MKTG 123 EXAM REVIEW

ch 6 missing

PRSA’s definition of PR

public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.

John Marston’s Four Step Model (R-A-C-E)

1. RESEARCH (research attitudes about the issue at hand)

2. ACTION (identify action of the client in the public interest)

3. COMMUNICATION (communicate that action to gain understanding, acceptance, and support)

4. EVALUATION (evaluate the communication to see if opinion has been influenced)

Research

research attitudes about the issue at hand

Action

identify action of the client in the public interest

Communication

communicate that action to gain understanding, acceptance, and support

Evaluation

evaluate the communication to see if opinion has been influenced

R-O-S-I-E approach

1. research

2. objectives

3. strategies

4. implementation

5. evaluation

R-P-I-E

1. research

2. planning

3. implementation

4. evaluation

PR, if it is to serve the organization properly must

report to top management

Public relations must serve as

an honest broker to management, unimpeded by any other group

For public relations to work, its advice to management bust be

unfiltered, uncensored, and unexpurgated

What are the five principles of the public relations process by Professor Sharpe?

1. Honest communication for credibility

2. Openness and consistency of actions for confidence

3. Fairness of actions for reciprocity and goodwill

4. Continuous two-way communication to prevent alienation and to build relationships

5. Environmental research and evaluation to determine the actions or adjustments needed for social harmony

Public relations professionals are mediators between

client (management) and public (all those key constituent groups on whom an organization depends)

A public arises when a group of people

1. faces a similar indeterminate situation,

2. recognizes what is indeterminate and problematic

3. organizes to do something about the problem

Publics can be classified into several overlapping categories:

1. Internal and external

2. Primary, secondary, and marginal

3. Traditional and future

4. Proponents, opponents, and the uncommitted

Spin means

the distinctive interpretation of an issue or action to sway public opinion, as in putting a positive slant on a negative story.

or

confusing an issue or distorting or obfuscating it or even lying

7 characteristics of a successful public relations career

• Diversity of experience

• Performance

• Communications skills

• Relationship building

• Proactivity and passion

• Teamliness

• Intangibles, such as personality, likeability, and chemistry

6 Important technical skills

1. knowledge of the field

2. communications knowledge

3. technological knowledge

4. current events knowledge

5. business knowledge

6. management knowledge

6 Attitudes requesities

1. pro communications

2. advocacy

3. counseling orientation

4. ethics

5. willingness to take risks

6. positive outlook

Goals of Communication

1. to inform

2. to persuade

3. to motivate

4. to build mutual understanding

two-step flow theory

an organization would beam a message first to the mass media, which would then deliver that message to the great mass of readers, listeners, and viewers for their response.

concentric-circle theory

assumes that ides evolve gradually to the public at large, moving in concentric circles from great thinkers to great disciples to great disseminators to lesser disseminators to the politically active to the politically inert.

People pick up and accept ides from leaders, whose impact on public opinion may be greater than that of the mass media.

5 steps to stimulate behavioral change

1. building awareness

2. developing a latent readiness

3. triggering event

4. intermediate behavior

5. behavioral change

S-E-M-D-R communication process

S - source

E - encoding

M - message

D - decoding

R - receiver

Confirmation Bias

people seek out messages that agree with or “confirm” their own attitudes; they avoid messages that disagree or are “dissonant” to their own attitudes

Spiral of Silence

communications that work well depend on the silence and non-participation of a huge majority. called the silent majority

Constructivism

• knowledge is constructed not transmitted

• concerned with the cognitive process that precedes the actual communication within a given situation rather than with the communication itself

coordinated management of meaning

when we communicate - primarily through conversation - we construct our own social realities of what is going on and what kind of action is appropriate

Gruning-Hunt’s 4 PR model that define PR communications

1. press agentry/publicity

2. public information

3. two-way asymmetric

4. two-way symmetric

Press agentry / publicity

• early form of communication

• is essentially one-way communication that beams messages from a source to a receiver with the express intention of winning favorable media attention.

Public information

early form of one-way communication designed not necessarily to persuade but rather to inform

Two-way asymmetric

sophisticated two-way communication approach that allows an organization to put out its information and to receive feedback from its publics about that information.

two-way symmetric

preferred way of communicating advocates free and equal information flow between an organization and its publics, based on mutual understanding.

this approach is more “balanced”—symmetrical with the pr communicator serving as a mediator between the organization and the publics

3 popular explanations for what constitutes a message

1. the content is the message

2. the medium is the message

3. the man — or to avoid political incorrectness, the person is the message

the content is the message

the content of a communication constitutes its message

the medium is the message

The medium through which the message was carried is more important than the content of the message

The person is the message

The speaker of the message is what is the message

Receiver’s Bias

• message decoding depends on the person’s perception

• everyone is biased

  • stereotypes

  • symbols

  • semantics

  • peer group pressures

  • the media

Stereotypes

• Most people are victims of stereotypes

  • stereotypes influence communication

  • Example: person wearing glasses more believable

• Public figures are typecast regularly

Symbols

• Symbols leave distinct impressions on most people

  • symbols can persuade

  • persuasion can be positive or negative

• symbols can have different meanings to different people

Semantincs

• use words to effectively communicate desired meanings

• same words hold contrasting meanings for different people

• language and meaning of words change constantly

• consider consequences of words you plan to use before using them

Peer groups

• peer pressure influences the way messages are perceived

• peer groups influence attitudes and actions

Media

• a powerful agenda setter

• the traditonal may have lost some clout due to social, internet, cable news, and talk radio

• NY Times, Washington Post, USA today are still usually the most powerful sor setting agendas

• PR professionals have a direct role for setting the agenda for others

A communicator must get feedback from a receiver to know

what messages are or are not getting through and how to structure future communications

A message may trigger

• attitude change

• attitude crystallization

• creation of a wedge of doubt

• no effect

effective communication doesn’t take place if

• the message doesn’t reach the intended receivers

• the message doesn’t exert the desired effect on the receivers

communications may motivate an action that

is different from the desired one

loss of public opinion can result in

loss of prestige, business, and reputation

PR firms bill themselves as

experts in reputation management

The best public relations campaign in the world can’t build

trust when reality is destroying it.

if your product doesn’t worj, if your service stinks, if you are a liar, if the people you depend on are

committing secret unspeakable acts, then no amount of “public relations” will change that.

You must change the “action” before

credibility or trust can be built.

The heart of PR work lies in

attempting to affect the public opinion process.

Public

signifies a group of people who share a common interest in a specific subject.

Opinion

is the expression of an attitude on a particular topic.

When opinions become strong enough

they lead to verbal or behavioral actions

when attitudes become strong enough

they surface in the form of opinions

Public opinion is

the aggregate of many individual opinions on a particular issue that affects a group of people.

Research indicates that attitudes may more likely be

evaluations people make about specific problems or issues.

Attitudes are based on a number of characteristics

1. personal

2. cultural

3. educational

4. familial

5. religious

6. social class

7. minority status

attitudes are

positive, negative, or nonexistent.

cognitive dissonance theory

individuals tend to avoid information that is dissonant or opposed to their own points of view and tend to seek out information that is consonant with, or in support of their own attitudes

social judgement theory

people may have a range of opinions on a certain subject, anchored by a clear attitude.

Maslows hierarchy of needs

1. physiological needs
2. safety needs
3. love needs
4. esteem
5. self-actualization

elaboration likelihood model

1. when we are interested and focused on a message to take a direct “central route” to decision making

2. when we are not particularly engaged on a message and need to take a more “peripheral” route.

Best way to motivate interested people is with

arguments that are strong, logical, and personally relevant.

Best way to motivate people who are less interested might be through

putting them in a better mood or demonstrating through speech or clothes or mannerism, that you are very much “like” them.

Power of Persuasion

• persuading is the goal of most public relations programs

• getting someone to do something through advice, reasoning or arm-twisting

Classic Persuasion Theory

People may be of two minds in order to be persuaded to believe in a particular position or action

(systematic or heuristic)

Systematic mode

referring to a person who has carefully considered an argument — actively, creatively, and alertly

Heuristic mode

referring to a person who is skimming the surface and not really focusing on the intricacies of a particular position to catch flaws, inconsistencies, or errors.

What kind of evidence will persuade?

1. facts

2. emotions

3. personalizing

4. appealing to “you”

Laws of Public Opinion

1. opinion if highly sensitive to important events
2. opinion is determined more than events by words
3. at critical times, people are more sensitive to the adequacy of their leadership
4. once self-interest is involved, opinions are slow to change
5. people are able to form opinions more easily on goals than on methods to reach those goals
6. if people in a democracy are provided w educational opportunities and ready to access info, public opinion reveals a hardheaded common sense

Reputation is gained by what one does not by

what one says.

Reputation management

protecting clients from damage in the court of public opinion

Legal vs Public Relations advice

• Lawyers correctly advise clients on what they must do, within the letter of legal requirements, to defend themselves in a court of law.

• Public relations advisors counsel clients not on what they must do but what they should do to defend themselves in a different court—the court of public opinion.

From a legal point of view

• the less an organization says prior to its day in court, the better

• opposition can’t get new ammunition

• lawyer tells you to say “say nothing and say it slowly!”

From a public relations point of view

• makes sense to go public earl on especially if the organization’s integrity or credibility is being called into public question

Public relations society of America’s code of professional standards note

many activities that are unethical are also illegal.

• there are instances in which something is perfectly legal but unethical, and other instances in which things might be illegal but otherwise ethical. Thus, when a public relations professional reflects on what course to take in a particular situation, he or she must analyze not only the legal ramifications but also the ethical considerations.²

First Amendment

• cornerstore of free speech in our society

• interpreting is a challenge

• defening the amendment is a frontline responsibility of PR professionals

Defamation

umbrella term used to describe libel and slander

libel

a printed falsehood

slander

oral falsehood

For a defamation to be proved, a plaintiff must onvince the court that certain requirements have been met, including the following:

• The falsehood was communicated through print, broadcast, or other electronic means.

• The person who is the subject of the falsehood was identified or easily identifiable.

• The identified person has suffered injury—in the form of monetary losses, reputational loss, or mental suffering.⁹

Actual Malice

in a public figure slander case means that statements have been published with the knowledge that they were false or with reckless disregard for whether the statements were false.

Definition of Defamation becoming more complex

• proliferation of blogs, tweets, Facebook posts, cable and radio talk shows

• people may say what they want without regard for factual accuracy or impact on a person’s life

• the definition of defamation is becoming more global and complex

Insider Trading Law

• Every public company has an obligation to deal frankly, comprehensively, and immediately with any information that is considered material.

• A material announcement is one that might cause an investor to buy, hold, or sell a stock.

• company is expected to release news that may affect its stock market price as quickly as possible so all investors have an opportunity to learn about material information as promptly as possible.

Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) 10b-5 Rule of Securities and Exchange Act

• strictly prohibits the dissemination of false or misleading information to investors.

• It also prohibits insider trading of securities on the basis of material information not disclosed to the public.

Disclosure Law

• SEC challenged corporations and PR firms on the accuracy of information they disseminate for clients.

• bias toward disclosing rather than withholding material information

• SEC increased focus on private meetings between companies and analysts

Fair disclosure (FD)

requires companies to widely disseminate any material announcement.

Sarbanes—Oxley Act

mandated all publicly traded companies to increase financial disclosure and submit an annual report of the effectiveness of their internal accounting controls to the SEC, with criminal and civil penalties for noncompliance.²²

Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

designed to increase transparency of financial reporting and also to create a new consumer protection agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

PR lawyers

attorneys who rise to fame and make their living as media personalities, using PR tactics

Super PACs

political action committees, that could accept unlimited contributions from individuals, unions, and corporations for the purpose of making independent expenditures, proliferated.

Copyright Law

provides basic, automatic protection for writers, whether a manuscript is registered with the Copyright Office or even published.

under the Copyright Act of 1976

an “original work of authorship” has copyright protection from the moment the work is in “fixed” form.

fixed

means that the work is sufficiently permanent to permit it to be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated.

work subject to copyright

• Literary works, including articles

• Songs, including words and music

• Plays and choreographed dance performances

• Art

• Motion pictures and audiovisual works

• Sound recordings

• Architectural works

Copyright owners have exclusive right to

reproduce and authorize others to reproduce the work,

prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted material, and

perform and/or display the work publicly.