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.