Week 5

I think the key points to remember from this week’s readings were:

• A typical public relations program includes: Set objectives (why produce it? Who will receive it?), Plan and budget (what will it cost?), Implement program (materials, distribution) and Evaluation (measure, check progress).
• The stages of the strategic process in PR are: creation of organisational vision and mission statements; creation of public relations visions and mission statements; establishment of performance indicators; budgeting; writing of a strategic PR plan and scheduling of PR plan activities.
• Definition of strategy (pg. 170. PR Theory and Practice)- 'strategy is a pattern or plan that integrates an organisation's major goals, policies and action sequences into a cohesive whole.'
• A PR strategy is a process by which the leadership of an organisation deliberately manages its communications pro actively so that they are open, candid and primarily focused on the market place. (D'Aprix 1996.5)
• Strategic communication thinking recognises the cause and effect relationship between our communication activities and the achievement of the organisation's mission. It means that communication programs support successful completion of the organisation's strategic activity in a measurable way. (potter 1998:3)
• An organisation's corporate image needs to be established and target audiences need to be defined!
• Methods of research need to be assessed and selected carefully for a specific purpose. These include telephone interviewing, structured personal interviewing, group discussions, client surveys, audits and panels, omibus and media.
  
• Corporate culture, ideology, values and beliefs, systems and business processes, influence the PR's strategic planning in social, economic and political contexts.
  
• The PR role within a management structure is to influence the behavior of people in relation to each other, through two-way communication.
  
• Strategically managed public relations has a significant role in developing a strong corporate reputation for the organisation, which translates into a stronger presence in the market place.
• The vision statement describes the future state of the organisation at a selected time. Once this is developed, the organisation will compare its present position and its ultimate destination. The mission statement is formulated to help close the gap between the unsatisfactory present and the more perfect future. It is the 'road-map' that describes how the organisation will move to reach its vision. These are associated with a set of corporate values.
• Key Performance Indicators are used by organisation's as measurable indicators of their progress towards achieving their mission (eg. measuring revenue). Both quantitative and qualitative evaluation techniques are used.
• Potter's '10 Step strategic communication plan.' : 1) Executive summary (Include situation that lead to plan, research, goals and objectives, tactics, time frame and evaluation plan.)
  
• The communication process (vision and mission) 2) Background (learn about your publics as well) 3)Situation analysis, 4) Main message statement, 5)Stakeholders, 6) messages for key stakeholders, 7) Implementation, 8) Budget and 9) Monitoring and evaluation.
• 'A budget is a plan for coordinating resources and expenses over a period of time by assigning costs (estimates or actual) to goals and objectives for specific activities.' -(McElreath 1997:158). Budgets are a major concern for PR and should be assessed before starting the campaign.
  
• Once a comprehensive strategy plan has been written, problems and opportunities defined, goals and objectives set, messages, methods and timing determined and the budget established, the plan needs to be implemented through scheduling.
  
• Making lists allows the practitioner to pull the PR process apart and look at it systematically. Lists allow the cataloging of every step of the PR process, keeping order and providing organisation and follow-up. Basic checklists should be prepared.
  
• Flowcharts- for more complex activities so that the practitioner can see at a glance what elements of an activity need to be given priority over others.
• Calenders and Gantt charts(placing things in chronological order of things to do)- help to establish time lines and deadlines.
  

The readings made me think more about public relations theory/practice in that I didn't realise how important it was to have a public relations strategy program. It creates organisation and helps with success. Through strategy process, you can reduce the likeliness of making a mistake. The strategic and systematic design of public relations plans is vital to the effective identification, implementation and management of the public relations goals and objectives that complement and support organisational goals and objectives. From the effective framework of a strategic PR plan, budgets can be firmly established, tactics selected and implementation monitored and evaluated against clearly set and relevant public relations goals and objectives.