How my perception of PR has changed

When I started the corporate communications and public relations program in the fall of 2010, I really had no idea what public relations entailed.  I decided to take the program after doing several informational interviews with communicators, journalists and copywriters and I decided that the work that the communications practitioners described to me was something I could see myself doing.  I knew there would be a lot of writing, and that was enough for me.

If you had asked me what “public relations” meant in September I probably would’ve looked at you uncomfortably and said something like “you know… the way a company communicates with the public.”  I probably wouldn’t have been able to elaborate much beyond that.  Public Relations was, for the most part, a mystery.

I know there is a certain stigma associated with PR people.  I distinctly remember a moment last summer when I was at a friend’s party (he was in the journalism program at Ryerson) with  a lot of journalists.  I was talking to a girl and when I told her I was getting ready to start a post-grad program in corporate communications and public relations, she said (and I still remember this verbatim) “oh, so you’re going to be the enemy.”  She wasn’t joking or teasing me; she was seriously annoyed that I was going into public relations.  I laughed it off, but I still remember thinking “what is that supposed to mean?”

Now, nine months later, I really hope I run into that girl again.  I would love the opportunity to tell her what public relations actually is and that no, I am not, in fact, a journalist’s enemy (although with an attitude like that I find it doubtful that she will ever actually be a journalist). 

My perception of public relations has changed so much in the last 9 months, I don’t even really know where to begin.  Probably the most important thing I learned is that there is so much that falls under the public relations / communications umbrella.  Previously I thought it was pretty much limited to writing things like press releases and info kits and maybe some occasional celebrity handling.  Now I know that while press releases etc. is one area of PR, there is so much that can be described as being a part of “public relations.”  From writing, to event management, to editing to strategy and planning, I know now that PR is a broad and versatile field – and every practitioner has a niche within it.

Another perception I had before starting the program was that PR is something that was done to support management, and was not really part of upper-level decision making.  Now I know that PR must be part of management for any organization to be successful.  After studying countless examples of how bad public relations has damaged and destroyed companies (BP anyone?), I now know that for any organization to be successful it must consider its brand and public image, and devote time and resources to managing them.

Finally, before starting this program I had no idea how important social media was, or how integral it is to public relations.   I know now that effective public relations must make use of social media in most cases to communicate as efficiently as possible.

My perception of public relations has changed so much since last summer that I can hardly believe I’m referring to the same field.  While I can’t say for sure that I understand it completely, I can, with confidence say it is a field which I am proud to be a part of.