What is Public Relations?

1
What is Public Relations?

• Chapter 1

2
Public Relations a challenging career with
plenty of variety

• Two examples of PR pros and what they do at start
  of chapter (p.2)
• Nationally, 200,000 people work in the field
  (according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor
  Statistics).
• PR has been rated as one of the nations fastest
  growing industries, according to the U.S. Bureau
  of Labor Statistics.

• Fortune Magazine survey ranks PR No. 8 on a list
  of Where the best jobs will be.
• Globally, there are 155 national and regional PR
  associations with a membership of 137,000.

3
PR American Style

• The PR field is most extensively developed in the
  US where organizations spend an estimated 141
  billion annually on PR, in-store promotions,
  direct mail, and sponsorships with another 176
  billion spent on advertising, according to
  estimates.
• PR is expected to grow almost 9 percent by 2008,
  more than any other communications practice
  except event planning and sponsorships.
• In the U.S. organizations spend an estimated 10
  billion annually in PR activities.
• In the U.S. almost 200 universities have
  sequences or majors in PR and about 80 European
  universities also offer studies in PR.
• C of C has a sequence in PR within the
  Communication Dept.
• C of C also has a chapter of the Public Relations
  Student Society of America, one of only two such
  chapters in the state.

4
Worldwide Growth

• PR activities and spending are also growing in
  Europe and even more so in Asia, particularly
  China were the economy is growing at the rate of
  10 percent annually.

5
DEFINING PUBLIC RELATIONS

• People often think of PR in terms of its most
  visible techniques and results publicity in a
  newspaper, a TV interview with an organizations
  spokesperson, or the appearance of a celebrity at
  a special event.

• PR is a process involving many subtle and
  far-reaching aspects.
• It includes research and analysis, policy
  formation, programming, communication, and
  feedback from numerous publics.

6
DEFINING PR (contd)

• Its practitioners operate on two distinct
  levelsas advisers to their clients or to an
  organizations top management and as technicians
  who produce and disseminate message in
  multi-media channels.

• PRSA definition13 words Public relations
  helps an organization and its publics adapt
  mutually to each other.
• Review key words on pages 6-7 deliberate,
  planned, performance, public interest, two-way
  communication, management function.

7
PR as a Process

• The RACE acronym--Research, Action, Communication
  (execution) and Evaluation (p. 9)
• PR is a process, a series of actions, changes, or
  functions that bring about a result.

• A popular way to describe the process, and to
  remember its components, is RACE first used in
  The Nature of Public Relations by John Marston.
  
• Definitions of PR people as linking agents and
  boundary spanners who act to transfer
  information between two systems.

8
Other terms for Public Relations

• To describe the public relations function within
  corporations, corporate communications is the
  most common name, according to a survey of the
  nations 500 largest corporations, used by 165
  companies. Public relations used by 64.
• Other names are public affairs, communication,
  corporate relations, and corporate public
  affairs.

• Social service agencies, universities and
  government agencies like public information or
  community relations, names which dont imply
  the persuasive nature of PR communication. The
  military likes public affairs.
• C of C used to use College Relations but is now
  Marketing and Communications.

9
Less Flattering Terms and Stereotypes

• Sex in the City reference, Samantha, the Kim
  Cattrall character, owns a PR agency depiction
  on glamour, no heavy lifting or routine
  functions
• And the old Michael J. Fox series, Spin City,
  as the devious and manipulate deputy mayor/press
  secretary
• A 1993 study found that PR was consistently
  equated with manipulation of the truth to a
  dubious end but a more recent study of the
  medias portrayal of PR is more favorable
• flacks and spin doctors

10
Specific PR jobs and roles(pages 10-11)

• Counseling
• Research
• Media relations
• Publicity
• Employment/
• member relations
• Community relations
• Public affairs
• Government affairs

• Issues management
• Financial relations
• Industry relations
• Development/fund-raising
• Special events
• Marketing communications
• Multicultural relations/workplace diversity

11
THE RANGE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

• Major areas of PR work include corporations
  nonprofit organizations entertainment, sports,
  and travel government and politics education
  and international public relations

12
INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS (IMC)

• The trend is toward more comprehensive planning
  involving a variety of communication
  disciplinesPR, advertising, marketing, sales
  promotion, direct responseand combines these
  disciplines to provide clarity, consistency and
  maximum communication impact.

13
Reasons for IMC trend

• Downsizing and reengineering of
  organizationsmany have combined departments and
  reduced staff dedicated to various communication
  disciplinesmeaning one department, fewer
  employees, expected to do a greater variety of
  communication tasks
• Marketing and Communications Departments are
  making do with tighter budgets.

14
Publicists and Press Agents Whats the
Difference?

• Publicists deal exclusively with placement of
  stories in the media.
• Press agents are also specialists who concentrate
  on finding unusual news angles and planning
  events or happenings that attract media
  attention.

15
HOW PR DIFFERS FROM JOURNALISM, ADVERTISING,
MARKETING

• These are important distinctions to make and
  understand
• Journalism and PR differ in scope, objective,
  audience and channels- journalism serves the
  public, and PR services clients/causes
• Advertising is paid for PR utilizes free media
  opportunities and outlets
• Marketing is concerned with customers and selling
  products and services PR is concerned with
  building relationships and generating goodwill
  for the organizations

16
Five Essential Abilities

• Writing skills
• Research ability
• Planning expertise
• Problem-solving ability
• Business/economics competence

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10 QUALITIES THAT EMPLOYERS WANT (page 28)

• Good Writing
• Intelligence
• Cultural Literacy
• Know a good story when you see one
• Media Savvy
• Contacts

• Broad Communication Experience
• Specialized Experience
• Avoid Career Clichés

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FINALLY.

• Take the PR Personality Checklist on page 31!
• Homework due next Thursday Read Chapter 1. On
  pages 30-31 type responses to these Questions for
  Review 2, 7, 8, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 24
• Remember no class Tuesday, Jan. 15