2.0 Introduction
Public Relations (PR) is a multifaceted function that plays a role in nearly every organisation in today’s society (Wilcox et al., 2013). Due to its complex nature, the definition of PR has changed considerably over the past 70 years (Ledingham & Bruning, 1998). This report aims to analyse how PR can specifically support the DMD Foundation to achieve its awareness and fundraising objectives. A common definition of PR will be examined, breaking down its key elements, followed by a discussion regarding the overarching role of PR within organisations, specifically in the non-profit sector, highlighting the positive impact that PR could have on the DMD Foundation.
Discussion
3.1 Defining Public Relations
The subsequent definition aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the key elements involved within the functions of the PR sector.
“Public relations is the management function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an individual or an organisation with the public interest, and plans and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.”
(Public Relations News, as cited in Grunig & Hunt, 1984)
PR as a management function serves to promote the importance of PR departments within an organisation (Gordon, 1997) and brings to the decision-making table theories born of ongoing research and data to drive organisational decisions (Smith, 2014). For example, modern PR is
Following the successes of Hernan Cortes with his conquest of the Mexica-Aztec Empire of Mexico and Francisco Pizzaro with his conquest of the Inka Empire in the Andean Region of South America, many other Conquistadors embarked upon expeditions to discover and conquer wealthy Native American civilizations. Among this new wave of conquistadors was Lope de Aguirre who accompanied an expedition led by Gonzalo Pizarro, a brother of Francisco Pizarro, to find the lost city of gold known as El Dorado. The film Aguirre: The Wrath of God is a work of historical fiction that provides additional insight into the motives and behaviors of the Spanish and Aguirre during this expedition, Spanish-Native American Relations, Spanish-African slave relations, the status of role of women within colonial society, the role of the Catholic Church within Spanish society, and the nature of Spanish society within the context of Aguirre’s excursion. Aguirre: The Wrath of God provides insight into the desire for a wealth of gold and glory by the Spanish when undergoing these harsh expeditions, the abuse and subservience Native Americans were subjected to by the Spanish Conquistadors, the African slaves served the Spaniards and had to complete exhausting and humiliating work, the inferiority of women compared to Spanish men and how easily they were dismissed by Spanish men, the desire for not only conversion but gold and wealth for the Catholic Church by allowing the Conquistadors to commit atrocities in the New World, and the Spaniard belief in the righteousness of their conquests in the New World due to the successful Reconquest of Iberia from the Moors.
Public relations, also referred to a PR, represent an essential component of business, in which the business interacts through various modes such as promotions, initiatives, and so forth with its customer base, as well as, the potential new customers. Subsequently, according to Davis (2009), this interaction permits the business, as well as, the public to intermingle in such a way to disseminate information to the public, which possesses a newsworthy nature via media sources such as a trade magazine or journal, the traditional radio or television networks, the newspaper, or the internet. Hence, an effectual public relations program has the potential to not only maximize, as well as increase sales, but also, enhance profitability by establishing a competitive advantage with relation to business contenders. Therefore, an effective PR campaign accomplishes this goal by creating greater visibility for the business, its products, and augmenting the credibility of the business, while, attempting to neutralize potential crises, as they arise. Thus, public relation programs represent an invaluable tool utilized by businesses such as the Olive Garden Restaurant.
Marketing is often “associated with business…whereas public relations is practised across all sectors”. In the interest of the council area it was found that a separate PR firm would be beneficial to promoting interest in the cause and delivering well executed messages towards the public. According to Newsom, Turk and Kruckeberg, “it is the job of public relations practitioners to identify members of each group and determine how they relate to the practitioners’ organisations”. Therefore our findings have shown that your key stakeholders are the government, the tourism and hospitality industry, the local community, employers and miners in the local area, the media and investors. A more detailed description of this can be seen in Figure
1. Introduction This report seeks to examine the Coles annual report 2014 as a public relations tactic. Tactic, conditioned by strategy, is defined as the “doing of public relations” — an output through which strategies are applied (Botan 2009, p.226). From a systems theory perspective of public relations, message characteristics and attributes of publics are crucial in determining the strategy used and its effectiveness towards fulfilling organisational goals (Hazelton 1992).
The job of public relations’ is to build a favorable image and reputation between the public and the organization.
During this semester we attended a lecture hosted by a special guest, Chris Gray. Mr Gray is the managing director for ICON International Communications Australia and spoke to us about what the field of public relations is actually about and how it has been evolving over time. He explained that it is one of the most misunderstood professions. Similarly, White and Park (2010) researched the media’s common perceptions of the field, which included, covering up information, doing damage control, and pushing the company’s agenda. The field covers a countless number of activities and can be defined as “the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organisation (or individual) and its publics”
The most recent definition of public relations, according to the Public Relations Society of America (2012), states that “Public Relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.” Through the rapid advancement of modern media and technology, there have never been more outlets and opportunities available for accomplishing the goals of public relations. Believing the development of social media has not created serious changes in the way public relations practitioners go about their duties would be foolish and a fast track to falling behind in this rapid world of communication. The main goals of public relations are “to
The theory explains that the value of public relations in organization and society lies in socially responsible managerial decisions and quality organization to public relations. Organisations must behave in ways that solve the problems and satisfy the goals of the stakeholders as well as the management in order to be effective. Good relationship with organisation’s strategic publics is helpful in developing and achieving goals desired by both the organization and its publics, reducing costs of negative publicity, and increasing revenue by providing products and services needed by stakeholders. Practitioners identify publics who are affected by or affect organizational decisions and communicate symmetrically with them to build high quality long term relations.
Press agentry, public information, two-way asymmetric public relations, and two-way symmetric public relations are four models of public relations theory devised by Grunig and Hunt (1983). In this essay, the author goes on to identify an example each from current public relations business practices that goes on to show the four public relation models in action. Further stress is provided to ensure that the examples have all been taken place within last twelve months in the Australian media and justification of selection is to be done by comparing it with real world examples that are chosen.
The first two concepts in the PRINZ definition, outline the need for a campaign that is deliberate and planned. A successful public relations campaign must be planned and executed according to the organisation’s “needs, priorities, goals, publics and categories” (Mersham, G, Theunissen, P and Peart, J, 2009, p.8). In other words, a plan must be established which reflects the organisation’s core values and objectives. It is also essential to establish what an organisation expects from a campaign, as this will have a significant impact on whether a two-way or one-way model of communication is employed.
Media relations can be defined as one of the most significant areas of the practice of public relations. (Shaw&White, 2004) It enhances the practice of public relations by serving a systematic, strategized and mutually beneficial relationship between journalists and the public relations practitioners to build credibility, understanding and respect between the two parties. (Supa&Zoch, 2009) It is essential to cultivate a positive and healthy relationship between public relations practitioners and journalists because journalists tend to look at public relations practitioners in a negative way where they believe that they spin information to get free publicity which making it difficult for journalists to report legitimate news and at the same time, against the basic rules of news writing. (Fedler and DeLorme, 2002) Another study by Kiranjit and Halimahton (2006) also suggests that public relations practitioners and journalists are very much sceptical about each other’s role and the relationship between two of them is doubtful and uncertain. From the point of view of public relations practitioners, they complaint that journalists do not understand the role of public relations. On the other side, journalists tend to think that public relations
Because they have a large degree of understanding of the public relations is an image of the establishment of business or put more persuasion efforts for business. The reporter general agree PR is in a public image, propaganda, persuasion activities, as well as marketing efforts, and promote the organization 's position. As the role of public relations become more diverse and important, public relations progress toward becoming the subject of strategy management, it is essential for public relations to the strategy. And to a wide range of business functions integration marketing communication (IMC) concept of the functions of public relations as a commitment to development a of an organization and its product, the image and the impact of the public or the consumer in the campaign of behavior(Ha, JH, & Ferguson, MA 2015).
As the name of the discipline implies, public relations is how an organization builds beneficial relationships with its key stakeholders. With effective communication as the practices’ primary tool, modern day organizations have taken advantage of proficient practitioners to boost exposure of their company and its message across to international audiences.
"Public Relations is the management function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the publics on whom its success or failure depends." (Effective Public Relations, 2005, p.1)
Public Relations in New Zealand is widely useful, practised and builds up an organisation’s relationships with its publics. PR in short, is essentially about communication and relationship building. PRINZ [Public Relations Institute of New Zealand] (2009) defines PR as “The deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics.” This essay will deconstruct and critically examine this definition of public relations in relation to PR theories. These theories being Systems Theory, Relationship Management and Excellence Theory will be examined and applied to campaign examples. This will give a comprehensive understanding of the theory’s meanings as well as relationships with aspects of the PRINZ definition of PR. To understand PR theories however, the term publics must first be addressed.