What is Public Relations?

When I decided to go school to take public relations everyone would ask me what is PR? At the time I really couldn't explain exactly what it was.  I knew the idea of what it was, but couldn't give it a proper definition.   The only way I could describe it was, it had something to do with some sort of event planning or publicity.


According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Public Relations is, "the business of inducing the public to have understanding for and goodwill toward a person, firm, or institution; also; the degrees of understanding and goodwill achieved."

Being in the PR program for almost four months now, I've learned more about exactly what PR is and its functions in society.  PR is an umbrella of things having elements of marketing, advertising, event planning and of course communications.  Although PR may have all those elements they are not exactly the same.  In the end public relations' main goal is to help an organization communicate its main goals and ideas out to the public, to bring awareness to a certain cause or event.  And, as PR practitioners, our job is to make sure that we develop great relationships with the public so that key messages are communicated.  PR practitioners communicate in so many different ways with media releases, newsconferences, special events and the list goes on and on. 


Public relations is everywhere and anywhere and opens up great opportunities to work in so many different sectors of the industry.  One can work for a major corporation like Apple or a non-profit organization like the United Way.   The more I learn about the profession, the more opportunities I see out there.  I look forward to the next four months of this program and learning more about PR and its fascinating industry and being a part of the PR world. 


Now next time somebody asks me what I am taking at school and what PR is?  I can give them a better definite answer. 

-Jennifer H-