Public Relations Is Necessary

Lately as I have listened to guest speakers, and class lectures I have become more convinced that PR is what I want to do. I just can’t seem to stop smiling about it when thinking of all of the possibilities that come to a person’s life when they are doing PR. As the economy is struggling and people are losing jobs, public relation’s has flourished. Personally I believe that it will never disappear.

Public Relation’s can be found in the governmental world, non-profit companies, schools, food establishments and a lot more other places. The work is fast pace and never mundane. You always need to think on your feet, know what is going on around you and much more. Public Relation’s is what makes a company/product memorable and some of the times can be connected to historical events. Public relation’s is a type of hard and honest work. This can be seen what tragedies occur and spokes people are talking to the news letting people know what has occurred. It is also behind news stories filled with details about a new product or an event announcement about finding a cure for cancer. It helps people believe in a product/company.

It Only Takes One Blogger

PR is everywhere and occurs all of the time in the business world. Usually when you hear about PR it is because of news articles declaring something a major PR catastrophe. An example of this is found in the article, “Employee Misconduct and Internet Video Create PR Disaster for Domino’s Pizza.” A blogger posted a video of the employee misconduct and the video reached 20,000 views. Domino’s even noted the fact that the event was brought to people’s attention by the internet. In their crisis campaign Domino’s used that fact in explaining that it overshadowed all of the good work done by their many employees.

Their statement after the incident says a lot about what PR people have to deal with. They need to anticipate and be ready for whatever news that may come out about their company/product. That is why PR people need to always know what is going on with their company/product and with the daily news. Certain events might spark interest that a PR person can use to promote their company/product. Also certain media attention might mislead the public towards the company/product that the PR person represents or works for. It reminds me of the saying, “it is always better to be safe then sorry.”

Link to article: http://www.workforce.com/section/00/article/26/32/79.php

Learn From Others

When working in the PR world you will notice many other examples of PR going on around you that you can learn from. A significant event happened on the Amazon website that the news is calling it a major PR mistake.

In the article “Giant Amazon Error Spurs PR Storm” is some very vital lessons that PR professionals can learn from and hopefully not make the same mistake. It points out that with websites such as Twitter, people find out news in a rather quick fashion. When the news does spread the PR department needs to be ready. One of Amazons problems was the fact that they gave numerous reasons for the error making the media and people question what really happened. A PR person never wants to make the customers question their business. Amazon worked on reassuring their customers and showing them that the problem had been fixed. When these storms occur PR professionals need to be up front with their customers and fix the problem in a speedy manner. This is why part of a PR person’s job is crisis management.

Link to the article:
http://www.thestar.com/unassigned/article/617982

Creativity

After attending a couple of sessions at our PR conference here up on campus, it was clear that a good PR person must be able to be creative. For effective PR you need a person who is creative and always thinking of ways to improve. A speaker talked about how being a kid sometimes comes in handy. Kids aren’t afraid to ask questions, or tell you what they think of things. A PR person needs to do this so they can provide valuable PR for a company or product. If they do not do this then a company or product becomes at risk of losing money and customers.

Creativity is helpful when it comes to making PR plans to promote a business or product. It is also needed to come up with ways to deal with new technologies that the public is using. PR people have had to use creativity it figuring out ways to work with the popular internet sits such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. They need to know how to make their company stand out. The most successful companies stand out because of their creativity in their PR practices.

PR Is Everywhere

Inspiration for this posting came to me out of the blue Tuesday night while I watched one of my all time favorite movies, A League of Their Own. It is a movie about the first pro baseball league with women during the time of World War II when all the men were off to war. This time when watching the movie a certain character stood out among the others. Ira Lowenstein, was given the job to come up with a solution for professional baseball while all of the men went off to war. He worked and started the girl’s league. Throughout the movie it shows him always sitting in the stands on occasions, cheering, talking to reporters and telling people to come see the games again. I realized while watching the movie that he was the PR guy. He worked with the media getting the word out and promoting the league. He worked with the players in getting the public interested in the game. Lowenstein was always at the games and knew what was going on. He talked with the coaches and worked on getting them to generate interest in the league. The league became what it was all because of him and the PR work that he did.

Internal PR

PR is diverse and can be found in many different jobs. Every company needs and has someone who does internal PR. In the book for class there is a story about a man on an airplane who starts talking with the passenger sitting next to him, wondering aloud why tickets to fly are so expensive. The passenger sitting next to him defends the airline and come to find out works in the upholstery shop of the airline. When defending he provides certain details and statistics that make you think he is the airlines CEO. However he is just a well informed employee. This shows that internal PR gets a company loyal employees who are willing to defend the company to the public.

I believe that a company’s success depends on the kind of internal PR that they have. Internal PR in essence makes an employee feel like they are worth something to the company and that the company believes in them as part of their team. That goes along way to employee productivity. I know when I feel that I am cared about as an employee I try to go the extra mile when doing my work. As I think about internal PR my mind wanders to the TV show the Office. The Office is a comedy and is not based on actual scientific facts about internal PR. However the show does do a very good job of showing what it is like to work in an office setting, in a very round about way. An example of internal PR is in the parties that are thrown for Halloween, going away party for Toby and all of the ones that Michael decides to come up with.

The Many Elements of Communication

Every person communicates in their own unique way based on how they were raised and taught to communicate. Certain societies also expect certain things when it comes to communicating with people. That is why a PR person needs to know how to communicate in any type of situation and to train their spokes people as well.

The need for this is shown through the First Lady’s recent visit with Queen Elizabeth II (http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/04/02/1875277.aspx). One website noted it as a royal “faux pas.” Luckily this did not turn into a major crisis, as the Queen returned the first lady’s gesture of patting her on the back. Maybe it is a change of the times in communication or the ease that the First Lady projected in the situation.

This shows that when you work in PR you need to have the ability to communicate effectively in any situation. Whether it be promoting a product, creating a business transaction or making a deal with a client. You need to know what communication techniques are expected and you need to make sure that the reaction of your target audience will only benefit your cause.

The Digital Aspect of Public Relations

While scrolling through the news results on public relations an article caught my eye. It was an article talking about the PR agency SHIFT, and how they are starting to offer more digital marketing practices to their clients (http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Shift-Communications-967768.html). This is a common trend coming out in the business world and now in the PR field. People turn to technology more these days then they have in the past. This movement has come by way of the creation of Myspace, Facebook and now Twitter.

Digital is a very vital element of any PR campaign. If you don’t have the right message in the digital world, then you will have trouble getting anywhere with your campaign. When you are able to get the digital aspect to your target audience then you are doing your job. An example of this that comes to my mind is a YouTube video we watched in class. It was a beer commercial advertising for a beer company in Australia. What I really liked about it was that it caught my attention and only intrigued me more as the video went on.

Learn From The Past

I don’t know who was the one who coined the saying or taught the lesson, “learn from the past.” I have found this to be a vital part of the PR lessons taught to today’s future PR people. This was true in today’s chapter that we covered in my Intro to PR class; the chapter was on PR in the financial industry. The way that PR is covered in the financial industry has changed due to past events. Enron, and AIG as of late has led to governmental changes in the way that finance transactions in companies are made. The governmental changes have lead to changes in a person’s PR job when working in the financial industry. The most vital key is to know the regulations that the company has to deal with when operating their finances. If a company does not follow the regulations then they will run into legal trouble which will also lead into credibility issues with their investors. Personally I think the smartest piece of advice for a PR person is to “learn from the past” of whatever industry they are working in.

Branding

A brand is very vital to a company. Sometimes people assume that a brand just deals with the logo. When it comes to branding you are working with everything that accompanies the logo of a product, like packaging, advertising and much more. One company that has been very successful in branding is the Mac Company. Mac notebooks and computers stand out in the technological world. They stand out for their look, their color, dependability and more. They don’t just stand out because of the apple logo on them. Another thing that makes Mac stand out is their understanding of their competition. For example the commercial with the Mac guy and the PC guy. The commercial is geared towards the target audience for Mac products. The Mac guy looks like he could be part of the target audience making the target audience relate more with Mac products.

Government and PR

The government chapter in my public relation’s book will not be one of my favorites. However it was filled with useful information that text books tend to have. As the semester has continued on I have discovered that public relation’s can be found in ever part of society. Public relation’s plays a vital part and is a useful tool in the governmental realm. This is very evident in today’s news. As the economy continues to struggle, people look for answers. They get their answers through the government’s public relations offices. This comes through press conferences from the government. Public relation’s from the people towards the government comes through petitions or grassroots lobbying efforts. These examples are not the only ones. Public relation's occurs daily in the governmental world.

Product Placement

A part of a public relations person’s job includes product placement. Whether it is a tangible product or service, a good public relations person will know where to market it. The example was used today in class that you wouldn’t want to sell Chanel #5 at a flea market. That diminishes the product and doesn’t allow it to reach its full potential. The key is to make sure that the product or service is placed with the audience that the product is geared to being able to find it in their everyday life.

Another form of product placement is putting a product into a movie or TV show. On the TV show American Idol the judges are seen drinking out of the red see through coca cola cups. A girl mentioned in class today how on the TV show 24 the characters use the sprint phones to communicate with one another. Companies continually work on placing the product in whatever way they can get their audience’s attention. The key is to see what audience is attracted to what show. Taking that into account will help a company in product placing for the audience that their product is geared to.

Peter Shankman

A name stood out in a recent public relation search on the search engine, google. Peter Shankman is in the news because he will be speaking in White Plains today. The article goes on to say that he will be talking on “radical new ways to think about PR, social media, marketing, advertising, and creativity.” (Full article can be found on: http://www.stamfordplus.com/stm/information/calendar/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=7503&year=2009&month=03)

Shankman is a good source on the subject as he has come to utilize the use of facebook and twitter while working in the public relations field. He is the creator of helpareporterout.com (HARO). This website has become a growing trend for journalists to use as well as public relations people to use. Journalists use the website to talk about stories they are writing and to look for sources that they can quote in their stories.

Personally I believe that the use of HARO, Facebook, and Twitter is the smartest move any public relations person can use. Public relations is all about establishing relationships and getting your name/business out in the public view. The best way to do that in this technological society is to use the websites that millions of people go to everyday.

Communication is KEY!

As I went on my usual weekly quest for public relations in the news, one concept stood out in all of the articles. It was communication. The reason people and stories get in the news is because of bad public relations. By saying bad public relations I mean miscommunication. When miscommunication occurs, stories tend to get represented in a negative light in the media. The Catholic Church is claiming miscommunication occurred recently when it was reported that the pope welcomed back an anti-sematic bishop back into the church. (http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/03/pr-and-the-pope.html)

There are a lot of sides to the story. Sometimes the public does not get to know the real story because the media tends to report on certain parts of an event or occurrence. After taking a couple of journalism classes my media viewing habits have changed. I tend to read an article or watch the news and think is that really the whole story? Kind of like the saying, “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Which I think is very worthy advice for everyone in society.

Talking Points

In the world of public relations a PR person always needs to know their talking points on the subjects that they deal with. When a PR person knows their talking points they can represent their company in a productive manner. Problems or campaigns usually only require three talking points. Three talking points get the point across in a productive manner. It lets the public and the media know what the company is all about. The key is to make sure that all three talking points are straightforward and represent the situation in the best way possible. The way to come up with the talking points is to think of the three things that your campaign is all about or what three things is important in the company that can easily be represented in the media.

Attention

While working in public relations you are sometimes put in charge of grabbing people’s attention or diverting attention from certain situations. This means that a PR practitioner needs to be creative in dealing with their company’s situation. As I have been in class guest speakers have shared stories ranging from throwing a fish at their CEO to wearing a target on their back when confronting angry people. The common element found in each story is how the PR person was upfront. A person responds to companies that are upfront about things, whether it is a negative thing or a positive thing. The key is to grab person’s attention which takes a lot in today’s society. Some techniques that are used by PR people is using Facebook or grabbing people’s attention by doing something unusual in a public arena.

The key is in the relationships

Public relations can be defined as the relationship between a company and their public. It is the job of the PR department to make sure that the relationship stays healthy and effective benefiting both parties.

When I was in Chicago for NAFCC’s 2008 conference I saw how vital relationships are in organizations. If people do not like your organization then they will not attend your event. However if they do attend your event and get offended then they turn more people away from your organization. The key is to keep the relationships healthy so members will continue to come back to an organization and bring more people with them when they come.

What is a Media Kit?

When I was working for the National Association for Family Child Care I had to fill an order for 200 media kits. At the time I didn’t really understand the purpose behind the media kit. There was a lot of paper work that needed to be copied, books had to be assembled, labels had to be printed, boxes had to be put together and it all had to be done to complete 200 kits.

However I have learned now that a media kit is a vital part of any business. I wish I could go back in time and tell myself that I was doing a good thing, that the information in the media kit was very valuable.

Media Kits hold the nuts and bolts of a company. The problem with the media kits that I put together was a lot of the information was old information. A media kit should have the most up to date information about a company. They bring about new stories for businesses, customers, and more. The key to a successful media kit is making sure the information in the kit belongs there. The kit should have press releases, a frequently asked question sheet, information about the company, brochures, samples of products and more.

SWOT Analysis

When working in public relations you need to know every detail about the company or person you are representing. To achieve this PR people usually run a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for the strengths of a company, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to a company. A strength would be considered what the company or person is good at. The weaknesses would be something that the company lacks in. The opportunity area is where the company has an advantage over its competitors. When a PR person looks at threats they are able to know what they are up against. A SWOT is useful in the fact that it shows you the nuts and bolts of a company. You know what you have at your disposal and know what you need to get in order to do better PR for your company.

Important PR lesson

It is time to blog once again on public relations. I went about my usual google search and an article caught my eye, titled, “A-Rod learns important PR lesson.” I was curious to see what important PR lesson the writer was referring to.

The lesson he referred to was being up front with the public. Alex Rodriguez is in the public spotlight as one of the most highly paid baseball players. Baseball is a favorite past time of most Americans. However it has been tinged by players using steroids. Baseball greats have fallen as they have disagreed with steroid allegations that have later been proven true. A-Rod used PR to save him from becoming a disgraced baseball player. Letting people know that he did in fact use steroids but, is now clean will bring him back into some good graces. Some people still may not like him. However as a PR student I will say I am impressed that he was up front. He could have said it wasn’t true but, by admitting the use of steroids shows he doesn’t lie about who he is.

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/touchingbase/2009/02/a-rod-learns-important-pr-less.html

Public Relations and Journalists

As classes have continued I have become intrigued by how inter connected public relations and journalism is. Sometimes journalists get news stories from public relations people, either through a press release, an event happening, or a crisis occurs. At first I was curious how journalist and pr people coexist? I mean a journalist is taught to go for the story and to not take no for an answer. Where public relations people are taught to represent something and make the public believe in that something. So at first I thought that this was a tense relationship you had to deal with in the PR field. However my text book and teachers have pointed out that this is not the case. Some of the best friends that PR people have in the workplace is journalists. In the long one they are both trying to get the same thing done, which is representing their company by use of the media.

Some thoughts on PR

Lately I feel like I have seen public relations everywhere I look. There are people commenting on situations, events, and issues. They are in essence doing PR for their company or person they are representing. People in the spotlight as of late are Michael Phelps, the Illinois Governor, and I even read reports on how the Super Bowl lacked celebrity power. This shows how inter related public relations is with the media. If the media sense something “fishy” they go for it. Then the public relations people respond with comments, stories, and facts. What makes good PR is when they stay away from saying, “no comment.” People sense something is up or lose faith in an issue when they hear “no comment.” The best PR is the PR that is up front and direct about an issue.

Something for everyone

The infamous football holiday is quickly approaching. Personally growing up I hated the super bowl. The only thing I truly appreciated was the fact that there seemed to be plenty of chocolate to eat and soda to drink. However my interested was piqued when I searched for public relations in the news. My search came up with the article “NFL’s wildest week is PR chief’s time to shine.” Reading the article I started to actually feel…excited for the super bowl. I mean if somebody had told me that the super bowl isn’t all about foot ball then I wouldn’t have been kicking and screaming every time I was dragged to a super bowl party.

It is filled to the brim with public relations. It has become beloved by all because of the public relations behind it. It takes a lot of pr work to pull off the super bowl. Brian McCarthy, vice president of communications for the NFL shares that once he had to tell an entertainer that his fly was down before the entertainer went out to perform. That is what I love about public relations is that it is never mundane and always offers something new.

Article found on: http://tampabay.com/news/business/article970759.ece

Even supposed criminals need PR

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has been in the media spotlight for the past of couple of weeks. Blagojevich is accused of selling Barack Obama’s senate seat and the Illinois state senate is looking to impeach him. He has shown that he will not go down without a fight. In an article posted on fox news (see link below) it reports that he has hired a public relations firm to help him in defending his character. To be honest this caught me by surprise. I didn’t really think pr firms worked with people facing criminal charges. However it makes sense for him to enlist the help of a pr firm. They can help with getting his voice out there for everyone to hear. With the impeachment process just barely starting today it looks like Blagojevich will need a lot of help.


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/24/blago-hires-drew-petersons-pr-firm-media-blitz/

Bureau of Labor Statistics

What is the outlook for public relations? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics employment opportunities are on the rise in a very competitive entry level environment. A way Advertising is one of the industries related to public relations which are expected to grow the most. They suggest that if you combine your degree with experience then you will have better luck. Other jobs that have similar duties as public relations include marketing, promotions, sales managers, news analysts and reporters.

Response to article on PR week: “Ketchum employee’s Tweet sets off disagreement with client”

After reading this article a saying came to my mind, “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” In today’s internet based society you can find stupid mistakes made by people everyday. When working in the PR industry one should strive to always be professional. What comes to mind when you think of the word professional? I think of being kind, considerate, friendly, reliable, responsible and most of all respectable. The employee has learned this lesson the hard way

Research

On Law and Order and other crime fighting shows, detectives go with their “gut instinct” on occasion. In the real world unfortunately gut instinct can only get you so far. What really pays off is research to back up your claim. In the PR world companies are less likely to invest unless they have proof that it is worth it. Who could blame them? Taking the extra time to know all of the figures will save time, money, and keep people in careers. Research used by people in the public relations industry is found on the internet, through surveys, focus groups and much more. Information is available on everything and anything all that a person needs to do is to go looking for it.

History and PR

I have not always been a fan of history. To this day it is still one of my least favorite subjects. Keeping it from being the subject that I hate the most is the fact that history can teach me something. This stood out to me when reading the chapter on history of public relations in my textbook for my Intro to Public Relations class.

The practice of Public Relations has been around for a long time. Evidence of public relations being used can be found in 427 to 347 BC, to when colonies were being established, and to being around in today’s society.
One thing that stood out to me was the fact that PR seemed to thrive during hard times in history. A prime example of this was the Revolutionary War and the war that Samuel Adams did. He used slogans and events to influence public opinion.

While starting out in the PR field I can learn what to do and what not to do from history. The people who established the public relations field and who were “pioneers” have some of the best lessons to teach me about PR. It is like my textbook says in the chapter preview, “it is the lessons we learn from history that make its study important to us.”