Is it the duty of PR to write up marketing strategies and any other forms of letters on behalf of the marketing and internet communications team?
I don't know the answer to this but it seems that it's as hard to define Public Relations as it is to define the duties of the job itself.
I have never thought about the ambiguity of PR but I have seen my boss complete many tasks that I would never even dreamed of having to do in PR. These tasks seem unnecessary and can at times impinge on other more important tasks that need completing but they do come under the PR umbrella such as writing emails on behalf of the CEO and writing up statements for the marketing team as well as proposals in unrelated departments.
Can you say no to these tasks or do you complete them given that they are communications driven? And if you were to say no, then who completes them?
-Liz
4 comments:
Hello Liz !
Infact the work of a PR professional depends in which organisation structure you are evolving. Many companies who do not have stand alone PR dept, have their PR attached to depts like sales or marketing.
For instance, if you are related to the marketing dept, most of the times you will have communication work related to marketing.
Also, if you have to develop marketing and internet communications it has to be related to the ideology of the organisation, that is, the mission and vision !
You can choose to say no to these tasks but due to the ambiguity of department you may be viewed as lazy, selfish and not team oriented by your colleagues and superiors.
Now if you were to say no, it is the responsibility of the IT director to develop the internet communication strategies, but he will have to revert back to you, as YOU are the one who is supposed to write communication notes for the company in the proper format of professional PR writing.
This my personal point of viewing the issue !
Hopes this help!
Cheers !
Abhishek
Hi Liz
Where i am interning at, corporate communications is a section under the marketing department and like what you said, there are no guidelines as to what the duties of a PR professional are. At the zoo, that's where i am doing my internship, i feel as though we are a customer service department. Enquires and feedback forms are directed to us and i am required to reply to them. On other days, we may have to prepare speeches for the top management to present during meetings or for a internal corporate video.
I am also required to liaise with people from the IT agency to manage the website and keep a up-to-date data bank of participants of our various media tie-ins.
I realised that the scope of PR we have learnt at school compared to the working world is so different.
Till now, i have not said no to any tasks given to me as i would like to be seen as a team player. But of course not to the extent of being bullied.
I do hope that this internship will be a awesome learning experience as it has been for me.
=)
Hey Liz,
Public relation role can differ from organisation to organisation, but it is always related to communication. It could be for the internal public, the employees or for the external public, the target audience of the company. So in fact, it is the management of communication between the organisation and it public. Therefore, doing marketing strategies if related to the public of the organisation is a role of the PR officer.
The role of the public relation is to have the attention of its public, to gain awareness and interest using tactics and strategies. The public relation is very polyvalent, he/she can work with the human resources and communicate to the employees, he/she could be required to talk at a conference or to prepare the speech of the CEO of the company, and many other activities.
I hope I have answered to your question, good luck with your internship
Celine Samouilhan
Hi there!
I agree that it can be confusing to determine which duties come under the wing of a PR professional.
Like Abhishek I also agree that public relations work should correspond with the marketing and IT departments. Integrating communications across departments can help to build consistency and unity towards the organisation's public image, which serves one of the main objectives of PR.
However, I do believe that this should be an integration of efforts. During my placement at the Department for Communities, the Community Relations officers worked alongside the IT professional, who even came along to the Community Relations meetings. Communications were generally prepared by the Community Relations officers and then given to the IT professional for uploading.
Depending on your organisation though, your marketing department may be more focused on communications about the product or service, while the public relations department might be more focused on communications about the organisation. But it can be hard to separate the work between the two because they are often both inextricably linked.
I do think writing emails on behalf of the CEO may come under PR, though. I think we are expected to prepare and manage communications on behalf of the CEO, who is considered the face of an organisation in PR.
By being asked to write an email on behalf of the CEO, I am assuming that the information was not very private and was intended for the public or at least a target public, in which case it would probably something for the public relations department to handle.
Alana
-Curtin University, Bentley
(Note to blog authors: Please excuse this late blog submission as I am still recovering from being sick and have had problems accessing my account).
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