Defining Public Relations

Defining Public Relations Paper

Public Relations/MKT 438

March 2, 2006

Public relations is, simply stated, the art and science of building relationships between an organization and its key audiences. I define Public relations as the relationship between the an organization and the consumers of whatever product is being offered. Good public relations are the key to the success of any business. A company must strive to stand out in its particular field. There are many different examples of public relations.

Corporations

Corporations use marketing public relations (MPR) to convey information about the products they manufacture or services they provide to potential customers to support their direct sales efforts. Typically, they support sales in the short and long term, establishing and burnishing the corporation's branding for a strong, ongoing market. Wikipedia (2003).

Non-profit organizations

Non-profit organizations, including schools and universities, hospitals, and human and social service agencies, use public relations in support of awareness programs, fund-raising programs, staff recruiting, and to increase patronage of their services. Wikipedia (2003).

Politicians

Politicians use public relations to attract votes and raise money, and, when successful at the ballot box, to promote and defend their service in office, with an eye to

the next election or, at career’s end, to their legacy. Wikipedia (2003).

The public relations professional must modify somebody's behavior if he or she is to earn a paycheck - everything else is a means to that end. Great public relations can mean survival when it successfully changes the perceptions and, hence, the behaviors of certain groups of people important to the success of the organization. In other words, when those changes clearly meet the original behavior modification goal set at the beginning of the program, the public relations effort is successful. Marketing Teacher (2005).

When public relations successfully creates, changes or reinforces public opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-action those people whose behaviors affect the organization, it accomplishes its mission.

A twenty first century company is not only going to need the ability to please their customers, but to delight them. In order to accomplish this goal, employees need to understand who the company is, and what it stands for. Not only do they need to understand these values, but an employee needs to be committed to upholding them on an everyday basis. Every employee represents their company individually, and the impression that they give the customer is the perception that the customer will have of the company. This is something that many employees don’t think about, or don’t care about. Marketing Teacher (2005).

Another method is to create a distinguished history for a