Archive for Public Relation Issues

Black Friday…really was a black for one Walmart employee

{ December 1, 2008 @ 6:52 pm } · { Public Relation Issues }
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So saving a buck or two and your Christmaspresents always puts a smile on my face, but if killing someone to do it is the only way then count me out! I was appalled when I read the article about how a part-time walmart employee was trampled to death by customers at walmart on black Friday. First of all, from a public relations standpoint this is not a very good publicity for WalMart. The shoppers took of the hinges of the door trying to get in early and as soon as the doors opened the glass doors fell on the worker and people ran in, suffocating him.

Then the statement was made by a member of Walmart upper echelon “he was only part-time” like if it had been a full time employee it would have been any different. Why did they not have their PR department council him before he went out and spoke to the public? As a practitioner you need to council your management and make sure that they say everything exactly right when it comes to matters like this. I am not blaming the PR department for this because they cannot control exactly what was said, but come on!

Graduate School

{ November 29, 2008 @ 4:38 pm } · { Public Relation Issues }
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So, my undergraduate years are coming to an end shortly in May. They have been some of the best and worst times(more good times though), but have gone by way to fast! I am now starting the process of applying to graduate school and taking the GRE. I am nervous that I might not get in a then will have to enter the business world in this time when the economy is so unsure. I do think that I will get in though, we will have to wait and see. I think that continuing your education is a great thing to do. First of all, it will be easier when I do it right now rather than wait until I am married, have kids and a job. I will get it over and done with and that will be that. I also think that since more and more people are going to college it will be beneficial for me to have a masters degree when applying for jobs. I am a little hesitant to leave Joplin and venture back to big, busy Dallas where I feel like a little fish again, but I know I will be happy. I am excited to learn and dig deeper into the study of PR and advertising. Hopefully this will be a helpful journey. I have not decided if I am going to be able to work or not. I guess that will be something I will have to find out after a few weeks of class. I would like to live on my own and not in my parents house, because in a way I feel as though I am back tracking in a sense. I know  a lot of people in my shoes will be doing that so I think it will be ok. I am excited to see what happens next and will enjoy my last semester here at Missouri Southern.

Newsletters

{ November 21, 2008 @ 7:44 pm } · { Public Relation Issues }
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I am in the middle of writing a news letter for my company. Yesterday I took a legal size sheet of paper and mapped out everything on the page. I brainstormed all of the ideas that I could write about. The next day I came back and picked the few that I actually wanted to include. The thing that has taken me the longest is the design of the newsletter. It is a sports news letter so I took photos of different themes of sports, turned them black and white which took up at 1/3 of the page. We’re a nonprofit group so I am sending them out to all of our sponsors, board members and other companies around town that could benefit from being our sponsors.

I think that newsletters can be a very important part of a company, if used correctly. I think that they help despense information and people can look forward to getting the letters on a regular basis. It can also help bring in other companies that maybe didn’t know what all you could offer them. It also helps create a sense of family. I am excited to see how it turns out and I also think it is a great thing to put in my portfolio.

PSA

{ November 10, 2008 @ 6:32 pm } · { Public Relation Issues }
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After viewing public services annoucements and VNR’s, in my personal opinion, PSA’s are more effective. I feel like PSA connect with their auidence more and are more interesting to watch. I think that VNR’s are boring, cost way too much to make and aren’t as effective. As a viewer, I would much rather watch a PSA than a VNR.

The PSA that I really enjoyed watching was the “No Vote” campaign for this election. They really hit home and reached a lot of people. I also think it is interesting how people are watching things like this on YouTube at a greater rate than on television. If it were my company I would rather produce a PSA than a VNR at all.

Internal Communication

{ November 3, 2008 @ 6:44 pm } · { Public Relation Issues }
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I believe that to have a successful company your employees must be happy. I have worked at places where I love where I work, but hate how I was treated. I have also worked at places that I have loved working and and was treated great. The result? I worked a lot harder at the place that I was treated well and stayed there a longer time.

Internal relations, which deals with employee communication is extremely important to a companies success. go2 provides many good benefits of having good internal communication. I have provided a summary of some of the benefits:

First of all, this type of communication allows for better customer service because only an informed staff will be able to accurately relay information to its customers. Second, “communication permits clarity of purpose.” When employees understand their expectations and link to their company and its goals it is easier to navigate successful change. Also, one of the most important aspects is that this communication boosts employee motivation and dedication. When companies communicate with their employees, on a regular basis, they feel valued and a part of a team. When their opinions are taken into account they feel that they are more connected with the ideas. Therefore, more energy and effort are put into seeing that those tasks get carried out. When employees feel appreciated they take ownership in the company’s goals, which leads to eventual success.  Another benefit is that “communication fosters teamwork.” When a business communicates a companywide mandate all team members will share the same ultimate goal, which then makes sure that all energies are focused on that one objective. Communication is not just done from the top-down, two-way communication is the most effective and produces the most result. That is why “communication inspires productive staff input.” Like the old saying goes “two heads are better than one.” Think of all the information that employees possess on different aspects of their company. If a company does not encourage or allow two-way communication to take place they are losing valuable resources because any feedback has the potential to make a huge difference in a company’s bottom line. Many times employees who are out there in the field and talk with each other every day have the most knowledge about what could make the company more effective. They are able to provide an internal as well as external perspective. Lastly, if nothing more, communication exhibits integrity and honesty about a company’s leaders. When a company does not communicate with their employees it breeds mistrust and the company is not able to prevent rumors. When information is not given to them they fill in the blanks with negative information. When employees feel that their employer is being open, honest and providing them with information, a sense of trust is established. This in turn makes employees feel valued, which leads to greater work ethic. As one can see, a company can greatly benefit from doing something as simple as talking with their employees. As Brandon C. Michael states it, “employee communication is no longer “nice to do”; it is critical to success.”  After researching this topic, I have a great interest in maybe doing this some day for the company I work for. I think that it would be great to help the company I work for engage their employees and have great moral. I think that this should be a top priority for many CEO’s.

Helping establish PR as a profession

{ October 13, 2008 @ 8:22 pm } · { Public Relation Issues }
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The Institute for Public Relations is introducing new leadership. The Institute for PR is a nonprofit group that documents and does research for the public relations field. They then provide this information to practitioners, educators, researchers and their clients. With the help of this company, their effort and research I hope that public relations will be on its way to a “true profession.”

So, how is the Institute introducing new leaders? Well, the board has introduced this new body to provide needed leadership to their research program. The first class of inductees is important and helpful to the group because they will provide a new ideas for research and help give guidance to the research already being conducted. So many people just assume things about public relations and if the Institute is able to provide the public and skeptics with factual knowledge on our practice it will help give us a leg to stand on. It will be exciting to see what these new inductees offer the program. Their backgrounds in public relations, either in the practice or teaching of it, is expansive and impressive.

Media Kit are they essential to PR work?

{ October 8, 2008 @ 8:07 pm } · { Public Relation Issues }
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To help promote and get essential information out to the public about their company the public relations staff is in charge of creating a media kit. A media kit provides the media with information about the company including fact sheets, annaul reports, promotion material for ads, demographics that the company reaches, news releases, biographical information about employees, pictures and logos, clips from the media about the organization and much more.

With technology changing at such a fast pace media kits are begining to move from hardcopies to virtual. Most companies should, if they do not, transfer their media kit to online. Here is why:

-Printing out media kits take time and money. A company must pay for printing, ink, paper and an employee for the time it takes to make the kit. Also, when new information goes out they must update it and resend it.

-Media kits are only available if the media contacts the company and ask for one or if the company gives one out.

-With the kits costing money to print out, usualy, companies can put so much information in the kit.

-Reports desk are piled with papers and a hardcopy media kit can get lost in the mess.

If a company has its media kit online it can combat many of these problems:

-First of all, the company does not have to shell out money to print of the kits. They simply put them online and make it available to print off. This way the cost transfers to the reporter, saving the company tons of money.

-Secondly, all the practitioner has to do is go online and update the material with a touch of a button. They don’t have to resend any more information out.

-Third, since the media kit is online anyone can access the kit. A company is able to provide to many more publics their kit than what they origianlly had.

-Fourth, since the media kit is online it will not get lost on a reporters desk and they can pull it up anytime…late at night, early in the morning when there at home ect.

These are just some of the ways having your media kit online can benefit a company.

History fails to honor a pioneer

{ September 15, 2008 @ 3:30 pm } · { Public Relation Issues }
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I recently had to write a paper over the development of PR throughout history. I choose to select three key individuals from 1900 to the present and focus on their contributions to the profession. As I was doing my research I wondered who had founded Public Relations Society of American. I found my answer in Rex Harlow.

Rex founded the American committee on Public Relations which then became PRSA. He served as president and then sat on the board. He also wrote over 75 books on public relations, edited, published and founded such journals as Public Relations Research Review and Public Relations Journal (along w/ many many more). He also wrote the code of ethics that the PRSA uses. He received his doctorate at Standford and then started a PR department there.

He did so much for the field of PR. Provided knowledge for the public, increased education and founded a society that we use a great deal today. But when I was looking for information on him through on line journals I found nothing. When I searched a more broad spectrum, the world wide web, I found only a minimal amount of information. Even going on the PRSA site there was nothing. I am extremely disappointed in this. Why is it that we don’t have that much information about him? I would that think someone who contributed to much to PR would be a well known pioneer. I would love to see more written about him so that we can commemorate the time he spent to our profession.

The Niche of Networking

{ September 8, 2008 @ 3:25 am } · { Public Relation Issues }
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The power of networking is not only essential to one’s success as a PR practitioner, but also for anyone in any field. When working in the field of public relations building and maintaning relationships is vital. For example, you never know when your going to need a person working in the media field to do you a “favor.” It is easier to get your information out to the public when you have connections with all different people. When people like and know you they will normally get your information out before others.

Also, being young I feel that it is essential for me meet people in the interest of my future career. I currently met a man at work when we were hosting a baseball tournament and gave him my card and told him if they were ever looking to hire someone in the PR field to keep me in mind. He sent me an email a couple of weeks ago, keeping in touch. You never know when your going to need these connections to promote your business or just yourself.

I feel that more times than not it is easier to not be polite to people, but I have seen it can get you far. It’s not hard to say hi and smile at people, or start off a simple conversation. You never know who your going to run into, or what your going to find out.

The Beginning

{ September 2, 2008 @ 2:08 am } · { Public Relation Issues }
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I thought that I would tell write about what started me out in the path to a public relations career. When I was younger I was watching What Women Want with Mel Gisbon. I loved what he did for his job in the movie. His job was more on the advertising side of PR, but it intrigued me. He had to make a pitch to a room full of women about a product. He was given a “media” stlye type of kit and then they made up an idea to pitch. I just loved the creativity and the challenge of it all.

When I got older poeple always told a me that I should major in PR in college. I’m excited because this degree will open the doors for many opportunites for me. The field is so vast and you can take in  into many different fields. Whether it’s advertising, investor relations or publicity. Another movie that comes to mind, that I saw recently, is Handcock. It’s always interesting to get to see what your life will be like in the future.

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