The Essence of Public Relations

Public Relations

The purpose of this paper is to help the student identify and analyze various definitions of the subject matter of the course MKT438. The topic at hand is the term public relations. Upon conclusion the student and both the reader should have a keen understanding of what the purpose of public relations.

Firstly, the student will attempt to define what public relation is and what it seeks to achieve with no basis on text aptitude. Public relations seek to identify the link between the private and the public. The link spoken about represents the communication line or relationship established from the private entity to the public entity(s). In a business retrospect public relations is deemed how the public views the business and how the business in turn attempts to mold and depict itself to the public. Whether or not this definition is in turn true will be decided later in the paper when other official definitions are shown.

Public relations include ongoing activities to ensure the company has a strong public image. Public relations activities include helping the public to understand the company and its products. Often, public relations are conducted through the media that is, newspapers, television, magazines, etc. As noted above, public relations are often considered as one of the primary activities included in promotions. (McNamara, ¶5)

According to one the many scholastic texts available to the student, public relations is a planned process used to influence the public’s opinion, through sound character and proper performance, based on mutually satisfactory two way communications (Seitel Chap 1 p3). While this definition may appear vague in nature while in contrast to the previous one, the reader must understand that no one definition can easily describe what public relations is but likely what it hopes to achieve.

The last definition the student will write was taken from a simple dictionary website. Public relation is a form of communication primarily directed toward gaining public understanding and acceptance. Public relations usually deal with issues rather than products or services, and are used to build goodwill with public or employees. Examples of public relations are employee training, support of charitable events, or a news release about some positive community participation (Learnthat ¶1).

As can be seen in all the prior definitions none are exactly the same. What the student did however find was that all the definitions did portray one unique characteristic. Public relations seek to influence the public’s opinion. Whether it is a business or the government, it is the relationship between the host and the public ultimately the goal of public relations. The varying differences in definitions for