PR 3310 Principles of Public Relations Thursday 52809

PR 3310 Principles of Public Relations Thursday, 5/28/09

Class Objectives n Lecture n What is Public Relations n Homework assignment n Read chapter 2 in book

What’s in the news today? n No photoshopping requests from celebrities from the NY Times, http: //www. nytimes. com/2009/05/28/fashion/28 RETOUCH. html? _r=1&8 dpc n Let’s look at it within a PR framework n What does this do to their “story/brand”? n n Makes them appear more credible and trustworthy Who’s to blame? n n Look at the sentence: And yet a raw-celebrity movement has been slow in coming. That may be because, as several editors said privately, celebrities’ publicists almost always demand retouching of wrinkles and visible cellulite. Do you know how to remove blemishes in Photoshop? n I’d like to start each class with this question and get more of a dialog going… want you to become consumers of news. n Look at local paper, national/international paper, blogs, emails, etc…. start to view news within a PR lens

Definitions of Public Relations n Management function= big picture, work with many different disciplines n Deliberate and planned n Start with research and close the loop by assessing n Performance and public interests n If people don’t think it’s interesting and in their best interest, your story won’t be successful n Surprising what people find interesting n “Behind the scenes” = PR is not the star n NEWEST: Two-Way communication/dialogue n Solicited or unsolicited feedback

Public Relations as a process (RACE) n 1. Research n 2. Action and Planning n 3. Communication n 4. Evaluation n Can think of actions as components of advertising, PR, and marketing n Creation of press releases, posting a story to a blog, etc.

Components of Public Relations n n n n 1. Counseling 2. Research 3. Media Relations 4. Publicity 5. Employee/Member Relations 6. Community Relations 7. Public Affairs 8. Government Affairs 9. Issues Management 10. Financial Relations 11. Industry Relations 12. Development/Fund Raising 13. Multicultural Relations/Workplace Diversity 14. Special Events 15. Marketing Communications

How PR is unique n Broad scope n More Audiences/ who are you trying to communicate with/to? Range of External and Internal Audiences n Channels include mass media (tv, radio, news + new ones like blogs, podcasts, mobile) and other mar comm media (direct mail, newsletters) n Selling vs. Public Understanding n What is the goal? n n n Sell something (often advertising) Make Money vs. Save Money Inform the public Build relationships n Goal is to be more credible than advertising n Persuasive vs. Accommodative

Why is there an Integration of the Disciplines? n Downsizing and tighter budgets n Increased Clutter of Advertising n Frontline video (13 minutes): The Persuaders, a High Concept Campaign, http: //www. pbs. org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persua ders/ n Changing Focus in Public Relations n Field has broadened far beyond concept of “media relations” and publicity in mass media n Understanding technology n Better educational standards, including intensive writing, research, campaigns and internship courses

Essential skills in PR n Writing is important in PR n Need to consider writing for different media n n n Newspapers (who, what, when, where and how; order of importance with first paragraphs) vs On-line (shorter sentences) n Other essential skills n n n Research Ability: are you good at statistics and qualitative assessments? Need to show a “roi” to your customers. Planning Expertise: can you see the big picture? , can you manage others? Problem-solving Ability: see things through to the finish Creativity: cut through the clutter Media savvy: cut through the clutter and knowledgeable of all types of media (new and old)

Gender and PR n Why do females gravitate to careers in PR? n Look at the make-up of this class, how many are going into PR careers? n Videos, PR Conversations with female PR’ers n http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=HAJEYh. Nz. J Ao (about 3 minutes) n http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=989_m. FDK Cy. I (9 minutes)

Jobs in PR n We’ll revisit this more at the end of the summer session We’ll look at salaries from the http: //www. bls. gov n Go on-line and look for jobs n n Other Terms for Public Relations n Corporate Communications/Relations n Public Affairs/Relations/Information n Communications n Communication Management