I think the key points to remember from this week's readings were that research and evaluations are one of the most critical components of PR. It allows identification of goals and targets, gives the PR practitioner data to enable him/her to decide the correct strategy to adopt and the correct tactics to deploy.
In one of the case studies from PR News, a PR company, Metlife, did a survey with reporters to find out their needs and how to craft a more informative message. They focused the survey on what information was missing in the news articles. The case study identifies an important point in which before developing strategies, firstly, all factors and context of the industry must be surveyed, researched and evaluated, as a wrong strategy would prove to be ineffective.
All 3 stages of research are interlinked with each other and provides data that supports the next stage of research. It is possible to do each of the stages individually, but it would not be as effective.
Also, the text touches on the ethical considerations of research. The ethical considerations in itself can be a good PR tool as seen in the case of Bodyshop, a company that retails body care products. They are famous for their products due to a non animal testing policy. They demonstrated to the public that they did not harm any animals in their research and testing, and as a result, gained a reputation.
The readings made me think more about public relations theory and practice in that a balance of all factors is present in all faucets of PR. In terms of research, budgeting, scheduling, human resources, are some of the key factors that has to be handled well. A bad handling on any one of the factors would result in delays, ineffectiveness,and possibly insufficient or incorrect data collected.
There is no set rule on how research is to be carried out and that also applies to the other PR aspects we have covered in our studies so far. It all depends on the practitioner to be ethical, efficient, hard working, and critical in his/her work, to achieve a balance between the different working parts of PR. All factors are essential in PR as they are all interdependent.
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3 comments:
Dear Lester,
You said:
"It all depends on the practitioner to be ethical, efficient, hard working, and critical in his/her work, to achieve a balance between the different working parts of PR. All factors are essential in PR as they are all interdependent."
I think you were right in saying that these factors were all interdependent. It is not enough to focus on the nitty-gritty of one aspect. A good PR practitioner must always keep the big picture in mind.
It seems to me, as the weeks go by, that being in the PR profession can be seen as one big juggling act, and the only way to not drop everything is to plan such that you know exactly when to throw or catch. If you get what I mean...
Yes! Synchronization with all activities is the key. Knowing exactly when to launch a media release, when to hold the news conference, when to launch the event, all this must be handled with precise timing and expertise.
A PR practitioner, even though he/she is allowed to specialize, he/she must be adapt in all aspects and should not be found lacking.
You should correctly attribute the case studies from PR News you are referring to.
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