The Four Quadrants of Public Relations Explained

In 1944 Rex Harlow wrote “Public Relations at the Crossroads,” wherein he summarized the duties of public relations professionals. In essence, Harlow highlighted that public relations professionals contend with a myriad of relationships including internal and external relations, personal relations, personnel relations, industrial relations, stockholder relations, board of directors’ relations, customer relations, government relations, supplier-creditor relations, community relations, trade relations, opinion surveys, advertising, and publicity. Additionally, Harlow also noted that public relations responsibilities of the time generally included press, radio, motion pictures, printing, public speaking, and professional writing.1

Even in today’s fast-paced work environment, Harlow’s insights still ring true as those of us in the public relations profession know that we have to be able to do it all. In fact, it is now expected that we become experts in multiple arenas within the field to be triumphant in supporting the companies and organizations that we represent.

What is implied, but not directly stated in Harlow’s summary of the profession, are the Four Quadrants of Public Relations. The idea is simple. Within these four quadrants, all functions of public relations fall. To be well versed in each quadrant, while also understanding each individual element, is critical to the development of today’s public relations practitioners. The Four Quadrants of Public Relations include:

1. Media—inclusive of publicity, as well as traditional and social press
2. Community—inclusive of internal, external, online, employee, consumer, and personal interactions
3. Business—inclusive of investor relations, C-level executive advisement, and social care (customer service)
4. Government—inclusive of political, lobbying, public affairs, and issues management

Public relations practitioners should think of these as completely interrelated and strive to incorporate aspects of all four quadrants into their daily activities to develop a higher level of strategic implementation.

Success is seen when public relations professionals include all four quadrants into the public relations planning process. However, the supporting concepts behind the Four Quadrants of Public Relations are not new. The novelty lies in how these quadrants are grouped and explained in an interrelated fashion. Public relations practitioners have a defined responsibility to mediate between an organization and its public to build relationships with a variety of stakeholders by disseminating information to the public as well as seeking or collecting information. This information, or feedback, often provides public relations practitioners and their organizations with insight as to how the public perceives the organization and its operations. Utilizing this open, two-way, symmetrical communication, as exemplified in the Grunig-Hunt model, allows for a higher level of mutual understanding and offers a more balanced approach to consumer-company interactions.2 Communication should move between an organization and its publics effectively. The symmetrical communication model is one of the more robust models that public relations professionals practice because this model promotes a greater sense of engagement with an organization’s targeted audience by listening, connecting, and facilitating through action rather than merely pushing messages out.3 A continual, open line of communication between a public relations practitioner and the publics being served is essential in our digital age of socially driven public relations activities.

Historically speaking, the idea of open communication has been at the cornerstone of defining public relations.4 Going forward, it will become increasingly important to focus on sustaining an open model of communication with the public. The theory behind the Four Quadrants of Public Relations relies heavily on this type of engagement in order to interact with various publics, and since social media is also founded on the open communication concept, this communication model will take on considerable importance.

With that in mind, it is significant to understand how the four-quadrant model relies on any single segment building upon another, yet maintaining its interconnectedness with all of the other segments. Let’s examine how each segment works individually and then how they work together.

Quadrant 1: Media Relations

In practice, public relations professionals work closely with the media to distribute their messages to the public. The media (specifically news sources inclusive of online, television, print, radio, and electronic media) has long since been viewed by the public as a trustworthy and highly regarded source.5 It is the job of public relations professionals to build strong, mutually respectful relationships with journalists. Traditionally, public relations practitioners manage their media relations responsibilities by sending press releases, pitch emails, arranging interviews, organizing press conferences, and responding to media inquiries.6

It is easy to recognize the outcome of these efforts each time we turn on the television to watch the nightly news. The information that is displayed within these telecasts is carefully, tactfully, and strategically “placed” by public relations practitioners across America. To the untrained eye, all of the news presented may seem as though a journalist researched the story, gathered the interviewees, and put the thirty-second TV news spot together. In truth, many of these news stories are actually the fruit of diligent public relations practitioners. It is our job as professionals to identify a newsworthy trend and capitalize on it.

As an example, the American Bar Association (ABA) is frequently reported on in the news. This organization has been regularly referenced within news stories in both local and national news outlets, as well as major printed publications. Responsibilities of the media relations division within the ABA include serving as the organization’s press secretary with local and national news outlets, as well as ensuring that the messages and issues of the ABA are reported on accurately by providing the correct resources to journalists transmitting the stories.7

When the ABA launched Operation Enduring LAMP, a mobilization of America’s lawyers to help those called up for active military service, the timing and focus of the news conference were established by the public relations practitioner to ensure the best possible results for placement and coverage. Because of their relationships with the media, the event generated national network and newspaper coverage, which, in turn, benefited the association by swelling its ranks with a large number of new pro-bono lawyers to help in the effort.8 The newsworthy trend here relates to services offered to active military personnel as the timing of this initiative coincided with the onset of the war in Iraq.

When Downsize Fitness, a consortium of fitness centers that exclusively caters to overweight clientele, reached out to Zapwater Communications to assist in creating a media campaign focused on increasing awareness about the fitness centers and subsequently driving an uptick in membership applications, the results turned into front-page national news. The challenge was to differentiate Downsize Fitness from your typical run-of-the-mill fitness centers. With the focus of the media pitches being based on the owner’s own struggle with weight loss, Zapwater Communications dedicated its efforts to reaching out to daily newspapers and broadcast media. The initial media win came in the form of securing a feature article in the Chicago Tribune by health and fitness writer Julie Deardorff. Publication of this article spurred a flurry of additional media hits, and the story was ultimately syndicated in more than 120 news outlets.9 PBS Nightly Business Report ran a segment on the founder and the newest fitness trend to hit America.10 This publicity campaign, dubbed “Downsize Fitness: Downsizing the Obesity Epidemic,” won the Grand Prize at the 2013 Bulldog Awards for Excellence in Media Relations and Publicity.11

Typically, campaigns like Operation Enduring LAMP and Downsize Fitness are built on a coordinated use of varied communication techniques and tools used by public relations practitioners and the instinct to know what stories are perfect to pitch. Pitching the perfect story is dependent upon a practitioner’s ability to spot and capitalize on newsworthy trends occurring in the world. Practitioners work with the media to place editorials in newspapers; produce video and audio news releases; arrange radio, TV, print, and social media interviews; promote websites for their organizations; and offer easy access to additional materials that complement the news stories. By leveraging a company or organization’s best assets, including subject-matter experts, and seizing the news of the day, media relations can be used to strategically build a favorable image, to educate the public, or to use the ensuing public opinion as a court of appeal.

It would be cliché to state that practitioners must be “out-of-the-box thinkers,” but if we are to assess issues and trends successfully to identify the correct demographics within the public, then we must look beyond the typical confines previously presented.12 The aforementioned examples highlight not only the importance of the relationship between the public relations practitioner and the media but also the varied job duties and skills required of a practitioner within their daily activities. It can be seen that the public relations practitioner is no longer responsible solely for delivering the message, but also for creating the message, maintaining the message, and cultivating the message.