What is Public Relations and Communications?

Public Relations (PR) in the world has long been no longer a strange profession. PR appeared in the early 20th century with the development of capitalism and the market economy. After nearly a century of development, the PR industry has become more and more important and affirmed its position in modern society and economy.

Although it has not been long since it appeared in Vietnam, public relations has shown itself to be an attractive profession with its dynamic and creative characteristics. In addition, its youth still causes this profession to reveal some limitations in terms of human resources and professionalism, but expectations for it are still constantly growing.

To overcome the existing limitations, it is really necessary to clarify the importance and bring information about the PR industry to everyone. From there, we can make people understand more about PR, clearly visualize the desires they pursue, filter the subjects following the profession and be aware of the professionalism in the profession.

PR is a hot training industry that attracts the top attention of dynamic and creative young people.

PR is popular in most organizations and businesses in the world. It has developed strongly in Western countries and appeared in government agencies, the president's office, the prime minister's office, and ministries. All departments have a department in charge of this function. The employees working in those departments are called government spokespeople, presidential spokespeople or press secretaries.

In addition, the role of PR also appears in businesses to promote, evaluate public attitudes, determine their or an individual's policies and operations, and organize promotional activities to enhance public understanding and acceptance.

The film and sports industries also need PR to organize interviews and promotions when celebrities want their names and images to reach the public.

In Vietnam, the development of economic sectors has created many opportunities for the PR industry to develop. Many ministries, sectors, and state-owned or private enterprises have recognized the urgency of PR. Since then, in just a few years, many PR companies have been established to meet the demand. PR staff today have journalism degrees or have worked in journalism, while the rest may come from many different industries.

Students of the Faculty of Public Relations and Communication, Dai Nam University, study and practice right at school.

In the PR industry, the nature of the work is also different. People who do PR for businesses, initially have to understand that a business needs to make a profit, can produce goods, trade, services, etc. So the job of a business PR person is to let the public understand what the business is doing, develop and build the image and reputation of that business, and bring the business to communicate with interested parties.

PR has evolved over time, becoming a global profession and being applied in different ways to suit different organisations, sectors and countries.

Currently in our country, the PR industry mainly focuses on two areas: Event organization, press relations and brand positioning.

The jobs that PR undertakes

• Communication: the proposal or exchange of ideas, opinions or messages through various media such as images, writing or speaking.
• Press Release: The transmission of a planned message with a clear purpose through selected mass media to advance the interests of the organization.
• Promotion: activities designed to create and stimulate interest in an individual, product, organization or cause.
• Creating press information: Creating stories, news reflecting on lifestyle, “soft” information genres, often related to entertainment information.
• Joining forces with Marketing: PR shares the same purpose with marketing or advertising activities to serve the interests of the organization.
• Issues Management: Identify, monitor and address public concerns for the benefit of the organization.

Thus, we have partly understood the scale and influence of PR in the world in general and in Vietnam in particular, clearly identifying the basic working process of PR. In the situation of shortage of human resources in the PR industry, it is both a limitation and an opportunity for individuals with passion and ability in this field of study, to correctly identify the career they want to pursue, perfect their shortcomings and promote their existing values, thereby opening up job opportunities for themselves, while contributing to promoting the development of PR in our country.

Faculty of Public Administration and Information Technology – Dai Nam University