X. Summarize the article “Financial Public Relations”.

XI. Solve the following pr problem.

Specialist flooring solutions provider TACT needs to get its marketing messages heard by a wider market. Too few potential customers are aware of the benefits that TACT could offer through innovative products and excellent service.

As a PR practitioner design a PR campaign for TACT.

Unit 5

Local government and government relations

by Beryl Evans

Why central and local government matter

1. The term ‘lobbying’ has been the subject of many headlines recently, causing the conduct of people associated with or in public office to come under considerable scrutiny.

2. While the sometimes questionable activities of members of parliament (MPs) and others who are close to the corridors of power have attracted a great deal of media attention, it would be wrong for the negative elements of this coverage to completely blur our expectations and respect for our system of democracy and government.

3. People working in the public service, be they officials, members of parliament or councilors, do endeavour to serve the needs of the electorate and local constituents.

4. Theywill obviously have affiliations and aspirations which need to be considered part of their own ‘manifesto’ (be it personal or political), but many will have entered public life because they want to make a contribution to the welfare of the community at a national or local level. It is those in possession of this ‘power’ who most frequently need to be the focus of public affairs campaigning.

Effective public affairs

1. The more confrontational the opposing sides are on an issue, the more difficult that issue becomes to handle effectively. So the headlines mount, and reputations become enhanced or damaged as the best-laid plans for the organization or the issue in question come under pressure.

2. Public affairs is not an exact science. But there are common approaches to consider in the public affairs process when looking to governments at central and local level for support.

3. Support will not be forthcoming without knowledge. Knowledge is derived from information via research and campaign planning.

4. Such knowledge will also need to be communicated, shared, debated and agreed upon if that essential ingredient to aid success – consensus – is to be achieved among the parties involved.

5. Some would call that effective public relations. Others would prefer to define it as public affairs.

6. Whichever description applies, ensuring your organization’s or client’s philosophy is enshrined in government and others’ thinking is a crucial component of any organization’s success. It is this ability to understand and influence opinion which determines it.

Defining public affairs

1. Public affairs is necessarily all-embracing, making definitions tortuous. However, at the heart of public affairs activity is the need to ensure that the organization’s aims, philosophy and motives are consistent, both in terms of the way in which the organization acts with its external markets or target audiences and the way in which its own (i.e. internal) functions reflect the organization’s core objectives.

2. It is essential therefore to have a clear vision of what is trying to be achieved; what the strategic aims are; how that can be broken down into core areas for action; who the key audiences are; identifying the main messages for those groups of people, and the most effective way of achieving and maintaining contact with them.

3. Your client or employer may think that they have gone through this process. But as the professional adviser it is important that you appraise their objectives too because there is every opportunity that such a reappraisal will provoke new thinking or a different interpretation. And the over-arching strategy will need to be adjusted to take this into account.

4. In building up the strategy sufficient time should be given to reviewing and then revising the campaign, along the way ensuring the focus remains on the core objectives, and that the strengths and weaknesses are identified and acted upon. Importantly, scope should exist to ensure the intelligence gathered is harnessed and fed back into the information flow to ensure it influences future policy.

5. The range of activities expected of those involved in public affairs will entail the following types of activity in varying degrees:

• communicating with government;

• communicating with local authorities;

• media relations;

• community relations;

• advertising;

• issue management;

• investor relations;

• staff communications;

• corporate publications;

• conferences and seminars.

6. The overall aim in any campaign must be to build support for your cause, using as many influential outlets as possible and, especially, calling on the advocacy of others who will act as essential third party support. These are the beginnings of a sphere of concentrated and coordinated action to support the strategy and the birth of consensus.

7. Once it starts to build pressure can be applied (though not necessarily always publicly) to ensure the issue at hand is brought to the attention of those who will ultimately be debating or creating policy, or taking the final decisions.

8. The ultimate target may be a change in legislation or a shift in attitude by those who are in a position to influence others. The democratic process allows plenty of opportunity to contact those at the heart of such activities, while the process of applying pressure can be orchestrated through robust media campaigning and/or a combination of the activities listed above.