Letter to Cousin

January 18, 2008


Dear Cousin Larry,

I am writing you to respond to your question you asked me the other day about public relations. You asked me to explain to you what public relations is and what public relations people write about.

There are many different elements that make up public relations. I would say the biggest component is communication. There are a few different aspects of communication, but the one that comes to mind first is writing. Someone in P.R. will spend a lot of time communicating good feelings with businesses and the public. They also could do the same thing internally within a business.

I think the first thing that comes to someone’s mind when they think about what kind of writing is involved in public relations is press releases. This is true, but there are also other types of writing involved as well, such as writing inter office memos.

One of the biggest differences in writing styles between someone who does public relations and someone who is a journalist is persuasion. When a journalist writes they are usually trying to stay neutral and keep their opinion out their news story. P.R. writing is much more persuasive. You want to convince people by providing them accurate information.

I hope this helps answer your question about public relations. If you have any others feel free to ask.

Your cousin,
Clayton