Contents
Meaning of Public Relation
Public relation is a practice of managing the flow of information in between company and public. It is a communication process that aims at improving and maintaining better relations with all stakeholders of the organization.
Public relation is an activity that focuses on building a positive image of the company in people’s eye. This function basically comprises of activities aimed at improving mutual understanding between company and peoples connected with it. It is the one which is responsible for improving and building the company brand.
Public relation communicates the company’s message to all its stakeholders and focuses on avoiding any confusion or negativity in the minds of people. There are a set of expert professionals who are responsible for performing and maintaining the public relations better. Public relation is quite important as it enables the company to create its influential image in the market and maintain the best understanding with its entire key peoples. It has a very effective role in increasing sales or achieving desired targets for business.
Types of Public Relation
Various types of public relation are as follows:-
- Media Relations: Media relation is related with interacting and maintaining good relations with media persons and organizations. This is all how you deal with media. Companies aim to establish positive image of their products through the media.
- Community Relations: It involves building positive image of brand in a society. Society plays an efficient role in supporting and deciding the future of brand. Community relations refer to engaging in various social activities like environmental protection, child education, equality, restricting child labor etc.
- Customer Relations: Customer relation focuses on target and potential customers of business. It involves interacting with customers for getting their suggestions, feedback, priorities and interest etc. All this gathered information is used in framing business strategies for influencing more peoples.
- Internal Relations: Internal relations are related with internal employees working within organization. It means communicating and counselling employees regarding their roles, responsibilities, actions and policies of organizations. Internal relation aims at improving the employee’s performance and ensures their long term existence with company.
- Investor Relations: Investors are crucial for every organization. Therefore, public relation department handles investors and manages their queries, organizes investor’s events, releases financial reports and regulatory filings.
- Government Relations: It manages relations in between government and company. This involves following all government rules and regulations related to consumer social responsibility, employee protection, consumer protection, fair competition etc.
- Marketing Communications: This involves supporting marketing objectives of business. It comprises of marketing campaigns, product launching programs, brand awareness and positioning of product.
Functions of Public Relation
Various functions of public relation are described in points given below:-
- Product publicity: Public relation plays an efficient role in wide publicity of business products. Information regarding products is communicated by PR team to public through media sources. This leads to wide awareness regarding products among people in market.
- Promotes goodwill: It enables in enhancing the brand image and goodwill in public eyes. Public relation is the means through which business interacts and provides all necessary information to peoples. It helps in improving understanding and relations with customers. Companies establish a better goodwill by developing healthy relationship with their stakeholders.
- Press relations: Public relation department is the one which supplies all information to media persons and organizations. Personnel working in this department are responsible for dealing and maintaining better relations with media.
- Lobbying: Lobbying refers to promoting and disfavoring rules and regulations of government. It involves interacting with officials of government and legislators for influencing government decisions which affect the functioning of organization.
- Corporate communications: It involves flow of information to all internal and external stakeholders of corporation. For promoting better understanding regarding business products or services, PR team ensures a proper corporate communication.
- Counselling: Public relation department provides all information and guides management in taking various decisions. It keeps them aware regarding all public matters and provides them suggestion in case of any problem or product mishap.