Subdivision of Public Relations

 

Like the term “ public relations ”, the nomenclature for the many branches of the business can be confusing. Press relations, media relations, and publicity are sometimes used interchangeably and sometimes to make distinctions. Consumer and customer relations could be the same but are different. Public affairs are usually employed synonymously with governmental relations, but by some it is meant to encompass all public relations activities and concepts.

Some organizations now eschew the words “public relations” altogether, because of the frequent misuse of the term. They may call their function “corporate communication”, “corporate relations”, “corporate affairs”, or something else. But when they break the overall function down into natural components, the terminology usually reverts to generic use, such as “community relations”, “shareholders relations”, and the rest.

 

There is a tendency among some in public relations to add the word “relations” to any particular audience and thus seem to create specialties that do not, in fact exist. The real distinction between the general practice of public relations and a specialized practice of public relations and a specialized practice is not related so much to the audiences encompassed as it is to the different techniques used or of the special knowledge required. Public affairs (or governmental relations), for example, is a genuine specialty, principally because it requires an encyclopedic knowledge of the processes of government.

 

Most PR departments are smaller than their directors would like them to be, and only a relatively few are large enough to offer full-time specialists. Multi-plant manufacturing companies may have one “communicator” at each major plant location to handle both internal communications and community relations.

 

Double assignments on a PR staff are common, with the result that the great majority of PR people automatically gain experience in most of the field’s subdivisions. The professional assigned to cover an event for the employee newspaper in the morning may be planning the annual report at lunch and writing testimony on proposed legislation later in the day.

 

Where specialization reaches its occupational peak is in PR consulting firms. The nature of consulting is to confront, over and over again with many clients, the kind of problems any single client organization experiences only from time to time. From a practical standpoint then, most PR people have to identify the distinctions between the major specialties if they are to apply their skills and judgments intelligently, as their work assignments vary.

 

Financial Relations

 

This is a specialty peculiar to corporations and is rarely, if ever, practiced by other institutions. It is the means by which investor-owned firms regularly report operating results and other information to the shareholders, the financial community, and the public. It is a field calling for broad understanding of business law, economics, and corporate finance. Most PR techniques are involved in a financial relations program. Practitioners usually work closely with the top corporate officers, lawyers, and accountants; and must therefore have those qualities of knowledge, judgment, and tact to function effectively in this milieu.

 

Public Affairs

This function is any organization’s foot in the door of government. The public affairs representative monitors developments in the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government, alerts management when developments are deemed important, and counsels on how to react. Public affairs practitioners channel the flow of information, suggestions, or requests from organization to government.

Internal Communications

 

This is the only branch of PR in which the employer has complete control over most of the channels of communications. The subject of employee relations has been so extensively studied over decades that a special body of knowledge has accumulated, complete with theories of communication applicable solely to this field. Internal communication requires designing and producing the company’s media, which may include the full array: newspaper, magazine, films, television, audiovisual instruction materials, booklets, and others.

 

Community Relations

 

The community is where the large impersonal organization assumes a local face, and many PR activities can approach the nature of personal interchange. This can be good or bad, depending upon the performance of the organization and disposition of the citizens.

The practice of community relations often involves having organization officials participate in community affairs for the opportunity of personal contact, exposure of the company story through speeches, slide presentations, films, plant tours, and other opportunities to personalize and thus humanize the organization.