Can PR withstand any force?

Public Relations have had to deal with the challenges faced by the industry. These include new media and  with debates surrounding the professionalism of the industry. The role of the PR practitioner might be widening but is it been replaced by another field such as social marketing? 

It can be argued that the two disciplines have different roles and serve different purposes. 

The public relations practice according to PRSA is about reputation  - the result of what you do, what you say, and what others say about you. Public Relations aims to earn understanding and support and influence opinion and behaviour.  

While Social Marketing seeks to " influence social behaviours not to benefit the marketer ,but to benefit the target audience and general society.

This distinctive difference shows that social marketing has its place , public relations clearly outlines itself  as a practice that is still needed for building relations with various publics.

References: What is Social Marketing by Nedra Kline Weinrich

                    

                      Introduction to Public Relations by Sam Black 

    

                     www.prsa.org

                     

Sectors that are becoming dependent on Social Marketing

It can argued that some sectors such as the not for profit organisations and political departments are moving away from just raising awareness. Instead they are in the business of influencing behaviour change . For instance public communication campaigns under the NHS in the UK have campaigns meant to impact some sort of change. These campaigns employee social marketing techniques to achieve their goals.

Some examples are:
Child Safety Week http://www.capt.org.uk/18th to 24th June 2007
Sun Safety Month http://www.sunsmart.org.uk/July 2007
Sexual Health Week http://www.fpa.org.uk/24th to 28th September 2007
World Mental Health Day http://www.wfmh.org/10th October 2007
In not for profit organisations the PR practitioner role extends to areas such as " community development, recruitment , training , infrastructure planning and more." So while they undertake media relations sometimes they have other roles outside the realm of PR.

Some argue that public relations is still relevant especially in the not for profit industry since " the public image of a voluntary organisation is important to its success both for attracting financial support and in securing cooperation of voluntary workers."

Reference: Introduction to Public Relations by Sam Black