What Is Public Relations Good for?

What is Public Relations Good For? There are many people who think they know what public relations is, but for the most part they don’t understand the importance that public relations offer. Public relations the key to every organization, without it they couldn’t function. Most definitions of public relations contain two concepts, communication and management. Public relations is the way in which organizations communicate to their public. Organizations use public relations specialist to gain the trust and approval of the public. Public relations doesn’t exactly have a universal definition, however, the Public Relations News has described public relations as “… the management function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an individual or an organization with the public interest, and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance” (Hunt 5-6).
What this means is that public relations is not meant for the lower levels of an organization, it should be handled by the upper management where company policies and ideas are developed and conducted. It also means that public relations cannot be successful if it is based on guesses and wishful thinking. Public relations rely on up to date research about what the public interests and needs are. The emphasis on the public’s interests is what differentiates public relations from advertising or propaganda. Probably the most important part of the definition is the “ action to earn public understanding and acceptance.” The main idea of public relations is based on the concept of gaining the understanding and acceptance of the public. In order to be successful in this field you have to earn the trust of the audience (Bronzan, 4-5).
The history of public relations dates back as far as the exchange of ideas, plans, or products. Although the term “public opinion” wasn’t actually created until the eighteenth century, the acknowledgement of its existence and