In simple terms PR means a deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics. The emphasis on words ’deliberate, planned and sustained’ implies that to be successful PR activities should be planned in detail and implemented on a continuing basis rather than by a hit and miss method. It also envisages two way communications to resolve conflicts of interests for promoting correct understanding and appreciation of the work of particular organisatiom. This understanding, for a lasting effect, has to be based on truth, knowledge and full information.
Sometimes PR is bracketed with propaganda and liaison work meaning thereby that a public relation officer is meant for gaining some out of the way advantage of favour for the organisation. The function of propaganda is not to convert or make people accept an idea after evaluating it properly and being confirmed by its logical presentation. Propaganda seeks to create followers and keep them in line. Propaganda does not call for ethical conduct. A man indulging in propaganda, to suit his purpose, can destroy the facts or even falsify them. Publicity is also a one-way affair. Sometimes it is taken to be synonymous with a ‘gimmick’ or a ‘shunt’. In any case, it is a one-way affair in which the reaction of the recipients’ audience is not always considered important. In fact, there is a saying that ‘publicity kills public relations’.
In a new social order, a PR functionary is not only responsible for informing or communicating but also make himself, and the organisation for which he works, accountable to be concerned publics for what he says. The word public is being used here advisedly. It has to be clearly understood that there is not one public but ‘publics’ to be dealt with common interest groups of people like opinion leaders of society employees of an industrial organisation and consumers using its products or the shareholders. In many cases, the number of persons constituting the ‘concerned public’ in respect to an organisation becomes so large that they can be described as masses. A PR functionary, therefore, has to take recourse to the mass media for reaching out to people. That apart, in the contemporary world generally, and in democratic set-up especially media by itself is a potent force-an important public in its own right being the opinion leaders of the society. So, far a PR man the mass media is both a tool as well as target.
The target audience for a PR man can be put in to three categories: –
(1) Those who know you and like you,
(2) Those who know you and donot like you,
and (3) Those who neither know you and nor care.
The idea is to reach a position whether those who know you and donot like you change their opinion; and those who neither know you nor care wish they could meet you and do business with you. In which case you are enjoying good public relations? That is the ideal of every public relations person and is achieved through effective communications.
Summing up, PR can be defined as a managerial function which evaluates public aptitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an organisation with the public interest, and executes a programme of action and communication to earn public undertaking and acceptance. “The correct PR strategy is to (1) Inform, (2) Educate, and (3) Persuade, through effective communication, and create understanding and obtain the willing co-operation of the various such publics.
To be welcomed in, understood and remembered, a message must be designed for-(i) The mental needs, (ii) desires, and (iii) limitations of the audience.
Media psychology is the study of how people run and remember mass media information. It is a new area built on a century old foundation of learning research. Certain principles have emerged from this research which suggests an effective approach to information design. Six guidelines in a media psychology are a basic part of that design system. They are useful, everyday tools PR profession kit. Past results show these guidelines offer three major benefits to the communicators. The audience remembers more of the message. The message often has simpler design, resulting in a shorter, more interesting product. The cost effectiveness of effective mass communication is improved as the audience remembers more of the message.
It is necessary to always measure the cost in terms of money per idea remembered. A message which does not accomplish its goal of planting information in the minds of the audience is a financial disaster, no matter how beautiful the packaging is. Here are the six guidelines: – (1) Design your message for its audience, (2) Tell the audience what is important and why, (3) Use mental imagery to promote memory, (4) Don’t overload the message with information, (5) Relate new facts and its ideas with familiar ones, (6) Summarise the major points in a closing review.
The central tenet of all guidelines in information design is: (1) provide for the mental needs, (2) desires, and (3) limitations of your audience. The easier you make it for them to learn, the more they will remember.
(Author is a technocrat and educationist. He studied Journalism and Mass Communication at Patna University)
