PR

Basic Definitions of Public Relations
Public Relations is about reputation. It is the result of what you do, what you say and what people say about you.
In practice, Public Relations is the actions taken to affect your reputation and win support and understanding, as well as to form a point of view and set of behaviours that influences those around you.
It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain good relations and mutual understanding between an organization and its public.
PR in different organizations takes many forms and has many names, such as "public information", "investor relations", "social activities and events", "corporate communication", "marketing" or "customer relations". Compounding the confusion is that not all of these areas belong directly under PR but are somehow closely related to Public Relations.
Ideally PR not only tells the public the “story" of the organization and creates its image, but also participates in the formation of the organization itself and its work style. Through research, feedback and evaluation, PR specialists must determine the interests and concerns of the public and transfer the conclusions to the organization’s management.
PR includes the following types of activity:

• Program Planning - Analysis of challenges and opportunities, goal setting, recommendations for planning, evaluation of results and regular communication between management and customers.
• Relations with Mass Media - Development and support of positive working relationships with journalists, involving the application of knowledge about how local and national newspapers, magazines and television channels operate, and also considering the interests of journalists.
• Corporate Integrity - The development and support of a corporate culture through internal advertising, first representing the name and reputation of the company and then its products
• Speeches - Effective communication with individuals and groups through meetings, presentations and open discussions
• Production - Brochures, reports, videos and multimedia programs are an essential part of communication. Studio and field photography must be coordinated, and it is also important to make use of the art of audio recording to monitor the process.
• Special Events - Conferences, exhibitions, festivals, open days, competitions and award programs - all of these activities are used to attract the attention of certain groups.
• Research and assessment - First of all, the PR specialist will collect and analyse facts. PR-activities should be assessed continually, with a specific development strategy for the future.

The basic requirements for success are common sense, energy, curiosity, the ability to think broadly, flexibility, creativity, endurance, organisational skills and, of course, literacy.