The Definition of Public Relations
Public Relations (PR) – is the art of communicating ideas. It is a social technology employed to persuade people to think in some way. PR is the activity of shaping and influencing people’s interpretation of your brand, company, products or services through clear, consistent communications and experiences with the aim of building a positive reputation in their minds.
Public Relations, or PR as it is often called, is a sizable and often misunderstood and poorly applied subject.
The purpose of public relations is the get one’s ‘publics’ to think about a company, a product, a service, a competitor, or an idea in a specific way.
Public Relations works together with Branding and Marketing and the three are interdependent and cannot be separated. The aim of Public Relations is to influence your customers to interpret your brand the way you envision it and to make the successful application of your products and services widely known.
Used together, Public Relations, Branding and Marketing bring about greater understanding between you and your customers and an increase in your reputation.
Good public relations is used to promote good ideas, to improve conditions, to make good works known. It is beneficial towards the public it is addressed to. This is White Hat PR.
When PR is used for destructive purposes, such as to perpetuate a lie, to promote something that is harmful by making it sounds beneficial then we call this Black Hat PR.
Public Relations, when misused, will sooner or later backfire on the person or organisation misusing it.
When used destructively PR is dangerous to the person or organisation misusing it. Public Relations, when misused, will sooner or later backfire on the person or organisation misusing it and they will cease to be trusted as a source of information thereafter.
