Relations with customers depend very much on quality, price and delivery time, but also honestly on the reputation of the company. Public relations can play a vital part in protecting a reputation or in building up a new ‘public image’. It can also do valuable work in improving methods of communication with existing and future customers.
PR is an aid to marketing all along the line, right from the stage of planning of a new product to its successful selling. The PR professional can evaluate to customer’s attitude towards a product and provide valuable lines to the marketing department so as to enable it to take corrective action and to decide about the continuation, modification or dropping of a particular product or service. The purpose of PR is to win the customers goodwill on a long term basis.
The PR department should be also fully alive to the customer’s complaints. Though the individual complaints are normally handled by the complaints department, but the PR man has to be closely involved in this work as it affects the image of the organization. The PR man should also initiate prompt action in the complaints voiced in the media. He should respond to all the complaints. Even in the case of groundless and frivolous complaint, the PR professional should write a polite letter to the customer. If the complaint is true, it is advisable to tender an apology and replace or repair the product.
It is necessary to the PR man to make a concerted effort in co-operation with the production and marketing departments to effort in co-operation with the production and marketing departments to project a new product or a new service. This can be done through features in house journals, by bringing out folder, brochure, etc.
Stockholder Relations
The goodwill and support of shareholders is of vital importance to the existence to a success of any business concern. Public relations effort should be to attract the affluent rich sections from the rural areas and encourage them to invest in the industrial concerns. For this purpose, techniques of communication, relevant to this new class, have to be employed.
The public relations in private concern normally does not have any direct responsibility for the preparation of the annual report, the balance sheet, audit reports, etc. The PR professional can, however, help a great deal in projecting the organisation’s image with the shareholders by advising the management on the overall approach in the annual report.
The branch of public relations can yield good results by helping the companies through keeping in touch with their shareholders e.g. by inviting them to film shows, tea parties, sending them copies of house journals and by arranging annual general meetings. Meeting can be held in different cities if a majority of stockholders live outside the capital. Alternatively some meetings of the board can be held outside the capital. Alternatively some meetings of the board can be held outside the capital, followed by receptions for shareholders living in the locality. Anything that can bring stockholders into closer touch with the Board must serve to support the company.
Employee Relations
Internal public relations is an extremely wide field. It involves almost everything, other than salary which encourages employees to make their maximum contribution to productivity and the prosperity of the company. The purpose of PR’s internal communication is twofold: to convey management decisions, policies and programmes to the employees at different levels and to feedback the management with the reactions of the employees.
The correct policy should be to disseminate more and more information and establish management’s credibility with the employees. Only that information should be withheld which may lead to speculative activity or may create problems for the company with its other public. When information is given out it has to be ensured that the message is not distorted. It is better if the message is given in the mother tongue of the workers.
The PR professional can also make an brilliant impact on employer-employee relations if they organize the celebration of religious festivals and other community functions. Public relations cannot assure, to prevent strikes, but a well conceived public relations programme can play a useful part in eliminating misinterpretation and lack of information.
Public Relations in Support of sales
The second objective of public relations in private sector is to promote the company’s services and products in highly competitive world. In other words, the eventual aim of most companies or organizations is to sell their product or service at home and overseas. With other methods of communicating with existing and potential customers in which public relations assists sales promotion, press relations is of prime importance.
[This article is published by Media Center-IMAC in interest of student awareness and career guidance. Media Center-IMAC specializes in Post-Graduate/Under-Graduate diploma courses in Media Studies and Mass Communication & TV journalism. With practical oriented and industry specific course, Media Center- IMAC is a prominent institution in Delhi.
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