The role of public relations is to gain favourable editorial publicity in the media about company products and services, with the emphasis not so much on maintaining understanding, as on enhancing and influencing it.
Public relations is a key part of the marketing mix.
When compared with other elements such as advertising, PR is recognised as offering a cost-effective method of gaining awareness with the ultimate aim of stimulating sales. The fundamental difference with PR is that no money changes hands in obtaining the publicity, the idea is to provide interesting material to journalists that they will publish as news, thereby adding third party credibility.