1. Part 5: Principles: How to Win the Battle of the Buzz
Public Relations
Part 5: Principles: How to Win the Battle of the Buzz
Chapter 17

2. Questions We’ll Answer
CHAPTER KEY POINTS
Questions We’ll Answer
What is public relations, and what are different types of public relations programs?
What key decisions do public relations practitioners make when they create plans?
What are the most common types of public relations tools?
Why is measuring the results of public relations efforts important, and how should that be done?

3. What is public relations?
THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
What is public relations?
Communicating with various public (stakeholders), managing the organization’s image and reputation, and creative positive public attitudes, and generate goodwill toward the organization.
Public relations takes a longer, broader view of the importance of image and reputation as a corporate competitive asset and addresses more target audiences than advertising.
Publics/stakeholders—all the groups of people with which an organization interacts—employees, members, local communities, shareholders, customers other institutions.
Publicity—getting news media coverage.
PR is a managerial function and a tactical function.

4. THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Public Opinion
What people think; their beliefs based on perceptions or evaluations of events, people, institutions, or products (not necessarily on fact).
PR strategists want to know:
What publics are important to us now and in the future?
What do these publics think?
Opinion leaders—important people who influence the opinions of others—are especially important.

5. Reputation: Goodwill, Trust, Integrity
THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Reputation: Goodwill, Trust, Integrity
Goodwill is a company’s greatest asset— PR’s job is to create it.
“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”
Integrity is not just about having a positive image, it’s a result of a company’s actual behavior.
Public relations is the conscience of the company, with the objective of creating trust and maintaining the organization’s integrity.

6. Comparing PR and Advertising
THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Comparing PR and Advertising
Media use
Control
Credibility
Seek to persuade media gatekeepers to carry stories about or “cover” their companies.
Gatekeepers are writers, editors, producers, talk-show coordinators, and newscasters.
This aspect of PR is called publicity.

7. Comparing PR and Advertising
THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Comparing PR and Advertising
Media use
Control
Credibility
With news stories, PR people are at the mercy of the media gatekeeper.
They don’t have to run your story.
Advertising runs exactly as the client who paid for it has approved.

8. Comparing PR and Advertising
THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Comparing PR and Advertising
Media use
Control
Credibility
Public tends to trust the media more than they do advertisers.
Consumers assume a story is legitimate if it appears in the media; this is an implied third-party endorsement.

9. Comparing PR and Advertising
THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Comparing PR and Advertising
Media relations
Employee relations
Financial relations
Public affairs
Fund-raising
Cause marketing
Focus on developing media contacts.
Knowing who in the media might be interested in the organization’s story.
Relationships must be built on honesty, accuracy, and professionalism.

10. Comparing PR and Advertising
THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Comparing PR and Advertising
Media relations
Employee relations
Financial relations
Public affairs
Fund-raising
Cause marketing
Programs that communicate information to employees.
Related program is internal marketing.
Communication efforts aimed at informing employees about marketing programs.

11. Comparing PR and Advertising
THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Comparing PR and Advertising
Media relations
Employee relations
Financial relations
Public affairs
Fund-raising
Cause marketing
Communications aimed at financial community.
Press releases to business magazines, meetings with investors, annual (financial) reports.

12. Comparing PR and Advertising
THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Comparing PR and Advertising
Media relations
Employee relations
Financial relations
Public affairs
Fund-raising
Cause marketing
Communication with government and with the public on issues related to government and regulation.
Lobbying to get legislators to support a bill.
Issue management (monitor and communicate to and with public).

13. Comparing PR and Advertising
THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Comparing PR and Advertising
Media relations
Employee relations
Financial relations
Public affairs
Fund-raising
Cause marketing
The practice of raising money by collecting donations.
Used by nonprofits: museums, hospitals, Red Cross, etc. and directed at potential donors.
Sometimes called development.

14. Comparing PR and Advertising
THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Comparing PR and Advertising
Media relations
Employee relations
Financial relations
Public affairs
Fund-raising
Cause marketing
Companies associate themselves with a cause, providing assistance and financial support.
Whirlpool and Habitat for Humanity.

15. Other Types of PR Programs
THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Other Types of PR Programs
Corporate Reputation Management
Focused on image, reputation, trust
Crisis Management
Anticipating and planning for disasters from a media perspective and with stakeholders
Marketing Public Relations
Plan and deliver programs to drive sales and build customer satisfaction to communicating to address consumer wants and needs
Public Communication Campaigns
To change public opinion, discourage harmful behaviors
“Truth” campaign to protest smoking

16. PUBLIC RELATIONS PLANNING
Research
A communications audit assess the internal and external environment.
Benchmarking identifies a baseline from a previous audit, or a competitor.
Gap analysis measures differences in perceptions between publics, or between a public and the organization.
Three types of publics:
Latent publics are unaware of their connection to an organization an an associated problem.
Aware publics recognize their connection with a problem but don’t communicate about it.
Active publics communicate and act on a problem.

17. PUBLIC RELATIONS PLANNING
SWOT Analysis
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
Helps companies understand the nature of the problem so they can develop appropriate objects and target the right publics to address a problem.
May cover a variety of issues:
Changes in public opinion
Industry and consumer trends
Economic trends
Government regulations and oversight programs
The effect or corporate strategies on stakeholders

18. PUBLIC RELATIONS PLANNING
Targeting
Research identifies appropriate target audiences.
CIGNA insurance identified conscientious consumers and directed their “Power of Caring” campaign toward them.
The campaign featured well-known personalities and charitable causes like Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

19. Objectives and Strategies
PUBLIC RELATIONS PLANNING
Objectives and Strategies
PR objectives are to change the public’s knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to a company brand or organization.
Typical PR objectives focus on:
Creating credibility
Delivering information
Building positive images, trust, and corporate goodwill
Before changing behavior, a communication program may need to change beliefs, attitudes, and feelings.

20. PUBLIC RELATIONS PLANNING
The Big Idea
Creative ideas get attention.
A Nevada conservation program used a 50-year-old tortoise as a mascot to promote desert ecology.
TBS’s Cartoon Network used electronically lit cartoon characters on buildings and bridges to promote their show “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” causing bomb scares in Boston.
Cost TBS $2 million and the network head resigned

21. Two Main Categories of PR Tools
PUBLIC RELATIONS TOOLS
Two Main Categories of PR Tools
Controlled media
Sponsoring organization pays for media and controls how and when the message is delivered.
Uncontrolled media
Sponsoring organization doesn’t pay for media; the media controls how and when the message is delivered.
Semicontrolled media include electronic media over which companies maintain some, but not all control (e.g., company Web sites vs. other Web sites, blogs, chat rooms) .

22. PUBLIC RELATIONS TOOLS
Advertising
House ads
Used in a company’s own publication or programs (self promo).
Public service announcements
Run free on TV, radio, or print for a charities or civic organizations.
Corporate advertising
Focused on corporate image or viewpoint
Corporate identity advertising
Advocacy advertising

23. PUBLIC RELATIONS TOOLS
Publicity
News releases
Deliver PR messages to external media; answer five “Ws.”
VNRs contain video footage.
Pitch letters
Engaging letter about a feature story idea sent to editors who have to be “sold”; usually a human interest angle.
Press conferences
An event at which a spokesperson makes a statement to the media; a media kit may be sent ahead of time.
Media tours
“Press conference on wheels”; spokesperson makes speeches and announcements, holds press conferences, and offers interviews.

24. PUBLIC RELATIONS TOOLS
Publications
Pamphlets
Booklets
Annual reports
Collateral material
Books
Bulletins
Newsletters
Inserts and enclosures
Position papers

25. DVDs, CDs, Podcasts, Books, and Online Video
PUBLIC RELATIONS TOOLS
DVDs, CDs, Podcasts, Books, and Online Video
DVD and podcasts are now major PR tools.
Books can be published simply with electronic publishing.
Videos are expensive but are ideal for distributing in-depth information.
YouTube is being used for corporate messages.

26. PUBLIC RELATIONS TOOLS
Speakers and Photos
Speaker’s bureau
A group of articulate people who will talk about topics at the public’s request.
PR departments maintain file of photos to provide to the public.

27. PUBLIC RELATIONS TOOLS
Displays and Exhibits
Displays include booths, racks and holders for promotional literature, and signage.
Exhibits are larger than displays and may have moving parts, sound, or video.

28. Special Events and Tours
PUBLIC RELATIONS TOOLS
Special Events and Tours
Events celebrate company milestones:
Open houses
Birthday celebrations
Corporate sponsorship of events
Tours such as plant tours and trips by delegates and representatives
The “truth” tour reaches 750,000 teens annually with information about the harmful effects of smoking.

29. PUBLIC RELATIONS TOOLS
Online Communication
Intranet
Connects people within an organization
Extranet
Connects people in one business with its business partners
External communication
Web sites, contact with reports, press releases distributed by , or PR Newswire
Internal communication
Connects people in separate sites and it’s inexpensive
However, it can be used in court against a company
Web challenges
Search optimization is a major issue
Anyone can post anything about your company; gossip and rumors can spread around the world in hours
Companies can monitor what’s being said about them

30. Effectiveness and PR Excellence
PUBLIC RELATIONS TOOLS
Effectiveness and PR Excellence
Evaluation is based on measurable objectives established in planning.
Difficult to measure the effect on the bottom line.
Even in PR, the media and messages must work together to meet objectives.
Practitioners track the impact of a campaign in terms of output (how many mentions) and outcome (change in attitude or behavior).

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Publishing as Prentice Hall