Quote:
Originally Posted by comp Engr
Public Relations
Defination
Webter’s dictionary public relations as “the business of inducing the public to have understanding for and goodwill toward a person,firm or institution.
Philip leslie elaboreates the idea of goodwill further.He observes that with the help of public elation,institutions and people are able to learn what others think of them.determine what they must do to get the goodwill of others,devise ways to win that good will and carry on programmes designed tio secure good will,thus public relations is a bridge to goodwill.
Public relations is planned,purposeful communication aimed at influencing and persuading significant publics.,”Public relations is an applied social and behavioual science".
Public relations in the past
1)Publicity
2)propaganda
3)advertising
Publicity.
Public relations is not a new subject.although,the term public relations did not appear until the early years of the 20th century,the idea of publics relationships-the interdence of leaders and followers,the need of government to communicate with subjects,or the desire of individuals to infoem,persuade ad learn the relations of people in groups,is old as man himself.
Popoganda
It is described as an art of Influencing,Manipulating,controlling,changing,secu ring the acceptance of opinions,attitude,action or behavior through representation those who may be spoken,written,pictorial.
Or musical formsor involve manipulation of symbols and suggestions.
Advertising
It is paid publicity.A commercial message that offers a product or service for sale.It is controlled and paid For by the initiator.at the rate set by medium used.Advertising may appear in any of the standard Media,such as newspaper,magazine,radio,tv,bill-board or handbill,.Usually the name of the product,its description and price,and the name of the store offering it for sale are give in the advertisement.
Publicity, on the other hand has some other impotant advantages.In the first place,it is fee.More important.it has tremendous reader acceptance.Unlike advertising which telegraphs its commercialism,Publicity is soft sell.
Role of Public relations
1)To harmonize public and government
2)To increase sales
3)To reduce ill felling
4)Leadership
5) PR- Fact finding and research
6)Public opinions Polls
7)News Research
8)Public Relations and Practitioner
Tools of Public Relations
1)Telling the story
2)Magazines
3)Books
4)Radio
5)Television
6)Films
7)Directmail
8)Telephone
9)Exhibits,Fairs,Open houses
Public relations in Pakistan:
As the main user of public relation in Pakistan is the Government of Pakistan.Also,we,quoted the PID,DGPR AND ISPR as the examples of public relations departments.We also know that every minister is provided a PRO.Throretically public relations process is of two kinds.One,to inform the concerned public about the policies,efficiency and activities of government.And a second ,to inform top management or government of the feelings,reactions and attitudes of concerned people about the government,department or organization.
But we see that every official PRO or public relations departments plays as personal servant role to the minister or the government of time.
One of the main reasons that the public relationing is developing at a low pace is that public relations is confused with advertising.Most multi-national and national enterprises try to pay more and more attention and public relations is mostly neglected.
Another reason which hinders its progress in Pakistan is that most firms are sole proprietorship.Their proprietos want to have complete control over the firms policies and mostly they fellow the decades old policy of presenting what they think best for the public and not foreign products have been favourite with our people.
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Role of public relations
To harmonize public and government
Our government like other countries,is them biggest user of
PR.Each ministry has its own
PR department.Their function is to inform public about the policies,plans and achievements of the departments.Their role is non-political.Also,their duties are to inform and educate the public and legislation,regulations and all matters.which are directly related to public.
Each minister in our country has its public relation offer,who performs his duty to harmoise the department with public and press.
To increase sales
The other goal of public relations is to create and maintain favourable attitudes of the public toward the company and its products.These attitudes eventually translate themselves in terms of increased sales.If the public is "unsold" on a product,it simply will not buy it.The first step in creating this sympathetic attitude is to inform.People may believe that two-stroke motorcyle is more useful than that of four-stroke.If that is so,the
PR man has his work cut out for him.Advertising will do part of the job,but that is only one of the tools he will use.He may faster across country race or fuel economy competition to show the benefits of four-stroke engine motorcyle.
To reduce ill feeling
The PRO works hard to ameliorate adverse publicity.A batch of a company's product may have been improperly mixed and a poison may have found its way into the mixture.The result may be the death of many household pets who ate this food.The PRO'S task is to alert the public fastly.For this he cannot resort to publicity,It is not certain enough.He must use advertising because it absolutely necessary for him to control every ward that is given the public.
Leadership
No company would knowingly avoid a position of leadership in its field if it can be attained.It is a commanding positiion to hold in any industry or group and once reached,It must be zealously guarded.It is part of the task of public relations to convey to the public the facts of leadership wherever they exist,it may in the research department,the sales division,the management employees relation areas,the stockholder elationship,or in some other phrases of the firm would help bring it prestige.
PR-fact finding and research
Public relations programme begin and end with research,in the planning stage, before the preparation of the message or selection of the media,the public relation expert obtains all the facts he can about the public or publics with which he wishes to communicate.He does this by conducting some form of survey which will give him a fairly accurate picture of public opinion and public tastes.
Public opinion polls
The sample survey enables the professional fact-finding organization to obtain accurate pictures of the attitudes of a large group of people by talking to a small representative group.This method is accurate if the people interviewed are truely representative amd the questions are exact and understandable.whether he depends upon such surveys or upon his own careful investigation and personal contacts,the public relations expert decides on the basis of the facts obtained what publics he must reach.
News research
Another form of research that pays dividends to the
PR man is for material in and about his organization.These will make his publicity releases more desirable to the media.A new development in manufacturing processses may be of interest to a limited number of news paper readers,while alittle more digging on the part of the public relation sperson might unearth a human interest story connected with the new process that an editor will heartily welcome.
Public Relations practitioner
Public relations was not used until the 20th century,but the practice of public relations extends far back in history-pobably to the time that social groups first formed.Direct evidence exists that public relations was being practised over 4000 years ago.A cuneiform tablet excavated in iraq served as a bulletin to tell farmers how to harvest,sow,and irrigate their crops;in many ways,this tablet was a forerunner of the many notices released by the united states.The commentaries of julius caesar ae also cited as skilful examples of public relations in action since they helped persuade people that caesar was a great and able leader and thus paved the way for his takeover of Rome. The Greeks and Romans also used public relations skills to promote their cultures.
Tools of public Relations
Telling the story
When it comes to communicating its message to the public.PRO'S does not have a technique of its own but uses the mechanics.Newspapers surveys of regional likes and dislikes among editors must available to PRO.If a publicity man's stories and pictures are in tone witht he interest of the newspapers there will be little need for rewriting.It follows,then,that the company wishing to reach the public through the newspapers and radio will fashion its newspapers messages as they would be done by newspapers writers and photographs,similarly,in writing the radio messages the firm will follow the more conversational less stilted approach of radio broadcasting.
Magazines
Another meduim for publicity by the printed word is the magazine,the national circulation and general appeal magazine,as well as the business paper,religious periodical,journal and professional publication reaching specialized audiences.Alhough magazine publicity can be handled much like newspaper publicity,the accent in general magazines is more on the entertainment feature,while the 'smaller' moe specialized magazines will be friendlier toward the article that is newsworthy for their specific audiences.
Books
By books is meant publications varying in appearance from packet size pemphlets to leather-boubd portfolios of drawings,photographs or maps,because they are more voluminous,more complete and detailed or designed for more permanent use then the average printed piece.Involving all the techniques of printing,books might include annual reports of a company
to its stockholders,technical reports to other manufacturer or scientists,histories of business on the occasion of their 25th,50th,100th anniversary,and a wide range of informative and instructional booklets fo employees,visitors,editors in need of background data etc.
Radio
Radio is also a tool of public relations.Radio reaches into places beyond the scope of the newspapers,almost all cars are equipped with radio set.Also,radio transmissions reach in the remote areas of our country,where newspapers cannot.The "wireless" is a powerful meduim because it uses human voice to a great extent to transmit its message,giving it the personal touch missing from the printed word.
Television
It has also tremendous force as a publicity meduim.It promises to become the most potent of all mass communications media,for it combines the printed word,the spoken word,pictures in motion,colour,sound into one.Amazing results from advertising via television have become everyday occurrences.
As with newspapers and radio,the public relations expert tailors his techn iques to fit the peculiar requirements of TV,whether he wants to reach a nationwide audience through national network.
Television
To put over urgent message,a telephone campaign can often secure immediate and impressive results.It should be used with discrimination in order to destroy the urgent appeal.
Direct Mail
A term for printed advertisement mailed directly to potential buyers,direct mail is also greatly used for the discrimination of publicity.its effectiveness depends upon the quality of the mailing list to which it is sent.A personal or semi personal letter correctly addressed to individuals is a most effective public relations tool.
Films
Telling the public relations story by means of motions pictures,film slides,tapes recordings and closed circuit television is a familier technique in most of the advanced nations' large sales and manufacturing organizations.In addition,there are the fascinations of moving pictures,colour,and sound to get and hold the audience's attention.Well-prepared and intelligently used,such public relations tools usually pay for themselves in spite of their relativey high cost.
Exhibits,Fairs,Open houses
Familiar advertising tools,exhibits and fairs,which take the company before the public,help to acquaint people with facts favourable ones,to be sure - and thus gain their good will.Open houses which bring the public to the company are effective public relations tools for the company or organization seeking closer contact and better understanding with the general public,its customers,and employee's families.