"Public Relations or PR is a term we’re all very used to hearing. A bit like the phrase ‘offside’ in football. But, as with offside, just because we hear a phrase a lot, it doesn’t necessarily mean we know what it is!

So, for the uninitiated, PR is the management of communications between an organisation and its publics. It can be used to build rapport with customers, potential customers, employees, investors or the general public.

And generally speaking, PR uses methods and tools that don’t require direct payment. Such as working with the press, speaking at conferences or employee and customer communications.

It would have been fitting to sum up by returning to my original point and including a definition of the offside rule - but despite consulting numerous sources, I’m still not 100 percent clear!"

Emma Pyott, MCIPR