Definiton

Defining Public Relations is quite challenging. The textbook even notes that, although Public Relations is beautiful due to its vastness and ability to be applied to any industry, it is difficult to come up with a single, concrete definition (Agozzino & Ward, 2025). So, instead of providing you with sentence after sentence, I have come up with a metaphor. The best way I can describe Public relations is that it is a garden because relationships must be planted, watered, and nurtured over time.

Gardeners

The gardeners are PR practitioners; they nurture relationships with consistent communication, pulling the weeds of misinformation or crisis, while ensuring every element—meaning media, community, and stakeholders-gets the attention needed to thrive. 

Here are 10 categories practitioners fall into, provided by PR Lab:

1. Media Relations
   • One of the more traditional forms of PR involves building relationships with journalists and news outlets. This creates favorable media coverage, ensures high visibility for the brand, and shapes the public’s perception, primarily driven by the bulk of this effort.
2. Crisis Management
   • A specialized area of PR is involved in safeguarding a company’s reputation during times of crisis.
3. Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
   • Focuses on developing a positive brand image through socially responsible activities.
4. Internal communications PR
   • Mainly deals with a company’s relationship with its employees.
5. Funding PR
   • Seeks to establish solid relationships with the business’s investors.
6. Government Relations
   • Often referred to as lobbying, this is the influencing of national or local government policy and legislation in regard to a company or industry.
7. Product PR
   • Responsible for creating buzz and building awareness around a company’s products or services.
8. Social media and online PR
   • Relatively new, but manages the presence of the company on social media and other platforms.
9. Community PR
   • Involves nurturing and developing a good relationship with the community in which the business operates.
10. Strategic Communications
    • Long-term tactical exercise in handling messaging and public perception about a company.

All of these categories help one another balance themselves, as they serve different purposes and improve organizations on various levels (PR Lab, 2025).

Pioneering Gardener

Although several critical founding fathers and mothers of PR interest me, one who stands out is Harold Burson. Burson co-founded Burson-Marsteller in 1953 with Bill Marsteller; the two employed unconventional concepts for the 1950s (Agozzino & Ward, 2025). One of the notable concepts was the incorporation of integrated marketing, which has become a standard part of the industry (Agozzino & Ward, 2025). My favorite case of Burson’s was the 1982 Tylenol tampering case. After reading an article about Burson’s life in The New York Times, I learned how he was calm, cool, and practical while helping to announce a recall, ordering new resistant caplets, packaging seals, and mounting a campaign that acknowledged the facts, stressed safety measures, and eventually restored his company’s credibility (The New York Times, 2020). The way Burson described himself during this case is “Basically, I served to help him think through problems and reinforce his own instincts” (The New York Times, 2020). Hearing a professional describe himself this way takes me back to the garden, where I envision someone giving a plant water to help it continue doing what it needs to do.

The Garden

Just like in any garden, results are not instant and may not go 100% the way you want them to. Growth requires patience as it develops. A lot of planning goes into this as well; it takes months before the seed is even planted. The most important aspect is the ongoing effort to maintain the strategic garden of reputation.

In all, PR is gardening; it takes patience, intentions, and care that strengthen the roots. When the seeds of trust are nurtured, the garden of reputation will continuously bloom.

References

• McFadden, R. (n.d.). Harold Burson, a giant in public relations, dies at 98 (published 2020). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/10/business/media/harold-burson-dead.html 
• Rodsevich, M. (n.d.). Different public relations types & categories explained. PRLab. https://prlab.co/blog/public-relations-types-and-categories/ 
• Ward, J., & Agozzino, A. (2025, February 13). Public relations textbook: PR principles designed for today’s students. Stukent. https://www.stukent.com/higher-ed/pr-principles/