Annika Cianciolo

Ms. Jizi
UWRT 1104-07
25.October.2016

Quotations from the source

My own thoughts and feelings

Five Things Everyone Should Know About

Public Relations (web article)
PR is the Persuasion Business. You are
trying to convince an audience, inside your
building or town, and outside your usual
sphere of influence, to promote your idea,
purchase your product, support your position,
or recognize your accomplishments.

Heres what the Public Relations Society of

America PRSA agreed upon after a few
thousand submissions: Public relations is a
strategic communication process that builds
mutually beneficial relationships between
organizations and their publics.

PR people are storytellers. They create

narratives to advance their agenda. PR can be
used to protect, enhance or build reputations
through the media, social media, or selfproduced communications. A good PR
practitioner will analyze the organization, find
the positive messages and translate those
messages into positive stories. When the
news is bad, they can formulate the best
response and mitigate the damage.

This sounds a lot like marketing your own

ideas. Like marketing, you are convincing
your audience to believe in or buy into your
belief.

The part about mutually beneficial

relationships is one way it is different than
selling and marketing. Through having equal
relationships its not a seller making
customers buy into an idea, its more showing
the audience something that can better their
life.

I like how they are describing a Public

Relations worker as a storyteller. This makes
sense because in order to gain the publics
trust, you need to be able to explain to them
the new ideas or the news you are sharing
with them.

The Princeton Review notes that: A public

relations specialist is an image shaper. Their
job is to generate positive publicity for their
client and enhance their reputation They
keep the public informed about the activity of
government agencies, explain policy, and
manage political campaigns.

This description of a public relations worker

reminds me of a PR manager for a celebrity.
In shows when a celebrity goes off the deep
end or messes things up, they always go to the
PR manager to help fix their image. Usually it
then cuts to a scene where the celebrity is
helping out in a soup kitchen or at an animal
shelter.

Advertising is paid media, public relations is

earned media. This means you convince
reporters or editors to write a positive story
about you or your client, your candidate,
brand or issue. It appears in the editorial
section of the magazine, newspaper, TV
station or website, rather than the paid media
section where advertising messages appear.

This sounds like an interesting way to

describe the difference between marketing and
public relations. I wanted to go into marketing
but never liked having to deceive customers
into buying cheap products. Through this
definition it explains how public relations
managers work with what they have, or free
types of marketing.

Public Relations (film) Quotations:

My thoughts:

During the research phase, the practitioner

will conduct research on every angle about the
client,the product, or the service, or whatever
it is that they offer, the problems that they're
having, what needs to be done to build a better
relationship between the organization and its
publics.

I have been very curious about the work

Public Relations workers do. This quote about
research is very interesting because I never
thought about research being a key part of the
public relations world

What I think is a major trend in the public

relations industry now is to take a step back
and be more of a strategic consultant and to
try and find out the best context within which
to present that message. Do the research you
need to to find out what the attitudes of your
audiences are toward that topic, toward the
company you're representing, toward the
product or the service orthe result that you're
announcing.

This quotation reminds me of how the aspect

of persuasion comes into play in this career.
The research part comes into play because
when trying to make your audience agree with
you, you need to know about your audience
and figure out how the best way to get the
message across.

When you get down to crafting the

traditionally understood public relations

The different types of communication connect

back to doing your research. It would help to

campaign, which is what do we say, how do

we say it, to whom do we say it, the elements
can include everything from writing materials
intended for publication in newspapers to
putting individuals-- corporate executives,
celebrities, whomever-- in front of reporters
on television, on the radio, to producing
brochures or booklets to holding special
events--marathons, what have you.

know what type of communication would

work best to get to their audience. For
example, would newspaper be better or social
media.

Some of the common elements are press kits

that would contain, say, a press release, for
instance, that would talk about a newsworthy
development at a client whether it be the
launch of a new product, a new development
in terms of the company's financial structure,
or its financial results

When talking about press releases, I think of

when the police do a press release about new
information on a specific crime or what their
conclusion is. This connects back to the image
part of public relations because they need to
show their audience they are doing all they
can to try and solve the crimes.

Todays Public Relations: An Introduction

Below is a list of personality traits and
intellectual qualities identified by PRSA:
analytic thinking, ability to work well under
pressure, imagination and creativity,
communication skills, self-confidence,
diplomacy, organizational and planning skills
(426).

I can agree that all of these traits are definitely

needed to be successful in most fields. This
makes me feel good because I believe I have
most of these traits.

Two high-tech skills are noted as well:

Internet research skills and the ability to
utilize a wide range of software(426).

Now a days, it is very important that people

can use the internet efficiently and
resourcefully. Since public relations uses a lot
of communication ways that include the
internet this skill would be very important to
keeping up to date with the technology world.

You should be current on the events in your

community, profession, state, and nation.
Senior practitioners believe that entry-level
practitioners should read two newspapers each
day. You should read one new magazine each

This idea is new to me but I definitely can see

why it is important. Being up to date with
information in your own community can help
if there is a project that is happening close to
where you live or just in your nation. Being

week. You should consume radio and

television news. You need to be aware of all
the sections of the news, including business
and financial news (427).

on top of the news can help you work on

someones image or a businesss because you
would already know the story and background
information.

Writing new releases and word processing

are necessary for the entry level practitioner.
Critical thinking and interpersonal skills are
valuable in any workplace. The personal
attributes are common as well; self starter,
organized, flexible, and takes criticism
Entry-level practitioners use the criticism to
improve their writing and to adjust to the style
of the manager (428).

For the beginners in this field(entry-level) it

makes sense that you would need to have
these skills. Since you wouldnt be working
alone on a case because your a beginner it
would be helpful to know how to talk to
people and get information to bring back to
your team.
Also, being confident and organized are
qualities that will help you be successful
overall.

Traits: Works well in team effort, handles

media professionally, demonstrates critical
listening, has field experience in PR, knows
crisis management, has research skills, knows
issues management, knows PRs management
team role.

I can agree with these traits being very

important for workers who have already been
working for a while. The higher up you get in
a company the more they expect from you.

US Department of Labor web

Public relations specialists typically need a
bachelors degree in public relations,
journalism, communications, English, or
business. Through such programs, students
produce a portfolio of work that demonstrates
their ability to prospective employers.

It is good to know that I am on track with the

specific criteria to get a job in this field. I
have read that you do need a bachelors
degree but only recently learned that you need
a degree in a specific type of communications.

Entry-level workers typically begin by

maintaining files of material about an
organizations activities, skimming and
retaining relevant media articles, and
assembling information for speeches and
pamphlets. After gaining experience, public
relations specialists begin to write news
releases, speeches, articles for publication, or
carry out public relations programs.

This is interesting because I havent got to

learn much information about what I would be
doing in this field as a first time employee. It
seems like you really need to put yourself out
there and do well with the tasks you are
giving to make your way up in the business.

Internships at public relations firms or in the

public relations departments of other
businesses can be helpful in getting a job as a
public relations specialist.
Some employers prefer candidates that have
experience communicating with others
through a school newspaper or a leadership
position in school or in their community.

I have been very interested to learn more

about internships in this field and it seems like
they are crucial to getting a job in this field. I
have been eager to get into an internship while
here at school but we have to wait until after
sophomore year.
Also, it would be very cool to be able to
shadow and intern with big public relations
firms.
I have many leadership roles from high school
and in college which I hope to grow upon
before my first job to boost my resume.

Problem-solving skills. Public relations

specialists sometimes must explain how a
company or client is handling sensitive issues.
They must use good judgment in what they
report and how they report it.

I feel that this topic of being fast to solve

problems connects to other writing about
public relations and how you need to be able
to work under pressure

Writing skills. Public relations specialists

must be able to write well-organized and clear
press releases and speeches. They must be
able to grasp the key messages they want to
get across and write them in a short, succinct
way to get the attention of busy readers or
listeners.

Writing seems to be a huge part of the public

relations field. I never knew that press
releases came under the work of public
relations. I agree that people in this field need
to know how to keep it short and concise
while making sure they are addresses their
audience appropriately.

How to Write a Press Release, with Examples

What's more, press releases are cost effective.
If the release results in an article that (for
instance) appears to recommend your firm or
your product, that article is more likely to
drive prospects to contact you than a
comparable paid advertisement.

It seems that since publicity is usually free, I

dont understand why businesses dont use it
more often. I guess I can see that marketing
and advertisements are viewed more but I feel
like I would trust publicity more than an
advertisement.

However, most press releases never

accomplish that. Most press releases are just
spray and pray. Nobody reads them, least of
all the reporters and editors for whom they're

Press releases seem like it is just something

businesses have to do to cover their bases. It
wont help their cause that much but can hurt
it with one bad press release.

intended. Worst case, a badly-written press

release simply makes your firm look clueless
and stupid.
The idea is to communicate a message to
customers and prospects, through the vehicle
of a print or online article, hopefully adding
the authority and credibility of the
publication, website and/or reporter to the
message.

A press release seems like it s a written article

trying to clean up someones act or try to
persuade people to agree with an idea or
something a business is doing. Ive seen press
releases on tv so I am curious when you
would use a spoken press release.

If your press release looks and feels like a

real article, reporters will often just file it as a
story with minimal editing. Therefore, it's up
to you to make sure that your press release
looks and feels like a real article.

This sounds like a resume almost. Employers

only take 10-15 seconds looking at your
resume so you need to either do something to
make yourself stick out or make it seem very
formal and professional so they can take you
seriously.

In addition to sending a press release,

personally contact the reporters that you really
want to cover the story. Send them something
personal. You might even want to rewrite the
press release to fit their beat.

Its interesting to hear about reporters since I

havent read that much about how they play
into the public relations field. They are a huge
part of getting your message across because
that is how most people get their news
information.