This article is about public relations ; the definition of public relations and the functions of public relations practitioners.

According to Baskin, “Public relations is a management function that helps achieve organizational objectives, define philosophy and facilitate organisational change. Public relations practitioners communicate with all relevant internal and external publics to develop positive relationships and to create consistency between organizational goals and societal expectations. Public relations practitioners develop, execute and evaluate organizational programs that promote the exchange of influence and understanding among an organizations constituent parts and publics”.

In other words, public relations practitioners are those who help establish and maintain effective relationship with third parties. Public relations practitioners are the mediators between the organization and the public.

Public relations function can be divided into 8 broad categories. The first is programming. This involves identifying problem and opportunities, defining goals and recommending and planning activity.

The second is relationship. Public relations practitioners develop people skill. This is to enable them to establish relationship with the management, the colleague and the external people. By establish relationship with these people, information gathering would be so much smoother and everyone is willing to cooperate.

The third function is writing and editing. Public relations practitioners must know how to write and edit because printed words is an important tool in reaching the masses. Public relations practitioners must have clear, style of writing that communicates effectively to the public.

The forth function is establishing the right contacts to disseminate materials to the appropriate media such as newspaper, broadcast, general and trade publication editors. Public relations practitioners must know how the media functions, the areas of specialization of publications and the interest of individual editors. They must basically build good relationship with the media.

The fifth function is production. Public relations practitioners must have background knowledge of the techniques of preparation for various publications, special reports, films and multimedia programmes. This is needed for intelligent planning.

The sixth function is planning and coordinating special events. Some of the special events are news conference, conventions, anniversary celebration, award programs and special meetings. Public relations practitioners must plan out in advance, must be attention to details and must prepare for special booklets, publicity and reports.

The seventh function is speaking. Public relations practitioners must also be good in speaking. They must know how to connect with the people, how to deliver speech, how to prepare speech for others and how to sell themselves.

The final function is research and evaluation. Public relations practitioners must know how to gather facts. Facts can be gathered through interviews, surveys, books and informal conversations. Public relations practitioners also evaluate the programs planning, implementation and effectiveness once it’s completed. This is to determine which factors were successful and which weren’t and to ensure that the mistakes won’t happen the next time.