As I continue with my major in Advertisement and Public Relations I still do not have a defined image the differences between advertisement, public relations, and marketing. However, with this semester coming to an end I can now more clearly see what public relations is and how it helps business or any type of organization. My fundamentals of public relations class demonstrated the importance of public relations that I had never seen before. It helps keeps business in a good public eye, but even more important is how hard they work behind the sense. They are there maintaining the brand’s image, keeping the public relation healthy, but also always preparing for anything that may go wrong. At the beginning of this class I described public relations as, “the way a business interacts with the public, allowing them to create the brand image they desire.”
Now I can see that this idea is correct but is missing a lot. Public relations handle much more than the brand image. They manage events, press conferences, and anything that involves communication with the public. I also can see that their goal is not to sell product or serves they are trying to sell the brand. Even if public relations is not trying to sell the product, other parts of the company are. It is important to remember that public relations runs along side advertisement and marketing. It takes all three of these departments to have a successful company. Sometimes through out this semester I was so amazed by how much the public relation department was in charge of I would forget about the other ones. I am an ad focused and I would always think of the ad way of going about things, so it was important for me to remember that I am not in the department for this class. I enjoyed learning about public relations through this class, however it reinforced my belief that I want to follow my career in ad. Even if I do not pursue a career in public relations I do think it was good I was able to learn the basics of it.
Knowing the basics of public relations will help me collaborate easier with public relations workers in the future. It will allow me to know what they are capital of and understand their point of view. I enjoy the selling of products and not brands, and therefore, want to continue my degree with an ad focus.
Through out this semester I have worked very hard on my first ever planned book. This plan book came with a real client and their current problems. It showed me that in public relations you can work for business and organizations no matter how big or small. This plan book took me step by step in how you would create one in a real public relations situation. Now that it is finished, it feels great to have the weight off my shoulders, but it also left me something to be proud of. Most college classes end and you get a grade and move on, but this class left me with a 45 page plan book that has all my hard work and ideas in.

Not everything in the plan book went smoothly. It took a lot of research and preparation to complete. But now I can see all my hard work together and see that it was all worth it! Everything tought me something. From the cover teaching me how to do simple designs on Canvans, to the time line teaching me new skills at excel, I learned something new from everything I did.
Now becoming a senior, I look forward to applying this knowledge into my classes next year. I am excited to be one step closer to start my career in ad, and I know I will be using the knowledge I learned in this class for the rest of my life.






