CHAPTER- FIVE

Public Relations and Publicity

 Content:
 Defining Public Relations

 The practice/Role of Public Relations

 Public Relations Programs

 Public Relations Planning

 Public Relations Tools

 What is PR?
 “Public Relations is the deliberate,
planned and sustained effort to establish
and maintain mutual understanding
between on organization and its publics.”
- Institute of Public Relations, USA
 Cont’d...
 Public relations is indeed a management
function. The term management should be
used in its broadest sense; it is not limited to
business managements but extends to other
types of organizations, including non-profit
institutions.
 In this definition, public relations requires a
series of stages, including:
 Cont’d…
1. The determination and evaluation of public
attitudes.
2. The identification of policies and procedures
of an organization with a public interest.
3. The development and execution of a
communications program designed to bring
about public understanding and acceptance.
 Traditional PR Perspective

Customers

Community Investors

Public Relations
Department

Suppliers Government

Employees
 Cont’d...
 Marketing Public Relations (MPR) Functions
Thomas L. Harris has referred to public relations
activities designed to support marketing
objectives as marketing public relations (MPR)
functions.
 Marketing objectives that may be aided by public
relations activities include raising awareness,
informing and educating, gaining understanding,
building trust, giving consumers a reason to buy,
and motivating consumer acceptance.
 MPR adds value to the integrated marketing
program in a number of ways:
 Building marketplace excitement before media advertising
breaks.
 Creating advertising news where there is no product news.
 Introducing a product with little or no advertising
 Providing a value-added customer service
 Building brand-to-customer bonds
 Influencing the influential's-that is, providing information
to opinion leaders.
 Defending products at risk and giving consumers a reason
to buy.
 Cont’d...
 Harris notes that there are a number of
advantages of using MPR:
• It is a cost-effective way to reach the market.
• It is a highly targeted way to conduct public relations.
• It benefits from the endorsement of independent and objective
third parties who have no association with the product.
• It achieves credibility.
• It supports advertising programs by making messages more
credible.
• It breaks through the clutter.
• It circumvents consumer resistance to sales efforts.
 Cont’d...
 He also notes that there are disadvantages,
including the following:
 There is a lack of control over the media.
 It is difficult to tie in slogans and other
advertising devices.
 Media time and space are not guaranteed.
 There are no standard effectiveness measures.
 Lee’s PR Principles
1. Tell the truth
2. Provide accurate facts
3. The public relations director must have access
to top management and must be able to
influence decisions
 The Process of Public Relations

Determining and Evaluating Public Attitudes

Measuring Program Effectiveness

 i. Determining and Evaluating
Public Attitudes
 You’ve learned that public relations is
concerned with people’s attitudes toward the
firm or specific issues beyond those directed at
a product or service. The first question you
may ask is why.
 Why is the firm so concerned with the public’s
attitudes?
 One reason is that these attitudes may affect
sales of the firm’s products.
 Determining public attitudes
Environmental
scanning

Market Techniques Market

research intelligence

Communications Media monitoring

from customers services
 The Reasons of conducting Research on Public
Attitudes……includes

Provides input for the Serves as an “early

planning process warning system”

Increases communications Secures internal

effectiveness cooperation, support
 ii. Establishing a PR Plan
 The public relations process is an ongoing one,
requiring formalized policies and procedures
for dealing with problems and opportunities.
 Just as you would not develop an advertising
and/or promotions program without a plan,
you should not institute public relations efforts
haphazardly.
 Cont’d...
 Cutlip, Center, and Broom suggest a four-step
process for developing a public relations plan:
(1) define public relations problems;
(2) plan and program;
(3) take action and communicate; and
(4) evaluate the program
Ten questions for evaluating public relations plans

1. Does the plan reflect a thorough

understanding of the company’s business
situation?
2. Has the PR program made good use of
research and background sources?
3. Does the plan include full analysis of
recent editorial coverage?
4. Do the PR people fully understand the
product’s strengths and weaknesses?
5. Does the PR program describe several
cogent, relevant conclusions from the
research?
 Cont’d….

6. Are the program objectives specific and

measurable?
7. Does the program clearly describe what the PR
activity will be and how it will benefit the
company?
8. Does the program describe how its results will be
measured?
9. Do the research, objectives, activities, and
evaluations tie together?
10. Has the PR department communicated with
marketing throughout the development of the
program?
iii. Developing and Executing the
PR Program
 Because of the broad role that public relations
may be asked to play, the PR program may
need to extend beyond promotion.
 A broader definition of the target market,
additional communications objectives, and
different messages and delivery systems may
be employed.
a) Determining Public Relations Audiences

Internal or Associated

Stockholders and
Investors

Customers and Clients

Employees

Community Members

Vendors and Suppliers

a1) Communicating With Target Audiences

Internal or Associated External or Independent

Newsletters Public relations ads

Press releases
Bulletin boards

Direct mail Conferences

Annual reports Research reports

 b) Implementing the PR
Program
 Once the research has been conducted and the
target audiences identified, the public relations
program must be developed and delivered to
the receivers. A number of PR tools are
available for this purpose, including press
releases, press conferences, exclusives,
interviews, and community involvement.
PR Tools to implement …..

Press Conferences

PR Tools
Advantages of Public Relations

PR
Provides
Avoidance of
Clutter

Lead Generation
 Potential Problems of Public Relations

Potential Receiver not making connection to the

Problems source
 iv. Measuring the Effectiveness of PR
 As with the other promotional program elements,
it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of the
public relations efforts. In addition to determining
the contribution of this program element to
attaining communications objectives, the
evaluation offers other advantages:
1. It tells management what has been achieved through public
relations activities.
2. It provides management with a way to measure public relations
achievements quantitatively.
3. It gives management a way to judge the quality of public relations
achievements and activities.
Measuring PR Effectiveness

Contributions made?

What was achieved?

Quantitative measures?

Quality?
 Criteria for Measuring PR Effectiveness
 A system for measuring the effectiveness of the public relations
program has been developed by Lotus HAL. The criteria used in
the evaluation process follow:
• Total number of impressions over time
• Total number of impressions on the target audience
• Total number of impressions on specific target audiences
• Percentage of positive articles over time
• Percentage of negative articles over time
• Ratio of positive to negative articles
• Percentage of positive/negative articles by subject
• Percentage of positive/negative articles by publication or reporter
• Percentage of positive/negative articles by target audience
Additional Measures of PR Effectiveness

Personal observation and reaction

Matching objectives and results

The team approach

Management by objectives

Public opinions and surveys

Audits
 Publicity versus Public Relations

Publicity:
The generation of news about a person, product, or service that appears in the media

A short-term strategy

A subset of public relations

Not always positive

Often originates outside the firm

 Pros and Cons of Publicity

Advantages Disadvantages

Timing difficult or impossible to

Substantial credibility control

Inaccuracy, omission, or distortion

News value
may result

Significant word-of-mouth

Perception of endorsement by media

 Corporate Advertising

An extension of the PR function

Does not promote a specific product or service

Image Assuming a position

Seeks involvement
enhancement on an issue or cause
Why is corporate advertising controversial?
A number of reasons are offered:...
 Consumers are not interested in this form of
advertising
 It’s a costly form of self-indulgence
 The firm must be in trouble
 Corporate advertising is a waste of money
 Objectives of Corporate
Advertising
 Corporate advertising may be designed with
two goals in mind: (1) creating a positive
image for the firm and (2) communicating the
organization’s views on social, business, and
environmental issues. More specific
applications include:
 Cont’d...
• Boosting employee morale and smoothing labor
relations.
• Helping newly deregulated industries ease consumer
uncertainty and answer investor questions.
• Helping diversified companies establish an identity for
the parent firm rather than relying solely on brand
names.
As these objectives indicate, corporate advertising is
targeted at both internal and external audiences and
involves the promotion of the organization as well as
its ideas.