1
Online Public Relations
Content
Week 1 2
What is Public Relations? 2
Public Relations and communication models 11
PR & Management 22
Public Relations and Corporate Identity 30
Measurement and Evaluation 36
Week 2: 42
Corporate Social Responsibility 42
Ethics 51
Media Relations 55
Week 3: 57
Internal Communication 57
Evaluating IC 66
Channels & Media 68
Using New Technology Effectively 69
, 2
Week 1
What is Public Relations?
⮚ Linking organisation’s values and products to social needs
⮚ Tasks of PR:
(1) Public relations is a distinctive management function which helps establish and maintain mutual
lines of communication, understanding, acceptance and cooperation between an organisation and
its publics
(2) involves the management of problems or issues
(3) helps management to keep informed on and responsible to public opinion
(4) defines and emphasises the responsibility of management to serve the public interest
(5) helps management effectively utilize change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate
trends
(6) uses research and ethical communication techniques as its principal tools
⮚ PR is deliberate: mutuality in that it is not one-sided
⮚ publics meaning that there are a variety of different types of audiences around which relationships
need to be built
🡪Gruning & Hunt= very important names!
, 3
⮚ Public Relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships
between organisations and their publics’
⮚ Organisations need to communicate with a range of different types of publics (also known as
audiences or stakeholders) from customers to investors, from employees to politicians
Guth & Marsh (2006): Five core concepts that help to define PR
1. PR is Management Function
🡪relationship between organisation and publics needs to be maintained
🡪measure degree of success
2. PR involves two way communication
🡪communicating about organisational needs, but also listening to people’s needs
3. PR is planned activity
🡪carefully planned actions
🡪actions should be consistent with organisational values but also public values
4. PR is a research-based social science
🡪based on research: acting upon things that have been learned (PR seminars i.e.)
🡪full understanding of environment, channels
🡪PR practitioners also share their knowledge with other through various publications
5. PR is socially responsible
🡪PR practioners and the people they are representing, are expected to play a constructive role in
society ( communicate your impact on society)
, 4
Image= what your publics & stakeholders think about you 🡪external focus
Identity= what the employees think of the organization🡪internal focus
Why is reputation important?
1. provides competitive advantage
2. helps with strategic value through relationships
3. drives financial value
🡪it is the baseline of your organization
History of PR
1) 11th century: Normans told their victory story on a cloth
2) 17th and 18th century: pamphlets // told story about American revolution
3) 19th Century: Industrialization; newspapers, telegraph// PR as emerging field🡪 nations
wanted to convince others to support them
4) 20th century: PR as developing social system // growth,professionalization
🡪key figure: Ivy Lee “founder of modern PR”; he provides a definition of PR
🡪Edward Bernays firstly used the term PR
⮚ the rise of PR is entwined with social, economic and political developments
🡪Consequently, the way it has evolved and developed is culturally grounded and country
specific
⮚ There is no one universal history of PR as it is linked to the history of the country in which it
operates
⮚ there are times when PR has been used for causes and issues that we may now consider
immoral and unethical
⮚ A key date in PR history is 1984:
🡪 when American scholars Grunig and Hunt undertook a major study into PR. They took
systems theory and applied it to PR
⮚ Grunig and Hunt identified four categories of communication relationships with publics and
put these into an historical context
Online Public Relations
Content
Week 1 2
What is Public Relations? 2
Public Relations and communication models 11
PR & Management 22
Public Relations and Corporate Identity 30
Measurement and Evaluation 36
Week 2: 42
Corporate Social Responsibility 42
Ethics 51
Media Relations 55
Week 3: 57
Internal Communication 57
Evaluating IC 66
Channels & Media 68
Using New Technology Effectively 69
, 2
Week 1
What is Public Relations?
⮚ Linking organisation’s values and products to social needs
⮚ Tasks of PR:
(1) Public relations is a distinctive management function which helps establish and maintain mutual
lines of communication, understanding, acceptance and cooperation between an organisation and
its publics
(2) involves the management of problems or issues
(3) helps management to keep informed on and responsible to public opinion
(4) defines and emphasises the responsibility of management to serve the public interest
(5) helps management effectively utilize change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate
trends
(6) uses research and ethical communication techniques as its principal tools
⮚ PR is deliberate: mutuality in that it is not one-sided
⮚ publics meaning that there are a variety of different types of audiences around which relationships
need to be built
🡪Gruning & Hunt= very important names!
, 3
⮚ Public Relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships
between organisations and their publics’
⮚ Organisations need to communicate with a range of different types of publics (also known as
audiences or stakeholders) from customers to investors, from employees to politicians
Guth & Marsh (2006): Five core concepts that help to define PR
1. PR is Management Function
🡪relationship between organisation and publics needs to be maintained
🡪measure degree of success
2. PR involves two way communication
🡪communicating about organisational needs, but also listening to people’s needs
3. PR is planned activity
🡪carefully planned actions
🡪actions should be consistent with organisational values but also public values
4. PR is a research-based social science
🡪based on research: acting upon things that have been learned (PR seminars i.e.)
🡪full understanding of environment, channels
🡪PR practitioners also share their knowledge with other through various publications
5. PR is socially responsible
🡪PR practioners and the people they are representing, are expected to play a constructive role in
society ( communicate your impact on society)
, 4
Image= what your publics & stakeholders think about you 🡪external focus
Identity= what the employees think of the organization🡪internal focus
Why is reputation important?
1. provides competitive advantage
2. helps with strategic value through relationships
3. drives financial value
🡪it is the baseline of your organization
History of PR
1) 11th century: Normans told their victory story on a cloth
2) 17th and 18th century: pamphlets // told story about American revolution
3) 19th Century: Industrialization; newspapers, telegraph// PR as emerging field🡪 nations
wanted to convince others to support them
4) 20th century: PR as developing social system // growth,professionalization
🡪key figure: Ivy Lee “founder of modern PR”; he provides a definition of PR
🡪Edward Bernays firstly used the term PR
⮚ the rise of PR is entwined with social, economic and political developments
🡪Consequently, the way it has evolved and developed is culturally grounded and country
specific
⮚ There is no one universal history of PR as it is linked to the history of the country in which it
operates
⮚ there are times when PR has been used for causes and issues that we may now consider
immoral and unethical
⮚ A key date in PR history is 1984:
🡪 when American scholars Grunig and Hunt undertook a major study into PR. They took
systems theory and applied it to PR
⮚ Grunig and Hunt identified four categories of communication relationships with publics and
put these into an historical context
