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What is Public Relations?

by Marc Cowlin - CafePress PR Manager

PR means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. One thing I have noticed in my PR career is that if you ask ten random people what PR is, there will be 10 very different answers.

Does a definition help?

  • Merriam-Webster Definition: the business of inducing the public to have understanding for and goodwill toward a person, firm, or institution; also: the degree of understanding and goodwill achieved.
  • Certified Institute of Public Relations: Public Relations practice is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its products or services.

Doesn't really help much does it? This is the funny thing about PR; no one can put one succinct definition on the discipline as a whole. There are sections that are easy to explain - for instance if I say I am a publicist for Tom Cruise, or a spokesperson for CafePress.com, or an event planner for a modeling agency you have a pretty good idea of exactly what I do. If I say I'm the PR manager for CafePress.com you'll most likely smile and think "huh".

When I was in college a professor talked at length about this problem within the PR profession. He used the following model to help explain PR. He claimed that by using this explanation a lot of questions were instantly answered and people gained an understanding of PR. He said, "In order for people to understand PR they should first understand the difference between PR and Advertising:

PR v. Advertising
Advertising PR
  • Paid Placement
  • Controlled - you have complete creative control
  • Will run as often as you are willing to pay
  • Creates Visibility
  • Media-savvy consumers know it's and ad, and tend to be skeptical
  • Easy if you have $ to spend
  • Free Placement
  • Journalistic Slant - a journalist can write what they want - no matter how you position your story
  • Usually only runs one or two times per story (there are exceptions)
  • Create Credibility
  • Viewed as a third party endorsement
  • Time consuming, not easy, no guarantees

If you start with this basis you have a great start to understanding exactly what PR is, and what it is not.

Why Do It? What's in it for my company and me?

The answer to this question is much easier to answer:
  • Publicity
  • Increased traffic/sales
  • Public interest
  • More sales

People always get both excited and skeptical about the last bullet point - more sales. But it's true; a great PR campaign can increase sales. Sometimes increased sales will come as a direct affect of a well-placed story. Sometimes it's harder to prove a correlation, but if you have a few stories and a good campaign you are increasing public knowledge of your service or product, they will more than likely think of you down the road (assuming your service or product is relevant for them).


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