Functions of Public Relations

Running head: FUNCTIONS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

Functions of Public Relations

Tiffany Nicole Jackson

University of Phoenix

Public Relations

MKT/438

John Kautenberger

August 23, 2007

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Functions of Public Relations

There are many functions of public relations that can be classified as organizational or societal. Some of the functions are media or electronic media relations, community or multicultural community relations, consumer relations, employee relations, and investor relations. There are many other functions of public relations, but for the purpose of this paper, I'll only focus on the ones listed above.

When PR firms handle an organization's public relations functions, they help to communicate the issues, good or bad, to the public. They could be considered translators. They must know the organization, the employees, the consumers, the investors, the public interest groups, etc. in order to maintain a line of open communication and trust.

Figure 1

Walgreens' October Christmas

Walgreens holiday endcap: Jesus Obama

Media relations is a process of gaining support for an organization through the media: television, print, radio and internet. This is the most effective, traditional way for communicating to the publics. The media is the pipeline between the organization and the publics. This function can be classified as organizational.

Community relations is a process of communication between an organization and those of different backgrounds, education, age, race, ethnic origin, religions, sexual orientations, etc. An organization that thrives financially tends to donate a percentage of their profits to community schools, hospitals, etc. A community will see this goodwill as a positive thing and will want to continue purchasing an organization's product or services. This function can be classified as both organizational and societal.

Consumer relations is a process of maintaining continuing interest of old or current customers, attracting new customers, marketing new products or services, reducing costs, and handling consumer...