Public Relations

Public Relations

1. Pages 283 to 297

2. “Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

3. public relations also encompasses the following: Anticipating, analyzing and interpreting public opinion, attitudes and issues that might impact, for good or ill, the operations and plans of the organization. Counseling management at all levels in the organization with regard to policy decisions, courses of action and communication, taking into account their public ramifications and the organization’s social or citizenship responsibilities. Researching, conducting and evaluating, on a continuing basis, programs of action and communication to achieve the informed public understanding necessary to the success of an organization’s aims. These may include marketing; financial; fund raising; employee, community or government relations; and other programs. Planning and implementing the organization’s efforts to influence or change public policy. Setting objectives, planning, budgeting, recruiting and training staff, developing facilities — in short, managing the resources needed to perform

4. "An organisation’s publics are internal and external and include all those affected by its operations— customers, the general public, shareholders, government, media, suppliers, employees, activist groups, financial community and distributors.

5. "Stakeholders are those individuals or groups affected by the behaviour of the organisation.

6. "four models of public relations proposed by Grunig and Hunt: 1) "Press agentry/publicity model n - Employs one-way communication n - Uses persuasion and manipulation to influence audience to behave as the organisation desires. 2) "Public information model - Employs one-way communication; Uses press releases and other one-way communication techniques to distribute organisational information; Often refers to the public relations practitioner as the ‘journalist in residence. 3) "Two-way asymmetrical model - Gathers feedback from the audience; Uses persuasion and manipulation to influence the audience to behave as the organisation desires; Researches to reveal how to persuade the audience. 4) "Two-way symmetrical model - Engages in two-way communication; Uses communication to negotiate with publics to resolve conflict and promote respect between the organisation and its publics; Aims to understand one another’s point of view.

   • "Those organisations that apply the two-way symmetrical model of public relations interact with their publics ‘to serve the public interest, to develop mutual understanding between organisations and their publics, and to contribute to informed debate about issues in society’

7. "The role of public relations is to build awareness and establish relationships between an organisation and its key audiences. "The long-term objective of public relations is to create a favourable image of the organisation and to build a lasting relationship between the organisation and its publics.

8. "In large organisations public relations is managed as a strategic function within one department under the control of a director or senior-level manager who has access to other senior managers and the authority to engage in organisational-wide decision making. Accountability is vested in the department to integrate, manage and coordinate public relations functions, programs and communication activities across the organisation.

9. "The wide variety of public relations objectives include to: explain and interpret the organisation’s policies, practices and type of business operation to its publics; focus on the type and quality of service given by the organisation; explain and interpret to management the opinions and attitudes held by the public towards the company; guide management to decision making that presents a positive image to the organisation’s publics; personalise the company by presenting a recognisable image with which its publics can identify manage potential issues between the organisation and its publics before conflict emerges; remove the cause of any problems affecting the organisation’s publics; encourage and persuade public acceptance of the organisation’s presence, image, products and services.

10. "The techniques used in campaigns include product launches, press conferences, media seminars, press and social media releases, press kits, podcasts, Internet placement, social networking, entertainment product placement (television, events, celebrity), speechwriting and establishing partnerships.

11. "Corporate social responsibility is the management of an organisation’s impact on society and the environment and the alignment of the organisation with society’s and stakeholders’ expectations. "Corporate social responsibility is driven by a number of factors including globalisation and market forces, ethical consumerism, social awareness and education, laws and regulations, crises and the demands of an organisation’s publics.

12. Planning steps to a PR program: "1 Survey to determine public likes, dislikes, preferences or objections to the planned program. 2 Choose a suitable means of communication to inform people in the community of the program. 3 Create a time plan or schedule for special events, local advertising, broadcasts and other communication. 4 Seek the opinion and cooperation of staff. 5 Advertise and publicise in the daily newspaper and on radio and television. 6 Invite opinion leaders, the public and others to open-houses to see the organisation’s activities. 7 Have employees promote the organisation with speeches at local civic lunches, professional societies, school assemblies, church groups and social service organisations.

13. "various elements that may give a story news value: impact, conflict, timeliness, proximity, prominence, currency, human interest, the unusual and money.

14. "A media release (or news or press release) makes an announcement. It can be sent to a range of publics including financial, government, citizen-action, local, general and internal. "A media release aims to attract attention. Changes in personnel, expansion, opening a new operation or moving to a new site can be announced as a media release.

    • "The order of information is: 1) a lead or opening paragraph that summarises the main facts—who, what, where, when, why and how 2) news of secondary importance 3) reiteration and explanation.
    • "The media release is most effective when less than 500 words (generally, two to three paragraphs). The first paragraph should grab the reader’s attention and contain the most relevant information. Paragraphs two and three should contain more detail and keep to the point. The concluding paragraph restates and summarises the key points of the media release. End with the characters ‘###’ or type ‘END’. "Never use capitals, with the exception of for immediate release, embargo or end. Spell out & or % and abbreviations such as ‘St’, ‘Vic’ and ‘Qld’. Never use underlining.

15. News conference - points to consider: when to hold the news conference ; who to invite; how to invite: fax, mail, email; where to hold the conference; how to set it up; supplying visuals; keeping a list of costs; after the conference, contacting absent media.

16. Blogs - "useful way to give bloggers early access to news and information: (see page 294)

17. "Some businesses decide to use a special event as a public relations exercise instead of regular advertising. Special events that are suitable for this purpose include: displays and exhibits, such as national and trade fairs; meetings and conferences; telethons; promotions to customers; sponsored community events, such as ‘Surfest’ or ‘Model for Life’; sponsored associations, such as Westpac Regional Rescue Helicopter Operations.

18. "seven steps in the strategic management of public relations: 1) Build a stable long-term relationship—stakeholder stage. 2)research to identify and segment the publics—public stage. 3) Anticipate issues and manage the organisation’s response to them—issue stage. 4) Develop objectives. 5) Plan formal programs and campaigns. 6) Implement the programs and campaigns. 7) Evaluate the effectiveness of the programs in meeting objectives.

19. "A public relations issue is usually defined as something longstanding or predictable that impacts on an industry or a product category. Air pollution and other environmental damage, for example. "Examples of crises include a hazardous material leak, damage to the environment, fire, accident, hostile takeover of a company, copyright infringement, natural disaster that disrupts product or service delivery, malicious rumour, legal actions and product recall.

20. "In a high-transparency organisation there is free-flowing information and communication and a willingness to apply the principles of the two-way symmetrical model—engagement in two-way communication, negotiation and action on feedback—to handle any problem or crisis proactively. The levels of trust are high, and mistakes are seen as learning "opportunities. By contrast, a low-transparency organisation has poor internal and external flows of information and a tendency to ignore, rather than manage, problems or crises. The levels of trust are low, and mistakes are seen as excuses for punishment.

21. Strategies for handling PR issues: "1- Identify the level of risk the issue poses for the company. "2- Scan and monitor the environment actively. "3- Manage, rather than try to ignore or avoid, the issue.