A Practioner's Guide to Public Relations Research, Measurement and Evaluation

Chapter 2

The Business of Public Relations

In Chapter 1 we introduced the concept of best practices through the history of public relations research. In this chapter we will introduce and discuss the role of public relations as it relates to the larger goals and objectives of the organization. Public relations’ impact on an organization’s return on investment (ROI) is a fairly new concept. As the profession has turned from a tactical role to the strategic management of communications, the profession has had to continually wrestle with having to prove its worth. As part of the “promotional mix” of communications, public relations works in conjunction with advertising and marketing as an integral tool. Typically the promotional component (advertising, ...