This comprehensive course is aiming to teach a new strategic public relations approach reflecting changing marketing and communication needs of today?s world. This new approach focuses on those individuals and groups who influence the opinion and decision of the target audience, and has been increasingly used by major organizations over the last decade. This course will analyze theory and applications of this new marketing and communication approach in an interactive learning environment. Key topics that will be covered in the course are: Public relations concepts & definitions, Public Relations' role in organizations, public relations ethics and principles, corporate communication, strategic communication, planning and tailoring communication for the target audience, research and evaluation techniques, media relations, internal communication, crisis communication &management, consumer relations, public sector and government relations, Influencer mapping-identifying &ranking influencers, effective influencer relations, marketing through and with influencers, word of mouth, community and social responsibility programs , future of PR and influencer marketing: issues and opportunities.