THREE ELEMENTS OF PR

(Source: www.firebellymarketing.com)

Every profession and or discipline is anchored on elements. Without these elements, practitioners will be like lost sheep-more like a ship without a rudder. It therefore becomes our duty to seek out these elements. Not only should we seek them out, but invest time in mastering them and better yet, put them into practice. This not only sparks a sense of professionalism in us; but also attracts respect from our peers.

Public Relations-PR is an infant profession: making it hard for organizations and or corporations to even give appropriate titles to its PR-personnel. We go by many names. Public Relations Director, Manager, Public Affairs Manager and the list is endless. However, the bottom line is that we profess the same knowledge. Consequently, we share these elements.

Edward Bernays, the father of PR proposed these three elements. Which I will be sharing them with you as you read along.

According to Edward; the first element is informing people. PR revolves around information. With regards to information sharing, two parties are involved. These are, the sender of that information, and its recipient. As PR practitioners-senders in this case, we have to supply this information to the people; with no bias. It is imperative that we remain neutral in executing this function.

Although in some other instances, the haves of this information may not necessarily be us. Either way, we have to retrieve it from them and dispense it.

PR practitioners have been accused of telling the truth only when it is convenient. This is actually dependent on many factors; especially when the reputation of the corporation is at stake. However, ethically speaking, we are told, it’s ethical if we tell the truth as it is. Tell it as it is, so goes the expression.

It is therefore of the essence that we as PR practitioners, understand that our duty is to inform people. These people referred to as the public: are a group of people who share common interests-services and or products rendered by your company.

The other element is persuasion. We are the movers and shakers of this world. That is the power vested in the art of Communication and PR. Naturally, people are known to disagree with issues, ideas and products they think, are out of their latitudes of acceptance. Speak of products that have just hit the market: product launches, or clients who need to be ‘closed’ to accept our services. These are avenues that need persuasion.

In politics for instance, it’s an avenue where we have to convince the public to actually vote for a preferred candidate. Time and again, we have seen this. Additionally, marketing has been known to employ PR as a strategy. This is all because of its persuasive nature.

Persuasion is not easy. Getting people to change their attitudes, beliefs and values is a long shot to take. But with the mastery of persuasion skills; we are able to actually make this a reality.

The last element is, integrating people with people. We amalgamate people with people in other words. There is no PR if there are no people. They determine the pulse of the profession. Depending on whether we do something right or wrong; we will see this through people. At the end of the day, it’s the people’s goodwill we seek. If it’s not present, then we would have failed. The converse it true.

Therefore as PR practitioners, we ensure that people get along well. For instance in a corporation: the management of an organization and its customers, suppliers and employees and employers and employees. It is our duty to ensure that a meaningful relationship exists between all these parties.

The big question is; how do I accomplish this?

This can be arrived at by suppressing each party’s differences and amplifying a common interest. Striking a common denominator between them expunges bad-blood from the relationship and provides a branch for which the parties can each hold on to. At least until, the organizational objectives are arrived at.

To wrap up, we all strive to be the best in what we do. Paul Arden says; it’s not how good you are, it’s how great you want to be that matters. As we practice these soft skills, beware-people are the centre bolt of our profession. They define communication and public relations.

We inform, persuade and integrate people with people in the execution of these soft skills. It is incumbent upon each one of us to have these elements at our finger tips.

The writer is a Communication & PR Practitioner; currently working with Property Link Africa, Kenya.

odenyo09@gmail.com/ +254 711 99 80 10