The world of Public Relations in definitions and quotes

What Is Public Relations? There is no universally accepted definition of public relations — even among PR professionals. The lack of consensus is because the practice of public relations is dynamic and constantly evolving, influenced by shifting societal trends, rapidly changing business needs, and an increasingly fragmented media ecosystem. 

Since there is no single perfect definition, here’s public relations served out to you in new light, in  quotes and definitions:

• “The history of PR is… a history of a battle for what is reality and how people will see and understand reality.” – Stuart Ewen
• “Public relations is the engineering of public consent.”
• “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” – Warren Buffet
• “It is generally much more shameful to lose a good reputation than never to have acquired it.” 
• “What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.” – Abraham Lincoln
• “Reputation matters because your behind is always behind you.” – Happy Masina
• “It’s PR that needs to be creative. It’s PR that needs to be new and different. It’s PR that needs to be original. The best way to establish a brand is to create a new category, and creating a new category requires creative thinking of the highest order.” – Al & Laura Ries
• “PR is performance recognition” – Douglas Smith

• “Everything you do or say is public relations.” – Unknown
• “Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.” – Nikos Kazantzakis
• “If a young man tells his date how handsome, smart and successful he is – that’s advertising. If the young man tells his date she’s intelligent, looks lovely, and is a great conversationalist, he’s saying the right things to the right person and that’s marketing. If someone else tells the young woman how handsome, smart and successful her date is – that’s PR.” – S. H. Simmons
• “If you don’t tell your story, someone else will.” – Unknown
• “Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory.” – Arthur Ashe
• “If I was down to the last dollar of my marketing budget I’d spend it on PR!” – Bill Gates
• “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” – Rudyard Kipling
• “Publicity is a great purifier because it sets in action the forces of public opinion, and in this country public opinion controls the courses of the nation.” – Charles Evans Hughes
• “Without publicity there is no prosperity.” – Yakov Zel’dovich
• Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire public relations officers.” – Daniel Boorstin
• “Public relations is the gentle art of letting the other fellow have your way. Nielander & Miller, Public Relations (1951)
• “The art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counseling organizational leaders and implementing planned programs of action, which will serve both the organization and the public interest.”- World Assembly of PR Associations 
• “Public relations is the activities and attitudes intended to analyze, adjust to, influence, and direct the opinion of any group or groups of persons in the interest of any individual, group, or institution.”

“Clients don’t care about the labor pains; they want to see the baby.” – Tim Williams