This weeks reading is Chapters 6 – Research and Evaluation in Public relations: theory and practice / edited by Jane Johnston and Clara Zawawi. Crows Nest, N.S.W. Allen & Unwin, 2004. 2nd ed
The key points to remember from the reading are:
• Research is an essential task within public relations, used to identify the requirement for a communication program, to assist in establishing that program, to check progress and to evaluate the effectiveness.
There are many forms of research
• Exploratory
• Secondary
• Primary
• Development
Input research indicates what problems or opportunities actually exist, what the perceptions and beliefs of the public are, and what tools or methods of communication would be most effective in helping the organization achieve its objectives with those publics.
Output research gathers information on the appropriateness of the message and activity content, and the quality of message and activity presentations.
The basic standards for ethical considerations:
• Give full disclosure of the research procedure
• Results are accurately reported and distributed freely and widely
• Keep respondent information confidential as promised
• Do not promise clients and sponsors that cannot be delivered
This weeks readings made me think about public relations in that it showed how great a part research is in the public relations profession and has made me consider choosing perhaps some marketing subjects and others that teach research tools in order to improve my skills.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
week 10s readings
This weeks readings are from Chapters 7 and 8 – Strategy, Planning and Scheduling/Tactics in Public relations: theory and practice / edited by Jane Johnston and Clara Zawawi. Crows Nest, N.S.W. Allen & Unwin, 2004. 2nd ed.
I think the key points to remember from these readings are:
• Organisational strategy is a pattern or plan that integrates an organisation’s major goals, policies and action sequences into a cohesive whole
An excellent communication/public relations department:
• Run by managers who make communication policy decisions and accept responsibility for the success or failure of programmes
• Contributes significantly to the organizations strategic plan and organisational decision-making
• Works with top management to solve organisational problems that involve communication relationships
• Facilities 2way communication between top management and key stakeholders, helping them understand each other and developing win-win situations
• Uses formal and informal research techniques to understand the environment inside and outside the organistaion to identify key issues
A mission statement is formulated to help close the gap between the unsatisfactory present and the more perfect future, it is:
• Consistent with and supportive of an organizations vision
• The road map that describes how the organization will move to reach its vision
• The means of telling people why the organization is in business
• The source of strategies that collectively create a business plan
Lester Potter’s (1997) ‘ten-step’ strategic communication plan
1. Executive summary
2. The communication process
3. Background
4. Situation analysis
5. Main message statement
6. Stakeholders
7. Messages for key stakeholders
8. Implementation
9. Budget
10. Monitoring and evaluation
Tactics can be broken into 2 main groups –
Controlled – advertising/annual reports/brochures/posters/direct mail/adversarial
Uncontrolled – media relations/ public meeting etc
Methods of delivery
• Mail
• Faxes
• News distribution agencies
• Email
• CD-ROMs
• Couriers
• Videos
• Video-conferencing
• Personal delivery
• Websites
This weeks readings made me reflect upon the detailed work that goes into being a public relations practitioner and the extreme importance of the need to be a very organised and neat person. These chapters were very practical and instead of the previous chapters which usually cause me to reflect this weeks was very detailed and more something that I will flick back to in order to get fine details such as the standard envelope size and wether to use single coloured publications or two, three, four or five colour publications.
I think the key points to remember from these readings are:
• Organisational strategy is a pattern or plan that integrates an organisation’s major goals, policies and action sequences into a cohesive whole
An excellent communication/public relations department:
• Run by managers who make communication policy decisions and accept responsibility for the success or failure of programmes
• Contributes significantly to the organizations strategic plan and organisational decision-making
• Works with top management to solve organisational problems that involve communication relationships
• Facilities 2way communication between top management and key stakeholders, helping them understand each other and developing win-win situations
• Uses formal and informal research techniques to understand the environment inside and outside the organistaion to identify key issues
A mission statement is formulated to help close the gap between the unsatisfactory present and the more perfect future, it is:
• Consistent with and supportive of an organizations vision
• The road map that describes how the organization will move to reach its vision
• The means of telling people why the organization is in business
• The source of strategies that collectively create a business plan
Lester Potter’s (1997) ‘ten-step’ strategic communication plan
1. Executive summary
2. The communication process
3. Background
4. Situation analysis
5. Main message statement
6. Stakeholders
7. Messages for key stakeholders
8. Implementation
9. Budget
10. Monitoring and evaluation
Tactics can be broken into 2 main groups –
Controlled – advertising/annual reports/brochures/posters/direct mail/adversarial
Uncontrolled – media relations/ public meeting etc
Methods of delivery
• Faxes
• News distribution agencies
• CD-ROMs
• Couriers
• Videos
• Video-conferencing
• Personal delivery
• Websites
This weeks readings made me reflect upon the detailed work that goes into being a public relations practitioner and the extreme importance of the need to be a very organised and neat person. These chapters were very practical and instead of the previous chapters which usually cause me to reflect this weeks was very detailed and more something that I will flick back to in order to get fine details such as the standard envelope size and wether to use single coloured publications or two, three, four or five colour publications.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Monday, September 3, 2007
Week 9's readings
This weeks reading is from Chapter 13 – Sponsorship an Event Managements in Public relations: theory and practice / edited by Jane Johnston and Clara Zawawi. Crows Nest, N.S.W. Allen & Unwin, 2004. 2nd ed
I think the key points to remember from this week's reading are:
• Sponsorship is one of the most expensive tactics which can be chosen by an organization, but the goodwill delivered by a well chosen and managed sponsorship can be commensurately large.
• Sponsorship is the purchase of specific rights and benefits associated with an event, organization or individual
• Sponsorship generates goodwill and provides opportunities to enhance the image and reputation of the organization by association
• Sponsorship provides a focal point for sales and marketing efforts, offers product brands high visibility to potential customers and generates media coverage for the sponsoring organization
• The three types of sponsorship include:
1. Philanthropic – generally community based
2. Corporate – event not normally linked to the sponsors general business
3. Marketing – cash/goods for tangible revenue-oriented results
• Ambush marketing occurs when an company misrepresents itself as being associated with an event when it has no official, legal or moral rights to do so.
• The most common avenues for event ambushing are:
• Advertising in event publications
• Signage sales
• Sponsorship of an individual or sporting team
Successful event management includes:
• Strong commitment of all members of the organising committee
• Strong leadership
• Efficient event committee
• Effective subcommittees with clearly defined responsibilities
• Clearly defined objectives and priorities
• Strong event theme and image
In order to achieve the best media coverage:
- a media release is to be issued about the event and sponsorship
- media functions should be staged within the event
- an event handbook should be distributed to the media
- event tickets should be made available to the media
Sunday, September 2, 2007
week 8
This weeks readings are based upon
• Informative and persuasive writing are among the skills necessary to enter the field
• Writing is one of the foundations of a successful public relations practitioner and the ability to communicate messages clearly and concisely is one of their differentiating skills
• Grammar, run on sentences and paragraph structure are the main concerns and downfalls of entry level practitioners
• When writing for the web one’s writing style must change to become shorter, more concise, more conversational and more enticing as opposed to when your writing a press release and you have more space. The way people read information on the web is different to the way people read information in a newspaper or magazine.
The press release 10steps to ensure text & message are ‘laser-focused”
1. Info has genuine worth
2. Avoid blatant commercialism
3. Craft for target audience
4. Short and succinct
5. Make heading relevant
6. Be careful and clever with quotes
7. Include all information reporter may need for a story
8. Keep boilerplate to a minimum
9. Give a tag team of contacts
10. Double check everything
The articles made me think about public relation in that
a key skill that all good PR practitioners need is versatility – being able to write a basic news release, a feature story, a by-line article etc in current times jobs are beginning across lines and a wide ranges of skills is now compulsary. I think that in the future one degree will not be enoght but instead students will need to do a combined degree in order to have a greater range of skills and more of a chance of being employed. Good writers can change their writing style for the audience – “outstanding writers can shift gears”, writing skills is vital and instead of taking the attitude that a i just want to pass assignments i now will look upon them with a different approach as to aim for no spelling mistakes as in the end it may not me a huge deal at uni but may keep you unemployed in the workforce.
I also had not heard of the term boilerplate before reading one of the texts so i learnt new terminology and will use it from now on.
Sallot, M. & Johnson, A. (2006). To contact … or not?: Investigating journalists’ assessments of public relations subsidies and contact preferences. Public Relations Review. 32(1) 83-86.
and the two Media Release readings:
Article 1 The Importance of Writing Skills by Kurt Wise in Public Relations Quarterly; Summer 2005; 50, 2; ABI/INFORM Global. pg. 37
Article 2 - <>
• Informative and persuasive writing are among the skills necessary to enter the field
• Writing is one of the foundations of a successful public relations practitioner and the ability to communicate messages clearly and concisely is one of their differentiating skills
• Grammar, run on sentences and paragraph structure are the main concerns and downfalls of entry level practitioners
• When writing for the web one’s writing style must change to become shorter, more concise, more conversational and more enticing as opposed to when your writing a press release and you have more space. The way people read information on the web is different to the way people read information in a newspaper or magazine.
The press release 10steps to ensure text & message are ‘laser-focused”
1. Info has genuine worth
2. Avoid blatant commercialism
3. Craft for target audience
4. Short and succinct
5. Make heading relevant
6. Be careful and clever with quotes
7. Include all information reporter may need for a story
8. Keep boilerplate to a minimum
9. Give a tag team of contacts
10. Double check everything
The articles made me think about public relation in that
a key skill that all good PR practitioners need is versatility – being able to write a basic news release, a feature story, a by-line article etc in current times jobs are beginning across lines and a wide ranges of skills is now compulsary. I think that in the future one degree will not be enoght but instead students will need to do a combined degree in order to have a greater range of skills and more of a chance of being employed. Good writers can change their writing style for the audience – “outstanding writers can shift gears”, writing skills is vital and instead of taking the attitude that a i just want to pass assignments i now will look upon them with a different approach as to aim for no spelling mistakes as in the end it may not me a huge deal at uni but may keep you unemployed in the workforce.
I also had not heard of the term boilerplate before reading one of the texts so i learnt new terminology and will use it from now on.
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