Kogan Page has joined forces with the Chartered Institute of Public Relations to publish this unique series which is designed specifically to meet the needs of the increasing numbers of people seeking to enter the public relations profession and the large band of existing PR professionals. Taking a practical, action-oriented approach, the books in the series concentrate on the day-to-day issues of public relations practice and management rather than academic history. They provide ideal primers for all those on CIPR, CAM and CIM courses or those taking NVQs in PR. For PR practitioners, they provide useful refreshers and ensure that their knowledge and skills are kept up to date.
Why is research important to the practice of public relations?
● Staying on top of trends, crisis management
● Inside of house - understanding brand’s mission and core values are, goal for
communication
● Research informs strategy = strategy can’t be good unless it is informed by research
- What is a communication analysis? Issue analysis?
● Communication analysis : external communication about a client
Knowing what info is out there about that client
● Issue analysis : evaluating company’s history, relationship
What issues impact organization we are working with
Challenges they have, barriers we have
Making sure we have right strategy
- What is qualitative research? Can you name some qualitative methods?
● Qualitative research : how we feel about something, asking questions, attitudes, opinions,
deeper than statistics
● Focus groups, interviews
- What is quantitative research? What is generalizability? Can you name some quantitative
methods?
● Quantitative research : statistics, generalizable, numerical data
● Surveys, content analysis, experiments
What is corporate social responsibility? How does public relations relate to CSR? How does
CSR play a role in brand-building? How does CSR relate to reputation?
● Research is first step in PR process
● CSR : VOLUNTARY action
○ Keeps authenticity if it’s voluntary
● Role in brand building : reinforces mission and core values of company unless
company isn’t genuine on CSR efforts
● Relate to reputation : enhances reputation, consumers like to see CSR efforts, taking
responsibility for actions of our business
What is the triple bottom line?
● People, planet, profit = 3 things a company should serve and measure
What are community relations?
● Key understanding of the community that our business is operating in
● Leverage relationships to make business stronger
What is media relations? How does media relations contribute to brand-building?
● Working with the media (journalists)
● Making sure that the media tells the story in a way we want it told
● Professional relationships
● Helps a brand reach more people - national publications, credibility through 3rd
party endorsements,
Why are audiences important to media relations?
- demographics
Shifted what media we are using and how we are using it
● Pitch to a journalist according to the journalist’s audience
Why is style and format so important to media relations?
● Write a press release in the journalist’s style - mimicking their job so that it makes it
easier for them to chose our story and use our frame
- Associated Press style, inverted pyramid
Associated press : journalist style
Inverted pyramid : who what when where why at the top
What does it mean to be “newsworthy”?
● Newsworthy : using same principles that a journalist uses to describe news
● News values!!
What is a news release?
● news/press release : PRs attempt at a news story
○ Pitching to a journalist
○ Pound sign and boiler plate on bottom of every press release
○ Boiler plate : summary of the brand
What is a pitch? What makes a pitch effective?
● Pitch : telling a journalist an idea about a story that you want them to run
○ News release
● Simple, straightforward, interesting, relevant, accurate, recognize why it’s a fit for
the journalist
What is public opinion?
● Public opinion : what the large mass says and thinks about brand
What is the purpose of news?
- Be familiar with the newsmaking process, e., gatekeepers.
● Objective, unbiased
● Getting past gatekeepers
What is the purpose of practicing media relations?
How do you choose which journalists to pitch?
How do you build relationships with journalists?
● Honesty, mutually beneficial, reliable information, speedy
What is internal communication? What is the purpose of internal communication?
● Communication within organization
○ Employees, internal stakeholders,
1) What is the term for organization to gov communications involved direct contact a
politician - lobbying
2) Issues management - preparing for problems in advance
3) First step in the PR campaign process - conducting research
4) Which of the following would be an organizational crisis - national product recall
5) authentic , global companies have to adapt to cultural norms
6) Communications analysis - what is organization's reputation and image
7) Progression of publics (how to we want ppl to respond) - latent then aware then active
8) Agenda-setting theory main gatekeeper - media
9) Purpose of situation analysis in strategic PR - demonstrates understanding of the
company or industry
a) Not - sets the stage and defines the problem or opportunity bc of SWOT
10) Best to have 2 or 3 objectives in a strategic plan because.... provides more focus and
discipline to the planning process and avoid overwhelming the plan
11) While drafting strategic PR objectives, it is vital to connect the plant to - corporate
strategy
12) Clear statement of how you will achieve the objectives of your plan and what will guide
your tactics - strategy
13) What tactical approach is standard practice in PR campaigns to counteract noise -
repeat and reinforce message
a) Can't assume audiences are picking up
b) Theory about us thinking about message - elaboration likelihood model
i) PR want central processing - directly thinking about it
c) Noise - being bombarded with messages
14) Curse of knowledge - writers assume people know what they are talking about??
15) Gold standard for disseminating essential news and information to members of media -
news release
16) Primary rule of PR is to know audience. What does this idea mean - understanding
media trends
17) Why are more people turning away from cable and TV - changing viewing patterns
18) Use demographics. Why? - sort a population into smaller groups
19) Characteristics of an effective pitch - showing the story’s relevance to media outlet
20) According to agenda setting theory, which of the plays in a key role in shaping public
opinion - news media
21) Social network theory - social media’s rapid adaptation
22) Solid comm strategy will require - different messages for specific social media platforms
23) Influencers are today’s online gatekeepers
24) Donating profits - cause-related marketing
What is a characteristic of an effective pitch PR?
Always keep your communications helpful and positive, and offer to be an expert source for future stories. The best PR pitches are super clear; when there is no confusion about who you are, what you do and how you can help, you will no doubt make a positive impression.
What is the first question to ask before beginning any PR writing task?
As a simple rule of thumb, there are five questions you need to ask yourself—and answer—before you fire up your laptop: why, what, who, where and when. Why are you writing it? I start with this one because it's the most important and affects all the others. You may think the answer is obvious: to get more business.
Who developed an early communications model that is a representation of the 5ws?
Lasswell's model of communication is one of the first and most influential models of communication. It was initially published by Harold Lasswell in 1948 and analyzes communication in terms of five basic questions: "Who?", "Says What?", "In What Channel?", "To Whom?", and "With What Effect?".
What should be the focus during the crisis impact stage of crisis communications?
The focus during a crisis then should be on the key information to be delivered rather than how to handle the media. Once more preparation helps by making sure the various spokespersons have the proper media relations training and skills. Quickness and accuracy play an important role in public safety.