“It's not enough to be a good guy, you need to tell everyone about it” - this phrase, well-known among PR specialists, fully describes the main purpose of a PR specialist. Any person or organization that cares about their image in the eyes of the public can act as a "good guy".
From PR history
The word "PR man" entered the Russian lexicon at the end of the 90s of the last century and at the beginning of the 21st century was firmly entrenched in it. The abbreviation PR stands for “Public Relations”, which means “Public Relations”, respectively, a PR specialist in Russian is a public relations specialist. The first attempts to create a positive opinion about power among the electorate were made in ancient times. At the beginning of the twentieth century, mainly in the United States, the direction of PR began to be replenished with new techniques and actively developed, and by the middle of the last century, "Public Relations" had emerged as an independent direction. Edward Burnays, Sam Black, Ivy Lee and others are considered the classics of PR.
External PR
The tasks of a PR specialist include creating the necessary public opinion about an organization, political party or person. For this, various methods are used, including active work with journalists and media editors, interaction with partners, development of actions, events and news stories that may be of interest to the public and form an image. The activities of a PR specialist are aimed at forming, most often, a positive public opinion about the company or the person for which he works. One of the main goals in the work is to increase brand awareness and increase profits.
Internal PR
Often, a public relations specialist is also superimposed on the functions of regulating relations between company employees. He must have the skills of a mediator, that is, have the ability to resolve conflicts. Creating a favorable environment in the team, developing personnel policy, conducting internal public opinion polls, regulating relations between management and subordinates - all this is also part of the tasks of a PR specialist.
Interaction with management
A PR specialist is the first one who informs the management about the current public opinion about a company or a person. His responsibilities also include assessing the risks that management may face in the implementation of a particular task and developing ways to avoid mistakes. One of the main goals of a public relations specialist is to build a harmonious dialogue and mutual understanding between the company's management and clients (politician and electorate, star and fans, etc.).
Personal and professional qualities of a PR specialist
The profession of "Public Relations Specialist" can be obtained at many universities in Russia. A highly qualified specialist must be a comprehensively developed person: have a good understanding of sociological processes, know the psychology of human behavior, master the art of public speaking, an impeccable mother tongue and at least one spoken foreign language, understand the basics of economics and politics.
