The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) defines public relations as “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.” The goal of public relations professionals is to both build this trust and to present organizations in a positive light in order to influence public opinion. As a field, public relations is growing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects jobs for PR specialists to grow 6 percent by 2024, with a median pay just over $56,000 annually.

PR professionals utilize a number of tools to achieve their goals. They may write press releases, speeches, blogs or pitches to journalists. They may utilize crisis public relations strategies, social media promotions or coordinate special events designed specifically for public outreach. PR professionals may:

  • Anticipate and interpret public opinion that may influence the operations of an organization.
  • Counsel organization management regarding policy decisions, taking into account the public ramifications of their actions.
  • Research programs of action and communicate with the public to ensure the success of an organization’s aims.
  • Manage resources as needed.

The fields of advertising and public relations are often confused with one another. Although both are concerned with influencing the public, the fields are distinctly different in both their objectives and methods. Advertising attempts to convince the public to buy goods and services, while public relations attempts to convince the public that a certain issue or idea is important. In addition, advertising buys the public’s attention via commercials, print ads or other media. Public relations must convince news sources such as newspapers and TV stations to communicate positively about their subjects.

All successful PR strategies utilize a process known as RACE, or Research, Action, Communication and Evaluation.

  1. Research: PR professionals ask “What is the problem or situation?” They may conduct primary, secondary, qualitative and quantitative research on both their audience and the issue at hand.
  2. Action: PR professionals ask “What’s going to be done about the problem?” This is when they set out goals and objectives, and utilize themes, strategies, budgets and other tools to plan their course of action.
  3. Communication: PR professionals ask “How will the public be told?” This is the most visible part of the process and, depending on the plan they prefer, may involve several modes of communication.
  4. Evaluation: PR professionals ask “Was the audience reached and what was the effect?” In this final step, they measure production, awareness, attitude and behavior changes of the audience.

Those in public relations have increasingly become concerned with ethical practices within their line of work. To that end, several professional organizations have developed internal codes of ethics, including the PRSA.

Public relations can be useful to anyone seeking to improve or maintain a positive public profile. These entities most often include corporations, nonprofit organizations and notable individuals, such as politicians.