Does Publicity Have a Role in Professional Public Relations - Assignment Example

CIPR CRITICAL REASONING TEST Discuss whether publi has a role in professional public relations Organizations use different tools in order to create awareness of their practices and influence in the society. Organizations are usually founded with an aim of meeting certain societal needs. Whether they are business or non-business oriented, the most important practice for organizations is to make the public aware of their functions and role in the society. Organizations rely on professional human resource personnel charged with executing public relations functions. In the modern world of marketing, publicity and public relations are important terms that have found their way into active discussions. Both of these terms are often used interchangeably although they are very different in the scope and extent to which they apply. The difference between these two terms appears to be so small, such that many people have a problem making the distinction. Publicity can be equated to a single arrow existing in a quiver, which is public relations. This means that focus of public relations in its practice is very small (Adams, 1962, p, 896), it does not however underestimate the importance of the practice in the wider public relations practice. Alternatively, public relations refer to the greater level of establishment of an over-arching approach, for enhancing the marketing or communications goal of an organisation or institution. Public relation is a term that encompasses many other small concepts that aim at enhancing a particular objective. Organizations rely on public relations approaches in order to create awareness to the public about their practices as well as other important issues that are aimed at achieving set objectives in the organisation. The term public relation is sometimes associated with reputation management, which refers to practices that are done in the interest of establishing and sustaining the reputation of an organisation. It is important that an organisation creates a better picture or image of itself so that it appeals to the public (Grunig, 1992, p, 34). Organizations that have proper public images have professional personnel who are able to use public relations tools in an appropriate manner to achieve set objectives. Professionals undertaking public relation functions in organisation perform four important functions; they are involved in planning, developing implementing and evaluating different information and communication approaches which aim at enhancing an understanding and a favourable perspective about the organization. In addition, they are also important in creating a positive view about their products and their effectiveness to people in the community. Every person and organization that is participating in business activities has an obligation to understand the significance of effective public relations and publicity. Currently, many organisations invest heavily in promotional activities so that they can make the public aware of the goods and services that they are producing and selling. The use of promotional campaigns and advertisement programs are only aimed at attracting their target market. Many organizations are always prepared to spend huge amounts of money on promotional campaigns and public relations practices to achieve their goals and objectives. Publicity and public relations go hand in hand; sometimes it is impossible to draw clear differences between them. It is important to note that effective publicity plays an important role in having successful public relations practices. Publicity relies on approaches that appeal to many audiences and groups of people. Some of the strategies that are used in this perspective include use of media. The media is important in enhancing public relations since it has a wider scope in terms of the number of people who access it. There are different types of media, all of which are given preference depending on their effectiveness and the degree to which they appeal to different types of audience. For instance an organisation that use print media to advertise its products and services appeals to an audience that is able to read, such types of audiences are said to be literate. Some of the tools useful in this approach include newspapers, magazines, books and different kinds of journals. One of the advantages of this public relations strategy is that some of these tools can be kept for posterity. For instance, many people can read information that is reserved in books repeatedly in different places. The disadvantage of this tool is that it easily becomes stale; many people prefer reading information that is current in newspapers and books, the problem is that the dates may seem to be stale but information preserved in these print media may still be relevant. This means that for effective public relation approaches, an organizations should use the print media if what it wants to communicate will remain relevant for a long time (Kotler, 1991, p, 234). Apart from print media, another important and widely used approach in creating public relations is use of broadcasting services. Television and other electronic devices are useful in creating important public relations tools; they are currently best medi upon which companies and other organizations uses in order to make their promotional and overall public relations campaigns. Media houses have always been preferred by many organizations because of the fact that they reach many people in one instance. In different countries, radios and televisions broadcast in local languages making it easy for companies to use them to effectively reach their target audiences. Broadcasting services use satellite technology in order to receive signals and project images and information to people that have televisions and radios. In order to make public relations campaign, companies have to make their messages in an interesting and appealing manner. Different organizations use graphical elements in designing their advertisements and other promotional information. Different studies have shown that the use of advertisement and promotion over television creates lasting impressions that make people easily identify with organizations that creates and uses such promotional tools. In general, communication is an important practice for any business and organisation in order to achieve objectives. Public relations incorporate all types of actions in order to create and maintain a harmonious relationship with the public (Kotler & Mindak, 1978, p, 13-4). It is a common understanding that the public plays an important role in the success of any company or organisation. The public makes its decisions depending on the impression created by promotional tools adopted in the public relations practices. People are the cornerstone of success in the corporate world, without them companies may never rise to enjoy benefit of their investment and management approaches. Public relation approaches requires use of those actions that establishes proper rapport within the business and out of it. Effective public relation approaches improves the way people interact within the organisation and how they achieve objectives. In order to achieve intra-organizational objectives as well as those that engage the organisation and the outside world, businesses rely on different public relations approaches. Some of the approaches include relations with the media, analyst relations and different types of corporate communications. All these tools are designed to attain one single objective, to create a positive image for the company (Shimp & DeLozier, 1986, p, 245). It is therefore important to note that publicity plays an important role in the overall public relations dimension, when publicity is used effectively and in correct contexts, an organisation achieves its set objectives both internally and externally. Bibliography Adams, H.C. (1962), "What is publicity?", North American Review, Vol. 175 No. 57, p. 896. Grunig, J.E. (1992) Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ. Kotler, P. (1991), Marketing Management, Prentice-Hall International, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Kotler, P. & Mindak, W. (1978), "Marketing and Public relations", Journal of Marketing, Vol. 42 No. 4, pp. 13-20. Shimp, T.A. & DeLozier, M.W. (1986), Promotion Management and Marketing Communications, Dryden Press, Chicago, IL. The concept of public relation and corporate communications Information is one of the most important resources that are the bedrock of success of any business and organisation. Businesses that have excellent information structures are able to make important decisions about management, production and general organizational practice. Having important information is not necessarily the ingredient to business success; it is by knowing how to communicate the particular information to employees. Public relations are important mechanisms through which organizations can advance information to its employees as well as those people that consume the company’s goods and services. Public relations ensure that employees are able to interact in an effective manner, exchanging important ideas that enable them to achieve their goals and objectives. It is important that organizations understand the importance of public relations and the degree to which they can influence organizational practice. Corporate communication is an important aspect of public relations though there is a clear distinction in the manner and extent to which it applies in business practice. Whether it is in public relations or corporate communication, one thing that should be clear for businesses and organizations is that people are the cornerstone for organizational practice and success. They should also know that employees or human capital is an essential resource that determine how an organisation performs. Human resources implement the strategies that are projected towards steering organizations into success. However, they can only do it effectively when there exists a proper communicational framework that harmonises the ideas of all human capital, eliciting the motivation that enhances performance. Public relations are actually different actions and practices that are taken by an organisation with a major aim of establishing and maintaining a pleasant-sounding association and open communication practices with the public, or that special group that forms the business’ targeted market. The public plays an important role in determining the extent to which organizations perform and achieves their objectives. The kind of relations that exist between a business and its clients determines how both parties will behave towards each other (Bernays, 1961, p.23). For this reason the business should know that, it is its duty to create a good public image so that people can identify with it. Such strategies that a business adopts in creating its image with the public go a long way in creating support for products and services produced. Public relations involve the use of different actions and practices in order to establish rapport with employees, investors and other important stakeholders in business (Davis, 1967, p, 4557). In order to achieve this important function, the business uses different tools like media relations, corporate communication, labour relations as well as internal communications. The business has to identify goals and objectives that it wants to achieve and define its target audience. Different strategies apply to different target groups, so the business has to make clear distinctions between which strategies have to apply for which target clients. Corporate communication refers to all communicational practices and strategies that apply to corporate organizations. For public relations, there seems to be a major leaning on media strategies by most organizations, however, the scope of public relations is wide. Public relations aim at creating awareness about products and services that the business is producing as well as important features that influences the public to make decisions about their tastes and preferences for such products. To the public, public relations are important strategies that enable the business to create itself competitive advantages over its rivals. When a business creates a successful public relations campaign, it does so to remove any negative perceptions created about its products and services. It makes the public identify with it on a more close level and enhance their tastes and preferences for the business products. Corporate communications are quite distinct from public relations; it is simply a subset of the wider concept of public relations. While public relations are diverse, appealing to both internal and external business’ public (Cohen, 1991, p, 510), corporate communications are mostly concerned with communication strategies that are characteristic of corporate organizations and large business establishments. People who have been following current practices in public relations may have realized that the term corporate communication has been receiving popularity. Corporate communications in itself has special instruments that define its identity, some of them are; marketing and management communication, symbols and certain actions and behavior, all that are harmonized and orchestrated in order to be in line with a positive image that is being fronted and advocated by the corporate organisation. A positive brand image for a corporate organisation first exists in its stakeholders. This image is then written and inculcated in employees, who have to work in to enhance its establishment. A good corporate image, just as for any business organisation goes a long way in giving it the right reputation in the public, thereby increasing its competitiveness in the market. The starting point of corporate communications in an organisation has to begin with establishing key values the give the foundation for persistence in all the various forms of communication relied upon by the business to build and establish its brand. One of the things which all business have to strive and establish is the brand image, a good brand image is the reason why people want to establish and be recognized by certain businesses and not others. Businesses that are preferred by many people have put a lot of investment in creating their brand names, knowing that it is part of their main ingredients for success. The concept of balancing all forms of communicational activities in the organisation has been the chief reason that resulted to the rise of corporate communications in the hope that it would bring together all expertise and approaches of diverse disciplines in communication. These disciplines include; public relations, organizational communication as well as human resource management, the idea of creating this harmony was to be in a position to handle and make an effective integration of all information passing across the business under a single banner (Bronn, 2014, p, 1). Managing information and communication strategies is an important subset in all the huge management responsibilities of the organisation. Indeed, corporate communication achieves this function, in doing so, it ensures that all information and communication practices are well harmonized and orchestrated in business practice. The only challenge is that the orchestration process has to consider the communication structure and the different organizational functions that exist in the organisation. It is always important to consider the entire functions of the organisation so that it is easier to keep track of all the changes and important requirements that are needed for in the organisation (Heath & Nelson, 1986, p, 37). Harmonizing all these departments into an individual department seems easy by mere mention; however, the process is quite difficult in actual practice. There is always likelihood of missing on some of the important aspects especially when the people doing the harmonizing do not have all the relevant information about kind of practice in the organisation. Corporate communication must ensure that it adheres to the organizational culture; it should not contradict the normal way of practice in the process of meeting the organizational goals and objectives. Organizational culture is an important concept in the normal practices and performance of a business; it defines the way various systems work in the interest of the business goals and objectives. Corporate communication approaches need to enhance the kind of organizational that is existing in the particular organisation. Bibliography Bernays, E.L. 1961, Crystallising public Opinion, Liveright Publishing Company, New York, NY. Bronn, P. S. 2014. PR Versus Corporate Communication. Viewed, 12, April 2014. Available at, < http://www.ipra.org/itl/02/2009/pr-versus-corporate-communication> Cohen, W. 1991, The Practice of Marketing Management, Collier Macmillan, New York, NY, Davis, K. 1967, "Understanding the social responsibility puzzle", Business Horizons, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 4557. Heath, R.L. & Nelson, R.A. 1986, Issues Management: Corporate Policymaking in an Information Society, Sage Publication, Beverly Hills, CA, Read More