Public relations (PR) is about managing reputation.

This career field aims to gain understanding and support for clients as well as to influence opinion and behaviour. PR officers use all forms of media and communication to build, maintain and manage the reputation of their clients. These range from public bodies or services to businesses and voluntary organisations. They communicate key messages, often using third party endorsements, to defined target audiences in order to establish and maintain goodwill and understanding between an organisation and its public. PR officers monitor publicity and conduct research to find out the concerns and expectations of an organisation's stakeholders. They then report and explain the findings to its management.

Typical work activities

A public relations (PR) officer often works in-house and can be found in both the private and public sectors: from the utility and media sectors to voluntary and not-for-profit organisations. Some PR officers may be based in consultancies. The role is very varied and will depend on the organisation and sector. Tasks typically involve:

planning, developing and implementing PR strategies; liaising with colleagues and key spokespeople; liaising with and answering enquiries from media, individuals and other organisations, often via telephone and email; researching, writing and distributing press releases to targeted media; collating and analysing media coverage; writing and editing in-house magazines, case studies, speeches, articles and annual reports; preparing and supervising the production of publicity brochures, handouts, direct mail leaflets, promotional videos, photographs, films and multimedia programmes; devising and coordinating photo opportunities; organising events including press conferences, exhibitions, open days and press tours; maintaining and updating information on the organisation's website; sourcing and managing speaking and sponsorship opportunities; commissioning market research; fostering community relations through events such as open days and through involvement in community initiatives; managing the PR aspect of a potential crisis situation.

PERSONAL QUALITIES OF PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER A public relation officer will certainly do some writing. He is almost bound to have to prepare press releases and has to write some articles. He will have to draft letters and draw up reports for his clients. If employed by a large firm he may be asked to write a speech for his chairman, to edit house journals, or to write company brochures or sales literature. A good Public Relations officer has the ability to marshal facts to summarize the important points and then to express himself clearly in both writing and speech. His standard of integrity is high. His facts are people's eyes. He must be able to gain people's confidence, which comes from an understanding of human nature and the imaginative ability to put sense and enthusiasm for the job. EDUCATION: A PRO must be educated, as he has to perform all the very important duties. He must be having full knowledge of the firm where he is working. Technical details are also important things. Some important points regarding machinery and production are known to the PRO. He must be good journalist, as he has to make reports of the programs. He must be bold and capable of taking leadership and responsibility of the company. He must be able to avoid any complaint from outside about the company. A main thing, which is important for PRO is that he must be able to satisfy people. That means he must be a master in the communication art. As far as educational qualification is concerned diploma in public relations is a must. During the interview, his style of speaking and presentation are the most important trademarks, which come across in a PROs selection. PUBLIC RELATIONS IN GOVERNMENT Representatives of the people form an assembly. The main functions of these elected people are nothing but maintain Public Relations. The government recognizes the people as the masters and these masters keep the people informed about the policies of government and plans, which have been prepared and executed according to public wants and desires. This is a very important task, which is done by the representative of the people. This explanation should prove beyond doubt that leadership is one of the most important quality in determining your ambition to be a successful Public Relations Officer. ROLE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS An organization has to keep relations with several groups to create and maintain a favorable image about the organization in the minds of the people. The people are divided into following groups or categories as per the company's or organizations relations. The consumers. The dealers. The employees. The shareholders or Proprietors. The community. 1) CONSUMER RELATIONS: Most important thing for the company is a consumer as they are the people who decide the business for the company. Keeping good relations with the consumers is very necessary for the company. Though the company usually has no direct contact with the consumers but certainly through the middlemen, like the wholesalers, dealers and retailers are there in between the company and consumer to strike the chord between the consumers and the company. Once a good repo is struck between all the chains of the company, then the relations are kept by the following ways. Before launching a product in the market a survey is done and according to the needs and wants of the people, the product is designed, structured and calibrated. The price of the commodity is also decided by taking in account general public opinion and obviously general market strategies and combinations. This is also one type of public relations.

Now, second part of public relations start. Proper information about the product, company history & background, and policies are explained to the consumer. The information may be given by the dealer or by public relations during garnishing of public complaints and suggestions. A Public Relations Department should ideally receive complaints and suggestions from the people or customers who are directly coming to the company. In this way consumer relations are kept and organized by the company.

2) DEALER RELATIONS: Dealers are working as a bridge between manufacturers and consumers. A product from manufacturer is first sold to the dealer and then it reaches to the consumer. Therefore, it is essential for manufactures to keep good relations with dealers as they are taking the product in bulk and also interested in maximizing the profits. A good dealer relations can only be promoted if the manufacturer is fair in his relations in following fronts; By giving credit facility, by giving delivery of product on time, by doing his advertisement, which makes good relations. To appreciate the dealers work and to inspire him to sell are the main things, which are to be done by manufacturers to make strong relations. 3) EMPLOYEE RELATIONS: A Company gives many facilities to the employees who are working for the company. For their excellent performance in work, awards are given to the employees. Bonuses and incentives are also provided to the workers but along with this more things are given to employees to make good relations with them. An employee should not get bossing but he must be working under control. Because bossing is the thing, which earns a bad reputation for the company in workers minds and naturally affects his work. To avoid loss to company it is necessary for a manager to look upon this bossing matter from the initial stages itself. If employee's relations are good then company will always be in good profit and no disputes will arise in the workers and managerial staff. 4) SHAREHOLDER RELATIONSHIP: A shareholder or proprietor is a person who has invested money in the organization. He could have invested this money outside in Banks or in government securities. He therefore naturally expects a reasonable return on his investment keeping in view the risk he is taking by investing his money in the organization involved. Thus good shareholder relations cannot be built up if the company is not fair to them in the declaration of dividends in particular. The amount of dividend also affects the price of the share in the market. Shareholders naturally expect the prices of their shares to rise in the market as then only they can make a capital profit when they decide to sell the shares. 5) COMMUNICATION RELATIONS: There are many members of community like shareholders, consumers, dealers, employee, etc. and similarly there are many types of public relation activities that are done, which are named as Community Relations. A Company building a meeting hall for general public, a well for general villagers or school for students; such are the community activities done by a company. Thus community relations activities must be geared to actually satisfy the needs of the needy and not just be triggered to procure glorification for the company or perpetuation of the owner's name. ACTIVITIES OF PRO Writing is the main activity of PRO and he has to be a master in writing seminars, director's speeches and has to make reports of presentation for the news, which is a very important task. The presentation prepared should be simple, lucid, clear to understand, and above all should be attractively and precisely written and framed with graphs, summaries, etc. selected by the PRO. A typical presentation method is given below. The heading should be distinct from ordinary business letter heading but should not be so designed and worded that it looks like an advertisement. The best news and headlines should be at the top and must be neat and simple, so that the story predominates, the name, address and telephone number of the sender being printed distinctly but discreetly at the foot of the sheet.

The first paragraph should not be indented. All succeeding paragraphs should be indented. This is followed by most newspapers. Other style should not be used. Subheading should not be used unless the story refers to more than one item and sub heads help to identify them. But it is generally better to write separate stories about each item. Capital letter should be restricted to proper names such as surnames, company names and geographical places, ranks and position as a general managing director do not need capital letters, nor do materials such as steel or polythene. Notary should be completely in caps. 5) Nothing should usually be underlined. 6) Figures should be spelt out one to nine. But in case of big figures they should not be spelt fully e.g. 1 lac, 10 millions etc. All copy for the press should be typed on machine and checked afterwards. Continuation should be clearly started at the foot of the complete copy and the top of the following sheet. A report should be written on one side of the foolscape paper only. Another side should be kept blank. Length of the news should be 200 to 300 words in case of reports but it should contain all the important points regarding the matter. NEWS CONFERENCE, RECEPTIONS & FACULTY VISITS: A news conference is an informal assembly, perhaps called at a short notice so that statement may be given to reporters and question's answered. A news reception is more formal and organized occasion when there is a program of activities such as demonstration ride, flight or voyage. In organizing these public relation events, the following points should be considered very carefully: Does the news content of the occasion warrant bringing busy journalists and others from their offices to your venue? Would a news release suffice? Is the date sufficiently advanced to allow your guests to print the story? 3) Is the venue easily accessible? The press material should be simple such as a brief news release and a well-captioned picture, supported by a sample if that is feasible. PUBLIC RELATIONS PROGRAM FOUR STAGES: There are four stages in public relations program. The first stage is fact-finding, the second is organized planning, the third one is effective communication & the final is objective evaluation. Each of these four steps is important to the successful implementation of a Public Relation Campaign. Let us discuss these steps one by one. 1) FACT FINDING: It is an informal research to find out the problems of an organization. Any public relation campaign has to begin with the appraisal of the problems of an organization and also the attitude of the public. Here is an example: For years everything was well with food products manufacturing company. But at one stage, to their great surprise, it was discovered that their products were losing the market. A market survey was conducted. There was no intense competition from other products. An internal survey was subsequently carried out. It was then noted that there were lots of dark patches in the organization and it was company's staff, which was responsible for the falling sales. That fact finding revealed that one of the fields where the staff miserably failed was in letter writing. A committee of experts was set up to screen every letter written by the company to their clients over a specific period.

It was then discovered that over 80 percent of the letters that were sent out to people should not have been written at all in the first instance because they lacked the communicative touch and went off without influencing the people towards their products. So, the fact-finding survey pointed out this vital defect. To remedy the situation, steps were taken to improve public relation letter writing by the staff and in a relatively shorttime business picked up. Fact-finding can be used for different purposes. It is the foundation to public relation planning & identifying discrepancies. There are several methods of fact finding such as personal contacts, mail analysis, opinion surveys, media reports, etc. Meeting with the executives and officers at the organization can also be a part of fact-finding programs. 2) PLANNING PROGRAMS: This is the second stage of laying plan and programs for satisfactory solution of the problems. Before submitting a plan for the approval it should be examined with the following checklist. CHECK LIST: What is the problem? How is the problem going to be solved through a public relation campaign? Is the cause worthwhile? What is the object of the proposed public relation campaign? What are the costs involved in the campaign? Who will execute the campaign? What media will be used? Will it be continuous in the application? Is it going to be beneficial both to the organization and the public? Having satisfied with the checklist the P.R.O. can submit a comprehensive public relation project for the approval of the management. For this a presentation, meeting should be held with top management when the plan is not only discussed but also finally approved. 3) COMMUNICATIONS: This is a third step in which the public relation program approved by management is put to action through various media of communication, so as to convey the message to the target audience. The ultimate aim of a public relation campaign is to make the people adopt an idea or a product. In adopting such ideas, there are again four steps. Eg: The department of agriculture has evolved a new strain of hybrid paddy, which is to be introduced in the country. For this a communication program has been designed in such a way as to make the farmers adopt the new variety of paddy seeds. In adopting this new hybrid variety a farmer has to pass through four stages. 1) Awareness: The farmer learns of this existence of the hybrid paddy, which was not known to him earlier. 2) Interest: Having known to its existence, the farmer develops interest in the idea and seeks more information on the new strain for his consideration. 3) Acceptance: The farmer makes a decision to try the new variety in his own farm. 4) Trial: The farmer actually puts the idea into practice on a small scale in his farm. If the idea experimented by the farmer is successful, it can be safely assumed that the idea and campaign would be finally adopted. This is the result of public relation campaign. The media used for communication for each stage must be suitable. For creating the necessary awareness, media will be press, radio, television, news print, local advertising, etc. Till the interest stage, the advertisement must be repeated by the

same medias because as the saying goes, "Once forgotten, twice remembered and third implemented." For acceptance & trial stages personal approaches or group discussion is a good and great media 4) EVALUATION: Public relation is a long and a continuous process. Unless public relation activities are evaluated, it may be difficult for the management to assess the effect of public relations on the public. Its impacts cant be judged by the number of press releases dispatched or by the number of exhibition of public relation works. It is to be determined by the degree of impact a given message has produced on the public concern and the extent of its reaction to it. For example, if the hybrid paddy has been adopted by the farmers, the public relations campaign would have achieved its desired objects. A system of review of public relations activities is therefore indispensable. Quantitatively, public relations cannot be measured but effectiveness can be measured by watching reaction of the people. It is also a three-stage program. AUDIENCE COVERAGE: It shows size and type of target audience reached or covered. AUDIENCE RESEARCH: If the message has reached the target audience, what was their reaction? Did it arouse a new interest? Did they understand? Usually every medial has an association, which conducts surveys on the impact of its program. The exact opinion of the audience can be taken by this process. COMMUNICATION IMPACT: The impact of the message passed on to the audience can be found out by the communication or by direct meeting with the people. The study team employs various tools to evaluate the impact of the planned publicity, which includes inviting written memoranda from the public, sample surveys through mail questionnaire, information from different publicity media units concerned, discussions with centre & state ministers and the officials concerned, legislators, presidents and members of Zillah Parishads, Panchayat Samitis and village panchayats and villagers, representatives of public. Other tools include reader interest surveys of newspapers and magazines, readability tests, radio and television audience research, press clipping services, etc. PUBLICITY, PROPAGANDA AND ADVERTISING There is confusion between public relations, publicity, propaganda and advertising. To have a clear and precise idea of public relations, they should be distinguished from each other and not to be confused. The public relations officer must know the distinction between these activities. PUBLICITY: Public relations and publicity are not two different branches but are the two aspects of the same things. While their boundaries may well overlap but yet differs in the technique of their approach. Public relation deals with individual publicity with the people in a mass while dissemination of information to the people in the mass is distinct from individual publicity. It has been defined as "The art of dealing with the people in the masses. Its chief function is to gain public attention for clients. It is also a process of making something known. We can also say that it is an unpaid form of advertising. PROPAGANDA: Public relation is not propaganda. The definition given by Gobbles is "It is a deliberate & guided campaign to induce people for the acceptance of given idea. No regard is given to the public opinion in propaganda and it always seeks to serve its own selfish end." It is the end that matters in propaganda and not the means. In propaganda false information and sinister motives often enter. The propaganda technique, include deliberate lies, double talk, omission of facts, distortion of facts, exaggeration, prejudiced appeals, etc. ADVERTISING: Advertising is the business of selling goods & services & ideas by inducing people to want them or it is a paid form of publicity. Public Relation is not advertising. The advertising media are newspaper, radio, television, film, mails, internet, websites, outdoor publicity, etc.

MEANING OF PUBLIC OPINION: According to Bertrand R. Canadian, "Public opinion is an expression of a belief held in common by members of a group or public on a controversial issue. The public opinion emanates from an individuals opinion of members of a group whose views are subjected to the influences exerted by the group until a consensus is reached and is expressed as the public opinion. Public opinion is usually expressed after controversy, dispute and debate over some controversial question, which concerns the welfare doctrines and value system of a group. For public opinion to be aroused there must exist an issue or question about which members of the groups have affirmative or negative views. Public opinion is not simply the opinion of a majority of a group. To truly express public opinion, the belief must be unanimous. Otherwise, it is simply majority or a minority opinion. A majority opinion is not sufficient to constitute public opinion. The opinion must be representative of the group as a whole though the minority may not have it and they feel bound by conversion and be feared to accept the groups opinion and submit ungrudgingly to the majority. OPINION FORMATION: The basic objective of public relations is to influence public opinion, which develops from the attitudes of individual comprising the public. Therefore, it is important to understand the meaning of attitudes, why people hold attitudes and their role in the opinion for mind process. HOW GOOD SHOULD BE A GOOD PRO? The Ten Commandments for a good PRO: 1. Accurate: A flair for writing and public speaking with an ability to communicate ideas effectively. 2. Incalculable: A wide reading habit and curiosity for forceful words. 3. Gain adequate knowledge at all mass media. 4. Develop good organizing ability and ability to make friends at all levels of society and business. 5. Be cheerful and courteous. 6. Have an infinite capacity for taking pains & doing hard work. 7. Develop ability to persuade people by wise reasoning. 8. Instill in yourself a sense of curiosity about people, things and places, together with an ability to conceptualize situations and understand public moods. 9. Nurture a good imagination with lively inquisitive mind & carry a sense of humor. 10. Be honest & sincere. These are the important qualities that a good PRO should have in his repertoire. HOW TO ORGANISE PUBLIC MEETINGS: Arranging meeting is a task of PRO. The public meetings are arranged to discuss or decide policies or to change some policies of the organization and for declaration of new things concerned. Check out list for organizing public meetings: 1) PLACE & TIME: A convenient place and a time suitable to the audience should be selected. A badly timed meeting is almost as bad as organizing no meeting at all. 2) AUD1ENCE: The actual filling of the place with the type of audience for whom the speech is intended is another important factor. For this invitation should be extended to those who are interested in the speech. Advance publicity through press & other media should be very useful. Venue of the function may also be published in the "Engagement" column in the newspapers. Personal contact will go a long way in getting a good gathering. 3) PANEL OF SPEAKERS: The PRO must maintain a panel of speakers whom he can invite to address meetings. This would facilitate to pick and choose the right type of speakers appropriate for the occasion.

4) TALKING POINTS: There is no harm in providing talking points to speakers. Too many speakers might spoil the meeting. Hence, there is a need for minimum & well-informed speakers. Speeches should always be delivered in such a way as to appeal to the audience. Lengthy speeches should be avoided. Make sure public address system depends on the audience. 5) OTHER MEDIA: Other media such as press, songs & drama, exhibition, film, printed words, etc. may also be used as complementary to make the meeting more interesting 6) PROGRAM: The Program in order of events should be typed and placed on the table for conducting the meeting. A copy may also be circulated to the pressmen at the time of function. To get good coverage of the function, the press should be invited. PRO should see that the press representatives are provided with all facilities for reporting the speech by marking a separate block with proper sitting arrangement. Speeches alone may not attract the audience. It will add slice to the function if some cultural program or film shows are arranged at the end of the meeting. An exhibition preferably based on theme of the function may also be organized. Distribution of pamphlets and other printed literature relating to the meeting will be an added attraction. If all the above conditions are fulfilled, the speech, as the main ingredient of oral communication publicity, will achieve its purpose, effectively conveying the message to the intended audience. QUALIFICATIONS OF PRO To be a PRO in public undertaking organization requires the following minimum qualifications. 1. Good university degree, preferably in humanities. 2. Personality to communicate effectively with a variety of people inside and outside the organization at various levels 3. Capacity for sustained hard work and ability to handle different human and organizational problems. 4. Writing & editing of news items, features & articles. 5. Experience of working in an advertising agency, ability to write scripts and commentaries for films and broadcast, understanding & ability to utilize various media of mass, communication viz. press, printed material, radio, film, audiovisual programs etc. 6. Institutional training in public relations would be a very desirable qualification. Persons who want to be in public relations set up should have the quality of leadership & skill to handle creative writers and artists and get the best out of them Some special requirements are however required by some organizations. They require a degree holder PRO but other than this, following qualities are necessary to be PRO. 1. He should be intellectually sharp. 2. He should be a man of many tastes. 3. He should be a generalist in terms of capabilities and a specialist so far as public relations is concerned. 4. He should essentially be a "go together." 5. He should have flair for writing. 6. He should have a pleasing personality and carry the initiative & drive. 7. He should be proficient in oral and written communication. 8. He should be equally at ease whether writing or talking. 9. He should be able to communicate effectively. 10. Finally a common qualification prescribed for recruitment as a PRO is a degree with a diploma in journalism, advertising, public relations called as "Communication Skills" in educational field.

EXPERIENCE OF PRO: For a junior PRO experience is the most important factor. Along with his degree certification, reference letters are also given importance by experienced advertising agencies or other reputed organizations. AGE: The age of PRO usually is from 30 to 40 years. SALARIES: The pay scale of PRO depends upon the organization where he works. It also depends upon efficiency and working, experience and qualification of PRO FUNCTIONS: The major functions of PRO are as given below: 1. Collection of information and other publicity material. 2. Liaison on government & other bodies. 3. Liaison with the press. 4. Planning, developing & executing public relation and advertising campaigns. 5. Writing press releases, articles, booklets, speeches and radio scripts. 6. Editing and producing house magazines and other company obligations. 7. Organizing internal communications within organization making house magazine as an effective communication channel. 8. Improving public relation awareness among the staff members of the company. 9. Organizing exhibitions, seminars and other functions. 10. Projecting favorable image of the organization among internal and external public. 11. Carrying out publicity work for promoting sales of the company products. PUBLIC RELATIONS POLICY Develop and recommend corporate public relation policies, contribute public relation viewpoint in formulation of corporate decision, provide not only to top management but also to other department & division. CORPORATE PUBLICITY: Announcement of new products through editorial channels of communication media, developments & execution of promotional product publicity campaigns GOVERNMENT RELATIONS: Maintain liaison with appropriate government units at local, state and national levels, report trends in government affecting the company, advice as needed to help prepare for direct corporate appearance before investigating bodies or legislative hearing, direct program designed to promote the company point of view in legislative matter. COMMUNITY RELATIONS: Plan community contacts performance and or co-ordination of corporate good neighbor activities including compliance with environment protection standards, fostering equal employment opportunity and cooperating in urban improvement programs development of community understanding of company problem and needs. STOCKHOLDER RELATIONS: Communication between company and shareholders and also between investors in general, development of acceptance of company among investors by broadening the exposure of company policies and financial results in the investment community, preparation of annual report, quarterly reports, dividend cheques, etc. Planning and staging of annual meeting of stockholders and appearance before meeting of security analysis. PUBLIC RELATION PROGRAMMES: Institutional promotional program designed to build corporate acceptance among key publics, institutional advertising, public relations literature and special events.

CORPORATE DONATION: Develop policy for company contribution process, donation requests, administer company foundation, conduct of employee, and solicitation for approval drives. EMPLOYEE PUBLICATIONS: Prepare and publish employee magazines, newspaper, bulletins, management communications, etc. GUEST RELATION: Plan tours, seminars, outings, and exhibitions all aimed at guest reception activities. WHAT A PUBLIC RELATIONS PROFESSIONAL SHOULD KNOW? A good public relation professional should know the following points: 1. It is hard to listen, easy to talk. 2. Hard to agree, easy to find faults. 3. Hard to forgive, easy to nurse a grudge. 4. Hard to see the whole picture, easy to highlight a small section of it. 5. Hard to appreciate the detail, easy to generalize. 6. Hard to co-operate with others in an attack of a common problem, easy to attack the others and thus make the problem worse. 7. Hard to steadfast, easy to be stubborn. 8. Hard to speak up, when keeping quiet is difficult but right. 9. Hard to give, easy to take. 10. Hard to say "sorry", easy to bluster. 11. Hard to be magnanimous, easy to doubt the motives of others. 12. Hard to negotiate, easy to break of. 13. Hard to be patient, easy to ignore. 14. Hard to love, easy to hate. 15. Hard to build, easy to destroy. MAKING OF A PUBLIC RELATIONS MAN The making of a successful Public relations professional consists of the following: 1. Should concern himself and not with the manipulation of people but with their continuing enlightenment. 2. Should try to elevate his audience rather than degrade them, and that his communication should be addressed to reason & judgment rather than to emotion & prejudice by: a. Insisting on truth and full information. b. Keeping the message simple and straightforward. c. Not overselling or exaggerating. d. Remembering for drama not making this communication unnecessary drab and common place. e. Packaging the communication appropriately, not overdressing it or making it too extravagant. f. Taking a time to listen to public opinion. g. Remembering the vital importance of continuity. h. Trying to be positive & constructive in every aspect of communication. 3. Should recognize that sound public relation comprises polices and deals as well as words. That it must be a deal in truth rather than in deception and that it must seek to clarify the issue of our times rather than confuse them. 4. While he may undertake to present one point of view for public consideration, he should believe in the inalienable right of those with opposing view points to present their cases also for he has to realize that his right to speak can be assured only if the guarantee exists for all including those whose causes are unpopular.

5. Should believe that the democratic process must prevail in the market place as well as in political and economic affairs. 6. Should believe that the public interest takes precedence over the interest of those he represents and he should conniver his function as being to assist in conforming the interest of those he represents to the interests of the public when the two do not coincide. 7. Should recognize that the consequences of his action are affected in the minds of men and because the human mind has immeasurable potentials for good and for evil, he must approach his task in reverence.