According to Indian Institute of Public Relations, ”Public relations practice is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its public”.

DEFINITION OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

According to Public Relations Society of America(PRSA), “Public Relations(PR) help an organization and its publics relate to each other to the benefit of both”.

The characteristics of Public Relations are: Relatively Low Cost: The major advantages of public

relations is that it tends to be much cheaper, in terms of cost per person reached, than any other type of promotion.

Can be Targeted: Public relations activities can be targeted to a small specialized audience if the right media vehicle is used.

Characteristics of Public Relations

Credibility: The results of PR activity often have a high degree of credibility, compared with other promotional source such as advertising. This is because the audience may regard such a message as coming from an apparently impartial and non-commercial source.

Relatively Uncontrollable: A company can exercise little direct control over how its public relations activity is subsequently handled and interpreted. If successful, a press release may be printed in full, although there can be no control over where or when it is printed.

Saturation of Effort: The fact that many organizations complete for finite amount of media attention puts on public relations effort to be better than that of companies.

Building Product Awareness: When introducing a new product or re-launching an existing product, marketers can use a PR elements that generates consumer attention and awareness through media placement and special events.

Creating Interest: Whether a PR placement is a short product article or included with other products in “round-up” articles, stories in the media can help to entice a targeted audience to try the product.

Objectives of Public Relations

Providing Information: PR can be used to provide customers with ,more in depth information about products and services. Through articles, collateral materials, newsletters, and websites, PR delivers information to customers that can help them to gain understanding of the product.

Stimulating Demand: A positive article in a newspaper, on a T.V. news show or mentioned on the Internet, often results in a discernable increase in product sales.

Reinforcing the Brand: In many companies the public relations function is also involved with brand reinforcement by maintaining positive relationship with key audiences, and thereby aiding in building a strong image. Today it is ever more important for companies and brands to build a good image. A strong image helps the company to build its business and it can help the company in times of crises as well.

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