In some organizations, the PR director serves as a technician, producing news re

In some organizations, the PR director serves as a technician, producing news releases and annual reports. However, most successful organizations make their PR director part of the executive team and include him or her in the organization’s strategy-making sessions. They also rely on the PR professional’s advice when it comes to dealing with the organization’s image, its communication with internal and external audiences, and its response to both good and bad news involving the organization.
So, PR professionals wear a number of different hats, depending on the organization for whom they work. The Public Relations Society of America, the major professional organization that represents PR practitioners, lists the elements of public relations as:
Community relations. Good corporate neighbors task their public relations departments with planning mutually beneficial activities with the community.
Counseling. This involves advising management about communications issues and relationships within and outside the organization.
Employee and member relations. These internal audiences have concerns and a need for information, which the public relations staff is responsible for addressing.
Financial relations. Also known as shareholder or investor relations, this function requires an organization’s public relations staff to create and maintain good relationships with the organization’s investors and with the financial community.
Fund-raising. Called “development” in some organizations, fund-raising falls to the corporate public relations department, which is expected to convince the public that the organization needs and deserves its financial support.
Government affairs. While some organizations separate their lobbyists from their public relations staffs, most combine the two functions in order to relate effectively with legislatures and regulatory agencies on behalf of the organization and its members.
Industry relations. Sometimes, the “public” in public relations involves other organizations in the same business as yours or trade associations that represent your industry or your customers.
Marketing communications. Some organizations combine functions such as advertising and publicity to sell a product or service.
Media relations. The public relations staff is an organization’s liaison with print and broadcast journalists whenever the organization is seeking publicity or responding to inquiries by journalists.
Minority relations/multicultural affairs. It is often left to the public relations staff to develop an organization’s relationships with minority groups or individuals.
Public affairs. When organizations want to influence public policy, they turn to their public relations experts. In addition, local, state and federal governments and some private organizations use the term “public affairs” to describe their public relations functions, although public affairs staffs typically are information producing (reactive) rather than publicity seeking (proactive) in their role.
Publicity. It is the public relations professional who plans messages to send through selected media to further the organization’s interests.
Research. Public relations professionals conduct surveys, focus groups and demographic research in order to learn about an organization’s publics. That information is used to plan public relations strategies, to influence specific audiences and to generate mutual understanding between an organization and its publics.
Special events. Public relations professionals help stimulate interest in a product, service, occasion or announcement by planning well-publicized activities.
Most organizations refer to their public relations professionals by that name, but some use other names to describe the public relations function, including corporate communications, public affairs, corporate relations, or corporate marketing and communications.
Questions for you: Now that you have reviewed the basics of PR theory, please tell us about any aspect of the course that surprised or intrigued you. Has your conception of PR changed as a result of this course? Is public relations a career field that you would like to know more about? Which aspects of the PR job listed here interest you the most? which aspects of the PR job intrigued you the most? Will you pursue one of these PR career opportunities and which one? Do you have any other thoughts to share about the course?