Ch.9 Communication: The Tactics of PR

Posted on September 29th, 2009 in Week 6 Posts by mag10

The book defines tactics as “the actions that we divise and undertake to influence relationships with particular publics.” This the follow up to research and planning. Tatics are relation building actions that are usually done through communication. They are mostly though of as channels. So TMZ’s tactic for putting out celebrity gossip is through following celebrities around, taking their picture, and then blogging about it on this website,  http://www.tmz.com/. They try to influence readers using pictures and gossip. One tactic the book talks about is a special event which is something a that can be used to put the message and the channel together. It also talked about controlled media and uncontrolled media which I thought was interesting. The book says that controlled media is like a brochure, where the organization is controlling the message. Uncontrolled media would be like news media or radio and television. I thought this was interesting because I would’ve thought of the news and radio to be controlled media as well. What goes on the news, how it is presented, and who it is targeted towards are all controlled by someone in the media. I would classify this is controlled media as well.

Ch. 8 Planning

Posted on September 29th, 2009 in Week 5 Posts by mag10

Chapter 8 was all about differen types of planning in PR. In starting out planning you have to do problem-opportunity research, client research, and stakeholder research. The book also said that in order for PR people to reach their goals they have to come up with a plan for doing so. There are three types of plans. There are Ad Hoc plans which are plans that are for a specific purpose only. The plans are temporary.  Standing plans are long term plans that seek to keep a positive relationship with the public. An example of this would be something like a celebrity’s blog page. Tila Tequila, the reality star, has her own blog page where she blogs about things going on in her career and her life in order to keep up a relationship with her fans. (http://www.tilashotspot.buzznet.com/).  Another plan is a Contingency plan. This plan is for a “what if” situation. PR professionals keep these plans on the back burner for any situation that may arise and need special attention. The book also talks about why planning is important. I think that planning is important for PR so you won’t be caught off guard in any situation. I think this concept could be applied to all areas of life as well. The book also talks about planning in terms of brainstorming, strategies, etc, and also about what makes a good plan.

Ch. 7 Research and Evalution

Posted on September 22nd, 2009 in Week 5 Posts by mag10

Chapter 7 in the Public Relations book was all about research and evaluation in PR. Research is a huge part of PR and should be done before anything else. Out of the four steps of the PR process, research and evaluation are the most important two. An important step in research is first figuring out a research strategy. There are also four categories in which almost all PR research go into. Theses four are: client research, stakeholder research, problem opportunity research, and evaluation research. When developing a research strategy the researcher has to ask the question, “How will I gather information?” There are also different types of research like secondary and feedback research. The book also talked about different types of surveys and sampling.

Ch. 4 The Public in PR

Posted on September 12th, 2009 in Week 4 Posts by mag10

Chapter 4 was about the public in PR. The book defined public as, “Any group whose members have a common interest or common values in a particular situation.” I thought this was interesting because I have always thought of the public as everybody whether they have a common interest or not. I think it makes sense that they say that it is a group who has a common interest since anything that a lot of people listen to or watch has some common appeal to that group of people. I also think that the public are the people outside of that group. I think anyone who could be reached by the message being given is the public. The chapter also puts the public into different categories. It also talks about the relationships that organizations have with their public. It also goes through the questions that a PR practitioner must ask in order to know how the public can influence the relationship with an organization and vice versa.  

Ch. 3 History of PR

Posted on September 12th, 2009 in Week 4 Posts by mag10

Chapter 3 in the book talked about the history of PR. The history of PR taught me a lot about PR and how it has gotten the reputation that it has today. Over the years a lot has happened to give the PR industry a bad name and a good name. PR was started and then went away for a while. When it came back it got a bad name because of people who were publicizing different things than they were actually doing. Now PR is thought of as more of a good thing. PR is used to make a relationship with the public instead of just persuade them to do one thing or another. One example that was given in the book was the Red Cross and9/11 attacks. PR was used to spread word about the donation program for survivors but was actually used as something else. This was a misuse. The good that came out of it was that PR was used to gain a good reputation with the public again when they started informing the public of exactly what their donations were being used for.

PR Ch. 2 and Job Skills in PR

Posted on September 7th, 2009 in Week 3 Posts by mag10

Chapter 2 in the PR text was all about jobs in public relations. Skills needed in PR jobs would be things like an outgoing personality, knowledge about new social media, knowledge about how to maintain healthy relationships with customers, extensive computer skills, knowledge of how to do news releases, and much more. Another skill I saw was that of speech writing skills, interview preparation, and other media related skills.

PR Ch. 13 Key Ideas

Posted on September 7th, 2009 in Week 3 Posts by mag10

Chapter 13 in the PR text was about public relations and marketing.

One focus in the chapter was on the changes in the marketing world. It said that marketing used to be about just buying an ad and showing it through the media which was like mass marketing. Now companies have to specialize their ads because of all of the new technology. Since there are so many new ways for people to be reached through advertisements, consumer focused marketing is more popular. Consumer focused marketing puts more emphasis on appealing to the individual and the needs of the individual. The book also focused on the three pillars of integrated marketing communication, which are advertising, marketing, and public relations. The book said that public relations has a big influence on consumer focused marketing and vice versa. Public relations has a big role in consumer focused marketing because in order to successfully market to a public you have to try to have a relationship with them first.