INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC RELATIONS

Definitions, Roles, and Functions of Public Relations

INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC RELATIONS

Definitions of Public Relations

Public = (all) society ?

Public

Internal:

The staff & their families, the management (CEO, managers, stockholders)

External:

Customers/consummers, NGOs, government, banks, mass media, etc

What is Public Relations?

Rex Harlow (PR educator) collected some definitions:

PR = good performance, respected by public

PR = Performance & Recognition

PR = work well; hence, get a compliment.

PR = actions taken to support beneficial relationship with general public.

PR = efforts of an organization to gain a cooperation from a group of people.

John E. Marston:

Public relations is planned, persuasive communication designed to influence significant public.

Frank Jefkins:

Public relations is a system of communication to create a goodwill.

Tony Greener:

Public relations is a positive presentation of an organization towards its overall public.

Grunig & Hunt:

Public relations is communication management between an organization and its public.

The First World Forum of PR:

Public relations practice is the art and knowledge about process of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, giving counseling to organizations leaders, and implementing planned programs in order to serve the organization and public interest.

Cutlip, Center & Broom:

Public relations is the management functions that build and maintain good and beneficial relationship between an organization and public which influence the success or the loss of the organization.

Important concepts in PR definitions

PUBLIC RELATIONS

PR GOALS

FUNCTIONS

PR MEDIA (PR TOOLS)

PR WRITING

PR WORKING AREAS

PR GOALS

Creating a mutual understanding between a corporate and its publics

Building the corporate image

Building a favourable public opinion

Building goodwill and cooperation

Creating a mutual understanding between a corporate and its public

Well-informed information between both sides to avoid misperception

A corporate must realize the real condition of its public:

Who are my public?; Do they know me?; How are their perceptions about me?

What do I do?; Why I do it?

How am I different fom my competitor?

Public must be well-informed about:

What has the company done or will do?

What are its products?

Is it committed to support publics interest?

Example: info about a companys future plan

Source: SURYA, 13 February 2012

Example: info about a companys future plan

Source: SURYA, 11 February 2012

Well-informed information will be reached if there are open communication and two-way reciprocal communication.

How to create it? employee relations

Openly give info about the corporates vision, mision, management and recent condition, employees rights, etc.

Become the facilitator/ mediator of communication between the corporate and its public, e.g: employees motivation, productivity, complaints, suggest opinon box, etc.

Getting information by fact-gathering, formal and informal, such as regular meeting, managing by walking around, holding informal events, and making a bulletin.

Building the corporate image

Image is a description that appears in publics mind about the corporate its service, products quality, culture, individuals, etc.

To change publics behavior:

Hostility

Prejudice

Apathy

Ignorance

Sympathy

Acceptance

Interest

Knowledge

Positive image good credibility

Good credibility:

Expertise

Trustworthy

Corporate image is the whole image built from the corporates components (product quality, export success, financial health, employees attitude, social responsibility of the environment, etc.)

Corporate image is begun from its identity: name/ company logo, employee uniform, company profile, and non-physical identity such as the corporates philosophy as well as work and communication style.

Example of negative attitude to positive (surat pembaca)

Source: SURYA, 13 & 27 February 2012

Notebook Asus Baru atau Bekas?

The relation between corporate identity and corporate image (according to Smith):

CORPORATE IDENTITY:

Products & Services (customer care, product quality)

Social responsibility, ethical behavior, and community affairs

Environments (office, showrooms, factories)

Communications (advertisements, brochures, etc)

CORPORATE IMAGE

PR activities can be considered as:

Method of communication PR division with various planned programmes led by PR manager.

Technique of communications everybody is a PR ; You are PR on yourself.

Corporate image through CSR programs:

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is PR program to involve the corporate in solving social problems around its environment.

CSR is a long-term commitment of a corporate to strengthen its products brand.

Example: PT Sampoerna, PT Carrefour Indonesia, PT Lapindo (low crediblity)

Example of a corporates new program & CSR

Source: SURYA, 24 February 2012

Building favourable public opinion

There are 3 kinds of opinions:

Positive opinion (favourable/ supportive)

Negative opinion

Neutral opinion

Persuasive communication done by PR:

To maintain favourable opinion

To create opinion where none exist or where it is latent

To neutralize hostile opinion

(qtd from Public Relatins: the Profession and the Practice by Otis Baskin et al)

Building goodwill and cooperation

On this level, PR goal is already on the real action, e.g: supporting the safety-riding program, being loyal to a certain product, etc.

Goodwill and cooperation can be achieved because of the continuous initiative by a corporates PR to build trust and understanding between the corporate and its publics, followed by real action commitment.

PR is an activity to communicate 5 W + 1 H :

WHO are we?

WHAT do we do?

WHY do we do it?

WHEN do we do it?

WHERE can public get information about us?

HOW are we different from our competitor?

PR FUNCTIONS

In general PR functions are as follow:

To maintain good communication

To serve publicss interest

To maintain good morals and manners

According to Cutlip and Center:

To support management activities and reach organizations goals.

To create two-way reciprocal communication by spreading information from the company to public and to channel public opinion into the company.

To serve public and give suggestions to the corporate leaders.

to maintain good relationship between the corporate and its publics, internally as well as externally.

According to PR practitioners in Foundation for PR Research and Education, PR is management function which roles are:

To establish and maintain mutual lines of communications, understanding, acceptance, and cooperation between an organization and its publics.

To involve the management of problem and issues.

To help management to keep informed on and responsive to public opinion.

To define and emphasize the responsibility of management to serve public interest.

To help management to keep abreast of and utilize change.

To serve an eraly warning system to help anticipate trends.

To use research and ethical communication techniques as its principal tools.

PR WORKING AREAS

Simply, PR working areas can be abbreviated into PENCILS (Kriyantono, Public Relations Writing, 2011):

Publication & Publicity

Events

News

Community involvement

Identity-Media

Lobbying

Social investment

Cutlip, Center & Broom categorize PR working areas as follow:

Writing & editing compose news release, features, annual report, message on website and other online media.

Media relation & media placement contact the media (newspapers, magazines, freelance writers) to publish the news of the organization.

Research collect public opinions, trends, and issues, and also design a research program, survey, and hire research company.

Management and administration

Counselling

Special events

Speech

Production

Training

Contact

PR TOOLS

To conduct its work, PR has some tools:

Publicity and media relations: press release, press conference, press tours, press party, media gathering.

Special events: open house/ company visit, fund-raising, trade-shows, award ceremonies, contests, seminars.

Corporate advertising: ads to support marketing.

Newsletters: means of two-way communication with the publics.

Speaker bureau (one door system of information)

Lobbying: negotiation with government and NGOs.

Charitable contributions

Thank you notes and letters

Audio-visual instrument

Sponsorships

Letters of denial

PROFESSIONAL PR

PR is a profession that demands integration between expertise, skill, and ethics.

PR demands 3B: beauty, brain, behavior.

According to theory of interpersonal communication, physical attractiveness determines peoples attention towards the message delivered the more attractive the communicator is, the more persuasive he/she is to the public.

Skills that PR must have:

Writing

Organization communication

Management of crisis & issue

Research

Theoretical concept and applications of the fields above.

Eventually, all PR activities are focused on the harmonization of the organizations daily operations:

Honest communication for credibility

Openness and consistency of actions for confidence

Fairness of action for reciprocity and goodwill

Continuous two-way communication to prevent alienation and to build relationships

Environmental research and evaluation to determine the actions or adjustments needed for social harmony

SUMMARY

PR practices include:

Everything to develop mutual understanding between an organization and publics, internal and external.

Covering and eliminating the sources of any misunderstanding.

Expanding influence of an organization through publicity, advertisemnet, exhibition, film, etc.

PR is NOT:

Resistor between truth and public

Propaganda

Publicity directed to selling

Only press-relations activities

Free advertisements

Tricky efforts.

Topic for discussion

Mention 10 words that characterize the main elements of PR.

Mention 10 activities/events that often involve PR practitioners.

Among so many definitions of Public Relations, choose one that you think is the most comprehensive/ satisfying one, and discuss your reason.

Discuss the difference between PR and advertising.