Chapter 6

Key points from this weeks reading:

• Research is an important stage for any public relations program.

• Both input and output research helps in the planning, monitoring and managing any PR program.

• Output research provides an insight into the effectiveness of the program

• There are many methodologies available for research; organisations should choose an appropriate research method depending on their environment, requirements, objectives and budget.

There is a need for research in PR programs. Why so?

Well it’s because research allows practitioners to ask questions and gather information that assists tem in the planning stages and also helps in developing the strategies used to have a successful campaign. It also helps in evaluating if the program was successful, thus research is needed throughout the whole PR program.

Research is needed as most of the time PR teams work with a budges which needs to be accoutred for and monitored for its accuracy and relevancy. Public relations dose research to find out more about there environment which they will have their campaign and most importantly their target audience. Based on these understandings they can decide on their aims, goals and targets.

Time, money and human recourse is some of the obstacles that some in the way of research in public relations. Research can be costly therefore it becomes a challenge to decide on what to decide. Clear goals needs to be set so that the research dose result in a wastage f money and time. PR practitioners need to have a clear understanding of the principals of research.

Input research informs practitioners about the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) of the campaign. It shows the beliefs of the public and helps in choosing the right method of communicating the massage to the public. Gathering existing information and evaluating previous campaigns is also essential as it might show flows that need to be mend or it would also tell the practitioners what not to research as the information is already there.

Output research is like a process which takes information from the outside and feeds back to the organisation to better their campaign strategy so that the campaign is successful. It is like evaluating the progress of the campaign and having a chance to improve it by developing and enhancing the strategy of giving the massage to the target audience.

Outcome research can only measure to what extent the campaign was successful and how helps to see hoe well the objectives were met. This information becomes a base for the next campaign done; it becomes an existing info from which practitioners can evaluate and improve the planning process.

Methodology is the way of research selected by the PR practitioners to gather information. It could be a formal research where methods like quantitative or qualitative research are conducted. On the other hand it could also be an informal research where there are no rules provided.

One a methodology is selected the technique needs to be decided. Techniques include surveys, mail, telephone, face to face and the internet (email and electronic questioners). Other techniques can also be used to gather information which are in-depth interviews, focus groups, ethnographic studies, feedback analysis, media monitoring and many more.

There are many techniques but if would be wise not to just do a research without analysing what information is really required. As mentioned before research is time consuming and expensive.

To do any research an ethical consideration is required. It is essential for the practitioners to make sure that the information gathered is accurate and not manipulated in anyway. At the end of the day it is all in being responsible and ethical during gathering the information and choosing the correct methods of research which will allow PR practitioners to gather information successfully.

Chapter 8

I think from this weeks reading the key points to keep in mind would be:

1. Tactics can be used in a campaign, but for it to become successful there needs to be an analytical and creative thinking process done first.
2. The tactics need to be in consideration with the important factors of the campaign.
3. Tactics need to relate back to the strategic plan.
4. Finally pr practitioners need to execute the event using the tactics while giving a clear massage to the target audience keeping in mind the available budget.

One thing I learnt was that strategy is the plan that allows the pr practitioners to ensure that an organisation is achieving their goals; strategic plan is what decides what tactics to use in a campaign. There are many tactics that can be used in a campaign, but as time has changed there have been more complications arising.
There is two major types of tactics controlled and uncontrolled. In controlled the pr practitioners are in control of everything starting from crating the massage to the final outcome, in contrast uncontrolled tactics would be when the program can be altered by someone else or even blocked completely.
The method the pr team chooses to deliver the massage is curtail as it impacts the effectiveness of the massage. Methods of delivery could be mail, cd-rom, video, fax etc. With new technologies improving getting the massage has become more effective, now pr teams can look analyse and research about their target audience.
Selecting the correct tactic for a particular campaign is where research needs to be done and the pr practitioners need to know how to imply the tactics so that it would apply the massage to their intended audience. Next would be thinking id media relations is required, if the campaign needs to put a massage and have a cost effective way of reaching the audience fast and simple than getting in tough with the media would be the best option. Other materials such as brochures and flayers are used with other tactics when also the mass audience and when the campaign requires a lasting document of information. The colour, size biding are all elements that needs to be looked into when preparing the flyer or broachers as it impacts how the massage is going to be understood.
Annual report gives a detailed analysis of the organisations challenges, what they have achieved, and the financial details for the year; the pr team here looks into the presentation side of the report and makes sure it is appropriate. Newsletters are similar to print materials as they are trying to build an on going relation with their audience. Finally a direct mail would be a tactic as it is being personally addressed to the customer; I believe this would be more helpful than fliers as people would actually look into documents if it’s directed to them and not a group of people.
The important part would be putting it all together and trying to give a clear massage that can be understood by the target audience and having a consistency while doing it. Videos and photography can also be used as a visual aid is always helpful to understand the massage. Speeches and presentations are add an impact to the key massage as the writing needs special skills to make the concept compelling. Using celebrity is always a god idea as the audience can relate to them easily and would want to get something that the celebrities have. But pr teams need to be aware that it’s about their massage and not about the celebrity.
From the reading I believe community meeting, advertising ad sponsorship are the most important and would be the most successful way putting g the massage through but than again it would become very costly. It is always important to know the budget, the audience and what massage in being put through than choosing the correct tactic will allow for a successful campaign.

blogging error:

Dear Melanie and Mathew

I do not know why I was having some technical difficulties in opening my blog yesterday it showed a constant error, so I posted chapter 13 as soon as the error was mended.

chapter 13

In this weeks chapter I learnt a lot about the sponsorships of event and how close the public relation practitioner’s work towards achieving the target they set from the vents.

Sponsorship is something that organisations use as tactics to achieve their goals for growing their goodwill, trust bank, communication values and developing strategies of alliances with key connects.

Sponsorship would be an expensive tool to use but the result is that it will give high goodwill. To so a sponsorship event means that they would be getting an exclusive privilege to that particular brand.

There are basically 3 types of sponsorship and the 1^st one is known as philanthropic sponsorship which basically means sponsoring in the line of medicine, art, education, and research. Out of the 3 ways of sponsoring this would be the closest to donating as it is very community based.

The 2^nd way would be corporate sponsorship where it is basically linked to the commonly genre. The 3^rd way is the most commonly know way to sponsor. This is known as market sponsorship where organisations offer cash or gods in return for tangible revenue-oriented results.

When writing a sponsorship proposal it is always wise to remember the motive and targets. The benefit that needs to be gained and who are the VIP’s that needs to be addressed and importantly the media coverage section.

Ambush marketing is when a company is just associated with an event without any legal rights. It is a bad concept as it can destroy value of events and also the concept.

Event management deals with sports, activities, openings, community, political meeting, dinner etc.

Media coverage is important as it would mean getting coverage in the news, TV, or getting colour print. It would be visual witch would help in connecting with the audience and public. If someone is doing a product demonstration that it would mean they are presenting opportunities for a third party. Revenue generation is when an event is organised to make money.

Also the PR team needs to keep in mind the risks involved in the event and should have a plan ready in case risk management is required. The execution of the event will be good if enough time is spared for last minute detail. And finally the budget it would be wise for all Pr practitioners to know the budget. No point imagining of creating a grand plan if they do not know how much they can and should spend in the event.

i belive that any event needs to be planned in order to achieve goals this is supported by this chapter and from many other journals. The primary stage would be research and plan for any event and if these two sections are well organised the company is likely to have a successful event.

Media Relation and Journalism article

The article gives us a better understanding on how much information is actually used by journalists given by the public relations practitioners. In the article an experiment is conducted which allows us to understand the amount of information that is actually used by the journalists.

Framing’s theory suggested that PR practitioners who have close connections with the media are able to publish their stories easily. The experiments help us understand framings concept better. The study was conducted from 2002 to 2004 during which time students were to conduct numerous interviews with journalists and gather information as to what the journalist’s actually thought about the PR industry.

The study resulted in getting mixed results where it ranged from ‘the information give is credible to it is totally biased.’ Most journalists thought that PR practitioners were not experienced, biased, unethical and had a lot of mistakes in the information presented to the journalists but than the study also showed that 47% which is the average amount of information given by the PR practitioners were used by journalist in writing up their story. The result also showed PR practitioners who used the profit motive got more criticisms than those who were non-profit motives. Journalists thought that non-profit motives are correct as it would mean that they are bringing awareness of some sort rather than just selling a product.

I believe no matter how good a connection a PR practitioner has with the media it would than be the journalists job to look at the information given to than and analyse if it is credible or not. I would conclude by adding that journalists and pr practitioners have always have a very unsettle relation among them. They can not work without the other but at the same time they don’t depend on each other.

Chapter 10

After reading this chapter on public relation I got a better understanding of what media relations actually means and how is it implied. Media relations is known by the fact that it can be seen – that would mean when the PR team deals with media the outcomes can be seen. Media relations are performed while handling a crisis or contacts are required with the media to sponsor a special event or getting full media coverage. Media relations also might mean dealing with media personals or even national events. One important fact that the chapter pointed out is that media dose have power and it should never be used in a wrong way also it should never be under-estimated.
Media seems to be all about how much monopoly a company has over a certain public. Bug businesses having more power over the public would mean having more control over what the public know. But this has also lead to debates about cross-media ownership and even foreign-ownerships, the debate would be about how much media is ok for just one company to control. This has usually resulted in wanting diversity, regulations and technological coverage to be included. Although there are not many players but still media seems to grow in both publications and the broadcasting segment.
In the 1900s Habermas stated that ‘PR has become one of the most important influences on journalism as it is now practice. I believe that is true as more and more news stories have had some involvement with the PR teams. But as I found out PR is not only the ones influencing the media, media also influences the way PR is dealt with. Research needs to be done to be able to stay up to date with the current happenings around the town, nation or the industry. To be able to do this media monitoring is needed which can be done by reading, watching or even listening to the media everyday. The relationship between media and the PR is about having to be able to help each other.
Simple facts that make news:
Impact, conflict, timeliness, proximity, prominence, currency, human interest, the unusual and last but not least money.
if a PR practitioner is dealing with the media it is very important to know that media in particular. This would mean knowing their deadlines; there is no point having braking news if the PR team is not able to meat the guidelines of that media outlet and cant reach the in time to make it into the 9’o clock news. It is also very important to know who is in the media department; such as the editor and chief photographers or even the reporters. Different media rep. have different styles it should be known by the PR team what type of what is their style and what do they like dealing with before storming them with a story. It is vital to know the target audience, no point writing a juicy celebrity gossip for 4 year olds. There are many media tools available PR teem should use these communication methods to deal with the different media reps that they deal with in their day to day work. There are media kits which includes fact sheets, background information, feature articles and profiles this helps the job to be easier so that there is no need to start from scratch.
Last media relations point that the chapter talks about is media conferences. This allows the press to have a better idea about a story or have further information out to the media. It gives details about whom to invite to the conference, where to hold it, how to invite the press, and when to hold the conference.
The relation between media and the PR department is a curtail element. To deal with media the PR practitioners should be up to date with current happenings; they also need to use their interpersonal skills to deal with the media. but the most important attributes to having a successful relation is to plan, organize, and having a good grip over writing.

Chapter 4 & 5

First of all I would like to say that chapter 4 was the most difficult chapter I have come across so far. But after reading the topic about legal environments I did not know that legal rights were such a big deal for the public relation team, but the chapter has clearly shown how important laws are to PR practitioners. I understood that law is a big part of public relation practitioners in their day to day work.

In chapter 5 the author has tried to explain about how ethics is related to public relations. More and more organizations are making sure that they have good ethics both inside and outside their organisation. It is a must for the community to see a company is acting ethically or else they would not buy their products. Therefor more organizations are now paying attention to the ethical standards they have.

Law is something that sets the rules on how people are to treat people and conduct their way of doing business. It is an individual’s job to make sure he/she knows who they are to be in the bounds of the law because if the law is broken things might get very difficult. So to be able to play safe people need to come up with strategies to minimize their chance of taking a legal risk. As mentioned by the author PR is about communication, counseling/advising and managing the business but al these needs to be done in a way where legal risks are evaluated and strategies are planed to manage them. PR practitioners should be aware of the law protecting the administrative justice. As we all know PR is a job that includes a lot of creative work that would be an asset to the organizations, thus to keep it from being copied by others actions needs to be taken in other words law needs to be used as copyrights or property law.

The decision that the public relations team makes needs to be in context with the legal environment, and there should be assigning of the risks involved as public relations relies on trust, honesty and having a positive image. They need to find out how harm can be minimized by negotiating strategies with their lawyers. One important fact that all of us need to keep in our minds is to protect our reputations, be it a company or person, as legal issues can affect o at some point damage reputations and relationships. So to avoid this from happening the PR team needs to work from the beginning by paying attentions in the way they are promoting a product or in an advertising campaign. Many times when companies have a damage control situation they look at the PR department to fix their problem. At the same time it is the PR team’s job to be well aware of the legal rights of the case or client they get involved with.
If a case dose get to court there is the contempt of court that needs to be followed. This states what can be published or even how people are to conduct themselves in court. At tat point PR practitioners are to inform their clients on how to handle press and make sure they don’t give out a judgmental statement that can be used against them in court.
Properties in public relations are known as real, personal and intellectual. Real property is referred to land or fixed assets, pr needs to look into this rights with they wanted to get into a property or do a show at a location. Personal property includes things like cars or office equipments. This is not that important but if needed ca be shows as the proof of ownership. Intellectual property law protects the property right in the creative segment. Copyright is an important factor when comes to creativity, no one would want their own idea being used by their rive organization. Thus it protects and gives the rights the owners for their work. So f someone wants to put something on the internet they would need to get the permission of the copyright owner.
Contracts in the public relations are a way of defining relationships. This would be employing a staff or ordering from suppliers. Contrasts are usually stander unless additional information is required. As businesses are becoming global so is the public relations legal environment and this is increasing a form of electronic contacts. Be it electronic or traditional form, contracts are good ways of setting the barriers on how the business is to be conducted and it also helps in clearing up any uncertainty.
Public relations must work within the legal and ethical environment. By do so they need to have a good systematic way of dealing with the law and the ethical standerts they follow. If this is achieved they would surely reduce they chance of getting into a real legal mess or losing customers from bad publicity.