Public Relations

What It Means

Public relations involves building relationships with the public. For-profit businesses and nonprofit groups rely on public relations to communicate with their customers, investors, suppliers, local communities, and employees. Public relations (or “PR”) helps an organization let the public know who the organization is, what it does and why, and what is important about it.

The goal of public relations is to build support for the organization by giving its audience ways to respond and interact with it. All organizations have reputations to protect and a public image to maintain. For example, when an oil company’s tanker runs ashore and causes damage the environment, the company will then rely on its public relations department to improve its image in the public eye. Public relations is both a science and an art: it involves delivering accurate, consistent, and timely messages as well as conveying the right message to the right audience.

Whether they are major multinational corporations or small businesses, organizations of all sizes rely on public relations. Most large and midsize companies have their own public relations departments. Smaller businesses may employ their own public relations director, integrate public relations activities into the roles of managers, or hire public relations firms or consultants to handle public relations activities.

Public relations is a multifaceted field, involving several different areas of focus. Media relations involves working with the news outlets that cover the organization or industry. Community relations involves participating in the local business community and creating positive attitudes about the organization in the community. This may involve sponsoring local events, such as concerts or athletic events, or supporting public projects, such as park improvements or the construction of a new sports stadium. Government affairs involves communicating with legislators and government groups on behalf of the organization. The financial relations aspect of public relations involves maintaining relationships with regulatory agencies, industry analysts, investors, and shareholders. Internal communications develops the relationship between the organization and its own employees. Trade relations deals with the relationships between the organization and other firms in the industry.

When Did It Begin?

Business and its role in public life developed rapidly in the eighteenth century, and by the early nineteenth century U.S. businesses needed formalized public relations campaigns to help communicate their objectives to the public. Big business was often controversial in the eyes of some groups, and public relations attempted to show business practices in a positive light. Many journalists, skilled at communicating targeted messages to specific audiences, were hired in the new field of public relations.

The first public relations firm was opened in 1904 by Ivy Ledbetter Lee (1877–1934), a former newspaper journalist. Lee began to recognize the power of public relations when he represented coal miners and later a Pennsylvania railroad. He understood how alerting the press of important business events could help the public better understand organizations and their goals.

Edward L. Bernays (1891–1995), the nephew of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, also played an important role in shaping early public relations through his work with a wide range of organizations. In the early 1900s Bernays was a publicist (someone who handles public relations for an organization) for theater productions in New York City and later helped the U.S. government build public support for World War I. Bernays also developed public relations strategies for such large businesses as soap manufacturer Proctor & Gamble and cigarette manufacturer Lucky Strike. Bernays helped these companies reach the public with special events, customer contests, gallery exhibits, and department-store window displays.

More Detailed Information

Public relations can help an organization meet a range of different goals. It can help a young organization build a presence and establish credibility in its community. It can help an established organization remain aware of what is important to its customers and stakeholders through customer surveys or shareholder meetings. Public relations can also provide the public with educational materials that explain complex products and services. If an organization goes through a significant transition and changes its products, services, or mission, the organization may use a public relations firm to communicate these changes to those who will be affected.

In general, a corporation relies on public relations to help increase its sales through such activities as media events that focus on the development or launch of a new product. Many nonprofit organizations, such as schools, social service agencies, hospitals, and environmental and arts groups, use public relations to develop and convey a certain image of the organization. All nonprofit organizations need to raise money on a regular basis, and their public relations campaigns can help them communicate the organization’s mission and raise funds. Politicians rely heavily on public relations to help them run election campaigns and present their term in office in a positive light. Many public figures in contemporary life, from star athletes to prominent entertainers, rely on public relations to shape the public’s perception of them.

Probably the most important aspect of public relations is interacting with the media. Businesses often put together public relations materials for the media in an organized format called a press kit. A typical press kit provides information on the organization’s history and background; information on its products and services, including such information as technical information and specifications; biographical sketches of the organization’s important leaders or executives; and contact information for those employees at the organization in charge of media communications.

A “media contact” is a person within an organization’s public relations team who takes all initial calls from reporters, writers, and editors. The media contact may set up an interview between the press person and someone within the organization, such as the company president or the developer of a new product. In a large company, the company spokesperson may speak to the media. This person is responsible for speaking intelligently and simply about an organization or a product, what it is, and why it is significant.

When working with the media, public relations professionals may target specific reporters or media outlets. For example, if an organization is developing software for doctors in Detroit, Michigan, the organization’s publicists would involve contacting Detroit newspaper reporters who cover technology and medicine. The organization’s publicists would also contact television and radio stations that have programs on medicine or technology and send press kits to trade magazines and websites related to medicine and technology.

If an organization has specific news to announce, it sends out what is called a press release to the media covering the organization or industry. A written document that is usually no more than two pages long, a press release contains the newsworthy information about the organization, its people, its products, and a specific newsworthy event. The goal of the press release is to present the media with opportunities to write about the organization. Press releases may be created to announce new products, new hires, new partnerships with other firms, funding or awards received, or major sales or results from a finished project.

Businesses often use public relations to tie their product or service to something else that is happening in the news, the community, or the society at large. For example, if a city opens a new park with public tennis courts, a local sports store may contact the city’s newspaper to describe how its tennis equipment can be used at the park’s facilities. Or an education company that creates standardized tests for students may set up a booth at an educational trade fair to communicate with educators about its product.

Recent Trends

An important trend in public relations is presenting information to the public and specific audiences through the Internet and other new technologies, such as satellite feeds. Many companies post their press kits and other public relations material on their websites. Press releases are sent by mass e-mail and may include links to related stories and sound and video clips.

In recent years the public relations industry has relied heavily on opinion polling and focus groups. Opinion polls are surveys conducted by telephone and in-person interviews in which people are asked their opinions about a product, a service, or even a person. Large-scale public campaigns, such as campaigns for the U.S. presidency, rely heavily on such opinion polls. Focus groups help organizations conduct research by presenting small groups of people with a new product or service and asking them questions about it. Generally, focus groups show public relations professionals what their customers’ attitudes and habits are and how their customers react to a product or service. This information can help companies shape their communications about the product or service to their audience.