boot camp for georgetown scs students

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MPPR 750, Week #2Public Relations Boot Camp

Public Relations Boot Camp

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Agenda

• A little about me• Ground rules for this morning

– Breaks, cell phone, etc.• An introduction to public relations

– What it is and what it is not• A view from the “trenches”• A Career in Public Relations?

– Break into smaller groups• Ask questions as we go along!

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About me

• Currently investor communications manager at the Securities and Exchange Commission

• My expertise in in how to use the Internet to impact stakeholder perceptions

• Have been in public relations and public affairs for more than 15 years

• My Master’s Degree is in marketing management• Have taught MPPR- Intersection of Online and Offline for

three semesters and help create the SCS online curriculum

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Introduction to public relations

• You will leave here today with an understanding of public relations as a practice, what it is and what it is not.

• The goal is to give you a “day in the life” as well.

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An Ironic Look at Public Relations Today

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Early Definitions of Public Relations

• Public relations (PR) Public Relations- a promotion intended to create goodwill for a person or institutions image.

• The term “public relations” was first used by the US President Thomas Jefferson during his address to Congress in 1807.

• One of the earliest definitions of PR was created by Edward Bernays. According to him, "Public relations is a management function which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures and interest of an organization followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance."

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The Early Origins of Public Relations

• Edward Louis Bernays (November 22, 1891 – March 9, 1995) is considered one of the fathers of the field of public relations. Combining other ideas on crowd psychology with the psychoanalytical ideas of his uncle, Sigmund Freud, Bernays was one of the first to attempt to manipulate public opinion using the psychology of the subconscious.

Source: Wikipedia

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• Bernays believed that propaganda and news were legitimate tools of his business, and his ability to offer philosophical justifications for these beliefs that ultimately embraced the whole democratic way of life.

• The Bernays essays “A Public Relations Counsel States His Views (1927) and This Business of Propaganda (1928) show that Bernays regarded advertising men as special pleaders, merely paid to persuade people to accept an idea or commodity. The public relations counsel, on the other hand, he saw as an Emersonian-like creator of events that dramatized new concepts and perceptions, and even influenced the actions of leaders and groups in society.

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Subconscious Human needs

Politics vs. “Big Business”Consumerism

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What is today’s definition of public relations?

• There are a lot of definitions• It is ultimately about relationships

– How they happen– How you impact them

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MPPR 750 PR Textbook

Effective Public Relations (9th Edition) by Scott M. Cutlip, Allen H. Center, Glen M. Broom

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What is public relations?

Glen Broom’s definition is:• “Public relations is the management function that establishes and

maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the publics on whom its success or failure depends.”

• Webster’s – “The art and science of developing reciprocal understanding and goodwill.”

• Public Relations News – “Public relations is the management function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an individual or an organization with the public interest and plans and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.”

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• Finally, in 1982, the Public Relations Society of America came up with this very detailed definition:

– Anticipating, analyzing and interpreting public opinion, attitudes, and issues that might impact, for good or ill, the operations and plans of the organization.

– Counseling management at all levels in the organization with regard to policy decisions, courses of action, and communication, taking into account their public ramifications and the organization’s social or citizenship responsibilities.

– Researching, conducting, and evaluating, on a continuing basis, programs of action and communication to achieve the informed public understanding necessary to the success of an organization’s aims. These may include marketing, financial, fund raising, employee, community or government relations, and other programs.

– Planning and implementing the organization’s efforts to influence or change public policy.

– Setting objectives, planning, budgeting, recruiting and training staff, developing facilities — in short, managing the resources needed to perform all of the above.

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• 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.

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Publicity

Public relations

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A Funny Look at Defining Public Relations

Source: Ads of the World.com

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Modern-day examples

• Corporations using marketing public relations (MPR) to convey information about the products they manufacture or services they provide to potential customers in order to support their direct sales efforts. Typically, they support sales in the short to long term, establishing and burnishing the corporation's branding for a strong, ongoing market.

• Corporations using public relations as a vehicle to reach legislators and other politicians, in seeking favorable tax, regulatory, and other treatment. Moreover, they may use public relations to portray themselves as enlightened employers, in support of human-resources recruiting programs.

• Non-profit organizations, including schools and universities, hospitals, and human and social service agencies: such organizations may make use of public relations in support of awareness programs, fund-raising programs, staff recruiting, and to increase patronage of their services.

• Politicians aiming to attract votes and/or raise money. When such campaigns are successful at the ballot box, this helps in promoting and defending their service in office, with an eye to the next election or, at a career’s end, to their legacy.

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Not everyone is a fan

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What public relations is NOT

• “Spin”• Marketing• Advertising• Advertorials• Public affairs• Investor relations

All of these terms can cause confusion, first, because the ARE confusing and second because public relations means different things in different companies.

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What public relations is NOT“Spin”

In public relations, spin is a sometimes pejorative term signifying a heavily biased portrayal in one's own favor of an event or situation. While traditional public relations may also rely on creative presentation of the facts, "spin" often, though not always, implies disingenuous, deceptive and/or highly manipulative tactics. Politicians are often accused of spin by commentators and political opponents, when they produce a counter argument or position.

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• Marketing– Marketing – “People’s wants and needs are fundamental to the concept of

marketing. What people want or need gets translated into consumer demand. …[M]arketers offer products and services to satisfy this demand.”

– Marketing focuses on exchange relationships with customers. The result of the marketing efforts in quid pro quo transactions that meet customer demands and achieve organizational objectives.”

– Definition from the American Marketing Association (2004):Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.

What public relations is NOT

?

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It’s easy to get confused

• Definition from Cutlip, Center and Broom“Public relations is the management function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the publics on whom its success or failure depends.”

• Definition from American Marketing AssociationMarketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.

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What are the components of public relations?

• Lobbying• Earned media• Advertising• Advertorials• Public affairs (sort of)• Investor relations

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Lobbying

• Lobbying - is a concerted effort designed to achieve some result, typically from government authorities and elected officials. It can consist of the private cajoling of legislative members, public actions (e.g. mass demonstrations), or combinations of both public and private actions (e.g. encouraging constituents to contact their legislative representatives).

• As a professional occupation it is also known as "government affairs" or "public affairs." Practitioners may work in specialist organizations or as part of government relations or as public relations consultancies.

• Many rules now strictly govern federal and state lobbying.

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Earned media

• Earned media (publicity) is information from an outside source that us used by the media because the information has news value. It is an uncontrolled method of placing messages in the media because the source does not pay for its placement.– Press release (offline or online)– ANR– VNR– Press kit– Events, inviting the media

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Earned Media- a Press Release

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (LZW) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Traditional Press Release

Interactive Press Release

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Earned Media- an Audio News Release

• An audio news release (ANR) is a 60-second packaged news story that includes a sound bite from your spokesperson that is approximately 20-seconds in length. The story is pitched and fed to interested stations and networks over the phone.

• Stations and networks can download audio from a site, request an audio file via e-mail or record an audio feed over a phone line. A fax and/or e-mail of the script is made available to the stations and networks as well. Audio news releases may also be distributed by state or region.

• Sample.

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Earned Media- an Video News Release

• A video news release (VNR) is a video segment created by a PR firm, advertising agency, marketing firm, corporation, or government agency and provided to television news stations for the purpose of informing, shaping public opinion, or to promote and publicize individuals, commercial products and services, or other interests. In this way, VNRs are video versions of press releases.

• News reports may incorporate a VNR in whole or part if the news producer feels it contains information appropriate to the story or of interest to viewers.



VNR

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Earned Media- Press Kit



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Earned Media- Media Event

• A media event is an occasion or happening, spontaneous or planned, that attracts prominent coverage by mass media organizations, particularly television news and newspapers in both print and Internet editions

• Planned events like a major speech by a national leader or a public demonstration against a government action, the prime importance of the subject matter itself is relied upon to elevate the occasion to true media event status.



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Earned Media - Interactive Emails

• Sonosite product launch• Hasbro Toy Fair invite• Voices of Civil Rights


Why PR Matters - and What it Can do for You



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Break!!

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Getting started…a primer

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A View from the “Trenches”

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Advertising

• Content producers control publicity placement in the media. It is information placed in the media by an identified sponsor that pays for the time or space. It is a controlled method of placing messages in the media.

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Advertorials

• An advertorial is an advertisement written in the form of an objective opinion editorial, and presented in a printed publication —usually designed to look like a legitimate and independent news story. The term "advertorial" is a portmanteau of "advertisement" and "editorial."

• Advertorials differ from publicity advertisements because the marketer must pay a fee to the media company for the ad placement, whereas publicity is placed without payment to the media company and with no control over the copy. Most publications will not accept advertisements that look exactly like stories from the newspaper or magazine they are appearing in. The differences may be subtle, and disclaimers—such as the word "advertisement"—may or may not appear. Sometimes euphemisms describing the advertorial as a "special promotional feature" or the like is used.

Source: Wikipedia

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Advertorials

• Word derived from a combination of the words advertisement and editorial, describing an advertising message presented in an editorial format. This form of advertising is used to offer information about sources or services of public interest and to communicate opinion about social, economic, political, or personal issues (advocacy advertising), as well as to lobby for legislative changes. By law, an advertisement of this sort must be labeled as an advertisement so as not be confused with an actual editorial.

Source: Barron’s Dictionary

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Advertorials

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Advertorials

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Public Affairs

• This is where is gets a little confusing– Is public relations part of public affairs, or is public affairs part of public

relations?– From the Public Affairs Council …Public affairs, by definition, is the art

of assessing and managing one's business environment. It requires a thorough understanding of the needs of consumers, employees, legislators, regulators, the media and other stakeholders, plus an awareness of the effects a company's operations have—or will have—on each of these groups. ???

– HP says: “to shape public policy to foster and environment that allows HP to achieve its business objectives.”

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Public Affairs

• From Cutlip, Center and Broom:– Public affairs is a specialized part of public relations that

builds and maintains governmental and local community relations in order to influence public policy.

• So which is which?

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Public Affairs and Issues Management

• Issues Management:– From Cutlip, Center and Broom: “Two points captures the

essence of issues management. • (1) – the early identification of issues with potential impact on an

organization, and• (2) – a strategic response designed to mitigate or capitalize on their

consequences.

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Examples of Public Affairs Campaigns

Government

Employees

Regulators

Elected officials

Retirees Shareholders

Vendors

The Media

Law enforcement

WorldCom Bankruptcy Filing – July 19, 2002 – a “success”

Wall Street

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Examples of Public Affairs Campaigns

No crisis or public affairs campaign in place to attempt to help to keep them in business

Enron Bankruptcy Filing – December 2, 2001 – a “failure”

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Investor Relations

• From Cutlip, Center and Broom:– Investor relations is a specialized part of corporate public

relations that build and maintains mutually beneficial relationship with shareholders and other in the financial community to maximize market value.

– Bottom line: $$$$

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Investor Relations

• Investor relations is a set of activities which relate to the ways in which a company discloses information required for regulatory compliance and good investment judgment to bond and/or shareholders and the wider financial markets. Investor relations is considered a specialty of public relations.

• Most public quoted companies now have dedicated IR officers or managers who looks after the company's investor relations activities and deal with investors wishing to know more about the company. Functions of investor relations personnel often include collection of information on competitors and dissemination of information via press conferences, one-on-one briefings, investor relations sections of company websites, and company annual reports. The investor relations function also often includes the transmission of information relating to intangible values such as the company's policy to corporate governance and its wider corporate social responsibility.

Source: Wikipedia

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Careers in Public Relations

