What is Public Relations?

Just what is Public Relations or PR? It's a strategic form of communicating that is used to obtain positive exposure for your company and keep key publics informed. It’s news releases, feature stories, interviews, analyst meetings, application stories, speaking engagements, newsletters, websites, product launches and events.

It's also developing a key message that differentiates you from your competition and selecting which mix of tactics will get your message to the marketplace with the most impact.

In order for the media to succeed, they need information that is both useful and entertaining for their readers. A company that is ‘in the news’ is more visible and more interesting. Good publicity can attract capital, partners and employees as well as potential customers. It can position a business as ‘the expert’ and ‘thought leader’.

The publicity generated is almost always the most valuable and cost effective way of promoting an offering. Unlike an advertisement, editorial publicity carries the perception of an unbiased third-party endorsement. And the benefits of a positive endorsement by the media can hardly be overstated.

Many people confuse public relations with advertising, but there is a world of difference between the two disciplines. Advertising is destined to sell a product or service by means of, for example, a TV commercial or newspaper advertisement, whereas the role of PR is to inform and educate by means of a whole variety of promotional activities which result in media editorial coverage.