Definitions of Public Relations Public relations (PR) is a field concerned with maintaining a public image for businesses, non-profit

organizations or high-profile people, such as celebrities and politicians. An earlier definition of public relations, by The first World Assembly of Public Relations Associations held in Mexico City in August 1978, was "the art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counseling organizational leaders, and implementing planned programs of action, which will serve both the organization and the public interest." Others define it as the practice of managing communication between an organization and its publics. Public Relations is defined as helping an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other. Public relations is a planned and sustained activity to help an institution create a social climate favorable for its growth. It is based on the fundamental belief that the survival of any enterprise, public or private depends today on the sensitive response to changes in public opinion. International Public Relations (IPRA) defined PR as: public relations is [the] management function of a continuing and planned character, through which public and private organizations and institutions seek to win and retain understanding, sympathy and support of those with whom they are or may be concerned by evaluating public opinion about themselves, in order to correlate, as far as possible, their own politics, policies, and procedure, to achieve by planned and wide-spread information more productive cooperation and more efficient fulfilment of their common interests The definititon of PRISA reads as follows: Public relations is the management through communication of perceptions and strategic relationships between organizations and its internal and external stakeholders. According to the Public Relations Handbook, the definition given for public relations varies depending on the source. In The Practice of Public Relations, Eighth Edition, Fraser P. Seitel defines PR based on its practices. Public relations affects almost everyone who has contact with other human beings. All of us, in one way or another, practice public relations daily. For an organization, every phone call, every letter, every face-to-face encounter is a public relations event. Although this gives us an idea of what PR encompasses, the reasons behind it or what we hope to accomplish from it are not clear. The YWCAs Handbook of Public Relations, a professional manual designed to introduce novices to the field, provides this type of understanding: Public relations is the deliberate, planned, and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its publics. Public relations is the key to how the public perceives (the organization), its programs, and its services. It can also be defined as that aspect of communications that involves promoting a desirable image for a person or group seeking public attention. Public relations (PR) is the art of managing communication between an organization and its key publics to build, manage and sustain a positive image.

One of the earliest definitions of PR was coined by Edward Bernays. According to him, "Public Relations is a management function which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures and interest of an organization followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance. " Public Relations is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between on organization and its publics. - Institute of Public Relations, USA Public relations is the attempt by information persuasion and adjustment to engineer public support for an activity, cause, movement or institution. - Edward L. Bernays Public Relations is a combination of philosophy, sociology, economics, language, psychology, journalism, communication and other knowledges into a system of human understanding." - Herbert M. Baus Merely human decency which flows from a good heart. - Charles Plackard Good performance, publicity appreciated because adequately communicated. - Fortune (Magazine) Public Relations is Dale Carnegie - winning friends and influencing people writ large. - Robert Heibroner Everything involved in achieving a favourable opinion." - George F. Meredith Former President of the American Pubic Relation Association The Management function which gives the same organized and careful attention to the asset of goodwill as is given to any other major asset of business. - John W. Hill According to two American PR professionals Scott M. Cutlips and Allen H. Center, "PR is a planned effort to influence opinion through good character and responsible performance based upon mutual satisfactory two-way communication Merging all these definitions, we can identify these basic components of public relations: Public Relations is comprised of the interactions between an individual or an organization and the general public. The interaction can be with the entire public, or with a select group. The interaction, planned or unexpected, has an impact on the image, success or failure, and actions of the individual or organization that communicates with the public. Traditionally this meant public relations professionals would work with members of the news media to build a favourable image by publicizing the organisation or product through stories in print and broadcast media.

Brief History of Public Relations The industry of public relations began with the spread of theatrical performances and circuses. Those publicists who specialized in promoting public spectacles are thought to be the predecessors of public relations. The origin of pr is linked to efforts to inform and persuade in the earliest civilizations. Ancient leaders of Egypt, Iraq, and India used pr techniques to inform, persuade and to impress.(Grunig and Hunt (1984:15).Reilly (1987:13) also refers to historical persons such as Napoleon, Catherine the Great and Charles Dickens as examples of public figures who used pr to promote personal image and to influence public opinion. The development of public relations is also discussed with reference to propaganda by the early Roman Catholic Church, the invention of the printing press by Guttenberg and the development of mass communication; social changes such as the reformation; the rise of humanism and abolition of censorship (Grunig and Hunt 1984);economic changes as a result of industrialization; political changes such as the American revolution and the rise of trade unions;technological development and the onrush of the global information age (Cutlip et al 2000) and the emergence of consumer rights and activist organizations. (Grunig and Hunt 1984). NEED FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS Investing on Public relations will help the organisation to achieve its objective uct or services are good it need an effective Public Relations campaign for attracting, motivating the public to the product or service or towards the purpose of the programme. It is not only encourage the involvement from the public and also resulting in better image. An effective Public Relations can create and build up the image of an individual or an organisation or a nation. At the time of adverse publicity or when the organisation is under crisis an effective Public Relations can remove the "misunderstanding" and can create mutual understanding between the organisation and the public. 1.4. FUNCTIONS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS Public Relations is establishing the relationship among the two groups (organisation and public). Art or Science of developing reciprocal understanding and goodwill. It analyses the public perception & attitude, identifies the organisation policy with public interest and then executes the programmes for communication with the public. 1.5. ELEMENTS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS A planned effort or management function. The relationship between an organisation and its publics Evaluation of public attitudes and opinions.

 An organisation's policies, procedures and actions as they relate to said organisation's publics. Steps taken to ensure that said policies, procedures and actions are in the public interest and socially responsible. Execution of an action and or communication programme. Development of rapport, goodwill, understanding and acceptance as the chief end result sought by public relations activities. Courtesy: Raymond Simon, Public relations: concepts and practices, 2nd ed. (Columbus, O.Grid, 1980), pp 9, 11. THE COMPONENTS AND TOOLS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS "Public" A group of similar individuals; an assortment of persons having the same interests, problems, circumstances, goals; it is from such persons that opinion emanates. Public is a varied creature; it comes in many forms and sizes. Public has a multitude of wants and desires; it has its likes and dislikes, some times, strong likes and strong dislikes. Employers make for a public and employees another public; the government is a public and citizens constitute another public, and so on, each of these groups is a public of the sort, tries to attract a different audience with its own tools and techniques. "Relations" Human wants to create the need to establish relations with one another. The representative wants of the individuals will profoundly affect their relationship. To understand any relationship, therefore, one must understand the wants of those involved. ionship may be active, or it may be passive it may be good or it may be bad, or it may be neutral. At any rate, the relationship is there to be accepted, ignored or altered, as desired. public relations activities. Courtesy: Raymond Simon, Public relations: concepts and practices, 2nd ed. (Columbus, O.Grid, 1980), pp 9, 11. 1.6. THE COMPONENTS AND TOOLS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS "Public" A group of similar individuals; an assortment of persons having the same interests, problems, circumstances, goals; it is from such persons that opinion emanates. Public is a varied creature; it comes in many forms and sizes. Public has a multitude of wants and desires; it has its likes and dislikes, some times, strong likes

and strong dislikes. Employers make for a public and employees another public; the government is a public and citizens constitute another public, and so on, each of these groups is a public of the sort, tries to attract a different audience with its own tools and techniques. "Relations" Human wants to create the need to establish relations with one another. The representative wants of the individuals will profoundly affect their relationship. To understand any relationship, therefore, one must understand the wants of those involved. 'Relationships are of all possible types. We have relationship by ran-superior to inferior, inferior to superior, and equal to equal. We have relationship by sentiment-benevolent, Friendly, suspicious, jealous, hostile. A relationship may be active, or it may be passive it may be good or it may be bad, or it may be neutral. At any rate, the relationship is there to be accepted, ignored or altered, as desired. Propaganda: Propaganda is the manipulation of symbols to transmit accepted attitudes and skills. It describes political application of publicity and advertising, also on a large scale, to the end of selling an idea cause or candidate or all three. Campaigns: These consist of concerted, single-purpose publicity programme, usually on a more or less elaborate scale, employing coordinated publicity through a variety of media, aimed, at a number of targets, but focussed on specific objectives. A campaign objective may be the election of a candidate, the promotion of political cause or issue, the reaching of a sales goal, or the raising of a quota of funds. Lobbying: It entails the exertion of influence, smooth and measured pressure on other, exercise of persuasion cum-pressure. In essence, it means a group putting its points of view forward in an attempt to win the other groups support. 1.7. SOME POSSIBILITIES THAT WOULD CALL FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS Promotional Opportunity: To inform the new service / policy which call for Public Rela PR and associated concepts PR vs Marketing

There are certain areas like publicity, sponsorship, exhibitions, consumer and dealer relations where both the functions of PR and marketing overlap. They do not always talk the same language though both marketing and PR make use of communication to pursue their goals. What really matters in the long run, however, is not whether a particular set of techniques should be labeled PR or marketing but whether they are effective in achieving the desired corporate goal. From a marketing perspective, PR is part of the promotional element in the marketing mix and aid to consumer relations. It is seen as a component in the total marketing communication and is bracketed with advertising and sales promotion. As a support function for marketing, PR operates primarily as a publicity function PR is a marketing of an organization Marketing is the selling of a tangible service or product through promotion, pricing and distribution. PR is equally concerned with internal and external groups. Marketing is external in its orientation. The audiences of PR include employees, shareholders, neighbors and many others. Customers are the key audiences for marketing. Good PR can pave the way for marketing effort. It is concerned with creating a favorable climate for marketing. It can help maintain good relations with dealers organize product publicity and disseminate information to trade and industry. Similarly, a successful marketing campaign and satisfied consumers make good relations with the others easier to develop and maintain. PR is both a compliment and a corrective to the marketing approach. As a compliment, it provides and techniques with support marketing efforts. The techniques of communication used in PR and available to marketing and can be used in support of product and sales promotion. Introduction of new products and publicity campaigns to put fresh life into the sales of established products are important marketing functions. In these areas, PR can work closely with marketing. Indeed, PR and marketing can support and reinforce each other with synergistic force, if planned and coordinated in a total communication strategy. PR AND PUBLICITY: Publicity is often confused as an identical activity to PR probably because it is the most visible aspect of PR. Tangible evidence of PR efforts can be seen thorough publicity. A publicist works on only one area of PR-dissemination of information for the media. Publicity consists of obtaining free space or time for news about the organization. Spreading of information in this way can effectively improve PR program. But it is quite possible to have wide, even favorable publicity and still not achieve good public relations. Publicity can sometimes be unfavorable or even controversial.

Frequently, its over abundance may cause bad reaction instead of good. Publicity can be measured by the length of space or time obtained in mass media and it is possible to maintain a record through press clipping. But publicity is, in effect, one-way communication. PR, on the other hand, strives to initiate dialogue and feedback. It is a more complex and comprehensive discipline. PR and Propaganda: PR is responsible for presenting factual information without comment. Propaganda seeks to build a favorable public opinion through one-sided presentation of facts. The selective and slanted presentation is designed to strengthen particular images by emphasizing only the good points of one position and the bad points of another. The receiver of the information has the freedom to take his own decision. They resort to deliberate disinformation for building the strongest possible case for their views. The fundamental purpose of PR is to establish mutual understanding. It is based on facts and information. Propaganda is designed to manipulate the beliefs and attitude of the people through colorful half-truths. Objective PR: Consent Objective Propaganda: to build a sectarian movement. PR AND ADVERTISING: Many people consider public relations and advertising as almost synonymous, probably because there is an element of information and persuasion inherent in both. Public Relations

PR is winning of public acceptance by acceptable performance without any idea of instant tangible gain. PR does, of course, provide support to marketing activities but it has a wider prospective and is broader in scope and vision. PR is a management function. Every organization has a public perception and consequently public relations. PR presents its messages to specialize external audiences and internal publics PR message is largely a matter of credibility PR is more proactive than advertising. It involves anticipating, diagnosing problems and then providing solutions

Advertising

Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by any identified sponsor. Although some advertisements seek to inform an even educate, there is an immediate, commercial goal behind most.

Advertising is essentially a tool of marketing along with product, price, packaging and place (distribution). Advertising is a marketing function. Advertising may or may not be used by an organization. Advertising is addressed to external audiences, primarily consumers of goods and services. Advertising messages are mostly emotive and strident. Advertising involves directly acting upon the briefs or problems presented by the client.

Unlike advertising the main cost of PR is time. If an advertising campaign is undertaken too early, it will fail to overcome the barriers of prejudice, apathy and ignorance. To create acceptance, interest and impart knowledge, PR should come earlier. While PR begins very early and then proceeds steadily as a constant factor as a part of an organizations existence, advertising is intensive at the launch and then tapers off in proportion to the product sensibility. Aims and Objectives of PR Policy Public relations people have the role of being always in the middle pivoted between their clients/employers and their publics. They must be attuned to the thinking and needs of the organizations they serve or they cannot serve well. They must be attuned to the dynamics and needs of the publics so they can interpret publics to the clients, as well as interpret the clients to the publics. Also so that they can better meet the needs of their stakeholders and help the organization better meet its long term objectives Like any other aspects of marketing promotion, pr is used to address several aims and broad objectives including the following: To create, maintain, and protect the organization's reputation, enhance its prestige, and present a favorable image . Studies have shown that consumers often base their purchase decisions on a company's reputation, so public relations can have a definite impact on sales and revenue. Public relations can be an effective part of a company's overall marketing strategy. In the case of a for-profit company, public relations and marketing should be coordinated to be sure they are working to achieve the same objectives. Another major public relations goal is to create good will for the organization. This involves such functions as employee relations, stockholder and investor relations, media relations, and community relations. Public relations may function to educate certain audiences about many things relevant to the organization including the business in general, new legislation, and how to use a particular productas well as to overcome misconceptions and prejudices. For example, a nonprofit organization may attempt to educate the public regarding a certain point of view, while trade associations may undertake educational programs regarding particular industries and their products and practices.

Building product or service awareness when introducing a new product or relaunching an existing product, marketers can use a pr element that generates consumer attention and awareness through media placements and special events Creating interest whether pr placement is a short product article , stories in the media can help entice a targeted audience to try the product Providing Information pr can be used to provide customers with more in depth information about products and services so that they can gain more understanding of the product. Stimulating Demand positive coverage often results in a discernable increase in product sales Reinforcing the Brand brand reinforcement is part of pr objectives by maintaining positive relationships with key audiences, and thereby aiding in building a strong image. Crisis management Market Monitoring Strategies and Targets in Public Relations It is part of the duties of the pr officer to develop a Public Relations Strategy Public relations officers must develop a plan to brand the company in the media. They must develop contacts in the media and use the company's mission statement as a guide for marketing. The plan helps the organization establish or maintain recognition in the public eye. When creating a pr plan there are essential components that include strategies and tactics. This gives your plan a better chance of success and makes the plan more relevant and tailored for the company or client when these strategies and tactics are based on the companys overall business objectives. To help ensure success companies should create strategies that correspond with the companys and pr plan objectives as well as tactics tailored. Audience targeting A fundamental technique used in public relations is to identify the target audience, and to tailor every message to appeal to that audience. It can be a general, nationwide or worldwide audience, but it is more often a segment of a population. Marketers often refer to economy-driven "demographics," such as "white males 18-49," but in public relations an audience is more fluid, being whoever someone wants to reach. In addition to audiences, there are usually stakeholders, literally people who have a "stake" in a given issue. All audiences are stakeholders, but not all stakeholders are audiences. For example, a charity commissions a PR agency to create an advertising campaign to raise money to find a cure for a disease. The charity and the people with the disease are stakeholders, but the audience is anyone who is likely to donate money. Sometimes the interests of differing audiences and stakeholders common to a PR effort necessitate the creation of several distinct but still complementary messages.