First, understand the activities and functions of public relations
Public relations activity refers to a two-way communication activity art or management art that a social organization uses communication means to make itself understand and adapt to the relevant public for common development.
Public relations has the functions of communicating information, enhancing understanding, resolving contradictions, promoting coordination and cooperation, and increasing income. These functions are very important to a specific social organization and the whole society.
1. From the microscopic point of view, good public relations have the following effects and influences on specific social organizations:
Help social organizations to monitor social environment (public opinion, consciousness, attitude and behavior, etc.). ), collect all kinds of social reactions to the organization, and provide information and decision-making consultation to the decision-making level and corresponding departments of the organization; Establish and maintain two-way communication between social organizations and all kinds of public, disseminate organizational information to the public, strive for understanding and support, and strengthen contact with the public; Create a good image for the organization, expand its visibility and improve its reputation; Urge social organizations to adjust their organizational goals and actions in a planned way, influence public opinion, attitudes and behaviors with corresponding policies and actions, coordinate the relationship between social organizations and the public, promote cooperation between the two sides, help organizations achieve established goals and increase benefits; Enhance the cohesion and attraction of the organization, so as to maintain harmony inside and outside the organization; When an organization faces a crisis, it can effectively resolve contradictions, ease and eliminate conflicts, turn passivity into initiative, and turn disadvantages into advantages.
2. From a macro perspective, the role and influence of public relations on society are mainly reflected in the following aspects:
The connection and communication of public relations promote the development of productive forces; To promote the change and improvement of social relations, public relations activities are an important driving force and source for the emergence, development, change and improvement of various social relations; Human beings rely on public relations activities to inherit and innovate existing scientific and cultural achievements; Coordinate the goals, interests, attitudes and actions of social groups to maintain the harmonious development of society; Conducive to people's own development; Optimize the socio-economic, political, cultural and psychological environment.
Simply put, "shaping organizational image and coordinating internal and external relations" are two basic functions of public relations activities. Dr. Lex Harrow, an American, believes that public relations activities are a special management function, which helps an organization to establish and maintain communication, understanding, recognition and cooperation with the public. It is involved in dealing with various problems and events; It helps all departments to understand public opinion and respond; It defines and emphasizes the responsibility of enterprises to serve the public interest; As a monitor of social trends, it helps enterprises and organizations keep up with the pace of social changes; It uses effective communication skills and research methods as basic tools.
Second, the relationship between public relations and language arts
1. The language in public relations activities is obviously different from that in ordinary interpersonal communication.
Public relations consists of three elements: the subject is a social organization, the object is the public, including the internal public and the external public, and the external public includes the customer public, the community public, the government public, the press public, the celebrity public and the international public. The third element is the connection between subject and object-communication. The so-called communication is the process that social organizations use modern mass media to convey information, ideas and concepts to the public in order to achieve a certain goal. It is a bridge for organizations to share and exchange information with the public.
Furthermore, in theory, public relations activities are a management science; In operation, public relations is a kind of management art, because it pays attention to maintaining a good relationship between the organization and the public, and even needs to get a good impression; Public relations activities need to convince and influence the public and create a good public opinion environment; Public relations should take into account the complexity of various relationships and the richness and variability of people's psychology in order to implement a set of effective skills and methods. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that public relations activities are an art.
The communication of public relations combines oral communication, written communication, real image communication and general mass communication in form. For example, text image display (including advertisements and propaganda drafts), audio image display (speeches, TV advertisements), news speeches, etc. ) When it comes to communication, of course, language is indispensable. We can see that the communication of public relations has a strong purpose and selectivity, and appropriate and artistic language and form must be adopted. The language in public relations activities is obviously different from the language in ordinary interpersonal communication because of its subject nature and strong purpose of communication.
2. Learning language art is the need of public relations activities.
Language is the direct reality of thought. Suhomlinski, the most prestigious educator in the contemporary Soviet Union, once said: "Language is the commander-in-chief who leads people to the front, the musician who touches people's heartstrings ... Language is the warrior who strives for people's souls. Some words are as weak and emotional as hay, and some words are as brilliant as eternal stars, guiding the way for mankind. "
Ms. Tian Xiaolin said in "On Rhetoric Teaching": "Language cultivation is not only correct, but also artistic." Art "does not mean fancy, but refers to the proper, appropriate and natural use of language in different language environments (different occasions and different objects), which has the power of attracting, infecting and persuading people."
With the development of the times, public relations activities are urgently and widely needed in social economy, politics, culture, science and technology, diplomacy and other fields. The specialization and professionalization of public relations work is an inevitable trend of historical development. The language art of public relations practitioners will also affect their career and the level of public relations work. As a management art, public relations must be further developed and studied with its special and universal language.
Public relations activities are inseparable from language; What kind of language art should be used in public relations activities to achieve the purpose of public relations activities? At present, many scholars, college teachers and public relations practitioners have conducted in-depth research and expressed their opinions. It can be said that in public relations activities, language ability is not strong, and what kind of language art to use is paid more and more attention. The research and discussion of language art in public relations activities will also promote the development of public relations activities.
Third, the types of language art in public relations activities
German linguist Schuchat said that "the essence of language lies in communication." Jespersen said: "Language is a human activity, and its purpose is to exchange ideas and feelings." Linguists define language as: "Language is a sign system, which combines the meaning as a tool of human communication." The language used in public relations must be very normative and purposeful, which is very different from the language in our daily life. According to the functions of public relations activities, the author summarizes nine main language arts in public relations activities.
1. Prudence rule
The language in public relations should be cautious first. In public relations activities, the subject of activities can be individuals or organizations; It may represent the enterprise or the government. Because the target audience is the public and even foreign media, at the same time, it is also responsible for establishing its own image, explaining important issues and solving related problems. Therefore, language should first be cautious in public relations activities, and "watertight" is the perfect performance. Every sentence and word in public speeches, speeches and print advertisements will involve the image, intention, level and even interests of the subject. Don't make mistakes, leave loopholes, leave doubts and misunderstandings to the object, and leave jokes to the opponent.
How? (1) Be careful and don't promise easily. You can't easily promise something you shouldn't. General polite greetings and chats can be relaxed and pleasant, but you must be careful when it comes to key issues. Although you can discuss it in relaxed language, don't be careless when you state it. Be careful not to refuse easily. When dealing with public relations, the other party may put forward such requirements or conditions, some of which are difficult to digest and straighten out at the moment. In order to give yourself a space to consider, generally don't flatly refuse. This can not only show the importance to each other, but also take the initiative to attack with time. (3) Be careful not to say anything, but leave yourself room for retreat or maneuver. The language of public relations should be both offensive and defensive, not embarrassing or passive. (4) Be careful but be careful not to be exposed. As the ancients said, emotions are invisible. In other words, be cautious and relaxed, and be cautious and natural. 5] To be prudent, we must grasp the real and detailed situation in advance and make a good response plan under various circumstances. Make people, time, name, positioning and policies accurate and reasonable, make predictions on possible contradictions and doubts, and make the language in public relations accurate and complete without loopholes and flaws.
2. The principle of sincerity
Sincerity is a bridge to people's hearts. Language in public relations activities is usually intended to impress the audience. In addition to good ideas, impressing the audience also needs the sincerity of the main body of public relations activities, because time is the key to test the authenticity of language, and without sincerity as the basis, gorgeous words and forms will only make people feel "flashy and fleeting." The best state of language in public relations is that it can resonate with the audience. It is both emotional and emotional to touch yourself first and then others. Sometimes unpretentious language will be particularly kind and have a strong appeal. For example, praise an old man: "you are 80 years old, you look so good and your voice is so loud." I think you will live to be 100. " Although this is not necessarily the case, the other party feels particularly cordial because his words are sincere and kind.
As the saying goes, if you are sincere, the stone will open. In public relations activities, the audience are basically adults, who have the basic ability to distinguish, and the false language of rhetoric can only make the audience more disgusted. Of course, this sincerity is not without skill. For example, some business secrets, state and military secrets cannot be shared with each other without reservation. That is not the so-called sincerity.
Sincerity needs solemnity, no frivolity, no seriousness, no rhetoric and no nonsense. In order to convince people, some businessmen often go far and even swear to show their sincerity. This is also undesirable. You can often see "spit goods!" The last three days "amazing advertising slogan, as a result, this slogan hung for three months. At first, everyone believed it and added a lot of customers. When everyone found out that this was a lie of the merchant, there were very few customers of the merchant, and at the same time, the merchant was hated and despised by everyone.
3. Euphemism rules
Public relations activities are usually related to the interests of some countries, organizations and individuals. When it comes to interests, sometimes we should be prepared, and sometimes we should be tactful and beat about the bush. The so-called hard and soft, soft and hard. When the other party's position is higher than the main body, the other party's momentum is very strong, and the other party has occupied a favorable situation, then it will be "crash and burn" and it will not achieve the purpose of persuading the other party to change their minds.
Therefore, euphemism is a common language art in public relations activities, that is, flexible and diverse methods should be adopted according to time, place, atmosphere, occasion, identity and the relationship between subject and object. Touchdragon said that the story of Empress Dowager Cixi is a typical example of euphemism: in this historical story, Touchdragon never mobilized to be a hostage, but achieved the purpose of persuading Empress Dowager Cixi in a homely way, which is the genius of euphemism.
4. Concise rules
The language in public relations activities should also be concise. This is because the target of public relations activities is sometimes a specific minority, but most of the time it is an unspecified group. Due to the limitation of time and space, the audience's attention cannot be concentrated for a long time. Therefore, in public relations activities, to make things clear, especially to make complex things and ideas clear, you need to have superb language art, explain complex truths with concise words and solve complex problems with simple methods.
Zhao Qizheng, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, has always advocated clarity and conciseness, because he thinks that a long speech will confuse the listeners and make people feel that there is nothing new, but in fact, the speaker himself has drowned out the new ideas. In the face of foreigners, it is particularly important to avoid talking about "wheels", which makes people ignorant. 1999 after the bombing of our embassy in yugoslavia, he refuted the fallacy of the us government with logical reasoning at the press conference: in response to a question from a CNN reporter, he said that the us government hastily announced the misuse of the old map without careful investigation, and all three of them were old and none of the correct ones were used. In order to make everyone realize the hypocrisy of America, he used the example of throwing dice to illustrate. Because the dice has six sides, the probability of making a mistake on one side is 1/6. Using three old maps is to roll the dice three times and a face appears at the same time. The probability is 1/2 16. Coupled with other "accidental" mistakes, more than a dozen "dice" appeared on the same side at the same time. Probability theory tells people that this probability is almost zero. He added that it is puzzling that the US Air Force still uses ordinary maps today when satellite remote sensing maps have been widely used. In this way, anyone will understand that the so-called "false fraud" by the US government is just an excuse. After the meeting, many newspapers quoted his eloquent words. In fact, his words are very concise, and the metaphor is even known to ordinary middle school students, which increases the persuasiveness.
In some written public relations activities, the language should be concise and incisive. Due to the limited capacity of plane carrier and multimedia, general public relations terms are short and pithy. For example, various product slogans in TV advertisements, such as "so-and-so milk powder-baby is smart, mother is successful", "so-and-so cookware-home and Europe have love", "program slogan-happy camp, have a good mood every day" and "public service advertisement-donation from 300 yuan may change the fate of an out-of-school child", are short and pithy, catchy and easy to remember.
To make language accurate and concise, we must first make clear the thinking of the language subject, because language is the direct reality of thinking. Thinking is chaotic, and language is bound to be vague and wordy. Secondly, it is not easy for public relations practitioners to have a solid language foundation, occupy a large number of words, and pay attention to the tempering and scrutiny of words. Thirdly, some idioms, allusions and classical Chinese words can be used to add literary grace and express the content concisely.
5. Humor rule
The interest of language is one of the most attractive elements in the language of public relations activities, and its function is like salt in dishes. Dull or serious language destroys appetite like a dish lacking salt and sugar. No matter how high its nutritional value is, it always tastes like chewing wax and will not be widely known and passed down from mouth to mouth.
Humor is a dazzling spark that flashes in an instant, a natural expression of open-mindedness and optimism, and a healthy and complete mental state. Humorous language can relieve tension, ease opposition and create a communication environment that makes both the subject and the object of public relations psychologically comfortable. Psychologists also believe that the role of emotion cannot be underestimated in language communication. The stimulation of language affects the change of emotion, which can adjust and influence people's cognitive process. When the public relations object has a good mood, the public relations subject will have a favorable communication foundation like a duck to water and downstream, and better carry out public relations activities.
Zhu Rongji, the former prime minister of our country, is a very humorous person. He often makes the atmosphere in the conference room relaxed and lively: on the afternoon of March 25th, 1999, Zhu Rongji said at the opening ceremony of the Chinese and foreign press conference after the closing of the Second Session of the Ninth National People's Congress: "I just want to say one thing, and you are welcome to ask me any questions, without any restrictions. But because of the time, not all people who raise their hands can ask questions. Therefore, I apologize in advance to those reporters who have no chance to ask questions. " This humorous remark, natural humor, honesty and credibility, immediately enlivened the atmosphere of the venue, and reporters scrambled to raise their hands to ask questions, and their mood became higher and higher.
Black John Rock in:> It started like this: "Ladies and gentlemen-I'm here not so much to give a speech as to add a little color to this occasion". His opening remarks immediately made the white audience laugh. And this kind of feedback information-laughter, has played a role in eliminating obstacles of all ethnic groups and shortening the distance.
It can be seen that humor can increase the vividness of language and attract the audience. Widely used in opening speeches, it can reverse the unfavorable situation caused by accidents on the field, change the audience's critical and skeptical psychology, trust you and get close to you, so as to achieve the purpose of being recognized.
6. Image rules
The language in public relations activities should be not only concise and humorous, but also vivid. Advertising fits this article best. Besides advertisements, other public relations languages also need vivid images. Vivid language can make the other party understand your meaning faster, make the other party accept your opinion happily, add a relaxed and active atmosphere to formal and serious public relations communication, and make more listeners accept and remember what you want to express.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Qizheng said it very vividly. He always illustrates problems through vivid examples to achieve the purpose of reasoning. A major foreign media once made a program that was unfriendly to China. When meeting with the person in charge of the media, Zhao Qizheng said frankly: "You said that the content of the report is the actual situation, so if there are 3 garbage and 7 flowers in a place, it takes 7 minutes for your camera to shoot the garbage and 3 minutes for the flowers, then this place will become a garbage dump." The person in charge finally said that the conversation was very fruitful.
When Lu Xun, a great thinker and writer, saw some young people feel ashamed in front of boastful scholars, he encouraged them to say, "A stream is clear, even though it is shallow, it is very shallow. If it is a mud pond, who knows whether it is deep or shallow? " Maybe it's better to be shallow "There is no simple preaching. A punch line expresses profound insights and philosophical thoughts very vividly, thoroughly and persuasively, which greatly inspires, infects and attracts teenagers.
The use of famous sayings, poems, allusions, lyrics and even quotations from common sayings and two-part allegorical sayings can increase the vividness of language. For example, quote the lyrics of "People Sail with Paddles": "Just clap with one hand, ten thousand people clap loudly ..." to explain the reasons why quantitative change leads to qualitative change; Quote the lyrics of "Start Over": "All the honors of yesterday have become distant memories. I have worked hard for half my life, and now I am back in the storm ..." Explain the truth of the progress and stumbling of things; It is very popular and humorous to express praise with "two dumb people sitting opposite each other ―― nothing to say".
7. The law of warmth
Public relations activities often need to gain the goodwill of the other party first, so how to close the psychological distance with the other party and eliminate the gap with the other party is the primary task of public relations language. Because the object of public relations activities is people, and people have feelings and emotions, only by breaking the other party's "hard ice", moving people with affection and warming people with words can we achieve the purpose of getting a good impression and narrowing the distance.
The law of warmth is very important, which is often used in first meeting, opening remarks, public places, and when the other party is frustrated or unfavorable. It conveys goodwill to each other and gives them a good sense of self. I think there are the following situations: (1) Strengthen feelings through gratitude. In the acceptance speeches of international prize winners such as Oscar and Nobel Prize, a * * * will thank teachers, parents, friends and partners in the farewell speech. In public relations social activities, we often see holding a glass and saying, "Thank you for your great help and support in our work in the past year!" " Something like that ⑵ Take the initiative to care about others and praise them actively. As the saying goes, "a good word warms three winters, and a bad word hurts people in June." Everyone has self-esteem, and everyone wants to hear each other's affirmation and praise. By greeting, caring, praising, praising and affirming, let the other party feel happy and in high spirits in the shortest time. For example, talk about the meaning of the other person's name, praise the other person's clothes, and ask if the other person is sick and discharged from the hospital recently. In some diplomatic occasions, the law of enthusiasm is more commonly used: when receiving foreign guests, they will certainly praise the positive role of the other country and organization in the construction of bilateral relations and wish the other party a complete success. (3) Looking for common ground, so as to find the breakthrough point of communication. Psychologically speaking, everyone has a kind of "exclusiveness" in his subconscious mind, and often unconsciously shows more interest and enthusiasm for his own or things related to him; What has nothing to do with yourself is to some extent exclusive. So point out this relationship in the conversation and let the other person realize that they are actually "intimate". In this way, whether the other person is above or below you, you can better form an atmosphere of frank conversation and get through the psychological "defense line" caused by strangeness when you meet for the first time. Comrade Mao Zedong often uses this method of "tying a tie". When meeting with Democrats after the founding of the People's Republic of China, people who have some relations with him, as well as people who have relations through teachers, students and old friends, often tell the whole story when they meet. In the laughter and laughter of "We are a family", the atmosphere is much more cordial, which makes the interviewee feel more cordial. (4) Put yourself in the other person's shoes. In public relations activities, it is not only to express goodwill and praise directly and unilaterally, but also to express the sincerity of "empathy" when some contradictions and conflicts occur. For example, when automobile companies find equipment defects, they don't hide them or deal with them afterwards, but adopt the "recall system" to recall the sold cars for maintenance, which better reflects the sense of responsibility of automobile companies to consumers and eliminates the hidden dangers of consumers. If it is not designed as a "recall system" but as a "maintenance system", it will give people a bad feeling of negligence with quality problems.
8. Win-win rule
Public relations activities should not only achieve their own goals, but also pay attention to achieving a win-win situation between subject and object in the process and even in the result, that is, double harvest. The same is true of public relations language.
In August, 2003, in order to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg, China Week was held in St. Petersburg, sponsored by China the State Council Press Office and St. Petersburg Municipal Government. This is an unprecedented, longest and most influential publicity activity in Russia. China Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Qizheng attended a lecture on Sino-Russian cultural exchange in smolny institute Auditorium in St. Petersburg, and delivered a speech entitled "Creating a New Century of Sino-Russian Friendship with Culture as a Link". In this speech, Zhao Qizheng talked about the geographical location of the two countries, reviewed the long history of exchanges between the two countries from the18th century, the price paid by the soldiers and civilians of the two countries for the victory of the anti-fascist war during World War II, and the Soviet Union's help to China after the founding of New China, and further proposed that "bilateral relations have successively stepped up from treating each other as friendly countries, developing constructive partnerships and establishing strategic cooperative partnerships" to signing the Sino-Russian Treaty of Good Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation. In his later speeches, Zhao Qizheng pulled the topic back from history to reality, pointing out that there was little talk about current cultural exchanges. He said: "There is a profound traditional friendship between the Chinese and Russian peoples, which is a good foundation for us to develop Sino-Russian friendly relations in the new century. China and Russia are each other's largest neighbors and have the longest land border in the world. Both China and Russia are world powers and permanent members of the Security Council, and they have important influence in international affairs. China and Russia have differences in economic structure and resources, so they are more complementary. Coupled with the profound cultural exchange background between the two countries, this provides great potential and new opportunities for cooperation between the two countries. " The atmosphere of the venue was warm, and Zhao Qizheng's speech and question and answer were interrupted by warm applause for many times. Due to the enthusiastic questions, the lecture was extended for more than an hour. The success of this public speech benefited from Zhao Qizheng's understanding of the historical development of Sino-Russian relations, and at the same time, it was inseparable from his language art based on "win-win".
9. Time law
The language in public relations activities should also pay attention to the timing. The so-called timing means when to say something, what to say now and what not to say now. When to say this will have a significant effect with twice the effort, and when to say this nature will be counterproductive.
The same language, if the timing is wrong, will not achieve the effect of speaking. When Su Qin, a diplomat in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, went to the State of Qin to lobby, there was nothing wrong with his tactics. The writing is also artistic and the reasoning is in place. But it was politely declined by the king of Qin. Later, Zhang Yi, his old classmate, went to the State of Qin and successfully persuaded the King of Qin to become the Prime Minister of the State of Qin. Not that he is better than Su Qin, but the timing is right.
As we can see from the previous example, in August 2003, "China Week" sponsored by the State Council Information Office and St. Petersburg Municipal Government was held in St. Petersburg to celebrate the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg. In order to strengthen Sino-Russian relations, China attaches great importance to the friendship and diplomatic activities of "China Week". On August 22nd, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China delivered a speech entitled "Creating a New Century of Sino-Russian Friendship with Culture as a Link" at the Interfax news agency in Moscow, and Zhao delivered a speech entitled "Let the media build a bridge of Sino-Russian friendship". In this speech, Zhao Qizheng analyzed the situation of western media controlling international public opinion due to the imbalance of economic and technological forces in the world today. He explained this situation with accurate figures: "At present, English is the dominant language on the Internet, accounting for more than 80%, while Chinese only accounts for about 5%. It seems that Russian has not reached its due proportion. According to some data, two-thirds of the news in the world comes from western developed countries, and the population of these countries only accounts for one-seventh of the world. About 80% of the international news spread every day in the world comes from the major news agencies in the West. The amount of information from western developed countries to developing countries is 100 times that from developing countries to developed countries. " Zhao Qizheng's diplomatic speech first chose to promote Sino-Russian friendship in the celebration of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg. Secondly, I took this opportunity to give a speech to the Russian media at the Interfax news agency in Moscow after the celebration, and analyzed the reasons for the imbalance between the East and the West. The latter problem is actually very serious and needs attention, but if we discuss it deliberately, we will feel the opposition between the eastern and western media. Choosing this opportunity, I feel "logical and helpful", which is both natural and cordial, and also very suitable for the purpose of Sino-Russian exchanges.