Modern Methods of Public Relations Final Exam Preparation

1. What is PR? Organization: can be a government body, a business, a profession, a public service or a body concerned with health, culture, education indeed any corporate or voluntary body large or small.

'Publics' are audiences that are important to the organization. They include customers existing and potential; employees and management; investors; media; government; suppliers; opinion-formers.

Understanding: is a two-way process. To be effective, an organization needs to listen to the opinions of those with whom it deals and not solely provide information. Issuing a barrage of propaganda is not enough in today's open society.

Definition of PR An applied social science that influences behavior and policy, when communicated effectively, motivates an individual or group to a specific course of action by creating, changing or reinforcing opinions and attitudes. Its ultimate objective is persuasion that results in a certain action which, to succeed, must serve the public interest. (Bernays, Edward L. 1923. Crystallizing Public Opinion. )

2. PR Dictionary Review the file on DL

3. How to write a press release? Video: How to write the perfect press release? Link on DL Video: Tips for press release Link on DL Review the videos as there will be questions about this too!

4. Best Practice Techniques Humanize the story Let necessity be the mother of invention Internal leadership Set aggressive goals Start with the objective reality

Lead with the Wall Street Journal Pitch David versus Goliath Let customers and analysts tell the story No events, just one-one interviews Make sure to review the whole Presentation on DL!

5. Social Media and PR How to use social media for: Outbound media relations Inbound media relations Promoting you institution Community outreach Building brand affinity

Aim: reaching audiences where they are most likely to respond (social networks like Facebook are ideal for this), or where they will be looking for your information when the timing is right. General tips how to use social media

6. Innovation and Creativity: “Ability we all have. It is about flexible thinking around beautiful questions in a quest to add value” Innovation is defined as “the adoption, adaption, or implementation by a third party of someone’s creativity. ” It is focused more on the implementation of creativity, rather than the origination of ideas.

Red thinking vs. green thinking 5 Stages: 1. Information: The information stage is essentially getting you to do your homework and defining your question. 2. Incubation: A simplistic analysis of our brain is that we have two parts: the conscious and the unconscious. The conscious brain is a tiny part of the whole capability, for argument sake less than 1% of the entire brain capacity. Yet for many of us, we spend most of our time just using this part of the brain.

3. Illumination: You know when you get an idea out of the blue – well that is what we call an illumination’. 4. Integration Unlike illuminations, which are ideas out of the blue, integration ideas are those generated while working on the task. 5. Illustration No matter how good your idea is, its potential will not be realised unless you sell the idea effectively.

7. Communicating with Children When planning a campaign, practitioners should also take into account the gender, maturity level, ethnic and cultural background of those it is targeting. Code of conduct: Integrity Confidentiality Competence

8. Environmental Sustainability is the capacity to endure. In ecology the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time.

Greenwashing: Greenwash (a portmanteau of green and whitewash) is a term that is used to describe the actions of a company, government, or other organisation, which promotes positive environmental practices, whilst acting in a way that is opposite or does not adhere to the claim. It highlights a disconnect between aspiration and real world impacts.

9. Using Statistics in Communications Statistics and survey results help to provide a better understanding of the way things are, to back up claims being made, to measure impact, to provide valuable contextual or background information or to make forecasts.

Information that needs to be provided: the client commissioning the survey the purpose of the investigation (reasons for undertaking the survey, experiment etc) the ‘universe’ effectively represented (all adults, voters etc) how survey participants were selected and method of interview (eg face-to-face interviews with British adults aged 16 years and over or Managing Directors in SME firms across the UK)

the sample size, geographic coverage, fieldwork period and response rate what was measured and how data were weighted, if relevant the survey results, taking into consideration the statistical margins of error and overall reliability of the findings the percentages or proportions upon which conclusions are based, including the numbers from which they were calculated.

10. The Value of PR By using PR effectively, you can build strong relationships and maintain a sound reputation at all times and in all circumstances.

Planning valuable public relations: Define your audiences, understand their views and why they think and do what they do Be clear about what you would like them to think about you Envolve your employees in your objectives and make them feel valued

Convey your messages in a way that suits your audiences, i. e. email, direct mail, telephone, online, face-to-face, etc See the media as a way of achieving your objectives, not as something that works against you Be clear about your objectives, and make sure you can measure progress throughout the project

11. Social media tools

Exam Structure Part 1: Provide definition, the concept is given; Part 2: Give the name of the concept, the definition is given; Part 3: Answer a short questions as precise and short as possible, problem solving is the focus here; Part 4: Essay questions focusing on creative ideas to solve a PR problem