Along with advertising and marketing, public relations is one aspect of the PRAM concentration in the Strategic Communications Studies major. According to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), public relations is "a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics."
Hayes, A. (2024, June 11). Public Relations (PR): Meaning, Types, and Practical Examples. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/public-relations-pr.asp
According to PSRA, PR also includes:
- Anticipating, analyzing, and interpreting public opinion, attitudes, and issues that might have an impact on, for good or for bad, on the operations and plans of the organizations.
- Counseling management at all levels in the organization with regard to policy decisions, courses of action and communications - including crisis communications - taking into account their public ramifications and the organization’s social or citizenship responsibilities.
- Protecting the reputation of an organization.
- Researching, conducting and evaluating, on a continuing basis, programs of action and communications to achieve the informed public understanding necessary to the success of an organization’s aims. These may include marketing; financial; fundraising; employee, community or government relations; and other programs.
- Planning and implementing the organization’s efforts to influence or change public policy.
- Setting objectives, planning, budgeting, recruiting and training staff, developing facilities - in short, managing the resources needed to perform all of the above.
- Overseeing the creation of content to drive customer engagement and generate leads.
