Understanding Elements of PR

Understanding Elements of P R

In Communication we have 9 elements i.e. Idea, Encoding, Medium or Message, Sender or Encoder, Channel, Receiver or Decoder, Decoding, Feedback, and Noise. In Marketing we have 7 elements or Cs i.e. Product, Place, Price, Promotion, Packaging, Positioning, and People. In  Public Relations we have 6 elements which are as under;

1                 1. Two way communication

2          2. Mutual understanding

3          3. Caring for public opinion

4          4. Social responsibility

5          5. Management function

6          6. Planned activity

These elements having certain characteristics and are inter-related, in fact one tends to lead to another. Lets understand these elements one by one…..

Two way communication:

PR is two way communication. In PR, feedback is important. Therefore, the organisations must improve their channels of communication and establish a two way flow of communication between the desired public-internal as well as external. To grow, organisations need to seek public favour through an informed public opinion.

Mutual Understanding:

Mutual understanding is the main backbone of every happy relationship (employees & consumers). Every organisation has certain objectives to achieve and has responsibilities towards its target public.  There is a greater need of mutual understanding between the organisation and its target public as there are two interests to be met, organisation’s interest (objectives) and the interest of the target public (expectations-commitment).  

Caring for Public Opinion:

Abraham Lincoln, the 16^th President of United States of America, once said- public sentiment is everything, with public sentiment nothing can fail, without it nothing can succeed. Public opinion is the source spring of PR. Public opinion is the consensus of individual opinions of the majority among the masses, based on their attitudes and widely held beliefs, moulded by public interest. PR provides and shares necessary information to various public interest groups in the best interest of the organisation and vice versa, satisfying the public interest to achieve goodwill.

Social Responsibility:

Every organisation works for people with the main aim of serving their interests. Many organisations, while earning huge profits from the society, do not show concern for the latter’s welfare. PR seek to attune itself to the needs and aspirations of the community it serves and identifies the interests of the organisation with that of the community’s by participating in festivals, sponsoring local sports events, instituting scholarships, building shelters, promoting local causes etc. and helps in building healthy community relations.

  

Management Function:

PR evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an organisation with focus on target public interest, plans and executes a program of action to earn target public’s understanding of the organisation and their acceptance and goodwill.

Planned Activity:

PR consists of all forms of planned and strategic communication, outwards and inwards, between an organisation and its target public for the purpose of achieving specific objectives concerning mutual understanding, brand image and goodwill.

To sum up;

PR gives us a clear idea about where we are… why we are here… what we want to do or what we should do… what we are capable of doing… what we are going to face in the internal world… what we are going to face in the external environment… and what we should do about it.

Thank you for reading.