January 12, 2009
Dear Eric,
It was great to spend time with you over the Christmas break. I am so excited for your mission call! I know you will do great. Spring semester classes have started up here at Utah State University. During this semester I get to start taking public relations classes. I’ve come to realize there is more to public relations than I thought.
Did you know that, public relations is a lot like marketing? Marketing is used to sell a product where as public relations sells people and/or organizations. The main role of a PR person can be summed up in one word, communicator. A PR person communicates the company’s view to the company’s public. Then they communicate the public’s view back to the company. One way this happens is by talking with a news reporter. The next day it can occur through a post on the company’s website. It varies depending on what public they are trying to target.
In order to have effective communication a PR person needs to do certain things. They need to be aware of any change in their working environment. Has the public’s opinion changed on a certain issue? Is the new building that the company is building up to code? A person in PR needs to be aware of change so they can reassure the public. Sometimes they only communicate to certain publics. If they were trying to talk to you about the latest Rockband game, they probably wouldn’t do a news story. They would target you by doing a radio announcement on the radio stations that your age group listens to. Another essential skill is to know what to say in certain situations. Sometimes the company a PR person is representing may make a big mistake. The PR person is then in charge of smoothing it out with the public that the company serves.
Writing is the main tool that the public relations industry uses to communicate. To have effective communication the PR person is in charge of making sure information is accurate. They do this by researching the information that they will be presenting. With the research in hand they use the skill of persuasion and take into account the opinion of the public that they are addressing. They also need to have all of the qualities of a good writer, which include knowing proper grammar, spelling, and how to write in certain formats. When writing they need to be able to write specific messages for the various media outlets. A PR person writes newsletters, new releases, annual reports, brochures and much more. What a PR person needs to write changes everyday. Each message has to fit in the media outlet that it is coming from. Some news stories come from public relations offices. If they give inaccurate details then the company and PR person loses credibility. That is why it is essential for the PR person to know how to get the message across accurately in whatever medium they are writing.
Sincerely yours,
Melanie
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Melanie,
ReplyDeleteI think you've got a good grasp on what PR is (either that or we're both wrong). I especially like your third graph where you talked about recognizing the public's opinion and making the changes necessary to meet what they want.
My only recommendation (and this is just a personal thing) is to make your graphs shorter. Chop them up or something, right now they are a little long.
Other than that I thought it was great.
Hey Melanie-
ReplyDeleteI liked reading your letter, partly because it makes me laugh that both our letters are targetted at "the missionary minded."
I liked the way you posed hypothetical questions. You did a good job of using simple terms to explain, but the only spot I would say the language was "too simple" was when you said "PR Person". I would use the term "practicioner" or "consultant" first and then describe the abilities that person needs to have. All in all, super letter.
Court
Melanie, I thought you did a great job with your letter. You were very descriptive and kept to the heart of what PR is. You described well what a PR professional does or can do in their field while keeping it understandable for someone unfamiliar with PR.
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