What is PR? How should PR be defined?

In January, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) created a “PR Defined Initiative.” The initiative was designed to provide a forum for its members to contribute their thoughts about re-defining the term, “public relations.”

Recently, PRSA  announced the following three member-contributed definitions as the leading candidates for the new definition:

Definition No. 1:

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.

Definition No. 2:

Public relations is a strategic communication process that develops and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their key publics.

Definition No. 3:

Public relations is the engagement between organizations and individuals to achieve mutual understanding and realize strategic goals.

Out of the three I prefer the second definition best. This definition resonates with me because it includes the term “strategic.” I think the most effective PR campaign is the one with a strategic goal and plan behind it. Without a strategy, a campaign can become lost among all the white noise in an already crowded media environment.

Definition No. 2 also describes PR as a mutually beneficial relationship. I think it can be easy to forget that PR is a two-way street when it comes to communication.  PR isn’t just disseminating information, but it is also listening to feedback and effectively responding to questions and concerns your publics have.

I also like definition No. 1 for incorporating the words,  “ethical manner.” Personally, I think being ethical and truthful is vital to a PR professional’s reputation and to the profession as a whole.

Ultimately, I think the final definition PRSA comes up with (the announcement will come sometime in February) will be a blend of all three. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.