An introduction to public relations

Public relations (PR) refer to the practice of controlling the stream of information between a firm and its customers. Aiming to build and sustain the reputation of a firm, public relations enhance a firm’s prestige and present a positive image to the firm’s audience, both consumers and customers.

The concept of public relations was initially introduced in 1830 by Edward Louis Bernays, who is considered the founding father of modern public relations. At that time, PR was a management tool used to identify public attitudes to adjust the corporate policies and procedures to the needs of consumers in order to earn public appreciation and acceptance. Since then, PR have changed a lot. Today, public relations is a set of management, supervisory, and technical tools that cultivate the ability of a firm to strategically appreciate consumer preferences and respond to them in order to build mutually beneficial relationships and achieve its organizational goals. In this context, PR is a managerial function that focuses on two-way communication between an organization and its publics.

Typically, consumer preferences are subject to a firm’s reputation and purchase decision-making is based on the public image of a firm. Successful firms build and manage mutually beneficial relationships with consumers and strategic audiences and use PR as a marketing tool to boost their sales and profitability. In this context, PR is a part of a firm’s marketing strategy. By using free publicity in a wide variety of media, they stimulate public interest and acceptance for a firm’s products or services and they attract a broad number of consumers by giving them a clear and concise understanding of the firm’s operations. The most widely used tools of public relations include news releases, speaking activities, press conferences and community service programs.

Public relations require excellent organizational and planning skills. People, who work in PR, are required to perform under pressure and achieve the highest for the firm. They should be able to anticipate timely and consistently a barrage of questions from the media and the public and when the firm comes under critical attack, they are responsible for spinning the public opinion and effectively answering the criticism to protect the firm’s reputation.

In conclusion, contemporary business environment is extremely competitive. Organizations need a competitive edge that would make them stand out from the crowd, making them more appealing and interesting to both the public and the media. Public relations focus on establishing rapport with the various publics of an organization such as employees, customers, stockholders and competitors. In doing so, they assist the firm to achieve its full potential by bringing together all the firm’s stakeholders and requesting feedback from them. It’s all about a two-way communication. The public buys the product and the media are responsible for selling it; PR is the tool to make the public deeming favourably a firm and its offerings.