The key points from this module are:

Public relations can truly mean the difference between life and death for an organization, or the difference between profitability and failure.

The case study demonstrates the importance of developing and maintaining relationships, even with those whom you may feel are adversaries. In this case, the company miscalculated.

PR is an ephemeral and wide-ranging field, often misperceived, because of the lack of message control inherent in public relations.

Public relations is “the management of communication between an organization and its publics.”

We can define corporate public relations as being an in-house public relations department within a for-profit organization of any size

Public relations agencies are hired consultants that normally work on an hourly basis for specific campaigns or goals of the organization that hires them.

“Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.”

A plethora of terms has come to be associated with modern-day public relations practice. Because of the disreputable beginnings of public relations, it is often the case that organizations will choose to name their public relations function by another moniker.

The term corporate communication is the most common synonym for public relations in practice today, followed by marketing communication and public affairs.

It is a unique management function that contributes to an organization’s success through its focus on developing and maintaining relationships with key publics.