Public Relations in Marketing for business
by: Steve Makoski, December 2007
Public Relations
Consider public relations similar to an assorted string of colored Christmas tree lights. Each bulb on the string illuminates different color, one brighter than the other, or burning out before another. Businesses engaged in public relations (PR) shine more than others shine, reveal true colors (persona), and burn out before another. This presentation provides the author and three different sources definition of PR. A comparison between the definitions reveals different perspectives and how each may defer compared to one another. Depending on whom one asks, the definition of PR may vary in meaning and provide an alternative view changing one's perspective of a business' PR position.
This author's definition of PR varies depending upon given situations and circumstances surrounding events that may be necessary for explanation by delivering information to public audiences through various media platforms. Various occasions businesses exercise PR as a crisis management tool to soften a negative opinion the public has of the business, caused by an unpopular event. Positive or negative, PR contributes to a business' persona in the publics mind. Two recent events provide examples of a company or businesses persona not so favorable in public minds. Mattel, the world's largest toy company announced a major recall of defective toys made in China (David Barboza, 2007). Six miners trapped in a mine in Huntington, Utah (Ravi Chopra, 2007). Mattel and United States (US) mines indeed have to improve their persona in the public's eye after unfavorable or tragic events influenced public opinion. ...