Recently, after leaving my own city, I was absolutely clueless on the very subject of “Public Relation” (PR) even though I had decided to undertake a course in PR. As our Dean shared with us the library key, I found the book ‘The Art and Craft of PR’ authored by Sandra Stahl. She is a recognized thought leader in PR strategy and audience connectivity. Additionally, she has authored articles for AdAge, PRWeek, PM360, Pharmaceutical Executive, Fox News outlets, Woman Entrepreneur, and the Journal of the American Dental Association. She is now one of the faculty members at the Brand & Integrated Communications graduate programme at the City College of New York.
This book has several chapters, which comprise well-articulated knowledge, thoughts and experiences of the author in PR. This book is built around the idea that PR, as a communication discipline, has no boundaries. The author has firmly established the concept that a PR professional does not have a ‘silo’ that confines his/her professional capabilities or growth. This book has successfully broken the generalized perception that PR is all about brand or company promotion. By reading few chapters, readers will understand that PR is all about creating an attraction among stakeholders to the message that is being delivered by the PR professional, to the actions and the initiatives that are being taken by the professional and there only lies the excitement and satisfaction of a PR professional. Stahl has wonderfully garnished her writing with her extensive experience in the PR profession and also with some of the relevant quotes by famous personalities across the world. This book has wonderfully defined what PR is in a changing environment. Throughout the pages, readers will find a user’s manual for developing and nurturing the mindset required for the art for PR, together with the fundamental skill-set necessary to meet today’s communication challenges, which includes mastery of the fundamentals, cultivating unquenchable curiosity, and creativity, the art of listening and never losing sight of business objectives.
I liked the book because of its lucid language and simple manner of detailing the in and out of PR as a subject and profession. I could connect with the knowledge because of the live examples of the experiences that the author has gained in her entire professional life. I was attracted to the idea that PR professionals are not only speakers and writers, but they are also listeners and influencers of a business. If I were the writer of this book, I would try to make the content more like a story rather than framing it with some bullet points. I will suggest this book to the people who are thinking about a PR career because ‘The Art and Craft of PR’ is a linchpin for PR students and novices as it has represented a portfolio of strategies and insights that will inspire PR practitioners of today and tomorrow.
-Chandrayee Mukherjee
SHEis an Alumna of the Class of 2020 of PG Programme in PR and Corporate Communications at SCoRe, Mumbai. She completed her winter internship with Genesis BCW She is from Konnagar.
She did her Bachelors in English literature and language from Asutosh College, Kolkata. A small town-girl with so many dreams in her eyes, a travel enthusiast, foodie, pluviophile, music-lover, nature-lover, feminist, and an Aspiring PR professional. She loves Reading fiction, Writing poems and blogs, Singing.
