THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

DEFINING PUBLIC RELATIONS

What is Public Relations?

• How do you understand the term?

• ‘Public relations? Is that working with people? You know, like an air hostess, shop assistant?’

• Problem of defining public relations

• 472 definitions of public relations in 1976

Who Uses Public Relations?

• The Media • Small Business • Internet Companies • The Government • Labor Unions • Big Business  • Sports Teams • Industries • Non-Profit Agencies • Universities • Entertainment Industry  • Politicians • Hospitals

WHAT IS ADVERTISING?• Advertising is paid

nonpersonal communication from an identified sponsor using media channels to persuade or influence an audience

• Advertising is used by:

Business firms,

Nonprofit organizations,

Social Agencies

A COMPARISON BETWEEN PUBLIC RELATIONS AND ADVERTISING

• Public Relations results are are taken in the long-term

• Emphasizes informing, educating and creating understanding through knowledge

• Reports to the general manager

• Free for the space in media

• Has no control over the message (It is the journalist who writes the story)

• Hard to measure

• Advertising results can be taken either in the short-term or long-term, but shorter than PR

• Emphasizes selling

• Reports to the marketing manager

• Purchases space, frequency and time from media

• Advertising controls message (buying space and time)

• Can be measured

THE HISTORY of BUSINESS NEWS

• A newspaper editor or reporter used to ask each store owner: “Any news today?”

• The general store owner might answer: “Tell the ladies that I’ve just received a shipment of new dress fabrics”

SOME PR FUNDAMENTALS

• Key publics of PR: The general public, the employees of the business, the providers of finance, the media, neighbours, regulators

• PR the “credible source” Persuasiveness Objective third party Journalist or broadcaster • Example:Athletic shoe manufacturer L.A. Gear A news report about a lost girl in Tennessee Rescued thanks to lights on her L.A. Twilights sneakers

Public Relations:A Management Function

• Public Relations is not only a marketing function• IMC? Five major communication tools:

Advertising, Personal selling, Sales promotion, Direct marketing, Public Relations

Public Relations:A Management Function

• What sort of decisions does a company make?

• Marketing, product distribution, finance, human resources, acquisitions, relations with the community and government authorities…

• Public Relations provides input for organizational decisions.

Public Relations Practitioners must:Public Relations Practitioners must:Public Relations Practitioners must:Public Relations Practitioners must:

Management to the PublicManagement to the PublicManagement to the PublicManagement to the Public

The Public to ManagementThe Public to ManagementThe Public to ManagementThe Public to Management

andandandand

INTERPRETINTERPRETINTERPRETINTERPRET

A Comparison between Public Relations and Propaganda

• Aims to inform• The identification of the

sender is clear• PR is two way

communication (feedback, dialogue)

• PR cares for public interest

• Has a code of conduct that forbids lying

• Aims to influence• We may not be able to

identify the source• It is one-sided• Cares for the established

objective• It does not have to speak

the truth

The Publics of Public Relations

• A group of people who face a similar problem, organize to do something about the problem, have a stake in an issue, idea, or organization

• The general public, the employees of the business, the providers of finance (banks), potential customers, the media, suppliers, competitors, neighbours, regulators, academic community, labor unions, shareholders, trade associations

The Curse of Spin• Spin is distorting, obfuscating, to

create the appearance of performance

• Public relations professional, who, working for political parties, corporations or pressure groups, do their best to get their client’s message across via the mass media, with one hand pressing the good news, with the other, suppressing the bad.

• Few people have knowledge of policy outside what they hear in the media – if they are becoming increasing distrustful of political ‘spin’ and PR this means they are cutting themselves off from policy debate

Spin Doctor• The film, Wag the Dog• The character played by

Robert De Niro, a fixer• To direct media attention

away from the unpleasant story about the president

• A fictitious war• To show the public that the

president is exercising strong leadership during a time of national crisis.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNo0BicRM8k

The Functions of Public Relations

• Writing: Elemantary public relations skill. Press releases, speeches, brochures…

• Media relations• Planning: Special events, media

events, management functions.• Researching: Attitudes, opinions

which influence behavior and beliefs

• Publicity: Marketing function, unpaid communication about an organization appearing in the mass media

• Issues management: Diagnosing and counseling on issues which are crucial for the organization

• Community relations• Consumer relations• Employee relations• Government affairs: Legislators,

regulators, local, state and federal officials

• Counseling

Halkbank staged a press conference for the economy media in İstanbul’s Çırağan Palace to introduce the Paraf and hosted famous faces from the business world and celebrities from the social scene in a launch cocktail the same evening.

Media RelationsThe right information becomes news when it’s communicated on the right channel at the right time. We manage media relations in observance of ethical rules by means of strategic messages and smart planning through the work of our media team members each of whom is specialized in a different field.

McDonald’s cares about the treatment of animals •Management of issues in the emergence stage versus the crisis stage, anticipatory issues management•A leadership role in improving conditions and operations at suppliers’ facilities•Ensure good animal handling practices•Humane treatment of animals •Suppliers who maintain the highest standards •McDonald’s commitment to animal welfare.

Edward Bernays

Nephew of Sigmund Freud

Psychology and mass psychology for creating the images for governments and corporations to gain consent in a period where aristocratic precedence was beginning to fade. A large series of books published over his 100 year lifetime with titles like “Crystallizing Public Opinion.” Still alive in the 1990s

1929TORCHES OF FREEDOM

        

                   

Public Relations Practitioners Public Relations Practitioners must be:must be:Public Relations Practitioners Public Relations Practitioners must be:must be:

Ethical

Truthful

Credible

The Organization’s Conscience