Brittany’s Blog!

1. Engaging with other PR bloggers:  Use your RSS feed to read/comment/refer to other PR blogs on your blog.

2. Personal edge: Give yourself a unique tone that can be entertaining and create your own “niche.”

3. Implement theories/methods that you have learned.  Like Dr. V. said, most people don’t have access to all the tools we have so writing about what our PRinciples class or our PR book has taught us.

4. Go out of your way to post: Along with what you’re assigned or recommended to post, think outside the box.  Write your own opinions of situations that were discussed in class or other Communications that apply to PR.

5. Stay updated.  You will find it easier to write and keep your “juices flowing” if you don’t just forget about your blog for a few weeks!

I think there are many great posts that our PR class has posted that have really impressed me.  However, when asked to post about my “favorite” I would have to say that is Erin Martin’s Blog.   After looking through everyone’s blog, I finally decided that Erin’s blog was the most dynamic.  Earlier in the semester I noticed that she implements new posts from other classes such as her Libel on the Internet post.  I think her blog stands out because she doesn’t just write on what she is assigned to write on or on things that Dr. V. suggests us write on.  Instead, she goes out of her way to find interesting ideas to write about.  For example, her Sugar-coating in PR post clearly shows that she has an RSS feed and is constantly reading PR websites!  Also, I think it is really neat how she titled a post BeingEryn after Cheryl Harrison’s blog!

I came across The Bad Pitch Blog’s post “And They Say Reporters Don’t Care” and I thought of Dr. V because she has always told us a big part of PR is to get to the point of your message quickly and clearly, especially when pitching. The post shows the first paragraph of a pitch which is so ambiguous, including “gobbledygook” (or unneeded fluff) using the phrase “place-based out-of-home digital network” which is basically just a “video billboard.” I feel like some people/companies get so caught up being “professional” they forget to talk like humans-afterall, that’s who their audience ultimately is, right?

PR uses the LESS IS MORE strategy in news releases because every word is practically costing the organization. To keep your audience’s attention, you must introduce the facts up front (hints the one sentence lead in a news release) and follow up with the less important information towards the end. Also, as we discussed in class, when dealing with a crisis in the PR world, you must communicate clearly and quickly. Gobbledygook just does not cut it in PR…how do you form relationships when you can barely filter out the message?

Cheryl Harrison’s post about “blogging into a corner” reminds me about how we have talked about what to include in our blog. I think we have a huge overall niche of Public Relations which can include so many things: examples, thoughts, and social media. Therefore, it’s easy for us in our blogs to not be “backed into a corner” maybe because most of our blog posts aren’t so much of our own new ideas, such as Cheryl’s blog, but more of responses on other people’s actions in the PR world or summaries of what we have learned.

Basically, I think it’s easy for our class to have many opportunities on our own blogs to have countless posts about a variety of topics…especially since we have a “personal” category to talk about anything! I feel like a blog not related to this class would be so much harder to conduct because like Cheryl said-blog 101 says that you should have a niche- and without a professor leading us in a specific direction it would be challenging to find that niche and “stick to it.”

So Dr. V. has always stressed to us the responsibility which public relations must have to their publics in spreading messages and promoting certain attitudes.  While researching skin cancer and the causes of the rise of skin cancer in younger adults I have found that media, believe it or not, is indirectly responsible for much of this trend of being tan.  Media promotes tan celebrities and tanning products through movie stars or in magazines.  When skin cancer is the most common form of cancer-yes greater than breast cancer-you would think that our youth (including me) would be more concerned about the largest organ of our body.  Is that the price we pay for beauty??

Dr. V. has taught us an INCREDIBLE amount about PR through other sources which she has referred us to as well.  I want to sum up all of this information about PR (in no order):

1. Social Media is redefining PR because there is a deep shift in power dynamics.  Old PR there was only one voice that controlled the message and filtered out information.  Now, the new PR consists of conversations and more human voices. (2-way information flow)

2. PR is supposed to give a face to the organization and draw attention to their client.  This comes from the relational perspective which states that public relations should build and maintain mutually beneficial, positive relationships.

3. If you want to cover an issue you should catch it at the dormant phase (where no one has thought about it yet) so you can frame the issue towards your clients’ advantage.

4. The theory of stakeholder salience: In dealing with a mini PR crisis, you should first discuss the stakeholder attributes and decide which public needs to be addressed first.  For example, a public which has power and a legitimate concern would need to be addressed before a  public which  only has urgency.

5. Good strategic PR begins and ends with research.

6.  When making a PR plan, you should focus on goals, objectives, strategies, then tactics.

7. Always evaluate the results of your PR campaign through different types of evaluation.

8.  Because PR can have great effects on a mass amount of people, the most important part of Public Relations is assuming corporate responsibility.  This means caring about the greater good of the public.

Kim Banks, the president of Simko Communications, and John Gouch, who works for Clemson University, taught our PR class about media relations.

They advised that the correct approach to media relations is not just trying to get clients in news papers.  Instead, you must figure out what is important to the reporters’ audiences and then give them information that is useful to them.

When speaking about news releases, they informed our class that you should send them between Tuesday and Thursday in the early morning and a phone call along with the email to pitch the news release is helpful as well.

Media lists are very important to create in terms of who you are talking to.  They are useful to refine the people you are making the news release useful to.

An editorial calendar plans for the whole year of what subjects the organization plans to cover at different times.  These are distributed so PR practitioners are aware