I am a Public Relations MA Student completing four weeks of work experience. Fortunately, my work placement at the Phoenix Partners, a marketing communications agency, has given me the opportunity to get an inside look at how Marketing and Public Relations can work together.

Marketing and public relations are both used to "promote" a person or a business, and I have learned that they can go hand-in-hand. The marketing department handles the financial aspect of communication through advertisement while the public relations department keeps in touch with the public and handles the company’s public image.

Together, the marketing team and public relations department work together to promote and publicise your business through a well-structured communications campaign.

However, Marketing and Advertising enjoy full professional recognition while Public Relations still is not recognised as a profession.

Nevertheless, this has not prevented the growth and expansion of public relations practice: with thousands of established public relations agencies and practitioners existing in the UK alone.

But why is public relations seen in this way? Is the practice of public relations fully understood?

Do you know how many of the stories in the newspaper are taken from well-written press releases issued from public relations officers? Do you know how many times your way of thinking has been influenced by the hard work of a public relations practitioner? It is an indefinable number, so lets follow a campaign that we all know.

Think about the concept of recycling and its recent history. Vast amounts of people now recycle and the overall importance of recycling or being eco-friendly is well-known, but how do you think those ideas were made reality? A well-prepared public relations campaign that stretched over a number of years!

Someone had an idea, and through good communications management, those ideas were filtered to the press, posters were made, flyers were distributed, press releases written, announcements were made... and the list goes on!

However, the general public is unaware of the behind-the scenes activity needed to distribute this information. They simply receive the message. All of that is PR!
There are so many public relations practitioners out there who genuinely get excited and are passionate about their work, and I have been privileged to come into contact with a few of them, and this has sparked not only an interest but an eagerness to fully immerse myself in the field.

I am personally excited about the field of public relations, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a challenging and exciting career choice.

Gemma Holder