The document discusses the different types of publics that organizations must consider in public relations. It defines key publics like stakeholders, traditional vs nontraditional, primary vs secondary, internal vs external, and intervening publics. It emphasizes understanding each public's ability to influence goals, interests, decision makers, demographics, and opinions of the organization. Specific publics covered include employees, news media, government, investors, communities, consumers, voters, and businesses.

1. The Publics in
Public Relations

2. What Is a Public?
 Public: Any group whose members have a
common interest or value in a particular
situation.
 Stakeholder: A person, or public, that has a
stake or an interest in an organization, or
an issue that involves the organization.)

3. Why Are Relationships
Necessary?
 Resource dependency theory:
 Different publics have different resources that
organizations need to achieve their goals.
 Values-driven and therefore acquiring resources
helps to fulfill these values.
 Two-way symmetrical public relations is simply
supply/demand.

4. The Publics in Public Relations
Traditional Publics: Groups in which we
have on-going, long-term relationships with.
Nontraditional publics: Unfamiliar to an
organization but has the possibility of
becoming a traditional public.
Intervening publics: When an organization
delivers a message with the expectation that
it will be passed on to another; such as the
news media.

5. The Publics in Public Relations
Primary: Those that can directly affect an
organization’s ability to achieve its goal.
Secondary: While still important, they have
minimal ability to affect an organization.
Internal and External publics
Domestic and International publics

6. What Do We Need to Know
about Each Public?
How much can the public influence our
organization’s ability to achieve our goals?
– How dependent are you on this public?
What is the public’s stake, or value, in its
relationship with our organization?
Who are the opinion leaders and decision
makers for the public?
– If you are seeking media coverage, reporters and
editors are the decision makers.

7. What Do We Need to Know
about Each Public?
What is the demographic profile of the public?
– age, gender, income, education
What is the psychographic profile of the public?
– what they think, feel, or believe
What is the public’s opinion of our organization?
– This shapes your values and your approach

8. Employee
Executives say employee and internal
communication is a top priority.
However, studies show many employees
rely on the grapevine and don’t believe that
their organizations tell them the truth.

9. Changes Reshaping Workforce
A distributed workforce
– Home offices, work sites across the world.
The increasing use of “temps”
– 2.5 million are temps. Hard to produce long-term
relationships
As the technology required for managing
information changes, so does the need for
training.

10. Changes Reshaping Workforce
The growth of diversity
The aging of the baby boomers
– Median age in the workforce today: 45
Generation X (1966-1980)
Generation Y (1980-1984)
– Different generations have different motivations

11. News Media
Serves as gatekeepers to the larger public.
Today there are more than 30,000 outlets.
– Newspapers
– Magazines and other periodicals
– Radio stations (AM and FM)
– Television (network and cable)
– The World Wide Web

12. Government Publics
Government officials play an important role in
the success of public relations efforts.
Governments exist at several levels (local,
state, and federal).
Advice from lobbyists: Be well-prepared and
work fast.

13. Investor Publics
Individual shareholders
Financial analysts
Financial news media
Mutual fund managers
Institutional investors
Employee investors

14. Investor Confidence
Even after 9/11, 82 percent believe
remaining in the stock markets is a good
idea.
66 percent say they’re more cautious about
investments than they used to be.
Almost two-thirds say they’re concerned
about corporate scandals.
Energy costs and loss of jobs to overseas
employers are the top concerns.

15. Investor Profile
Average age: 49.9
Median household income: $89,000
69 percent are college graduates.
56 percent are male.
83 percent are married.
91 percent are white; 2 percent are black; 2
percent are Hispanic; 2 percent are Asian-
American.

16. Community Publics
 Leaders
– Public Officials
– Educators
– Religious Leaders
– Professionals
– Executives
– Bankers
– Union Leaders
– Ethnic Leaders
– Neighborhood Opinion Leaders
 Media
– Mass Media
– Specialized Media
 Community
– Civic
– Business
– Service
– Social
– Cultural
– Religious
– Youth
– Political
– Special-Interest Groups

17. Consumer/Customer Publics
Consumer spending is the most powerful force
in the U.S. economy.
Average annual U.S. household income is $49,
430 -- average household spending is $40,667.
The biggest spenders are age group 45-54.
Women account for 83 percent of US
spending.
On-line shopping continues to grow.

18. Constituent (Voter) Publics
Voters are important to government practitioners.
Voters are important to anyone seeking to influence
public policy.
Not all eligible voters vote.
– The United States ranks 139th among the world’s 170
democracies in voter turnout.
Age is the greatest indicator of who votes in the
United States:
– Age 65 and older vote in the highest percentages.

19. Who Votes in the United States?
Married citizens: 55 percent; single citizens:
29 percent
College graduates: 61 percent; high-school
dropouts: 28 percent
Household income of $50,000-plus: 57
percent; household income of less than
$10,000: 25 percent.

20. Who Votes in the United States?
Women: 47 percent
Men: 46 percent
White citizens: 49 percent
Black citizens: 42 percent
Asian-American citizens: 31 percent
Hispanic citizens: 30 percent

21. Business Publics
B2B: Business-to-business communication
– Publics can include vendors, distributors, retailers,
customer businesses and even competitors.