PRSA Definition of Public Relations: What It Says and Why It Matters

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) defines public relations as "a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics." PRSA announced the definition on March 2, 2012, after 1,447 votes were cast in a public ballot, and adopted it to replace the association's 1982 description of the field.

Originally published March 2012. Updated October 2026.

What does the PRSA definition of public relations say?

The PRSA definition of public relations has four working parts: a process, a strategic purpose, a goal of mutual benefit, and two parties, organizations and their publics. Communications consultant Neville Hobson, writing in March 2012, noted that PRSA's own explanation framed public relations as a communication process.

I read each phrase as doing a specific job.

"Strategic" ties the activity to an organizational goal. A press release sent because someone asked for one is tactical. A press release sent because it advances a stated objective, for a named audience, is strategic. The word draws a line between busy PR and useful PR.

"Communication process" says public relations is ongoing, not a single announcement. A process has inputs, steps, and feedback. It implies that an organization listens as well as speaks, and that it adjusts after each round. A campaign ends. A process continues.

"Mutually beneficial relationships" is the phrase that separates the 2012 wording from older, one-directional definitions. The organization should gain, and so should the audience. If only the organization benefits, the relationship is closer to promotion than to public relations, and audiences usually notice.

"Organizations and their publics" uses the plural on purpose. One company answers to investors, employees, customers, regulators, journalists, and neighbors at the same time, and each group needs something different. Treating "the public" as a single audience is one of the most common planning mistakes in PR.

What the definition leaves out is as useful to know as what it includes. It does not mention ethics, measurement, or the media. PRSA's code of ethics covers the first, and the profession's measurement standards cover the second. The third is deliberate, because media relations is one tactic inside the process and not the definition of the field.

How did PRSA choose the 2012 definition?

PRSA chose its 2012 definition through a public initiative called Public Relations Defined, which ended with a vote on three candidate definitions. The initiative opened to submissions in November 2011 and collected 927 submitted definitions, according to PRSAY's announcement of the final candidates.

The vote count and announcement date come from PRSA's Public Relations Defined site. The 671-vote figure comes from PRmoment's report on the vote.

Two features of the process matter for how you read the result. First, the winning definition took less than half the votes, so most voters preferred one of the other two candidates. Second, the process was open to anyone who wished to take part, which made it more democratic than most professional standards but also meant the electorate was self-selected. People who follow PR industry news voted. People who buy PR services mostly did not.

How does it compare with other definitions of public relations?

The PRSA definition is one of several that professional bodies have published over more than four decades, and each reflects what the profession worried about at the time. Reading them side by side shows a steady drift from analysis and counsel, to adaptation, to reputation, to relationships, and now to trust and strategic management.

The 1978, 1982, and 2012 wordings are summarized in the Wikipedia entry on public relations, and the 1994 British wording appears in the encyclopedia entry by Jensen Zhao. The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) also centers its definition on reputation.

Three patterns stand out. The 1978 definition is the only one that names the public interest, which later definitions replaced with the organization's own goals or with mutual benefit. The reputation-centered wordings sit closest to how most clients describe what they want. And the 2012 PRSA definition is the only one in the table that describes PR as communication, while the 2026 wording moves it into management.

How does my own definition compare?

My definition in For Immediate Release describes great public relations as work that makes the impersonal personal, bridges divides, and builds equity for businesses, personalities, politicians, and others. The two definitions overlap on relationships, but mine names outcomes and PRSA's names a method.

Great pub•lic re•la•tions: 1. helps make the impersonal personal. 2. bridges divides. 3. creates excitement and builds equity for businesses, personalities, politicians, and others.

I wrote it that way because buyers of PR do not hire a "strategic communication process." They hire an outcome: a launch that lands, a reputation that recovers, a CEO whom reporters trust. A definition aimed at buyers should describe what they get.

Why did I question the PRSA vote in 2012?

I questioned the PRSA vote because 1,447 ballots is a small turnout for a global industry. When PRSA's Keith Trivitt responded to my first article on the definition, he described a process of crowdsourcing, public comment, and a two-week public vote. I argued then that the ballots came from people who already work in PR, not from the executives who decide PR budgets.

My larger 2012 argument was about audience. Advertising has the American Association of Advertising Agencies and marketing has the American Marketing Association, and both speak directly to business leaders. I argued that PR organizations such as PRSA and the Council of PR Firms should spend as much effort educating Fortune 1000 buyers about the value of PR as they spend polling their own members.

I still think the point holds. A definition is useful when the person who signs the budget can repeat it. Fourteen years later, most executives I meet describe PR as "getting press," which is exactly the narrow view the 2012 definition tried to widen.

What did the 2026 PRCA definition change?

The 2026 definition from the UK's Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) changed the frame from communication to management. After a member consultation in January 2026, the PRCA published a new definition on February 6, 2026 that calls PR a strategic management discipline. It says PR builds trust, enhances reputation, and helps leaders interpret complexity and manage volatility, with measurable outcomes such as stakeholder confidence and long-term value. The PRCA's consultation document says the change was meant to move public relations away from being seen as publicity and toward being seen as counsel.

The new wording drew criticism almost at once. CommPro's report on the reaction recorded practitioners saying the core definition leaves out ethics and the public good, and that it omits relationship management, which several of them consider a central function. Others questioned whether PR can credibly claim to help leaders manage volatility.

Those objections echo the 2012 debate. Every short definition of public relations has to leave something out, and every body that publishes one gets criticized for the omission. The useful response is to treat any official definition as a starting point and to write your own working definition for your organization.

Does the PRSA definition still work in the AI search era?

The PRSA definition still works as a one-sentence answer, but it says nothing about how audiences now find organizations. A reader who asks an AI answer engine such as ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews what public relations is gets a definition pulled from pages that state it plainly and name their source. This page opens with the PRSA wording, attributed to PRSA, for that reason.

The Everything-PR glossary definition of public relations extends the idea to cover earned media, owned channels, third-party endorsement, and citation inside AI answers. The extension matters because the "publics" in the PRSA definition now include the machines that summarize an organization for everyone else.

You can test this yourself in about ten minutes. Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google what public relations is, then note three things: which definition each one gives, which sources each one cites, and whether any of them mention the 2026 PRCA wording. Then run the same test on your own organization, asking who the leading firms in your category are and what your company does. Compare the answers with the sources you want cited. The gap between the two is a to-do list.

How do you test a PR program against the definition?

You test a PR program against the PRSA definition by asking one question for each of its key terms. If any answer is "I don't know," the program has a gap. Use this five-step audit on a quarterly review.

1. Strategic. Write the business objective each major activity serves. If an activity serves none, cut it or tie it to one.
2. Process. List how the team gathers feedback after each activity, such as reporter replies, audience research, or sales and support input, and what changed because of it.
3. Mutual benefit. For each audience, state what the audience gets from the relationship. A newsletter that only promotes the company fails this test.
4. Publics. Name every group the organization depends on, then check that each has a distinct message, channel, and owner. "General public" is not an answer.
5. Relationships. Identify the five most important relationships, such as key reporters, analysts, investors, partners, or community leaders, and record the last time each one heard from you with something useful.

Teams that run this audit usually find that most of their activity serves one or two audiences and that listening is the weakest step. That finding is more valuable than any definition, because it tells you where to spend next quarter's effort.

Where can you go next to apply the definition?

The relationship logic in the PRSA definition shows up in every PR discipline, and the pages below cover the main ones. Start with the media relations pillar for press coverage and the reputation management guide for long-term perception.

Career readers can compare roles on the public relations job titles list, and buyers can read the breakdown of working with a publicist versus a PR agency, the guide to planning a PR budget, and how to choose a PR firm in 2026. For the agency side of the work, see the 5WPR corporate communications practice and the 5WPR crisis PR practice. To compare firms, use the Everything-PR agency profiles directory.

Frequently asked questions about the PRSA definition

What is the PRSA definition of public relations?

The PRSA definition of public relations is "a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics." PRSA announced it on March 2, 2012.

What did the PRSA definition replace?

The 2012 definition replaced PRSA's 1982 description of public relations, which said that public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.

How many people voted on the PRSA definition?

PRSA reported 1,447 votes. The winning candidate received 671 of them, or 46.4 percent, according to PRmoment.

Is the PRSA definition the only definition of public relations?

No. Other bodies and authors define the field differently, including the 1978 World Assembly definition, the CIPR wording that centers on reputation, the PRCA's 2026 definition, and the definition in my book. The UK's Chartered Institute of Public Relations described reactions to the PRSA definition as mixed.

Is the PRSA definition still current?

PRSA announced it in 2012, and I have not found an announcement that replaced it. The PRCA, a separate UK body, published its own new definition in February 2026, so the field now has more than one official wording in active use.

What is the difference between public relations and publicity?

Publicity is one tactic, the act of getting attention in the media, while public relations is the wider process of building relationships with every audience an organization depends on. The 2026 PRCA consultation said it wanted to move the profession away from being seen as publicity.

Who should write the definition of PR for a company?

The communications leader should draft it and the CEO should approve it. A one-sentence working definition, tied to the company's goals and audiences, keeps budget discussions and agency briefs focused.

Ronn Torossian is the founder and chairman of 5W AI Communications, the AI Communications Firm. He is the publisher of Everything-PR and the author of two best-selling editions of For Immediate Release.