Publi Relations Paper

Public Relations Paper

The terms: advertising, marketing, promotion, sales, and public relations are often used interchangeably. Because these terms represent similar activities it is easy to become confused. Defining and describing the function of each term is a good way to differentiate between them however, some of the terms act as aspects of one another. Public relations (PR) is a term that has a multitude of definitions any of which are correct depending on the type of industry or service a company provides. The purpose of this paper will be to develop a personal definition by comparing and contrasting definitions from three different sources. Furthermore, an explanation will be provided explaining why many different definitions exist.

Public Relations Definitions

The assigned readings for this course define PR as a process that involves a variety of programs designed to promote and subsequently protect a company's image or its individual products or services (Seitel, 2004). The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) defines PR in a far broader spectrum stating that PR helps our complex, pluralistic society to reach decisions and function more effectively by contributing to mutual understanding among groups and institutions. It serves to bring private and public policies into harmony (1982). The PRSA and its assembly formally adopted this definition which has become the most accepted and widely used. The vagueness of the PRSA's definition allows companies to accept the definition and tailor the term to fit the businesses individual policies. This may account for the PRSA definition as being the most widely used. Further research on the internet produced yet another definition for PR which stated that public relations include ongoing activities to ensure the overall company has a strong public image. Public relations activities include helping the public to understand the company and its products (2007). The personal definition for public relations that is included in this paper was generated by combining important elements from the previous mentioned researched definitions. The personal definition is as follows: any activity that helps to generate and maintain a high level of public opinion for the company and its products or services. This definition of public relations encompasses, in the author's opinion, the fundamental responsibility of any public relations activity which is to ensure that the company not only generates profit but maintains a high level of customer retention through product or service satisfaction.

Comparison of Definitions

Few companies can be successful when public opinion towards the company's products or services are less than satisfactory. For this reason businesses large and small must dedicate in some cases a great deal of revenue and time to ensure that all customers, potential and existing, are satisfied. To accomplish this task a company must first ensure that its managers and employees understand how important customer satisfaction is to the business. This is usually accomplished by generating a mission statement that states the company's vision and more important its values to the customer. Many companies publicize their mission statement by displaying it in an auspicious location so that incoming customers can see how important their satisfaction