Tactics are used in public relations in order to influence relationships with an organization’s publics.  Tactics should be tied to the organization’s values-based mission and have a clear message.  For tactics to be successful, the topic should be extensively researched and evaluated.  The most successful tactics are those that target each of the publics one at a time.  

There are many tactics that can be used to boost an organization’s goal and/or product.  Focusing on an organization’s newsworthy attributes can help build an honorable reputation.  Another good tactic to gaining respect is sponsorship.  Sponsoring certain events or charities creates awareness and associates your organization with positive attributes.  Also, any kind of speaking opportunity is great for an organization.  Relevant conferences or seminars are helpful in explaining the organization’s main goals or views on an issue.  These are just a few examples of good public relations tactics to promote an organization, but there are many more tactics that are also effective.  

http://www.freshwatertechnology.com/mainpages/forum_prt.html

http://www.evancarmichael.com/Public-Relations

Planning is a critical part of public relations.  Without a plan, chaos and disorder is likely to occur.  It is important to remember that all public relations plans should be value-driven.  There are five excellent reasons to devise a plan: to keep our actions in line with out organization’s value-based mission, to help us control our destiny, to help us better understand and focus our research, to help us achieve consensus, and to allow affective management of resources.  The purpose of planning is to sketch a path of how you will meet the needs of your customer and fulfill their mission.

The opening of a restaurant is a great opportunity to utilize a public relations specialist.  There will be a PR plan for the grand opening and also for the ongoing business of the restaurant.  A public relations specialist will make plans for the grand opening and each part would be mapped out in detail so that everything will run smoothly.  Two weeks before the grand opening, press releases and media alerts will be sent out and advertised in local calendars or radio stations.  At the grand opening there would be a photographer and promotional gifts.  After the grand opening, the ongoing PR plan will come into play.  This plan includes creating a calendar for the restaurant’s upcoming events, teaming up with a local art show or event for publicity, and having promotional opportunities such as a “Wine Week” that attracts customers. These are just a few examples, but they all require extensive planning.  (http://marketingpr.suite101.com/article.cfm/restaurant_public_relations_plan).

Chapter 7 stresses the importance of research and evaluation in public relations. Important decisions made in PR are rarely based off of a hunch or “gut feeling”. Research helps to eliminate doubt and aids in creating a strategic and effective plan. Gael Walker, from the University of Technology Sydney, surveyed that over ninety percent of public relations practitioners strongly believed that “Research is now widely accepted as a necessary and integral part of the planning, program development, and evaluation process” (http://www.carma.com/research/PR_Metrics.pdf).  Usually, if research is not included, it is due to insufficient funds or lack of time.

The Defense Firm case study is an example of how research determined the most efficient strategy to be used in public relations.  In a competitive race to win defense contracts, the use of a spokesperson for a major defense contracting firm was highly controversial.  The spokespeople were usually the company’s engineers, who were camera-shy and soft-spoken.  Some agreed that these spokespeople helped to win over contracts, while others said that the camera-shy spokespeople discouraged their customers from accepting the contracts.  The company responded by launching a study, which later revealed that there was a definite connection between the frequency and visibility of their spokesperson in the media.  They found that the more the company’s spokesperson was quoted, the greater the chance that the customer would accept the contract.  From this evidence, the PR firm redirected their efforts and made the spokespeople more visible to the public through television and newspaper articles.  (http://www.instituteforpr.org/files/uploads/UsingResearch_DriveBusiness.pdf)

 

 

 

Chapter four discusses the importance of the publics involved in public relations.  A strong relationship between an organization and its publics is crucial for the organization’s success.  A mutual and beneficial bond between the two helps both the individual and the organization fulfill their needs and meet their requirements.  Two-way communication is a big part of building a strong relationship and maintaining trust and efficiency.  

A great example of how public relations manages good relationships is the McDonalds case study.  A few years ago, Greenpeace, an independent global environmental campaigning organization, attacked major multi-national organizations, such as McDonalds, that had poor environmental practices.  McDonalds was blamed for the deforestation of millions of acres of land in developing countries due to their need for agricultural expansion.  The public relations practitioners for McDonalds did not fight back, but rather listened to the criticism and used it to change for the better. McDonalds reached out to their environmentalist publics, apologized, and created positive social change.  In 2006, McDonalds and Greenpeace joined together to create a more environmentally friendly business.  Through two-way communication, McDonalds was able to save its relationships with its publics and maintain a successful business.  This is an example of how organizations can avoid conflict and maintain stable relationships when responding to pressure. (http://www.instituteforpr.org/files/uploads/SymmetricComm_IPRRC.pdf)

 

The history of public relations reveals that it is a forever-changing field and profession.  The foundations of modern public relations were greatly influenced by five social trends during the Progressive Era: The growth of institutions, the expansion of democracy, the technological improvements in communication, the growth of advocacy, and the search for consensus.  These economic, social, and political changes made public opinion more powerful, and ultimately influenced the spread of public relations.

History has a lot to teach us about the future.  It is a known fact that history has the tendency to repeat itself, therefore, looking at one’s past can be greatly influential when an individual or organization makes a decision.  Kimberly Goodwin, a marketing consultant and freelance writer, once stated that:

“…We are only doomed to relive our past if we fail to learn from it.  The past is not a map to where you are going, it’s a record of where you have been.  Its purpose is not to drag you back through emotional muck, but to serve you best by reminding you of lessons learned so you can avoid them in the future ” (http://www.cyberquotations.com/).

As we learned in our lecture video, public relations has drastically changed over the last few decades.  The invention of new technologies, such as the internet and computer, were major forces of change in the field.  Public relations has grown from an off-line business to an on-line business.  This phenomenon, which is known as the “Web 2.0″, is a perfect example of how public relations has changed and will continue to change.  In another ten years, public relations may use a different media outlet as their main source of connecting to their publics.  Chester Burger, a member of the Public Relations Society of America, foresees that “Communications will become more personal within the next ten years” (http://www.prmuseum.com/burger/chet_prsa2.html).  

No one knows for sure how public relations will expand over the next few decades, but looking back at its history reveals that it is destined to grow larger and find different outlets to reach out to their publics.

Public relations is becoming more and more recognized as its own field due its role in the tremendous success of many organizations.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, public relations practitioners accounted for about 243,000 jobs in the year 2006.  The jobs in public relations can range from advertising and marketing to lawyers and sales representatives.  http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos086.htm#related

There are many jobs in public relations, from being an intern to owning your own PR firm, but all of these jobs require certain skills, education, and training.  Most public relations practitioners have a college degree in either public relations, journalism, advertising, or communications.  Skills such as writing and public speaking are also required.  Some expertise, such as volunteer work or an internship, is helpful in getting a job in public relations.  These are some of the things that are important in getting a job, but there are many more skills that are required to keep the job and work your way up.  http://aboutpublicrelations.net/aa031701c.htm

To be successful in a career in public relations, one must be able to listen.  Listening to your publics and creating two-way communication with them is the key to being successful.  It is also pertinent to be up-to-date on current information, be creative, be prepared, and be open-minded.  With any career, it is important to be optimistic and outgoing, and display good judgement.

Chapter 13 discusses how the world’s means of spreading information and marketing products are rapidly changing.  In our society today, there is a weakening of the mass media.  This means that the media is unable to send a message out to a mass audience because the audience is becoming more and more fragmented.  The invention of satellite TV and radio gave people hundreds of channels to tune into, so now the media is focusing on reaching out to individuals one at a time with personalized messages.  Organizations have shifted their focus from mass marketing to consumer-focused marketing.  The most popular form of consumer-focused marketing that had been used in the past decade is integrated marketing communications (IMC).  IMC focuses on individual consumers and attempts to fill their needs and self-interests.  It is important to remember that not all of public relations is part of IMC.  IMC reaches out the the consumers, whereas public relations reaches out to other publics, such as employees, stockholders, and government officials.

The weakening of the mass media in our society is something that I can truly relate to.  My mom is in charge of running the advertising at The Post and Courier, the local newspaper in Charleston, which will soon be non-existant.  Instead of reading the newspaper every morning, people are getting their daily dose of news through the internet and the television, for example. Advertising in the newspaper is not as popular as it used to be because the audience is fragmented.  The newspaper industry has become almost desolate and has greatly downsized within the past decade.  This is an example of how the weakening of the mass media has personally affected my family and I.

The first chapter of Public Relations: A Values-Driven Approach, by Guth and Marsh, discusses the principles and foundations of public relations.  This chapter helped me better grasp the  function and purpose of public relations.  Public relations has five distinct elements: A management function, two-way communication, planned activity, research-based social science, and it is socially responsible.

There are four models that public relations practitioners follow , which is demonstrated by the Hunt-Grunig Model.  The four models consist of the press agentry/publicity model, public information model, two-way asymmetrical model, and two-way symmetrical model.  It was interesting to find that the public information model, which is the second most practiced form of public relations, is ranked as the least favorable by practitioners.   

This chapter gave me an overview of what I should expect if I am planning on going into a career in public relations.  It gave statistics on the number of men and women that go into the field, and the average yearly salary for a public relations specialist. Overall, this chapter helped to give me a better understanding of the public relations field and its function.

The practice of public relations is often a misunderstood field of communication.  Public relations has gained a negative connotation and is often portrayed as a form of manipulation.  It is commonly mistaken for a form of marketing, but a more in-depth analysis of the definition of public relations will clearly separate the two fields.  Public relations is the forming and maintaining of relationships with its publics (Page, Russell).  Marketing targets a particular audience and projects a certain message to that audience.  Unlike marketing, public relations affects numerous groups of people and organizations, such as a business’ employees, customers, CEO’s, stockholders, etc.  

1.  Page, Russell, “Definition of Public Relations”.  <http://www.russpage.net/definition-of-public-relations/>. 2007.

My name is Anna Heyward Smith and I am currently a junior at Clemson University.  My name can be a bit confusing for people who are not familiar with double-names.  So, for further clarification, my first name is Anna Heyward.  I am majoring in Psychology with a minor in communication studies.  I just recently switched my major from pre-professional health studies when I realized that organic chemistry was not my cup of tea.  

I am from Charleston, South Carolina and went to a small, all-girls private high school, so coming to Clemson with over seventeen thousand students was quite a change! Coming to Clemson was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, and I could not be happier in the place that I am now or with the people that I have in my life.