Monday, September 24, 2007
Lucky Last Blog of Awesome Fabulousness
Well well the lucky last blog of PR. Did anyone else seem to think this chapter was extra long or was it just me? Probably just me :-) Any hoo better press on…
The key points to remember from this weeks reading are:
- research is undertaken at all stages of the PR process
- research contributes to the input, output and overall outcome of an event or campaign
- researcher has a choice of qualitative or quantitative methodologies depending on type of info required
- research is used to identify the requirement for a communication program, assist in establishing that program, to check progress and evaluate the effectiveness
- needs to be ongoing
- thorough research keeps track of budgets
- "the use of research positions public relations as a purposive, goal-directed, and problem-solving management function" (Broom and Dozier)
- time, money and the availability of human resources are three of the most difficult obstacles that can prevent a thorough research program
- recognising the level of research skills and knowledge in the organisation can identify further obstacles in the research process
- research techniques include; surveys, mail, face-to-face and internet
- some other commonly used techniques include; focus groups, case studies (which we have all learnt throughout this textbook), analysis of data, feedback analysis, media monitoring, benchmark research, environmental monitoring, testemonials, expert review and secondary information sources
- one of the most effective ways in measuring research is through inputs, outputs and outcomes
(I'll just state here that the diagram of the research and process model was rather clear and informative, helping to describe the importance of the research relationship and furthering my understanding)
- input research indicates what problems or opportunities exist, what the perceptions and beliefs of the publics are, and what tools or methods of communication would be most effective in helping the organisation achieve its objectives
- includes status, history, overview of previous campaigns and SWOT analysis
- public must be segemented into target groups
- exploratory research offers details on the situation and often reveals gaps in the info at hand
- secondary research is gathered from existing resources
- benchmarking is used to identify the situation before a program or campaign is implemented and then measure the success or failure
- output research gathers info on the message and activity content
- useful for measuring activities
- measured the effectiveness and quality of the communication mix
- outcome research indicates the levelof success or failure and demonstrates the effectiveness of the planning and communication
- primary and secondary research are so obvious by now that after doing ancient history if I didn't know what the difference was, I shouldn't be at university
(On my ancient history note, the same goes for qualitative and quantitative research - also found in business studies - and so as I already knew a great deal about these, it wasn't very new information)
- PRIA's code of ethics should be taken into account when undergoing research programs
- formal and informal research methods can be used to gather information with the choice of methodology depending on the levels of reliability needed, information required and budget
- input and output research are necessary to plan, monitor and manage successful PR activites, with outcome research measuring the overall success of failure of a program
The reading this week made me think more about PR from a research point of view. As nearly every chapter of this book has proven, nothing is very simple in public realtions. It's not just the idea of going out to research a campain; there are many steps and factors that need to be considered. I never knew something as instrumental as researching could be so intense.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Almost finished
Week 10
How smart am I?! I read the whole of chapter 7 through and thought “Wow PR repeats itself!” Heaps clever me didn’t realise we’ve actually already read that chapter previously until I went and checked on Blackboard that I’d read the right stuff. Anyways…
I’m going to attempt point form again after my weak effort last week and hopefully improve on it. (even though it only half worked...copying and pasteing from Word into here just didn't work very well and I got too stressed trying to fix it so it looks half decent)
Firstly, I found the key points in Chapter 7 to be:
It is a necessity for PR practitioners to think and practice strategically in order to be relevant in today’s organisations
Stages of strategic process in PR are:
Creation of vision and mission statements
Establishment of performance indicators
Budgeting
Writing a strategic PR plan
Scheduling of plan activities
· Strategy is not a series of campaign steps or tactics – it is the guide of these
· Strategies must be designed for all communications groups amongst PR (employees, government, community)
· Characteristics of excellent communication departments include; two way communication between top management and stakeholders; formal and informal research techniques to understand the organisation and identify key issues; and managers who accept responsibility for the success or failure of programs
· Chief executives set the tone for corporate communication
· The planning of a public relations strategy is crucial to business success in strategic plans
· Vision and mission statements are used to define and determine what you are doing and where your business is heading. Vision statements describe the future state of the organisation, mission statements describe the steps to be taken to reach this state
· Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were developed to gauge operational performance between one period and the next, measuring the most important performance results eg revenue
· Argued that KPIs are not well suited for PR strategies as results of public relations work can be intangible in nature
· The ten point structure of the communication plan looks a lot like Year 12 Business Studies reports
· Budgeting is crucial in a PR plan to help determine costs and limits. “No plan, no matter how strategic, can succeed without successful and effective budgeting”
· “No plan can be implemented without thorough scheduling”
· Lists allow organisation and keeping order to watch every step of the public relations process. They prevent anything being forgotten or starting too late.
· Flowcharts, Calenders and Gantt charts help in the organisation, planning, scheduling and structure of a PR plan and help to avoid mistakes and keep things running smoothly
It all came flooding back when I realised this chapter is Year 12 Business Studies all over again and that I’d mentioned that several times previously. So I won’t babble on about that again.
The key points I found in Chapter 8 were:
A huge range of tactics are available to PR practitioners including newsletters, direct mail, advertising, internet sites, media relations, competitions, videos, lobbying and meetings
Many campaigns owe their success to the use of tactics that are not overt (keeping out of the media spotlight)
Tactics can be broken up into two major groups – controlled and uncontrolled
Controlled tactics are those over which the PR practitioner maintains control over every aspect of the process
Uncontrolled tactics are those which can be altered or blocked completely
Methods of delivery of an item of communication (such as post mail, faxes, email, couriers, CD-ROMS, videos and personal delivery) actually play a critical role in determining impact and effectiveness
Research is one of the best known tools for forming and evaluating campaigns
Media relations requires careful consideration as it effects interest, news, coverage and message delivery
Brochures, leaflets, fliers and other printed material are some of the most commonly used tactics
Paper size is actually an important consideration, as is colours and embossing. These can be cost effective
I started getting lost when the section about binding came into it so I just left that part
Annual reports record the highlights and challenges experienced by an organisation
Newsletters and mail help in maintaining communication and interest when advertising messages and information
The designing of a document is crucial, down to font, typeface and size, colours, layouts and style of writing
A brand defines how a company wants to be perceived
Photographs are used as a visual medium
The end of this chapter started to get a little waffle like I noticed, with sections about celebrity spokespeople, advertising, events and presentations, and to take note on these was to state the obvious (like the photographs point) which I just didn’t see relevant and didn’t really help in my understanding as a lot of it was fairly general.
It was interesting to see how something as small as the method of delivery and paper size could have such an important effect on the campaign. There are so many tactics to be considered in a PR campaign and this week’s readings helped further my understanding of that. It is obvious grammar and text is an important feature, but to have four pages of it in a textbook is a tad extreme.
Just a tad late...
This week I thought I’d have a go with point form in outlining what I have learnt and understood from the reading. The main points I focussed on are:
• How newspaper editors detest clichéd events such as ribbon cutting ceremonies (bit random I thought)
• Sponsorship should not be confused with donations, philanthropy or bequests – sponsorship expects a return
• Sponsorship creates goodwill and provides opportunities to enhance a companies image
• There are 3 main types of sponsorship; philanthropic, corporate and marketing
• Both positives and negatives must be determined when planning a sponsorship proposal ie how it will effect the image
• Sponsorship proposals would be informative and to the point – don’t get carried away discussing the event in detail. Focus on what the reader will want to know and why they should have a part in it.
• Ambush marketing is when a company associates themselves with an event unfairly eg a hot air balloon over a football game
• There are several tactics to prevent ambush marketing which include recognition of sponsor and controlling of event
• Media coverage (event publicity) is critical
• “News is anything that can make a reader say; “Gee Wizz!”” – Arthur MacEwen
• Product demonstration can present opportunities for products to be recognised
• Events must be planned to particular detail including funds, preparation, organisation and execution of the actual event
• Risk amanagement is recquired – O’Toole and Mikolaitis process of “Identfy→Assess→Treat→Monitor→Evaluate”
The readings made me think more about Sponsorship in Public Relations and what exactly needs to be undertaken in this process. There is so much that needs to be done in PR and each week this is still being recognised.
Overall the dot point thing worked rather well, however it made my blog look rather small and uneducated. It helped me pick out the critical points in short, nail on the head parts, but I found I wasn’t as in depth as other weeks.
Me and my awesome memory
Monday, September 10, 2007
Oops
My post this week is sitting comfortably in a folder in word on my computer at home. Me with my fabulous memory forgot to actually post it and I just remembered as I'm sitting in another tute staring at my PR textbook procrastinating ever so well (see good thing I am coz this reminded me). I won't be home until late tonight but as soon as I can my blog will be posted. Sorry!
Monday, September 3, 2007
What Lovely Readings! :-D
Week 8
Well first of all I was heaps proud because I FINALLY found the extra readings besides the text book for once. Woohoo go journals! I can actually use them! Personally that article really didn’t do much (To contact…or not?). There were a few points that were interesting, in particular the quotes by the journalists towards PR practitioners: “To be completely honest, [practitioners] put spin on everything they do. They are dishonest and untrustworthy. I can treat PR people like crap, and they have to put up with it”, and “I could not do my job without PR people [who] bring important stories to our attention. Without PR many important news stories would not reach the public”. These quotes immediately gained my attention as I’m included in the debate this week about the power of journalists and PR practitioners and I touch on the fighting relationship between the two. All the different results from the research conducted about PR practitioners and journalists was fairly interesting, as it gave an insight to little things amongst the professions, for example, the tiny factor of how journalists prefer to be contacted by a public relations person. This is only a simple thing, but contributes to the communication and harmonious relationship that exists between the two.
“The Importance of Writing Skills” again just reinforced information that I had already gathered so far of how important the form of writing is in public relations. However, for someone to write a five page article on it was pretty impressing and definitely worth the read. Wise went into particular detail, and the section devoted to “Methods” was seen to be helpful. The emphasis placed on the difference between regular writing (for publications like newspapers or magazines) and writing for the Web helped further my knowledge. He focused on that in careful detail, which I thought was a key point as some people might not realize that different forms of advertising and media require different forms of writing. And as always there was a segment dedicated to “so what separates a good writer from an average writer?” How many times have I seen something like that? I can assure you it’s more than once.
The second article “How To...Ten Steps to Press Release Perfection” linked together with the Writing Skills article as it focused on the key points of how to write a press release. I really liked this article as it showed the basic 10 facts of how to write a press release, explaining what to do and what not to do. This took me back to semester one’s course Introduction to Professional Writing, when we covered the section on media releases. The fact that I had this background knowledge helped in my understanding and this article showed instead the views of writing in the form of the public relations profession, rather than the journalistic profession (which is what Prof Writing mainly focused on).
Overall, this week’s readings helped to brush up on my knowledge that I have gained so far and enforce the importance of key features and facts of PR. Indeed the best and most enjoyable readings so far (I can’t believe I described readings as enjoyable…but you get my drift).
Monday, August 27, 2007
Is time really going this fast?
Week 7
This week I have only focused on chapter 10 of Public Relations Theory and Practice as I could not find the other readings and several people I asked also had no clue as to where to find them. So it was plenty of textbook analysis for me.
The reading this week broadened my understandings of the relationship PR practitioners have with all forms of media. It is important in the PR world to have strong and positive connections with the media. Page 263 states how “the practitioner will use the media in their role of issues manager, monitoring trends, government policy and legislation, debates and opinion”. Basically I saw this to enhance the idea that the media influences public relations in a number of ways.
Another key point I noticed was the listing of the ‘eight news values’; impact, conflict, timeliness, proximity, prominence, currency, human interest and the unusual. Several of these were familiar as they were mentioned in last semester’s course Introduction to Professional Writing. By allocating one or more of these values to a story or event helps to determine whether it may or may not be news worthy.
I found the sections on Deadlines and Newsroom Hierarchy really interesting. It was a fascinating thing to learn about that was different to PR work all the time, even though it was still relevant. In other terms, it was like learning two things at the same time. I thought this was a really positive thing for anyone who is interested at working in a newsroom of some sort.
The explanations of the different ‘items’ in ‘Media Kits’ helped further my understanding of the different kinds of writings required in PR. There are several ways to write information, and each item may be more suitable for a different situation.
The section on Media Conferences was rather familiar. It seemed to be a lot of facts that I had already accumulated knowledge of (yes once again some in business studies in year 12!) But it was handy again to freshen up my understanding.
Only brief this week (despite the long list of required readings). All in all this weeks reading was fairly interesting and once again I walked away feeling more knowledgeable and that my brain had just been introduced to some more interesting and important facts about public relations. I must admit, this subject is proving to be more and more appealing every week.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Half Way Already!
Firstly I must start off by saying I’ve been rather sick the past week and so my absorption of information has not been the greatest. I know it’s not a fabulous excuse but bear with me; I’ve had very little strength and concentration levels. Blast winter!
No business studies references this week. The readings stood on their own in the PR world.
I thought the fist half of Chapter Four wasn’t very helpful or informative at all. It just seemed to focus on the laws and legal rights of publications. It felt like a textbook for Law, not Public Relations. However I did learn what defamation means! And also the three tests for defamation, the defences against defamation, and whether or not a person can or cannot be defamed. The section on copyright was just like having my common knowledge reinforced. Previous subjects such as Foundations of Media Productions touched on copyright and no matter what you are dealing with, the laws are generally the same. You cannot take information from anywhere else unless you have permission to do so. Similar to the copyright point was the section on contracts. It just all seemed to be information that I’d heard before.
I agree with the point made on page 105 of chapter five; “Today’s technology has further reduced the ability of practitioners to communicate truthfully with integrity, as PowerPoint slides and media news bites have reduced communications to bullet points, distilling complex issues into simple propositions”. The ideas and issues are put forward into measly little 4 word points, rather than full, informative sentences.
Chapter Five was much more interesting about the roles and frameworks of ethics in public relations. This is an issue I believe that needs to be reinforced over again; whether or not you may be hurting someone with what you are saying or writing. I particularly liked the reference of the “role of the corporate conscience” – how a job of the PR practitioner is to be the conscience of the organisation and serve as the moral keeper for both its communications and actions, and also to encourage truth telling.
The readings also taught me of all the different ethical dilemmas that arise on different levels being interpersonal, organisational and stakeholders. PR practitioners are put in very compromising positions when it comes to ethics, as they are the decision makers and peace makers in this particular issue.
I do believe my heavy headness has contributed to the flakiness of this week’s blog and for that I apologise. Tune in next week for a bit more intellectual and educational waffle :-)
Monday, August 13, 2007
Week 5 (yeah already I know!)
The readings this week helped me to understand the strategies that need to be taken when implementing a PR assignment. As I mentioned last week, I am reminded strongly again by my year 12 business studies, with the discussing of a Situational Analysis, Executive Summary and Target Audiences. Both the textbook and article touched on these topics, along with the processes that need to be followed when applying PR.
I honestly think that the background knowledge of business studies, hence the subjects being discussed, helps in my understanding of PR and the small pieces that are included in this profession. I won’t spend my time comparing the two, but I just think it is an important point to be noted. Whether anyone else agrees is not really important. It is important that this helps in my understanding and learning.
The textbook reading, “Strategy, Planning and Scheduling”, broadened my knowledge of what steps need to be taken in order to successfully function a public relations process. I linked this with a chef and team cooking an important banquet. Firstly, the banquet must be planned and strategically organised down to the last detail: cost of items, budget, time, strengths, and weaknesses. All these issues must be taken into account with the entire team before cooking the big function. This is exactly like PR. Each tiny detail must be planned and scrutinised before taking action in order for a successful campaign. This reading highlighted this importance, focusing on details such as strategic planning, budgeting, scheduling, vision and mission statements, lists and flowcharts. It was interesting to see how flowcharts can be used not only in the business corporation world. By planning everything out on a calendar or chart helps PR practitioners to see where they are standing, where they are heading, and what they need to be doing. The example of the Gantt chart in the reading on page 187 was a really good preview. All these things fall obviously under the title of planning and scheduling.
Much of the rest I thought was pretty self explanatory. The journal reading, “A Typical Public Relations Program”, touched on planning ideas such as target audiences and methods of research. Once again with my business studies background I knew that to market an item, the correct target audience must be established and hence to define these, different research methods must be taken. I know understand that this is the case in PR. When marketing a business, function or product, the correct methods must be followed in order to reach the desired market. This all links with the campaigns of a PR program of what communicational process must be used in order to reach the audiences required and objectives made.
I never knew a budget was such a huge part of PR. Obviously I knew it must slot in there somewhere, but I never knew how influential and critical money was in this profession. A set amount must be recognised in order for a successful campaign, with no over spending or drastic expenditures. The statement of “there is just no point in spending money unless you have a reasonable chance of achieving your objective and, more importantly, unless the benefit to be gained from reaching that objective is worth more that the cost of getting there” sums it up pretty well I think.
So far, each week I have learnt something new and important about PR and that it is a lot more intense than I thought. There’s much more to it than I first realised and am looking forward to furthering my discovering and understanding.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Week 4
The readings this week, in particular 'Insider Info', made me think more about PR practices in that the interviews gave a clear and firsthand view of experiencing the PR world. The diary layouts of "My Week" helped me understand so much more of what is expected in this field of work. I thought this was an excellent way of drafting the different tasks of personnel in this line of work. It was interesting seeing the similarities and differences between different positions, whether you may be an Executive Director of a Hospital Foundation, a Media and Communications Manager, or a PR Consultant.
The chapter ‘Internal and Community Relations’ first reminded me of Year 12 Business Studies with the first section talking about “employee goodwill” and “management organisational structures”. I believe my background knowledge of these subjects helped in the understanding of the tools of communication and relationships in PR. The quote by Mackay (1993:288) is an excellent expression of how working in such a professional and demanding line of work must not change the way human beings interact and communicate. This is one point I gathered from the community relations. Again, the mention of “negotiation” emphasises the fact that strong internal relations within a company raises output and helps strengthen an organisation. All lengths must be taken to ensure a successfully communicating and functioning establishment.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Week 3
The readings made me think more about PR theories and practice in that each of the different theories and approaches much be correctively chosen for each situation. There is no one theory in the field of Public Relations, but many varied accounts which are suitable for unique situations.
The readings also outline how the profession of Public Relations is changing dramatically over time. New theories are helping to expand PR and create a new world within advertising and marketing. This is one of the key things that I have learnt from this week. Public Relations is a broad and unique field that has been created and developed to form a vast new profession amongst the marketing business world.
Monday, July 23, 2007
The Wonders of Our Lecture
As I have not obtained the textbook yet I'll comment on the lecture. Firstly, I think that Melanie presents this subject and topics in an interesting way which holds my attention much better than the lovely semester one subject of Intro to Comm. The slides with short and direct points to then be explained further by Melanie helps in understanding the concepts, as we saw with The Four Models of Public Relations. The lecture also helped me to understand the difference between marketing and PR and the main objectives between the two, and how PR is on a different level to marketing and advertising.
As my memory is terrible and Melanie went a bit too fast between slides so my notes are half scribbled, this is all I can really remember :-S