August 28, 2009

Dear Justin,

It was so good to hear from you the other day. You asked me if I was going to become a spin doctor when I graduated and seemed a little perplexed about my choice of major. I would hope my major and future job opportunities in public relations entail more than living up to the false assumptions often associated with PR work. Let me explain to you a little about what I will be doing in the future.

Public relations experts are the information broadcasters and promoters of the business world. They represent the links between the fragile triangle of product, media, and the public. My job will essentially be brainstorming various campaigns designed to promote a product, person, or event. Campaigns are usually implemented to promote, gain customer trust, or let the public know about a new product or idea.

However, public relations involve more than just planning and organizing campaigns. Preceding any campaign, a great deal of research must be done. I will need to become the expert about the company I choose to work for in the future. I will be examining strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities for the business and while in that sector, what they could do in a new campaign to promote a product effectively.

Some would say public relations, advertising, and marketing are very similar. Although having similar qualities, the best way to separate them is by realizing marketers and advertisers accomplish more direct and blatant public persuasion, while public relations practitioners go through the outlet of media and networking strategies to get the message across. However, both do have a similar end result of making a positive impact and impression on the consumer.

Another job aspect of a public relations specialist is preparing speakers or themselves for press conferences. If someone asks a difficult question about the product or company, the expert must recall the information researched dutifully and know the exact story behind it without faltering. They need to know the target audience, new fads, history, competition, and pop culture that will consume and revolve around the object they are promoting or its effectiveness will be minimal.

Because I will be that small link between product and media, I must be a skilled networker. An important part of my job is pitching stories to journalists. If I can stay in good relations with journalists, more stories and therefore more information about the company will be available to the public. Press releases are what we publish in newspapers and magazines. These are pivotal announcements from a business to the public through the channel of the media, to announce a new sale or product in the form of a story that won’t be as blatant as an advertisement or the like. My release would be taken by a journalist, rewritten, and published in a newspaper. Especially in the event of a company or product crisis, the media comes to me for information. People immediately want to know what is going on, so a public relations specialist must be prepared for any occurrence and a reason or story to back it up to the media.

I hope this little overview has given you a better understanding of what public relations actually is, and why it interests me so much! I love you and hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Amanda