CONCEPTS: Public relations (I)

Look through their eyes

Civic organizations in Macedonia lately, except with the others, have faced the problem of unfavorable image created at the public and which refers to their work. Tendentiously or as a result of lack of information, the public has a stereotype opinion about the civic organizations. This stereotype presents them as “money-laundry, “family businesses”, “continuation of the foreign factor” etc. No one can benefit from this stereotype. Neither the civic organizations, nor the country where they work.

Unfortunately, it will be very difficult to deal with tendentiousness. There is a chance to improve this situation if it is about the second reason – lack of information. Civic organizations should establish relations with the public and point out their way of working, the objective of their informing, the results and the effects of their work. That is why it is necessary once again to examine our skills in public relations management.

In this issue and the following two, we will remind you of the basic elements of the public relations.

What are public relations?

When we consider public relations, some sensational promotion of the organization’s achievements is often in the foreground. Public relations are above all useful for the organization to help it become more critical of its work. Seeing your organization as the others see it, you can become better and be sure that you give the users the best possible service.

Even most of those who are familiar with the public relations wrongly believe that it is about media relations, but media relations are only a part of the public relations. According to the Institute for Public Relations, the official definition is “a planned and sustainable effort to establish and sustain good will and mutual understanding between an organization and its public.”

What does this mean to the civic organizations? For you public relations mean to project the image or the personality of your organization to your own “public” – users, supporters, sponsors, donators, local community and your other audience, for example your local council, other charity organizations and not to forget the personnel and the volunteers. So it is about conveying your message to your audience, but it is a two-way process. You have to communicate with your audience, but you should also enable it to communicate easily with you. One-way communication is only self-advertising. The real public relations include a dialogue – you should listen to the others, to see things through their perspective and the board of your organization should consider their critics and complaints, especially if they have been lodged by the users of your services.

Why do we need public relations?

As a civic organization you see your role as a service provider, or as someone who runs campaigns, collects money donations, or anything else, but in order to collect money to do what you do, you should make a profile – at the public, the other organizations, as well as at the local authorities, the central government and the donators. At the more competitive market, with more and more organizations, and less money, those who have a profile created are the ones to provide money. This may sound unjustly, but that is the reality.

Some civic organizations are especially careful with the public relations. They wrongly believe that public relations have an objective to promote the achievements in a sensational way. They think it is about a glamorous image; they think it is about hiding the mistakes and lacks in their organization.

There will always be people that will agitate because humanitarian organizations or the civic organizations in general, spend money on public relations, people who consider the public relations to be a luxury or completely unnecessary or inappropriate thing. A lot of donators and members of the public believe that each penny from the income of the humanitarian organization should be spent directly for the aim: they do not will to sponsor the administration and will withdraw unless money is spent on public relations. However, if it is about a well considered, enlightened and carefully structured public relations campaign, which creates positive benefits, you will see that these people do not have any more excuses; you might even ask them to stop and reconsider their attitude towards public relations. 

Talk to your audience

Good public relations can result in improved service for your target groups: by directing their needs and seeing things from their point of view, so that what you do can be even better. That lies in the public relations basis. It is about listening to the others and developing a two-way process, based on mutual trust and understanding.

You should see your organization in a way the others see it and include the users and the ones who support you to improve your work. A good starting point is to talk to your audience and see what they think about you. Ask the users of your service to get an idea how to improve things. Find out from the members how you could develop better interaction with them. Talk to those who support you about what they would like to see. And ask your personnel, too. It is really magnificent how many good ideas they will have, but without any positive encouraging, they might not express them. With the critical attitude towards yourself, which is created if you see through the eyes of the others, you can introduce improvement in many areas of your work. You can become good in both communication and listening.