Wait...not all PR is the same?

There's a widely held state of confusion when it comes to the definition of public relations. Most people that I talk to don't even know what it is. In fact, I didn't even know what it was until I took my first class in PR. You would be surprised at the actual definition of public relations: “the professional maintenance of a favorable public image by a company or other organization or a famous person.” So in other words, public relations is essentially a company, or famous person, relating to its publics. Sometimes this can roll over into advertising, marketing and communications, which is why people get so confused about what publicists actually do.

Well, yes, publicists do work with the advertising, marketing, and communications departments from time to time, but their main priority is to display a positive public image of their client to its audience. There are many ways in which a publicist can do this, and it all depends on the type of publicity that the client needs. For example, Coca-Cola does not require the same strategies as a celebrity would. Most publicists choose a specific area of focus that they solely work with because of the fact that different types of clients need different types of publicity. The various types of fields that publicists could specialize in include entertainment, crisis communications, investor relations, social corporate responsibility, non-profit, medical, automotive, and the list goes on, and on. 

The major differences within the subsets of PR lie in crisis communications, investor relations and entertainment publicity. Each of these requires a completely different strategic approach. Case in point, the Chicago Tylenol murders, which I talked about in a previous post. In this instance, a crisis communications specialist had to work in a timely matter to deflect the enormous amount of bad press facing Tylenol. There was no room for deliberation. Something had to be done, and it had to be done fast.

When it comes to entertainment publicity, a publicist’s busiest time is when his or her client is releasing a new movie, album, single, etc. The biggest goal is to get the client showing up on every talk show, every magazine cover, and every radio station. The client themselves has to be the one promoting the product. The publicist sets up the interviews and appearances, and gives the talking points. In the end, it’s up to the entertainer to pull off a good appearance, which can be very risky at times with certain celebrities. Publicists don’t always have the control they wish they had over their clients in the world of entertainment publicity.

Investor relations is probably the furthest away from entertainment publicity. The target audience for investor relations specialists is the shareholders of a publically traded company. So, in that respect, the investor relations specialist for a company will be the one drafting the quarterly financial earnings statement, and will basically deal with any sort of public financial issues. The investor relations specialist usually has a background in accounting or finance. Where as an entertainment publicist or a crisis communications specialist does not necessarily need a degree, an investor relations specialist will more than likely have a degree related to finance.

So, believe it or not, a term as simple as public relations takes on many meanings when it actually comes down to it, which is why people may be confused when they hear “public relations.” Hopefully, this post helped clarify some of the confusion.