Text II. The PR Industry Today

Modern public relations evaluate a product or individuals, public perception through market research. Once data is collected and challenges are identified, solutions are presented in a campaign strategy to meet goals. Techniques may vary from campaign to campaign but some standard tools used are: press releases, press kits, satellite feeds, pod casts, web casts, wire service distribution of information and internet placement. Others include entertainment product placement (television, events and celebrity), product launches, press conferences, media seminars, producing events, speechwriting, establishing partnerships and more is often required. According to Don Sheelen, "Examples of the knowledge that may be required in the professional practice of public relations include communication arts, psychology, social psychology, sociology, political science, economics, and the principles of management and ethics. Technical knowledge and skills are required for opinion research, public issues analysis, media relations, direct mail, institutional advertising, publications, film/video productions, special events, speeches, and presentations."

Although public relations professionals are stereotypically seen as corporate servants, the reality is that almost any organization that has a stake in how it is portrayed in the public arena employs at least one PR manager. Large organizations may even have dedicated communications departments. Government agencies, trade associations, and other non-profit organizations commonly carry out PR activities.

Public relations is an important management function in any organization. An effective communication, or public relations, plan for an organization is developed to communicate to an audience (whether internal or external publics) in such a way the message coincides with organizational goals and seeks to benefit mutual interests whenever possible.

As industry consolidation becomes more prevalent, many organizations and individuals are choosing to retain "boutique" firms as opposed to so-called "global" communications firms. These smaller firms typically specialize in only a couple of practice areas and thus, often have a greater understanding of their client's business. And because they deal with certain journalists with greater frequency, specialty firms often have stronger media contacts in the areas that matter most to their clients. Added benefits of smaller, specialty firms include more personal attention and accountability and as well, cost savings. This is not to say that smaller is always better, but there is a growing consensus that specialty firms offer more than once considered.

Organizations that cater to specialized or "boutique" practices include specific subgenres such as "Broadcast PR", and include firms like Medialink, WestGlen, DS Simon, kelly fogelman group and Mediahitman. These groups use traditional PR techniques but devote most of their efforts towards gaining exposure via broadcast and cable television news outlets. As newspapers downsize across the country due to the impact of Internet news, television has become an important vehicle in establishing customer acquisition. Reputable firms, create solid stories for broadcast which appear on talk shows like Oprah, Good Morning America or news broadcast etc.. Questionable public relation firms create "spin" which is slanted stories to serve their cleint's interest. Recent pressure from watchgroups like the Center for Media and Democracy has resulted in Federal review of "spin" practices. A number of specialties exist within the field of public relations, including:

§ product placement

§ product launches

§ broadcast public relations

§ reputation management

§ issue management

§ investor relations and labor relations

§ grassroots PR (sometimes referred to as "astroturf PR")

§ crisis management

Public relations and publicity are not synonyms. Publicity is the spreading of information to gain public awareness in a product, service, candidate, etc. It is just one technique of public relations as listed here.

A fundamental technique used in public relations is to identify the target audience, and to tailor every message to appeal to that audience. It can be a general, nationwide or worldwide audience, but it is more often a segment of a population. Marketers often refer to economy-driven "demographics," such as "white males 18-49," but in public relations an audience is more fluid, being whoever someone wants to reach. For example, recent political audiences include "soccer moms" and "NASCAR dads."

In addition to audiences, there are usually stakeholders, literally people who have a "stake" in a given issue. All audiences are stakeholders (or presumptive stakeholders), but not all stakeholders are audiences. For example, a charity commissions a PR agency to create an advertising campaign to raise money to find a cure for a disease. The charity and the people with the disease are stakeholders, but the audience is anyone who is likely to donate money.

Sometimes the interests of differing audiences and stakeholders common to a PR effort necessitate the creation of several distinct but still complementary messages.

This is not always easy to do, and sometimes – especially in politics – a spokesperson or client says something to one audience that angers another audience or group of stakeholders.

VI. Answer the following questions:

1. How does the process of product evaluation go?

2. According to Don Sheelen, what skills and knowledge one needs to be a professional in public relations practice? Which ones do you consider to be irrelevant?

3. What is a spin?

4. What is the difference between Public relations and publicity?

5. What role does demography play in PR?

VII. Fill in the table with the suitable words and expressions to describe all possible pros and cons for each mean of Mass Media:

	Newspapers	Radio	Magazines and journals	Outdoor advertising	Television
Advantages
Disadvantages

Short life span, may be expensive, relative to other media, hasty reading, long lead time, hard to target customer, requires production specialists, brevity of the message, temporary nature of message, high mortality rate for commercials, repetition, visual and audio capabilities, flexibility in getting attention of consumer, reader control of exposure, audio capacity, fragmented and inflexible, selectivity for demographic and geographic segments, repetition of exposure to customers, quick communication of simple ideas, ability to promote products, available for sale nearby, lasts as long as magazine is kept, merchandising service, high in quality reproduction, prestigious advertisement, credibility of magazine is high, low cost, poor reproduction, impact, mass coverage, short exposure time, lack of creativity, community prestige, often limited control over location of advertisement, coordination with national advertising, intense coverage, extra services, temporary nature of message, evidence of public distrust, don’t have visual capacity, short lead time.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-24