PR terms

 

According to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), public relations is “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

Further explaining public relations, PRSA says that “public relations is about influencing, engaging and building a relationship with key stakeholders across a myriad of platforms in order to shape and frame the public perception of an organization.”

There are many PR terms that you will come across in understanding public relations. Here’s a glossary of PR terms, so you can get comfortable with the public relations vocabulary.

• Accreditation in Public Relations (APR): Obtaining the APR designation proves that one has successfully demonstrated competency in the knowledge, skills and abilities required to practice public relations effectively in today’s business arena. APR includes a commitment to the best practices and highest standards of ethics of the profession.

 

• Audio news release (ANR): A story sent to radio stations either for announcers to read or a recording of someone with a good radio voice reading the entire announcement.

 

• B-roll: Video footage containing additional soundbites and video that television news staffs can use for repackaging the story.

 

• Byline article: Article placed under a client executive’s byline to demonstrate thought leadership.

 

• Crisis communications: Also known as issues management, crisis communications is the organized activity of identifying emerging trends, concerns, or issues likely to affect an organization in the next few years and developing a wider and more positive range of organizational responses toward the future.

 

• Fact sheet: A document providing the high-level facts of an organization.

 

• Hits: Also known as a media hits, this is a story published in the media either on or mentioning an organization.

 

• Impressions: A metric for measuring the reach of a media outlet. Impressions are calculated using the subscription base of a newspaper or magazine, viewership of a TV program or listenership base of a radio station, or unique visitors per month to a website.

 

• Internal/employee communications: The process of an organization communicating with its employees.

 

• International Association of Business Communicators (IABC): IABC is a global network of communication professionals committed to improving organizational effectiveness through strategic communication.

 

• MAT release: A 500 to 700-word ready-to-publish article geared toward a consumer audience.

 

• Media advisory: A tactic used to announce information — generally events — to the media.

 

• Media briefing: An in-person meeting with a reporter to introduce or discuss the latest news from an organization. May or may not result in a story.

 

• Media kit: A collection of materials (news release, fact sheet, executive bios, etc.) to assist reporters in developing stories; can either be hard copy documents or online.

 

• Media relations: Strategically communicating with the news media on behalf of an organization.

 

• Media tour: A planned series of visits to media outlets to provide media briefings. Typically done with many media in a major city (e.g., New York).

 

• Media training: The process of preparing a subject matter expert for a media interview.

 

• News release/press release: A document used to share information with the news media.

 

• Online pressroom: A part of an organization’s website that provides resources for the news media.

 

• Pitch: The action of reaching out to the news media to suggest a story on an organization.

 

• Positioning: The process of determining the place a brand occupies in the marketplace and how it differs from the competition.

 

• Press conference/news conference: A formal approach to a media interview, providing widespread dissemination of information to a number of reporters at the same time.

 

• Public relations: A strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.

 

• Public relations process: A series of actions that bring about a result; the public relations process is: research, planning, implementation, evaluation.

 

• Public Relations Society of America (PRSA): The nation’s largest professional organization serving the communications community with a mission to “make communications professionals smarter, better prepared and more connected through all stages of their career.”

 

• Radio media tour: A public relations tactic in which a spokesperson from a central location conducts a series of around-the-nation, one-on-one interviews with several radio stations.

 

• Satellite media tour: A public relations tactic in which a spokesperson from a central location can be interviewed by multiple stations at separate times.

 

• Video news release (VNR): A package provided to television stations formatted for immediate use, with a minimum of effort by station personnel.

 

• Wire service: A service for distributing a news release or media advisory to the media and online. The main wire services are Business Wire, PR Newswire and PRWeb.

An excellent public relations textbook to help you go more in depth with the field of public relations beyond just PR terms is “Public Relations: Strategies and Tactics” by Dennis L. Wilcox, Glen T. Cameron and Bryan H. Reber.