scholars have proposed scientific theories of why people are motivated to do what they
do.

One such scholar is Otto Lerbinger, who says there are five different approaches to
persuasion.

The first is called stimulus-response.

Next, is the cognitive approach.

Next, is the motivational approach.

Next, is the social approach.

Finally, there is the personality approach.

Regardless of what approach is used – and usually a combination of approaches is most

effective – there are some important things to remember about the persuasive process.

Public relations practitioners must also remember to keep ethics prominently in mind
when crafting a persuasive campaign. As practitioners become more effective as

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persuaders, they need to be even more sensitive to the ethical implications of their
persuasive efforts. The tools of public relations are value-neutral. In other words, there is
nothing inherently good or bad about the various communication tools practitioners use.
It is the purpose behind the tools that can be good or bad, noble or ignoble.

Therefore, we can talk about public relations campaigns being either legitimate or
illegitimate. A legitimate campaign uses the tools of persuasion ethically; an illegitimate
campaign does not. There are two fundamental characteristics of a legitimate campaign.

The first characteristic of a legitimate campaign is free choice. Free choice means that
audiences can choose freely among several options.

The second characteristic of a legitimate public relations campaign is mutual benefit.

Both the communicator and the audience must emerge from the transaction with some
benefit. If the communicator benefits only, that’s not persuasion; it’s manipulation.

Finally, there is a great deal of concern in some circles (primarily academic) about the
power of the “persuasion industry” to exert control over the public. People who believe
this have never worked with a public relations or advertising firm to help them
accomplish their objectives. The adage in the public relations industry is that you don’t
want to be your client’s first public relations agency. That’s because their expectations are
too high. They believe you can waive your PR wand and magically get their stakeholders
to do anything they want.

Not so. Research and practical experience show there are many limitations to persuasive
communication efforts.

The first is selective attention. We simply cannot pay attention to all the messages that we
are exposed to every day. And with social media and smartphones, and other electronic
devices, our attention is more divided than ever. One PR agency has called this:
“continuous partial attention.” So, which messages do we pay attention to? Those that
offer a clear answer to the question: “What’s in it for me?”

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The second limitation of persuasive communication is selective perception. People
interpret messages. We essentially see what we want to see. The same message delivered
to different people will be perceived differently. The problem comes when you are trying
to communicate a message that is contrary to what people already believe. They will tend
to interpret differently than you intended.

The third limitation of persuasive communication is the lack of message penetration.

Despite the practitioner’s best efforts, there is little to zero chance that the message will
reach all the intended recipients. In other words, your persuasive communication efforts
will be limited by the fact that some people simply won’t get the message.

The final limitation is that even if your message reaches your intended recipients, it won’t
have their exclusive attention. As mentioned earlier, your message will be competing with
other messages, some of which may directly contradict yours.

Combined, these factors present a formidable challenge to public relations practitioners

who – for the sake of their clients and the audiences they’re trying to reach – are engaged
in persuasive communication.

LECTURE 6

FINDING AND GENERATING NEWS

One of the main tasks public relations professionals are hired to do is find and generate
news. It is the heart of publicity. Most organizations are interested in receiving positive
media coverage. While the media is not considered a primary public, they are considered
a secondary public. They are often called an intermediary public because they are the link
between the organization and the primary public (or stakeholder).

To find and generate news, public relations practitioners must first know what news is.
There are generally six characteristics of news.

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Consequence involves the idea of scope (how many people are affected) and significance
(to what degree). A story of major consequences may affect a large number of people in a
significant way (either positively or negatively).

Human interest simply means that: people are interested in other people. We want to
know how other people live – especially if they are celebrities. Hence the popularity of
magazines such as People.

Timeliness is one of the most important characteristics of news. News is happening now.
It’s been said that “nothing is older than yesterday’s news.” But today, with the 24/7 news
cycle, sometimes news feels old in print the next day when the previous day it was
announced online.

Proximity means closeness. Stories are more impactful when there is a “local angle.” The
close the event/situation/issue is to where someone lives, the more valuable the news is.
In general, we want to know how the news is going to affect us personally. So, even with
international stories, local angles are usually included.

Prominence means importance. When prominent people (celebrities, politicians, etc.) and
prominent companies (Apple, Google, etc.) do something significant, it is news.

Newness means new. Novel products, ideas, services, and situations create news. It’s
what makes news…news.

In addition to understanding what makes news, public relations practitioners need to

understand a journalist’s job. Here are some questions to ask yourself.

Armed with this knowledge, our job is to make their job easier. How do you do that?

Good media relations begin with finding and generating real news. With an
understanding of what makes news, the practitioner can now begin to find it and generate
it. Where to look first?

The first place to look is inside the organization. The PR practitioner needs to know
everything they can about the organization.
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All of these areas have potential news stories. Begin with the organization’s mission,
goals, and objectives. Why? Because every story you generate should in some way
support the organization’s mission, goals, and objectives. If your job includes media
relations, you must be constantly on the lookout for story ideas from inside your
organization.

But you also need to look outside the organization for external sources of news. That
means paying attention to the news, being plugged into your online communities, and
identifying trends and issues that may serve as story ideas.

One general principle is “Action Generates News.” So, you can do something that creates
news.

Once you have found and/or generated news, you must let the media know. One way is to
send out a news release announcing your news. These are sent out broadly to numerous
media outlets simultaneously. The hope is that it will be “picked up” by as many media
outlets as possible. It is generally considered a “bad form” to call journalists to find out if
they received the news release. That’s because they received hundreds of releases every
day.

Another way to get the word out to the media is to “pitch” the media. That involves
writing a targeted letter (or, more likely, an email) to a specific reporter, editor, or
producer. The purpose of your email pitch is to convince the journalist to do a story on
your product, service, issue, or event.

A good pitch has three phases. The first phase is researching the publication or broadcast
outlet. Next, you prepare the pitch letter (or email).

Stephen Miller of the New York Times offers good advice to public relations
professionals on how to create the “perfect pitch.”

Effective media relations is the function of being open and honest with the media and
building a reputation for supplying real news, not fluff.

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Questions for Discussion

1. What does the news value of “proximity” mean, and how do you achieve it?

2. How has the “24/7” news cycle changed the meaning of “timeliness” in news?

3. Name some ways public relations professionals can make a journalist’s job easier.

4. What are some internal news sources for possible public relations stories?

5. Where can public relations professionals look outside of their organizations for
publicity stories?

6. What are the three phases of a “media pitch”?

LECTURE 7

PUBLIC RELATIONS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Introduction

Public relations is a subject of great interest in the Third World because there is an urgent
need to spread knowledge and create an understanding of countless subjects in both the
public and private sectors. This PR activity must not be confused with propaganda, even
if the difference is sometimes slight. In certain countries, PR is called public
enlightenment, which may not imply propagandist overtones.

Problems of PR in Developing Countries

Communication

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Communication is often difficult because of a lack of Western-style media, great
distances between cities and remote rural communities, illiteracy, numerous ethnic
groups, languages, and dialects, together with tribal and religious taboos.

8.2.2 Marketing

There are two marketing dilemmas: half the population is likely to be under 15 years of
age and many rural people may be subsistence farmers who sell little of their produce. As
a result, a very large number of people at least half will probably be outside the cash
economy they will have no buying power.

8.2.3 Publics

The elitists, middle- and upper-class educated and literate who read newspapers and own
a television set may be between 10 and 20% of the population. In India, this can mean
several million people. When populations are huge, a considerable number of people will
have attitudes and expectations similar to those in the West, but even so 80% will not, and
women, in particular, may generally suffer an inferior position.

8.2.4 Mass Communication

In Nigeria, the biggest circulation daily newspaper reaches no more than London’s The
Times, which has one of the smallest circulations among British nationals. In format,
Nigeria Daily Times may resemble The Daily Mirror on which it was modeled rather
than The Times despite its elitist readership, while The Nigerian Punch resembles The
Sun in Britain. A media survey in Kenya counted even those who “listen to Newspaper”,
Indicating that, a literate member of the family or village community would read the
newspaper to others. The same survey refers to the thousands of people who watched
mobile cinema shows, but one can ask how many understood what they were watching.
In Nigeria, mass communication research has pointed out that, although there are radio
programs in regional languages, they can reach everyone in a land of 62 languages. A

35
media survey in Zambia showed that listeners preferred music, where A PR task may well
be to foster pride in home production. If the Russian peasant can make Fiat cars why
can’t the Zambian?

An interesting sign of progress is the success Nigerian paint makers, have had in
promoting the idea of home decoration, including touching up whether-damaged exterior
paintwork. Malaysia has gone to great lengths, e.g. with public exhibitions, to promote
home-produced products, and it’s proud of its Proton car (based on Japanese expertise)
which is even exported to Britain.

Disinterested in national or international news and often listening to pop music broadcast
from other countries.

In contrast, the vast country of Indonesia which has a population of 180 million scattered
throughout 30 thousand islands, covering an area as large as the U.S.A., has a satellite
system so that television programs are transmitted by 96 stations in three time zones.
Portable receivers using 12-volt car batteries overcome the lack of electricity in my area.

Advertising Dilemmas

The standard of advertising in the Third World elitist media can very confusing. British
and Irish visitors will view a Nigerian Guinness television commercial in horror,
watching the beer being slopped into a glass instead of decanted gently, while in
Indonesia they may be surprised to hear Guinness being described by waiters as ‘black
beer’ Meanwhile, a Ghanaian will be equally horrified to see that the characters in a
television commercial for an imported product are wearing Nigerian national costume.
Similarly, one wonders why the characters in the commercial in Nairobi cinemas are all
Europeans when the audience is almost entirely African or Indian. The problem is
frequently that those who advertise even to the educated, literate, well-to-do, minority
either have little knowledge of the product or have no understanding of the urgency. Such
advertising, whether offensive or misleading, is bad PR for the companies concerned.

Educating the Market

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In the Third World, the PR situation is different from that in the West, and yet is a
situation in which PR can thrive because nowhere else are its techniques of greater value.
Education the essential character of PR is a primary aspect of development. Many of
these countries are ambitiously trying to climb into the twentieth century in a situation
not unlike Britain before the Education Act of 1870.

The PR task is to educate the market and here credibility is paramount. Moreover, it must
be realized that, while the urban population may understand the product and use it well,
many products will be wholesaled in very small lots and retailed on open-air stalls in
hundreds of village markets, in small stores, or by roadside vendors, to people of limited
understanding. The labeling of goods becomes a vital PR aspect of marketing. It is not
enough to print the label and instruction in the local language since the majority of people
may not be able to read.

Cartoon-type instructions are necessary although rare. A problem with imported products
can be references to weights and measures, which are incomprehensible to people who do
not weigh anything nor use rulers or tape measures. This has been a problem with
products such as powdered baby milk, many buyers have no means of measuring or
sterilization.

Two Special Communication Tasks

Unlike PR in the Western World, PR in developing countries has two principal commercial tasks.
In the Public Sector

Government departments, state governments, local authorities, and official agencies are
responsible for informing the people about their policies and programs. Often, they
endeavor to build an infrastructure and range of social services that have been established
during the past 100 or more years in the West. For instance, universal primary education
was introduced in Nigeria only as recently as 1977, more than 100 years after the famous
Britain Education Act of 1870. However, these advances should not obscure the fact

37
Nigeria has for many years had a dozen universities and many technical colleges and
secondary schools, plus private schools which were precedent by the missionary schools.
Thousands of Nigerians have also been educated abroad and there is an elite of Nigerians
trained universities of the West.

As we shall when we consider public sector PR in greater detail later in this chapter, this
is where the bulk of PR activity may lie. The civil servant PR practitioner is likely to be
more common and in greater demand than the industrial and commercial PR practitioner.
In addition to government PR at all levels, the PR practitioner will also be found in the
armed forces, the police, health, education, and other public services.

He or she will also be found in the big para-statal corporations which control more or less
nationalized industries in countries such as Indonesia, Tanzania, and Zambia.

In the Private Sector

Here PR will be a very mixed kind. Expatriate and multinational companies may initiate
much of it. Generally, manufacturers, importers, and suppliers have an immense task in
informing a growing market about new products familiar, perhaps, in the West for a long
time and in telling people how to use these products most beneficially. This is not easy
for the market is childlike in its innocence and ignorance, let alone its illiteracy, language
barriers, and poverty.

Foreigners rarely understand communication problems. They sit in London, New York, or
Geneva, and plan marketing schemes as if they were selling a mass market in baby milk
to Third World rural mothers who could not read the labels and had no means either of
either refrigeration or sterilization. The poverty problem indicates that cigarettes are
bought by a single stick rather than the packer, transistor radios go into disuse because of
the prohibitive cost of batteries, and even the literate cannot always afford the price of a
newspaper. On the other extra me, a Lagos middle-class woman may scorn Avon
cosmetics as being cheap, and a prosperous business person will live in a tumble-down
shack with a Mercedes parked at the door.

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A curious but very real difficulty in the private sector is that consumers may have little
faith in produced in their own country. The-imported product will be considered to be
superior. This sad lack of self-confidence in home-produced goods is not peculiar to
developing countries: the myth of Swiss watch-making superiority made the good if not
better than Swiss ones. It took the Japanese to destroy the Swiss myth when the Swiss
failed to recognize the superiority of the quartz timepiece.

Opportunities for PR

The following are some suggestions for PR on behalf of products and services:

Food

Because urbanization has disturbed farm economies as more people are working in
towns, there is great scope for dietary and cookery instruction. This also applies to
cooking and kitchen equipment.

Motoring

The world’s motor manufacturers have descended on every developing country and,
while road building has assisted the motorist, he or she has retrieved little other help.
How does the motorist care for his or her car? There are no motoring magazines as in the
West unless these are imported. Nowhere, is it more necessary to be able to service one’s
vehicle. Motoring organizations like the AA and RAC are normally nonexistent,
breakdown services can be hundreds of miles apart, roadside telephones do not exist,
driving and safety standards are appalling, e.g. broken down vehicles are left stranded at
night without warning lights, and spare parts are scarce or black-marketed. In these
inevitable hazardous circumstances, the writing of every simple manual with a wealth of
pictures and diagrams is essential PR. Yet in Nigeria, the reason why the domestic airline
is overbooked is that motorists dare not risk long road journeys in a country where cities
are from 200 to 1 000 miles apart and a breakdown cannot be contemplated.

Banking

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While banks are commonplace in towns, the concept of banking both depositing and
borrowing is seldom familiar to rural dwellers. Yet it could be advantageous to small
farmers and traders if the market was educated. In some developing countries there are
mobile banks, but suspicion of banking (and insurance) is sometimes that PR techniques
could overcome. The PR transfer process has a positive application here.

Analysis of Special Circumstances

The above example helps to indicate the special circumstances that exist in developing
countries. They also apply to many other products such as pharmaceuticals, fertilizers
insecticides, and agricultural machinery. These circumstances are compounded by four
things.

The unequal pace of development, country by country, country to educational standards,

climate, and terrain, and the economic situation.

Anxiety to adopt Western standards ideas and aspirations, which may not necessarily be
as desirable or superior as may be supposed. They may be wrongly imposed by foreign
importers. There could be a clash of lifestyles.

Misunderstanding of the market by foreign suppliers, for instance, intermediate

technology may be more sensible in a country that has a surplus of labor and does not
require labor-saving equipment.

The importation of goods with no back –up service of spares or no trained repair services
complete with spares. When many mechanical, electrical, or electronic products which
are costly break down they can only be scrapped. In countries with exchange control
problems, retailers of electrical products are often reluctant to tie up currency in spare
parts. This creates ill-feeling towards suppliers and manufacturers. It is bad public
relations.

Applying the Six-Point Planning Model

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In lecture 3 a Six-point PR planning model was introduced and this will now be applied
to some possible public sector PR programs which might be conducted in a developing
country.

Road Safety Programme

Situation

Too many accidents; insufficient road signs; drivers cannot read or understand signs;
people walking in the road; dangerous overtaking especially on corners; drunken driving;
too many passengers carried, including whole families on motorcycles; vehicles parked at
night without lights; especially if they have broken down; poor roads, often pot-holed;
lack of rod drainage, causing flooding and consequently accidents through brake failure;
insufficient traffic signals and pedestrian crossings, through brake failure; insufficient
traffic signals and pedestrian crossings; failure of pedestrians to use crossing; need foot-
bridges; poor driving instruction.

Objectives

To educate all road users, drivers and pedestrians, and owners of public transport and
commercial vehicles. To encourage local authorities to improve road safety provisions.

Publics

Private and commercial drivers; fleet owners; traffic police; driving instructors; car
sellers; motor-car insurers; pedestrians schoolchildren; local highway officials and
councilors.

Media

Radio various languages programs; television; cinema vans; documentary film; potters;
the press; stickers; through chiefs teacher public rallies open-air meetings.

Budget

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PR staff, printing posters, leaflets, stickers; through chiefs, teachers; public rallies open-
air meetings.

Results

Feedback from traffic police, insurers, hospitals, etc. regarding accidents and driving
behavior; interpretation of result statistics.

Resettlement of the Handicapped Programme

Situation

The handicapped include the blind, deaf, dumb, cripple, and mentally retarded.

To help the handicapped and their relatives know that, thanks to modern aid, they need
not be left out of society; the government will help them to become self-reliant. The aid
consists of government-sponsored centers to teach skills e.g. woodwork, weaving,
shoemaking watch-repairing, bag-making, etc.

Publics

The handicapped, their relations, community leaders, doctors, and teachers.

Media

A radio play with characters, one negative and one positive and open-minded: the skeptic
goes to the center, stays only two weeks, leaves for the city, and becomes a beggar; the
other man takes a two-year course at the center, sets up a shoe-making business, marries
has two children and is accepted by the community. Five years after the day when they
both entered the Centre, the shoe-maker goes to the city market in his wheelchair and
sees a dirty cripple begging: the beggar does not recognize his now prosperous and sees a
dirty cripple begging rebuffs, but the shoe-maker puts coins in his dish, says begging

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does not pay, and advises him to go to the training Centre where he will also get free
board.

The play is to be given two broadcasts in English and each local language. The
broadcasts will be publicized in advance. Local communities will be asked to set up
listening groups.

Each group will appoint a secretary to take down points for the group discussion and
queries to be sent to the radio station. The points raised will be dealt with in a subsequent
time to time on the radio.

Budget

The cost of PR is very small: the radio station pays the playwright, and actors; the PRO’s
time in briefing the playwright, and liaison with the radio producer: collecting statistics
from the training Centre.

Result

The number of new applicants for training, the number of those who complete a full
course, and the number who benefit by gaining employment or setting up businesses, will
be recorded and assessed.

Dangers to self-medication

Situation

Risk of dealing with ‘quack’ doctors or buying wrong medicines from chemists;
exploitation of the sick by pharmaceutical companies; problems of overdose and wrong
diagnosis; use of expired drugs which have been kept in the home too long.

Objectives

Ministry of Health to advise against treatment by quacks; to make known the dangers of
more serious illness, untimely death or spread of infections and epidemics, and the need
for proper diagnosis, treatment, cure, and prevention of epidemics.

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Public

Government officials, teachers, doctors, nurses, community leaders, and the population as
a whole.

Media

Production of a small diary-like health guidebook in English and local languages, to be

sold at a low price capable of recovering cost, newspapers, radio, and television stations,
announcing the booklet; arranging radio or TV interviews with the Minister of Health;
buying TV time to display health aid booklets and pose vocal questions repeated in words
on the screen: Do you think you have malaria? How do you know it is malaria? Could it
be jaundice or yellow fever? This is to be followed by the price and where the booklet
can be bought. Time would also be bought on the radio to promote sales of the booklet;
small posters would be supplied to distributors; complementary copies would be sent to
government officials, libraries, schools doctors, hospitals, and community councils; sales
of the booklet would be organized through a bookshop, newspapers, market stall post
offices, community centers, and local government offices.

Budget

The booklet would be self-liquidating, the price covering the cost including free copies.
Major costs would be PR working hours, news releases, TV and radio time, and small
posters for point-of-sale

Results

This result would be measured in two ways sale of a booklet: a survey of hospitals, and
doctors, for opinions on illness due to self-medication, before, during, and after the
campaign: Also, check on the increase in patients seeking advice and treatment instead of
attempting to treat themselves.

Adult Literacy

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Three-quarters of the adult population is illiterate; contributing factors: agricultural
background and other manual occupations: mothers marry very young; culture and
philosophy of life people may have good comprehension and communication skills
although unable to read or write and therefore be satisfied, with illiteracy seen as no
handicap.

Objectives

To encourage illiterates to embrace adult education during the period of the campaign
when classes are being set up and organizers are being sought.

Publics

Illiterates in villages and townships; religious leaders, teacher’s employers, and also
schoolchildren who could carry messages to their parents.

Media

Specially made video demonstrating advantages of literacy in modern life ability to read
instructions on packaged goods; read road and street signs read and write letters; read
newspapers and so enjoy a fuller life. These videos are to be taken by mobile cinemas to
the villages, or shown in community halls in townships; also offer as TV program
material. Debates and discussions on the radio to be sought in local languages; talk to
local groups; posters to announce video shows and talk; news releases about the literacy
program; opinion leaders and community leaders to be approached by the direct chief,
politicians, religious leaders, teachers who could act as innovators of adult education
classes.

Budget

Working hours of PR personnel; press reception at the inception of the literacy program,
another to announce the opening of classes and another later when the scheme has taken
off and progress can be reported; making of videos and copies; hire of vehicle and VCRs;

45
cost of keeping workers and vehicles on the road; fees of speakers and their expenses, the
printing of posters.

Results

Judged by the number of classes opened; several people enrolled; fall-out rate; the
number who complete the course; percentage falcon the illiteracy rate.

Acknowledgments

The census, road safety, resettlement of the handicapped, dangers of self-medication, and
adult literacy examples are based on schemes planned and presented by students during
courses run by the Frank Jefkins in Accra, Enugu, Kabwe, Kano Lagos, Lusaka, and
Nairobi. Working in groups, they applied the six-point planning model to typical local
topics of their choosing.

Most of the materials for this course were taken from Frank Jefkin’s book, Public
Relations. I do express my gratitude and accolade.

Crisis Public Relations or Crisis Management PR

What is Crisis

A crisis can be defined as a dramatic change, usually for the worse. Crisis includes
problems such as disasters: an event involves loss of life or extensive damage to property,
explosions, fires late flight, temperamental people, or it may be a situation when an
organization finds itself unwelcome because of its behavior or theft of its staff. A crisis
may occur as a result of an accident or act of God; it may arise because of the negligence
or criminal behavior of an individual or organization; or it may happen to a company as a
result of product tampering or other sabotage.

Possible Crisis

Could be struck by lightning

Could be hit by aircraft

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Could be blown up by terrorists

Could collapse on Parliament

Could be destroyed by wartime bombing or rocketry

Could be occupied by demonstrated or other fanatics

What the PRO should do is anticipate all the things that could happen if an accident
should occur and develop plans for handling them. In a serious emergency, the following
steps must be taken:

Your operation must contain two specific headquarters that will serve as a central clearing
point for reporters and the company PR personnel. These should be equipped with several
telephones and some place for the people to sit and write. If the emergency is centered in
the areas of one of the headquarters, an alternative location should be used.

Additionally, company employees should be informed of this fact and thus be able to
direct newsmen to the area from which news will be forthcoming.

At least two secretaries should make available if the emergency takes place during
working hours.

If no press headquarters need to be established, all calls from the news media should be
directed to one designated line. While the PRO is out assessing the situation, the names
and phone numbers of callers are taken.

Handling PR in the Emergency

As soon as the emergency is brought to the attention of the PRO, he has to seek all
available information and determine whether it will be necessary to establish a press
headquarters. The establishment of the press headquarters will have the effect of keeping
newsmen under control and out of emergency work being carried out by rescue personnel
and management. This service also indicates the company’s desire to be cooperative. The
size emergency will determine whether there is a need for a press headquarters.

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The PRO should maintain contain contact with newsmen, make sure they stay in
approved locations while on plant property, and provide as quickly as possible all
information determined to be in the company’s best interest.

The PRO must check with management on the text of announcements and help formulate
answers to questions.

The PRO will be responsible for guiding newsmen into the disaster area if company
management will permit such a visit.

The fundamental responsibility for which facts are to be given to the press and ultimately
to the public must remain with top management. It is the responsibility of the PRO to
operate with the approval of top management.

Maintain close contact with members of the media. More often than not, they will be able
to tell you don’t know. This is a great way to stem the flow of false information.

Keep a log of all facts given out with the times they are released. This avoids duplication
and conflicting reports should new development change facts.

Do not release the names of the victims until you know for a fact that the families
involved have been notified. Tell the newsmen that the name of the victim will be made
available as soon as the next of kin has been told of the mishap.

When it is necessary to admit a fact already known to the press, be sure confirmations are
limited to only definite information that will not change. If firemen carry a victim from
the plant in a body bag and the reporter sees it, say that only one body has been
recovered. Do not say you don’t know many are dead. Never speculate as to the cause of
accidents, amount of damage, responsibility, possible downtime, delays in shipment,
layoff, etc.

Questions to Look for in Emergencies

Number of death

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Number of injuries

Damage. (Fire chief will give his estimate in cedis or dollars-give yours in general terms
of what was destroyed as soon as known.)

What burned, collapsed, etc?

Time

Location within the plant.

Names of dead and injured, following notification of relatives

Their addresses, ages and how long with the company as well as occupation

How many people are employed, and what is manufactured?

Dealing with the Media During Emergencies

Speed in reply to a query is all-important. All newsmen deadline to meet.

Keep cool. If a reporter gets snappy, chances are it’s because he is under considerably
more pressure at that moment than you.

If you don’t know the answer, attempt to get for the newsman.

Eliminate obstacles wherever possible. For most new men, the more obstacles they find
in their way, the harder they will work to ferret the real story from any source possible.
They will almost always use something they have uncovered and you have control over
what they might uncover.

Never ask to see a reporter’s story. Time is usually a factor. If you feel a reporter may be
misinformed, check back with him on the point to make sure.

There’s seldom a reason that you should not be quoted by name. As a member of the
management and the PRO, you are speaking for the company.

Never argue with a newsman about the value of the story.

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Any information that goes to one source in an emergency is fair game to all. Don’t play
favorites. They listen to and read each other’s copy anyway.

Never flatly refuse information. Always give a good reason why it isn’t available. (Want
to be sure facts are, indeed, factual. Getting information together.)

Always know to whom you are talking. Get his name and phone number in case you need
to contact him later.

Never give an answer that you know will nerve stand up. It can embarrass you later.

Never falsify, color, or slant your answers. A newsman is trained to see a curve ball
coming a mile away, and he’s fielded them before. If he thinks you are other members of
the news media over a coffee. This will also set him off quicker than getting information
at all.

Be alert about photographs. You have no control over photos taken off of company
property, but you have every right to control photos taken within the plant. Consider the
possibility of pool photos and movies where it is impractical to have several
photographers on the scene at once. Remember photos can be as harmful as words.

Be sure no time lag into play from the time you get information that can be put out and
the time it is given to the news media.

Have safety, labor, employee records and available for your reference if possible.

Be quick to point out long safety records and any facts of heroism by employees.

If damage must be estimated for the press immediately, confine the statement to the
general description of what was destroyed.

Always accentuate the positive… if your public relations are good, so are your chances
for an even break.

Case Studies

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See if you can determine which PR activities would be useful in each of these situations.

Asked to handle public relations for a public school system, which aspect would you
emphasize most? Why? What problems would you anticipate?

A small, privately owned fast-food chain has asked you for PR help to compete with a
national quick-food chain. What would be most likely to demand most of your efforts?

The local Arthritis Foundation chapter has come to you for a public relations program.
Which aspects of PR are going to be involved? What are some possible problems?

The Metropolitan Dry Cleaners Association has come to you because (a) lifestyles have
changed and people are not having clothes cleaned s often and (b) people are buying
synthetics, which they wash. The group wants a program to elevate its image and increase
the use of dry cleaning services. What are your proposed activities? How would you
describe them, in PR terms?

The president of the Junior Chamber of Commerce complains young businessmen are not
joining the organization, and wants you to do something about it. What PR efforts might
this involve?

A small restaurant near your campus is opening under new management. Its previous
owner was forced to close because of some “illegal activities” and the new owners are
typing to overcome the bad reputation. They have asked you for suggestions. What type
of PR action would you suggest?

The local blood bank has asked you to direct the campus part of its annual blood drive.
What PR activity is involved in such a task?

The local Planned Parenthood is having difficulty because of misunderstandings with

certain church groups and ethnic and racial minorities. What public relations emphasis is
needed here?

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The campus YMCA is interested in developing a “crisis closet,” with food, clothes,
canned goods, and some cash for people caught in an emergency. A drive for these is
likely to mean what kind of PR efforts?

You are asked by the university committee, which conducts its own United Fund drive, to
plan an effective PR effort. How would you describe your proposal in PR terms of
advertising, and publicity?

The campus entertainment committee is having difficulty getting audiences for its
programs and feels it has a public relations problem in that people don’t know when
events are scheduled. There is no money for advertising. What would you do?

To put the voice of youth on the city council in a university town, you have been asked to
handle the campaign for a student running for the council. What might your difficulties
be? What PR emphasis does this need?

Here’s a situation that may involve several PR activities. Explain which ones and why
they would be needed in solving the problem.

Background: an explosion rocked the small suburban community of Akoon. Four people
were killed and thirty were injured. Any sort of industrial accident like this creates
problems for the company involved, but on this occasion, the company, Goldfields Ghana
Ltd, was particularly vulnerable because the community did not know the plant was
making explosives. An Akoon newspaperman was quoted in the nearby metropolitan
newspaper as having said that he wanted to do a story on the plant when it opened but
was told not to by the plant owner.

Problem: not only is Goldfields Ghana Ltd facing penalties in the form of fines for
violation of employee safety laws, but also community relations are strained. The effect
on personnel can be imagined from the news stories quoting employees as saying they
would never return to the plant under any circumstances.

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Assignment: suggest a realistic, workable plan you would want to effect if you were
Goldfields Ghana Ltd PR director.

LECTURE 8

PR TRENDS

Unlike many other academic disciplines, public relations is changing rapidly. That’s
because the profession is affected by changes in technology, media, and culture. Public
relations is a people-focused profession. Therefore, major changes in people’s lives –
technological, socio-economical, and political – bring changes in the ways public
relations professionals identify, build, and sustain relationships between organizations
and their stakeholders.

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Here are some of the major changes and trends affecting the public relations profession.

Let’s begin, then, with the Internet – one of the most profound developments in the
history of mass communication. The World Wide Web has changed everything from the
way we interact to the way commerce is conducted, to how nations govern.

One of the major public relations advantages of the Internet is that it allows organizations
to communicate directly with their stakeholders without media gatekeepers. Before the
Internet, organizations relied exclusively on traditional media outlets to reach those
stakeholders who were too large or too difficult to reach through organizational media
(e.g., brochures, flyers, etc.). That meant the media was ultimately in control of the
message – unless it was purchased through advertising. Organizations can reach
stakeholders directly through their websites with unfiltered messages.

One of the other advantages of the Internet is the speed at which messages may be
disseminated. Organizations can spread their messages worldwide within days – if not
hours. For example, the KONY 2012 video, sponsored by Invisible Children, has been
viewed more than 100 million times – making it the most watched “viral” video of all
time.

The speed of message dissemination can also be a problem if the message is negative or
false. A lie can travel around the world faster than ever before. A public relations
practitioner can go to bed at night with everything fine, and then wake the next morning
to a public relations crisis.

In 2001, MIT student Jonah Peretti forwarded a customer service email exchange with
Nike to 10 of his friends, and soon it went “viral” (i.e., it spread extraordinarily fast and
was viewed worldwide). Suddenly, Nike had a public relations issue.

All of this means that with the Internet, organizations have to manage their reputations
24/7. A big part of this new ongoing reputation management is being transparent.
Stakeholders are expecting – even demanding – that organizations show greater honesty

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and openness. Stakeholders want to know about organizational policies, procedures,
standards, and ethics.

If organizations want to develop mutually beneficial relationships with their stakeholders,

they will need to be more transparent. Also, while “spin” has never been advocated by PR
professionals, it has become increasingly counterproductive to long-term public relations
goals.

Another trend in public relations is the need to demonstrate “performance with purpose”.
Stakeholders are increasingly expecting businesses to be using their profits to “do good.”
The public has always – to some degree – believed that businesses should not make a
profit at the expense of the communities in which they operate. Also, because of societal
expectations, most big companies have traditionally given to charities – either monetarily
or by “lending” employees as volunteers. But “performance with purpose” is different.

While the main goal of a business is to increase shareholder value, that’s no longer
enough. There’s a “new bottom line” that is pushing businesses toward using their wealth,
expertise, logistical expertise, etc., to help solve societal problems. Even traditional
concepts of capitalism are being challenged by business people and academics who
believe that “creating a bigger pie” (as opposed to a “fairer” distribution of existing
slices) is the way to increase prosperity for everyone.

Michael Porter of Harvard Business School coined the term “shared value” to describe
this new form of capitalism that seeks to create wealth for the entire “supply chain” (i.e.,
any entity involved in the creation and distribution of a particular product or service).
With this reinvented form of capitalism, there is also much more cooperation between the
private and public sectors.

For public relations, “performance with purpose” has meant helping organizations
demonstrate their commitment to the communities in which they operate through
“evidence-based” strategies. These strategies highlight the specific actions taken by the

55
organization to support organizational rhetoric. Businesses can no longer just say they’re
doing good; they must back it up with evidence.

One of the most important changes in public relations in the past five years has been the
rise of social media. Today, no public relations program can afford to be without a social
media strategy. It has become the main way to interact with many key stakeholders. And
it changed the way public relations is performed. Now, instead of creating periodic
campaigns, organizations must engage in ongoing conversations with their stakeholders
through social media.

The first step in a social media strategy is to listen. Organizations must listen to what is
being said about the company, the product, the service, and the industry – before talking.
A good analogy is a party. If you go to a party where you don’t know anyone, the best
strategy is to join a conversation by listening first. Once you get a feel for the
conversation, and have a clear understanding of the nature of the situation and the people
involved, you can begin to contribute.

Once an organization begins a social media strategy, it can’t stop. It needs to continue to
engage its public through Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. That takes a lot of
work and often requires one dedicated social media professional. That person is
sometimes called the “community manager.” It’s his or her job to help the organization
stay engaged online with its stakeholders and help create compelling content that is
designed to “pull” stakeholders in. Contrast this with traditional “push” strategies that
“push” content to their stakeholders through news releases, billboards, flyers, and
brochures, among other tactics.

The fact is, we are all in the content creation business now. We need to create compelling
content that keeps our stakeholders interested, engaged, and interacting with us.
Compelling content also has the opportunity to “go viral” significantly extending the
organization’s reach.

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The last major trend in public relations is its global expansion. While public relations
began as a profession in the United States, it is now truly a global phenomenon. The
fastest-growing markets are in the BRIC countries.

Also, in the last 30 years, the world’s largest public relations and advertising agencies
have been purchased by one of five global communication conglomerates. These
conglomerates have subsidiary companies in every major business center in the world
ensuring total coverage of communication needs clients worldwide.

Discussion Questions

1. What is one of the major advantages the Internet provides to public relations
professionals?

2. What is a challenge the Internet poses for public relations professionals?

3. What does organizational transparency look like?

4. How do organizations demonstrate “performance with purpose”?

5. Describe what a “community manager” does.

6. What is the first step in a new social media strategy?

7. Name one of the top five global communication conglomerates.

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