Public Relations Management In Organisations

In this chapter, it states that public relations is essential for all the different organisation as they will be able to monitor and respond to changes in the internal and external environment such as climatic change or change in demand etc. PR also helps to maintain the reputation of the company (Mehta and Xavier, 2009). I think it is somewhat similar to parents protecting their child and ensuring that their child does well in their studies so that their reputation is not ruined. Then again, that is just my own inference.

A PR practitioner has to be adaptable to different situation and they have to make adjustments accordingly as well. This means that they have to make adjustment to certain policies in order to please a client or to even overcome their own problems (Mehta and Xavier, 2009). Take for example Qantas airways; they had to increase their ticket price to cover rising cost of aviation fuel (Mehta and Xavier, 2009). This decision may seem unpopular to the public, but it helped to protect the profitability of Qantas (Mehta and Xavier, 2009). Thus, I think public relations management in organisations have to be versatile and always have a solution to a problem. Seems like a tough and challenging job to me.

A PR department will be made up of juniors and experienced practitioners and they each have different roles and responsibilities. Practitioners’ roles and responsibilities are influenced by the organisation’s environment and the professionalization of PR (Mehta and Xavier, 2009). I agree with this as different organisations have different goals that they want to achieve and thus it changes the role of the practitioners as well. PR is also linked to other departments such as marketing and human resource. I agree with this as the entire department have to work together as they make up the company as a whole.

The reading also mentions about corporate social responsibility (CSR) which can be a challenge to PR as they have to consider the environment and the society when they plan their activities. Thus, PR practitioners may face conflicts with their clients as sometimes their clients expect them to gain profit for them no matter what. This, links back to ethics again as CSR falls under ethics as well. Thus, we have to take into consideration the environment and the public.

In conclusion, I learnt that PR practitioners have to be ever ready as they are constantly faced with different kind of situation. I like a job with challenges, so maybe I am in the right line. =)

signing off,

nivitra

Strategies to proactively manage activity

First of all I would like to congratulate myself for finally catching up and being on-par with my course schedule and readings. YAY ME! Next, I would like to highlight that according to the course schedule, it states that I have 2 readings for the week but 1 of it is repeated, thus I will not blog about it since I already blogged about it in my previous entries. Please take a look at it under Gae Synnott’s readings: Public Relations practice. And lucky me for having repetitive readings! =) Anyway, back to the readings...

Missed readings #5

This reading talks about the importance of strategy and what it is. It is very similar to my second blog posting about what I learnt in lecture. In fact it is almost exactly the same which makes it easier for me since I am familiar with the terms. However, this chapter goes more in-depth about strategy.

Strategy is central to the role of public relations and it is a plan or method by which you will be able to achieve a specific goal in a contested environment (James, 2009). There are steps to develop a strategy – a good one especially.

Firstly you have to conduct research about you specific topic before coming up with a plan about it. Next you have to analyse the results of the research. Under the analysis you have to take note of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats- SWOT for short (James, 2009) which I have also mentioned in my 2^nd post. You have to specify your target audience and evaluate your results at the end as well.

Strategies are created to achieve goals and objectives. Thus in order to achieve them, you have to create your objectives well. It has to be SMART- Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-orientated and Time frame (James, 2009). This is a popular method adapted by most management.

After setting your strategies, you have to start thinking of tactics which is how you are going to implement your strategies (James, 2009). This involves creative thinking as practitioners need to compete with so many other factors in order to publicise their client. Furthermore, it has become such that involvement of target audience plays an important part currently.

For example during our lecture, Ms Tanya mention of a Confucius proverb saying ‘Tell me and I will forget; Show me and I may remember; Involve me and I will Understand.’ I agree with this statement as in my opinion, it is one of the best and smartest way to implement your strategy as what better way is there then to involve you target audience so that they can experience whatever your client is offering.

An example of using involvement tactic is the HP camera tactic where they gave their cameras to certain hotels and resort so that customers are able to loan the camera whenever they go out to capture their precious moment. Thus, customers will be able to experience the camera by trying out the functions and thus either getting it for themselves or spreading about it by word of mouth. Thus this is a very good example of the tactics implemented by PR practitioners.

In conclusion, I feel that this reading tells you about the step-by-step method to achieving a good strategy and tactic. One thing that I am pretty sure of is that you will only get better if you practice what you learn. Thus, it is important that I practice what I learnt from the book and become street-smart and not just book-smart.

signing off,

nivitra

Engaging with the Media

Missed readings #4

As public relations practitioners, we have to be able to work with the media in order to make our company and our clients well known. This is part of our job scope and since the media is a powerful and influential tool, it is likely to help practitioners to publicise their company and clients. This chapter discuss about the different communication theories, advantages and disadvantages of engaging with the media.

There are numerous communication theories such as, Agenda setting theorists, uses and gratification theorists, spiral of silence theory, two-step flow theory, framing theory and sociological theory and social reality (McLean and Phillips, 2009). I will elaborate on one of these theories as some of them are familiar to me. Thus I will elaborate on the spiral silence theory because it is new to me and I think it sounds interesting as well.

The spiral silence theory states that when in a group, people will tend to agree with the majority as they are afraid to speak up if they have an opposing opinion since the majority agrees on something else (Neumann, 1984). Thus, if the media gives the impression that majority of people are in agreement with a course of action, everyone will likely to follow it and not oppose it (Neumann, 1984). Thus, organisation under pressure about issues should find supporters within the media who are willing to stand up for what is right despite it being a majority or not and people will most likely to follow it as the media is a powerful and influential tool (Neumann, 1984). I agree with this as people are likely to follow the crowd and having the media on your side could definitely do you and your company a lot of good as people are willing to follow whatever they see or hear in the media.

It is essential to write a proper media release in order to gain the support of the media as they will be media gatekeepers such as the editors who sieve out the good and the bad press releases before publishing it. Thus, it is important to write something that is eye-catching and truthful at the same time. An example would be the OCD Company which wrote media releases that caught the attention of the editors. The company used words such as ‘Singapore’s first and only company’ which immediately catches editors’ attention and intrigues them to read further on. Thus, this is a good media release strategy.

There are some important aspects that lead to success. They are, building relationships with journalists and editors, getting to know journalists, having up-to-date databases, knowing how newsrooms are organised, developing a media strategy, knowing what is news and what is not, and finally the most important aspect would be ALWAYS meeting with your datelines (McLean and Phillips, 2009). I agree with theses aspects especially the meeting with your datelines with media releases as you would not want to keep the editors waiting and get on the wrong side of them as they will be able to write untrue stories that sound very believable about your company. Thus, it is very important that you meet you dateline and a good way to meet with your dateline would be to not promise anything that you cannot do.

Tools to attracting the media’s attraction would be, celebrating anniversaries, writing good media releases, illustrating your stories with great photographs, pitching your release, news conferences, online newsrooms and video news releases (McLean and Phillips, 2009). These are just some of the many tools to attract the media’s attention so that you are able to publicise your company with a limited budget as the media would promote you.

However, there are some things that practitioners have to beware of when writing media releases. They have to be weary of copyrighting, defamation, legal and ethical issues and privacy considerations (McLean and Phillips, 2009). These not only ensure practitioners security but also minimises the media’s attention from noticing the bad point of the firm. I agree with this as the media is a watchdog and is able to catch whiff of any bad yet interesting news from companies as bad news does attracts the public attention as long as the spotlight is not on them. Thus, practitioners have to be very careful of what they write.

In conclusion, I found this reading interesting yet repetitive as I have learnt some of the terms in my other modules and in previous readings as well. Thus, it actually makes me understand the reading fully. Furthermore, throughout all the readings that I have read so far, I realised that I am not only building up on my knowledge of PR but also developing life skills that will be useful for me in future when I enter this field of work.

signing off,

nivitra