Chp. 16: High-Profile Projects

This chapter was full of fun events that public relation professionals have to plan. Among the things to plan are celebrations, grand openings,annual meetings and exhibitions.

This chapter discussed how using signs and posters attract attention to a booth at exhibition. Also, brochures and giveaways are a huge part of increasing memorability. Doing an evaluation is important in every project especially when trying to measure your reach at exhibits.

Annual reports are similar to evaluations but, on a larger scale. Annual reports are usually required for public companies and many communication experts are in charge of simplifying the reports. Not only does the public get to see the reports but, employees must have the reports explained too. Annual reports are helpful in explaining what happened during the year.  Public relations professionals have the difficulty of making the reports marketable to the public. This is a task that is not taken lightly.

Public relations professionals have a tough job handling high-profile projects.

Courtesy of: Rowland Entertainment Expo

 

Chp. 6 Legal Influences

Public relations writing must uphold legal standards otherwise a writer could find themselves in some hot water. Writers for commercial, advertising, or image purposes are held to higher standards and have to follow certain rules. “Commercial speech,” must comply with laws so as not to infringe the freedom of speech or opinion.

Usually ethical and legal issues go hand- in- hand. However , just because something is legal does not mean that it is ethical. An example of this would be  when Nike allowed young children to work for their company in foreign countries. Technically, this did not violate any United States labor laws but, ethics did come into play on this controversial issue. Currently, Nike has adopted U.S. labor laws regarding child labor and uphold high ethical standards as a value of their business.

Another legal issue that comes up commonly in writing would be ownership of information, trademarks, domain names, or photographs. There are so many intellectual property rights that a writer may have to seek guidance from a lawyer in order to make sure they are  not in violation of any laws.

Keeping up with legal influences and understanding how to avoid legal issues is extremely beneficial to public relations writers.

Photo Courtesy of European Commission

Chp. 13: The Multipurpose Medium

The World Wide Web is a realm of  information all at the tip of your fingers. Not only can public relations professionals use the Web to monitor the public but, also to gain information about what is going on in today’s society. Professionals in any field can use the Web to help enhance their professional portfolio, communicate with other professionals, or even research ways to improve their job techniques. Not to mention the Web is a way to communicate with the public as well. The public can give feedback and even explain to professionals what their audience would like to see more of from public relations professionals.

The Web is a way to reach a global audience. There are more than 605 milllion Internet users across the world. Everyday that number is growing because more people are getting access to the Web. Generating content is a great way to reach a variety of people.

Nowadays, sites even allow the site owner to view the statistics of what demographic is viewing their site. Running the PRSSA page on Facebook has showed me what type of updates the audience is interested in. I realized that the audience is more likely to be interactive if there is a photo with a status.

Courtesy of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

Chp. 12 When the News Isn’t Good

Today, being April Fool’s day, leaves for very stressed out communication professionals.  PR Daily, wrote an article about strategies that public relations professionals utilize for this day of jokes and pranks.

Public relations experts must take swift action whenever fake prank press releases arise.  Most professionals are trained to eradicate the messages or send out a counter message which could be considered a defense for crisis management.

The article discusses how during a crisis, time is of the essence. Working in a team atmosphere to come up with the best solution helps fight the race against time. A collaborative decision is usually able to find the most reasonable and thought out strategy with the least amount of time used.

Upper management is commonly sought out to approve the response to the crisis. The quick decisions assist in saving organizations reputations as well as preventing further calamity. The actions taken during a time of disaster are the ones that go most noticed in a professional’s career.

Courtesy of PR Daily

Chp. 8: From Principles to Planning to Practice

This chapter goes over in detail the checklist that public relations writers should take into account when writing.

Courtesy of School Garden International

This chapter discusses and brings in elements that the book has previously discussed. I think the most important section of the checklist would be that a public relations writer must remember to be ethical when writing.

A writer must ask if the message is truthful, accurate, and if the message is in violation of any code of conduct.

Writing ethically should be every writer’s number one priority! If a writer doesn’t write ethically the consequences could jeopardize their reputation and occupation. Also, the information in the message would not be considered credible which is another principle that writers strive for when writing.

An element that I have never thought about would be interactivity which is how people will be able to respond to the message. The audience may need to call or respond using order forms.

The checklist was a very helpful tool to assist in recalling the information we have learned thus far!

Chp. 11 Writing for Broadcast, Scripts, and Speeches

I found this chapter to be very interesting. The chapter talks about how news anchors would not risk their reputation trying to pronounce extremely difficult words even if the information is pertinent to the story. As a writer, you must realize that some words are better suited for print rather than broadcast and speeches.

Also, after years of watching the news I never thought about the fact that broadcasters use words that sound more natural. An example of this would be “don’t” instead of “do not.” Using contractions also helps avoid miscommunication in case a viewer tuned in at the wrong moment to hear just the word “do.” However, in print it is more formal and common to not use contractions.

There are so many words that a broadcaster chooses to use over the words that are written.  This surprises me! Someone should have told this Ball State student who is now known as the worst news anchor in history.  If you view the video below, you will understand why news broadcasters are worried about protecting their reputations!

Chp.14 Persuasion for Mass Action

Compliments of DAPA Diversity

Advocacy campaigns are very interesting to me.  They send out strong and creative messages urging the  public to take action. After reading this chapter, I wanted to look at a few public service announcements.

The message above caught my eye because of the dramatic title, ” Humans Aren’t Born With Labels.”  The image of the baby covered in labels was also another element that pulled me in and made me want to learn more about DAPA Diversity’s motivation.

I learned that DAPA stands for Diversity and Personal Activism, this is an organization that offers training to people who want to become culturally sensitive and learn how to understand diversity. DAPA works to create a cultural and racial understanding between people. I think that the above PSA was an excellent execution of DAPA’s message.

Using a vulnerable looking child covered in labels defiantly pulled at my heartstrings. The message also made me want to take a personal look at myself and see what labels I use.

For more information on DAPA, you can go to their link at: http://www.dapadiversity.org/

Chp. 5 Research Influences on Public Relations Writing

Research is detrimental in understanding how the public views organizations that a public relations professional is writing about. The six elements define what components a public relations expert should use when looking to research for an organization.

I view the message to the public as the most important element when it comes to research. Public relations reason for writing is to get their message across to affect the public in one way or another.

First, the message must pass the readability test so that everyone is capable of understanding the message.

Second, a writer must measure the recall of the message which can be done informally by listening for buzz about the message. Occasionally, measuring recall can be done formally by survey  or sampling.

Another way to research the message is by conducting a content analysis. Content analysis can be done by measuring the media coverage of the organization or by measuring amount of words used about the messages source.

In my opinion, the measure of message is the most important research element.

Content Analysis Test

Chp. 4 Cultural Influences

Cultural sensitivity is not only a smart decision in regards to a professional career but, also in a public professional’s personal life as well. Being culturally sensitive helps a professional understand their audience. Public relations writer’s goal is to relay their messages to their audience and this all starts with understanding what audience they are writing to.

Public relations experts know that their writing to a global audience and must take all cultures into account. Experts do not want to exclude any audience because this could hurt their reputation or misunderstand their message. Also, it may be difficult to relay messages to different cultures if a person does not have cultural understanding.

An example in the text, was that colors have different meanings in different cultures. In the United States, black means mourning but, somewhere else in the world black could have another meaning.

Knowing the symbolism and meaning of the words that professionals write is a key part of having cultural sensitivity.

Chp. 9 Out of Your Control… or is It?

This chapter discusses “what makes news, newsworthy.” The book discussed other ways to help enhance ways to get messages into the news too.

Public relations professionals can use news to enhance an organizations’ image as well as carry messages that they want their audience to learn more about.  However, almost all stories sent to the media will be edited because of lack of time or space in a news section. This warning should have little effect on the story because even if information is cut the general message will still be released. The media might even gain your trust if you send in worthy news stories which can be beneficial to organizations.

In the chapter discussion, we discussed the seven determinants of what determines if a story is newsworthy. The book encourages students to look at the news and try and figure out which determinants are used for stories in order to get practice at recognizing determinants.

The book explains how to write like a journalist in style and structure.  The text also discusses what types of mediums to use for certain messages and how to prepare your story so that it is media ready.