Still having trouble understanding what PR Is?

It's not 'free' advertising

Advertising emphasises 'selling' whereas public relations is 'informative', 'educational' and creates understanding through knowledge.

Editorial space and broadcasting time are unbiased and therefore have more credibility than advertisements.

It's not 'free'
It's time consuming and therefore costs in terms of management time and expertise.

It's not propaganda
Propaganda is designed to indoctrinate in order to attract followers. It does not necessarily call for an ethical content, so facts are often distorted or falsified for self-interest. PR, on the other hand, seeks to persuade by securing the willing acceptance of attitudes and ideas.

It's not the same as publicity
Publicity is a result of information being made known. The result may be uncontrollable and either good or bad. Public relations is concerned with the behaviour of the organisation, product or individual that leads to publicity. It will seek to control behaviour if this is possible, in such a way that publicity is good. Sometimes the actions or events that lead to adverse publicity are outside an organisation's control. The PR role in such circumstance is to mitigate the effect of possible adverse publicity.

So Why Do You Need It?
As PR is essentially a process of communication, it is needed most when normal communications are strained and some people are left uninformed. In a modern economy, commercial organisations have a need for sophisticated communications, which can be accurately tailored and targeted at specific groups of people.

In a very real sense, especially in areas such as political campaigning, there has been a parallel development in the sophistication of the audience. People are better educated and better able to make objective judgements about the messages they receive. The very word communications is a 'buzz word.' Failure to communicate can be identified as the principal cause of many industrial, commercial and non-commercial organisational problems.

PR is by no means a universal answer for every situation, but at least it is a formal system of communications and as such employs the concepts of analysis, action, review and control, which can provide structure and a way forward in many situations. Changing social attitudes have forced a new responsiveness and sense of responsibility in office and commercial life; it is this social climate that an appreciation of public relations as a management and advisory function is now recognised.


Abbreviated from a lecture by Prof.Geoff Lancaster

Prof. Lancaster is Group Chairman of The Durham Associates Group. More details can be found at www.da-group.co.uk