Public relations (PR) manages the release and spread of publicity about a firm or individual to the public to influence their opinions, attitudes or behaviours. PR aims to build and maintain relationships with stakeholders and those who influence the target audience, to enhance the public reputation. Public relations professionals are storytellers and image shapers who create a positive narrative for their clients by working closely with journalists and other media. This allows them to manage and generate positive publicity for their clients to enhance their reputations. Public relations are controlled internally as a strategy, but publicity is controlled and distributed externally. PR has been a profession since the dawn of the 20th century, but the roots of the idea of widely influencing public opinion and action can be found and during the movement to abolish slavery in England 100 years before that. Because of these beginnings, one of the underlying assumptions of PR is that it should be socially responsible and go beyond organisational goals to play a constructive role in society. Depending on the situation, PR will have a particular tone – whether it is showing empathy and understanding, storytelling and creativity, or more persuasive messaging. Messages are tailored to the relevant target audience/s. PR applies to all organisations from small businesses to corporations to governments or activists. They could be from the private, public or third sector. The third sector is an umbrella term for voluntary and community organisations such as social enterprises.

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Public relations (PR) is the manages the release and spread of publicity from a firm or individual to the public to
influence their opinions, attitudes or behaviours. PR aims to build and maintain relationships with stakeholders
and those who influence the target audience, to enhance the public reputation.
Public relations professionals are storytellers and image shapers who create a positive narrative for their clients
by working closely with journalists and other media. This allows them to manage and generate positive
publicity for their clients to enhance their reputations. Public relations are controlled internally as a strategy,
but publicity is controlled and distributed externally.
One of the underlying assumptions of PR is that it should be socially responsible and go beyond organisational
goals to play a constructive role in society. Match society’s norms and goals.
WHAT IS PUBLIC RELATIONS?

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Public Relations is a critical link to manage communications between a firm or person and its publics. ‘Publics’
is any group of people or stakeholders who have a common interest in a particular subject.
TYPES OF PUBLICS
• Employees (and potential)
• Suppliers (and potential)
• Partners
• Distributors (and potential)
• Investors
• Donors
• Political audiences, decision-makers and other
opinion formers
• Media and other commentators
• Social media influencers
• Customers

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• Increase brand awareness: inform the public of the
policies, procedures and interests of a firm, promote an
idea, or recognise accomplishments.
• Crisis communication: managing a company’s
reputation when negative news is public, formulate a
response and ease the damage.
• Internal communications: communicating within the
company itself, employee relations.
• Government relations & lobbying: public affairs is
engaging and interacting with the government to
influence public policy.
• Media relations: building and maintaining close
relationships with the news media.
• Social Media/Community Marketing: leveraging social
media marketing to distribute messages to desired
target audiences
OBJECTIVES OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Public relations can be used to protect, enhance or build reputations, and is the “management of
communications between an organisation and its publics” (Grunig, 2013).

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PR is a strategic communication process, and a strategy often begins with an idea to create a story that would
be of interest to the general public and will leave a positive impression for the company or individual.
A PR message might be prompted by a piece of news, but a PR strategy is deliberate and should begin with an
analysis of the organisation to pinpoint strengths or opportunities to guide the positioning of the strategy and
messaging.
A PR strategy should be actively managed and grounded in research, to gain an understanding of the
environment that shapes decision-making. Messages that are consistent with organisational values and goals,
but also consistent with publics values and goals is key.
Avoid having contradictory or confusing messages, there must be consistency in the overall message and
theme.
PUBLIC RELATIONS STRATEGY

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• Writing and distributing press releases
• Managing internal communications
• Arranging interviews for company spokespeople
• Holding press conferences and media interviews
• Speech writing
• Writing and sharing story pitches directly to
journalists
• Hosting or sponsoring events
• Personal networking
• Writing blogs and newsletters
• Social media promotions
PUBLIC RELATIONS ACTIVITIES
There are several activities and tools that businesses can use for PR. There used to be a reliance on media
companies and PR firms to use media such as TV and magazines to reach a certain target audience. The
internet has created several opportunities for businesses to do their own PR.

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Public relations have become a component of marketing over the past 20 years or so since social media started
being used for press releases. The fragmentation of mass media has dissolved a lot of the barriers public
relations had for small businesses and PR has shifted into more interpersonal channels of communication.
PR can be used for market positioning and branding, aligning it with marketing goals.
Some of the main differences between advertising and public relations are:
• Paid vs Earned
• Builds exposure vs builds trust
• Visual vs language
• Creative control vs Media control
• The audience is sceptical vs media gives third party validation
IS PUBLIC RELATIONS MARKETING?

8. Daniel Hopper
Marketing Specialist - BYB MARKETING
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