Introduction of Public Relations

Public relations efforts must ensure that not only does the organization understand its publics, the publics, must equally understand the organization. It must understand its reasons for whatever actions it takes as a public relations officer or manager of their firm, for instance, it is their duty to ensure that mutual understanding is achieved between their firm and its several publics. More often than not, the publics are passive at performing this role.

Public relations is the practice of managing the flow of information between an individual or an organization and the public. Public relations may include an organization or individual gaining exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that do not require direct payment. The aim of public relations by a company often is to persuade the public, investors, partners, employees, and other stakeholders to maintain a certain point of view about it, its leadership, products, or of political decisions. Common activities include speaking at conferences, winning industry awards, working with the press, and employee communication

Public relations are an art because it involves artistic skills, fine arts, language, writing, public speaking, etc. It is a social science because it uses social scientific instruments to understand and predict human behavior. It attempts to understand its environment and relates with it mutually. Public relations monitors, surveys and researches issues and happenings in the environment. It advises the organization so that the policies of the organization are in line with the expectations of its publics. It implements programmes that will favor both the organization and the publics in a win-win outcome.

Defining Public Relations

Now that some of the misconceptions have been eliminated, it is timely to state what public relation really is. This is not an easy task because public relations are not easy to define. Many people have tried. Some early practioners, notably E.L Bernays defined it is an attempt by information, persuasion and adjustment to engineer public support for an activity, cause, movement or institution. But social scientists have since found that opinions cannot be engineered. According to British Institution of public Relations “Public relations practice is though deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its publics.

According to Dr Rex F. Harlow Professor Emeritus of Stanford University and pioneer in public relations education says: “ Public relations is a distinctive management function which helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance and cooperation between an organization and its publics: involves the management of problem issues; helps management to keep informed on and responsive to public opinion; defines and emphasizes the responsibility of management  to serve the public interest; helps management keep abreast of and effectively utilize change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends and uses research and sound and ethical communication techniques as it principal tools. Publics are the interested audiences that are important in some way to an organization including current and potential customers, current and potential employees and management, investors, vendors and suppliers, media, government, and opinion leaders.

Public Relations involves the planned promotion of goods, services and images of organizations intended to create goodwill for a person, place or event. Public relations professionals work to build long-term relationships among individuals and institutions. A non-profit or not-for-profit organization is an agency, institution or organization that is not commercially motivated. It's objective usually is to support a matter of public concern with no interest in profit. 

Historical Background of Public Relations

·       Howard Stern and Sirius Satellite Radio

What makes a PR campaign great? Two things. First, it has to achieve and surpass its objectives, achieving results beyond what anyone had a right to expect. Second, it has to be memorable the kind of campaign people will remember 10 years or even 100 years later. If the campaign also pioneers or improves on an innovative idea, practice, or technique, that’s icing on the cake.

It is very safe to say that what we now refer to as public relations had actually been with us from the beginning of man’s existence. Although the phrase “public relations” was invented in the twentieth century, the practice of public relations had been since the dawn of recorded history. Edward Bernays, one of the seminal figures in modern public relations stated that ‘the three main elements of public relations are practically as old as society: informing people, persuading people, or integrating people with people. Of course the means and methods of accomplishing these ends have changed as society has changed’.

Some main points that will clear all historical aspect of public relations

1.     Overcoming bad publicity

2.     Changing an image to generate appeal

3.     Targeting your audience

4.      Creating PR campaigns that get the job done

For Bernays and other public relations historians, professional public relations have always moved with civilization. Society was crude at the start of its life, so was public relations. Primitive society ruled mainly through fear and intimidation; whereas more advanced cultures employed persuasion and debate. Public relations have equally followed this trend. The study of rhetoric in Athens is often seen as the beginning of public relations as a social science based on research, planning and two-way communication. The spread of Christianity in the middle ages could in modern sense be linked to the application of public relations technique. Before the development of communication and technology, the Christian faith was spread by missionaries using persuasion skills by the word of mouth. With the invention of the movable type by Guttenberg in 1456, which heralded the use of mass communication technology, public relations were gradually pushed to the frontiers of modern civilization. In the 17th century, the Catholic Church established the Congregation Propaganda Fide, the congregation for the propagation of faith. This was the origin of propaganda, a means at this time for spreading church doctrine.

Best ten Public Relations of all time according to Robert Bly and Ilise Benun ( Public Relations Dummies)

·       Lucky Strike

·       John D. Rockefeller

·       Tylenol

·       Bill Clinton’s 1992 Presidential Campaign

·       The New VW Beetle

·       Cabbage Patch Kids

·       Domino’s Pizza Meter

·       IBM Big Blue versus Gary Kasparov

·       Gillette Sensor Razor

Trends Leading To the Development of Modern Public Relations

1.     The Growth of Institutions

2.     Expansion of Democracy

3.     Technological Improvements in Communications

4.     The consensus of agreement

Public Relations History of Nepal

The fertile soil of democracy is ideal for public relations. In Nepal, the soil is being tested; the seeds of public relations are, however, found in ancient culture and traditions. Some structures and functions of modern public relations are no doubt developing in Nepal; but the total environment is still lacking. Some government offices, public institutions, business houses, hotels and some foreign agencies in Nepal practice public relations though their internal channels and mass media. The users of press relations techniques are growing among the political institutions and leaders.

If we look at the some health institutions and some NGOs are hiring public relations officer as an important organization part. Like Nepal Bharat Maitri Hospital, Dharan Hospital, Kantipur Dental Hospital.

Travel Agency and Public Relations

Now the trend of hiring public relations officer in travel agency is began in Nepal. The competition among travel agencies is growing and in order to dominate the market and to win the heart of the people by their service the culture of PR department is highly realized. Public relations, both as a term and as a job, are mentioned on a daily basis and are widely applied in all segments of life and work in society. Public relations are a specific form of communication with special application in travel. It is a communication model and one of its main purposes is to create a recognisable public image. This purpose is very important in travel agency, in particular in the creation of a positive image for a certain destination or for a whole country as a travel destination.

During times of fierce global competition in terms of offer, special attention is paid to a marketing approach where destination occupies a very special place. The modern view of a travelling service is very important in the market because customers travel to a destination which they prefer the comfortableness and want fruitful service. In this respect, it is necessary to apply marketing techniques, knowledge and tactics in order to highlight a destination’s comparative advantages and to attract guests. Despite the fact that public relations as a component of destination marketing management plays a prominent role both at the global and the national level, this important part of promotional marketing has still not been sufficiently researched. Very comprehensive and abundant literature on public relations include only a very small number of manuals and articles on public relations by travel agencies, and no scientific publications or textbooks are found on this subject. On the other hand, publications focusing on marketing in tour and travel agencies deal with public relations as a part of marketing and promotion.

For the purposes of this study, some selected overview of the most frequent types of public relations in tour and travel agencies, I have divided into basic groups covering the majority of the target public in a tour and travel agency. They are the following:

                   ● Media relations and publicity

                   ● International public relations and consumer relations

                   ● Community relations and domestic public relations

                   ● Relations with the Government and state administration

                   ● Internal public relations

The most important role of community relations and domestic public relations is to encourage the whole population to act in a hospitable, warm and “travel-friendly” manner, and to stimulate the entire community to work in this direction. Community and domestic public relations is aimed at improving the service of travel agency and raising the awareness of every inhabitant of travelling of different part of country of the need to contribute positively to its travel development.

The development of hiring and firing process of public relations by travel agency is ongoing because of high level of competition.

Ace Travels

Ace Travel was established in 2010. Ace Travel is dedicated to making travel simple. They specialize in a complete range of travel-related services and adventure activities, from five-star to budget class. In providing this full range of travel- and adventure-related activities, AceTravels continues to promote responsible tourism, sustainable development of the country and preservation of local cultures and traditions. As always, they continue to place a significant priority on the continual improvement of our services in order to maintain the highest level of customer satisfaction.

Core values of Ace travels

1.     Fair price

2.     Quality service

3.     Integrity

4.     Customer satisfaction

5.     Responsible travel

According to Manju Shakya public relations officer of Ace Travels gives some information how the public relations functioning in relation to develop and expand to make bold and strong relationship with its customers. Customer service satisfaction must be taken in high priority. They are trying to give information about Ace travels through different tools of media. Through media they are trying to reach and get more and more customers. Manju Shakhya give information about their public relations department that they have formed the public relation department in order to make positive image of the organization. She tells that the organizations has a clear vision about their organization and need of pr department. Shakya says that the importance of the public relations is highly recognized by the organization and they are in process of making a good and prosperous relationship with their customers.

The PR department of Ace travels basically look after the media related issues as well as CSR issues. As present they are looking seriously for Facebook and CSR. First, their planned to give information about their organization and know the taste, view, attitude of their customers. That's why Facebook became one of the best social site to reach to many people in small time. More than 2.5 lakhs have liked facebook page of Ace travels. Through facebook page it gives not only information about organization but in different issues like environment preservation, sports, agriculture which is an strategy to have a positive image of the organization. To be recognized by the people it has sponsored many programs. Like it has sponsporsing football club in nepali football league. In other events also the interesting in which people more interesting it sponsors them.  Now days it gives priority in bringing to clean Bagmati river. The main thing is to understand the what kind of services they are expecting from the organization. The organization is highly impressed by the job of the PR department. With out the support of the organization PR department cannot do what it can do in a effective manner. In short time of organization establishment it has achieved brilliant success. Manju gives its entire credit to the staffs of organization and PR department.

It shows that the organization has accepted the PR activities help for forming positive image of the organization. Advertising is one of the best tool for them that they basically use. Besides their personal business development officer took work seriously for keeping the relation with the clients. Different types of advertising they are using. Television, Newspaper and hoarding board they mostly used to prefer. They believe one of the most targeted area is Kathmandu Valley because of the population and main city area of the country. Look at the population we need to influence them. The network of people sends messages and it will be more fruitful in development of business.

They always evaluate their public relations strategies in following way

1.     Measuring with (flawed) formulas

2.      Calculating advertising equivalency

3.     Counting “key message points”

4.     Using market-research measurements

5.      Tracking inquiries and sales

6.     Taking the long view — revenues and profit

Other analytical parts customer service, product variety, reasonable price, motivated staffs. Public Relation is not a new term but in case of Nepal it has not been seriously taken. There is the big importance of public relation officer in the big corporate houses. It is necessary not only to increase the sales but also to build the image the company for long lasting term. 

Conclusion

Public relations is the practice of managing the flow of information between an individual or an organization and the public. Public relations may include an organization or individual gaining exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that do not require direct payment. The aim of public relations by a company often is to persuade the public, investors, partners, employees, and other stakeholders to maintain a certain point of view about it, its leadership, products, or of political decisions.

Public relations professionals work to build long-term relationships among individuals and institutions. A non-profit or not-for-profit organization is an agency, institution or organization that is not commercially motivated. It's objective usually is to support a matter of public concern with no interest in profit. First, it has to achieve and surpass its objectives, achieving results beyond what anyone had a right to expect. Second, it has to be memorable the kind of campaign people will remember 10 years or even 100 years later. If the campaign also pioneers or improves on an innovative idea, practice, or technique, that’s icing on the cake.

Public relations are a specific form of communication with special application in travel. It is a communication model and one of its main purposes is to create a recognisable public image. The modern view of a travelling service is very important in the market because customers travel to a destination which they prefer the comfortableness and want fruitful service. In this respect, it is necessary to apply marketing techniques, knowledge and tactics in order to highlight a destination’s comparative advantages and to attract guests.

In Nepal the trend is lately come but some organizations tries to come in practice. The practice of PR like in Ace Travels gaining benefits by using it and they are winning the hearts of their customers. Now the competition is high and in Nepal also many Travel agencies are emerging and giving tough competitions that's why in order to remain in market and to be part of the customer PR is investable.