Chapter 16: Public Relations
Four Primary Areas of PR
1. Corporate PR 2. Agency PR 3. Government/Public Affairs 4. Nonprofit/NGO/Activist PR
four areas of functional responsibility
1. Corporate PR 2. Government/public affairs 3. Agency PR 4. Nonprofit/NGO/activist PR
Four (Five(?)) Types of Agency PR
1. Full Service Agencies 2. Public Affairs Agencies 3. Strategic Counsel Services 4. Corporate Identity Services 5. Corporate Social Responsibility
six step model of issues management
1. Identify public issues and trends in public expectations 2. Evaluate their impact and set priorities 3. Conduct research and analysis 4. Develop strategy 5. Implement strategy 6. Evaluate strategy
Six Steps of Issue Management for a PR Professional
1. Identity public issues and trends in public expectations 2. Evaluate their impacts and set priorities 3. Conduct research and analysis 4. Develop strategy 5. Implement Strategy 6. Evaluate Strategy
Nongovernmental Organizations
A nonprofit association or group operating outside of government that advocates and pursues policy objectives.
Corporate PR vs. Agency PR
Agency professionals oftentimes build an area of expertise with long-term service for a client or within an industry, work as an expert to solve the problem, and return once it is solved in order to get a new task. This provides opportunities in a wide range of areas, including media relations, issues management, crisis management, brand building, event planning, and corporate reputation work. On the corporate side, most employees are focused on a single industry line of business.
Materiality
An event that could have a positive or negative effect on the company's share price
Strategic Counsel Services
Focus on mergers and acquisitions, investor relations, and defending hostile takeovers
Virtual Teams
Groups of people with a shared goal, who fulfill their roles with little or no time spent meeting face to face
Public Relations Practitioners
Managed process, mutually beneficial, focuses on relationships, reaches various publics, advocate position, influence and credibility, uses gatekeepers
Issues Forecasting
Monitoring for emerging issues and predicting the future importance of issues
Full Service Agencies
Some of the largest agencies offer a full spectrum of services, from traditional media relations and event planning to highly specialized research, training, and social media expertise
Development
Tasked with raising funds from both large fund donors, writing grants for governmental support, and conducting fund-raising with smaller, private donors.
Corporate PR
The function is responsible for communicating with the media and usually has the lead role in developing employee communication as well
Government Relations and Public Affairs
The types of PR that deal with how an organization interacts with the government, with government regulators, and the legislative and regulatory arms of government
Public Affairs Agencies
These agencies focus on developing advocacy positions for or against legislative initiatives, organizing grassroots campaigns, lobbying members of Congress and other government leaders or coaching their clients to do so, and participating in and often leading coalitions that link together like-minded members.
T/F: Activists must be included rather than ignored.
True: Activists must be included rather than ignored.
T/F: Arguably, the most important phase of the issues of PR management is the issues scanning, monitoring, and analysis phase.
True: Arguably, the most important phase of the issues of PR management is the issues scanning, monitoring, and analysis phase.
T/F: The most effective way that public relations can deal with activist groups is to engage them in give-and-take or symmetrical dialogue to discover their issues of concern, values, and wants.
True: The most effective way that public relations can deal with activist groups is to engage them in give-and-take or symmetrical dialogue to discover their issues of concern, values, and wants.
T/F: The overriding mission of the CCO is to enhance the relationships an organization has with its publics by helping the organization make better, more informed decisions that take into account the impact and likely reaction to that decision.
True: The overriding mission of the CCO is to enhance the relationships an organization has with its publics by helping the organization make better, more informed decisions that take into account the impact and likely reaction to that decision.
constraint recognition
a feeling that one can personally impact the situation
materiality
an even that could impact the company's share price
government relations
branch of PR that helps an organization communicate with governmental publics. Often organization-to-government communication, deals with public policy issues that may become governmental legislation or regulation
public affairs
branch of PR that helps an organization interact with the government, legislators, interest groups, and the media. Deals more broadly with public policy issues of concern among constituents and activist groups who lobby the government.
Corporate Identity Services
branding strategies
internal relations
company's communication efforts with its own employees
media relations
company's communication efforts with the media
Corporate Social Responsibility
corporate philanthropy programs
corporate identity services agencies
develop branding strategies, manage perception of companies
nonprofit groups
educate, fund research, advocate, and lobby on behalf of a public cause
Nonprofit Groups
exist in order to educate, fund research, advocate or lobby on behalf of a public cause or initiative. Nonprofit PR relies heavily on member relations to distribute the organization's message.
public affairs agencies
focus on developing advocacy positions, organizing grassroots campaigns, lobbying, and leading coalitions
strategic counsel services agencies
focus on strategic communication, brought in when companies are undergoing mergers, acquisitions, takeovers
internal research
getting to know the unique aspects of client's business
external research
identifies pending issues and opportunities for the client
virtual teams
include client's employees, agency's employees, and independent contractors all working on same project
Integrative Decisions
involve holding face-to-face meetings with activist leaders and members, brainstorming sessions, or joint summits in order to build understanding between the organization and its activists. activists must be included, not ignored; must understand the organization's business model and constraints and the environment in which it operates
Public Policy Issues
issues with the potential of maturing into governmental legislation or regulation
full service agencies
largest agencies, offer full spectrum of services from traditional media relations to specialized research training and social media expertise
Chief Communications Officer (CCO)
manages PR activities, management of corporate events, press conferences, product launches, large employee gatherings, leadership meetings: overriding mission is to enhance the relationships an organization has with its publics by helping the organization make better, more informed decisions that take into account the impact and likely reaction to those decisions.
Outsourcing Practices
many companies find that they can better manage the ebbs and flows of communication activity in lie of using internal staff
Issues Management
may include crisis and risk management in industries that are prone to hazards, risks, or product failure
issues forecasting
monitoring for emerging issues and predicting their future importance, most important phase of issues management.
lobbying process
policies formulated through issues management are communicated to legislative publics
issues management
process through which an organization manages its policy and identifies potential problems that could impact it in the future
four step model of public relations
research stage planning stage action stage evaluation stage
Lobbying Process
research, knowledge, and policies formulated through issues management are communicated to legislative publics
activist groups
seek change around their issue of concern, normally arise from a grassroots movement of everyday citizens
chief communications officer
senior leader of communication and PR team for corporation
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
soft-power groups that carry out initiatives, such as humanitarian tasks, that governments are not willing to handle
Activist Groups
special interest groups that arise around an organization in order to establish some type of change around their particular issue of concern
corporate social responsibility agencies
specialize in corporate philanthropy
public relations
the art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counseling organizational leader and implementing planned programs of action, which will serve both the organization and public interest
Government Relations
the branch of PR that helps an organization communicate with governmental publics; organization-to-government type of communication in which regulatory issues are discussed, communication related to governmental representatives takes place, lobbying efforts directed at educating legislators are initiated, etc.
Public Affairs
the type of PR that helps an organization interact with the government, legislators, interest groups, and the media