Cool On The Exterior, Warm Within
Sunday again!
Sunday, March 02, 2008 @ 8:26 PM
So I stubbed my toe on a kitchen stool, like putting out a cigarette in an ashtray and it is still throbbing madly now. Clumsy me, yes.
Yesterday was blading class again bright and early in the morning. Still in a sleepy stupor, I stumbled over a yellow bar in a carpark lot, one of those installed to stop cars from retreating too far in. Almost fell face flat. Argh. But well, I can glide forward now and sort of stop my blades and only fallen once in classes so far! haha I consider that an achievement.
And then I get this question all the time, from friends, from older relatives who have no inkling what public relations is. What do you do, they ask, and when I explain, the frown on their faces only gets deeper.
As defined by answers.com, PR is a form of communication that is primarily directed toward gaining public understanding and acceptance. It tends to deal with issues rather than specifically with products or services. Public relations uses publicity that does not necessitate payment in a wide variety of media and is often placed as news or items of public interest. Because public relations communications are placed in this manner, they offer a legitimacy that advertising does not have, since advertising is publicity that is paid for. The practice of PR is used to build rapport with the various publics a company, individual, or organization may have (i.e., employees, customers, stockholders, voters, competitors, or the general population). Publicity releases, employee-training seminars, and house organs are examples of instruments used in public relations.
Then how is it different from marketing, they ask again.
Well, marketing is more product-related, and deals with developing relationships with the customers through the 4Ps - product, place, price and promotion. Very textbook-based, but precise.
Oh well, if anyone can help me translate the definition of PR into chinese, I can explain it to my mum too. That work in a bank does not just mean being a bank teller or doing the accounts.
