By Ugochukwu Ugwuanyi
Although ensconced in the mass communication department of most institutions of higher learning, the principles and praxis of public relations are very distinct from the application of communications. So, the next time you see a role designated as PR and Communications Manager, don’t scream: what tautology! The distinction between both disciplines is increasingly being lost on many due to the rise in digitisation. The ease with which social media platforms and blogs are used for real-time dissemination of information means that internal and external messages can simultaneously reach the same audiences.
In any case, trust binds both functions. Communications builds that trust through clarity and consistency. PR earns the same from credibility and relationships. It establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organisation and publics on whom its successes or failures depend, while communications intentionally manages internal and external interactions, focusing on organisational messaging, policy alignment, and strategic positioning.
With public relations as the driver and communications the vehicle, PR sort of drives comms between the company and its stakeholders. Both functions are intertwined like Siamese twins. Public relations strategically leverages communications to build and manage relationships, reputation, trust, influence and stakeholder confidence. PR shapes perception by communicating in a way that is on-brand, on-time, and on-tone.
How Public Relations Isn’t Communications
Granted that PR and communications share the common objective of building trust, maintaining credibility, and supporting organisational goals, they however diverge at scope, control, and audience. While PR traditionally emphasises public perception and media engagement, communications takes a more holistic view of how a business shares meaning with all stakeholders.
· Public relations focuses principally on external audiences, while communications caters to both internal and external audiences.
· PR is concerned with reputation management, while communication is concerned with information management and message consistency.
· Public relations is big on media relations, whereas communications places major emphasis on strategic messaging.
· PR chases after earned media coverage; communications relies largely on owned media – i.e., channels the organisation controls.
· As the background rhythm of an organisation’s information flow, communications is proactive and steady; not so for public relations, which is often reactive and opportunistic, like jumping on trends and values ambush marketing.
What the Brand Does – PR; What It Says – Communications
With communications, an organisation creates meaning around what it does, aligns people around a message and turns complexity into clarity. PR goes a step further into building relationships with stakeholders, understanding expectations and concerns, managing reputation and maintaining trust, especially when projects directly affect communities.
Public relations moves an organisation’s ideas through various funnels until they change people’s minds. It’s how institutions exercise their soft power, influencing agendas. The currency of PR is earned media: endorsement and third-party validation that an organisation cannot buy and cannot fully control.
PR, therefore, needs communications to “express” itself, or “speak” its doings. Communications plays a distinctive role in the formulation, revision, presentation, execution, implementation, and operationalisation of public relations strategies. Take for instance a product launch. The communications team sets the core messaging: what the product is, who it is for, and how it should be described. It carries along the employees so that they are not blindsided and can act as informed ambassadors. It updates the website, prepares customer emails, and aligns the social content. Meanwhile, the PR team takes that same messaging to niche journalists, highlighting the angle that makes the story newsworthy, and prepares the CEO for tough interview questions.
As PR establishes and maintains positive relationships with stakeholders, communications comes in handy to transform policy decisions and the organisation’s actions into public understanding while at once feeding the management with public feedback and feelers. Communications is said to be meaning-making because it isn’t just about what gets said but what gets understood. Beyond having the right words, it connects with different audiences, understands what they need, and makes every conversation feel natural and purposeful. Comms helps people make sense of what an organisation does, why it matters, and how it fits into their world. It is the bridge between doing and being known.
Two Sides of a Coin
Both functions go pari passu because you cannot effectively create meaning without understanding reputation, relationships and stakeholder dynamics. Also, public relations efforts are circumscribed without clear, consistent, and strategic communication. The central concern of a communications function is coherence. Its job is to make sure the right message reaches the right audience through the right channel, and that the message does not contradict itself from one channel to the next.
Whereas public relations is about relationships, reputation and influence, communications focuses on clarity, alignment and information. Where PR is asking, “How do we build trust, manage relationships and protect reputation?” communications seeks to know how best to ensure that the appropriate audience receives, understands and acts on the right information. Put in another way, where communications asks, “Have we been saying the right things consistently?” PR demands to know what people actually think of the brand and why.
As PR labours to let the world know who you are, communications ensures that the company understands, aligns, and delivers that identity or reputation. Strong communications overlaps with public relations by opening doors to new opportunities, building trust, and creating understanding.
PR Endears the Brand; Communications Ensures People Understand It
Communication, as a partner, has been away from his investment for some time. On this particular day, he decides to visit the business – a bar and restaurant – with his friend named PR. After they arrived at the scene, his jolly friend chatted up the bartender and soon ordered drinks for everyone. That’s public relations for you. This got the boozers feeling good about the bar – even though the drinks aren’t that great.
Sensing inefficiency in the operations of the restaurant that is affecting patronage, Communications rewrites the menu so it’s clearer to customers, trains the staff to say “Hello” the same way, and ensures that no one mistakes tequila for tap water. This is in keeping with Communications’ job of ensuring that the brand is well understood.
PR influences the public, media, and stakeholders to perceive the brand in good light, while communications is the glue that binds internal memos, briefings, newsletters, annual reports, assets, case studies, product reviews, the founder’s lore, crisis comms, tone of voice, speeches and press releases. It clearly and consistently disseminates what public relations does inside and out.
How PR Grind is Grounded in Communications
Internal Communication: It takes communications to carry staff members along, keeping them informed about developments in the company through in-house newsletters, town halls and suggestion boxes.
Corporate PR: Communicating on behalf of the whole organisation, not products or services. This comes in the form of annual reports, conferences, ethical statements, visual identity, and reels.
Media Relations: Communicating with journalists, pundits, editors from local, national, international and trade journals, including newspapers, magazines, radio, TV and digital channels.
Public Affairs: With an eye on policy and government dealings, this requires interactions with regulators, ministries, legislators, pressure groups and key opinion leaders. The work is about shaping the policy environment and helping the organisation navigate it.
Business to Business: Communicating with other organisations, competitors, suppliers, and retailers. This comes to play through thought leadership, exhibitions, trade events, niche publications.
Community Relations/CSR: Identifying with host communities, the locals, their elected representatives, headteachers, and meeting their basic needs. This entails employment opportunities, presentations, meetings, sporting activities and sponsorship of their festivals.
Investor Relations: This serves as the communication bridge between a company’s corporate leadership and the financial community. It blends finance, communication, marketing, and securities law compliance to ensure a company’s stock achieves a fair market valuation.
Strategic Communication: This defines the objectives communications is expected to achieve, audiences that matter most, the kind of messaging that supports business goals, and the techniques to be used in measuring effectiveness. This function creates alignment and clarity on what success actually looks like at the senior leadership level of a business.
Final Thoughts
Indeed, none of the above-mentioned PR functions can be executed without communications. The organisation that focuses on only one side will soon discover that silence or mixed signals on the neglected function undo the effort. A crisis situation depicts the interdependence of PR and Comms. As the former manages the relationship with the press and the public mood, communications ensures that employees, partners, and customers hear consistent, accurate information.
Public relations and communications share the common objective of building trust, maintaining credibility, and supporting organisational goals. Where there is a nexus of these disciplines, companies can create a unified voice that resonates with audiences, strengthens trust and achieve strategic objectives in an increasingly interconnected world.
Ugochukwu is a branding specialist, storyteller and media trainer who can be reached via [email protected]
