5 Types of PR and Which One is Best for You

By Guadalupe Hernandez

Often it is hard to nail down what career path is right for you, but if you chose PR you are already one step ahead! Public relations can be defined as the strategic communication process that helps builds relationships between the organizations and their publics. In other words, PR is about influencing and engaging with the public to gain their loyalty and trust. A public relations professional's responsibility is to convey the organization's message in a way that draws in the media and audience. Once within the PR world, however, you may think, what now? There are many areas you can focus on within the PR world where you can refine your specific skill set. The infographic below contains five PR types and how you can determine what field is to your calling.

Media relations is about maintaining a good relationship with journalists to generate POSITIVE coverage for your organization. A major responsibility in this industry is tracking the news, identifying what trending, staying on top of the social media algorithms. It takes a sociable, extroverted personality to be comfortable in this area.
Community relations, on the other hand, is about engaging with the local community. A reason to do this is to gain local support for projects, have them associate with your organization, and sponsor events. One needs to be a community specialist and study the areas around your organization, not only physically but also in the digital world.
Corporate and social responsibility revolves around being socially and ethically conscious of what is going on in the environment and the culture. People are becoming more aware of the negative impact human beings and corporations can have on society, and it is an organizations responsibility to have humane practices. One must have a strong personality to speak up, even to the CEO, about what is right for the company.
Public affairs, in simple terms, can be described as political PR. It is an area that, like community relations, must lobby with local and national-level individuals that can enable your organization to do higher-level promotions.
Crisis management is found in every industry and is a task every PR professional must understand. However, it does take a particular skill set to know how to fix a situation quickly and authentically. Working in a group setting and being level-headed is important for the crisis professional because when in an emergency, it is all-hands-on-deck and there will be almost no time to discuss opinions.
Overall, public relations can be achieved by anyone who is communication driven and creative. You may think it is a career that is only for extroverted outgoing people. But with the industries and skill sets shown above, one can see that PR can be for anyone. If you want to hone a certain skill by your personality type, the infographic above may help!