I wanted to open this module by reviewing the boundaries of public relations. As we see the lines where with advertising and public relations, and with public relations and journalism, I wanted to go through and talk about the similarities and differences in the fields of persuasion. We have seen these terms before in an earlier module, but these are what define the field of public relations. We strive to practice two-week communication so as to build relationships and be mutually beneficial. We want to take in as much as we put out, meaning we need to listen to our stakeholders. Public relations is always planned and deliberative, always seeking to be strategic. We are not in the business of stunts or creating buzz. No. Instead, we want to communicate our brand's mission and tell stories about the core values and what makes us different from competitors' brands. In recent times, we've learned how to measure public relations and show value in what we are doing. This has been a huge win for the industry and ultimately has made us a more fierce competitor to advertising and marketing. Then lastly, and most importantly, public relations as a management function, meaning that PR practitioners should be the counselor and advisors to top management, aware of issues and risks, but also watching for opportunities. When used as a management function, public relations is the most powerful persuasion tool. Let's first talk about public relations side by side with advertising. Generally, people aren't aware of the differences and might use these terms interchangeably, but you should not. Remember our module on definitions? It's important that PR define the field and set boundaries, or else advertising will continue to creep in and steal clients and our budgets. Public relations is earned space, and this describes our work in media relations. We want to use media outlets to help tell our story and gain attention from mass audiences. In contrast, advertising pays for space. Like in a newspaper or magazine, billboard, digital ad, whatever, that space costs money. But this also means that the advertisement is guaranteed to run or it will be placed. Whereas PR does not have a guarantee on earned space. If something more important or more appealing comes along the journalists could easily just bump our story and it never runs. Happens quite a lot, and it's frustrating, let me tell you. But that's the name of the game in public relations. Advertising is a tactic. That's what it does. It serves a communication function. Public relations is much broader in scope and should be used as the management function or strategically. When used tactically, public relations becomes nothing more than a press release. You take away the power of PR when you don't use it as a management function. Public relations talks to specialize publics, including internal and external audiences. Advertising only speaks to external audiences. Lastly, while PR is concerned with the bottom line and with profits, that is really not the goal of public relations. Instead, public relations strives to create goodwill between a brand and its stakeholders. Advertising, on the other hand, wants to sell goods and services. That is the entire purpose of an advertisement. Public relations' purpose is to create feelings of goodwill for a brand. Now let's look at PR and journalism side by side. Journalism is not often called a persuasive field. In fact, journalists strive for objectivity. However, news is not objective. That's my perspective. But let me tell you why I think that. Research shows that over 50 percent of news begins from public relations' efforts. When not much news is influenced by public relations practitioners and their brand storytelling, I don't consider journalism to be truly objective. To combat that, I always read more than one source on a topic. I think that's the only way to really gain an objective perspective in journalism. PR, we're born to be strategic. We are biased in every way, but that is our job. We want to leverage our relationships with media to tell the story we want told. Public relations strives for education and advocacy, whereas journalism just reports the facts. The ultimate goal of both fields are intertwined, but the approach, very different. PR defines audiences where journalism reaches mass audiences. PR also uses many channels, and news uses fewer channels, although in today's media landscape, media options are splintered and they're becoming more and more journalism news outlets. Marketing is another field of persuasion. Marketing is focused on sales. Public relations is focused on creating feelings of goodwill. PR is about relationships, not buying and selling. Some of you might think marketing is similar to advertising, but advertising is that visual storytelling and manufacturing of an emotional attachment. Whereas marketing, marketing is about sales. That's what they do. Ultimately, everything in marketing relates to the bottom line. Not true in advertising and public relations, as we are part of strategic communication and reputation management. We're much less concerned about how much product is sold. Public relations speaks to multiple stakeholders, even stakeholders who are not yet customers. Marketing, on the other hand, focuses on the target market because that's who we're selling to. PR is broader than that and all about relationship building. We want to connect consumers with the brand mission. Then lastly, PR builds and maintains the reputation of the brand. Marketing continues to focus on sales. That's what they do; sell stuff. As to summarize the way public relations differs from advertising journalism, and marketing, I've included three key points here. Public relations isn't just a tactic. It's strategic and should be used as a management function. That's when the practice of public relations is most powerful. We seek to build relationships and we do so using two-way communication. PR just wants to create a dialogue, talk with stakeholders to create goodwill. We are telling stories so that consumers know our brand identity. Public relations can do more than these other fields. You know I'm biased by now, but I'm a big believer in the power of public relations.
