What is PR?

In 1976, Rex Harlow scoured through 472 definitions of public relations to come up with the following paragraph:

Public relations is a distinctive management function which helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance and co-operation between an organisation and its publics; involves the management of problems or issues; helps management to keep informed on and responsive to public opinion; defines and emphasis the responsibility of management to serve the public interest; helps management keep abreast of and effectively utilise change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends; and uses research and ethical communication techniques as its principal tools.

Luckily, however there is a more simplified explanation

Public relations is about reputation – the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you.

For me this is what defines Public Relations as immediately you are placed in the driver’s seat as everything is affected as a result of what you do.

The leading professional Public Relations body in the United Kingdom is CIPR, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, they stated that Public Relations is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and understanding between an organisation and its publics.

This adds to the business relations side of PR as it helps to promote organisations and maintain relations with its public.

So this seems to be what PR is. Sounds good.