STRATEGIES, PROGRAMMES, TACTICS AND

PUBLICS OF INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC RELATIONS

Present By DR. Noha Sami
Factors that Contributed to the Development of International Public Relations
1. Globalization: is one of the factors that have contributed to the growth of international
public relations; the world has become a global village where countries of the world are
now seen as a single entity. Globalization is a household word that has attracted divergent
comments and opinions globally. The word 'globalization' is derived from the verb
globalize' which means “to make worldwide in scope” (Mugabe, 2002, cited in Agba &
Odu, 2013).This has greatly encouraged international public relations.

2. Expansion in Business: Due to high buyers, little businesses have now become
multinational corporations. This, therefore, calls for international public relations. The
expansion in business contributed to the growth of international public relations. This
great expansion has, therefore, called for international public relations. As business is
expanding, the need to engage in communication becomes important. This is because
multinational corporations must create conducive atmosphere for themselves in the
international market; the multinational corporations must, therefore, relate with
customers across the globe to win their goodwill.
3. Increase in Multinational Corporations: There are so many multinational corporations
across the globe today and this also calls for international public relations. These multinational
corporations are now increasing both in the developed and the developing countries. The
corporations need to maintain mutual understanding with their host communities so that
they can operate smoothly and be able to achieve their aims and objectives as the case may
be. This has also contributed to the growth of international public relations.

4. Increase in Global Market: The increase in global market has also contributed to the
development of international public relations.

5. Rise in New Communication Technology: This has facilitated communication at the

international scene. New communication technologies are springing up on daily basis and
they are seriously contributing to the growth of international public relations. New
communications technologies facilitate communication at the international level.
6. Establishment of International and National Bodies of Public Relations: The
establishment of such bodies has also contributed to the development of international
public relations. Such bodies include Nigeria Institute of Public Relations, American Society
for Public Relations, etc.; these bodies work hand in hand; thus, they need to relate at the
international level.

7. Changes, Conflicts and Confrontations: The constant need to interpret public opinion for
the organization and vice versa in an effort to fulfill its social responsibility also contributed
to international public relations.

8. Professionalism: Generally, the practice of public relations has been professionalized at

the international and national level and this has contributed a great deal to the growth of
international public relations.
Challenges of International Public Relations for the 21st Century

1. Societal Culture: International public relations will have to reflect the cultural and
societal norms of the host nation. This will create unique public relations situations in
every society with marked distinctions in different contexts.
2. Language: It will also present another unique problem for international public relations
practitioners across different countries. Corporate slogans, marketing and advertising
themes and the translation of original materials will all need to be checked and
rechecked for international audiences and markets.
3. Media: It is another factor that will present a unique challenge to public relations
practitioners because in many parts of the world, governments continue to dominate
media ownership and content. Thus, organizations might have to pay to have stories
published and this will change the dynamics of media and public relations.
4. Issues of Ethics: This will continue to challenge public relations practitioners in the
international arena. Cultural variation, different norms of conduct and different levels of
socio-political development will all demand different approaches to the practice.
International Public Relations Strategies, Programs and Tactics
1. Through the Establishment of Cultural Centers: Cultural centers should be set up abroad
and maintained by the country's international public relations experts or specialists.
Within these centers, different types of cultural activities should be displayed. It is the
aggregate and state of the experience, thought, science, efforts and technical equipment
of people with which they define their relationships and negotiate their transactions with
the rest of the human community.
Culture is the integrated sum total of learned behavioral traits, which are manifested and
shared by the members of a society. Culture is the totality of the way of life of a people in
their attempts to meet the challenge of living in their environment, which give order and
meaning to the social, political, economic, aesthetic and religious norms and modes of the
organization; thus, distinguishing a people from their neighbors. The foregoing shows that
culture embodies the attitudes of a people to the future of their traditional values faced
with the demands of modern technology, which is an essential factor of development and
progress.
 In essence, cultural centers in major capital cities of the world will give foreigners an
opportunity to get a better picture of a nation. Thus, cultural centers should be set up
abroad to specifically showcase the rich cultural values of a nation so that foreigners or
nationals of such countries could appreciate and understand us better.

2. Organizing International Trade Fairs: International trade fairs like Lagos and Kaduna
International Trade Fairs organized yearly is one unique international public relations
strategy to project country's image in the eyes of foreigners in the quality and technological
development of the country. This has the potential/or may lead to bilateral talks between
Nigeria and other countries. International Trade Fairs offer opportunity of interaction with
foreign participants to sort out the way of enhancing the technological and societal
development of both nations in the bilateral talks and fairs.
3. Organizing Seminars locally and internationally: Seminar is another potential tool of
international public relations because it offers the participants the opportunity to rub
minds together and share ideas and knowledge.

4. Periodic Organization of Press Conference: Press conferences as international public

relation stools give a government functionary the unique opportunity to meet the publics,
especially the international public and media in person, in order to correct misconceptions
and policies and programs of the nation. They also offer opportunity of feedback from the
public to the government.

5. Use of Conference Centers: Conference centers could be used as talking shops where
ideas are freely exchanged or marketed for public welfare. They transform lives and
reshape the collective destiny through the creation of better perspective for peace, equity
and cultural understanding. By and large, mutual understanding and cooperation will be
established
6. Effective Community Relations Application: Using this strategy as international public
relations tool; people abroad should be encouraged to participate in community
development and seek acceptance on such occasions from those who never
accommodate them

7. Effective Media Relations: The media are central points on which community
interpersonal and inter-organizational relations hang. Because of the vital role of the
media in modern society, it is impossible to successfully perform PR duties without the
media. In this respect, PR professionals and practitioners must, as a matter of priority and
strategy, maintain a cordial relationship with them and use their services to facilitate the
flow of information to the greater generality of the people. Open door policies should be
established where press men and women at all our foreign embassies and high
commissions could come in and ask questions to clarify issues concerning our nation's
activities and her nationals.
8. Sponsorship of Sports Activities: This also helps to enhance country’s image abroad.
Because sports activities are now political weapons in the international arena, their use as
an IPR tool is now common amongst nations.

9. Sponsorship of Literary Works: The government's sponsorship of literary works of well-

known/internationally acclaimed personalities .

10. Film and Documentary Film Production: The government should encourage films that
are centered on our culture and some of them should also be taken abroad to be aired in
some selected media abroad .

11. Advertising in International Media: Advertising in the international media especially on

topical and contemporary issues and policies about the behavior of its citizens.
12. Crisis Communication Management: In spite of well-organized public relations programs,
the ability to manage crisis must be ensured when there is an attack by foreign media and
government on some peoples behaviors or misconstrued government policies or actions,
which may be blown out of proportion. In some cases, such crises will end up as a blessing
because they will give us the opportunity to fight back and, in the process, do what we
might have overlooked through explanations. On some occasions, there will be need to
quietly educate the people concerned or the governments concerned, instead of
generating these crises through open confrontations. The ability to manage crisis of
international dimension goes a long way to talk about our national image. This is the
reason it is adopted here as an international public relations tool.
13. Effective Use of Corporate Advertising: Corporate Advertising is an extension of the
public relations function, which does not aim at promoting any one specific product or
service; it is a form of advertising designed to promote the overall image of the firm or
organizational reputation. The international public relations practitioner could comfortably
use corporate advertising types to achieve desired international public relations results
and goals.
14. Rebranding: Rebranding talks about changing the particular image of something that is
no longer acceptable or representative of what one expects. To rebrand is, therefore, to
repackage the image of a thing. Rebranding is a total repackaging to eliminate elements
that are no longer suitable or representative and, in this vein, introduce elements that will
project a new image of the thing or nation in question.
15. Mass Reorientation: Mass reorientation is about a sustained public relations' program of
action to change the prevailing mindset of the populace of a particular society, nation or
corporate organization. Mass reorientation is all about changing people's attitudes, values,
mindset and traditional ways of thinking that are no longer acceptable in the modern
world. Mass reorientation will also help those who are on a particular route of self or
communal destruction out of ignorance to turn back from such vices. This is a powerful
international public relations strategy to combat negative perception and images.
 Publics of International Public Relations
there are various publics to deal with when it comes to international public relations because
of the variations in culture and level of development. Consequently, the publics of
international relations can be delineated thus:
i. Language Consideration: This implies that in dealing with the publics of international
public relations, the most popular language must be taken into consideration. For
example, in Nigeria, English cannot be said to be the major language because most
Nigerians, especially those in the rural areas do not understand. Nigeria is a multi-
language culture; international public relations messages will have to be designed, using
relevant dialects of the people.
ii. Cultural Consideration: There is hardly any country in the world that enjoys
homogeneous culture. Even those countries that enjoy one religion cannot boast of
enjoying one culture. There are different ethnic groups in every country and these
different ethnic groups have different cultures, which must be considered by the
international public relations experts when dealing with international publics. There are
numerous ethnic groups in Africa, just as we have them in developed countries.
iii. Level of Development: Considerations on the level of development of the publics to be
reached is an important aspect of international public relations. Public relations programs
must relate to the level of technology in a particular public. For example, there are some
cars that are specifically designed for use in some countries, thus any exporter must
differentiate in his campaign, the varying appropriate technologies suitable for the
developed, developing and the underdeveloped publics.

iv. Social Level Considerations: When carrying out international public relations campaigns,
there is the need for companies to know the fact that all the countries of the world are not
developed equally. Some are more developed than others; thus, the publics must also be
considered along that line.
The Publics
There are various publics of international public relations; thus, as an international public
relations practitioner, you have to channel your communication towards the target public.
The following list is a fair representation of the international public relations publics of many
firms that operate at the multinational/transnational levels:
1. National Governments: These are the governments of nations where the particular
multinational firm has operational base or branch. The national government becomes a
public of such multinational corporation.
2. Multinational Corporations and Firms: A multinational firm in a particular situation or
context could become a public of another multinational firm if their lines of businesses
cross. In this instance, the multinational corporation could be a supplier and exporting
partner.
3. Stockholders and Investors in Global Ventures: Stockholders and shareholders are
basically the owners/investors in businesses. At the global level, they finance such
multinational corporations and, therefore, constitute a primary public of any of the
corporation where they have put their money in.
4. Legislative Houses of Independent States: Legislative Houses in any independent State
where a corporation practice are the law-making arm of the governance structure in such
States. Since corporations are subject to the laws of the nation where they operate,
Legislative organs become their primary publics that they usually lobby to have favorable
legislation and policies.
5. The Judiciary of Independent States/Nations: The Judiciary is law adjudication and
interpretation arm in the governance structure of most independent nations. They interpret
the law and are, therefore, regarded as the custodian of the rules, regulations and most
importantly, the Constitution of their independent States. Corporations sometimes have
needs to approach them for litigation, arbitration and interpretation of operational laws.
These functions make it imperative to include the Judiciary as a vital public of international
public relations.
6. Community Members/Host Communities: Every corporation or firm must have an
operational over-sea base. This base is someone else's community. In order words, there is
no transnational corporation without a host community. It is very important for corporations
to cooperate with their host communities so as to have peaceful and mutually beneficial
stay at such communities.
7. Suppliers to Global Businesses: Every corporation must have suppliers in its chain of
business. These suppliers may be the middle men between the firms and the raw material
needed for their business survival. To ignore them, therefore, may be suicidal in any
business calculations. They remain a vital public of corporations. 8. Distributors for Global
Firms: Most corporations prefer not to deal with consumers directly for the sake of
convenience at most instances. They make use of major distributors who serve as
representatives in their areas of operations. It is important, therefore, to include this group
into the public's network of corporation.

9. Customers and Consumers of Corporation: Customers and consumers are the ultimate
publics of any corporation because they are the ones whose patronage keeps the company
running. Without them, there will be no corporation. They are diverse in nature with
different demands on the company. Their satisfaction should be the ultimate goal of any
corporation apart from making profits. For me, they are the most important public of any
corporation.
10. The Local and International Media Organizations and Professionals: Every corporation
must have solid media relations to survive the intrigues in international business. You
cannot have or talk about media relations in the absence of a regular engagement of both
local and international media organizations and professionals, who are interested in the
business you do. The media sometimes exist as the “devil's advocate,” fourth estate of the
realm, the peoples' watchdog, etc. To ignore them or pretend they do not exist is wrong
business policy for any business that wants to survive stiff competition at the international
level. Media organizations and the professionals that work with them are, therefore,
obvious publics of corporations.

11. Civic and other Business Organizations: There are different civic groups in a given
society that exist to protect the interests of the other members of a given public in their
dealings with other publics; they are called civic organizations. They are also a recognized
stakeholders and thus, publics of corporations.
12. Financial Groups and Institutions Engaged in International Financing: Financial groups
engage in international finance organizations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF),
the World Bank and African Development Bank (ADB) usually support, consult or churn out
policies that may affect the operational procedures of many corporations. Their inevitable
and vital role in international financing makes them a vital public of international public
relations.
13. Labor Unions/Employees: Labor Unions are key publics to any corporation because they
represent the employees of the company. Most of the time, employee grievances are
channeled through the Labor Unions so as to protect individual employee from
management victimization and enjoy the benefits of collective bargaining.
14. International Labor Organizations: International Labor Organizations exist as regulatory,
policy making and international advisory or consultancy bodies for corporations. They are,
therefore, important in the operational circle of many multinational corporations
References
Ezekiel S. Asemah, Moses T.Akase & Adeline O. Nkwam-Uwaoma. (2018) .Business of International Public Relations and
Advertising. Jos University Press Jos, Plateau State . ISBN: 978 - 166 - 778 - 8

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20Chapter%207%20-%20International%20context%20of%20public%20relations.pdf