What does Public Relations Mean?

Throughout my college career, I could not really decide what I really wanted to pursue. I had changed my major so many times, I was stressing myself out. This junior year, I had come to the conclusion that I wanted to study Advertising and Public Relations. After being in the fundamentals of advertising course and fundamentals of public relations course, I am getting a brief understanding of which one I want to go after.

What does it mean to me?

Public Relations can be viewed differently by the way someone thinks about it. When people are asked what public relations is, they usually have no idea. My preconceptions of public relations before I started my classes this semester were not strong at all, I thought it was the meaning to relate to the public and figure out how to make things better for everyone.

What does PR do for a business?

I knew that PR was a type of persuasive communication, but I did not know the broad definition myself. According to PRSA, “Public Relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics” If you really want to succeed in public relations, being good at it means you have to have excellent management. PR is so important to any company because without them, nobody would know how the customer truly feels about a product or what the customer wants to see in order to sell the product for the company. Customers automatically will choose a brand that they trust and PR can build that through trust. According to Metamorphic PR, “Maintaining goodwill is an important part of how PR affects a business’s success because at a time of negativity a company’s value may decrease, its profits and sales may decrease but if its external and internal communication is affective and is maintained, its reputation should stay intact and the company will be able to recover”. If a company ever has troubles, PR will help solve the situation. PR can affect staff morale within a company or organization, this can be done through positive and effective two-way communication to confirm that they are happy and make them feel that they are being listened to and valued. I am a person to make sure any situation is taken care of, whether it stresses me out or not. I have to get it solved. Being a problem solver, communicator, relationship builder, and a honest person is very important for this field. I am a very “my way” type of person, I like to lead. Having these qualities I think will help me in the long run if I want to pursue a career in public relations.