What does Public Relations mean to me?

Public Relations (PR) is the practice that involves the managing and distribution of information from an individual or an organisation and the public. According to the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) PR is the, “deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organisation (or individual) and its (or their) publics." (Public Relations Institute of Australia, 2013). This definitions provided by the PRIA is the definition I’m familiar with.

I have come to this understanding after reading the Chapter 1 of Tymson’s Communication Theory and Public Relations Practice and Chia’s Public Relations in the Twenty-First Century.
Theory provided by Tymson explains effective public relations occurs after the practitioner understands three aspects; Understanding the communication process, understanding the receiver and applying then applying this knowledge to the development and planning of public relations campaigns. (Tymson)

According to Tymson, Shanon and Weaver’s Mathematical Theory of Communication reflects how the deliberate communication is practiced. The theory identified the steps within the communication process as; sender, encoding, message, channel, noise, decoding, receiver, and feedback, however further to this the communication draws on the common experience of the intended target of the message. (Cutlip, Center and Broom)

The planning is perhaps closely related to having an understanding of what’s valued in PR. Tymson lists 5 points on PR values which outline the importance of developing a relationship between an organisation and their public by listening and taking ideas on board as well as informing and giving ideas and promoting plans. The values defining PR work towards outlining the importance of planning and sustaining an effort to establish and maintain the mutual understanding between an organisation and it’s public.

This is my understanding of public relations, effective PR communication results in an individual or organisation gaining exposure by using ideas that are of interest to the public to achieve exposure to their target audience.