Advantages of Public Relations

History

According to Edward Bernays, public relations is "practically as old as society." Some books and universities identify a Babylonian tablet from 1800 BC as the first example of public relations. They also associate audience segmentation tactics used in gospels, political promotions in Rome and logos used by ancient craftsman as being early examples of public relations. According to Scott Cutlip, there is disagreement over whether these ancient events constitute public relations or are part of its history. Most textbooks on public relations consider the antecedents to the field to have originated during the settlement of the New World. Exaggerated promotions were used to attract settlers and the first fund-raising pamphlet, New England Fresh Fruits, was used to raise funding for Harvard. Pamphlets, media outreach and slogans were also used to spread anti-British sentiment.

Public relations as a paid profession began in 1900, when the first public relations agency, The Publicity Bureau, was founded. Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays, who are both referred to as the father of public relations, helped establish the field as a professional practice in the United States. Basil Clarke is considered the profession's founder in the UK and Arthur W. Page is considered the father of corporate public relations. The field became more established after World War II, in part due to talent from war-time publicity efforts moving into the private sector. Trade associations, industry publications and academic journals were developed. Some of today's largest PR agencies were founded in the 1950s and began competing globally in Europe and Asia in the beginning in the '60s and '70s.

The 1990s were marked by "explosive growth" for the public relations field. Internet technologies and social media changes public relations tactics, agencies consolidated and new specialties were introduced such as investor relations and community relations. The field established a degree of professionalism, though to what extent is debated.

Public relations offers several advantages not found with other promotional options. First, PR is often considered a highly credible form of promotion. One of PR’s key points of power rests with helping to establish credibility for a product, company or person (e.g., CEO) in the minds of targeted customer groups by capitalizing on the influence of a third-party -- the media. Audiences view many media outlets as independent-party sources that are unbiased in their coverage, meaning that the decision to include the name of the company and the views expressed about the company is not based on payment (i.e., advertisement) but on the media outlet’s judgment of what is important. For example, a positive story about a new product in the business section of a local newspaper may have greater impact on readers than a full-page advertisement for the product since readers perceive the news media as presenting an impartial perspective of the product.

Second, a well-structured PR campaign can result in the target market being exposed to more detailed information than they receive with other forms of promotion. That is, media sources often provide more space and time for explanation of a product.

Third, depending on the media outlet, a story mentioning a company may be picked up by a large number of additional media, thus, spreading a single story to many locations.

Finally, in many cases public relations objectives can be achieved at very low cost when compared to other promotional efforts. This is not to suggest public relations is not costly, it may be, especially when a marketer hires PR professionals to handle the work. But when compared to the direct cost of other promotions, in particular advertising, the return on promotional expense can be quite high.