Sunday, August 26, 2007
Blog Comment
I commented on Lauretta Parker's blog, found at http://cmns1290laurettaparker.blogspot.com
Ch. 10 - Media Relations
I found this chapter really interesting, because it's such an integral part of public relations practice. I liked how it was pointed out that "the media" in the context of public relations shouldn't be thought of en masse, but rather as a "complex and multi-layered part of society". There are many different forms of media - from the major monopolies to the more alternative forms that are targeted more to specific audiences. This ought to be a major consideration in media relations planning. The media can be an enormously useful tool in a successful PR campaign, so it was great to read all of the different ways to reach a target audience.
We covered a bit on media releases in first semester in Intro to Professional Writing, so it was helpful to read a bit about how it works more from a PR perspective. It was interesting to read how editors take 30 seconds to read a media release, judging it by who you are, the headline and the lead. I guess it makes writing a really good media release pretty important hey?
Media kits sounded really great for creating interest, and with a bit of creative thought and innovation could be a great catalyst to a successful campaign. Reading the section on media kits, I thought it sounded like great fun - bolstering my opinion of being involved in the planning of a campaign. It got me wondering about what sort of things you could include in a media kit for our major assignment on Surfest.......
All in all though, this reading gave me the impression that the need to take a holistic approach to media relations is imperative in planning a successful campaign and doing so can give a strong leg-up on getting the message "out there". A PR practitioner will need to take into consideration every avenue of media, and every method of reaching that media - from media releases, press conferences and media kits.
It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall in a PR planning meeting for a big campaign, to see how they work and what sort of ideas practitioners come up with...
We covered a bit on media releases in first semester in Intro to Professional Writing, so it was helpful to read a bit about how it works more from a PR perspective. It was interesting to read how editors take 30 seconds to read a media release, judging it by who you are, the headline and the lead. I guess it makes writing a really good media release pretty important hey?
Media kits sounded really great for creating interest, and with a bit of creative thought and innovation could be a great catalyst to a successful campaign. Reading the section on media kits, I thought it sounded like great fun - bolstering my opinion of being involved in the planning of a campaign. It got me wondering about what sort of things you could include in a media kit for our major assignment on Surfest.......
All in all though, this reading gave me the impression that the need to take a holistic approach to media relations is imperative in planning a successful campaign and doing so can give a strong leg-up on getting the message "out there". A PR practitioner will need to take into consideration every avenue of media, and every method of reaching that media - from media releases, press conferences and media kits.
It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall in a PR planning meeting for a big campaign, to see how they work and what sort of ideas practitioners come up with...
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Blog Comment
I commented on Kellie O'Sullivan's blog, found at http://cmns1290kellieosullivan.blogspot.com/
Ch. 4 & 5 - Legalities & Ethics
I spent a short period of time working as a personal assistant to the managing director of a company who had developed and was in the process of trialling an innovative product. While reading Ch. 4 - The Legal Environment, I found quite a few of the passages familiar, as they had been issues that we addressed while developing this new product. One in particluar was the issue of Intellectual Property - we had to ensure that not only the product itself was protected by copyright laws (patents etc), but that the ideas, research and development surrounding the product was also secure. Even ideas that hadn't started being developed were protected by intellectual property laws.
When we took the new product to a trade show some 4 months into my joining the company, I was advised that although I could talk to interested parties about the product (what it did, briefly how it works, where we're planning to use it etc), I was not able to open the machine at all, nor discuss any schematics or exact details of how it works because the INSIDE of the product was still under work being patented. Even now, having left the company years ago, I am still bound by a contract I signed when I started there that I will not divulge any details about the product.
I am grateful to have had that short span of experience in the early workings of a company, where I could see a product, and indeed the company itself, work from the ground up. It gave me some interesting insight into the importance and legalities of developing and developed products and ideas. Although my role was primarily administrative support to the MD, I often found myself working a PR role, especially in situations such as the trade shows and investor meetings. It was important for me to have a working knowledge of the laws and copyrights that protected us.
------------------------------------------
I'm sure many of us had heard PR practitioners referred to as "spin doctors" before we began this course. Indeed I think it is something that would commonly spring to the mind of anyone who heard the term Public Relations. It's refreshing to read a text such as this that stresses such great importance of the role of ethics in the practice of public relations.
I liked the Josephson Institute for the Advancement of Ethics essential values - honesty, integrity, promise-keeping, fidelity, fairness, caring for others, respect for others, responsible citizenship, the persuit of excellence and accountability. They are standards of integrity (p.106). So when you think about it, it's not just our practice of public relations that should be ethical - our lives as a whole should reflect a strong ethical stance. I think it would be difficult to truly practice ethics in the workplace if you cannot practice ethics in every aspect of your life.
I liked reading how a public relations practitioner can have a great hand in ensuring an organisation acts in an ethical manner - also as counsellor, advocate, corporate monitor and corporate conscience. Understandably, ethical challenges will arise in any PR role at some time in our career, so it was interesting to see how these can come about. It's good to know that there are organisations such as PRIA that monitor the ethical practice of public relations, and that practitioners are held to a common code of conduct.
In the end, as the conclusion of the ethics chapter states, it comes down to a move toward genuine professionalism for PR. If PR practitioners act in a professional manner, the ethics will work hand in hand with it. Ethics will no longer be considered separate to PR, it will instead be considered part-and-parcel with PR.
When we took the new product to a trade show some 4 months into my joining the company, I was advised that although I could talk to interested parties about the product (what it did, briefly how it works, where we're planning to use it etc), I was not able to open the machine at all, nor discuss any schematics or exact details of how it works because the INSIDE of the product was still under work being patented. Even now, having left the company years ago, I am still bound by a contract I signed when I started there that I will not divulge any details about the product.
I am grateful to have had that short span of experience in the early workings of a company, where I could see a product, and indeed the company itself, work from the ground up. It gave me some interesting insight into the importance and legalities of developing and developed products and ideas. Although my role was primarily administrative support to the MD, I often found myself working a PR role, especially in situations such as the trade shows and investor meetings. It was important for me to have a working knowledge of the laws and copyrights that protected us.
------------------------------------------
I'm sure many of us had heard PR practitioners referred to as "spin doctors" before we began this course. Indeed I think it is something that would commonly spring to the mind of anyone who heard the term Public Relations. It's refreshing to read a text such as this that stresses such great importance of the role of ethics in the practice of public relations.
I liked the Josephson Institute for the Advancement of Ethics essential values - honesty, integrity, promise-keeping, fidelity, fairness, caring for others, respect for others, responsible citizenship, the persuit of excellence and accountability. They are standards of integrity (p.106). So when you think about it, it's not just our practice of public relations that should be ethical - our lives as a whole should reflect a strong ethical stance. I think it would be difficult to truly practice ethics in the workplace if you cannot practice ethics in every aspect of your life.
I liked reading how a public relations practitioner can have a great hand in ensuring an organisation acts in an ethical manner - also as counsellor, advocate, corporate monitor and corporate conscience. Understandably, ethical challenges will arise in any PR role at some time in our career, so it was interesting to see how these can come about. It's good to know that there are organisations such as PRIA that monitor the ethical practice of public relations, and that practitioners are held to a common code of conduct.
In the end, as the conclusion of the ethics chapter states, it comes down to a move toward genuine professionalism for PR. If PR practitioners act in a professional manner, the ethics will work hand in hand with it. Ethics will no longer be considered separate to PR, it will instead be considered part-and-parcel with PR.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Ch. 7 - Strategy, Planning & Scheduling
I'm starting to realise the depth and breadth of the role of a PR practitioner - I always understood it was a fairly intensive role, but the extent to which PR infiltrates an organisation is more than I realised. The PR Manager works in cahoots with top management and has a hand in the direction, planning, strategy etc of the organisations day to day and future. The sheer responsibility of such a role kind of blew me away to be quite honest. Of course, I don't believe that just because I am doing this course I am going to make it all the way to the top, in fact the idea kind of gives me the heebies at this stage because I'm ill-equipped.
But imagine for a second if you could say that you'd garnered such a wealth of knowledge and (probably most importantly) experience that you could actually perform such a role? I may be looking at this from a first-year perspective, but personally I reckon you'd have to be pretty good at your job to perform at this level. Still, I think to be involved in the public relations wing of an organisation that really embraces the part the PR plays would be well worth it.
Studying strategic planning, learning about audiences, researching, campaigning, budgeting etc - it's all stuff that will be useful and applicable in any role, whether you're the one making the decisions or following them. There's so much that goes on behind the scenes in PR, certainly more than I realised.
But imagine for a second if you could say that you'd garnered such a wealth of knowledge and (probably most importantly) experience that you could actually perform such a role? I may be looking at this from a first-year perspective, but personally I reckon you'd have to be pretty good at your job to perform at this level. Still, I think to be involved in the public relations wing of an organisation that really embraces the part the PR plays would be well worth it.
Studying strategic planning, learning about audiences, researching, campaigning, budgeting etc - it's all stuff that will be useful and applicable in any role, whether you're the one making the decisions or following them. There's so much that goes on behind the scenes in PR, certainly more than I realised.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Ch. 11 - Internal Relations (pp. 287-297)
I used to work for a large company in Sydney in their Financial Services department. While I was working there (as a very happy employee), the company itself was undertaking dramatic changes, with a new owner jumping on board.
Reading this text, I could relate a lot of what it was talking about to that experience. The great thing was that through the entire process, the constant stream of updates and information that came through from the top management meant that everyone was up to speed on the goings on, and felt a part of the changes. There were never questions about where we stood, our jobs were never questioned and there was excellent communication right down the line.
Even amid the major shift in company ownership, all employees were as well-treated as ever, with regular team lunches, even dinners to build and maintain a great working relationship and rapport between employees and team leaders alike. We had a fun working environment, fun competitions and team building activities that everyone got into, as well as a particular day set aside especially for getting to know the company as a whole, with loads of free stuff and enjoyable, interactive sessions. Whenever the company had a sizeable monetary bonus (regardless of the time of year), all employees were recognised for their contribution and rewarded accordingly. HR was only a phone call away if we had any problems, and in general management worked extremely hard to keep employees happy - and we were.
This is a company that has worked hard to maintain employee goodwill. Their internal PR was something that was recognised as important, and much time and effort was invested in it.
"It is in a company's best interest to keep its staff happy, loyal and safe. Keeping them informed, communicating with them, consulting with them and developing relationships with them are some of the ways that show the organisation respects them not just as 'workers', but as 'thinking individuals'. Employee loyalty and satisfaction result from deriving a healthy relationship with the employer." (page 292)
For me, my time with that particular company set a benchmark in my mind of the type of company that I will always want to be a part of, and inspired me to undertake this course so that when I'm finished, I can be a part of it again.
Reading this text, I could relate a lot of what it was talking about to that experience. The great thing was that through the entire process, the constant stream of updates and information that came through from the top management meant that everyone was up to speed on the goings on, and felt a part of the changes. There were never questions about where we stood, our jobs were never questioned and there was excellent communication right down the line.
Even amid the major shift in company ownership, all employees were as well-treated as ever, with regular team lunches, even dinners to build and maintain a great working relationship and rapport between employees and team leaders alike. We had a fun working environment, fun competitions and team building activities that everyone got into, as well as a particular day set aside especially for getting to know the company as a whole, with loads of free stuff and enjoyable, interactive sessions. Whenever the company had a sizeable monetary bonus (regardless of the time of year), all employees were recognised for their contribution and rewarded accordingly. HR was only a phone call away if we had any problems, and in general management worked extremely hard to keep employees happy - and we were.
This is a company that has worked hard to maintain employee goodwill. Their internal PR was something that was recognised as important, and much time and effort was invested in it.
"It is in a company's best interest to keep its staff happy, loyal and safe. Keeping them informed, communicating with them, consulting with them and developing relationships with them are some of the ways that show the organisation respects them not just as 'workers', but as 'thinking individuals'. Employee loyalty and satisfaction result from deriving a healthy relationship with the employer." (page 292)
For me, my time with that particular company set a benchmark in my mind of the type of company that I will always want to be a part of, and inspired me to undertake this course so that when I'm finished, I can be a part of it again.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)