Public relations strategic intelligence: Intelligence analysis, communication and influence

• PR as a strategic communication process requires intelligence to be strategic.
• The intelligence function analyzes the environment and extracts conclusions and implications.
• Traditionally, anticipatory approaches to PR relate to issues management and public affairs.
• It proposes the concepts of Intelligence-led PR and PR Intelligence.

The article offers an approach to public relations from the perspective of intelligence collection and analysis. In a context of a superabundance of publicly available information on the general environment for organizations and their stakeholders, the article highlights the need for producing intelligence in order to facilitate the formulation of strategic communication and enhance relationship management activities. The literature on issues management and competitive intelligence is explored in order to analyze the relationships between their anticipatory practices and their points of convergence. The article proposes using the concepts of Intelligence-led PR and PR Intelligence for capturing and expressing two different but complementary dimensions of the relationship.