Public Relations

People have many different definitions of what we mean when we say "public relations." There is no best answer or single definition for public relations. From organizations and businesses to speakers and authors to everyday men and women, the definition of public relations will vary. Sometimes people confuse public relations with publicity and advertising. While publicity is a function of public relations it does not fully define public relations. Publicity is media coverage like news stories, feature articles, reviews, and so on. The big difference between public relations and advertising is that you pay for advertising. Advertising is generally not considered a public relations function. Personally, I believe that public relations are communications pure and simple. Communications between the company and their customers and communications between the company and the community. What public relations is communicating is who we, the company, are, what we, the company, do and how you, the customer and community, will benefit from us.

The definition of public relations that I found to agree with most because of it's simplicity is "public relations is the management of relationships between an organization and its publics - groups on whom it depends for its success" from McGill University Online. The reason that there are so many definitions for public relations is that PR can have a different meaning to every individual person and every organization. For some people, public relations focuses on marketing for a company while others may feel that the whole concept behind public relations revolves around business relationships. While all should agree that public relations is a vital communications tool between an organization and its public, every organization may have a different perception of what it actually means or consists of.

Columbia Encyclopedia defines public relations as "activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most favorable light. Thus, the goal of the public relations consultant is to create, through the organization of news and advertising, an advantageous image for his client, be it a business corporation, cultural institution, or private or public individual; toward this end-the making of favorable public opinion-many research techniques and communications media are used." Wikipedia's definition of public relations is that "public relations is the business, organizational, philanthropic, or social function of managing communication between an organization and its audiences. There