Although Public Relations is a well explored area that has been academically studied and recorded since long ago, but still, there are different practices everywhere, especially between different countries. In this chapter, the author is trying to focus on PR management in Asia.
Why study Asia? First of all, most of the population in the world resides in Asia. Asia is also the home to many different races and ethnic groups, with many different culture and language. Therefore it is very difficult to reach a standard method of PR management across all countries.
Most Asian countries are non english speaking and so it is also an obstacle for PR. If an MNC employs a PR practioner to handle all campaigns in Asia, that practioner must be proficient in several main Asian language, and he or she must understand the different cultures each race and ethnic group have in order to fully reach out to these people.
But who is that proficient?
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
New Media and Public Relations
The use of new media.
New media refers to media from the Internet, and not your conventional media from TV or Newspapers. But just how great is the use of Internet in Singapore, regional countries and the World?
According to http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
In year 2009,
Singapore has 72.4% of her population, at an estimated figure of 3,370,000, that are Internet users. The amount of users have increased by 180.8% from year 2000.
Malaysia has 65.7% of her population that are Internet users. The amount of users have increased by 356.8 % from year 2000.
Thailand has 24.4% of her population that are Internet users. The amount of users have increased by 600.00% from year 2000.
In the World,
25.6% of the world's population are Internet users. The amount of users have increased by 380.3% from year 2000.
With these statistics, you can see that New media can penetrate through the population just as much as old media. New media may not have as many users as old media, but the growth and potential for it is amazing. Therefore many companies are turning into online advertising to try and get their share of the Internet "pie" which the potential market could be very huge.
New media refers to media from the Internet, and not your conventional media from TV or Newspapers. But just how great is the use of Internet in Singapore, regional countries and the World?
According to http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
In year 2009,
Singapore has 72.4% of her population, at an estimated figure of 3,370,000, that are Internet users. The amount of users have increased by 180.8% from year 2000.
Malaysia has 65.7% of her population that are Internet users. The amount of users have increased by 356.8 % from year 2000.
Thailand has 24.4% of her population that are Internet users. The amount of users have increased by 600.00% from year 2000.
In the World,
25.6% of the world's population are Internet users. The amount of users have increased by 380.3% from year 2000.
With these statistics, you can see that New media can penetrate through the population just as much as old media. New media may not have as many users as old media, but the growth and potential for it is amazing. Therefore many companies are turning into online advertising to try and get their share of the Internet "pie" which the potential market could be very huge.
Week 8
Corporate Social Responsibility
Why is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) becoming such a major concern for many people?
First of all what is CSR? In my understanding, it is doing business in an ethical and moral way, or a code of conduct for companies. Companies with CSR have the responsibility to the society.
What are the pros and cons of a CSR company/organisation?
Advantage
- Better company/organisation image.
- Distinguish themselves from rivals.
- Good reputation and strong position in the market.
- Builds good rapport with the government and NGOs.
- Decrease spending on risk management.
Disadvantage
- Potential conflict of interest with the company/organisation.
- Company/organisation may lack of resources to manage social programs.
- Primary objective of the business is to actually make money and not participate in so many stuff.
So is CSR important? Judge it yourself =)
Why is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) becoming such a major concern for many people?
First of all what is CSR? In my understanding, it is doing business in an ethical and moral way, or a code of conduct for companies. Companies with CSR have the responsibility to the society.
What are the pros and cons of a CSR company/organisation?
Advantage
- Better company/organisation image.
- Distinguish themselves from rivals.
- Good reputation and strong position in the market.
- Builds good rapport with the government and NGOs.
- Decrease spending on risk management.
Disadvantage
- Potential conflict of interest with the company/organisation.
- Company/organisation may lack of resources to manage social programs.
- Primary objective of the business is to actually make money and not participate in so many stuff.
So is CSR important? Judge it yourself =)
Friday, March 12, 2010
Public Relations Management in Organisations
In week 7's readings,
"Early systems theory (von Bertalanffy, 1968) suggested that an organisation and its environment were separated by a boundary through which information and resources flowed. Spanning this boundary was seen as a critical role for public relations professionals, who would provide information to the environment about the organisation and bring information about the environment back to the organisational decision makers. The practitioner monitored the boundary on an ongoing basis, with 'one foot in the organisation and one foot outside' (Grunig and Hunt, 1984:9)."
Perhaps without the PR practioner, organisations still are able to explore this 'boundary' if they would spend more resources to go into this area of exploration and research. I guess people saw this and expanded this area, which could potentially attract organisations that are not willing to spend a great deal of resources to explore this area.
So am I right to say, PR practioners are not needed at all?
"Early systems theory (von Bertalanffy, 1968) suggested that an organisation and its environment were separated by a boundary through which information and resources flowed. Spanning this boundary was seen as a critical role for public relations professionals, who would provide information to the environment about the organisation and bring information about the environment back to the organisational decision makers. The practitioner monitored the boundary on an ongoing basis, with 'one foot in the organisation and one foot outside' (Grunig and Hunt, 1984:9)."
Perhaps without the PR practioner, organisations still are able to explore this 'boundary' if they would spend more resources to go into this area of exploration and research. I guess people saw this and expanded this area, which could potentially attract organisations that are not willing to spend a great deal of resources to explore this area.
So am I right to say, PR practioners are not needed at all?
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Practice and strategy
Our actions are guided by our values
How true is it? Yes we all come from different backgrounds, with different cultural brought up. With all these differences in our upbringing, it is sure that we are all very different from each other.
Values are not only just our behaviour, but also our point of view towards different issues. For example take this issue - prematrial sex. Some may feel that since its a very open society, it is alright to have prematrial sex. Some may feel it is a definite No for them due to their religious/cultural values. This shows that our actions are indeed guided by our values.
Developing Public Relations Strategy
In week 6's readings, author has written that there are steps to follow in preparing, implementing and evaluating a strategic public relations plan. These steps are
- research
- analysis
- goal setting
- setting objectives
- identifying audiences
- developing strategies
- devising and implementing tactics
- monitoring
- evaluation
Are all these steps necessary? Research and analysis is somehow the same? I guess it varies between different types of PR campaign
How true is it? Yes we all come from different backgrounds, with different cultural brought up. With all these differences in our upbringing, it is sure that we are all very different from each other.
Values are not only just our behaviour, but also our point of view towards different issues. For example take this issue - prematrial sex. Some may feel that since its a very open society, it is alright to have prematrial sex. Some may feel it is a definite No for them due to their religious/cultural values. This shows that our actions are indeed guided by our values.
Developing Public Relations Strategy
In week 6's readings, author has written that there are steps to follow in preparing, implementing and evaluating a strategic public relations plan. These steps are
- research
- analysis
- goal setting
- setting objectives
- identifying audiences
- developing strategies
- devising and implementing tactics
- monitoring
- evaluation
Are all these steps necessary? Research and analysis is somehow the same? I guess it varies between different types of PR campaign
Engaging with the Media
Media relations work usually comes in 2 forms - Controlled and Uncontrolled Communication.
Controlled communications are like an annual report, a billboard, publicity brochure etc. that is produced and published by the company or organisation itself.
Uncontrolled Communications are like blogs and newspaper reports.
Both have their advantages and disadvantages.
Controlled media are often published by the company/organisation itself. With this they can control what to publish, what they want people to know and how they want people to feel about it. This is both an advantage and disadvantage to them. Advantage is that they would not publish something that may destroy their reputation. But the disadvantage is that people may not 100% believe in the publishing as it is all one-sided.
On the other hand, Uncontrolled media has all the advantages to the readers and general public but may not be good for the company. People tend to believe more from the uncontrolled media as it is written by another person that is outside of the company. But the company cannot control these media and therefore if there are negative news about them, it would deal considerably amount of damage to their reputation.
Controlled communications are like an annual report, a billboard, publicity brochure etc. that is produced and published by the company or organisation itself.
Uncontrolled Communications are like blogs and newspaper reports.
Both have their advantages and disadvantages.
Controlled media are often published by the company/organisation itself. With this they can control what to publish, what they want people to know and how they want people to feel about it. This is both an advantage and disadvantage to them. Advantage is that they would not publish something that may destroy their reputation. But the disadvantage is that people may not 100% believe in the publishing as it is all one-sided.
On the other hand, Uncontrolled media has all the advantages to the readers and general public but may not be good for the company. People tend to believe more from the uncontrolled media as it is written by another person that is outside of the company. But the company cannot control these media and therefore if there are negative news about them, it would deal considerably amount of damage to their reputation.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Public Relations Research
Research, is something I think most of us use it everyday. When you want to buy a bag, you research on where can you find the cheapest, or nicest one. When you want to write an essay, you research on academic articles to help you form an idea of what you want to write.
PR practioners do their research also. Without research, their campaign may be targetted at the wrong audiences, or worst, send out a wrong message which could result in adverse effects. Therefore research is very important for a PR practioner.
Research can take in many forms. Surveys, questionaires, focus groups etc. But they can be categorized into Quantitative and Qualitative analysis/research.
Quantitative usually comes in forms of surveys and questionaires and are often close ended questions. It is useful if infomation needs to come in large numbers as surveys are easier for people to fill up. Disadvantages is that you cannot get any more information outside the questions you ask.
Qualitative comes in forms like focus groups. You can get much more information from the participants as compared to surveys. But the disadvantage is that there is only that limited amount of people taking part each time and it is very time consuming.
Therefore PR practioners will need to choose the kind of analysis/research they want to do to suit what they want to find out, to make the best decisions for their clients for their campaign.
PR practioners do their research also. Without research, their campaign may be targetted at the wrong audiences, or worst, send out a wrong message which could result in adverse effects. Therefore research is very important for a PR practioner.
Research can take in many forms. Surveys, questionaires, focus groups etc. But they can be categorized into Quantitative and Qualitative analysis/research.
Quantitative usually comes in forms of surveys and questionaires and are often close ended questions. It is useful if infomation needs to come in large numbers as surveys are easier for people to fill up. Disadvantages is that you cannot get any more information outside the questions you ask.
Qualitative comes in forms like focus groups. You can get much more information from the participants as compared to surveys. But the disadvantage is that there is only that limited amount of people taking part each time and it is very time consuming.
Therefore PR practioners will need to choose the kind of analysis/research they want to do to suit what they want to find out, to make the best decisions for their clients for their campaign.
Public Relations Ethics
Yes right now we roughly know what is PR and what does it do and stuff. But are there ethics in PR?
What is ethics? In week 4's readings, author Elspeth Tilley described ethics as "about standards of behaviour, specifically, concern for 'good' behaviour and consideration of how our behaviour, as an individual or an organisation, affects the wellbeing of others or society as a whole."
Simply it means how our behaviour, morals and values affect the whole thing.
Is it important to have ethics in PR? Definitely. Without ethics, people may not agree or even feel disgusted at your campaign or message, therefore unable to garner their support. There are many examples of unethical issues such as when Coca-Cola company created an unaffiliated grassroots webpage and discussion which later people found out to be a form of advertisement for Coke Zero. This led to the company being ridiculed by bloggers and the mass public.
There are many are examples as well. But this should show that a PR practioner should be ethical in whatever campaign he/she does.
Is it easy to be ethical? Michael Josephson argues that there are 10 values which are important to help. The 10 values are honesty, integrity, keeping promises, fidelity, fairness, caring for others, respect for others, responsible citizenship, pursuit of excellence and accountability.
Of course it may be easy to label and write these values out. But how hard would it be to follow them? We are humans afterall, with so many worldly temptations out there, how hard must we restrain ourselves to fulfil these values?
What is ethics? In week 4's readings, author Elspeth Tilley described ethics as "about standards of behaviour, specifically, concern for 'good' behaviour and consideration of how our behaviour, as an individual or an organisation, affects the wellbeing of others or society as a whole."
Simply it means how our behaviour, morals and values affect the whole thing.
Is it important to have ethics in PR? Definitely. Without ethics, people may not agree or even feel disgusted at your campaign or message, therefore unable to garner their support. There are many examples of unethical issues such as when Coca-Cola company created an unaffiliated grassroots webpage and discussion which later people found out to be a form of advertisement for Coke Zero. This led to the company being ridiculed by bloggers and the mass public.
There are many are examples as well. But this should show that a PR practioner should be ethical in whatever campaign he/she does.
Is it easy to be ethical? Michael Josephson argues that there are 10 values which are important to help. The 10 values are honesty, integrity, keeping promises, fidelity, fairness, caring for others, respect for others, responsible citizenship, pursuit of excellence and accountability.
Of course it may be easy to label and write these values out. But how hard would it be to follow them? We are humans afterall, with so many worldly temptations out there, how hard must we restrain ourselves to fulfil these values?
Sunday, March 7, 2010
OCD services and analysis
This is somehow a new thing for me. I have never come across such a service. But I would feel that this professional organizer is somehow like a glorified term for domestic helpers. Yes neat and tidy is different from being organized. But if it is neat and tidy, finding your things would be much easier? Therefore in my own humble opinion, being organized is almost the same as being neat and tidy.
Something to learn from OCD services is the publicity area. Not a single cent is spent on advertising. Great way of advertising and getting people to know about this service that is available to them. But the down side is that your PR/media release may or may not be selected by journalists and could take you quite some time to get them to post it up. But the effect is much better compared to advertising as people would tend to trust what journalist writes compared to advertisements. Perhaps when I have a business or service I would use this method as my advertising.
Something to learn from OCD services is the publicity area. Not a single cent is spent on advertising. Great way of advertising and getting people to know about this service that is available to them. But the down side is that your PR/media release may or may not be selected by journalists and could take you quite some time to get them to post it up. But the effect is much better compared to advertising as people would tend to trust what journalist writes compared to advertisements. Perhaps when I have a business or service I would use this method as my advertising.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Interesting facts and figures...
The Internet represents the quickest proliferation of visual messages in the history of the planet.
- It took 37yrs for radio to penetrate 15million homes in the US, while the Web reached that point within four years.
Consumers are exposed to over 3000 marketing messages a day.
94% of websites most popular with children and teens include marketing materials.
The most understood word, no matter where you go in the world is OK. The second is Coke.
- 1.2billion times a day, someone reaches for one.
Sao Paulo, 4th largest metropolis in the world, used to have 13,000 billboards.
- In 2007, Sao Paulo completely outlawed billboard advertising.
- 70% approval rating from the citizens.
The largest threats to our planet today are rooted in overconsumption.
Humans consuming too much stuff are causing us to tear at the earth, upset the oceans, melt the poles and litter our sky.
The most powerful weapon we’ve invented to convince new markets to consume more stuff is brand advertising.
Most North Americans can only identify 10 plants, but can recognize 1,000 corporate brands.
Growth in global ad spending outpaces the growth of the world economy by one-third.
1995 Michael Jordan – world’s most successful superbrand, retire from Chicago Bulls to pursue dreams of becoming a baseball major-leaguer.
- In the 11 days between when the rumors began and MJ press conference, the
total market capitalization (total shares x price of one share) of MJ top 5 endorsers
(McDonalds, Sara Lee, Nike, General Mills and Quaker) rose by $3.8billion.
- Worth of knowing the change in MJs career – over 50 cents for each human being on Earth.
Tell me and I’ll forget
Show me and I may remember.
Involve me and I’ll understand
Confucius, Chinese philosopher
- It took 37yrs for radio to penetrate 15million homes in the US, while the Web reached that point within four years.
Consumers are exposed to over 3000 marketing messages a day.
94% of websites most popular with children and teens include marketing materials.
The most understood word, no matter where you go in the world is OK. The second is Coke.
- 1.2billion times a day, someone reaches for one.
Sao Paulo, 4th largest metropolis in the world, used to have 13,000 billboards.
- In 2007, Sao Paulo completely outlawed billboard advertising.
- 70% approval rating from the citizens.
The largest threats to our planet today are rooted in overconsumption.
Humans consuming too much stuff are causing us to tear at the earth, upset the oceans, melt the poles and litter our sky.
The most powerful weapon we’ve invented to convince new markets to consume more stuff is brand advertising.
Most North Americans can only identify 10 plants, but can recognize 1,000 corporate brands.
Growth in global ad spending outpaces the growth of the world economy by one-third.
1995 Michael Jordan – world’s most successful superbrand, retire from Chicago Bulls to pursue dreams of becoming a baseball major-leaguer.
- In the 11 days between when the rumors began and MJ press conference, the
total market capitalization (total shares x price of one share) of MJ top 5 endorsers
(McDonalds, Sara Lee, Nike, General Mills and Quaker) rose by $3.8billion.
- Worth of knowing the change in MJs career – over 50 cents for each human being on Earth.
Tell me and I’ll forget
Show me and I may remember.
Involve me and I’ll understand
Confucius, Chinese philosopher
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Media Relations
Media Relations
Sub Field of Public Relations
Types of Tactics applied in Media Relations
Written - split into uncontrolled (news release, feature stories) and controlled (pamphlets, brochures)
Spoken - interviews, speeches
Acted - conference, demonstrations, factory tours and launches
Imagined - pictures, videos, music, concerts
Differences between Journalist and PR
Journalists uses PR people as sources, free to use other sources as well
PR people are obliged to interpret and find an angle from materials from client, find a suitable angle and direct to the media.
Tips for creating new relationships with Journalists
- always respond to media enquires ASAP
- never promise anything you cannot deliver
- always over deliver, go beyond what media expects
- always deliver on time
- maintain relationship with regular contact
- pitch stories you know will interest the medium
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Is it possible to frame a feature story into some sort of a news story to allow more publicity for the product/company you're working for?
Shouldn't journalist also try to maintain a good relationship with the PR people, so that they "may get beneficial stuff" and good stories to feature?
Wouldn't being a journalist feel much better? haha
---------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub Field of Public Relations
Types of Tactics applied in Media Relations
Written - split into uncontrolled (news release, feature stories) and controlled (pamphlets, brochures)
Spoken - interviews, speeches
Acted - conference, demonstrations, factory tours and launches
Imagined - pictures, videos, music, concerts
Differences between Journalist and PR
Journalists uses PR people as sources, free to use other sources as well
PR people are obliged to interpret and find an angle from materials from client, find a suitable angle and direct to the media.
Tips for creating new relationships with Journalists
- always respond to media enquires ASAP
- never promise anything you cannot deliver
- always over deliver, go beyond what media expects
- always deliver on time
- maintain relationship with regular contact
- pitch stories you know will interest the medium
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Is it possible to frame a feature story into some sort of a news story to allow more publicity for the product/company you're working for?
Shouldn't journalist also try to maintain a good relationship with the PR people, so that they "may get beneficial stuff" and good stories to feature?
Wouldn't being a journalist feel much better? haha
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Strategy, Tactics, Evaluation blah3
Recap
PR - Free, 3 times more effective compared to advertisements.
Strategy - plan or method by which you are going to achieve a specific goal in a competitive environment.
Research is the key to developing good strategy.
Objectives should be SMART - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-orientated and include a Time-frame.
----------------------------------------
We are still at the very tip of the iceberg with regards to this module. Today's lecture was a little dry, too much information, too little time with too little brain capacity to store and remember. From what I can vaguely remember, slides were talking mainly about strategy at first.
Research is the key to help develop a good strategy through analyzing the results obtained from the research. But wouldn't you need a strategy to develop a research plan?
The thing about objectives (SMART), I find it true to a certain extent.
An objective which is not specific and measurable, it would be very difficult to work towards to achieve that objective. If objective is not achievable and set within a time-frame, people working towards it may lose hope and may drag everything if its not within reach.
But the thing about being results-orientated is that it only sees results and may not take into consideration the amount of effort the people put into for this particular goal. This SMART thing, in my humble opinion, should be use solely as a guideline and not a Bible to everything
PR - Free, 3 times more effective compared to advertisements.
Strategy - plan or method by which you are going to achieve a specific goal in a competitive environment.
Research is the key to developing good strategy.
Objectives should be SMART - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-orientated and include a Time-frame.
----------------------------------------
We are still at the very tip of the iceberg with regards to this module. Today's lecture was a little dry, too much information, too little time with too little brain capacity to store and remember. From what I can vaguely remember, slides were talking mainly about strategy at first.
Research is the key to help develop a good strategy through analyzing the results obtained from the research. But wouldn't you need a strategy to develop a research plan?
The thing about objectives (SMART), I find it true to a certain extent.
An objective which is not specific and measurable, it would be very difficult to work towards to achieve that objective. If objective is not achievable and set within a time-frame, people working towards it may lose hope and may drag everything if its not within reach.
But the thing about being results-orientated is that it only sees results and may not take into consideration the amount of effort the people put into for this particular goal. This SMART thing, in my humble opinion, should be use solely as a guideline and not a Bible to everything
Monday, January 18, 2010
What is this all about?
Well, I am not very sure why I chose this course but the Public Relations modules is one of the modules I'm quite interested in. Well, PR this term is pretty vague and almost every sector of all industries will need some sort of PR thing.
After the first lecture, I kinda got the rough idea on what PR is. But of course as time goes by. I would know if it is still interesting for me or not hehe...
After the first lecture, I kinda got the rough idea on what PR is. But of course as time goes by. I would know if it is still interesting for me or not hehe...
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