Public Relations

Factors that have contributed for the

need of PR
Growing power of globalization • World has become one global village(Marshal Mcluhan)

Our society has greatly changed into massive

The growth of large institutions political organizations, world-wide media
networks, Walmarts, Multi national corporations.

Increasing incidences of societal • As the organizations are increasing in size which leads to diversity
change, conflict, and so resolution of conflict and differences has become vital
confrontations
 • The government regulatory interventions in the form of affirmative action
Heightened Public Awareness forced business organizations to contribute to charities. In consequence,
managers began to consider community relations a first-line responsibility.

The technological innovations and revolution in communication has

contributed to the growth of public relations. Revolutions in satellite and
Growth of the Internet and the World computer technology in the later part of the 20th century has changed the
Wide Web way people communicate and the emergence of the internet and world wide
web have radically intensified the spread of communication even further.
Definition
Public Relations is part of a comprehensive marketing campaign, and an effective way to spread
the message of a new product, technology initiative, or other significant milestone or shift for
your company.

Public relations is a management function (Harlow, 1976; Cutlip, et al., 2006) and a strategic
communication process in practice that aims to understand people’s perception to manage
relationships between the organisation and its key publics (Lubbe & Puth, 2000; Cutlip et al.,
2006; Grunig, 2006; PRSA, 2009-2014) and further build and maintain reputation (Fombrun,
1996; Hutton et al., 2001; Cornelissen, 2011).
Theories and Models in PR
J M Grunig’s Model of PR
The Excellence Model
Two-way asymmetric public relations ...

can also be called "scientific persuasion;"

employs social science methods to develop more persuasive communication;

generally focuses on achieving short-term attitude change;

incorporates lots of feedback from target audiences and publics;

is used by an organization primarily interested in having its publics come around to its way of thinking rather
changing the organization, its policies, or its views.
Two-way symmetric public relations ...

relies on honest and open two-way communication and mutual give-and-take rather than one-way
persuasion;

focuses on mutual respect and efforts to achieve mutual understanding;

emphasizes negotiation and a willingness to adapt and make compromises;

requires organizations engaging in public relations to be willing to make significant adjustments in

how they operate in order to accommodate their publics;

seems to be used more by non-profit organizations, government agencies, and heavily regulated
businesses such as public utilities than by competitive, profit-driven companies.
Communication Process
In the press agent/publicity model, communications professionals use persuasion to shape the
thoughts and opinions of key audiences.
In this model, accuracy is not important and organizations do not seek audience feedback or
conduct audience analysis research. It is a one-way form of communication.
One example is propagandist techniques created by news media outlets in North Korea.
The public information model moves away from the manipulative tactics used in the press
agent model and presents more accurate information.
However, the communication pattern is still one-way. Practitioners do not conduct audience
analysis research to guide their strategies and tactics.
Some press releases and newsletters are created based on this model, when audiences are not
necessarily targeted or researched beforehand.
The two-way asymmetrical model presents a more “scientifically persuasive” way of
communicating with key audiences.
Here, content creators conduct research to better understand the audience’s attitudes and
behaviors, which in turn informs the message strategy and creation.
Still, persuasive communication is used in this model to benefit the organization more so than
audiences; therefore, it is considered asymmetrical or imbalanced.
The model is particularly popular in advertising and consumer marketing, fields that are
specifically interested in increasing an organization’s profits.
the two-way symmetrical model argues that the public relations practitioner should serve as a liaison
between the organization and key publics, rather than as a persuader.
Here, practitioners are negotiators and use communication to ensure that all involved parties benefit,
not just the organization that employs them.
The term “symmetrical” is used because the model attempts to create a mutually beneficial situation.
The two-way symmetrical model is deemed the most ethical model, one that professionals should
aspire to use in their everyday tactics and strategies (Simpson, 2014).
Two-way asymmetric communication is more commonly practiced today than the first two models.
This type of PR is rooted in persuasive communications and aims to generate agreement between
the organization and its audiences by bringing them around to the organization's way of thinking.
In two-way symmetric communication the aim is to generate mutual understanding – the two-way
communications process should lead to changes in both the audience’s and the organization's
position on an issue.
 Publics
Grunig identified four basic types of public:
1 All-issue publics – active on all issues. Often, these types of people are very focused on injustices
carried out by or through organisations. They might be equally angered by deforestation, child labour,
animal testing and nuclear weapons – and take action against companies involved in any one of these
things.
2 Apathetic publics – inattentive on all issues. These people are generally not aware of, or are
unconcerned by, events in their environment. They are self-focused and they are highly unlikely to
take part in any action – from petitions to demonstrations – to make their views heard.
3 Single-issue publics – active on one issue in a specific area. These people might have decided to put
all their energies into one cause, such as supporting refugees and asylum seekers for example, and to
be very active but just in this one area.

4 Hot-issue publics – active on one issue that has a high profile and broad societal application (such
as domestic violence). Often, these people seize on a theme that is receiving attention in the media
(for example, the rights of fathers in cases of family separation and divorce) and will be very active
on this one area, but only for a relatively short period of time.
Hallahan (2000) argues for a completely different basis for segmentation of publics that he believes
better reflects reality.
In his view, the situational theory of publics overemphasises active publics at the expense of inactive
groups, who may still be important constituents for the organisation.
To address this, he proposes a typology of publics based on knowledge and involvement:
■ aware publics (high knowledge – low involvement)
■ active publics (high knowledge – high involvement)
■ aroused publics (low knowledge – high involvement)
■ inactive publics (low knowledge – low involvement)
■ non-publics (no knowledge – no involvement).
Publicity
Publicity, on the other hand, is a free-of-cost write-up, on the product or service, and issue, of
an organisation and its activities, in the news columns or editorial columns of a newspaper and
magazine, or the non-conmmercial time on television and radio.

It is information gener- ated and put across by journalists (media) on their own, or on a special
request by the company / organisation's spokesman.
Publicity messages are not paid for as advertising is. It is a result of significant "news" on the
product or service, organisation, or an event concerning the product or organisation itself
Publicity is as essential as advertising in the communication objectives and process of an
organisation. It is a tactical tool, with high degree of credibility.

It is, therefore, used and taken due advantage of by the communicator or organisation behind it
to achieve specific and timely communication goals
 Advertising
The Encyclopaedia Britannica defines advertisement as a form of paid announcement in- tended to
promote the sale of commodity or service, to advance an idea or to bring about soine other effect,
desired by the advertiser.
The American Marketing Association has defined advertisement as 'any paid form of non- personal
presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor'.
In other words, advertisement is the paid use of any channel of communicationtion - radio, television.
film, press, etc. to identify, explain or to urge the use of adoption or a product, service, or idea.
Advettising is a 'paid form' of communication intended to inform and influence a specific , target group The reasons for
advertising are many and varied. An advertiser may be used to :
urge and remind people to buy a product or service; or do something or think some- thing
announce a new product or service, or an idea / concept
announce a modification (price, ingredient, feature, packaging, special offer, etc.)
challenge competitor (in terms of message or proposition)
maintain sales: retrieve lost sales;
educate the, public

Advertising also helps to build and maintain the 'brand image' of a product or service, and adds to its values (as
perceived by the customers).
Advertising can be mainly classified as
◦ a) Product Advertising: b) Institutional Advertising or Public Relations Advertising.
institutional Advertising is known by various other names also like 'Corporate Advertising',
'Public Advertising' or 'Prestige Advertising' etc.
The main objective of institutional ;advertising is to create awareness and favourable attitude of
particular publics towards tlic institution as a whole.
Although it does not seek to promote sales directly, it does help the sales also indirectly by
establishing a good image e.g. by building up a reputation or reliable quality products etc.
Branding
Branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts
and retains loyal customers.
 Social Marketing
'social marketing' has been defined as the 'design, implementation and
control of Public Opinion programs, calculated to influence the
acceptability of social ideas and involving considerations of product
planning, pricing, packaging, communication, distribution and marketing
research'.
In short, it means 'the application of marketing techniques in moulding
public opinion for or against a social issue, or 'selling' an idea to serve a
social cause, or wherever specific public or social programs and
campaigns require significant changes in the attitudes and behavior on
the part of the relevant "publics".
The most successful example of employing marketing techniques for
popularising a public programme in India has been the Nirodh
commercial distribution, drawing on the marketing skills of a number of
large consumer goods companies.
Similarly, there have been several social advertisement campaigns, like
the Bombay Municipal Corporation campaign on water conservation, or
Indian Oil's "Save Oil" campaign, or Hyderabad Municipal Corporation's
"Keep Your City Beautiful" campaign.
 Publics in Public Relations
In traditional Public Relations usage, Publics are divided Into two categories –
External and Internal.
External Publics are those outside the organization that have some kind of relation
with organization and can have some impact on the organization, like govt.
organization, suppliers, competitors, bankers, local community organization
Internal Publics are those which an organization most closely relates to - one that
shares the Scope of Public Relations institutional identity, such as the management,
stock-holders, employees, dealers, sales rep- resentatives and other marketing
personnel.
 Excellence Model
Public relations contributes to organizational effectiveness when it helps reconcile the organization’s
goals with the expectations of its strategic constituencies.
This contribution has monetary value to the organization.
Public relations contributes to effectiveness by building quality, long-term relations with strategic
constituencies.
Grunig’s excellence study demonstrated that PR could proactively
manage challenges that corporations face in their operating
environment, including litigation, regulation, legislation and negative
publicity caused by poor relationships.
His research also showed that internal symmetric communication
between managers and employees was especially important for
preventing internal crises, such as industrial relations disputes or
unethical conduct, and helped to build a ‘participative culture’ that
increased workplace productivity and morale (Grunig, Grunig &
Dozier, 2006: 55).
The use of two-way symmetrical communication by a PR practitioner who functions at the
strategic management level also allows our audiences to have a voice at the executive table.
This model creates a level playing field for negotiation and mutual understanding to take place
between the organization and its publics.
The two-way model provides an organization with the tools and path needed to create a strong
company reputation built upon solid, long-lasting relationships, because both the organization
and its audiences are provided with a voice in processes and developing issues or problems.
The two-way symmetrical model for communication maintains both the organization’s best
interests and its audiences’ best interests at the forefront in the most fair and balanced way
possible.
Through the use of this model, both the organization and its audiences can collaborate together
to both grow and strengthen an overall organization, leading it to greater success.
In deciding whether to adopt a one-way or two-way model of public
relations, an organisation must consider the role of strategy and how
it relates to specific goals, objectives and tactics.

Carl Botan (2006) proposes that effective public relations requires

three levels of strategic planning: grand strategy, strategy and tactics.
In deciding whether to adopt a one-way or two-way model of public relations, an organisation
must consider the role of strategy and how it relates to specific goals, objectives and tactics. Carl
Botan (2006) proposes that effective public relations requires three levels of strategic planning:
grand strategy, strategy and tactics.
Grand Strategy is the policy-level decisions an organisation makes about goals, alignments,
ethics, and relations with publics and other forces in its environment.
Strategy is the campaign-level decision making involving maneuvering and arranging resources
and arguments to carry out the organisational grand strategies.
Tactics are the specific activities and outputs through which strategies are implemented— the
doing or technical aspects of public relations. (Botan, 2006: 225-226)
Systems Theory
The systems approach here recognizes the importance of environment for an organization to be
effective by indicating mutual need between an organization and its environment.
According to the open system theory proposed by von Bertalanffy, a system is a complex of
interacting elements, and “a system is …open if there is import and export, and therefore,
change of the components” .
Similarly, organizations are linked with resources in their external environment, and in the mean
time, external environment needs products and services from the organizations.
Public relations campaigns
A campaign planning process will generally include the following steps:

Identification of issue and problem statement

1. Research and design of key messages

2. Identification of target publics

3. Setting of goals and objectives

4. Design and implementation of strategies and tactics

5. Evaluation
Corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility is the voluntary discretionary business

practice, beyond its legal and economic obligation to do right things for
the long-term sustainability of the business and act in ways that
balance the diverse demands of communities and favors the
development of the region where the organization operates (Newbold,
2003), as well as the imperative to protect the environment, while
simultaneously making profit (Jenkins, 2004).