Which what do public relations do tasks exist?
Ask ten people this question and you'll get ten different answers. Some think it's just sending out press releases and organizing launch events. Others think it's about "whitewashing" for companies. Some even equate PR with advertising. None of these are quite right.
Understanding the Fundamental Difference
To put it bluntly: advertising is paying for space to praise yourself; PR is getting others to praise you voluntarily. One is paid media, the other is earned media. Sounds similar, but the execution is completely different.
Advertising
Paying for space to praise yourself — Paid Media
Public Relations
Getting others to praise you voluntarily — Earned Media
Handling Crisis Situations
PR's most high-profile moments often come when companies are in trouble. Product issues, executives saying the wrong thing, attacks from competitors, sudden negative sentiment online... At times like these, PR has to be on the front lines.
There's a saying about the "golden hours" in crisis management—your response in the first few hours basically determines how things will unfold. React too slowly and rumors fly everywhere; react too fast without thinking it through, and you might make things worse. The most classic disaster case I've seen: a brand had a food safety issue, and PR's first response was to issue a statement saying "testing shows compliance." Then netizens discovered the testing report was expired, and the second wave of backlash was fiercer than the first.
Airline Delay Handled Right
There are also cases handled beautifully. When an airline had a delayed flight and passengers were causing a scene at the airport, PR didn't rush to blame the weather. Instead, they first had ground staff distribute meal vouchers to every passenger and arrange rest areas, while simultaneously contacting media to explain the situation. Once passengers calmed down, they released a formal statement explaining the reasons. In the end, not only did they avoid criticism, but some passengers even posted on social media praising the service.
The core of crisis PR isn't "how to suppress the story"—it's "how to make the public feel this company is still trustworthy." Two different approaches, vastly different outcomes.
Building Media Relationships
Many people think PR is just about treating journalists to meals and giving gifts. That's way too simplistic. The essence of media relations is "mutual need"—journalists need material and news angles, companies need exposure and positive coverage, and PR serves as the bridge between them.
Good media relationships aren't about sending gifts during holidays—it's about being able to provide valuable information to journalists even when there's nothing going on. Industry data, expert opinions, exclusive material—journalists genuinely need these things. When your company has something to announce, that's when they're willing to help.
Those who never reach out until they need something—journalists see right through it, and their attitude about whether to publish and how to frame the story is completely different.
There's another common pitfall: thinking the more journalists you know, the better. It's actually not about quantity—it's about fit. For a tech company to know a bunch of entertainment journalists is useless; core media in your vertical is what matters. Some PR people only have three to five journalist contacts, but they're all core reporters at top industry publications—that's more useful than those who claim to "know hundreds of media people."
The Content Side of Things
Press releases, advertorials, official account articles, short video scripts, CEO speeches, annual report messages... The variety of things PR writes is incredibly diverse.
Press releases are fundamental skills, but writing them well isn't easy. I've seen too many corporate press releases filled with phrases like "our company is proud to launch," "industry-leading," "strong partnership"—journalists delete them immediately because there's no news angle whatsoever. A good press release thinks from the journalist's perspective: Why is this worth reporting? Why should readers care? What data or details support the story?
Advertorials test your skills even more. High-quality advertorials leave readers feeling they've gained something, and they happen to remember the brand along the way; low-quality advertorials feel like ads from the first line, and people swipe away immediately. A baby products brand once did a piece about infant sleep science—packed with solid information, citing several sleep research findings, and only naturally introducing their product at the end. That article's share rate was more than ten times higher than their hard advertisements.
The Events Side of Things
Press conferences, media briefings, industry forums, brand pop-ups... PR events come in many forms.
Press conferences are the most common, but they're getting harder and harder to make impactful. Media and KOLs have seen it all—ordinary product launches don't interest them anymore. Some companies are getting creative: holding press conferences in the desert, on cruise ships, or turning them into immersive mystery games. The gimmick is there, but costs go up too, and ROI isn't necessarily good.
There are also those who go the opposite direction. One phone brand's launch event just rented a small conference room, with the CEO in t-shirt and jeans talking directly about the product—no fancy stage effects throughout. But it stood out precisely for being "practical" and "unpretentious," with better reach than those events that cost a fortune.
The key is being clear about your purpose. Is it for awareness? Conversion? Establishing industry position? Different goals call for completely different event formats.
Don't Overlook Internal Communications
Many people think PR is only external-facing, but internal work is also part of PR. Employee communications, corporate culture building, internal crisis management—all under PR's domain.
Corporate layoffs are a typical scenario. Handle it poorly, and laid-off employees post exposés, remaining employees panic, external media picks up the story—a chain of troubles. Handle it well, with internal communications done properly, adequate compensation and respect given, consistent external messaging, and negative impact can be contained to a small scope.
Two Approaches to Layoffs
One case: an internet company laying off 30% prepared detailed Q&A documents for all management in advance to ensure consistent messaging; laid-off employees received complete compensation packages and recommendation letters the same day; they didn't proactively issue external statements but had media response scripts ready. Result: almost no negative voices online, and some laid-off employees even posted thank-you messages on social media.
Compare that to another company that also laid off but didn't handle internal communications well—employees only found out they were laid off when they arrived at work that morning, compensation plans were vague, and that afternoon someone was already posting exposés on workplace social apps. By the next day, it was trending.
Data Is Increasingly Important
In the past, PR effectiveness was hard to quantify. When the boss asked "was this money well spent?" PR could only fudge it with vague metrics like number of media placements and readership. Not anymore—now you need to speak with metrics like sentiment monitoring, sentiment analysis, SOV (share of voice), and brand health scores.
Sentiment Monitoring
Real-time tracking of brand mentions and conversation trends across platforms
Sentiment Analysis
AI-powered analysis of whether mentions are positive, negative, or neutral
Share of Voice
Your brand's conversation volume compared to competitors
Sentiment monitoring tools are now standard equipment. Which platforms are discussing you, whether the discussion is positive or negative, how competitors' share of voice compares, what the industry hot topics are... PR needs to look at this data daily. Some companies even assign data analysts to PR teams specifically to produce sentiment reports and track effectiveness.
But data can also lead you astray. I've seen PR teams whose KPI was just "number of media placements," so they kept churning out press releases nobody read—they hit their numbers, but actual impact was basically zero. You still need to focus on actual business objectives. Data is a tool, not the goal.
Government Relations
For businesses with significant government-related operations, government relations is a major part of PR. Policy interpretation, government communications, industry association relationships, qualification applications... These activities have huge business impact but outsiders rarely know about them.
This area runs deep, and every industry is different. In some industries, one policy change means the entire business model needs adjustment—if PR can sense which way the wind is blowing early and help the company prepare, that's real, tangible value. But this is also where it's easiest to cross lines, so having a sense of boundaries is crucial.
So What Does PR Actually Do?
To sum it all up, PR's core is really just one thing: managing the relationship between a company and the outside world. This "outside world" includes media, the public, government, investors, partners, and even the company's own employees.
The difference between good PR and bad PR isn't about how many media contacts you have or how well you write—it's about whether you can truly understand the business, understand what stakeholders want, and then find the balance point.
This profession has a low barrier to entry but a very high ceiling. At its highest level, you're really doing strategic work: What image should the company project? How should it communicate with different groups? When problems arise, how do you minimize the damage? Once you've thought through these questions, the specific execution becomes secondary.
Public Relations is the art of building trust between organizations and the world around them—one conversation, one crisis, one story at a time.