Knick n knack

T o live is to communicate. Communication is very important for existence of any human being.  Communication is a process of sharing and expressing views, opinions, experiences and information.  Not only personally, professionally also, communication is very important. Business organisations, corporates inform customers about their products/services/goods through the process of communication.  With the increased competition among businesses, it becomes vital for organisation to effectively communicate with target customers. In order to so, big corporates have dedicated marketing communication departments which uses communication tools like advertising, Public Relations, direct Marketing, Personal Selling, Events to communicate with people.  Advertising creatively and effectively communicates, aware and persuades audience to buy a particular product. Public Relations, on the other hand, has emerged as an effective communication tool for the companies which not only inform, but also he

The following are the important functional areas for PR counseling in any typical election campaign for political candidates: 1)       The appraisal of the candidate is the first step in public relations dealing with a political campaign for the political candidate. His/Her financial background, assets, history, party, family, structure and social power – all should be carefully studied. In case of a woman candidate, the PR programmes are quite different. The appraisal gives the scope to determine the methods for the campaign. 2)       The appraisal also should indicate the candidate’s exposure to the voters. The strength of the candidate is to be decided by analysis of his/her trustworthiness, compatibility, ability, experience, administrative capability, energy, good judgment and other virtues. In the election field, there is a close contact between the candidate and the election authority like the Indian Election commission, which is the highest authority in the matters of conduc

The various mediums of communications that are available to the Government PR department are: Doordarshan All India Radio (AIR) Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) Directorate of Film Festivals Directorate of Field Publicity

1)       Constant public relations efforts to maintain high level of confidence and trust of public on government. 2)       Keeping the public aware of its plans, policies, its future prospects, the quality of service and effective use of public funds and the extent of public support and co – operation needed. 3)       Reporting on progress, development and achievements quickly, correctly and timely on events, benefits, physical and financial progress.

The public relations in the government is quite different from PR practice in business and non-profit organizations. Government is an organ created by the statute and formed by the public. Public is a large community, complex organism collections of a diverse group of people. They can and do have profound effect on each other. Both the groups affect and are affected by their mutual interest. The public for the government are wide and complex. It is composed of groups of doctors, lawyers, engineers, professionals, voters, political parties, opposition parties, weaker sections, labor, employees and other cross sections of society. Intimate and mutual knowledge of society’s various components is a major thrust of the government. Public vary, it is dual, complex, interlinked, so publicity and communications should be the activities of the government. There was a time when government public relations was a neglected field, only a courtesy and received no priority. Until a few years ago,

Managing corporate image is a serious business. It is to make public percieve a company, as the managment want. Some business executives think that corporate image as imagery creation of some smart snoozy word-smiths, whose business is to concoct concepts for ultimate aim to generate advertising revenue.  Good corporate image is considered, by enlightened businessmen, as focussed communication to clear cobwebs in people's mind about the company. Company tries to clear the mis-information and mis-conceptions through clear and crisp communication.  Heads and hearts of people have to be cleared and made focused towards the company. The corporate communication department of any organisation need to work on a central thematic idea to project a good positive image of the company. This work is also carried out by PR department of any orgnanization. Tata was the first company in India to realise the importance of good image developemnt and thus opened an in-house PR department in 1945. 

Public Relations Officer is a custodian of company's image. It is the duty of the PRO to enhance the image of the company. A business is like a public institution and is under constant public scrutiny. Every company, even the smaller ones, are being watched by intrested publics.  Company's reputation should be credible and strong. People watch how comapny conduct itself and its business. Over the last decades, public curiosity in business has grown many folds and this wil increase in coming times. Image starts with the smallest thing. Public talk and compare the companies.  Concerned about the public perception, many companies find it difficult to determine, as to what the name of the organization stands for. Brand image attracts the consumer more than what actuall the company is. Definitions:   1. Image is the sum of experience that someone has with the institution.                                                                                                   - Henry F

Sometimes Public Relations is taken wrongly by few organisations/companies. Many times we have seen that organisations use this tool for misguiding people. Public Relations is not:    A barrier between truth and publics Propaganda to impose a view point regardless of truth, ethics and public good. Free publicity to achieve sale – though PR helps in sales and marketing effort.

# Definitions (1) According to FORTUNE Magazine , good performance publicly appreciated because adequately communicated. There are about 500 definitions of Public Relations. (2) Public Relations is merely human decency which flows from a good heart -  By Charles Plackard        ard (3) The purpose of Public Relations practice is to establish two way communications to resolve conflicts of interest and to establish understanding based on truth, knowledge and full information.                                                                                                               -By Sam Black (4) Public Relations is the top management function which gives the same organized and careful attention to the asset of goodwill as is given to any other major asset of business. -           By John W Hill (5) Public Relations is a combination of philosophy, sociology, economics, language, psychology, journalism, communication and other know ledges of a system of human understanding.