…

Research in Public relations

By Getahun Ayenw (Mir)
Learning outcomes At the end of this chapter you should be able to:

■ identify the role of research in public relations

practice
■ define and describe both quantitative and
qualitative research approaches
■ apply relevant research methods
■ understand the different theoretical and
practical approaches to evaluation in public
relations. And so on
Structure of topics in this chapter
■ Context of research in public relations
■ Designing research
■ Qualitative vs quantitative research
■ Research methods
■ Designing research instruments
■ applications Research in public relation
 Requirements to conduct PR research
• First, it should be driven by the same general
organizational research assumptions that drive other
organizational areas.
• Second, public relations research must address
achievable and measurable goals.
• Third, research has specific uses that should match
those goals.
• Fourth, public relations research should be
programmatic rather than one-shot case-by-case
instance driven.
• Finally, public relations departments need to have the
budget and resources to carry out this research.
 Definitions PR research
Research in PR as ‘the systematic gathering of infor
mation or data from different source:-
( may be primary and secondary source of data) to
describe and understand situations and to check out
assumptions about publics and public relations conse
quences”.
And systematic gathering of information or data from
different source (may be primary and secondary
source of data) to describe and understand the
publics opinion towards organization , the PR
practioner by them self gather information from the
public to build positive image of the organization .
 Cont…
• Research is the key to any successful public
relations, communications and/or marketing
efforts, not only in the business world, but also
in the non-profit and government sectors.
• Without research, those who administer public
relations, public affairs, promotional, and
related communications programs and
activities for their organizations would be
operating in the dark, without any guidance or
clear sense of direction.
 So what
• So the key definition Public Relations Research, as
the name implies, focuses on the entire public
relations process and examines the communications
relationships that exist among and between
institutions and their key target audience groups.
• a useful definition of public relations research is that
it is an essential tool for fact and opinion gathering --
a systematic effort aimed at discovering, confirming
and/or understanding through objective appraisal
the facts or opinions pertaining to a specified
problem, situation, or opportunity.
 Type of data for PR research
• Information or data can be gathered in two basic
ways: through primary or secondary research.
• Primary research data that generates from
specific case through under investigation.
• Primary data are directly retrieved (‘in the field’)
from the research object through empirical
research methods
• Interview focus group, survey, content
analysis or observation (Wimmer and Dominick
2003).
 Type of data
• Secondary research data in contrast, uses data that
have already been gathered, are available through
different sources and can be analyzed sitting at the
desk as opposed to gathering data ‘in the field’
(Neumann 2001).
• The term ‘secondary’ implies that somebody else has
already collected this information through primary
research and documented the results in various
sources. A specific type of secondary research is ‘data
mining’, which is the exploration and analysis of
existing data with reference to a new or specific
research problem.
 Cont…
• Secondary data are available from many
different sources like libraries,
government records, trade and
professional associations, as well as
organizational files.
 Cont…
• •Most PR research today is for planning 
of
programs and activities, rather than for
measuring and evaluating PR outcomes.
• Research is an integrated part of public
relations management, which means that
it should be included in each step of the
public relations process.
Dear student explain the need of research in PR
 “needs” for conducting public relations
research
 Most public relations/public affairs officers have
come to recognize the following as real “needs” for
conducting public relations research:
• -- To collect information that public relations
professionals need to have and to know to do their
jobs more effectively.
• -- To obtain benchmark data regarding the views of
key target audience groups.
• -- To plan, develop, or possibly refine a public
relations, public affairs or marketing
communications program or activity.
 Need of research in PR cont…
• -- To track or monitor programs, activities or events that are
or can be important to the institution.

• -- To evaluate the overall effectiveness of a particular public

relations or public affairs program or activity, by measuring
outputs and outcomes against a predetermined set of
objectives.

• -- When facing a sudden and unexpected crisis, to put the

issues involved into proper perspective through emergency
monitoring or polling.
 Need of research in PR cont…
• Increase awareness among your aim
audience.
• Build brand credibility and trust by
providing information that is fastened in
research .
• Create data used to maintain a constant
flow of news about the company and its
goods.
Guides in public relations research
In doing public relations research we have to guide research by:
■ defining the research problem (what to research)
■ choosing a general research approach (qualitative or
quantitative)
■ deciding on research strategy (primary or secondary research)
■ selecting the research method (survey, content analysis, focus
group, etc.)
■ deciding on the research instruments (questions in a
questionnaire or categories in a content analysis)
■ analysing the data (e.g. Wimmer and Dominick 2003)
 Designing research in PR
• After identifying questions that help assess the
initial situation, we have to decide how to
research them. This demands a research plan
that answers the following questions:
■ What types of data are of interest?
■ Which research approach should be followed:
qualitative or quantitative research?
■ Which research methods are appropriate?
■ How should the research instruments be
designed?
 Types of research in PR
• Primary and Secondary Research
There are really only two types of public relations
research
 Primary, which involves doing an original study,
and
Secondary, which involves examining data
already available, Start out with a review of
what’s already been done. That’s called doing a
literature search and secondary analysis.
 Research methods in PR
• As much as possible use the term research method as
Approaches of research in PR.
• Qualitative and quantitative research approaches are
complementary and should be combined rather than
used as alternatives.
• The main research methods used in public relations
research and evaluation are:
■ qualitative: intensive or in-depth interviews and focus
groups
■ quantitative: surveys and content analysis.
Qualitative vs quantitative research
• Based on definition
• Definition: Qualitative research aims to identify
and explore in depth phenomena such as reasons,
attitudes, etc.
• Definition: Quantitative research aims to quantify
variables such as attitudes or behaviors and points
out correlations between them. Results can be
generalized which means research that generates
findings that can be applied to a wider public or
situation
 Difference based on aim
• Quantitative research usually refers to studies
that are highly aim to be objective and
projectable, using closed-end, forced-
choice questionnaires.
• Qualitative research usually refers to studies
that are somewhat aimed to be subjective,
but nevertheless in-depth, using a probing,
open-end, free response format.
 Based on analyses

• Quantitative research studies tend to analyses rely

heavily on statistics and numerical measures.

• Qualitative research studies tend to analyses the data

based on structured word description , and doesn't

include any of number analyses. The overall analyses'

is expressed by word or sentences .

 Based on data collection tequniques

Qualitative data collection tequniques

• The data collection methodologies that usually
pop quickly into mind are focus groups
(FGD)and depth interview studies,,
observation
• Focus groups are an exploratory technique in
which a group of somewhere between 8 and
12 individuals.
 Cont…
• Quantitative studies can be carried out using
different data collection techniques, including the
following: Questionaries' & surveys.
• Surveys may be via …. Through
 via e-mail
 Fax
 face-to-face interviewing
 mail
 telephone and web-sites
 Finally what PR practioner do

After completing methodologies and techniques of

PR research must be conduct communication audit .
 Communications Audit: A systematic review and
analysis using accepted research techniques and
methodologies of how well an organization
communicates with all of its major internal and
external target audience groups
Cont…
 TYPES OF RESEARCH
• There are three main types of research:
• A) basic scientific research. Add to the existing
body of knowledge; which goals to determine
and discover the unknown and known
development and enhancement of human
knowledge without seeing the cumulative and
growing economic returns. Doesn’t necessarily
provide results of immediate, practical use
 Type cont…
• B) Applied research. which aims to exploit the results in
economic benefits, whether in the form of goods or
services or means of institution and management problems
or solutions in place.
• C) Action research The third way of research what was
the purpose of research and improvement to determine the
unknown and exploitation, and the improvement of what is
on it.
 Lets continue

•In fact
 TYPES OF RESEARCH IN PR

• There are two types of research in PR i.e

Formative and Evaluative Research.
• Public relation Scientists conduct
research both to formulate theories and,
after theories are developed, to evaluate
and improve those theories. So this types
of research in public relation is used
interchangeably.
• both formative and evaluative research should
be used at all four levels of analysis , such as
The program levels.
The functional level.
The organizational level, and
 The societal level.
 Formative research
Public relations departments should conduct
formative research to
 To identify strategic publics,
 To determine how the organization can
communicate best to develop quality
relationships with those publics,
 To develop departmental structures that facilitate
communication with strategic publics,
 And to determine how the organization can align
its behavior with the needs of its publics.
 evaluative research
• Public relations departments should conduct
evaluative research both to pretest and to
posttest those programs, structures, and
organizational policies and behaviors.
 Basic uses of public relations research.
• First, public relations research monitors developments and trends as
part of the department’s environmental scanning function.
• Second, it examines the current public relations position on an issue
or problem.
• Third, it serves to assess communication activities and functions,
such as messaging and corporate credibility, trust, relationships,
reputation and confidence in the organization.
• Fourth, it continuously and systematically measures communication
effectiveness.
• Fifth, it tracks audience perceptions over time.
• Sixth, it looks for gaps in the current research that need filling. And,
• seventh, it evaluates over time the progress made in achieving
organizational goals and objectives and offers suggestions for
improved decision-making
 levels of analysis PR research

• PR organization must be effective at four gradual

levels of analysis:
– (a) the program levels.
– (b) The functional level.
– (c) The organizational level, and
– (d) the societal level.
Effectiveness at a lower level contributes to
effectiveness at higher levels, but institutions cannot
be said to be actually effective unless they have value
at the top of these levels.
 A. The program level:

• refers to individual communication programs such

as media relations, community relations,
customer relations, or employee relations that are
components of the overall public relations
function of an organization.
• Communication programs generally are effective
when they meet specific objectives such as
affecting the cognitions, attitudes, and behaviors
of both publics and members of the organization
—effects that subsequently affect relationships
between the organization and publics.
 B. The functional level:
• Refers to evaluation of the overall public
relations function of an organization, which
typically includes several communication
programs for different publics.
• Even though individual communication
program successfully accomplish their
objectives.
 The functional level cont…
• Mentions to assessment of the overall
relations function of an organization, which
typically includes several programs for
different publics.
• Although individual communication function
might not be effective unless it is combined
into the overall management processes of an
organization and has chosen appropriate
publics and goals for individual programs.
 The functional level cont…
• At the functional level of analysis, a public relations
department should conduct research to evaluate itself
how it is organized and what it does.
• Then it should ask whether the public relations
function is organized in the best way to contribute
maximally to organizational and societal effectiveness.
• Research at the functional level is «benchmarking»
research.
• Typically, benchmarking studies identify organizations
that are believed to be leaders in an area of practice
and then describe how these organizations practice
public relations or some other management function.
 C. The organizational level:
• It refers to the contribution that public relations makes
to the overall effectiveness of the organization.
• Public relations contributes to organizational
effectiveness when it helps integrate the organization’s
goals and behavior with the expectations and needs of
its strategic publics.
• This contribution adds value sometimes, but not
always, monetary value to the organization. Public
relations adds value by building good, long-term
relationships with strategic publics; and research can
be used to monitor and evaluate the quality of these
strategic relationships.
• They can be used both for formative and
evaluative analysis of a public relations
function as prior research that can be used to
plan and organize the function and as a
standard for reviewing the past structure and
performance of the PR function
The organizational level CONT..
• Public relations research at the organizational
level the central concept for planning and
evaluating public relations programs is the
build relationship between the organization
and its publics
• The concept is inherent in the term «public
relations» which means managing
communication to build relationships with
publics..
 organizational level cont…
• At the organizational level, the public relations staff
contributes to strategic decision-making by using
formative research as a means of environmental
scanning to identify publics with which an
organization needs relationships.
• The staff also can do formative research to assess the
quality of relationships with these publics before it
develops specific communication programs to establish,
maintain, or improve relationships with publics.
• Finally, the staff should conduct regular evaluative
research to assess the effects of its communication
programs on these relationships with strategic public.
 D. The societal level:
• it refers to evaluations of the contribution that
organizations make to the overall welfare of a society,
such as through a social responsibility review and
report.
• Organizations have an impact beyond their own
boundaries. They also serve and affect individuals,
publics, and other organizations in society.
• As a result, organizations cannot be said to be
effective unless they are socially responsible; and
public relations adds value to society by contributing
to the ethical behavior and the social responsibility of
organizations.
 The societal level cont…
• Institutions have an impact outside its own
borders; they effect the other organization,
individual and public in social responsibility.
• It could be argued that the public relations
have value when it contributes to
organizational social responsibility
 The societal level cont…
• The value of public relations at the societal level results
from the cumulative impact of what it does at the program,
functional, and organizational levels.
• The value of public relations at the societal level is the
long-term impact of good relationships identified at the
organizational level and cultivated at the program level.
• As a result, research on the quality of relationships also
can be used to establish the contribution of public relations
to society.
• In addition, the public relations function should evaluate
the ethics and social responsibility of the organization and
serve as an ethics counselor to management as part of its
role in strategic management.
 Barriers and challenges
• Barriers and challenges to developing and using effective
research in public relations activities can be summarized as
follows
■ lack of time
■ lack of personnel
■ lack of budget
■ cost of evaluation
■ doubts about usefulness
■ lack of knowledge
■ can expose practitioner’s performance to criticism
■ aversion to scientific methodology.
 Conclusions about research in public
relations
• Public relations should be an integral part of the
management of every organization. The public
relations function helps the organization interact
with the stakeholders in its environment both to
accomplish its mission and to behave in a socially
responsible manner.
• An excellent public relations staff cannot serve
this role, however, unless research and
measurement are an integral part of the function.
 Conclusions about research in public relations
• Formative research is necessary to identify strategic
publics with which an organization needs a
relationship and to determine how to develop and
maintain relationships with those publics.
• Evaluative research is necessary to establish the
effectiveness of public relations programs and their
contribution to organizational effectiveness.
• Public relations functions as a whole can be audited
by comparing them to a theoretical benchmark and
by their contribution to the ethical and socially
responsible behavior of the organization.
 Planning in PR

Contents
• What is planning, why does it matter and what does it cover in PR?

• Planning principles and some popular models

• 14 CHAPTER THREE: How to use AMEC’s Integrated Evaluation

Framework (IEF) as a planning tool

• role of data & insight in PR planning (and some success stories)

• Common challenges for planning

 Planning in PR
• Planning is not (just) writing an executional plan or
writing a timeline. Planning is the discipline that
represents the voice of the consumer.
• NB: for PR, it’s probably more helpful to say the voice
of the audiences – to include a number of ‘publics’
and their influences, as for example PR may have an
‘end’ audience but also several audiences they need
to communicate with in order to influence that end
audience Planning is also responsible for defining the
problem, setting a strategy, evaluating creative work
and guarding effectiveness continuously.
 Factors to be kept in mind for planning
Factors to be kept in mind for planning a PR campaign are: we
called them components of PR planning.
• u Situation Analysis
• u Problem, Challenge or Opportunity Statement
• u Goal
• u Primary Focus (Audience)
• u Objective
• u Strategy
• u Activity
• u Timeline
• u Budget
• u Evaluation
 Situation Analysis
 The Situation Analysis tells the story of the
organization. It is the who, what, when where,
why and how of the organization.
 This is very important because it sets the stage
for who the client is and it gives the reader an
accurate understanding of the situation from
which to develop a public relations plan.
 demonstrates your depth of knowledge of the
organization
 Focused investigation of internal and external
factors
 CONT…
• As a public relations professional, the situation
analysis exhibits your knowledge of the
organization. Public relations professionals
should do an in depth analysis of the
organization before writing something about
their organization .
• They may want to do a communication audit
of both the internal publications as well as an
external analysis of press coverage of the
organization.
 Cont…
• Finally, the situation analysis should provide a
compelling argument for taking action, It
should be forthright about problems,
weaknesses and mistakes but don’t place
blame.
• This analysis should not include solutions or
suggestions but should provide a strong
argument for public relations action.
Rules for Writing situation analyses
 It is your analysis of the situation
 Write the analysis in a conversational style
 Present your analysis in a storytelling format
 Include media history and current media coverage
 Should provide a compelling argument for taking
action
 Should be forthright about problems, weaknesses,
and mistakes but don’t place blame
 Should not include solutions or suggestions but
should provide a strong argument for public relations
action
 Problem, Challenge or Opportunity Statement

• Situation analysis ends with a statement

describing a problem, challenge or opportunity
• It tells what the situation is and why public
relations should be seriously considered.
• Statement should be written after information
has been gathered and the situation has been
analyzed
 Problem cont’
• Statement must focus on communicating with
people
• It should show that a situation exists that
warrants public relations action and an
expenditure of resources
• Statement is a call to action
 Rules for Writing
 Label the statement as a problem,
challenge or opportunity statement
 Write the statement in a conversational
style
 Begin the statement by identifying the
nature of the situation: “There is a
problem…We have a challenge…
 Primary Focus (Audience)
• The primary focus or audience that you will focus
on in your public relations plan is very important.
• The primary focus is important because without
a focus on a particular group of people you can
not create effective strategies and tactics for
your plan.
• One must look at the public relations case before
you and decide who are we trying to reach with
this communication plan.
 Primary Focus (Audience) cont…
• The primary focus is on people. It may be individuals
comprising an organization.
• It could be business or community leaders.
• It may be activists, student or government leaders.
Depending on the case it may be public, private or non-profit
employees or members of organizations
• When you decide on your primary focus, you need to list the
entities, for example women, but not all women, women of
a certain age, of certain socio economic levels, also the writer
needs to explain why each entity is the focus of the plan. The
writer should also provide demographics for each entity and
finally, you need to think through what does each entity have
to gain from the public relations plan.
 Rules for Writing •
• Make the focus people
• • Describe the entities
• • Explain why each entity is the focus of the
plan
• • Provide demographics of each entity
• • What does each entity have to gain from the
plan.
 Goal
• Goals: Longer-term, broad, more global, future
statement of “being.” ƒ
• Example: To become the recognized
leader, foster continuing public support,
etc.
• The condition or state of being described as if
it has already been achieved.
Why is the goal important to reviewers

• To Vision of a desired position or

condition
• A target from which to organize resources
• To Use “to be”
• To Verification that the plan is focused
correctly
• To Provide a measurement of success
 Rules for Writing a Goal
• • Focus on a single aim
• • State the goal in a single sentence and avoid the
temptation of telling what must be done to achieve it
• • Describe the ultimate condition or state of being
desired .
• What do you want the ultimate condition to be as a
result of having executed the public relations plan
successfully?
• • Avoid using an objective for a goal
 objectives
• The objectives are a very important part of the plan.
• An objective tells what must be done, with whom and
why such action is necessary.
• Objectives: Shorter-term, defines WHAT
behavior, attitude or opinion you want to
achieve from specific audiences, how much to
achieve, and when to achieve.
• Objectives should be: Specific, Measurable,
Attainable, Audience Specific, Relevant,
Results (Outcome) Oriented, Time-Specific. o
Create basis for evaluation o Include time-
Objectives are divided into three parts

• Part one objective

• part one tells what action is to be taken.
• Objectives always begin with the word “to.”
For example part one of an objective could be:
“To provide complete information.
 Part two objective
• Tells with whom the action is to be taken
• Includes a target audience
• To provide complete information to journalists
 Part three objective
• Tells the purpose of the objective
• To provide complete information to journalists
so they are able to write articles based on
accurate facts and figures
• Measurable outcome-Did journalists publish
articles?
 Rules for Writing objective
• An objective must have three parts
• Tells what action is to be taken
• Must be preceded by the word to
• Tells with whom the action is to be taken
• Tells why taking action with a particular target
audience is necessary.
• An objective must be measurable
• An objective must be achievable
• An objective may include target date or deadline
• Only include targets over which the plan developer has
complete control
 Strategies and Tactics
• Strategies and tactics are the most important
part of your public relations plan. We call them
the ingredients of public relation planning.
• Without the strategies and tactics the public
relations professional does not have a plan of
what duties to perform to achieve optimum
results.
• They Describe how you will achieve your plan’s
objectives.
 Strategies and Tactics
• Strategies are Road map or approach to reach
objectives and they describe HOW to reach your
objectives.
• Tactics/tools: Specific elements of a strategy or
specific tools, more specifically “show the tequniques
to implement effective public relation planning
• such as conduct Meetings, publications, community
events, news releases, etc. in general Activities which
PR practitioner done are details of tactics.
 Consists of Strategies
• Realistic
• Time
• Energy
• Personnel
• Expertise
• Financial resources available
 Rules for Writing strategy
• Should describe how an objective is going to
be accomplished
• May include a discussion of persuasive
techniques
• May include a discussion of messages or
themes
Steps to accomplish effective public relations
planning
1. Reviewing secondary research and establishing
benchmarks
2. Establishing achievable goals
3. Stating measurable objectives
4. Asking appropriate research questions
5. Employing appropriate research methodologies
6. Conducting programmatic research
7. Having the resources in place and the budget
necessary
 Action in public relation
• The third phase of the public relations plan is where
you actually execute all the actions from your plan.
These are the tactics presenting our strategy.
• Appropriately use tactics?
• Tactics mean the tools you realize your plan, like
writing a press release, organizing a special event,
sending a newsletter, posting on social media, and
more. Tactics are the doing part of public relations.
 Action in public relation cont…
• Some of the most important factors to remember during the
implementation phase are:
• Timetable: Especially for longer-term campaigns, creating a
schedule that describes the specific dates when key processes
will be finished and the next one should start. (Just remember,
the deadlines have to be realistic.)
• Accountabilities: In addition to defining when specific stages of
the plan must be finished by, it’s also important to define who is
responsible for executing them.
• Budget: Make it a point to clearly call out the money assigned to
each part of the campaign. (Update it in real-time as elements
resulted in under- or over-budget.)
 Action in public relation cont…
• The best public relations programs include both
communication and action. The old adage “actions
speak louder than words” is as true for public
relations as it is for other business disciplines.
In adation to this An action is
• Execution of the plan or communicating. ƒ
• Actual messages sent through what channels? ƒ
• How many reached targeted audiences? ƒ
Monitoring tools for execution?
 Evaluation
• Evaluation is the systematic assessment of the impacts
of public relations activities. It a purposeful process,
carried out for a specific audience.
• Audiences include numerous parties that have an
interest in the evaluation – the organisation, the
public relations practitioners involved, target publics
and the evaluators themselves.
• Measuring effects on, and changes in, the targeted
publics’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviour in the
form of out come.
 Cont…
• ‘Evaluation is the systematic assessment of a
program and its results. It is a means for
practitioners to offer accountability to clients –
and to themselves.’
• Evaluation Research: Determines the relative
effectiveness of a public relations program or
strategy, measuring outputs, outgrowths and
outcomes against a predetermined set of
objectives.
Activities during the time evaluation
• ƒ Measure effectiveness of the program
against objectives. ƒ
• Identify ways to improve and give
recommendations for the future. ƒ
• Adjust the plan, materials etc., to going
forward. ƒ
• Can serve as research for the next phase or
program. Or to conduct additional study based
on the existing finding .
Actors that evaluate PR
 Actors that evaluate PR
• In a typical public relations campaign, the
following actors are present: the organisation,
which can commission a public relations
agency to work on its behalf to reach and
communicate with a variety of publics through
the media.
 Cont…
• Out of these four actors, the emphasis has
been on media, and print media evaluation
still dominates the field of evaluation.
• Despite the fact that the world is moving more
and more towards image-based
communication, public relations practice has
been slow to embrace methods of evaluating
TV and other types of image
 Evaluation
• Evaluation is the evergreen topic of the entire
practice and one of the areas where both
practitioners and academics have a vast
common interest.
• Evaluating public relations activities is
essential for many reasons, including
accountability, assessment of programme
effectiveness and professionalism.
 Dimensions of evaluation
• Public relations evaluation can be:
formative,
summative or
goal-free evaluation, depending on the time
of intervention.
Definitions for Dimensions of evaluation
• Formative means the evaluation takes place
during the public relations programme or
campaign.
• Summative means it is conducted at the end of
the programme of activity.
• Goal-free evaluation examines a programme or
campaign after any intervention, in terms of
the situation, not of existing goals or objectives.
 Methods Evaluation in PR
• Evaluation methods Earlier we discussed
surveys, focus groups, interviews and content
analysis as most frequently used methods to
conduct research.
• In addition They are used to evaluate public
relations programmes as well but there are
other methods available for public relations
practitioner.
 Evaluation models in PR
• Evaluation models A number of evaluation models have been
developed to serve as guidelines in terms of what to evaluate and how
to evaluate.
• Most are three-stage models embracing a variety of techniques. Cutlip
et al., ‘stages and levels of public relations programme evaluation’,
represents different levels of a complete programme evaluation:
• We can also possible to say Stages and levels of public relations
programme evaluation (source: Cutlip, Scott M., Center, Allen H.,
Broom, Glen M., Effective Public Relations, 8th Edition, © 2000, p. 437.
Reprinted by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River,
NJ)
 preparation, implementation and impact
Evaluation models in PR
Fundamentals of Public Relations Writing

• Chapter seven
 Public relations tools and technique
• The generation of goodwill, understanding and image building are the
chief objectives of public relations and this is achieved through varied
communication strategies. Some of the most common ones include:
• Attendance at public events: In order to attract public attention and
keep it engaged with a particular organization or an individual, PR
specialists take an advantage of every public event and the opportunity
to speak publicly.
• Press releases: Information that is communicated as part of regular
TV or Radio program, newspapers, magazines and other types of
mainstream media achieves a much bigger impact than
advertisements. This is due to the fact that most people consider such
information more trustworthy and meaningful than paid ads. Press
release is therefore one of the oldest and most effective PR tools.
 Public relations tools and technique
• Newsletters: Sending newsletters-relevant information about the
organization or/and its products/services directly to the target audience is
also a common method to create and maintain a strong relationship with
the public. Newsletters are also a common marketing strategy but PR
specialists use it to share news and general information that may be of
interest to the target audience rather than merely promoting products or
services.
• Blogging: to reach the online audience, PR specialists use the digital forms
of press releases and newsletters but they also use a variety of other tools
such as blogging. It allows them to create and maintain a relationship with
the target audience as well as establish a two-way communication.
• Social media marketing: like its name suggests, it is used primarily by the
marketing industry. Social media networks, however are also utilized by a
growing number of PR specialists to establish a direct communication with
the public, consumers, investors, and other target groups.
 Public relations tools and technique
• Brochures: it is a booklet published by the organization
which contains the organizations background, its ethics,
vision, mission, its past, present and future projects.
• Conferences and seminars: conferences and seminars are
conducted for making people aware about the
organization. the members are contacted through
telephones and asked to attend seminar.
• Websites: a website acts as window for the outside world
to know an organization. So it is designed not just to serve
as a resource for members, but also to present positive
message to non-members who are browsing through.