Public Relations Paper

Public Relations Paper

Public relations means many different things to many different individuals, businesses, and marketing firms. The true definition of public relations will be determined based on the nature of the work being done and the targeted group for a company to provide its goods and services to. In this paper, a personal definition of public relations will be given. In addition, three extra definitions of public relations will be presented. A thorough comparison of those definitions will take place, and a further explanation as to why so many definitions of public relations exist.

Public Relations

Public relations is how any business, no matter how big or small, interacts with its clientele, partners, investors, and potential customers to sell it goods and services. Public relations are an absolute integral part of an establishment's ability to advertise its goods and services to the general public in a positive way. Public relations simply stated is the ability of a business to build key relationships between its organization and its audience.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia defines public relations as the "activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment". In this definition, public relations is described as a process rather than a departmental agency. In some of the more successful businesses, public relations departments exist within. For smaller businesses, they may elect to contract public relations work out to specialized firms.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines public relations as "the art or science of establishing and promoting a favorable relationship with the public". The American Heritage goes on to say that "public relations is the methods and activities employed to establish and promote a favorable relationship with the public". It is important to understand that public relations agencies are an integral part of a businesses success in maintaining positive relationships with their consumer base and the general public.

According to WordNet, "public relations is a promotion intended to create goodwill for a person or an institution". There is one common thread that truly identifies public relations within in all three of the aforementioned definitions. Goodwill, positive, constructive are all adjectives used to describe the purpose of public relations. Public relations main function is to bring public and private policies in to pleasant fruition.

The reason so many definitions exist for public relations is that generally, an attempt to describe what public relations does is presented rather than a definition of what it is. In the three definitions presented in this paper, all mentioned what public relations specifically is and then briefly translated what public relations does. The two differentiations are closely related; however there are some contrasting elements. In the first definition presented by Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, public relations