Any time I go to a family or social function, people usually ask me the “How’s life?” questions, which often include the “what are you studying?” question. I usually answer “public relations/advertising”, which is technically wrong, because I’m studying primarily public relations.

I answer the question this way so people develop a better image of what public relations is in the grand scheme of things. In the past, I have said only public relations, and people get confused. For example, people told me they can’t wait to see me on the news (probably because public relations is often lumped into journalism schools), or they hope I get to represent someone really famous (this line of thought stemming from the press agency model of public relations I will discuss). Someone even once confused public relations with human relations. and they told me it would be my strong suit.

This article is dedicated to clearing up any misunderstanding as to what public relations is.

Public relations is mass communication.

Public relations falls into the extremely broad field of “mass communication”. Simply put by study.com, mass communication is “a process in which a person, group of people, or an organization sends a message through a channel of communication to a large group of anonymous and heterogeneous people and organizations.” Mass communication encompasses all fields related to communicating with the masses, such as journalism, broadcasting and advertising. They all differ in purpose, but the ultimate goal of communicating is the same.

Public relations is strategic communication.

Public relations falls into the category of “strategic communication”, along with advertising. Public relations and advertising share a similar goal of strategically crafting and placing messages getting the public to take action. Public relations and advertising are often confused for this reason. The principal difference lies in how the two fields get people to pay attention to their messages. Advertisers pay for spots in television, radio, and on the Internet, making advertising “paid” media. PR pros work getting the attention of journalists and other members of the media talking about client’s products, work, etc., making PR efforts “earned” media.

Public relations is more than event planning and press agency.

People often develop the misconception PR pros are event planners or publicists thanks to stereotypes created on television shows like Sex and the City (Thanks, Samantha Jones). PR pros who represent celebrities fulfill the publicist role or press agent role. Their primary job is promoting their clients and get their clients jobs and gigs. Most PR pros are concerned with two-way symmetrical communication, or the process of communicating between a client or organization and its publics and vice versa. This can be accomplished in a wide variety of ways, such as publishing press releases, arranging events, and paying close attention to what people are saying about your organization.

Public relations has ethical standards.

PR pros are often depicted as liars and truth-dodgers. The ethical PR pro is anything but. The ethical PR pro is honest and transparent. The ethical PR pro puts the public first. The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), one of the leading associations for PR pros, has a Code of Ethics promoting advocacy, honesty, expertise, independence, loyalty, and fairness. Not every PR pro is ethical, but a large number of us strive to uphold high ethical standards.

You probably know someone in public relations.

You may think you don’t know anyone in public relations. Do you know someone who is a public information officer? What about a public affairs specialist? Or director of communications? If you answer yes to any of these questions, you do, in fact, know someone in public relations. Many jobs fall into public relations. Some other jobs included in public relations are communications coordinator, social media specialist, and communications specialist (just to name a few).