An Overview of The Public Relations Function, Second Edition, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 7

Managing Stakeholders and Publics

One of the most important steps in strategic public relations is to accurately identify the publics with whom you want to build relationships. A popular axiom for public relations is that there is no such thing as a “general public.” In essence, an organization has a variety of key groups each of whom bring different expectations to their relationship. These differences help an organization segment its publics into groups with similar values and expectations. There are several approaches to identifying and prioritizing stakeholders and publics for communication. An understanding of these main approaches to stakeholder management offers a theoretical foundation and a practical guide to practicing strategic ...