Public relations is not just sending out a press release or invitations to an event. It is the profession of managing communications between an organization and its audiences. As a public relations professional, you develop and execute communications programs that consider and support such corporate goals as reputation, the selling of products or services, recruitment of employees, or encouragement of investments. You can do this as an in-house professional at the company or as a client service if you work in an agency. If you want to apply your science journalism skills to corporate public relations, they will be highly prized by pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, technology, and related companies. You not only comprehend the facts about environmental, physical, or life sciences, you can make them understandable to others. You can accurately and efficiently translate the function and value of a product or service to audiences as varied as customers, stockholders, regulators, and journalists, all of whom have different levels of scientific understanding. But being savvy about the scientific process and journalism is not enough. You also have to understand the business. Yes, it is about the money or, rather, commercial decision-making. To do your job well, you must know how the company makes money, who runs the show, who are the customers, how the business will grow, how it is regulated, and who are the existing or potential partners and competitors. And you should know these aspects as well as you know the company's research and development pipeline, patents, or marketed products or services. As someone who made the transition from managing public relations about medical research for academic and governmental organizations to that of Pharmaceuticals and biotechs, I can say that mastering “the business stuff” is possible. Many excellent resources are available, but start by skimming business magazines, checking out Hoover's Online (www.hoovers.com), and reading the annual reports of your company or clients. To manage corporate public relations, you need a program, which is the blueprint that captures the vision and the means to obtain it. Programs are very structured and have goals, objectives, strategies, and measurable tactics to achieve them.
