There's no one answer to this question. You can take a degree in PR, work for an in-house PR department or an agency, but however you get into PR there's no replacement for experience, "the nose" for a good story, a commitment to hard work and the expertise in putting it together so that the press will print it.

And after all that, there's also knowing how to handle the press. Knowing which day to call them (never on a deadline!), understanding how to manage a negative story, and how to deal with radio and TV.

But, unlike most agencies, we don't think all this should be a big secret. There are things you can do yourself. That's why we've produced our FREE PR Toolkit "18 ways to get your company in the press... and one no-no". It's FREE so please register to download it.

Advertising works just as well. Right? Wrong. While ads are OK some of the time, consider this: When was the last time you picked up the paper to read the ads? I mean the big "run-of-paper" ads, not the classified ads for cars or jobs.

Ever? Never, we bet!

You buy your local paper, or trade magazine to read about the articles that are "news", and useful features that interest, entertain or educate you. Don't you?

And that's where PR comes in. Working on the basis of giving the media something that is of interest to their readers/listeners, PR can get your company messages out there.