PR Target Audience

A key method used by public relations professionals  is to identify the target audience, with a view to
craft messages to influence a particular audience - also known as publics.

 In some cases the overriding  interests of varying  audiences and
interest groups common to a public relations campaign inform the crafting of distinct but
complementary messages to target publics.

On the other hand stakeholders theory identifies an audience with  a stake in a given institution
or issue. It assumes all audiences are stakeholders (or presumptive stakeholders), but not all stakeholders are
audiences.

 For instance, if a not-for-profit charity engages a public relations agency to develop an advertising
campaign to source funds in order to develop a cure for an ailment , the charity and victims with the disease are
stakeholders. Nonetheless,  the audience comprises any individual  likely to donate money towards the cause.

Origin of the press release

The history of the press release dates back to 1906 and was  created by Ivy Lee - a seminal figure in PR history. Lee’s agency was working with the Pennsylvania Railroad, in the USA at the time of the 1906 Atlantic City train wreck.

The New York Times was said to have been so impressed by Lee’s release that the newspaper printed it exactly as Lee had written it.

Ivy Lee and the company collaborated to issue the first press release directly to journalists, before other versions of the story, or suppositions, could be spread among them and reported.

He used a press release, in addition to
inviting journalists and photographers to the scene as a means of fostering open communication with the media.

How An African Grey Parrot Became An Insurance Salesman

In a recent PR campaign for Ceska Pojistovna, the largest insurance company in the Czech Republic, Carl – an African Grey parrot – pulled off a major publicity stunt. Carl, the parrot, was trained to sell pet insurance by a Hollywood animal handler.

Over a 3 month period, Carl was taught to bark the words ‘car insurance’. He was taken on a country-wide tour around major pet stores. Carl’s custom-built ‘office’ had a built-in tablet and a pre-loaded landing page that prompted visitors to buy insurance.

Overall, the creativity of the PR practitioners engaged to provide publicity for the insurance firm, did prove to be a major headline-grabbing stunt, which impacted positively on the bottom line of the Insurance firm.

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Underscoring the roles of PR in AGM planning

For the management of a company, the AGM is an important PR  occasion when important financial statements including audited accounts are put up before the shareholders.

 The Chief Executivegives details of the company’s performance during the last one year and usually comes up with the
company’s plans and strategies for future development.

AGM is called by the Company Secretary;
Finance Director and his team members are the dominant players; the Chief Executive is the central figure for the occasion but the PR can perform well from the background as well as in direct focus of acknowledgement of his role.

Unfortunately, many companies have turned the AGMs to an avoidable farce, an attitude that clearly demonstrates the management’s fear of facing the wrath of the shareholders. There are,
however, many more companies continually seeking new and more effective ways to use an AGM to inform and educate shareholders, earn their confidence, understand investor thinking, explore new
ideas and to introduce new products.

In relation to AGM, the tasks of PR, with adequate management support, are as
 follows:

(i) In financial public relations, PR activity must not be restricted to media relations. In
practice, financial PR covers much more than just dealing with a few financial journalists.


Total media relations are of utmost importance but PR can demonstrate its effective role in many other finance-related activities including AGM.


(ii) PR has to realise the importance of making the chairman’s speech reach a much wider audience. It is through this annual statement that PR can project the organisation to the outside world as a dynamic entity, alive towards the welfare of the community at large.

PR takes the initiative to distribute brochures, literature and informative documents highlighting the performance, product, research and further developments. Video presentation is another effective way of attracting shareholders’ attention to the company’s efforts and achievements.

(iii) PR must have good access to the Chief Executive, senior management and the board;otherwise, he may not succeed in his effort to make his role noticeable in AGM matters.

In fact, PR has to develop keen business acumen and be a part of the business group, which handles investors relations programme.

PR can be of immense help for expert guidance in finalising AGM requirements like audio-visuals, agenda preparation, conducting the meeting efficiently, hospitality arrangements, selection of venue, holding exhibition and display and be constantly conscious of public relations aspects of AGM and actually implement them in practice.


(iv) Now comes the question of total media coverage. The shareholders, the larger investor groups, financial analysts, stock market, the management and the employees as well, will expectantly look forward to media reaction to the proceedings of the AGM.

This is a major challenge and opportunity for applying key elements of PR communication at several stages of AGM actively. Any well-planned PR programme will cover media relations, Press-TV-Radio interviews, news releases, and press conferences and follow up or post-
meeting exercises.

The whole operation must be carried out with a practical time commitment
and a clear understanding of the PR objectives.

Role of Financial PR in preparing Annual Report

Role of financial PR in preparing Annual Report

As far as financial PR is concerned an annual report is the most essential and first-hand communication to introduce the company to the financial public as well as to financial collaborators.

 It is an obligation on the part of the
management to present audited accounts of the company before the shareholders at the annual general meeting.

The annual reports would have passed through phases of dynamic changes but the basic requirements are:
 (i) Chairman’s speech
 (ii) Report of the Board of Directors (iii) Balance Sheet
 (iv)
Profit and Loss account and
 (v) Auditor’s Reports.

In this process, many companies make use of the space and opportunity to focus attention on the achievements in functional areas like production and sales, distribution, new products and
services, new projects, human resource development, industrial relations, contribution to the exchequer, environmental measures, research and development, energy conservation and thus present as complete a picture about the company as possible to the shareholders as well as to the financial public and the media.

Consequently, the annual report is an essential input of financial PR.

 The Public Relations role in the preparation and production of the annual report could usually be as
follows:

 The company secretary together with the finance wing of the company will be in total
command of the annual report draft preparation. But PR could lend its touch of class not only in production techniques but also in the total purview of economic and financial perspectives.

PR plays a constructive role by emphasizing the need to be frank and free to
admit difficulties, and explains the steps taken to overcome them, which will create a sense of confidence and understanding among the financial public including shareholders.

PR will have its eyes and ears turned to the ground realities to fulfill the specific
requirements of the shareholders, investors, press and media and the financial world and keep them sufficiently informed about the current operations and future plans of the company.

The annual report can thus be effectively used as a tool of PR communication.

PR advises the management that, statutorily, though a lot of information is put into the annual report it is sound business sense to focus special attention on one main them.

 While highlighting the company’s progress, performance, plans and outlook for the future, the various facets of the company’s activity will have the obvious linkage with the main theme.

Printed annual report, however well produced, will continue to command limited and captive circulation. One way to win over mass attention is to publish the chairman’s statement in selected newspapers and journals, mainly those that specialise in financial matters.

In addition to communicating a message of significance to the shareholders, space
buying in the print media provides good scope for larger audience appeal.

The PR department involves itself in the preparation and maintenance of a complete circulation list for annual report dispatch.

This is a golden opportunity to be in contact with the financial press and concerned financial public to encourage useful and informed comment.

How to prepare financial PR press kit

Preparing an appropriate press kit, specially in the event of a financial press conference, is of crucial importance. What should go into a press kit? Strictly speaking, the kit should contain an assorted collection of information designed to serve as a reference for the media.

The traditional gift articles at a major event for the media are inescapable but the information material to be provided depends on individual company needs. PR has to evaluate the requirements and finally decide among
the options.

Checklist for an ideal Press Kit

(a) A major press release is always expected at a major press meet, which normally sums up the event.

(b) A bunch of photographs will be useful. These may include portraits of newsmakers and general, sometimes specific view of production or service operations, product photos etc.

Instead of photos, or in conjunction with photos, an artist’s depictions of a physical
object are effective as well.

(c) Brochures and biographies are useful handouts. Brochures, in addition to providing a succinct history of the organisation, must give detailed financial particulars in which the media will find background information about the company. Biographies must pertain to
achievements of the top management persons in achieving the financial goals.

(d) It is a good idea to provide a text or summary of the speech of the main speaker in the press kit. This simplifies the job of the media people and they appreciate it very much.

The speaker has to stay quite close to the circulated text during his actual speech, otherwise, there may be confusion leading to inaccurate reporting.

(e) Annual Report of the Company providing balance sheet and a statement of profit and loss account of the company during the last one-year.

A question-answer session will be used to clarify points mentioned in the text of speech or when the journalists make reference to issues, which are related, to the main topic or to the functioning
of the company. This is a risky ground, which has to be treaded cautiously.

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Role of the Press in Financial PR

The Press as PR Tool in Financial Communication

For the purpose of financial communication, Public Relations employs a variety of tools and methods to promote business development. It may be true that the key element in any financial PR programme will be aimed at the financial community. At the same time, the business and its communication must gain the acceptance of the government and citizens in the present social, economicand political environment. In order to build the bridge of co-operation and understanding, the business
communication has undergone tremendous changes in class and character, and more so in the domain of information sharing. Here comes the importance of the ever-increasing numbers of the financial
public and the wide-ranging tools and techniques employed to reach this public.

The Press

The Press will continue to play an ever-increasing role as a means of communication by companies to various categories of investors and the financial public. The press activity helps the
shareholders, potential investors and analysts to maintain a record and understand the performance of the company on the financial front.
The Press includes national, regional, and local publications and specialist financial andeconomic press.

 In addition, there are a host of trade journals, consumer and marketing publications and even women and general interest publications. In fact, financial public relations entails a much
bigger role than just dealing with a handful of journalists representing the financial and economic press.

Professional press relations will involve quite a few accurate steps, which may go a long way in tackling this sensitive area more effectively.

These are:
(a) In press relations no PR person should ever run short of time.

(b) The spokesperson from the company, even at the highest level, must be approachable and accessible. It is the duty of the PR to ensure this aspect; otherwise, he will lose credibility with the Press.

(c) The financial, economic and relevant technical discussion with the members of the Press would require a thorough knowledge and expertise on the part of the company spokespersons. There cannot be any compromise or uncalled for delegation of authority.

Appreciate the role of journalists, financial or general, that their primary loyalty is to their readers and that the financial columns will keep alive if they serve their readers with facts, truthfully
and sincerely. Therefore, providing the right kind of information to them, enabling them to fulfill their assigned roles is a key part of any communication programme.

What is financial PR

Simply put financial PR in Public Relations is communicating with the financial publics. But, then, if all publics are equal in the eyes of PR, how do some publics come to gain special importance with the same Public Relations? In fact, these special publics are quite sizeable in number and form dominant groups in the domain of financial public relations.

They matter more to the organisation although no PR and management can ignore any public, and effective communication with all of them is essential
for the existence of the organisation itself.

In general, the financial public, who are of immediate concern to the organisation, comprise the following:

(i) the registered shareholders;

(ii) the investing community including potential shareholders with available funds for spending or

(iii) the direct financial community comprising  banks and financial institutions, stockbrokers, and a variety of key players in the global money market, individual or institutional;

(iv) the financial and economic press in particular should include a large number of newspapers, trade journals, other publications and the electronic media in general, who evince interest in
economics and finance; and

(v) the audience in the market scenario comprising the business community, politicians, customers, employees, and on specific occasions, the general public.

How to write a press release

In order to give readers a great story it's important to adopt appropriate techniques and methods in writing a press release from an editor’s perspective. This is found in the inverted pyramid technique in writing.

 It's essential to write in inverted pyramid style, because editors cut from the bottom of a story. In the inverted pyramid style the most important information belongs in the first paragraph, and additional information follows in order of importance.

The inverted pyramid technique prevents both the editor and readers from searching for the important points. A writer should always tell Who, What, Where, Why, When, and How. It's essential to rely on facts, not sensation. These facts should be presented clearly and simply, and the editor allowed to decide what is important.

Editors are hired to exercise sound news judgment. Use active voice and subject-verb construction and conversational language. Public relations practitioners must possess the skills needed to communicate to their respective publics unambiguously, concisely, and honestly.

Simple sentences should be written in two or three sentences per paragraph. Typically one page is good; two pages are more than enough for a great story contained in a press release.  After writing a news release or story, PR practitioners should have someone unfamiliar with the subject or contents read the story or press release. If it doesn't make sense to the test-reader, it probably won't make sense to an editor or readers .

Public Relations vs Marketing

A key component of the Marketing Communications mix, Public Relations (PR) is often misconstrued to mean some form of paid promotional marketing for goods and services, whereas that's not case. Herein underscores the need to highlight distinctions between the two.

Below are five key distinctions between Public relations and marketing.

1: While Public Relations (PR) lays more emphasis on managing an organization's reputation by sustaining favorable media coverage and promoting mutual understanding amongst its interest groups, marketing seeks to achieve its objectives through direct  promotional means - such as advertising.

2: Duration: While the benefits of investing in  Deliberate, Sustained and Planned  PR activities can be reaped in the long-term, the impact of direct marketing promotional activities such as advertising can be reaped in the immediate term through increased sales.

3: Direction: At its core, Public Relations tends to focus more on nurturing and sustaining relationships with varied interest groups as they relate to an organization, marketing on the other hand lays greater prominence on an organization's  products, goods and services.

4. Target: In public relations the target of various media campaigns are split across what is known in PR parlance as  publics, which comprises particular stakeholders or interest groups to an organization. These include: Employees, the media, regulators, shareholders, buyers and suppliers.
In marketing campaigns the customer is the  target and the focus is mainly channeled towards identifying and meeting customers needs.

5: While PR activities are largely achieved through earned media or "free publicity" - via news mediums, such as blogs, newspapers and journals; marketing activities are largely actualized through paid media.