How is public relations used as a persuasive tool in communications?

Public Relations, in itself, is a persuasive technique that focuses on relationships, especially between businesses. Although public relations is defined as, “a management tools to establish beneficial relationships”, “it is also a persuasive communication tool that people can se to motivate other people and institutions to help them achieve their goals” (Vivian 269-270). To accomplish its goals, there are four steps that public relations people must do. They must identify existing relationships, evaluate the relationships, design policies to improve the relationships, and implement the policies. The whole idea behind public relations is that it keeps the company honest and persuades the public that they are a worthwhile institution. By doing this, they are having press conferences, issuing press releases, and emphasizing the company’s strengths and attributes. All of this is meant to influence the consumer and the public. One aspect of public relations, is lobbying which is very persuasive because they try and promote policies and legislation. Any PR employee in that department must have the ability to persuade. As for public relation firms that don’t persuade, they won’t have much luck because the whole idea behind public relation is influencing the public. If the public is not on your side, then your company will not do well. Persuasiveness is a key tool to any job in public relations and it is a key element in the business.