Reliability Leads to Credibility in Public Relations

Public relations is a systematic research function that aims to design an effective campaign to solve a problem within mass communications. It is imperative that this research be reliable in order to understand the problem and suggest recommendations. Reliability can be defined as the ability of a method to measure the same results in a comparable way over time. It is a measure that is stable and consistent.

Public relations as social science research aims to understand society and the various segments involved. Investigating these segments or markets helps the professional to anticipate attitudes and behaviors. Furthermore, these preventative measures anticipate future problems that may occur and solutions to resolve them.

As public relations is challenged to validate the importance of this systematic approach to problem identification and, more importantly, problem resolution, it is imperative that professionals maintain their reputation with “Corporate America.” and the media. Reliable research helps illustrate to the dominant coalition the need to understand an organization’s stakeholders. Increasingly, members of the dominant coalition understand the importance of their support for public relations. Effective public relations helps a company’s competitive advantage and therefore helps its bottom line.

Unfortunately, not all professionals do the research necessary to make reliable and valid recommendations. Research can be a very systematic and complicated aspect of public relations depending on the topic at hand. However, it is better to do the necessary research to collect data that is detrimental to a campaign. Although subjectivity is used in public relations, the practitioner must examine the organization, its audiences, and all other aspects that may affect its success in order to make an educated guess. Millions of dollars could be wasted on a campaign aimed at the wrong target audience and, worse, not available to the intended target audience.

Although public relations was not seen as a separate function in the past, it is becoming more common. For public relations to continue to be effective, there must be support for public relations within the organization, as well as a designated director of public relations to manage all functions. A separate budget should be allocated solely for public relations research. Although some companies are reluctant to do this, they find that this research actually saves them money in the long run with crisis management and marketing campaigns.

Furthermore, future licensing would help ensure greater credibility. It would also help eliminate the opportunity for unsystematic and low-skilled imposters to take advantage of individuals, organizations and the media. Systematic research facilitates reliability.