Public relations practice is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its publics.
The key publics addressed in public relations are media, employees, the financial community, government, and the general public.
Programs Operated Under Public Relations of Firm
Hence, the following programs are operated under the public relations of a firm:
1. Media Relations
This program focuses on developing media contacts.
This creates an effective liaison between a company and the media.
A successful relationship between a public relations person and the editor is built.
2. Employee Relations
These programs communicate information to employees.
3. Financial Relations
It includes all the communication efforts aimed at the financial community, such as press releases sent to business publications, meetings with investors and analysts, and the annual report.
4. Corporate Relations
These programs focus on an organization’s image and reputation.
The goal is to persuade the public to view the company in a positive light.
It takes a great deal of time to build a favorable image for a corporation but only one slip to create a negative public impression.
In other words, the corporate image is a fragile commodity.
A company’s reputation affects its ability to sell products.
5. Public Affairs
This focuses on corporate communication with the government and with the public on issues related to government and regulation.
in lobbying the company providers’ information to legislators in order to get their support and vote on a particular bill.
It also includes communication efforts with consumer or activist groups who seek to influence.
7. Issue Management
Public affairs programs also monitor public opinion about issues central to the organization’s interest.
This includes programs to communicate to and with the public about these issues.
8. Crisis Management
The key to crisis management is to anticipate the possibility of a disaster and plan how to deal with the bad news and all the affected publics.
9. Marketing Public Relations
This is the area where advertising and public relations overlap.
Marketing public relations is the fastest growing area of public relations.
In other words, MPR supports marketing’s product and sales focus by increasing brand credibility and the company’s credibility with consumers.
10. Social Marketing
It is public communication. It affects attitudes or behaviors towards some idea or cause.
It is undertaken by non-profit organizations as a conscious effort to influence the thoughts or actions of the public.
11. Cause and MIssion Marketing
If a company wants to increase its integrity among customers, it must prove that is is a good corporate citizen.
It can do this by practicing cause marketing (adopting a good cause and sponsorship it’s fundraising and other community-oriented efforts) and by mission marketing, linking a company’s underlying business philosophy and core values to a cause that connects with company’s interests.
Mission marketing is of a longer duration than cause marketing.