The Public Relations Society of America has been crowdsourcing a new definition of the profession. They decided they needed a definition because (how’s this for irony?) PR professionals have a hard time explaining exactly what they do to non-PR people.
After gathering input from PRSA members, the group has crafted three possible definitions for what PR is. Here they are:
- Public relations is the management function of researching, engaging, communicating, and collaborating with stakeholders in an ethical manner to build mutually beneficial relationships and achieve results.
- Public relations is a strategic communication process that develops and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their key publics.
- Public relations is the engagement between organizations and individuals to achieve mutual understanding and realize strategic goals.
And there you have the problem with PR in a nutshell. It’s not that tough, and the only reason PR pros make it that tough is because they don’t see the value in simplicity. But communication always works best when it’s simple, clear and straightforward.
Here’s my definition of PR: I help people get their stories out. Simple, straightforward and covers everything I do.
Because what I do is communicate.
What do you think? Should PR pros have to use jargon and buzzwords to explain what they actually do?
