Public Relations, Strategy and Theory.

Luttrell, Regina. Public Relations Tactics. Dec2014, Vol. 21 Issue 12, p12-12. 3/4p. , Database: Corporate ResourceNet

Public Relations is the art and social science of studying trends, forecasting their impacts, analysis organisation leaders and applying planned sequencers of action which will assist both the organisation’s and the public attentiveness (Danny Moss, Dejan Vercic, Gary Warnaby, 2002).

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

Public relations has changed drastically since the early 20th century. In its earliest forms it was more focussed on the idea of publicity and advertisement. However, more recently it has been seen as a way to engage and build relationships between an organization and it’s publics. Public relations deals with promotional activities that foster a positive public image of a company or organization.

After reviewing the outline for the process for the Strategic Public Relations Planning, it appears that the process covers the general guidelines that I believe to be necessary for nonprofit to follow for public relations. This would be a great template for nonprofit organizations starting up to follow. Therefore, I would not add any more steps to the authors current process because each step that is listed in the process plays a vital role to the process. However, the process can be altered to meet the needs of other nonprofit organizations because every organization has different approaches towards building and maintaining relations with the public.

Public opinion is not just a belief, but rather an expression of a view that is central to a functioning democracy. In 1965 Krugman stated that advertising doesn’t change attitudes, it simply changes the perception of what should matter when buying. Whether what that citizen is buying is a certain brand of coffee or the idea of going to war, communication is the cornerstone for how our society functions as a whole. Public relations is not just for products and companies, it shapes ideas and movements. With an increasing global market and issues the need for public relations has and will continue to grow.

Over the past decade, social media use has been increasing at an expeditious rate. According to Pew Research Center, 86% of Americans are active internet users, and the number of active social media users is increasing daily. As of 2016, Facebook has 1.6 billion users, Instagram has 430 million users, LinkedIn has 429 million users, and Twitter has 325 million users. With those numbers in mind, why wouldn 't the public relations agency utilize these free platforms as a way to gain publicity? My digital project raises the question of “how has the public relations industry changed over the past decade, due to the increase in use of social media?” Patricia Swann (2014), states that “public relations is the management function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the publics on whom its success and failure depends” (p. 2). Strategy is a large aspect of public relations, and gives us reasoning behind all the communication activities done throughout the work day. Having a set strategy allows us to target specific missions, goals, audiences. Public relations practitioners rely on their audience to support their missions and goals. Gaining another way to put forth these strategies—via social media, has the ability to change the field of public relations in a prodigious way. With the rise of social media, some may argue that it is now easier for practitioners to communicate more effectively and timely with their

Strategy has been perceived as a major concept in public relations starting the beginning of the 1980s. Regardless, little evidence has been brought forth to show how the term strategy, as well as the related terms, are defined. Further, there lacks agreement concerning what public relations strategy is or ought to be. Public relations is denoted as the professional maintenance of a positive public image by a firm or popular person. Some claim that public relations is about meaning and that interpretation and implication are the focus processes of all activities in public relations. Indeed, different schools of thought exist as pertains the definition of public relations. In this regard, this essay aims at joining strategy and the construction

According to Jane Johnston (2007), public relations is defined as “understanding and facilitating the needs of the various publics that surround and interact with an organisation or group”. Also, when it comes to the development of the public relations sphere, there were three crucial clarifications that were formed; controlling publics, responding to publics, and achieving mutually beneficial relationships among all publics (Bivins, 1993).

Public relations is a demanding career that can be rewarding and satisfying. Before its popularity, for decades, people’s attitude toward this profession was viewed as “lukewarm, at best.” This negative connotation was due to the lack of knowledge of this up and coming career. The term public relations is also know by its abbreviation PR. The role of an PR personal is to help establish and matin mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance, and cooperation between an organization (Guth & Marsh, 2012 p.3).

Governmental public relations have been inspired by Grunig’s models of PR and, particularly, by the concept of symmetrical communication between organizations and publics (Gregory, 2006; Fisher & Horsley, 2007), a concept which, with its relationships with the notion of excellence (Grunig & Hunt, 1984; J.E. Grunig & L. Grunig, 1992; Grunig, 2001), has constituted the major framework that has guided public relations scholarship for the past 30 years (Botan & Hazleton, 2006). Mutual benefit, mutual understanding, win-win mixed motivated communication, are concepts used to denominate purposes of organizational public relations.

There are 3 similarities between public relations and marketing. The first similarity is both of them are builds mutually beneficial relationship with publics, audiences, or markets internal or external to organizations. Public relations and marketing are also communicate effectively and efficiently with public and audience to spread out what are the values of a product or services of the company. (http://www.amazon.com/Public-Relations-Principles-Philip-Kitchen/dp/1861520913/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1448569626&sr=1-1&keywords=public+relations+philip+j.kitchen) Customers, employees and trade unions are the most important audience for both sides. (http://www.amazon.com/Public-Relations-Principles-Philip-Kitchen/dp/1861520913/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1448569626&sr=1-1&keywords=public+relations+philip+j.kitchen)

Over the last four years I have accepted, volunteered, or been assigned to contribute as an intern for more than 240 hours across five organizations in four industries: legal, nonprofit, retail, and business-to-business sales and marketing. I have been able to gain an exceptional amount of experience while working with each one, but the most interesting pattern I came across was that each of these organizations had their own preconceived notion on the definition (or application) of public relations. Some of these differences were simply minor details in strategy; others were based on completely different viewpoints altogether. With different industries came different points of emphasis, which inevitably led to different responsibilities at each. No matter the difference between each organization 's views, I was always able to see my employer 's objectives using the foundation provided by the Gonzaga University Public Relations program. It has become apparent that the ability to adapt and apply public relations knowledge to any given position is equally as important as learning the trade itself. The unique foundation of Jesuit/Ignatian values and the professional preparation provided by Gonzaga University’s Public Relations program has guided my journey for the past four years.

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.

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.