Defining the Future of Public Relations

Public relations remains a field plagued by lack of definition. To ful-fill its promise, the field must not only adopt a much clearer definition, it must make that paradigm real and credible by (a) developing relevant theory, (b) applying it in a much more sophisticated manner, (c) com-municating it clearly and consistently, and (d) taking aggressive steps to arm practitioners, students, scholars and educators with relevant educa-tion and training. The field of public relations would be wise to reject the emerging pa-radigm of “reputation management”, in favor of a deeper and longer-las-ting definition along the lines of “managing strategic relationships”. Key words Public relations, reputation management, relationship management, corporate communications, marketing