Many business people think the primary objective of public relations is to generate free advertising. That's why they pump out lots of press releases and hope the local newspapers print them.

However, any good public relations professional will tell you this concept of PR is false and wrongheaded for two main reasons:

• Public relations is not and never was the same thing as advertising.
• Public relations is not free and it never was free.

Perhaps creating a press release and having the media pick it up can be misconstrued as free advertising -- especially if you score a few column inches in a reputable newspaper or trade publication.

What a thrill! You received a mention about the size of a small advertisement in your local paper.

And it's important to point out, when it comes to strategic public relations, generating press releases and having them picked up by the media is a low-rent element of any effective public relations program.

Here are three widely accepted definitions of public relations

• From the textbook Effective Public Relations authored by Scott Cutlip, Allen Center and Glen Broom: Public relations is the management function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the publics on whom its success or failure depends.
• From Public Relations News: Public relations is the management function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an individual or an organization with the public interest, and then plans and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.
• From the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA): Public relations helps an organization and its publics to adapt mutually to each other. The term “publics” recognizes the need to understand the attitudes and values of and to develop effective relationships with many different stakeholders such as employees, members, customers, local communities, shareholders other institutions and society at large

The common factor in these definitions is the two-way nature of the relationship. PR calls for equal amounts of listening as well as talking.

PR is a focused effort to gain and maintain positive, continuing relationships with the individuals and institutions that influence your organization's specific sphere of existence.

Public relations' primary objective

Public relations' strategic objective is to positively influence your many publics -- your markets, legislators, analysts, reporters, editors and many others. You want to cause your many publics to maintain a positive impression of your organization and its management team.

To accomplish this goal you must

• Cultivate positive relationships with your publics.
• Make sure the "news" you are generating is really interesting information that your publics care about and a reporter or news publication wants to cover.

Here's how your PR program can achieve this objective

• A strategic public relations firm focuses on controlling your organization's positive reputation as seen by your many publics.
• You want your PR firm to position your organization with your publics -- including the press and analysts and your markets -- as a company to watch, work with and buy from. When that happens, the audiences you address will find an organization that's interesting, ethical, solid and valuable.

And that's how they'll think about you and talk about you to the rest of the world.

And that's what strategic public relations is all about.