Sabrina Simpson's Blog

Public relations and social media

Internet will become more popular for public relations because there is a demand to be education rather than sold, there is a quest for conversation, there’s a need for real-time performance, and there’s a need for customization.

All organizations now have websites, well if they want to be successful they do. It is critical that every company has one because it is the public’s first opinion on them.

To have an awesome website you should ask what your goal is, what content will be included, how often it will be edited, how interactive it will be, how you will track the use, and who will be responsible?

E-mail is probably the least popular form of social communication now for teenagers.

Blogging is an online diary that is also called a weblog or web log. There are nearly 1.5 million blog postings a day or 17 posts per second.

Social networking sites allow users to connect with their friends, families, and co-workers online. Popular websites include Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, and LinkedIn.

Twitter is now the hottest social-network website. It allows users to send out a message or “tweet” about whatever they want, but it can only be a certain amount of characters. Anyone can see or “follow” your twitter account too.

Video and photo sharing has also become used daily through sites like Youtube, Flickr, and Picasa.

Media Relations/Print & Broadcast

Media always has an objective:
The reporter wants the story whether it’s good or bad, but the organization want things to be presented in the best light.

Print has slowly been dying off over the past couple of years because computers have taken place by blogging ( there are over 115 million of them) and online databases.

Electronic media is dominating through broadcasting like the Today Show, talk radio such as Rush Limbaugh, and satellite radio shows like Howard Stern’s.

When dealing with the media always remember a reporter is only a reporter, you are the organization, there is no standard issue reporter, treat journalists professionally and don’t sweat skepticism, don’t threaten a journalist, become a trusted source, talk when your not selling, don’t expect news agreement, don’t get an attitude, don’t lie, and read the paper.

Publicity is easily attained through news releases, and are more powerful than advertising.

Publicity is valuable because it announces a new product or service, re-vamps a new product, explains a complicated product, little or no budget, enhances the organization’s reputation, and responds to crisis.

In order to pitch publicity know the deadline, write first then call, direct the release to a specific person or editor, determine how the reporter wants to be contacted, don’t be annoying, use exclusives carefully, do your own calling, don’t send clips of other stories about your client, develop a relationship, NEVER lie.

Online publicity includes news releases, headlines, announcements, links, newsletters, libraries, public appearances, promotions, news wires, and events.

When you are required to do a interview with the media make sure you prepare, know your lines, relax, speak in personal terms, welcome the naive question, answer questions briefly and directly, don’t bluff, and state facts and back generalities.

Integrated Marketing Communications

Marketing is the selling of a service or product through pricing, distribution, and promotion.
Advertising is a subset of marketing that involves paying to place your message in more traditional media formats like newspapers or magazines.
Public relations is the marketing of an organization and the use of unbiased, objective, third-party endorsements to relay information about that organization’s products and practices.

Product publicity can be the most effective part in the marketing mix, examples of this are:
1. Introducing a revolutionary product
2. Eliminating distribution problems with retail outlets
3. Small budgets and strong competition
4. Explaining a complicated product
5. Tying the product to a unique representative

Branding is creating an identifiable product or service for a company. To set your brand apart from others be the first, be memorable, be aggressive, use history, and have a creative personality.

Traditional integrated marketing includes article reprints, trade show participation, spokespersons, cause-related marketing, and in-kind promotions.

21st century marketing includes online marketing, television brand integration, infomercials, buzz marketing, and t.v. and movie product placements.

Management

Managers are forced to think strategically about reaching their goals so they must always ask questions like:
1. What are we attempting to achieve, and where are we going in that pursuit?
2. What is the nature of the environment in which we must operate?
3. Who are the key audiences we must convince in the process?
4. How will we get to where we want to be?

The task of organizing for a PR program should flow naturally
Environment–>Business objectives–>Public relations objectives and strategies–>public relations programs

To create a public relations plan it might be organized this way:
1. Executive summary
2. Communication process
3. Background
4. Situation analysis
5. Message statement
6. Audiences
7. Key audience messages
8. Implementation
9. Budget
10. Monitoring and evaluation

A normal public relations campaign is like this:
1. Background the problem
2. Preparing the proposal
3. Implementing the plan
4. Evaluating the campaign

To set up public relations objectives ask the following:
1. Do they clearly describe the end result expected?
2. Are they understandable to everyone?
3. Do they list a firm completion date?
4. Are they realistic, attainable, and measurable?
5. Are they consistent with management’s objectives?

Public relations are managing by objective (MBO) and by results (MBR) to help up the value of pr in an organization, most share the same points:
1. Specification of the organization’s goals, with objective measures of the organization’s performance
2. Conferences between the superior and the subordinate to agree on achievable goals
3. Agreement between the superior and the subordinate on objectives consistent with the organization’s goals
4. Periodic reviews by the superior and the subordinate to assess progress toward achieving the goals

The top PR firms have been subsumed by communication holding companies include:
1. Onicom
2. Interpublic Group
3. WPP Group
4. Havas
5. Grey
6. Publicis

How much does it pay? Well, the average senior vice president of corporate communications earned nearly $190,000 and executives earned almost $230,000.

Launching a Career

When companies are in an economic downturn they used to kick the communications side of the company to the curb first, however now that is all changed. Some companies that failed from doing this include American International Group, Washington Mutual, Countrywide Financial, and Bear Stearns.

Organizing a job search can be difficult, use these tips to help:
1. First, consider what interests you, and start early
2. Second, get a name
3. Third, Dispatch a personal letter
4. Fourth, call
5. Fifth, prepare an elevator speech

In order to nail a job interview make sure to take charge, lead with your knowledge and strength, tell what you will add to the company, get more names, and follow up.

A typical career path usually follows this progression:
Entry-level job–>Professional manager–>Senior professional manager–>Senior professional vice president

Seven keys to a successful PR career:
1. Diversity of experience
2. Performance
3. Communication skills
4. Relationship building
5. Proactivity and passion
6. Teamliness
7. Intangibles

Crisis Management

With the practice of public relations running so rapidly, there is always bound to be a crisis that will be written about and only take seconds to ruin someone’s image. Some of these crisis include war to peace, poverty to abortion, discrimination to downsizing, environmentalism to energy conservation, and many others.

“Issues management is the capacity to understand, mobilize, coordinate, and direct all strategic and policy planning functions, and all public affairs/public relations skills, towar achievement of one objective: meaningful participation in creation of public policy that affects personal and institutional destiny,” said W. Howard Chase, public relations counselor.

It is a 5 step process:
Identifies issues with which the organization must be concerned
Analyzes and delimits each issue with respect to its impact on constituent publics
Displays the various strategic options available to the organization
Implements an action program to communicate the organization’s views and to influence perception on the issue
Evaluates its program in terms of reaching organizational goals

In specific terms issues management is made of the following elements:
Anticipating emerging issues
Identifying issues selectively
Dealing with opportunities and vulnerabilities
Planning from the outside in
Bottom-line orientation
Action timetable
Dealing from the top

Risk communication began as a process of taking specific data related to health and environmental hazards and presenting them to lay audience in a manner that is both understandable and meaningful. In order to confront this you should follow this message-mapping process:
1. Identify stakeholders
2. Determine specific concerns for each stakeholder group
3. Analyze specific concerns to fit underlying general concerns
4. Conduct structured brainstorming with input from message-mapping teams
5. Assemble supporting facts and proof for each key message
6. Ask outside experts to systemically test messages
7. Plan delivery of resulting messages and supporting materials

They require 3 key messages, 7-12 words per message, and 3 supporting facts for each key message.

When a crisis arises 7 warning signs appear:
1. Surprise
2. Insufficient info
3. Escalating events
4. Loss of control
5. Increased outside scrutiny
6. Siege mentality
7. Panic

Watchwords for any crisis plans include: being prepared, available, credible, and acting appropriately.

Rules for dealing with the media in crisis are:
1. Setting up media headquarters
2. Establishing media rules
3. Media live for the “box score”
4. Not speculating
5. Feeding the beast
6. Speed triumphs
7. Cable rules