A letter to my dear Cousin, Delroy.

Delroy,

You asked about my major so I thought I'd give you a better idea about what PR is...

Public Relations - We're the people who supply information to the public on behalf of another entity. Public relations practitioners represent public figures, companies, and a whole slew of other kinds of organizations. Corporations, Nonprofit organizations, Actors, Athletes, Politicians, Schools, and Countries are just a few examples.

Tiger Woods has a whole team of PR people who were extremely busy last month when news about Woods' numerous extra-marital affairs surfaced in the media. Woods' didn't want to talk to the public about his shameful acts, but no matter. His PR staff probably had a better idea about what was going to have the smallest negative impact on his already poorly effected public image.

The Woods example serves as a nice segue into an explanation about the different roles in which PR professionals serve:

Crisis Management – During a time of crisis, a PR practitioner talks with media, the public, or whoever else is concerned with their representative. Messages are crafted about proposed solutions to the problem or whatever else will improve/lessen the damage done to the image of the body being represented.

Marketing – PR can be a very economic form or advertising via crafting press releases which are sent to news organizations, blogs, magazines, etc. These press releases can serve as the framework for a story or feature article used by a journalist or publisher.

Internal PR – Professionals who represent leaders in companies. This type of PR involves crafting messages within a company, from one group to another. Usually from the top down.