Public Relations (PR) represents the managing of outside communication of an organization to create and maintain a positive image. Public relations involve popularizing successes, downplaying failures, announcing changes, and many other activities.
I. Main goals of Public Relatios
"Public Relations is the deliberated, planned, bound and continuous effort of the administration to establish and maintain a mutual understanding between a public or a privat organization and its staff as well as between the organization and all the groups to whom it is directly or indirectly tied." (British Institute of Public Relations)
Public Relations can be divided into two types: internal and external.
a) The internal public relations, also called human relations in enterprises, work as a link between staff and administration, looking to create a good work environment.
b) The external public relations have as goal the good understanding between the enterprise and its external public (suppliers, community, consumers etc.) and all that refers to its exterior image. One of the main characteristics of public relations, internal as well as external, is the permanent existence of feed-back. As an effect, the communication is made in both ways, upward and downward, allowing a certain dialogue. It is said that the communication is upward when it comes from the public towards the enterprise (or from the employees towards administration, in the case of internal public relations) and downward when it is the other way arround, that is, when it comes from the enterprise towards the public (or from the administration towards the employees).
Some of the main goals of public relations are to create, maintain, and protect the organization's reputation, enhance its prestige, and present a favorable image.
Thanks to both ways communication, public relations are an ideal technique to establish the dialogue between an enterprise and its public, wit the purpose of clarifying its policy and actions. The main objective is the internal and external humanization of the organization, in order not to be perceived by the public opinion just as a juridical entity. To achieve this there is a maximum interest in transmitting strictly true information, including lying through omission.
On the other hand, the existence of a dialogue between transmitters and receivers makes this technique different from any other as unilateral type of communication, where the veracity of the facts included in the message is not (or is hardly) verifiable. The truth policy, which should be the fundament of a public relation campaign, is the force line from which starts the elaboration and orientation of any programme.
Another characteristic of this technique is that it does not pretend to suggest nor to impose any idea, but to inform with objectivity. On the other hand, public relations do not concern sales as they do not use a reasoning in that purpose and if they did, there would be few success posibilities because of the restrictions imposed by the ethics code. It’s obvious that by breaking this limits we can no longer talk about PR, but about any other techniques.
The messages of public relations campaign assumes any time the form of press news. They ussualy go through three stages. The first two being the same as those for publicity and propaganda: caught of attention; stimulate interest; informing the consignee.
In some cases a fourth stage, the motivational one, can be inserted. Unlike publicity and especially propaganda, the results obtained through public relations are rarely imediat, because the level of the message receiver, its impact not being as deep as the others’ techinques, taking more time to impress the public. But when they succeed, the result lasts more, forming solid opnions. The best known results are generally verified on medium and long term, but this doesn’t mean that in certain cases is impossible to obtain imediat or short term results. But this is rarely the goal of a public relations campaign, as this is a techinque with a certain delay before starting producing tangible results.
Public relations should be continuous.
II. Public Relations and Media
Public relations includes ongoing activities to ensure the organization has a strong public image. Public relations activities include helping the public to understand the organization and its products.
Often, public relations are conducted through the media, that is, newspapers, television, magazines, etc. Publicity is mentioned in the media. Organizations usually have little control over the message in the media, at least, not as much as they do in advertising. Regarding publicity, reporters and writers decide what will be said.
A. Media is the storage and transmission tools used to store and deliver information or data. It is often referred as synonymous with mass media or news media, but many refer to a single medium used to communicate any data for any purpose.
The media means represents the relation between transmitter and receiver. Due to them communication made so much progress achieving its present importance.
The affirmation of Marshall McLuhan that „the medium is the message” is very significant in the media importance and changed the modern concept of communication.
Media planner is a technician charged to choose the accurate media means in order that the message comunicated to a determinated public would be greater; this in publicity as well as in propaganda or public relations.
Mass media is a term used to denote a section of the media specifically envisioned and designed to reach a very large audience such as the population of a country.
Mass media can be used for various purposes: advocacy, enrichment and education, entertainment, journalism and public service announcements.
Media has two forms: eletronic and printed media. It includes broadcasting, discs, tapes, publishing, film, Internet, video games.
B. Advertising represents a form of communication with the goal to inform potential customers about products and services and the way to obtain and use them. Purposes often contain both factual information and persuasive messages.
Messages are often delivered by television, radio, movies, magazines, newspapers, the Internet advertising, and so on.
Advertisements are usually placed anywhere an audience can easily and frequently access visuals or audio such as: busses, bus stations, streets, airport walkways.
The social costs of advertising are unsolicited commercial E-mail and other forms of spam.
C. Promotion involves disseminating information about a product, product line, brand, or company. It is one of the four key aspects of the marketing mix. (The other three elements are product management, pricing, and distribution.)
A promotional plan can have a wide range of objectives, including: sales increases, new product acceptance, creation of brand equity, positioning, competitive retaliations, or creation of a corporate image.
D. Publicity represents the deliberate attempt to manage the public's perception of a subject. The subjects of publicity include people (for example, politicians and performing artists), goods and services, organizations of all kinds, and works of art or entertainment.
The advantages of publicity are low cost, and credibility (particularly if the publicity is aired in between news stories like on evening TV news casts).The disadvantages are lack of control over how your releases will be used, and frustration over the low percentage of releases that are taken up by the media.
The theory any press is good press has been coined to describe situations where bad behaviour by people involved with an organization or brand has actually resulted in positive results, due to the fame and press coverage accrued by such events.
E. Television (often abbreviated to TV) is a widely used telecommunication system for broadcasting and receiving moving pictures and sound over a distance. The term may also be used to refer specifically to a television set, programming or television transmission.
The television set has become a common household communications device in homes and institutions, particularly as a source of entertainment and news.
Advertising attempts to influence people's behaviour and beliefs and television is therefore a powerful and attractive medium for advertisers to use.
Television has played a pivotal role in the socialization of the 20th and 21st centuries.
F. Radio is the transmission of signals, by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space. Early speculation that this required a medium of transport, called luminiferous aether, were found to be false. Information is carried by systematically changing (modulating) some property of the radiated waves,amplitude or their frequency. When radio waves pass an electrical conductor, the oscillating fields induce an alternating current in the conductor. This can be detected and transformed into sound or other signals that carry information.
Today, radio takes many forms, including wireless networks and mobile communications of all types, as well as radio broadcasting. Before the advent of television, commercial radio broadcasts included not only news and music, but dramas, comedies, variety shows, and many other forms of entertainment. Radio was unique among methods of dramatic presentation in that it used only sound.
G. The Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible series of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP).
The Internet is a collection of interconnected computer networks, linked by copper wires, fiber-optic cables, wireless connections, etc.
The Internet is a complex space with a rich set of useful features and functions. Knowing how to get the most out of the Internet can help you as much as knowing how to read, maybe more.
It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, which together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, and the interlinked web pages and other resources of the World Wide Web (WWW).
The Internet can now be accessed virtually anywhere by numerous means. Mobile phones, datacards, handheld game consoles and cellular routers allow users to connect to the Internet from anywhere there is a cellular network supporting that device's technology.
It is important to get to know profoundly the media means in order to use them successfully everytime we need them.
We think that media means play a very important role in society. We do not know how the world was before them, but we cannot imagine living in today’s world without them.
III. How to Organize a Press Conference
“A news conference or a press conference is a media event in which newsmakers invite journalists to hear them speak and, most often, ask them questions”. (Wikipedia).
A media event, as loosely defined by evolving modern usage, is an occasion or happening, spontaneous or planned, that attracts prominent coverage by mass media organizations, particularly television news and newspapers in both print and Internet editions.
In order to organize a press conference it is necessary to follow some steps:
1. Participants
In order to have many journalists at your press conference, it is strongly recommended to invite at least one important and well-known person. It is good to make a draft of the press conference as well as giving much attention to the participants.
Another important thing is to try to have some diversity at your press conference, so you will demonstrate that the topic discussed has an influence on every category of persons (participants from religious, medical, education, civic organizations, etc). Try to make some effort and have ethnic and gender diversity among participants.
2. Location of the press conference
You should try to find a place which should be easy to attend to everyone, with parking space, telephone, assistance services, electric instalations and other facilities thought to be necessary. If you need to obtain permission, try to obtain it in time. The capacity of the chosen place shoul over pass almost 25 % of the expectations.
Furthermore, you should try to hold the event on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. It is good that you hold the press conference between 10.00 am and 02.00 pm, because if the event is hold earlier then 10.00 am, it will be difficult for the journalists to come and if the event is hold later than 02.00 pm, probably it will not appear in the evening news.
3. Capting the media’s attention
Write a media alert that will serve as your announcement of the news conference/event to the press. Be sure to include who, what, where, when and why. Keep it short! Make sure to include a contact name and phone number. Guests from other regions will be sent an invitation ten days before the event.
One day before the media event, you should send the advisory to the participants. In the same day you have to contact the participants for their confirmation. Talk it up as much as possible to encourage coverage! Many TV stations do not make their assignments until the day of the event. It is worth calling the TV assignment editors again between 8:30 am and 9:00 am the day of the event.
4. Equipment
You have to be sure that you have the right equipment: microphone, electricity, podium, services etc. Also, you should arrange a press table, so that the journalists sign in and pick up materials. As an organizer of the press conference, you should have someone to wait for the participants. All participants should stand together behind the microphone or podium so that everyone is in the picture. Make sure that visuals are not placed too high so as to be out of the picture, or too low so as to be blocked by the participants.
5. Speaking order
You should have a list with speaking order. It is good that each person comes to the microphone and introduce him/herself. You should distribute a speakers list to the press as well as the speakers themselves.
6. Length
Generally, the press conference should not be longer than 30 minutes. In those 30 minutes you should include the part of questions and answers (Q&A). If you have a lot of persons invited, each person ahould speak around 5 minutes.Moreover, if at the press conference are many participants, you could ask the groups to send a representative, even if he or she does not wish to speak-this aids in showing the depth of support. In addition to this, speakers should give to the media copies of their statements. If the statements are ready in advance, they can be included in the press kits. If not, they can be placed on the table.
7. Questions and Answers
In general, journalists ask questions, after the press conference is over. The answers will be given in the same order the questions were made and at the end the guests are asked if they are satisfied with the received information. Usually the questions are adressed to a specific person, but there are some cases when the question is asked to everyone. In this case, you, as an organizer, should be ready to answer the media questions. If they ask a question that you cannot answer, don't be afraid to say you're not sure and get back to them later. Also, reporters want to take interviews after the period of questions and answer. This is a good thing, because it is a chance to explain the information more clearly so it can be easier understood and you can also add more information which were not brought in the Questions and Answers period.
8. Post – event follow up
The conference ends when there are no more questions. Usually, after the event, you will want to send a good quality photo to the most important newspapers in your country. You must include the basics of your event such as the "who, what, when, why, where" information, highlight any special happenings and the successes. After this, there would be offered a reception. The transport and accommodation of the guests must be provided by the enterprise if necessary and the assistents and technicians have to explain with details all they are shown. The guests will receive a symbolic gift as a memory from the enterprise.
IV. How to drive a reunion
In every institution, the Public Relations Department has the mission to establish perfection and look after the good working of the communication channels.
The reunions are the best way to synchronize criteria and human effort in order to reach the wished goals.
1. Preparing the reunion
First of all, you have to make a draft of the agenda of the reunion. After you plan the agenda of the reunion, you should draft the letter of invitation. The letter of invitation should contain information regarding location, period of time, the main subjects for discussion, some information regarding the guests (governmental official, international officials, NGOs, etc.), contact person (program officer) for confirmations and additional information, deadline for confirmation, what expenses are covered by the organizers, language of the conference, if any translation will be provided.
The next step is making the list of guests. The list of guests should be made according to the topics of discussion. If there are high level officials, the letters of invitation should be sent at least one month in advance. In order to have the necessary number of participants, it’s necessary to invite more people (for example in order to have around 40 participants, it’s good to send around 60 invitations). After making the list of guests, a table for confirmations should be written, containing: name and surname, positions, institution, contacts (phone, cell phone, fax, email), confirmation and in case of international conferences it should contain also: date and time of arrival, flight, if he/she needs hotel reservation, date and time of departure, if he/she needs airport transfers.
2. Making the logistic arrangements, sending the invitations, calling for confirmations.
You should ask for offers from different possible locations, for: conference room for 40 persons, translation equipment (if necessary), coffee breaks, lunch, dinner (if necessary), hotel rooms. After comparing at least three offers, you can choose one of the location (based on the report price/quality and of the conference budget).
Furthermore you should send the invitations (where the location is mentioned) and then you should start to complete the table of the confirmations. After the deadline for confirmations you have to call (or send an e-mail) those who didn’t answer. Also, you have to compose a travel memo and send the program, agenda and travel memo to the invitees who confirmed their participation. For the participants from abroad a travel form should be sent as well, where they should mention: date, time, flight of arrival, date, time, flight of departure, if he or she needs hotel reservations, if he or she needs airport transfers. The travel memo should also specify the necessary documents for reimbursements.
In case some interpretation is provided, we should contact interpreters, send them the conference papers (agenda, program, etc), in order for them to prepare a glossary (if necessary), include the interpretation costs in the budget of the conference.
One day before the conference, is good to send a press release to the main media. The press release should contain: who organizes the conference, date, time, location, main topics of debate, some important names of participants, if the conference is open (totally or partially) for journalists’ participation, if there will be a press conference (if yes, time and location of the press conference). Also, one day before the conference: you should finalize the list of participants, hotel reservations, transfers; preparing the conference folders and promotional materials (brochures, banners, etc.); preparing the tent cards and/or badges; preparing the necessary equipment if necessary (audio/video recorder and/or photo equipment); checking the conference room.
3. Supervising the development of the reunion
The organizers should arrive at the venue of the reunion at least half an hour earlier, install the banners, prepare the conference folders, prepare if necessary the press folders, check the conference room again, the arrangements for the coffee breaks, lunch, etc., check the interpretation equipment and if the interpreters have all the necessary information. Each participant should get: the conference folder, promotional materials (if any), business card of the program officer (who will also collect business cards from the participants and keep their evidence in order to adjust if necessary the final list of participants).
During the reunion the program officer should take care to adjust if necessary, the time of the coffee break or lunch, according to the development of the conference and consulting the moderator of the respective sessions.
In case the media representatives are allowed to participate just at the opening remarks, the program officer should announce them, without disturbing the participants, when to leave the room.
After the closing remarks, the program officer, should thank to the interpreters and other collaborators and remain after all the participants left.
4. List of participants, press release, and accounting
The next day after the reunion the program officer should prepare the final list of participants (sometimes not all those who confirm show up or there some additional participants); prepare a new press release that should include this time the conclusions of the debate and the final list of participants.
The press release should be sent again to the main media, which should be also monotorized, in order to see the impact of the event.
The accounting of the conference should be made and forwarded to the financial department.
If the debate was recorded, the transcript should be written and also a brief report.
A letter in which we thank to all the participants and to the collaborators in organizing the respective event should be sent.
The final report of the conference should be drafted. Sometimes, if requested, the report is published and mailed to all the participants.
Public relations are a bilateral communication technique which looks to transmit an objective message subordinated to truth policy with informative purpose through different media means and personal communication.
We consider that Public Relations are important in institutions as well as in any kind of social environment. Communication is the base of problem solving. Being communication relations, Public Relations help us to come in contact with the useful information and so we succeed to remain in touch with the exterior world and also to adapt to its rules.
Bibliography:
1.J. Martins Lampreia, "Tecnicas de comunicacao"( 7th edition ),ed. Publicaoes Europa-America 2.Fernando Lozano, 2001 "Manual pratico de relacoes publicas", ed. "Livros do Brasil", Lisbon 3.http://www.entechpr.com/prtips.html 4.http://www.dgaa.pt/publicacoes/2430-brochura%20estrutura.pdf 5.http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/small/Op-Qu/Public-Relations.html 6.http://en.wikipedia.org 7.http://www.webpronews.com/blogtalk/2006/05/30/relationships-as-a-pr-goal
