PUBLIC RELATIONS

RELEVANCE OF PR TO A DEVELOPING COUNTRY LIKE GHANA
Public relations is fundamentally the art and science of establishing relationships between an organization and its key audience. Public relations (PR) according to the Institute of Public Relations Ghana is “a distinctive management function that identifies establishes and maintains mutual beneficial relationship between an organization and the various public on whom its success or failure depends.”
The importance of PR to developing countries like Ghana can be seen in the role it plays:
PR functions as advertising in a subtle manner. Organizations convey messages about their products and services through the PR department by organizing activities which would call for media attention. For instance: donations to vulnerable and charitable homes. Businesses in Ghana practice PR in order to convey messages about their product and services. Customers are likely to be influenced to make a purchasing decision. There is a possibility for these organizations to achieve an increase in profit. For example: banks are now advertising their services through their PR department. This increase the purchasing rate of the organizations’ products and services. It then results in the growth of the economy. Also, organizations pay taxes to the government which is used for national development (developmental projects: road constructions, hospitals, schools and KVIPS).
Corporations and business entities reach local government and legislators through the PR department. When a business is established there is the need for that business to develop a mutual beneficial relationship between the business entity and the government. Through lobbying (an even more specialized and criticized part of public affairs attempts to influence legislative and regulatory decisions in government) the PR department of organizations is able to influence legislative and regulatory decisions to favour the organization. This creates a favourable business climate for the organizations as a result of favourable legislations enacted by government. It also attracts investors both within and outside the country to invest in the country (Ghana). When investors come to the country and establish businesses, it creates employment. For instance due to the favourable business climate in relation to network services, it has attracted other network services outside the country to establish their business in the country (Ghana). Example: Zain and Globacom.
PR creates an employment option. With the emergence of PR it has created employment to many people in the country. People go in to study PR and become practitioners who are then employed into organizations. Institutions have also been set up to help train people to become PR practitioners. For example: the establishment of the institute of public relations Ghana. This helps to improve the literacy rate of the country and also curbs the unfortunate phenomenon of unemployment.
Moreover, due to the effectiveness of PR Ghana has a favourable image on the international scene. This has attracted most developmental agencies to work in Ghana. For instance: United Nation Development Program (UNDP), United States Agency for International Development (USAID). These agencies help to train professionals like journalists on how to report on issues.
In the nutshell, the above stated points clearly depict the relevance of PR to a developing country like Ghana. It boost the economy, helps in national development, creates favourable business- climate and creates employment.