A definition of Public Relations

Around February 2026, the PRCA published a new definition of public relations following consultation with its members and industry leaders.

PR has always been a bit of a mystery to most people. What does it actually involve? Is it purely sending out press releases and connecting with the press? Is it everything from how a company communicates to its investors to how it acts during a crisis?

This is why a definition of PR is much needed in order to help the industry coalesce, and to bring clarity to everyone else who doesn’t quite understand what PR is or does.

As part of the PRCA’s mission to reassert PR as a strategic management discipline, this is the new definition:

“Public relations is the strategic management discipline that builds trust, enhances reputation, and helps leaders interpret complexity and manage volatility - delivering measurable outcomes including stakeholder confidence, long-term value creation, and commercial growth.”

There is so much here to unpack, but the key words for me are trust, reputation, and long-term value creation. This is what PR achieves when done effectively. An outcome of good PR is often reflected on the balance sheet as ‘goodwill’. PR that is tied to commercial goals will be far more effective and clearer in its work than PR that is considered a ‘nice to have’ add-on.

For scale-ups seeking to get to the next level of growth, PR can be a game changer. If you think about what that definition means to your company, you’ll soon start to visualise the many ways that PR could work for you.