People often ask “what even is public relations” or “what does a role in public relations involve and is it necessary?” Well, public relations is the way organisations, companies and individuals communicate with the public and media. A PR specialist communicates with the target audience directly or indirectly through media with an aim to create and maintain a positive image and to hold a strong relationship with the audience. There is so much that is public relations related. Examples include press releases, newsletters, public appearances and speeches as well as utilising the the world wide web.
During my experience at the internship, there is a blurred line between the public relations area and the marketing title. The difference between the two is that marketing is the overall mix of activities that you undertake to get your product or service to market. By contrast public relations help an organisation and the public adapt mutually to each other. Public relations broadly applies to organisations as a collective group, not just a business; and the public encompasses the variety of different stakeholders. I think that the two areas really should complement each other in order to maximise the company’s benefit.
There were so many different projects we have started on together. It is very hard to distinguish the difference between public relations and marketing because we worked together as a team. When we had a new project or client pitch, we had brainstorming sessions with the supervisor through mind mapping. We all laid ideas out on a whiteboard allowing us to follow the direction of those thoughts and add onto them in a very visual way. This also gives us a sense of being part of the company’s movement. We would then work on our own to come up with recommendations to accommodate what is required. I generally would make a detailed PR plan for the project with issues and tactics. And of course we communicated between each other to make sure we were on the right track.
In conclusion communication is the key to success. A business is often made up of more than one person and at the end of the day we are all working for the same company and our goal is to work together to accomplish both long term and short term goals.
3 comments:
Hi Hannah,
I completely agree with you about the blurred lines between Marketing and Public Relations roles. My supervisor was the organisations Marketing coordinator therefor I found myself participating in a great deal of marketing tasks such as developing advertisements. However this will give me better preparation for my future career because I am sure there will be more occasions in which I am required to adapt. It does concern me a little that I should have chosen a marketing major rather than Event Management but that might also advantage me, only time will tell!
Tegan
Hi Hannah,
Your blog has raised a very interesting topic. I remember when I first started studying my PR and marketing degree friends and family would often ask me the difference between the two and at the time I struggled to try and find the difference myself, let alone explain it to someone else. After three years of study I think I can definitely see the difference as you've pointed out, but I also think it depends on what the company is looking to achieve with their PR or marketing employees. As a PR for a company such as BP would have various roles, one being an adviser to CEO who's role probably wouldn't involve much marketing. In comparison to a PR coordinator for a company who sells products, as their role would definitely cross between marketing and PR.
Chloe
Hi Hannah
Your opening sentence in which you raised the frequently asked question of, “what is public relations,” is something I am also faced with frequently. I remember various class activities in which we had to create the 10 second elevator pitch to define PR and would later be surprised at how handy that exercise was.
I also get the follow up question, what is that going to qualify you to do? That always leaves me thinking there are still a lot of people that do not understand the value of public relations or have not seen it being done well. In my view I think public relations complements and enhances other disciplines. I feel there should be units that cover communication within the business schools, especially management, because as you said, communication is key and can make achieving set goals so much easier. I think perhaps it gets tied to marketing a lot is that is another area that has a focus on communication and interaction with stakeholders more so then other disciplines.
At least it is handy having the close relationship between the two as it does open the job pool up a bit.
Regards
Lee
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