Functions of Public Relation Office

Functions of Public Relation Office:

The job profile of a public relations manager are not clearly defined as approved by CEO. However, there are some public relations departments which have clear cut functions.

The 10 key tasks that public relations managers will do as follows.

1.           Planning: Endlessly the public relations professionals plan, determine the objectives and needs, priorities, desirable ends, targets for the public relations messages, time frame and cost, etc., with their focus on the importance of ethics. Public relations personnel have often taken the lead in the establishment of code of conduct, ethics in many areas of national and international business and industry. Therefore planning is the first task of a public relations manager.

2.           Managing: Public relations are a strategic management function. Public relations managers should be able to administer the overall Public relations Programme to ensure that it runs on time, within budget, and ends up with a successful record of achievement. It is important to recognize the need to hone up management skills as much as to develop the operational public relations skills.

3.           Maintaining Relations: Public relations manager should maintain relationship with journalists, technical experts, politicians, academics, opinion formers of one sort and another, with the employees, customers of the organization concerned, with charitable institutions, community leaders and so on. All Public relations communications should be to some agreed and identified purpose which helps to achieve the overall objectives in due course.

4.           Organizing: Public relation managers arrange for conferences, annual general meeting, press tours, anniversary celebration, and also organize events related to media and image building. Hence organizing is considered as prime responsibility of public relations managers.

5.           Writing: They write news releases, newsletters, letters of all sorts, to groups which include opinion formers and journalists. They write reports, speeches, copy of booklets, posters, radio and television scripts, trade paper articles, magazine articles letter to the editor, etc. They become sometimes ghost writers for clients CEOs.

6.           Editing: They not only write but also edit inhouse journals, newsletters, reports to shareholders, and letters written by their peers. Editing of corporate publication is an important task of public relations managers.

7.           Production: Writing and editing is an aspect while productions are another area. Public relations professionals have the responsibility for welding together many aspects of communication involving the use of print, photography, design, art, audio and video materials, so that these are created into communication tools which are needed to transmit the messages relevant to the job. Production of folders house of journals, posters, films, audio visuals is the job of public relations professionals.

8.           Public Speaking: Public speaking is an essential quality for public relations managers. They speak at meetings, presentations, press conferences, in front of television cameras, on radio shows, at private and public function of one sort or another. Public relations practitioners therefore, adopt interpersonal media and spoken words for effective communication.

9.           Gathering of Information: The main job of public relations practitioners is gathering of intelligence information; and they have to be good at it. He is the source of organizational information which has to be gathered, stored and disseminated.

10.      Training: As part of training, public relation managers have to create PR conscious in every employee of the company. Public relations for non-public relations people have to be organized to educate them. Organizing in-house public relations training is the responsibilities of PR managers.