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