Public relations professionals shape an organization’s image. They build the brand, spread the organization’s message and minimize the effect of negative publicity.

At a small company, the PR person may have to handle all the roles: cheerleader, media contact person, the deflector of criticism themselves. At larger companies or big PR firms, staffers can have more specialized roles to handle different organizational needs.

Public relations activities are planned and sustained to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its publics. Generally there is not one single accepted definition of public relations.

It is often misunderstood that the organizations practice public relations only for the purpose of publicity. But instead, the discipline of public relations (PR) deals with shaping and maintaining the image and reputation of the organization in the eyes of its various publics. It is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to institute and maintain mutual understanding between the organization and its public. It uses information to influence opinion for creating and maintaining goodwill. It is the practice of managing communication between the organization and its public.

Publics, in PR terms, are the ones who ever have or ever will form an opinion about the organization. Publics are the interested audiences that are important in some way to an organization including current and potential customers, current and potential employees and management, investors, vendors and suppliers, media, government, and opinion leaders etc. They can be internal within the organization or external to the organization.

The three general kinds of PR work are Publicity, Event Management and Publication Design as described below. The products are intended to influence public opinion and are designed to promote and protect the image and the products of the organization.

Publicity

It is communication written and produced by public relations professionals intended to create a favorable public image for the organization. Publicity usually takes the form of text, audio and video news releases about the organization distributed to newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations, Internet sites and other forms of media. While there may be production costs, the organization does not pay a fee for placement of the information in media. This is called free media. Publicity efforts might also include persuasive interpersonal communication, such as email and other forms of personal messaging, telephone calls, visits and meals.

Event management

It is the conception, creation, development, scheduling, arrangement, logistical coordination, talent sourcing, production, promotion and execution of events such as product launches, press conferences, corporate meetings, educational conferences, road shows, grand opening events, award ceremonies, launch parties, festivals, games and a variety of meetings. Such managed events are intended to accomplish the desire of the organization to generate goodwill.

Publication design

It involves conception, writing, layout and production of a wide variety of presentation media including promotional, sales and image building materials such as catalogs, brochures, manuals, flyers, newspapers, videos, DVD covers, podcasts, film credits, stage props, websites, logotypes, and branded packaging etc.