PR 3310
Principles of Public
Relations
Thursday, 5/28/09
Class Objectives
 Lecture
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What is Public Relations
 Homework assignment
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Read chapter 2 in book
What’s in the news today?
 No photoshopping requests from celebrities from the NY Times,
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/fashion/28RETOUCH.html?
_r=1&8dpc
 Let’s look at it within a PR framework
 What does this do to their “story/brand”?
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Makes them appear more credible and trustworthy
Who’s to blame?
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Look at the sentence: And yet a raw-celebrity movement has
been slow in coming. That may be because, as several editors
said privately, celebrities’ publicists almost always demand
retouching of wrinkles and visible cellulite.
Do you know how to remove blemishes in Photoshop?
 I’d like to start each class with this question and get more of a
dialog going… want you to become consumers of news.
 Look at local paper, national/international paper, blogs, emails, etc…. start to view news within a PR lens
Definitions of Public Relations
 Management function= big picture, work with many
different disciplines
 Deliberate and planned
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Start with research and close the loop by assessing
 Performance and public interests
 If people don’t think it’s interesting and in their best
interest, your story won’t be successful
 Surprising what people find interesting
 “Behind the scenes” = PR is not the star
 NEWEST: Two-Way communication/dialogue
 Solicited or unsolicited feedback
Public Relations as a process (RACE)
 1. Research
 2. Action and Planning
 3. Communication
 4. Evaluation
 Can think of actions as components of
advertising, PR, and marketing
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Creation of press releases, posting a story to a
blog, etc.
Components of Public Relations
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1. Counseling
2. Research
3. Media Relations
4. Publicity
5. Employee/Member Relations
6. Community Relations
7. Public Affairs
8. Government Affairs
9. Issues Management
10. Financial Relations
11. Industry Relations
12. Development/Fund Raising
13. Multicultural Relations/Workplace Diversity
14. Special Events
15. Marketing Communications
How PR is unique
 Broad scope
 More Audiences/ who are you trying to communicate with/to?
Range of External and Internal Audiences
 Channels include mass media (tv, radio, news + new ones like
blogs, podcasts, mobile) and other mar comm media (direct
mail, newsletters)
 Selling vs. Public Understanding
 What is the goal?
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Sell something (often advertising)
Make Money vs. Save Money
Inform the public
Build relationships
 Goal is to be more credible than advertising
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Persuasive vs. Accommodative
Why is there an Integration of the
Disciplines?
 Downsizing and tighter budgets
 Increased Clutter of Advertising
 Frontline video (13 minutes): The Persuaders, a High
Concept Campaign,
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persua
ders/
 Changing Focus in Public Relations
 Field has broadened far beyond concept of “media
relations” and publicity in mass media
 Understanding technology
 Better educational standards, including intensive
writing, research, campaigns and internship courses
Essential skills in PR
 Writing is important in PR
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Need to consider writing for different media
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Newspapers (who, what, when, where and how; order of
importance with first paragraphs)
vs
On-line (shorter sentences)
 Other essential skills
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Research Ability: are you good at statistics and qualitative
assessments? Need to show a “roi” to your customers.
Planning Expertise: can you see the big picture?, can you
manage others?
Problem-solving Ability: see things through to the finish
Creativity: cut through the clutter
Media savvy: cut through the clutter and knowledgeable of
all types of media (new and old)
Gender and PR
 Why do females gravitate to careers in PR?
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Look at the make-up of this class, how many
are going into PR careers?
 Videos, PR Conversations with female PR’ers
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAJEYhNzJ
Ao (about 3 minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=989_mFDK
CyI (9 minutes)
Jobs in PR
 We’ll revisit this more at the end of the
summer session
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We’ll look at salaries from the
http://www.bls.gov
Go on-line and look for jobs
 Other Terms for Public Relations
 Corporate Communications/Relations
 Public Affairs/Relations/Information
 Communications
 Communication Management