Introduction to public relation

Public Relations (PR) is the way

organisations, companies and
individuals communicate with the
public and media. A PR specialist
communicates with the target audience
directly or indirectly through media
with an aim to create and maintain a
positive image and create a strong
relationship with the audience.
Examples include press releases,
newsletters, public appearances, etc. as
well as utilisation of the World Wide Web.

The world of business is characterised by fierce competition and in order to win

new customers and retain the existing ones, the firms have to distinguish
themselves from the competition. But they also need to create and maintain a
positive public image. A PR specialist or firm helps them both create and
maintain a good reputation among both the media and the customers by
communicating in their behalf and presenting their products, services and the
overall operation in the best light possible. A positive public image helps create
a strong relationship with the customers which in turn increases the sales.

PR aims at creating favourable image of the organisation . still in the business

circles sometimes there appear to be confusion . The main reason for this lack
of understanding PR can be traced in the history of private sector in India .
Apart from the government and governmental organisations , where PR has
thrived as the legacy of British raj , the private sector has not justified its role
in the marking the proper role of PR.

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 DEFINiTIONS

According to institute of public relations , USA:-

Public relations are the

deliberate , planned and
sustained effort to establish and
maintain mutual understanding
between an organisation and its
public.

According to Edward l. Bernays:-

Public relations is the

attempt by information
persuasion and adjustment to
engineer public support for an
activity , cause, movement or
institution.

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 Common PR Tools and Techniques

In order to build a relationship with the target audience and maintain it

on a high level, PR specialists use a variety of tools and techniques.
Some of the most common ones include:

Attendance at public events. In order to attract public attention

and keep it engaged with a particular organisation or an individual,
PR specialists take an advantage of every public event and the
opportunity to speak publicly. This enables them to directly reach
the public attending the event and indirectly, a much larger
audience.

Press releases. Information that is communicated as a part of the

regular TV or/and radio programme, 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 adds. Press release is therefore one of the oldest and most
effective PR tools.

Newsletters. Sending newsletters relevant information about the

organisation 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/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 and recently, microblogging.

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 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 utilised by a growing number of PR specialists
to establish a direct communication with the public, consumers,
investors and other target groups.

Some other tools of PR.

o Advertising
o Radio / tv
o Films/ slides
o Exhibitions/trade fairs
o House journal
o Sponsorship
o Event management
o Plant tour.

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IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC RELATION

Evalutes public attitudes

Formation of policies & procedures

Enhances community relations

Helps in influencing public

Co-ordination and communication of programs

Developing goodwill

Generating annual reports

Managing government affairs

Managing crisis situation

Improvement of internal staff relations

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 Public relations in different sectors
In todays modern and fast world of service industries, where Indian GDP is
54.1% contributed by service sector and which is gaining lots of importance. To
understands the public realtion in services and its functioning as a tool for
management.

According to two American PR professionals scott m. Cutlips and Allen H.

center, PR is a planned effort to influence opinion through good character and
responsible performance based upon mutual satisfactory two way
communication.

Role of public relation manager in different

sectors
Sectors Roles
1. Government organization i. Implementation of public
policy.
ii. Assisting the news media in
govt activities.
iii. Mobilization of support
increasing the agencys
sensitivity to its public.

Sectors Roles
2. NGOs i. To engage heavily in
relationship building.
ii. To enhance social capital.
iii. To distribute knowledge
about their activities among
the society.

3. Education centers i. To maintain internal peace.

ii. To solve dispute of the
students.
iii. To maintain good relations.

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4. Banks i. To maintain customer
employee relations.
ii. To solve internal disputes.
iii. To look after customer
satisfaction.

5. MNCS i. To manage the public

relations activity.
ii. To generate quality media
coverage.
iii. ensuring effective and
positive brand re-
enforcement and image
building.

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PUBLIC RELATION ACTIVITIES

The various stages of the public relations process involve combinations of a

variety of activities

Advertising
Preparation, purchase and placement of purposefully planned and executed
messages in selected media to further the interest of an organization or person.
Persuasive material that is presented to the public as the acknowledged appeal
of an identified party who has paid to have it appear.

Corporate Philanthropy
Recognition of corporate obligations and responsibilities to communities by
making monetary and other contributions to charitable organizations.

Corporate Sponsorship
Providing support to an event or a cause by devoting corporate resources in
exchange for an opportunity to enhance good will, product image and sales.

Development
Fundraising activities and membership drives designed to influence an
organizations relationships with various publics.

External Communications
Controlled and uncontrolled messages disseminated in the mass media as

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 well as other communications media, including pamphlets, brochures, non-
broadcast videos, speeches, etc.

Internal Communications
Planned messages disseminated to employees through a variety of
communications channels, including newsletters, bulletin boards, payroll
stuffers, posters, etc.

Lobbying
Direct attempts to influence legislative and regulatory decisions in
government. In Canada, there are two tiers of lobbyists. According to the
Lobbyists Registration Act, Tier I is for an individual (government relations
consultant, lawyer, accountant, etc.) who, for pay, provides certain types of
lobbying services on behalf of a client. Tier II includes employees whose
jobs involve a significant amount of lobbying for their employers.

Promotion
Using techniques such as events, promos, ads and stunts to create and stimulate
interest in a person, product, organization or cause.

Publicity
General: Information about an organization, person, issue or cause published or
broadcast in the news media because of its value or relevance/importance to the
community or the media outlets audiences. Public Relations: Dissemination of
purposefully planned and executed messages to selected media to further the
interest of an organization or person without specific payment to media.

Public Relations Research

The term public relations research does not describe specific types of research
methodology such as content analysis, public opinion polls or readership
surveys. Instead, the term refers to any type of research that yields data for use
in planning and evaluating public relations efforts. Four basic categories of
public relations research activities are most common: environmental
monitoring, public relations audits, communication audits and social audits.
Public relations research can be formal or informal, primary or secondary,
qualitative or quantitative, etc.

Special Event Management

The use of a project, program, action or happening, generally involving public
participation, to meet overall organizational goals. Special events often are
designed to obtain publicity or other exposure.

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 CORPORATE PR

Corporate PR can have many different platforms including internal and external
functions. Internal functions of corporate PR can range from employee social
media, such as a blog, to an internal newsletter highlighting employee affairs.
External PR for corporations can be vaster and include numerous messages to
various publics. In my experience with Comcast-Spectacor, I worked in
community relations, or CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), which is just
one of the ways corporations exercise public relations. Another, and more
publicized function of PR in corporations, is crisis communications. Crisis
communications is typically executed in-house and is a part of the existing PR
team, however, depending on the size of the company and the severity of the
situation, crisis communications teams can be brought in to asses a particular
case. More recently, corporations are using social media, and social media
contests, to connect and engage their publics.

The main function of corporate PR is to connect with various publics using

means such as press releases, social media, products and events to facilitate the
building and managing relationships. No matter what PR industry you chose
one thing remains the same, knowing your audience is essential to running and
executing an effective PR strategy.

DEFINITION OF CORPORATE PR

Corporate Public Relations as the name implies, businesses are tend to acquire
fame amongst their competitors and the people. The major operate of corporate
pr is to associate with the public through various media like press release, social
media, etc in order to manage their relationships. Targeting the audience and
executing the process effectively will have a massive reach.

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Importance of Corporate Public Relations in Businesses

A corporate entity, like any other individual, exists in a society. It needs to

establish, nourish and maintain relationships with various members of the
society for its existence. For establishing, nourishing and maintaining healthy
and sustaining relationships one needs to communicate effectively and
consistently. Here comes the role of Corporate Public Relations. According to
the book Essentials of Corporate Communication by Cees van Riel and Charles
Fombrun the term Corporate Communication can be defined as the set of
activities involved in managing and orchestrating all internal and external
communications aimed at creating favorable starting points with stakeholders
on which the company depends.

The role of a Public Relations Officer (PRO) in communicating the right

information, in the right way to the right group of people is very crucial. A PRO
must be able to disseminate accurate information on a timely basis to the
concerned group of Public. By doing so he/she will earn reputation,
credibility and authenticity for the respective corporate entity. A PRO deals
with various Publics. Publics include employees, stakeholders, government,
channel partners, educational institutes, media, industry bodies and institutes,
agencies, customers and general public. A PRO is in short the face of a
corporate entity and helps build a Corporate Image that is unique to the
company.

Corporate Public Relations sometimes act like a firefighter for the company. It
emerges as a savior at the time of crisis. It was just because of a strong PR
strategic campaign that the Cadbury worm controversy was put out. Similar is
the case with Nokia battery blast case. A PR campaign begins with the
identification of the problem or challenge, setting the public relations goal and
priorities, and executing the plan efficiently and accuracy. In the process of
executing the PR campaign a PRO must be swift in conceptualizing relevant
messages and disseminate them through proper channels to the concerned party.

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 Functions of corporate Public Relations

Communication Management
Media
Government Affairs
Publicity
Investor Relations
Community Relations
Social Responsiblity
Influencing Public
Managing Employees
Public Affairs

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 Crisis management
Crisis management is the communications management function used to convey
accurate facts and data to the general public and to specific publics during a
crisis situation in order to prevent or minimize negative publicity that could
adversely affect the success of company.

Crisis management involves identifying a crisis , planning a response to the

crisis and confronting and resolving the crisis.

Crisis management is occasionally referred to as incident management,

although several industry specialists such as Peter Power argue that the term
"crisis management" is more accurate.

Public relations practitioners play a crucial role in crises, the same role they
have every day: maintaining and improving their organizations relationships by
effectively communicating with its target audiences. Public relations
practitioners are not normally responsible for resolving the underlying problems
that created a crisis situation. They cannot independently determine their
organizations actions. A public relations units goal during a crisis is to get the
organization through the situation with as little damage to its reputation,
credibility, and key relationships as possible. In some cases, effective crisis
communication can actually enhance an organizations reputation.

DEFINITION OF CRISIS MANAGEMENT

The response to a crisis that affects a company, such as a product recall, a

technology breach, or a legal issue. Crisis Management is the process of
remedying the issue, attempting to diffuse the damage, and the attempts to
retain a company image and credibility.

EXAMPLES OF CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Johnson & Johnson did not share the

same fate as Firestone when crisis
struck the company in 1982. One of
Johnson & Johnson's well-known
products, Tylenol was tampered with.
Someone had been placing cyanide
pills inside of Tylenol bottles, and it
was killing people. Johnson &
Johnson reacted quickly and pulled

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their product off the selves. Instead of suffering long-term damage to their
reputation, Tylenol regained consumer confidence quickly because their crisis
management plan told them to act in the interest of the consumer.

Sometimes crisis management is used to protect a

company from its customers. In 1991, a Pepsi
customer claimed to have found a syringe in a can.
Once the story hit the press, there were numerous
reports of people finding screws, syringes and bolts
in Pepsi cans. The Pepsi Company immediately
denied that this was possible and that these claims
were fraudulent. Pepsi started running ad campaigns
against these incidents saying that they were
"copycats" and Pepsi cans are "99.9% safe." This
gave Pepsi enough time to discover what was
happening. A grocery store surveillance camera
caught a customer placing a syringe in the Pepsi
can. Pepsi now had the proof they needed to refute
the claims that their soda was unsafe to drink.

Cadbury India in the year-2004

Some worms were found in few bars of dairy

milk chocolate. That time Demand for dairy
milk chocolate sharply decrease and customers
loose their confidence in it. But Cadbury India
search the reason behind this incident and they
find the problem of poor packaging. Double
layer packaging launched within 90 days. They
promoted the product by featuring brand
ambassador Amitab bacchan.

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Public Relations Practices in Crisis Management

Public relations events can happen to any company at any time. In some
cases, the public relations exposure is planned. But when a business faces a
public backlash from a scandal or some other negative event, public
relations practices for crisis management must be put into action. The
public relations steps a company takes in crisis management will have long-
term effects on profitability and company growth.

Timing
One of the mistakes that companies sometimes make in a public relations crisis
is waiting too long to address the situation, according to Ellie Whims, writing
on the All About Public Relations website. An effective public relations practice
in crisis management is to recognize the problem as early as possible and begin
working to develop a solution as soon as possible. Do not assume that the
situation will solve itself or that people will forget about it. The sooner you
address the issue the less chance it has of getting out of control.

Honesty
Releasing incorrect or incomplete information to address a crisis situation will
only serve to make the problem worse. It can often work to the company's
advantage to find ways to put a positive spin on a crisis. Releasing a positive
spin on a bad situation can indicate that the company accepts responsibility and
has learned from the experience. But the situation may require the company to
stand up, admit a mistake and present as many pertinent facts as necessary.
Honesty is a public relations practice that can sometimes be difficult, but it is
necessary in diffusing a crisis.
Crisis Procedure

1. Identification of errors: to protect workers and public.

2. Taking emergency steps/procedure:
3. Periodic review of emergency procedures:
4. Preventing media from spreading of wrong news about co. product.
5. Letting media know about the new and everlasting changes in product.
6. The PR should have an immediate communication with companys top
management and even work staff as per the type of crisis.

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 7. After all this the PR should take necessary steps to take the company out
of crisis.

In a crisis situation, a company typically has emergency procedures in

place to protect workers and the public. A periodic review of emergency
procedures to ensure they are adequate and up to date is good business
and good public relations. If a crisis occurs and the company instituted
proper emergency procedures to prevent a problem, that information
needs to be released immediately. If the crisis occurs as a result of
company error, that information will find a way into the media quickly.
The company needs to offset any potential public relations issues by
letting the media know what the company did to prevent the crisis. If
those facts can get out before the accusations of company negligence, that
can put the accusations against the company into question.

Follow Up
Addressing a crisis when it happens with procedural information and
honesty are good practices when addressing the beginning of a crisis. For
the public to regain confidence in the company, the company needs to
release regular updates on the progress of the final resolution to the crisis.
Allow the media to see the progress in your crisis management program
and prepare a statement for the media when the crisis has officially
ended.

Types of Crisis

Crisis refers to sudden unplanned events which cause major disturbances in the
organization and trigger a feeling of fear and threat amongst the employees.

Following are the types of crisis:

1. Natural Crisis
Disturbances in the environment and nature lead to natural crisis.
Such events are generally beyond the control of human beings.
Tornadoes, Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Landslides, Tsunamis, Flood,
Drought all result in natural disaster.

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2. Technological Crisis
Technological crisis arises as a result of failure in technology.
Problems in the overall systems lead to technological crisis.
Breakdown of machine, corrupted software and so on give rise to
technological crisis.

3. Confrontation Crisis
Confrontation crises arise when employees fight amongst
themselves. Individuals do not agree to each other and eventually
depend on non productive acts like boycotts, strikes for indefinite
periods and so on.
In such a type of crisis, employees disobey superiors; give them
ultimatums and force them to accept their demands.
Internal disputes, ineffective communication and lack of
coordination give rise to confrontation crisis.

4. Crisis of Malevolence
Organizations face crisis of malevolence when some notorious
employees take the help of criminal activities and extreme steps to
fulfill their demands.
Acts like kidnapping companys officials, false rumours all lead to
crisis of malevolence.

5. Crisis of Organizational Misdeeds

Crises of organizational misdeeds arise when management takes
certain decisions knowing the harmful consequences of the same
towards the stakeholders and external parties.
In such cases, superiors ignore the after effects of strategies and
implement the same for quick results.

Crisis of organizational misdeeds can be further classified into following

three types:

iii. Crisis of Skewed Management Values

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 Crisis of Skewed Management Values arises when
management supports short term growth and ignores broader
issues.

iv. Crisis of Deception

Organizations face crisis of deception when management
purposely tampers data and information.
Management makes fake promises and wrong commitments
to the customers. Communicating wrong information about
the organization and products lead to crisis of deception.

v. Crisis of Management Misconduct

Organizations face crisis of management misconduct when
management indulges in deliberate acts of illegality like
accepting bribes, passing on confidential information and so
on.

vi. Crisis due to Workplace Violence

Such a type of crisis arises when employees are indulged in violent
acts such as beating employees, superiors in the office premises
itself.

vii. Crisis Due to Rumours

Spreading false rumours about the organization and brand lead to
crisis. Employees must not spread anything which would tarnish
the image of their organization.

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viii. Bankruptcy
A crisis also arises when organizations fail to pay its creditors and
other parties.
Lack of fund leads to crisis.

ix. Crisis Due to Natural Factors

Disturbances in environment and nature such as hurricanes,
volcanoes, storms, flood; droughts, earthquakes etc result in crisis.

x. Sudden Crisis
As the name suggests, such situations arise all of a sudden and on
an extremely short notice.
Managers do not get warning signals and such a situation is in most
cases beyond any ones control.

ix. Smoldering Crisis

Neglecting minor issues in the beginning lead to smoldering crisis
later.
Managers often can foresee crisis but they should not ignore the
same and wait for someone else to take action.
Warn the employees immediately to avoid such a situation.

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Pr in media relations

The relationship between the news media and the PR industry is a complex and
increasingly symbiotic one. The media is the central vehicle for much of the PR
industry's messages. PR practitioners want to place their stories in the news or
other publications and Program. Without being able to do this, PR would lose
one of its main avenues for communication with the public.

The media in turn has become more dependent on PR to supply content to fill
air time or column inches. Whilst newspapers have been steadily shedding staff
over the last couple of decades they have simultaneously managed to produce
ever thicker publications, and the ever growing ranks of PR are happy to help
fill the pages.

The power of the big agencies and spin doctor goes beyond this however. As
the primary point of contact between businesses and the media, PR people can
control access to information which journalists want. This gives them
tremendous leverage in negotiating with journalists, as they are in a position to
refuse information.

Newspapers are withering. Network television has watched audiences decline.

Radio is splintered. Magazines are shrinking. Meanwhile, there are millions of
bloggers and Facebook users, Twitterers and texters and Linked-in business
people. As reporters disappear from traditional media, PR practitioners
are forced to consider and to use social media. But, do they know how and are
they patient enough to make social media effective communications tools for
clients?
Social media present challenges, not the least because they break down
traditional categories of audiences employees, customers, shareholders.

The public and universal nature of social media means all audiences can read
communications intended for any one audience.
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21
Case studies on public relations
Ford India Sparks a PR Crisis Over Ads That Depict Violence
Against Women
Ford Motors India unit found itself in the
middle of a PR crisis today, and if one of
the basic rules for crisis communications
is to disclose everything and disclose it
immediately, then at least Ford India did
that partially right.
But that was about the only thing Ford
Motor Co.s Indian subsidiary did
correctly in an episode that made
international news today.
The company was working with WPPs JWT India agency on a series of ads for
the Ford Figoand a leaked mockup showed women bound and gagged in the
trunk of a car driven by Italian Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Another
showed Paris Hilton with the Kardashians in the trunk. The tagline: Leave your
worries behind with Figos extra large boot.
The ads were never published commercially.
But the entire concept was mind-bogglingly dumb in a country with a series of
horrific incidents of sexual assaults against women.
Ford India said it regretted the incident and called the images contrary to the
standards of professionalism and decency within Ford, adding, "We deeply
regret this incident and agree with our agency partners that it should have never
happened.
The ads were not approved by Ford, according to Business Insider, adding that
the agency made the mockups and posted them to website Ads of the World
without approval. (They have since been removed.)
We take this very seriously and are reviewing approval and oversight processes,

and taking necessary steps to ensure nothing like this ever happens again, Ford
spokeswoman Sethi Deepti told the washingtonpost.com, via email.

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 Case study: Union Carbide

The Bhopal gas tragedy would be a nightmare of a case to handle. At the Union
Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, toxic gases were released. More than 2,000
people died immediately. It is estimated that 8,000 died within the two weeks
following in addition to the approximate 16,000 more who have died from
disease related to the incident. It is said that the crisis was caused by
an sabotage.

From a crisis communications standpoint, getting a good idea of the situation

would have been difficult considering the distance between India and the US
(Hendrix). Considering this, I think a decent job managing the crisis was done.
According to Hendrix, Union Carbide made some very important decisions
early on. The company decided to accept responsibility using an
attachment/forgiveness strategy and provide aid to victims. I think this strategy
was very effective because it showed the public that they were not denying what
had happened and gave people the feeling that Union Carbide would attempt to
take care of the situation.

It also was decided to be available to and share information with the media.
Union Carbide:
Held press conferences
Hosted press tours
Had key people available for interviews
Issued press releases

In the book Public Relations Cases by Hendrix, the fact sheet shown has a large
amount of information and is organized effectively. Although the incident
occurred more than 20 years ago, the same principles apply: short, concise
writing. Included in the fact sheet is information on the incident, the cause, who
is taking responsibility, legalities, settlement information, relief efforts, medical
assistance, medical effects, status of the plant in Bhopal and litigation. There
also is environmental and safety information about the companys safety record,
safety and environmental goals and achievements and improvements made to
training and procedures. Union Carbide also had to keep its internal audiences
informed, which was done through employee news bulletins, employee
publications, video messages, newsletters, annual stockholder meetings and
individual letters and phone calls. Now, Union Carbide would have to worry
about blogs, Twitter and more. From the standpoint of 20 years ago though, this
case was handled probably the best it could have been considering the number
of deaths and distance from the incident.
Source: Public Relations Cases by Jerry Hendrix (1988)

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 Summary
Public in Public relations

Public in public relation is a group of persons to whom the organisation has to

deal or communicate.

From public relations point of view there are two types of public i.e. Internal
and external. Internal consist of staff / workers, while external consist of
customers , shareholders, press, community, government etc.

The important role that a PR has to play is making public (internal + external)
in public relations .

PR in employee relations and communications

No organisation can work without employees . Employees are the most

important persons which make the company to reach its desired level .The
company should train employees about the new techniques or upcoming
techniques which will directly or indirectly lead to organisations/company
benefit. The organisation should provide incentives, facilities to employees.

The success and failure of any organisations much depends on better employer
employee relationship. In this case PR has to play an important role.

The vital tools and techniques for employee relation and communication are-

House journal
Video journal
Electronic newspaper
Notice boards

PR AS A PROFESSION

Profession means any thing which makes a specialized in a specific field.

Professional PR play its important role in almost all the areas , some of those
are

Government institutions, business and industries, education institutions,

hospitals and health care .

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 The code of conducts and ethics in PR

The code of conduct and ethics are very essential for any organisation to run
very efficiently. There are two important association involved in this
connection and those are IPRA , PRSI .

The IPRA stands for international public relation association. It was started
on 1st may 1955. IPRA is having more than 800 members from 15 different
countries. The IPRA is a supreme policy making association for PR
profession at international level. It conduct meetings with different members
from time to time with different countries.

PRSI stands for public relation society of India. The PRSI is informal body
was frame in the year 1958.

To give importance to PR PROFESSION every year in INDIA on 21 st april

is observed as PR day.

CERP Stands for Centre European Des Publiqua. It is an international

association for Pr professionals which has been designed by European countries
for only those countries which follows French language.

House Journal

House Journal is a Publication issued by an industrial undertaking a business

house or a Public service organisation which is not deviced for profit.

Types of House Journal:

Internal House Journal

External House Journal
Internal External House Journal

PR in-Crisis Management

Crisis are time of danger, great difficulty, turning point for better or worse of
any organisation. Due to crisis the management Shareholders, Suppliers,
Distributors, Financers and the public gets effected.

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 Conclusion
Many people perceive public relations as quite less than respectable as clever
strategies to convince the public that something wrong is right. Some see public
relations professionals as manipulators of the public mind, rather than
conveyors of truth. Of course it is possible to use public relations skills to
advance less than noble causes. All too often, we know that bad people and bad
causes are advanced through the adopt use of public relations. Therefore it is
vital that good people with good intentions also master effective public relations
skills.

Remember, too, that public relations is a two way street: not only must you
present your organization to the public, but you must also present the public
back to your organization and colleagues. Help them understand how the public
perceives their actions. The public relations professional is often the conscience
of a company or campaign. Its not always a popular spot to be in, but its an
important job. If done well, your PR work should serve both your organization
and the news media, and also be a valuable contribution to the greater public
good.

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