Introduction to Public Relations Midterm Study Guide

What is the definition of public relations?

a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics

What are traditional PR responsibilities and functions?

Press reviews, news releases, fact sheets, speeches, memos and pitches, feature stories.

What are some newer roles for PR practitioners?

Update social media, create ebooks, create storyboards, work on virtual reality, compare ads, perform influencer audits

What do PR professionals do?

Press Releases, Media Relations, Research - market, focus groups, etc, Community and Consumer Relations, and Special Events

Where do PR professionals work?

Government sectors, private business sectors, and social nonprofit sectors

How do PR professionals work with Journalists?

By building a content marketing initiative thru owned media.

What is the PESO model?

Paid, Earned, Shared, Owned

What are the four models of public relations?

1) Press Agentry / Publicity

2) Public Information

3) Two-Way Asymmetric

4) Two-Way Symmetric

What are the goals of each PR model?

Press Agentry/Publicity: generating awareness and publicity for a client/person, where a publicist is responsible for generating interest across the media

Public Info: focuses on providing info to the public from the company's perspective, image, and reputation

Two-Way Asym: apply power of persuasion to craft messages that are based on audience feedback

Two-Way Sym: level-playing field, "ideal situation" for PR, reaching a cooperative, win-win outcome

What tools are used?

Press Agentry/Publicity: Propaganda/negative views

Public Info: Public release

Two-Way Asym: Classic campaigns

Two-Way Sym: Formal research into audience attitudes

What do the four models of PR share?

Universal themes and messaging

Who are some historical figures related to PR? Think of one who represents each model.

Press Agentry/Publicity: P.T. Barnum - generating buzz

Public Info: Ivy Lee - became own media outlet, passing along info in a transparent/persuasive manner

Two-Way Asym: Edward Bernays - using persuasive messaging

Two-Way Sym: Edward Bernays - talking w/ mutual understanding to create a win-win

What are Edward Bernay's campaigns?

"Torches of Freedom" Campaign - help change the perception of women's smoking

"Light's Golden Jubilee" Event - celebrate the invention of the lightbulb and Edison's work

"Bacon and Eggs" - increase pork consumption using research to persuade Americans

What is the two step flow theory?

Media has indirect effects on the masses. media communicates to "opinion leaders" who then filter the messages and communicate to their "opinion followers"

1) media message- Opinion Leader

2) opinion leader- To group masses

What is framing as a theory of mass communication?

How the media packages and presents information to the public can influence how that information is viewed.

What is agenda setting?

Powerful influence of the media to designate issues and topics the audience needs to know.

What is the definition of innovation theory?

A product, topic, or issue diffuses over time based on level and timing of adoption

What is the uses and gratification theory?

Audience-centered approach - looking at what audience members do w/ media, their use and reasons behind it

What are ethics?

Moral principles and values that govern individual behavior

What is the PRSA Code of Ethics? What does it include? How is it enforced?

A list of values and principles that help you respond to certain situations:

Advocacy - Providing a voice to aid informed public debate

Honesty - Adhering to the highest standards of accuracy and truth

Expertise - Acquiring and responsibly using knowledge and experience

Independence - Providing objective counsel to those we represent and taking accountability for our actions

Loyalty - Being faithful to those we represent

Fairness - Deal fairly with everyone, respect all opinions, and support the right to free expression

What are the steps in ethical decision-making?

Define the issue or conflict

define the internal/external factors that may influence your decision

Identify key values

Identify parties that will be affected

select ethical principles that will guide your decision making

make a decision and justify it

What is libel?

Printed falsehood

What is slander?

Spoken falsehood

What is defamation?

A false statement about a person or organization that creates public hatred, contempt, or ridicule, or hurts a reputation.

What is Puffery?

Exaggerated statement, course of action.

What is Inclusion?

Bringing people together educating & understanding each other.

What are best practices related to create a more diverse and inclusive industry?

Focus on respect

Teach diverse & multicultural perspectives

Support research in diversity/inclusion

Support empathy in leadership

Be agile, proactive, and responsive to change.

What is diversity?

Embracing people with different cultural values.

How are inclusion and diversity different?

They're different because diversity is differences within a group & inclusion is different because it's the treatment of members & their feelings.

What is research? How is it useful in PR?

It provides us w/ data and insights that boost credibility, help make positive first impressions, and allow PR people to do their best work

What is informal research? Name some types of research.

Look for potential ideas to test or implement in a campaign

What is qualitative research? Name some types of research for each.

Research that discovers how and why things happen. Interviews, focus groups, field studies.

What is primary research? Name some types of research.

Original research, conducted by an individual or team, that has not been published or presented previously.

What are outputs? What are outcomes?

Specific measures that we are able to collect and evaluate including likes, comments, engagements. (news releases, articles)

What are demographics?

Identify audience, age, gender, location.

What are psychographics?

Lifestyle information such as interests, opinions, attitudes or values. Behaviors such as voting, media preference and habits.

What are Personas?

Fictional characters created to represent the different user types that might use a site, brand, or product in a similar way

What is branding?

Strategic promotion of a product, company, or person thru various visual, written, and design capabilities.

What are some branding components?

Accomplishments, Expertise, Personality Characteristics, In-sights on and offline

What is a personal brand?

A collection of a person's various accomplishments, expertise, personality characteristics, and insights that take both on and offline.

What are some of personal brand features?

Personal brand voice, reputation, alignment.

What are four writing styles and their purposes?

Persuasive writing- foundation of PR, goal is to resonate with audience at logical, emotional, and practical levels

Creative messaging- integrating wide range of messages, creative content, visuals to help amplify essence of the campaign

Storytelling/narrative messaging- memorable stories to motivate audience members to share with others and the community

Real-time writing- most common when responding to media, responding to things in the moment, knowing how to think on your feet

What is the purpose and format of a news release?

The purpose is breaking news and announcements/partnerships and coverage of events. the format is headline, lead paragraph, quotes and supporting information, closing, and boilerplate.

How do you determine if a news release is newsworthy?

Breaking news announcements, Partnerships and coverage of events

What is the purpose of a feature story?

Promotion of individuals as part of a brand and who are in the news. To persuade audiences of their value by boosting the"human side" of a brand or organization.

What is the purpose of a infographic?

A form of storytelling that allows usto visualize content and present itto our audiences. To illustrate data (research). Share knowledge (information) Capture attention (through visual experiences)

What is the purpose of a media kit?

Collection of promotional and informational materials.

Effective for variety of reasons.

It is visual and brand aligned

It combines multiple mediums and formats

What is the purpose of a blog?

Provide the means to share updates, insights, reflections, and news related to a person or organization.

What is the purpose of a campaign?

To outline specifics for effective strategies and communications

What are the steps of a campaign?

1.) Conducting research

2.) Identifying purpose and audience

3.) Planning

4.) Developing content and persuading audiences

5.) Experiencing with innovative ideas

6.) Evaluating success

What is the RACE model?

Research, Action, Communication, Evaluation

What is the ROPE model?

Research, Objective, Planning, Evaluation

What is a SWOT analysis?

Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats

What is the purpose of the PESO campaign model?

Understand the landscape.

How do PR professionals work with Marketers?

Actual content aspects.

How do PR professionals work with Advertisers?

Messaging aspects

What is formal research? Name some types of research.

Scientific method; an issue is identified, relevant data is gathered, hypothesis forms, and is tested empirically.

What is quantitative research? Name some types of research.

Research explores cause and effect. Surveys, content analysis.

What is secondary research? Name some types of research.

Collection and summary of already published materials such as reports, articles, communication audits, news reports, academic articles that have been reviewed by experts.

What are outcomes?

How well the audience receives our messages.