Public Relations and Advertising Dr Anthony Olden Thames

Public Relations and Advertising Dr Anthony Olden Thames Valley University, London NMPLIS Summer School, July 2010

Public Relations o o “The deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain understanding between nan organisation and its publics” (Chartered Institute of Public Relations definition) But why does PR have such a bad name? 2

Working with an organisation’s publics o o PR professionals work to establish continuing relationships with their organisation’s publics. For most universities these publics would include students, staff, the government, donors, contractors to the university and the local community. 3

Media publicity o o Work with the media is particularly important in Public Relations. Which libraries in your countries have been getting good publicity in the newspapers in recent months? 4

UK public library publicity campaign o o o New UK campaign to promote libraries: the Librarian of the Year Award. Members of the public asked to identify library staff members who improved the quality of their lives. Campaign promoted on local radio. 5

Tools of Public Relations o o Press releases (for example the speeches of the President and government ministers) Websites In-house publications such as newsletters Exhibitions and shows 6

o o o Education and training (a library software provider will give training in the use of its product). Lobbying (the American Library Association lobbies politicians for support). Sponsorship (Emirates airline sponsors Arsenal football club). 7

Crisis management o Public Relations is often linked to crisis management. n n n British Airways has undergone several big crises in recent years, for example through staff strikes. Governments and politicians are often involved in crises. What about libraries and librarians? Are we ever involved in crises? Or are we not important enough? 8

o If you are involved in a crisis, the following advice from an American source is quoted in Andreasen and Kotler’s Strategic Marketing: n n n Do nothing to make things worse. Get the story over with and behind you. Remember that you will be dealing with some of the same news organisations after the story is over. 9

Advertising o “Advertising is mass, paid communication which is used to transmit information, develop attitudes and induce some form of response from the audience” (definition from Palmer, 2009). 10

o o What is the message that you want to send? To whom is it directed? What response are you seeking? Note that the target audience for an advertisement is the target audience for the product being advertised (Palmer, 2009). 11

o Where do you advertise? n n National media, such as a daily newspaper (very expensive) Local newspapers Large billboards (very expensive) Local radio 12

n n n o New possibilities such as cell phone text messages (very annoying!) Through handouts? Other possibilities? How do you evaluate the success of your advertising campaign? With difficulty! 13