Oct 20 08
What Is Public Relations?
By Renn Vara
Like with many things, we often hold on to dated perceptions well past their truth. While we have never called ourselves a public relations company and probably never will, we often do provide services that fall under its umbrella, -ella, -ella. Sorry, I couldn’t help it.
And contrary to their often misunderstood role, those leading public relations efforts have had to make a number of substantive changes in recent years. For example, the days of spin are all but over, giving birth to candor and truth. And with the proliferation of social networking, blogs, and online communities, the public face of business has had to embrace the multiple voices and opinions that now radiate their public ecosystem.
This redefined role of public relations has pushed SNP right into the business. You see, we’ve always been about candor and truth, anti-spin, and embracing the public conversations versus trying to control them. So while we don’t like to call ourselves a public relations company, public relations has now become who we’ve always been. Confused? Well, we’re not. We’re pleased to see the world come our way.
So with our new role as public relations communicators, how do we define it? Well, like so many other communication companies, we’re still working on it. But by building on the basics of candor, truth and embracing your audience’s view, we think that’s a good start. What do you think?
