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.