The Fundamentals of Public Relations: A Practical Overview Of The Art and Business of Public Relations

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Chapter 1: Where Fundamentals Start

In this book I am going to provide you with every ounce of knowledge I have on the subject of Public Relations. I’ve been practicing the art and business of public relations for over 25 years and along the way I have worked with some of the biggest PR agencies in the world and for some of the most well known brands in the world. My goal in this book to have you come away at the end knowing more about how public relations works than most people who have been in the field for two or three years. You will learn PR basics, the business of PR, how to write a press release, how to write and present a PR plan, how to pitch the media, the ethics of PR, and the many specialty areas of the business that fit your individuals skills.

There are no textbooks on Public Relations like this one. This book is not about history or theory or great case studies or PR lore. There are many of those on the market and I urge you to buy them and to learn more about this fascinating and diverse part of the communications and marketing industry. I’ve designed this book so that if you follow it, do the work, and keep your eyes open to the world of communications around you – you will succeed in understanding the core fundamentals of what drives this diverse and interesting business. Ultimately, you may want to be part of it.

Throughout this course there will be exercises and assignments, what we are calling The Work. It’s up to you to complete this work, or not. We consider each chapter of this book a weekly lesson. It is nearly identically to the course I have been teaching at UCLA Extension for over ten years. If you do complete the exercises at the end of each chapter you will come out at the end of this book ready to tackle any basic PR job you face. If you are going into interviews, you will know exactly what to expect and what to say. Don’t worry, you will be guided each step of the way in the exercises and you will be provided post-exercise virtual comments and tips.

What are your interests?

I want to help you as much as I can during the reading of this book, as much as any author can help a reader. One way I do that in my classes and lectures is to customize each student’s papers, with specific comments, guidelines, tips, and revisions. Since it is not possible to do that in this format, I will provide tips on how you can improve specific PR skills or how you can break into the business.

The first step in this process, however, is to think about what you want from the world and business of public relations. What you are interested in and what is your current PR skill level? Are you brand new to PR? Have you worked for a company in the PR department? Have you worked for a PR agency? What do you want from this book?

By understanding these basics the ideas and tips and practices detailed here will become more targeted to your needs. It is, however, important to read through this book in chronological order, one chapter at a time, since each chapter builds on the previous.

Why Public Relations?

Public Relations is one of the most inventive, creative, and challenging of the communication arts. On any given day, a public relations professional must put on several hats: creative director, account manager, salesperson, media expert, writer, budgeter, and business consultant. There is really no other profession like it. Take advertising, for example, another field you may be interested in and one that is very creative. There are many differences between advertising and PR, but with advertising your career is usually slotted in one area or another. A case in point: if you start in the research department or media planning, that is usually where you will end up twenty years later. It is very difficult to shift into the creative department, even though you may be a very creative person. Or, you may start in account management (you better have an MBA), but you would rather be in creative or in media planning. Sorry. Rarely do you get to crossover.

In Public Relations, however, you get to jump from creative meetings to research planning to media planning to account management – all in one day. This makes the business extremely exciting, that is, if you like media, writing, sales, and working with clients and brands, or companies that need communications counsel. I think you probably do (or at least you have a strong interest) or you would not be reading this book.

Types of Public Relations

Public Relations is also one of the most diverse and specialized businesses available. All organizations need marketing and communications help to sell ideas, products, and issues. I can’t possibly list all the types of PR consulting that exist, but here are a few (both within companies/organizations and with PR agencies):

Consumer marketing

Business to business

Healthcare

Corporate & Financial

Technology

Public Affairs & Government

Community Relations

Employee Relations

Entertainment and Sports

Non-profit

Crisis Communications

Interactive/social media

Political

Legal

Do you see yourself fitting into one of these areas?

I you don’t know, PR agencies work like law firms or accounting firms. PR consultants get paid a fee for their time and they most often work in specialty areas or departments called practices, such as Marketing, Technology, Healthcare, and Public Affairs. Those are the big categories and within each practice area there may be subsets, too, many more than listed above. For example, Entertainment PR might have Film or Television or Music PR sub-set, while Healthcare might have several subsets, such as Medical Device Marketing or Doctor Education. The fees PR consultants charge are at an hourly rate ranging between $50 and $400 per hour per consultant (based on experience), or on a single, per-project price, or work may be paid on a monthly retainer. The retainer covers all PR work done by the staff and could range from $1,500 a month to $500,000 a month, or more.

Of course, you can also work directly for a company or organization in its PR department. But whether you work at a company or agency or on your own, you will be called upon to use the same skills. The objective will often be the same: communicate a message(s) to an audience to benefit the organization, brand, or subject.

The specialty breakdown also works by a consultant’s skill set. For example, if you are a great writer, but a lousy account manager, you may get slotted to work on writing speeches, press releases, and brochures. That’s fine. There’s room for everyone. Play up your strengths and improve your weaknesses. The best PR practitioners are those who have a broad range of knowledge and skills (generalists), but also have a deep knowledge and skills in a particular area (specialist), such as technology or healthcare. This makes you extremely valuable to an organization looking for communications help. If you have these skills and a true passion for your subject (let’s say it automobiles or mobile apps) than before too long you will be sought out as an expert in that field. People pay big money for this kind of advice and if done well you will be able to live off it comfortably for a very long time.

Career Opportunities

It’s a big global market with even bigger communications needs. Don’t forget what it’s all about: selling an idea or product or issue. PR itself is useless unless it helps an organization sell something. PR is part of the overall marketing mix, as is advertising, direct mail, events, telemarketing, social media, and other sales-oriented actions. Hence, there are always openings and a need for smart communications people to help sell things.

Where do you start? Okay, first think about where you would like to work and what kind of environment. Are you more of a PR agency person or an organization/company person? Maybe you don’t know. Either one is a good place to start. You may want to add your own interests to the mix, too. Let’s say you’re a nurse, but want a career change. PR is a great place for you. Healthcare PR is the hottest growth area in this business. Your nursing credentials give you an edge. You know the medical language. You know how doctors think. You know how to pronounce those long pharmaceutical and symptom names. You’re a pro and, once trained in communications, any major healthcare company or big agency will want to speak with you.

You get the idea.

Match you’re current experience and interests to your soon to be new found communications skills and you’ll be in great shape for a career in PR.

You might ask: what does PR pay? It varies around the world (and I’ve worked around the world), but in the U.S. the starting levels are around US$25,000 and rise quickly to US$50,000, after about four to five years, or faster, if you’re good. Before long, say with eight to ten years experience, you can get up to US$100,000. At this point, you are probably managing a few people. If you work for an organization or company, pay raises start slowing down at this point, but if you work for a PR agency (where PR is the core business) salaries can easily keep rising to US$150,000 and beyond. If you are a top PR consultant, Managing Director or Senior VP within a company (15-20 years experience) you can command a very high salary (over US$200,000), with all the corporate trimmings. We’ll have more on this in later chapters.

Where It All Starts: Journalism

If you are going to succeed in this business you have to know the basics of journalism and journalistic writing styles. After all, the core skill set is knowing how to write news, sell news to journalists and editors, spot news, and understand how the media works. You have to create press releases and other communications pieces that journalists admire and buy. They don’t want to work with amateurs. Hence, you better know how to think and write like a journalist. Understanding journalism and being a professional journalist requires a lifetime of work. I can only give you the smallest look into this world in this book, but I want you to at least know some of the basics.

The Shortest Overview Ever of The Basics of Journalism

The Lead – Creating compelling opening sentences

The lead sentence (that’s pronounced leed; some old-timers spell it lede) is the most important thing in your press release. It is the first sentence and it sets up the rest of the story. The lead should tell a reader everything he or she needs to know. The editor, if he had space limitations, could cut everything but the lead and all the basic facts will be there for the reader. Headlines work much the same way, but only more cryptically. If an editor hates the lead sentence, the writer is in trouble.

The lead and the supporting sentences that follow it should cover:

The 4 W’s and H

-   Who

-   What

-   When

-   Why

-   And How

You’ve probably heard this before, but all the basic facts of a story or press release should have this information in the first two graphs or paragraphs – preferably the first graph.

Examples of leads:

John Jones, 34, was arrested and charged yesterday by Los Angeles Police with the murder of his estranged wife, Jennie, 31, who was found bludgeoned to death in the couple’s Encino home last Sunday.

That’s it. The lead paragraph is