Chapter 6

Key points from this weeks reading:

• Research is an important stage for any public relations program.

• Both input and output research helps in the planning, monitoring and managing any PR program.

• Output research provides an insight into the effectiveness of the program

• There are many methodologies available for research; organisations should choose an appropriate research method depending on their environment, requirements, objectives and budget.

There is a need for research in PR programs. Why so?

Well it’s because research allows practitioners to ask questions and gather information that assists tem in the planning stages and also helps in developing the strategies used to have a successful campaign. It also helps in evaluating if the program was successful, thus research is needed throughout the whole PR program.

Research is needed as most of the time PR teams work with a budges which needs to be accoutred for and monitored for its accuracy and relevancy. Public relations dose research to find out more about there environment which they will have their campaign and most importantly their target audience. Based on these understandings they can decide on their aims, goals and targets.

Time, money and human recourse is some of the obstacles that some in the way of research in public relations. Research can be costly therefore it becomes a challenge to decide on what to decide. Clear goals needs to be set so that the research dose result in a wastage f money and time. PR practitioners need to have a clear understanding of the principals of research.

Input research informs practitioners about the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) of the campaign. It shows the beliefs of the public and helps in choosing the right method of communicating the massage to the public. Gathering existing information and evaluating previous campaigns is also essential as it might show flows that need to be mend or it would also tell the practitioners what not to research as the information is already there.

Output research is like a process which takes information from the outside and feeds back to the organisation to better their campaign strategy so that the campaign is successful. It is like evaluating the progress of the campaign and having a chance to improve it by developing and enhancing the strategy of giving the massage to the target audience.

Outcome research can only measure to what extent the campaign was successful and how helps to see hoe well the objectives were met. This information becomes a base for the next campaign done; it becomes an existing info from which practitioners can evaluate and improve the planning process.

Methodology is the way of research selected by the PR practitioners to gather information. It could be a formal research where methods like quantitative or qualitative research are conducted. On the other hand it could also be an informal research where there are no rules provided.

One a methodology is selected the technique needs to be decided. Techniques include surveys, mail, telephone, face to face and the internet (email and electronic questioners). Other techniques can also be used to gather information which are in-depth interviews, focus groups, ethnographic studies, feedback analysis, media monitoring and many more.

There are many techniques but if would be wise not to just do a research without analysing what information is really required. As mentioned before research is time consuming and expensive.

To do any research an ethical consideration is required. It is essential for the practitioners to make sure that the information gathered is accurate and not manipulated in anyway. At the end of the day it is all in being responsible and ethical during gathering the information and choosing the correct methods of research which will allow PR practitioners to gather information successfully.

Chapter 8

I think from this weeks reading the key points to keep in mind would be:

1. Tactics can be used in a campaign, but for it to become successful there needs to be an analytical and creative thinking process done first.
2. The tactics need to be in consideration with the important factors of the campaign.
3. Tactics need to relate back to the strategic plan.
4. Finally pr practitioners need to execute the event using the tactics while giving a clear massage to the target audience keeping in mind the available budget.

One thing I learnt was that strategy is the plan that allows the pr practitioners to ensure that an organisation is achieving their goals; strategic plan is what decides what tactics to use in a campaign. There are many tactics that can be used in a campaign, but as time has changed there have been more complications arising.
There is two major types of tactics controlled and uncontrolled. In controlled the pr practitioners are in control of everything starting from crating the massage to the final outcome, in contrast uncontrolled tactics would be when the program can be altered by someone else or even blocked completely.
The method the pr team chooses to deliver the massage is curtail as it impacts the effectiveness of the massage. Methods of delivery could be mail, cd-rom, video, fax etc. With new technologies improving getting the massage has become more effective, now pr teams can look analyse and research about their target audience.
Selecting the correct tactic for a particular campaign is where research needs to be done and the pr practitioners need to know how to imply the tactics so that it would apply the massage to their intended audience. Next would be thinking id media relations is required, if the campaign needs to put a massage and have a cost effective way of reaching the audience fast and simple than getting in tough with the media would be the best option. Other materials such as brochures and flayers are used with other tactics when also the mass audience and when the campaign requires a lasting document of information. The colour, size biding are all elements that needs to be looked into when preparing the flyer or broachers as it impacts how the massage is going to be understood.
Annual report gives a detailed analysis of the organisations challenges, what they have achieved, and the financial details for the year; the pr team here looks into the presentation side of the report and makes sure it is appropriate. Newsletters are similar to print materials as they are trying to build an on going relation with their audience. Finally a direct mail would be a tactic as it is being personally addressed to the customer; I believe this would be more helpful than fliers as people would actually look into documents if it’s directed to them and not a group of people.
The important part would be putting it all together and trying to give a clear massage that can be understood by the target audience and having a consistency while doing it. Videos and photography can also be used as a visual aid is always helpful to understand the massage. Speeches and presentations are add an impact to the key massage as the writing needs special skills to make the concept compelling. Using celebrity is always a god idea as the audience can relate to them easily and would want to get something that the celebrities have. But pr teams need to be aware that it’s about their massage and not about the celebrity.
From the reading I believe community meeting, advertising ad sponsorship are the most important and would be the most successful way putting g the massage through but than again it would become very costly. It is always important to know the budget, the audience and what massage in being put through than choosing the correct tactic will allow for a successful campaign.

blogging error:

Dear Melanie and Mathew

I do not know why I was having some technical difficulties in opening my blog yesterday it showed a constant error, so I posted chapter 13 as soon as the error was mended.

chapter 13

In this weeks chapter I learnt a lot about the sponsorships of event and how close the public relation practitioner’s work towards achieving the target they set from the vents.

Sponsorship is something that organisations use as tactics to achieve their goals for growing their goodwill, trust bank, communication values and developing strategies of alliances with key connects.

Sponsorship would be an expensive tool to use but the result is that it will give high goodwill. To so a sponsorship event means that they would be getting an exclusive privilege to that particular brand.

There are basically 3 types of sponsorship and the 1^st one is known as philanthropic sponsorship which basically means sponsoring in the line of medicine, art, education, and research. Out of the 3 ways of sponsoring this would be the closest to donating as it is very community based.

The 2^nd way would be corporate sponsorship where it is basically linked to the commonly genre. The 3^rd way is the most commonly know way to sponsor. This is known as market sponsorship where organisations offer cash or gods in return for tangible revenue-oriented results.

When writing a sponsorship proposal it is always wise to remember the motive and targets. The benefit that needs to be gained and who are the VIP’s that needs to be addressed and importantly the media coverage section.

Ambush marketing is when a company is just associated with an event without any legal rights. It is a bad concept as it can destroy value of events and also the concept.

Event management deals with sports, activities, openings, community, political meeting, dinner etc.

Media coverage is important as it would mean getting coverage in the news, TV, or getting colour print. It would be visual witch would help in connecting with the audience and public. If someone is doing a product demonstration that it would mean they are presenting opportunities for a third party. Revenue generation is when an event is organised to make money.

Also the PR team needs to keep in mind the risks involved in the event and should have a plan ready in case risk management is required. The execution of the event will be good if enough time is spared for last minute detail. And finally the budget it would be wise for all Pr practitioners to know the budget. No point imagining of creating a grand plan if they do not know how much they can and should spend in the event.

i belive that any event needs to be planned in order to achieve goals this is supported by this chapter and from many other journals. The primary stage would be research and plan for any event and if these two sections are well organised the company is likely to have a successful event.

Media Relation and Journalism article

The article gives us a better understanding on how much information is actually used by journalists given by the public relations practitioners. In the article an experiment is conducted which allows us to understand the amount of information that is actually used by the journalists.

Framing’s theory suggested that PR practitioners who have close connections with the media are able to publish their stories easily. The experiments help us understand framings concept better. The study was conducted from 2002 to 2004 during which time students were to conduct numerous interviews with journalists and gather information as to what the journalist’s actually thought about the PR industry.

The study resulted in getting mixed results where it ranged from ‘the information give is credible to it is totally biased.’ Most journalists thought that PR practitioners were not experienced, biased, unethical and had a lot of mistakes in the information presented to the journalists but than the study also showed that 47% which is the average amount of information given by the PR practitioners were used by journalist in writing up their story. The result also showed PR practitioners who used the profit motive got more criticisms than those who were non-profit motives. Journalists thought that non-profit motives are correct as it would mean that they are bringing awareness of some sort rather than just selling a product.

I believe no matter how good a connection a PR practitioner has with the media it would than be the journalists job to look at the information given to than and analyse if it is credible or not. I would conclude by adding that journalists and pr practitioners have always have a very unsettle relation among them. They can not work without the other but at the same time they don’t depend on each other.