Public Relations (Meaning and Explanation)

We explain what public relations or PR is, its functions, objectives and strategies. Also, examples of successful campaigns.

public relations nike just do it — Nike's PR strategy “Just do it.” It was one of the most successful of the 90s.

What is public relations?

Public relations (often abbreviated as PR) are a certain type of corporate communications that, coordinated and sustained over time, seek to strengthen the strategic links between a company or organization and its different stakeholders.

In other words, it is a communications management that seeks to maintain the relationships between the organization and its interlocutors in the best possible state external. To do this, it provides them with information, exchange opportunities and fosters the so-called loyalty (preferential customer relationship).

Public relations constitute a set of strategies of different types. Its objective is to promote, sell, promote or make known the interests of the organization to its clientele and the general public, in a planned manner. Therefore, it uses techniques and concepts from marketing and design, but also from sociology, psychology, politics and journalism.

public relations are also a discipline and an autonomous field of study. The Austrian-American publicist and inventor Edward Barnays (1891-1995) invented them at the beginning of the 20th century. Its importance during the Great Depression that began in 1929 was significant, as a mechanism to vindicate business work and its contribution to the economic system.

Definition of public relations

According to some authors and scholars of the subject, we can define public relations as:

“…a characteristic managerial function that helps establish and maintain lines of communication mutual understanding, acceptance and cooperation between an organization and its publics; involves the management of problems or issues, helps managers stay informed and sensitive to public opinion; defines and emphasizes the responsibility of managers to serve the public interest; It helps managers stay ahead of changes and use them effectively by understanding them as a warning system to anticipate trends” (Rex Harlow).
“…the managerial function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the public on which your success or failure depends” (Scott Cutlip and Allen Conter).
“…the administrative function that evaluates public attitudes identifies an organization's policies and procedures with the public interest, and implements a program of action and communication to generate public understanding and acceptance” (John Marston).

Functions and objectives of public relations

The interests of public relations are very diverse and different, but broadly speaking we can summarize them as follows:

Manage corporate or organizational identity This means that PR ensures that the different departments of the company use the same language and project a unified image of the company to the public. Which implies:
- Management of external communications. That is, everything that leaves the organization and is consumed by the client or the general public.
- Management of internal communications. That is, the way in which the parts of the company communicate with each other.
- Management of public opinion Such as press monitoring, strategic consultations, Internet and social media management, strategic marketing, etc.
Corporate social responsibility This is known as the organization's commitment to the community of which it is a part, not only as a way to project a positive image of its work and its vision and mission, but also as a mechanism to return part of the profits to society. resources that the company obtains from it.
Organization of events PR often achieves its objectives through the production and organization of various types of events, fairs, invitations, celebrations, etc.

Importance of public relations

starbucks public relations — PR can spread ethical practices, such as buying Starbucks coffee.

public relations are an inseparable part of the business and organizational exercise nowadays. They can be a way to bring companies closer to their audience, or a mechanism to “humanize” some large corporations whose operation is more like that of a machine.

Of course, this may involve ethically questionable work like washing the face of companies whose economic activity is irresponsible or harmful. In other cases, can be part of the communication strategies of a positive organization which, otherwise, would not be as well known and would not receive enough support and visibility.

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Public relations strategies

The general plan and design of the PR of an organization or company is known as public relations strategy, that is, the set of tools and strategies that it prefers or chooses to put into practice facing a target audience and a specific social and commercial context.

According to Edward Bernays himself, founder of PR, such a project should take into account the following steps:

Define the goals businesses facing the public.
Extract from them a set of achievable goals in the short, medium and long term.
Research and understand the public target as much as possible.
Establish a strategy similar to all of the above.
Schedule the actions that make up the strategy over time.
Run the schedule of activities based on the schedule.

Examples of recognized campaigns

wendys public relations — The Wendy's food chain is famous for its loyalty strategies.

Some successful and internationally recognized PR campaigns are:

Starbucks The famous coffee chain has long been a spokesperson for a message of responsible consumption, which involves purchasing coffee beans from local growers in Africa, Asia and America, instead of from large raw material chains, as well as the reduction of non-biodegradable materials in its processes. This is explained to us as soon as we enter their premises and is even part of their decoration.
Wendy's Focusing its link with users on social networks, and especially on Twitter, this well-known hamburger and fast food transnational became known for its willingness to reward users for their loyalty and collaboration with the content on this social network, going so far as to give one-year vouchers for hamburgers if a message from its users reached a certain number of replicas.
Nike Although already out of fashion, the communications and marketing campaign of the North American sports shoe company Nike was very famous at the time for its association with the world of basketball and its sponsorship of great stars such as Michael Jordan, under the slogan of Just do it (“Just do it”). This is, perhaps, one of the most successful corporate image and advertising campaigns in the West in the 1990s.