Is formal training necessary for a public relations professional? Forward Blog argues that it is:
Nevertheless, I raise the issue because PR students need to be aware of a significant trend in the profession: simply stated, and it does not matter whether one works in house or on the agency side, PR practitioners today are being stretched to their limits, and being asked to do far more than ever before by their clients and/or management teams. In other words, PR pros may be asked, perhaps even required, to design and execute an advertising campaign; develop an investor relations outreach program; pull together a high-level customer event; conduct media tours of sophisticated manufacturing facilities; interpret financial statements for a reporter from Investor’s Business Daily; or author an ironclad non-disclosure agreement. All of the aforementioned tasks require significant marketing and business school knowledge — information which, generally speaking, is not covered in undergraduate PR programs. In my day-to-day responsibilities, I have to cover all of this ground (my employer likes to operate lean), and there is no way I would be able to do so, or understand the subject matter, unless I had the education that made it possible.
