One of the main, if not most important, element of media relations is in writing client prose. Prose is defined as a form of written discourse, which is an apt way of looking at it. It should be looked at as a form of conversation, meant to engage and interest the target, in this case, the media.
As media relations professionals, not only do our grammar skills have to be top-notch, we have to make what we write appeal to the journalists as well. The media receives several press releases by other NGOs which need the free publicity as well, sadly enough, but we have to ensure that what we give the media stands out. When formulating press releases, we have to write as journalists themselves. The prevailing question to ask is whether the information is news or newsworthy? It would help to do all the hard work for them too such as providing an angle and writing a lead paragraph with the most important information.
Rules of writing aside, what about the packaging of the press release itself? I think they could serve as attention-grabbing tools. This was a letter done by Microsoft to show software sales staff that Windows breaks down the walls in customers’ lives :
It would be cool if a similar concept could be adapted. I'm sure it would capture the journalists' attention and engage them directly. How's that for standing out amongst the other letters and pieces of paper.
Writing prose is also important in order to establish or maintaining media relations, and the list includes brochure materials, letters to editors, feature stories, brochures, annual reports and of course, press releases. An important tactic in relation to our campaign would be to create a personality profile.
Keeping in mind our client being PCS, it is imperative that our actions have to have humanising factors, because it has to reach out to our target publics on an emotional level. This is what the personality profile help to introduce. PCS does deal with the difficult issue of teenage pregnancy, which still is quite a taboo subject. Also, our target audience, the youths, might shut off to our messages because they might feel this does not concern them or that it’s not a subject they want to take interest in. By having Rozz as our spokesperson, it helps to humanise the issue and sheds light on it, because the hope is that the messages Rozz delivers will go through to the youths.
Another spokesperson that we could do a personality profile on perhaps is Stephanie Mohan, a young mother who was interviewed on RazorTV before. Stephanie got pregnant when she was 18, and despite the circumstances that she was in (she just started school and her boyfriend actually dumped her), abortion was never an option for her.
Watch the actual interview here : http://www.razor.tv/site/servlet/segment/main/news/37292.html
Rozz would make the public take notice, but Stephanie would definitely provide that true inspirational face to the issue.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Chapter 6: Developing Media Relationships Around News
As PR students, we have come to realise the importance of developing and maintaining media relationships. Media relations are a two-way process; media need sources and sources need media. Media relations practitioners spend a lot of time trying to get the media interested in their client's events but as the PR client presentation revealed, it was not as easy a task to be said than done.
Building a relationship with the media requires relevant in interesting information and the supplication of such material. It is also crucial that the right media is chosen to suit the direction the plans or campaigns that has been chosen for your client. For example, selecting the print industry for trade magazines would be a good choice as they will be able to go into the nitty-gritty specifics of things whereas for events for a targeted group; such as events for Breast Cancer Awareness would be better place in woman's' magazines.
Another important factor is putting yourself in someone else's shoes and looking at what you plan on doing with a different point of view. News stories depend on angles taken, the assimilation of news processing, construction and eventually the dissemination of the news. In the case of PCS, they tend to shy away from the media in general. However, perhaps it is a different method that will safely reach out to incorporate the media, yet, protect the identities and keeping their confidentiality intact. We proposed an event that will draw the attention of the media- 'Umbrellas in the Sun' and 'Power of Choice'.
News is a highly valued commodity and more so because it helps provide a marker for society to base itself against. It is with this marker than PCS is ranked against and unlike its competitors such as BABES, PCS is not as well-known and approached. As a third party, we have a different approach and a clear slate to look into matters concerning PCS.
We at Silhouette PR Agency want the best for our client and have realised that the media is a crucial part of creating awareness. Thus, we will reach out to the media in a way that will not compromise the core factor PCS holds dear- confidentiality.
Building a relationship with the media requires relevant in interesting information and the supplication of such material. It is also crucial that the right media is chosen to suit the direction the plans or campaigns that has been chosen for your client. For example, selecting the print industry for trade magazines would be a good choice as they will be able to go into the nitty-gritty specifics of things whereas for events for a targeted group; such as events for Breast Cancer Awareness would be better place in woman's' magazines.
Another important factor is putting yourself in someone else's shoes and looking at what you plan on doing with a different point of view. News stories depend on angles taken, the assimilation of news processing, construction and eventually the dissemination of the news. In the case of PCS, they tend to shy away from the media in general. However, perhaps it is a different method that will safely reach out to incorporate the media, yet, protect the identities and keeping their confidentiality intact. We proposed an event that will draw the attention of the media- 'Umbrellas in the Sun' and 'Power of Choice'.
News is a highly valued commodity and more so because it helps provide a marker for society to base itself against. It is with this marker than PCS is ranked against and unlike its competitors such as BABES, PCS is not as well-known and approached. As a third party, we have a different approach and a clear slate to look into matters concerning PCS.
We at Silhouette PR Agency want the best for our client and have realised that the media is a crucial part of creating awareness. Thus, we will reach out to the media in a way that will not compromise the core factor PCS holds dear- confidentiality.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Chapter 12: Measuring Successful Relationships
On a daily basis, we might be caught assessing a piece of clothing on whether it is worth buying, considering the calorie intake we take in our food or even measuring the effects of exercising. Truth is; evaluation is part and parcel of everybody’s life. And this powerful aspect is an important element, especially in the realm of Public Relations (PR). From the development to final stage of a PR campaign, constant evaluation is vital in order to measure its success or failure. Have the campaign successfully reached its target audience? Is the media responding to this campaign? What can we do to make it better?
Evaluation is essentially the systematic application of research procedures to understand the conceptualisation, design, implementation, and utility of media relations campaign. Simply put, it is the usage of research tools such as surveys and focus groups to determine the level of progress.
In the case of our client, Pregnancy Crisis Service (PCS), I believe the lack of evaluation is one of reason for its weak standing in the industry of pregnancy aid.
According to a newspaper article, PCS is ranked 5th among various pregnancy help lines. PCS has been around for 25 years, yet there is little knowledge about this organisation. It is apparent that PCS did not evaluate their PR campaigns effectively as they have failed to clinch sufficient media coverage. Media relations are very powerful tools that can enable organisations to achieve the much-needed awareness. Furthermore, PCS has definitely not reach its targeted publics of teenage girls because only 3% of the calls they receive are from callers under the age of 18. Should effective evaluative measures be undertaken, PCS could source out the root of their problems and probably eradicate them once and for all. To make matters worse, the name of PCS (also known as PCC – Pregnancy Crisis Centre) itself is a major problem. In hokkien, a Chinese dialect commonly used in Singapore, PCC stands for masturbation. As mentioned earlier, should PCS undergo careful evaluation, such a mistake would not have been made.
In comparison, BABES, a 5-year-old organisation, has taken constant evaluative measures to review its foothold in the industry of pregnancy aid. Both of them have the similar target audience of teenage girls, but BABES definitely has a stronger grip in the industry as compared to PCS. With thorough research and evaluation, BABES utilised the advancements of technology and rode on the trend of SMS among teenagers. They were the first organisation to implement the SMS service as an alternative to normal help lines. Within 4 months, they have had received 157 SMS-es from teenage girls and was featured extensively in the media. BABES is a living example of how evaluation could aid an organisation, and PCS ought to take a leaf or two from their book.
Having mentioned all these points, we, Silhouette PR Agency, are certainly taking evaluation very seriously for our client. There would be 2 evaluative checkpoints throughout the entire campaign, and evaluation would be done via number of people calling in, attendance of the events, Internet hits, focus groups and telephone surveys. People often forget the significance of evaluation; it’s time we tighten our reels and emphasise on its importance.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Chapter 8: Grand strategy, strategy and tactics in PR, by Botan and Hazleton
In a public relations campaign, there are important processes such as planning the strategies and tactics to be used in a campaign to achieve its goal and objective. There is also the 'grand strategy', which is the "policy-level decisions an organization makes about goals, alignments, ethics and relationship with publics and other forces in its environment". While the strategies of a campaign dictate the direction it focuses its tactics on, the 'grand strategy' deals with factors present in the environment of an organisation's market and also defines the boundaries that strategies and tactics should work within.
In the case of Pregnancy Crisis Centre, it has formed partnerships with various entities in the environment, such as KK Women's and Children's Hospital, MCYS and the Ministry of Education in order to reach out to its publics. However, the PCC's main goal and concern regarding the confidentiality of their clients have set the boundaries of how prominent its public relations campaign can be without giving away too much information about itself and the members of its publics.
PCC works under the 'Cooperative Grand Strategy', such that it believes that being a constructive part of its environment is an opportunity and a duty, and that its responsibilities do not pertain merely to the financial aspect. This is true for PCC as it runs on donations and volunteers to provide guidance and counselling to its clients, and educational services to its publics. Organisations with a Cooperative Grand Strategy do not have a very positive attitude towards change due to the additional consumption of time and finances. This is especially so for PCC as being funded by donations, it does not have much budget to invest in reviewing past campaigns and making changes to them. This is apparent when compared with competitors in the same environment, such as BABES, which keeps up with technological advances and the increased contact its publics have with the Internet and mobile phones by accepting these changes in society and in turn providing services such as SMS chats and having a fully functional website to provide accessibility to its publics, as opposed to PCC, which its grand strategy that is concerned with confidentiality has limited its prominence and accessibility to its publics.
In order to better engage its publics, organisations need to review its grand strategy regularly and make necessary changes to ensure that it does not become a disadvantage to themselves as it is the grand strategy that sets the boundaries that both guides and limits the strategies of their public relations campaigns.
In the case of Pregnancy Crisis Centre, it has formed partnerships with various entities in the environment, such as KK Women's and Children's Hospital, MCYS and the Ministry of Education in order to reach out to its publics. However, the PCC's main goal and concern regarding the confidentiality of their clients have set the boundaries of how prominent its public relations campaign can be without giving away too much information about itself and the members of its publics.
PCC works under the 'Cooperative Grand Strategy', such that it believes that being a constructive part of its environment is an opportunity and a duty, and that its responsibilities do not pertain merely to the financial aspect. This is true for PCC as it runs on donations and volunteers to provide guidance and counselling to its clients, and educational services to its publics. Organisations with a Cooperative Grand Strategy do not have a very positive attitude towards change due to the additional consumption of time and finances. This is especially so for PCC as being funded by donations, it does not have much budget to invest in reviewing past campaigns and making changes to them. This is apparent when compared with competitors in the same environment, such as BABES, which keeps up with technological advances and the increased contact its publics have with the Internet and mobile phones by accepting these changes in society and in turn providing services such as SMS chats and having a fully functional website to provide accessibility to its publics, as opposed to PCC, which its grand strategy that is concerned with confidentiality has limited its prominence and accessibility to its publics.
In order to better engage its publics, organisations need to review its grand strategy regularly and make necessary changes to ensure that it does not become a disadvantage to themselves as it is the grand strategy that sets the boundaries that both guides and limits the strategies of their public relations campaigns.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Chapter 11: Risk and Crisis
Seeing as media relations has been identified as one of our strategies with our latest client PCC, the issues of risk and crisis are of extreme importance. When media relations is introduced into a campaign, the client is immediately exposed to potential injury. Thus, learning how to recognize and deal with such situations is necessary in the line of public relations.
What is risk? Risk is basically the possibility that something could go wrong. All media relations campaigns are exposed to some kind of risk, it is the task of the public relations practitioners (us), to minimize that risk.
Media relations may be difficult for out client PCC to accept since PCC has a strong focus on confidentiality for its clients (thereby making media relations a high risk endeavor). PCC does not actively seek media attention and so, has had little media experience. In order to successfully persuade our client to accept media relations as a strategy, we have to make them believe the risk is manageable.
A crisis is a critical stage in any situation that could lead to a turning point in an organization. An example of a crisis was the Jet Blue situation that happened in 2007, which left Jet Blue passengers stranded on airport runways for more than six hours. Jet Blue is an airlines that prides itself in customer service. However, the company did not have an effective crisis management plan and were unable to react quickly to the situation. Because of this, the company's image and brand was damaged.
It is very difficult for an organization to recover when its image or reputation is damaged. Thus, prevention and preparation are the keys in avoiding such situations. As PR practitioners, we must work to lower the risk of potential situations that would resort in a loss of image and reputation for our client. PCC will not be the next NKF or Ren Ci.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Chapter 9 - Community, not-for-profit and interest groups.
Reflecting on the readings on community relations, simply said it means how organizations should develop good relationships with groups or people that belong in the society outside of the organization. In community relations, it is crucial to take note of three different groups which do not affect the organization directly.
Their significance and importance is important to any organization because of the impact the community has on the government, and the government is directly or indirectly involved in making decisions that might affect any organization.
In different countries of the world, each country consists of the society holding on to a common set of beliefs. These are the beliefs that make up who they are and what they choose to follow based on either culture or religion and most of the time are developed and changed through experiences leading to the way the community behaves. Similarly, the three different groups involved in community relations have different sets of beliefs.
To start off, the community. Based on the local context, some examples of communities would be community centres in different districts of Singapore that residents might be actively participating in. Another example could be the People’s Association. The people’s association leads volunteer efforts at promoting social cohesion, racial harmony and community consultation. The community’s common set of beliefs is shaped by the surrounding built environment and their beliefs would be bringing people of Singapore together to build and bridge a cohesive community. Thus activities and events are heavily organized to get the people involved. Organizations should take note of the type of activities and events organized and possibly hold their own event to involve the community.
Not-for-profit groups include social service and fund raising organizations such as the Singapore Children’s Society, Singapore Cancer Society, The Eurasian Association, National Kidney Foundation of Singapore, The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the list goes on. These organizations consists of mainly volunteers and often get support, help and funding from the community. They are not businesses trying to make any profit for themselves, but their beliefs would be to help needy people be it support of financially. These organizations have conservative beliefs, working closely with the government to achieve their goals and objectives. Unlike community groups, not-for-profit organizations only have access to limited funding, and have stakeholders like the media. The media is a form of stakeholder for them the same way a corporation and government uses the media, seeking to gain media coverage for their image and events. Understanding how the media works explain the strong connection between not-for-profit organizations and the media, and this is how organizations can get involved with not-for-profit groups, through the media.
Interests groups consist of people who have a strong passion towards a particular similar interest or they represent the interests of their members. Examples would be Singapore Butterfly Interest Group, Motorbikes and cars interest groups, Career Women’s Group, they could consist of lobbyists as well. Interests groups often oppose issues or events that would be out of the ordinary. This makes framing issues and events easier for special interest groups for the mainstream media to build a good relationship upon. Interest groups usually form around an issue and unform upon resolution of the issue.
These 3 different groups, through their common set of beliefs often make a statement or develop public opinions. The Singapore Government is required to listen to these public opinions in order to improve or change policies and services to the Singapore people.
Thus we can derive the importance of public opinion to the government which develops public policies. Public opinions lies in these community, not-for-profit and interest groups, making it very crucial for organizations to have good relations with them in order to impact the government which in turn impacts them.
This explains how organizations should also learn about the community, how they work, and how to reach out to them. An organization must always bear in mind to come up with events and activities that involve the community so as to foster good relations with them. So, when we go out to work in future, we have to remind ourselves that developing good internal relations within the company are as important as developing good community relations in order for any organization to do well.
Their significance and importance is important to any organization because of the impact the community has on the government, and the government is directly or indirectly involved in making decisions that might affect any organization.
In different countries of the world, each country consists of the society holding on to a common set of beliefs. These are the beliefs that make up who they are and what they choose to follow based on either culture or religion and most of the time are developed and changed through experiences leading to the way the community behaves. Similarly, the three different groups involved in community relations have different sets of beliefs.
To start off, the community. Based on the local context, some examples of communities would be community centres in different districts of Singapore that residents might be actively participating in. Another example could be the People’s Association. The people’s association leads volunteer efforts at promoting social cohesion, racial harmony and community consultation. The community’s common set of beliefs is shaped by the surrounding built environment and their beliefs would be bringing people of Singapore together to build and bridge a cohesive community. Thus activities and events are heavily organized to get the people involved. Organizations should take note of the type of activities and events organized and possibly hold their own event to involve the community.
Not-for-profit groups include social service and fund raising organizations such as the Singapore Children’s Society, Singapore Cancer Society, The Eurasian Association, National Kidney Foundation of Singapore, The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the list goes on. These organizations consists of mainly volunteers and often get support, help and funding from the community. They are not businesses trying to make any profit for themselves, but their beliefs would be to help needy people be it support of financially. These organizations have conservative beliefs, working closely with the government to achieve their goals and objectives. Unlike community groups, not-for-profit organizations only have access to limited funding, and have stakeholders like the media. The media is a form of stakeholder for them the same way a corporation and government uses the media, seeking to gain media coverage for their image and events. Understanding how the media works explain the strong connection between not-for-profit organizations and the media, and this is how organizations can get involved with not-for-profit groups, through the media.
Interests groups consist of people who have a strong passion towards a particular similar interest or they represent the interests of their members. Examples would be Singapore Butterfly Interest Group, Motorbikes and cars interest groups, Career Women’s Group, they could consist of lobbyists as well. Interests groups often oppose issues or events that would be out of the ordinary. This makes framing issues and events easier for special interest groups for the mainstream media to build a good relationship upon. Interest groups usually form around an issue and unform upon resolution of the issue.
These 3 different groups, through their common set of beliefs often make a statement or develop public opinions. The Singapore Government is required to listen to these public opinions in order to improve or change policies and services to the Singapore people.
Thus we can derive the importance of public opinion to the government which develops public policies. Public opinions lies in these community, not-for-profit and interest groups, making it very crucial for organizations to have good relations with them in order to impact the government which in turn impacts them.
This explains how organizations should also learn about the community, how they work, and how to reach out to them. An organization must always bear in mind to come up with events and activities that involve the community so as to foster good relations with them. So, when we go out to work in future, we have to remind ourselves that developing good internal relations within the company are as important as developing good community relations in order for any organization to do well.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Chapter 4 by Pfau and Wan - Persuasion: An intrinsic function of Public Relations.
Pfau and Wan (2006) agrees with Bernay that PR is strategic communication which relies heavily on persuasion. Strategic communication is the employment of communication tactics which will convey to the publics the message in a favourable light and this can only be achieved through persuasion. I agree with this view as even building and maintaining relationships, which is a critical function of modern PR, requires persuasion; the practitioner has to behave in such a way that the client would be inclined to maintain the relationship with him.
Krugman suggested that publics can either process information passively or actively (cited in Pfau and Wan, 2006, p.113). Passive message processing is less cognitive and thus, dependent on other factors than content, such as experience and affect. Affect includes “emotion, feeling, drive, reflex, mood and personality trait” (Izard cited in Pfau and Wan, 2006, p.115) and has the strong ability to influence persuasion unknowingly. Thus, in my view, coupling affect with cognition will strongly persuade the publics to receive the message from the organization favourably. For example, The Body Shop is constantly campaigning for different causes. These campaigns not only evoke emotions towards and initiate cognition about the cause but also assert the company’s message of the company being socially responsible. Thus, The Body Shop’s publics are more likely to be loyal as its message is not simply an empty promise.
Persuasion can also be strongly influenced by the medium chosen to transmit the message. To target the more cognitive (or active) publics or if the message is content-laden, print should be used. Television, on the other hand, is used to reach the passive publics or transmit a visual message. For example, Coca Cola produced a promotional music video entitled “Open Happiness” which was aired on MTV on July 2009 to appeal to the youths and convey the message that Coca Cola products can bring joy and impart optimism to their publics. The music video was charted worldwide and viewed 600,000 times on MySpace (The Coca-Cola company, 2009). This success would not have been achieved through print as the message is visual and requires less cognition from the publics.
All in all, persuasion is vital in the core functions of PR such as media relations, crisis management and projecting and maintaining the organization’s or client’s image. The group is still in the research stage for the communication audit assignment. Through this reading, we will able to better analyse the client’s, Pregnancy Crisis Centre (Family Life Service), media relations tactics and provide suggestions for improvement (eg.choose a different medium). Understanding the influence of affect will also help us determine an angle for the strategies and tactics for the proposed communication plan.
Bibliography
The Body Shop. (2009). Retrieved September 14, 2009, from http://www.thebodyshop.com.sg/en/values_home.aspx.
The Coca-Cola Company. (2009). Retrieved September 14, 2009 from http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/presscenter/news_openhappiness.html.
Welcome!
Hooray! We have a blog!
In this day and age, and considering the bunch of tech-savvy individuals that we all are, it is hard NOT to jump on a bandwagon and start up a blog ourselves. Public relations is such volatile field, fueled by various factors such as trends. With that, our purpose here is not to tell you what public relations should or should not be, we're only here to offer views and opinions on articles that piqued our interest and offer relations between real life practice and theory.
Considering that our client is a not-for-profit organisation, nibble on this quote for a while:
"People don't really care how much you know until they know how much you care."
Regards,
Seven Communications Team.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Schedule
Week 3 - Nurdianah
Media Relations
Article : Chapters 1 and 3 of Media Relations by Richard Stanton.
Week 4 - Eunice Ng
Community, Not-for-Profit & Interest Groups
Article : Chapter 9 "Community, Not-for-Profit, & Interest Groups" of Media Relations by Richard Stanton.
Week 5 - Stacey Mei Kelly
Risk, Uncertainty & Crisis
Article : Chapter 11 "Risk, uncertainty and crisis" of Media Relations by Richard Stanton.
Week 6 - Liao Zhiqi
Strategy & Tactics
Article : Chapter 8 "Grand strategy, strategy and tactics in PR" in Public Relations Theory II by Botan and Hazleton. 2006.
Week 7
Sucessful Relationships
Article : Chapter 12 “Measuring Successful Relationships” of Media Relations by Richard Stanton.
Week 8
Media Relations/Framing
Article : Chapter 6 “Developing Media Relationships Around News” of Media Relations by Richard Stanton.
Week 9
Media Release
Article : Media Release – “how to” reading pages 78-83 in Media Relations by Richard Stanton.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
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