PR and its responsibilities

by Aditya (AD) Sahasrabudhe

asp.aditya259@gmail.com | as086919@ohio.edu

Since the 20^th century, public relations as a vertical of strategic communication has been defined in numerous ways. The earlier definitions focused on publicity and brand exposure while modern variations emphasize public engagement and relationship building. Public Relations Society of America’s latest version of PR’s definition is “Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

But doesn’t journalism build beneficial relationships between organizations (news corporations) and their publics too? Then what’s the difference? And what about advertising? Isn’t that PR’s close cousin?

 

To put it simply- PR, journalism, and advertising are communication processes classified as separate media categories. Although the core principle of all the categories is similar if not the same- to inform the public about something, each communication vertical has its unique, characteristic attributes. 

Media can be broadly classified into three types: Paid, Earned, and Owned.

As the name suggests, paid media is what an organization pays for and advertising falls under this classification. The idea is to inform the public about a product giving them an incentive to buy it and promote the brand by increasing its exposure.

Journalism falls under earned media. A story about your corporation, if newsworthy enough, gets picked by a newsroom to be played on TV, social media, or get printed in a newspaper. Since you didn’t pay the newsroom to publish the story, this unpaid coverage falls under earned media.

Last but not least comes public relations or owned media. Blog posts on websites, videos on social media and all forms of communication to build a relationship with the public by a representative of an organization fall under PR. Since this form of media is unpaid and doesn’t need help from an external news organization, it is called owned media.

PR officers are often asked, “What do you exactly do?” the most. Unlike engineers, doctors, or even bricklayers, the implicit nature of a PR officer’s job is not known to many. Moreover, the overlapping similarities with other communication and media verticals only make matters worse. Here are the attributes of PR and what they entail. 

Strategy

PRs help strategize how to build and nurture public relations. They look at competitors, evaluate people’s perceptions of the brand through research and work toward building brand image and fostering relationships with the customers and clients.

Internal Communications

A PR myth is its only communication with potential customers and outside public. Although PR involves external communication, it is not ONLY that. Communication inside the organization and with the clients is also an attribute of PR.

Media Relations

A corporation’s biggest asset is how its customer-base perceives the corporation’s image. To aid that process, fostering good relations with earned media is imperative. PRs are responsible to deal with journalists and other earned media representatives.

Publicity/ Exposure

PRs provide exposure to the brand by placing strategically selected content on websites and social networking sites. This helps increase exposure and enhances avenues for people to know more about the brand.

Crisis Communication

One of the biggest job responsibilities of a PR officer is to handle a crisis. In a moment of adversity when the image of the brand could potentially get tarnished, PRs are responsible to mitigate the harm and protect the brand image.

Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson in his article The Invasion of Corporate News says, “PRs are spinners of favorable stories, glossers-over of unfavorable facts and gatekeepers standing between us and the people we want to get to.” Call them spinners, sugar-coaters or information spreaders, if it gets the job done, it’s worth it.

Establish Credibility

Since owned media is unpaid and doesn’t require external coverage, the amount of credibility it carries isn’t too substantial. However, with the right messaging, PR can exponentially enhance the credibility of their brand.

Corporate Communications

Informing the public (customer-base) and household staffers is different from informing the corporation's clients. PRs are accountable for effectively communicating with the clients.

Public Relations

Publishing press releases, controlling content, organizing interviews, providing information to the journalists, responding to a crisis and communicating with clients and household staffers are some of the major job responsibilities of a PR officer. Perhaps the paramount duty is fostering and nurturing relationships with the public. This strategic communication step involves research, content creation, and communication with the public. Since a PR officer is an image shaper, their job is to generate positive publicity for their client and enhance their reputation.