What is Public Relations?

Public Relations is often confused with advertising or promotion. Each of these three things can be a vital part of a marketing campaign, and each are specialized forms of marketing, but they’re not one and the same. So what exactly is public relations?

Definition of Public Relations

Public Relations, often referred to as PR, is a discipline with an aim to create awareness, understanding, or goodwill for an individual, company, or any kind of organization. It’s about building and maintaining relationships with core groups (such as customers, locals, government agencies, and industry professionals).

While advertising and marketing often focus on a company’s product or service, public relations tends to focus on issues. For example, a good PR campaign might show that a company cares about its customers’ safety, or that they care about their community. An exception would be a media relations campaign around a new product.

Public Relations also involves image management and crisis management. An individual, business, or organization needs to initially create its image and build awareness. If or when that image becomes tarnished, because of a scandal, product failure, human error, or anything else, a public relations effort will be made to improve that negativity or to rebuild trust.

  • Types of Public Relations
  • Image Management
  • Crisis Management
  • Awareness Campaigns
  • Public Relations Tools
  • Press Kits / Media Kits
  • Press Releases / News Releases
  • Fact Sheets
  • Media Advisories
  • Press Conferences / News Conferences
  • Public Service Announcements (PSAs)
  • Speeches

Jenn Mattern is a professional blogger, freelance business writer, consultant, and indie author. An active digital publisher, she runs numerous websites and blogs including All Freelance Writing, Freelance Writing Pros, and Kiss My Biz.

Jenn has over 20 years' experience working as a solopreneur running a 3-prong business of offering freelance writing and consulting services, running digital publications, and operating as an indie publisher of predominantly e-books.

This experience includes over 20 years working as a professional writer and editor, more than 20 years' experience in marketing and PR (specializing in areas like digital PR, online marketing, social media, and SEO), 19 years' experience as a professional blogger / online publisher (including web development), and around 17 years of experience as an indie author / publisher.

At Kiss My Biz, Jenn shares stories, tips, and tools from her own adventures in solopreneurship, while aiming to help fellow solopreneurs and creative professionals succeed even where it feels against the odds.

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