Public Relations Guide for Rural Housing Organizations (manual

WHAT ARE PUBLIC RELATIONS, MARKETING, AND MEDIA RELATIONS,AND WHY DO WE NEED THEM?Questions and concerns that may come to mind to the reader as s/he confronts public relationswork follow.What Is Public Relations work?We’re so busy doing our work. We can’t spend the time to communicate ourmission. (Clark 1997, 11)Human beings are born with the instinct to communicate. We all communicate, even bydeciding not to, consciously or unconsciously. Whenever we communicate, whether throughspeech, photographs, print, movement, inactivity, or silence, we are sending out informationthat reflects the deepest level of what we are all about.Today our world offers the possibility of instant communication through computers, theInternet, and fax machines. Yet much of the rural population lives without access to thesegadgets and in some cases without telephone lines. As organizations attempting to provide therural population with the basic necessities of life, we are often operating without theadvantages of the newer technology. Both circumstances aggravate the challenge ofcombating community issues such as “Not In My Back Yard” (NIMBY) attitudes or concernsover smart growth and land use, which cry out for information sharing.How do we best share the information fundamental to achieving our goals?Public relations means telling the public about something – in your case, telling the publicabout housing need, housing programs, and your organization’s work. Public relations workincludes marketing (distributing information about products or ideas) and media relations(communicating with the media). It also includes other interactions organizations have withthe public – speeches, newsletters, publications, special events, annual reports, brochures, factsheets, perhaps even funding applications. All of these can help enhance your organization’simage.Why worry about your image? Because if you exert some control over how people perceiveyour organization, programs, issues, and community, you may gain more funding, morevolunteers, more support for low-income housing, more positive images of low-income people,more awareness of positive change in your community, and friendlier attitudes fromneighbors, lawmakers, and voters.It sounds like public relations work is very basic to my organization’s work: Why?Is there anything more basic to your work than getting funding? Private and public fundingare on the decline; uncovering new funding sources is necessary.2 Public Relations Guide