The History of Public Relations Essays

The History of Public Relations Essays The History of Public Relations Essay The History of Public Relations Essay Advanced News Public Relations were discovered in 52 B. C. E. in ancient Rome. It became a profession in the 20th Century in the United States. There, public relations were becoming popular through the development of railroads. It is stimulated in today’s rapid growing business world. The field of Public Relations is a very essential aspect with having a perfect image. Public relations professionals work diligently at creating good and reliable relations between a firm and many different individuals it represents. It deals with a variety of strategies and methods. There are multiple definitions of public relations, which makes it difficult to understand. Public Relation writes, Lattimore, Baskin, Heiman, Toth and Van Leuven provides the definition, Public relations is a leadership and management function that helps achieve organizational objectives, define philosophy, and facilitate organizational change. Public relations practitioners communicate with all relevant internal and external publics to develop positive relationships and to create consistency between organizational goals and societal expectations. Public relations practitioners develop, execute, and evaluate organizational programs that promote the exchange of influence and understanding among an organizations constiuent parts and publics (2004). Edward Bernays was an admirable figure born in Austria in 1892. After attending Cornell in 1912, he began developing his powers of persuasion as a promoter of theatre. Bernays built a career that lasted for four decades, selling consumer products to political candidates. He was a big thinker, and his stratagems were very complex, which drove others to think the way he does. For example, for the American Tobacco Company Edward persuaded people to think that in order to stay fit smoking will make that possible. He continuously promoted that â€Å"being thin was in†. Even though smoking can never be known as something good, he portrayed it to be a symbol of women’s liberation. That campaign in particular demonstrated Bernays’ innovative thinking and intellectual brilliance. He doesn’t partake in any form of smoking, but was able to persuade thousands to try it, increasing the company’s business. Another strategic approach in this campaign was asking the press to not inform people about the evidence of tobacco’s health risks, even though it was the wrong decision to make. Bernays believed that there was no such thing as bad publicity. The last years of life that he had were spent on getting even greater and his promotional skills to become a legacy in history. Today he is still known as the â€Å"father of public relations† and has left a thumbnail history of the development of the public relations industry in the United States (David). Public Relations have been popular since the twentieth century and were discovered back to ancient civilizations. It is the practice of persuading people through using communicational skills. An example is Edward Bernays who views public relations to be based on the persuasion of attitudes. It is important to have a viewpoint based off of what the majority may find interesting. This will soon target a positive view point from customers. To keep customers satisfied and comfortable with investing money into a company, it is always important to keep their best interest in mind. Through advertising and marketing, the message of the company’s purpose must be clear for customers to understand. Marketing is one of the important fields that are greatly influenced by public relations. Many organizations view public relations to be part of the marketing department. Whether it is under marketing or in its own field, a successful organization requires a well ran public relations department. There are many publics that the PR practitioner must abide by and each is controlled by various communicational skills. Publics that are inside the organizations are managers, clerks, and stock holders. Publics that are outside of the organization will be considered as the government and press. Each of these publics plays a significant role in a well-structured PR organization. There are many functions of public relations that are organizational and social. Organizational functions include: media relations, employee relations, and community relations. These are considered as organizational functions because they sustain a good relationship between the company and their consumers. Media relations focuses more so with the press. It grants the press privileges to advertise an organization the best way possible to gain popularity, which in result makes the company money (Public Relations). Employee relations are about the internal publics of the company. For example, those who work for a company have accurate information on the company’s growth and downfalls to help them excel the company’s performance in the future. Public relations are all about positivity, but are up to the people within the company to carry it out. Last, community relations reflect what the company stands for. It allows for the company to maintain its reputation of good will. The press connects on a marketing basis that insures healthy exposure for the business that is being represented. Maintaining relationships amongst other businesses, strategizing sales plans, and managing inventory of their product are just a few of their duties. They may also be involved in advertising or even in promoting. Marketing communications relates to the field of marketing that includes, constructing displays for promotional events and pamphlets that summarize what the product is and its functions. Marketing communications is what drives the costumers into buying their product. If the sign is appealing to the eye, and if the words that are used are persuading, then the community will buy into the company (Sommerfeldt). Public Relations is based on management, supervisory and technical functions that allows the organization to maintain relationships with other companies to prosper. There are many duties and expectations that public relations have. They include: representing the company well at conferences, attaining honors and awards, conducting business with the press, and having great communicational skills amongst employees (Brigden). Being successful in all four of these areas is not to impress others, but to enhance one’s career in public relations. Also these areas apply not only towards public relations, but also in media relations. Advertising plays a role in public relations, but is not entirely about making a product look appealing to consumers. PR involves informing and educating people and the target group about an organization. Advertising requires having an effective PR. Effective PR develops a bond with the customers to satisfy their needs and to provide good service to leave a good impression (Iyer). This will set growth within the company, making sells increase due to the well- structured effective PR. A very important technique within Public Relations is to control the downfall of the company through five important aspects. They involve: Crisis Detection, Crisis Management, Crisis Communication, Crisis Containment, and Crisis Recovery. I strongly believe my interest in public relations grows more day by day and I strongly believe that I am suitable for a position as such. My skills, abilities, and qualities all together allow me to be qualified at a public relations agency. I possess excellent writing skills, creativity and drive to accomplish all tasks, great organizational skills, multi-tasking ability, and ability to work well as part of a team, accuracy and attention to detail. To sum up I believe that I meet all the requirements to be in public relations. 1. Public Relations.   Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, (2011): 1. 2. Bridgen,  Liz. Emotional Labour and the Pursuit of the Personal Brand: Public Relations Practitioners Use of Social Media.   Journal of Media Practice V. 12 No. 1 (2011) P. 61-76, 12. 1 (2011): 61-76 3. Conrads,  David. Theres No Such Thing as Bad Publicity.   Christian Science Monitor, 90. 192 (1998): B11-B-1. 4. Dan, Lattimore. Public Relations: the Profession and the Practice. S. l. ]: Mcgraw Hill Higher Education, 2009. Print. 5. Iyer,  Ganesh, David Soberman, and J. Miguel Villas-Boas. The Targeting of Advertising.   Marketing Science, 24. 3 (2005): 461-476. 6. Sommerfeldt,  Erich, and Maureen Taylor. A Social Capital Approach to Improving Public Relations Efficacy: Diagnosing Internal Constraints on External Communication.   Public Relations Review V. 37 No. 3 (September 2011) P. 197-206, 37. 3 (20 11): 197-206. 7. Public Relations.   Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, (2011): 1.