What is PR? Reputation, relationships, and media
By Joel Andren · Published by PressFriendly, a PR agency · Reviewed July 15, 2026 · 1 of 6 in this section
Public relations is the management of communication and relationships between an organization and the people affected by it. The Public Relations Society of America defines PR as a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics. For a startup, those publics can include customers, users, employees, candidates, investors, partners, journalists, analysts, regulators, and local communities.
Media relations is one PR discipline. It focuses on working with journalists and other independent editorial decision-makers. PR can also include employee communication, crisis and issues management, executive communication, public affairs, investor communication, analyst relations, events, community engagement, and reputation research. The appropriate mix follows from the company's stakeholders and objectives.
PR uses paid, earned, shared, and owned channels
PR is an organizational function. Paid, earned, shared, and owned describe how communication reaches people and who controls publication or distribution. The AMEC Integrated Evaluation Framework applies all four channel types when planning and measuring communication.
| Channel | Publication control | Startup examples | Main constraint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paid | The company buys distribution and controls the approved creative | Advertising, sponsored content, paid partnerships, promoted social posts | Distribution stops when spending stops, and sponsorship must be identifiable |
| Earned | An independent editor, journalist, analyst, event organizer, or other gatekeeper decides what appears | Reported articles, reviews, organic podcast invitations, analyst mentions, speaking invitations | The company cannot guarantee publication, timing, tone, or final wording |
| Shared | The company, participants, and platform share control | Social discussions, community forums, partner campaigns, user groups | Participants can reinterpret the message, and platform rules affect reach |
| Owned | The company controls publication | Website, newsroom, newsletter, reports, executive posts, employee updates | The company controls the asset but does not control whether people trust, share, or act on it |
The same PR program may use all four. A product launch might include an owned technical explanation, earned media outreach, a shared customer discussion, and paid distribution for a recorded event. The plan should assign a purpose to each channel and measure it according to that purpose.
Earned coverage is independent attention
Earned coverage means an independent editorial party chose to publish. It can be positive, neutral, mixed, or critical. Publication shows editorial interest in the subject. It does not mean the outlet endorses the company, product, or claim.
The company or its representative can propose a story, supply evidence, arrange interviews, and correct factual errors. The publisher controls whether to cover the subject and how to frame the final work. Sponsored articles, paid reviews, and influencer partnerships belong in paid media and require appropriate disclosure. The Federal Trade Commission's native advertising guidance explains that commercial content may need clear and prominent disclosure when its format could be mistaken for independent editorial content.
Channel labels do not determine department ownership
Marketing, PR, product, customer success, people, and executive teams often use the same channels. Department names vary by company. Assign ownership through the objective and the required expertise:
- A product page intended to convert buyers usually belongs to marketing or product marketing.
- A public response to a security incident belongs to the cross-functional incident team, with communication, security, legal, and executive owners.
- A reporter pitch belongs to media relations, with company subject-matter experts responsible for the facts.
- An employee update about an acquisition belongs to the transaction and people teams, with communication support.
- A customer community discussion may sit with community, customer success, developer relations, product, or PR, depending on its purpose.
The page on PR, marketing, advertising, growth, and content provides a working division of responsibilities. Use stakeholder mapping before selecting channels, and record channel ownership in the PR strategy.
The operating model can change without changing the function
A founder can lead early communication, an employee can own it in-house, a freelancer can handle a defined project, a fractional leader can build the program, or an agency can provide a team and specialist capacity. Each model is still PR when the work manages stakeholder communication and relationships in support of an organizational objective.
Whoever runs execution needs access to the same inputs: business context, stakeholder research, accurate facts, subject-matter experts, approval owners, risk constraints, and outcome data. The company remains accountable for what it communicates and how it treats the people affected.