Public Relations

The Audience and How to Reach It

Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

The objective of this chapter is to explain the characteristics of the

audience public relations people seek to address and how the
various media can be used to reach them.

Topics covered in the chapter include:

Nature of the public relations audience
Two special audiences: seniors and ethnic groups
Matching audience and media
Newspapers
Created events: making news happen
Magazines and books Radio
Television and films Online media
Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

Nature of the Public Relations Audience

PR has become more strategic in practice.
Audiences are targeted precisely; some messages are
customized at the individual level
Controlled media - the use of communication channels that
reach directly to the audience

Details
Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

SENIOR AND ETHNIC MARKETS

As the demographic makeup changes dramatically in the United States,
two major target audiences have emerged that deserve special attention.
One is the seniors.
This group frequently is defined as men and women 65 years or older,
although some sociologists and marketing experts include everyone over
age 50.
The other group consists of ethnic.
Similar audiences are developing to various degrees in other
countries.

Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

Seniors
Medical advances have improved life expectancy so much that today
almost 35 million Americans are 65 or older, according to the U.S.
Bureau of the Census.
A heavy upsurge in the senior population will occur after 2020, when
the post-World-War-II baby boomers begin to reach / cross the age
of 65.
These older citizens form an important opinion group and a consumer
market with special interests
When appealing to seniors, public relations people should try to ignore
the stereotypes of old folks so often depicted in the movies and
television. Some 80-year-old women sit in rocking chairs, knitting or
snoozing, but others cheer and boo ardently while watching professional
basketball on TV. Nor are all grandfathers crotchety complainers with
quavering voices or kindly patriarchs who fly kites with their grandsons.
As many differences in personality, interest, financial status, and living
styles exist in the older audience
as among their young7 adult
Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani
grandchildren.

Public relations practitioners should remember these characteristics

of seniors:
With the perspective of long experience, they are often less easily
convinced than young adults, demand value in the things they buy, and
pay little attention to trends.
They vote in greater numbers than their juniors and are more intense
readers of newspapers.
They form an excellent source of volunteers for social, health, and
cultural organizations because they have time and often are looking for
something to do.
They are extremely health-conscious, out of self-interest, and want to
know about medical developments.
Financially, the elderly are better off than the stereotypes suggest.
The poverty rate among older Americans is slightly below that of the
population at large.
Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

Ethnic Groups
Historically, the United States has welcomed millions of immigrants and
assimilated them into the cultural mainstream.
They bring a bubbling mixture of personal values, habits, and
perceptions that are absorbed slowly, sometimes reluctantly.
The questions of assimilationhow much, how little?also exist with
two longtime indigenous minorities, African Americans and Native
Americans.
Communication campaigns have been employed in Malaysia and the
Mideast to build understanding and interaction among diverse ethnic
groups, Called nation-building.
Recently the easily identifiable ethnic groupsprimarily Hispanics,
African Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americansas a
whole have been growing five times faster than the general population.
Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

A basic point to remember is that the minority population forms many

target audiences, not a massive monolithic group whose interests are
identical.
Asians in San Francisco have different cultures and concerns from
Hispanics in Miami.
Expanding populations have been accompanied by an increase in the
number and strength of the minority media through which messages can
be delivered.
For example, The swift expansion of the Hispanic population is a
challenge for public relations practitioners.
Merely translating their messages into Spanish is not enough.
They must shape communications to the Hispanic culture, in particular
the groups family ties.

Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AUDIENCE

Human drives have changed little over the centuries.
As we move into the twenty-first century, we continue to love, hate,
worship, work for food and shelter, protect our families, and respond to
our neighbors' needs much as our forefathers did 300 years ago.
Knowing how to appeal to these basic emotions is essential:
Even with these drives constant, specific aspects and attitudes of the
audience change.
In numerous respects, audience trends of the 1990s differed from those
of the 20XXs, for example, in ways significant to the public relations
practitioner:

Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

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The public is increasingly visually oriented.

The enormous impact of television on daily life is largely responsible for
an increased visual orientation.
Many people obtain virtually all their news from the TV screen.
Several recent studies indicate local television is the most credible and
frequently used news source, displacing the local newspaper.
Television news is told primarily in pictures presented briefly, at a
swiftly changing pace.
Such exposure leads to a shortened attention span so that, for example,
political leaders policies reach the public largely in ten-second sound
bites.
Television also serves as a potent communicator of manners and mores.
Television is an alternate for information to the illiterate.

Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

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Fervent support is generated for single issues.

Many individuals become so zealously involved in promoting or
opposing a single favorite issue that they lose the social and political
balance so needed in a country.
Such vehement behavior may create severe public relations problems for
the objects of their attacks.
Heavy emphasis is placed on personality and Sports stars.
Television and movie actors, and rock music performers are virtually
worshipped by some fans.
When stars embrace causes, many people blindly follow them.
More and more, we see them being used as spokespersons and fundraisers.

Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

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Strong distrust of authority and suspicion of conspiracy exist.

People have been so inundated with exaggerated political promises, seen
so much financial deception, and been exposed to so many misleading
television advertisements that many of them distrust what they read and
hear.
They suspect evil motives and tend to believe rumors. T
he need for public relations programs to develop an atmosphere of
justifiable, rational trust is obvious.
The international audience for public relations is expanding swiftly.
Growth of global corporations and expanded foreign marketing by
smaller firms open new public relations situations, as does increased
foreign ownership of Global companies.

Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

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Matching the Audience with the Media

Print media are the most effective for delivering a message
that requires absorption of details and contemplation by the
receiver.
-Television has the strongest emotional impact of all media
-Radios greatest advantages are flexibility and the ability to
reach specific target audiences.
-The online media are usually used as a supplement method of
reaching a generally well-educated, relatively affluent
audience interested in new ideas and fresh approaches.

Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

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On the Job Global- American Web Sites Overlook

European Audiences
Although Europe boasts nearly 200 million online users a recent study
conducted by APCO Online found that the world's 50 largest companies
in financial terms do not give Europe its due.
-Three out of every four sites do not offer a European link.
-Fewer than one in three sites included a phone number for the European
corporate division of the parent company.
-Only half answered e-mail request for information about European
operations of the company within one week.
-The majority failed to communicate in a language other than English.
-Of the 10 highest scoring sites, four were European companies.

Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

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Online Media
A personal computer is one of a public relations professional's significant
tool.
The personal computer, along with the PR professional, can:
deliver information about client projects
establish contacts with reporters
exchange ideas through the commercial online services and the
global Internet.

Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

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Media Relations
Editors and reporters and public relations people need each other.
The media must have material and ideas from public relations sources,
and practitioners must have the media as a place to tell their stories.
Public relations people should remember several things about editors
and reporters:
They are busy. Make your sales pitch briefly and objectively.
Editors pride themselves on making their own decisions about what
stories to run and how to run them. Excessive hype of a story often turns
them against it.
Stories submitted by non-profits are better received by editors than
are corporate new releases which are perceived as attempts to obtain
free advertising.
Able editors and competent public relations people respect each
other and work well together
Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani
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PR is essentially defensive

It is a corporate armour that the company

can wear which would protect the company
during adverse times

Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

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Print Media
Printed words can be kept indefinitely and can be reread. Messages
delivered in printed form through newspapers, magazines, and
books are a fundamental element in public relations work.
Newspapers- Every edition of newspaper contains hundreds of news
stories and pieces of information, in much greater number than the
largest news staff can gather by itself. Newspapers depend upon
information brought to them voluntarily
A Commercial Institution.
When dealing with a newspaper, public relations people should
remember that it is a commercial institution, created to earn a profit as a
purveyor of news and advertising.
Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

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When PR is used for the purpose of

marketing its product and services, it
is known as Marketing Public
Relations (MPR)
It can be a very important component
of the entire communications mix of
the company
Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

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PR changes attitudes. Institutional

ads which present facts do not
change attitudes

You need to involve the reader by

emotionalising the information

Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

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How do PR people get their job

done?
Using clout of the agency by virtue of being
a space buyer
Cultivating relations with media and
leveraging that when required
Communication that is newsworthy and
which media would be glad to carry

Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

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Remember
Biased information shall bring in
more resistance than acceptance.

Credibility of media as an unbiased reporter must

be maintained . Therefore most media have their
own editorial policies where all such information
is suitably edited before it goes on print

Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

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Any
Questions
Presented By: Viqar A. Usmani

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