THE FUNCTIONS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS CORPORATE ORGANIZATIONS
Public relations professionals shape an organization’s image. They build the brand, spread the organization’s message and minimize the effect of negative publicity. At a small company, the PR person may have to handle all the roles – cheerleader, media contact person, the deflector of criticism – themselves. At larger companies or big PR firms, staffers can have more specialized roles to handle different organizational needs.
Manager or Technician
One way to divide up roles is between communication technicians and communication managers. Communication technicians are PR writers. They turn out press releases, newsletters, website content, speeches, blogs and social media posts. Managers handle the bigger picture, assessing the PR goals to accomplish or the problems to solve and determining the PR strategy required.
Different Organizational Missions
Another way to segment public relations is looking at what different roles accomplish for the organization:
Crisis management deals with emergencies affecting the organization. They help establish policies for dealing with emergencies, such as who gets to communicate with the media, and how management shares information with employees.
Relationship management establishes strategies for building and maintaining relationships with important segments of the public such as customers and reporters.
Image management professionals work to present the company as socially responsible, compassionate and involved in the community.
Resource management looks at the budget and resources for the organization’s PR and figures out how to make the best use of it.
An organization usually needs its PR team to fill more than one role. Managing relationships and shaping the company’s image can generate a lot of goodwill. When a crisis or negative news breaks out, the PR role has to be the minimization of any damage or blowback from the events.
Different Skill Sets
Different PR roles call for different skill sets. PR communication technicians have to be good writers. Their talent lies in writing messages with strong imagery and evocative language that steers listeners to the point the organization wants them to reach. These technicians execute the strategy drawn out by the managers.
Communications managers are more into the big picture. They don’t have to be gifted writers themselves, but they set the goals for the people who are. Communications managers have a seat at the management table, discussing strategy, resource management and how to improve the company’s image or build relationships given the resources at hand. Sometimes they watch for potential threats to the organization’s success, and then craft a PR strategy to head the problem off.
The roles aren’t bound by anything but ability and opportunity. A skilled technician may shift from image management to relationship management in different situations. If technicians have the right skills, they may eventually step up and become communications managers.
