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For the last time I have posted on Brianna and Jess's blogs

Week 11

Research and Evaluation : Why are they important? On pg 139 the text book says, "The use of research thus positions PR as a purposive, goal-directed and problem-solving management function." In other words without research and evaluation PR would have nothing to work towards and no idea how to achieve goals. There are three important terms when dealing with research. Input research, which decides what goes into a project or program. Output research decides whether the elements of the program were appropriate and Outcome research which determines the results of the output on the target audience. Research methodologies can be formal such as an interview or informal such as content analysis. They can be qualitative meaning not measured in numbers such as a focus group. Or they can be quantitative such as a survey. Methodologies can also be primary, conducted in person, or secondary, collecting research by other people. In any case and no matter what the methodology ethical considerations need to play an important role. Researchers must take into account issues such as privacy, manipulation, dishonesty and coercion. Only by researching a project or program and evaluating its success can a PR practitioner decide the next step in their over-arching strategy.

Week 10

Since Chapter 7 has already been discussed on my blog this week I am going to look directly at Chapter 8: Tactics. This is helpful since it is also my debate topic. Firstly, I wish to reiterate a strategy is an overarching plan allowing organisational goals and objectives to be achieved . A tactic is any means of achieving this strategic outcome. There are two types of tactics, controlled and uncontrolled. Controlled means the practitioner has power from the start to the very end of the process, such as advertising. Uncontrolled tactics are anything that can be altered or blocked completely such as media relations. Tactics can be dispersed through the mail, fax, news distribution agencies, email, CD Rom, couriers, videos, video-conferencing, personal delivery and websites. When deciding which to use the important factors are economics, dynamics, target audience and whether it will actually reach its destination. For example if I have an important notice about contaminated chocolate bars it would probably be more effective for me to send direct emails to papers and video footage with press kits to television stations rather than fax press releases through. The press releases might get lost in the copious amounts of paper sent to media outlets everyday and also the instantaneous nature of email will mean the urgency of the message will be understood. Finally, there are numerous tactics so I am only going to go into two in detail. The annual report is a credible method for achieving a strategy. It records ad highlights the challenges experienced by an organisation and gives financial details. It is constantly updated and is useful for 6months to a year. It is a legal document giving it great credibility and it can be easily distributed. The only negative is it can not be immediately given to the public because of the amount of information and jargon. Another effective tactic is the newsletter. This is useful especially for internal publics. it is a form of on-going communication building a good rapport with its readers. It is also cost effective, however often it is only suitable for a very specific target audience. These are just two tactics within a vast landscape of strategic tools.

Today I posted on Monique, Jessica and Melanie's blogs to make up for my lack of posts due to technical difficulties over the past 2 weeks

Week 9

Sponsorship and event management are probably the two concepts I came into the course with, however since I have learnt they don't solely define PR. Sponsorship is the purchase of specific rights and benefits associated with events, organisations or individuals. Also sponsoring an event generally means the company expects a return, monetary or other. According to the text there are 3 types of sponsorship:
1Philanthropic: generally associated with the arts, medicine, education, research and closely linked with donating.
2Corporate:normally of an event or activity.
3.Marketing: cash and goods in return for tangible revenue, very results orientated.
Associated with this last point is something I found very interesting-Ambush marketing. This is when a company mis-represents itself being associated with an event when it has no official, legal or moral right to do so. This is something I have never even thought of, however such things are fair game. It might be morally wrong to write Powerade in the sky over a Gatorade sponsored event but gee it would attract some attention, maybe even media coverage. As a PR consultant when managing an event I guess vigilance is the key because in the end it comes down to what happens on the day. Event management has four facets:
1.Feasibility- checking the cost, expected revenue, publics effected, reasons for sourcing and time of the event.
2.Planning: creating a plan by working backwards from the date and scheduling it properly.
3.Execution:following the critical path and carrying everything out smoothly on the big day.
4.Evaluation: including a debriefing meeting, event assessment and business activity assessment.
In the end however, even with this in place success comes down to the circumstances that arise on the day!

Week 8

These readings were very interesting for me because I am mostly interested in the writing side of PR, therefore when I am a journalist I will be able to pick up on the tricks of the PR practitioner. There were numerous important points this week including targeting not only your audience but your publication also. For example a web blog requires clear concise and easy to read language targeted at someone who is quickly surfing between sites, however a PR release needs to be formal and draw the audience in straight away. Another important point especially about the web is that appearance plays an important role. Headings, graphics, images, colours are what attract attention these days before a person even engages with the writing. Someone with these multi talented skills will have a better chance in the industry than someone with only writing abilities. The point also must be made that PR releases are not just advertising or promotion. A journalist is never going to publish something that screams sell me. They should interest the journalist and help set an agenda. Finally a good relationship with journalists builds trust and equals space in the newspaper. Be creative don't just send a boring black and white press release. Think outside the square and draw attention but don't put on to much of a show in that it seems gimmicky and consumer related. It is an ideal balance very difficult to achieve.