Using A Range of Channels as Part of an Integrated PR Campaign - Essay Example

 Public relations means a number of things for different people. For some organizations, public relations is used for the promotion of sales through publicity or to bring recognition to their name. for others, such as clients, the company or the organization itself, public relations means to get their name in the newspaper or on the radio. Governments use public relations for the dissemination of information. The management aspect of public relations is defined as “the management function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the public on whom its success or failure depends” (Watson & Noble 2007). This follows that the public relations is an activity that is carried out intentionally, with a particular plan for achieving a result. It is representative of a continuum of activity and inculcates the two-way communication process where the organization will take steps that are in the interests of both the organization and the target group (Watson & Noble 2007). The fact that public relations is dependent on publics is a very critical factor for the success of the company. The public gives reputation to the company and a commercial, governmental or any other organizational raison d'être (Watson & Noble 2007). According to the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in the UK, regards public relations as the activity carried out for the purpose of generation of goodwill and mutual understanding between the company and the public (What is PR 2010). From the aforementioned roles and definitions of public relations, one can assimilate that it is integral to develop an effective plan for public relations. In the competitive market of the world today, one of the biggest and most valuable assets that a company may have is its reputation (What is PR 2010). Reputation helps the company to embed itself in the market and gives it an edge over other rivals. Furthermore, journalists, regulators, employees, customers and suppliers can have a strong influence on the organization. They all possess some view or perception regarding the organization. These perceptions are necessary to take into account by the organization since they will affect the decisions they taking regarding consumption of the products of the organizations and carrying business with it. As a result, public relations encompasses several aspects of marketing such as public information, investor relations corporate communication or customer relations (What is PR 2010). Over the time, public relations in the UK have started to focus more on long-term strategic relationship management and involvement of the organization on new trends such as corporate social responsibility (Watson & Noble 2007). The PR practitioner is required to research the purpose due to which the organization feels the need to promote goodwill with the public and to communicate the desired PR campaign effectively. In public relations, there is an increased emphasis being placed on the development and promotion of communication. Therefore, communication is an integral component of the PR campaign. According to another definition, there is a strong aspirational element associated with public relations that assumes that there is a nirvana of perfect communications which has to be aimed for in order to develop mutual understanding and prosperous relations with the stakeholders. Communication has been defined by Robert Krauss and Ezequiel Morsella as the transfer of information (Ouellet 2003). Communication can be divided into two parts: one is the content to be delivered and the other is the channel it is transmitted through (Communication Resource Center 2010). From this one can deduce that channel of communications provide a medium for the transfer of information from the sender to the targeted recipient. There are different channels of communication that are available for the PR practitioner to choose from. Various communication channels have evolved over the passage of time with advances in technology (Ouellet 2003). Each of these channels has their own strengths and weaknesses. When devising a public relations campaign, the campaign planners need to research extensively on which communication channel is most appropriate for the dissemination of information (The Chartered Institute for Marketing 2010). This can be exemplified from the fact that sending emails in large numbers would not be a good way to inform cut downs in the employees working in an organization. On the other hand, when deciding which channel of communication is more suited to the company, the PR practitioner needs to evaluate the effectiveness of the channels (PRCA Survival Guide 2005). Some channels may be too expensive for the company to use; others may not deliver the information fast enough, or are unable to reach all of the target audience. Although it is a fact that people who are more interested in acquiring information may make the effort to seek it (Austin & Pinkleton 2006); however, such people form only a small percentage of the target audience at times and so it is necessary for PR practitioners to take into consideration the reach of the communication channel. It is also important to select an appropriate channel of communication because the target audience can get easily attracted by any competitors. However there are variations from market to market and the type of the target audience. The prime channels of communication can be divided into nonverbal, oral and written. Electronic channels include telephone, radio, television, electronic mail, and electronic conferencing (Understanding Communication Channels 2002); these channels use technology to relay the information to the target audience. A century ago, no one could have imagined that it would be so easy to communicate; in fact, when it is said that the world today has shrunk, people refer to the fact that technology has advanced so much that it is very easy to communicate from one corner of the world to the other. Since the invention of the telegraph in 1835 by Samuel Morse, communication has improved dramatically. Electronic channels act as transducers for written and oral communication. Oral and written conversation is converted to electronic signals when a fax is sent. Likewise, televisions convert electrical signals to visual signals. There are obvious advantages of electronic channels over other traditional means of communication such as the newspapers. The foremost advantage is that electronic channels can deliver information at a faster speed and have greater reach than conventional channels (Understanding Communication Channels 2002). Since the speed and the reach of the channels are different than traditional ones, there are new expectations that arise from both the sender and the receiver. Therefore, the electronic message is perceived differently than other conventional messages (Understanding Communication Channels 2002). Moreover, even traditional means of communication are being influenced by online channels (Gillin 2010). Communication delivered through electronic messages can be both synchronous and asynchronous. Synchronous communication is one where the sender and the receiver both are present at the same time. This includes face-to-face meetings, telephone conversations, and videoconferencing, amongst many other channels (Understanding Communication Channels 2002). Letters as well as other printed documents, electronic mail, electronic conferences, voice mail, and prerecorded video are components of asynchronous communication. The advantage of synchronous communication is that the PR practitioner can get immediate feedback regarding the information delivered (Rogers 2007). It is important to develop a health feedback relationship with customers, otherwise customers will not trust the company (Manners 2010). The recipient gets the opportunity to pass his or her judgment regarding the message delivered at the same time. However, a drawback of such conversations is that the receiver or the sender may not be available for communication; this is usually a problem when the telephones or face-to-face meetings are required for but the recipient and the sender are in different time zones (Meyer & Joseph 2000). On the other hand, asynchronous communication covers up the drawback of people residing in different time zones. Asynchronous communication allows the senders and the receivers to communicate according to their convenience. Moreover, there is a record of the conversation available (Understanding Communication Channels 2002). There are certain characteristics of channels of communication that must be considered when designing a PR plan. Most importantly, the channel of communication must be reliable. The organization must be able to depend on the channel in communicating the information to the target audience. Reliability is also needed because the company is investing not only financial resources on the plan, but its PR specialists are also working on the communication of information. Relying on letters to be delivered through postal service in countries where the service is not well-developed and reliable will not be a wise option. Also, the channel should be one that is trusted by the public. For instance the public is not going to believe the information that is being published in a magazine, famous for spreading rumors that are exaggerated and far from reality. Another feature of channels of communication that is important is the exposure frequency. The PR practitioner needs to ask questions such as the frequency with which the public accesses that channel, and what fraction of the target audience has access to it. Not everyone has access to a television, radio or the Internet. In fact, only 1.4% of the population in Africa has access to the Internet (Kwintessential 2010). Choosing the Internet to deliver the message will not be an efficient way. The PR practitioner needs to make an assessment of the costs associated with dissemination of the information and the benefits derived from the act. Costs may include the hiring and recruitment of PR specialists and other allied staff as well as production and distribution costs (Austin & Pinkleton 2006). Also, the campaign planners must be able to understand the degree of control that they need over the information to be delivered, and to what extent can it be achieved (Austin & Pinkleton 2006). For instance, it crisis situations it is imperative for the organization to choose a channel through which it can deliver the message as quickly as possible and with greater control; companies often opt for purchase of advertising space to deliver the message without any filters. On the other hand, there is relative lack of control if the message is published as an editorial copy, rather than a purchased advertisement (Austin & Pinkleton 2006). In some countries, people are less likely to rely on the information that they receive through the print or the electronic media. PR practitioners can then ask political figures, clerics, and other local influential figures, whom the public believes, to relay the information. Telephones are considered as one of the fastest ways of communicating information. They are also economical as compared to the costs of communication that may result by traveling to the place where the recipient is located. However, a drawback of communicating through telephones is the chances of telephone tag. Telephone tag can not only become costly, but it is also very annoying. Since telephones necessitate the delivery of speech, it can be a good way to disseminate he message if persuasion is needed. So PR practitioners can make use of good telephone skills to persuade the recipient into believing, for instance, that the company’s product is very good. Electronic conferencing and web-based communication are also becoming popular in communicating information over large distances, where it is not possible for the sender and recipient to meet, or the process is too expensive (Understanding Communication Channels 2002). Therefore such channels help to eliminate the geographical barrier in communication. The sender and the receivers have the opportunity to communicate with each other quickly and to have face-to-face communication. The session can be made interactive to make the message delivered more persuasive. The facial expressions and the tone of delivery of the speech can enhance the content of the message. The massification of media also has an impact on the delivery of communication. The characteristic of massification of media is that there is unilateral communication (Dagron & Tufte 2006). Massification of media results in homogeneity, standardization and increased social control (Wade 2000). Massification of the media entails that there is an assimilation of all the classes and groups of the community. It is important in silencing the dialogue of the recipient and in communicating the information in bulk. It creates uniformity in a temporal dimension (Dagron & Tufte 2006). The channels used for the communication of information with characteristics of media massification in the delivery of information homogeneously include the television, radio and press releases. The Child Hunger Campaign is an example of a PR campaign which makes use of television and the press releases to deliver information (Wells, Burnett & Moriarty 2006). Television ads were made and launched in the summer, when children have the biggest chance of going hungry since school lunch programs are not available in summers. The spots and other print efforts were given to the media to sensitize the public regarding the topic and to do stories on the problem of children starving. The company also provided a website and a telephone number for making communication easier and allowing maximum number of people to access the information. Thus, it is necessary that a PR program should be able to deliver the suitable components of the PR campaign in a way that is most appropriate for the target audience. Reference List Communication Resource Center 2010, What are communication channels and why are they important? Bacal & Associates, viewed on 9 December, 2010, Dagron, AG & Tufte, T 2006, Communication for social change anthology: historical and contemporary readings, CFSC Consortium, Inc. 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