Download A Changing Focus in PR

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PR
Communication
Interpersonal Communication
Intrapersonal Communication
Source
Receiver
Send
Transfer
Code
Channel
Noise
Conflict
Management
Human Resource Management
Customer Relations Management
oOrganization/corporation/
factory/institude
o Employee
o Manager/supervisor/director
o Target audience
o Public sector
o Private sector
o Service sector
o Perception
o Image
o Reputation
o One-way communication
o Two-way communication
o Publicity
o Marketing
o Advertising
What is Public Relations?
 The challenge of PR
 Definitions of PR
 PR as a process
 The components of PR
 How PR differs from journalism, advertising and
marketing
 The integrating approach
 A case- study
The Challenge of PR
 The challenge of PR is multifaceted.


A PR professional must have skills in
written and interpersonel communication,
research, negotiation, creativity, logistics,
faciliation and problem solving.
Those who want a challenging career with
plenty of variety often choose the field of
PR.
The Challenge of PR
 The
U.S. Bureau of labor statistics
estimates that the field already employs
200,000 nationwide, with PR as one of the
fastest- growing industries through 2006.
In addition, a Fortune magazine survey
ranks PR no: 8 on a list of “where the best
jobs will be.”
Globe Scobe

It is difficult to estimate worldwide
figures, but a directory of PR
organizations, lists 155 national and
regional PR associations with an
aggregate membership of 137.000
people.
 Large numbers of students around the
world are studing PR as a carrier field. In
the US more than 250 colleges and
universities offer programs in PR and about
80 European universities offer studies in
the subject. Many Asian universities,
particularly in Thailand , also offer PR
curricula.
 In the terms of economics, the PR field is most
extensively developed in U.S., where organizations
spend an estimated $10billion annualy in such on
PR. This figure continues to increase through
implementation of the European communiniy and
the development of market economies in Eastern
Europe and the new nations of the former Soviet
Union.

The second area of major growth is Asia. Especially
this growth is seen in Malaysia, Korea, Thailand,
Singapore, Indonesia and China. Also there is a
fuelling major growth in Latin America and
Southern Africa.
 In sum, PR is a global activity with excellent

prospects for growth.
The challenge is to define and practice PR in
such a way that it fosters greater
understanding and hormonious relationships
among nations and organizations public
interest.
A Variety of Definitions
 People often define PR by some of its most visible
techniques and tactics, such as publicity in a
newspaper,
a
television
interview
with
an
organization’s spokesperson or the appearance of a
celebrity at a special event.
 What people fail to understand is that public
relations is a process involving many subtle and farreaching aspects. It includes research and analysis,
policy formation, programing, communication and
feed back from numerous publics. PR practitioners
operate on two distinct levels as advisers to their
clients or to an organization’s top management and
as technicians who produce and disseminate
messages in multiple media channels.
 A number of definitions have been formulated over
the years. One of the early definitions that gained
wide acceptance was:

PR is the management function which evaluates
public attitudes, identifies the policies and
procedures of an individual or an organization with
the public interest and plans and executes a
program of action to earn public understanding and
patience.

Rex Harlow, a pioneer PR educator
who founded what eventually
became the Public Relations Society
of America (PRSA), once compiled
more than 500 definitions from
almost as many sources.
 After mulling over them and talking with leaders in
the field, Harlow came up with this definition:

“PR is a distinctive management function which helps
establish and maintain mutual lines of communication,
understanding, acceptance and cooporation between an
organization and its publics; involves the management of
problems and issues; helps management keep informed
on and responsive to public opinion; defines and
emphasizes the responsibility of management to serve the
public interst; helps management keep abreast of and
affectively utilize change, serving as an early warning
system to help anticipate trends; and uses research and
sound ethical communication techniques as its principal
tools.”
Scott M. Cutlip, Allen H. Center
and Glen M. Broom define PR

It is the management function that
idenifies, establishes and maintains
mutually beneficial relationships
between an organization and the
various publics on whom its success
or failure depends.
James E. Gruning and Todd Hunt

They state that PR is the
management of communication
between an organization and its
publics.
Professors Lawrence W. Long and
Vincent Hazelton define PR as:

A communication function of
management through which
organizations adapt to, alter or
maintain their environment for the
purpose achieving organizational
goals.
 National

and
international
PR
organizations, including the PRSA also
formulated definitions:
“PR is the delibrate, planned and
sustained effort to establish and maintain
mutual
understanding
between
an
organization and its publics.”
 The
approach of the two professors
represents the somewhat newer theory that
PR is more than persuasion. It should also
foster open, two way communication and
mutual understanding with the idea than an
organization also changes its attidutes and
behaviors in the process- not just the
target audince.
 National and international organizations,
including PRSA also formulated definitions:

“PR is the delibrate, planned and sustained
effort to establish and maintain mutual
understanding between organization and its
publics.”
Other definitions
 PR is the management, through communication of
perceptions and strategic relationships between an
organization and its internal and external
stakeholders.

PR is the sustained and systematic managerial
effort
through
which
private
and
public
organizations seek to establish understending,
sympathy and support in those public circles with
which they have or expect to obtain contact.
 PR practice is the art and social science of
analyzing
trends,
predicting
their
consequences,
counseling
organization
leaders
and
implementing
planned
programs of action which serve both the
organization’s and the public’s interest.
A European View of PR

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Creating and reinforcing trust,
comprehension and sempathy
Arousing attention, interest and needs
Creating and preserving communication
and relationship
Articulating, representing and adjusting
interests
Influencing public opinion
Resolving conflicts
Creating consensus
The key words to remember in
defining PR fallow:
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Delibrate
Planned
Performance
Public interest
Two-way communication
Management function
Delibrate and Planned


PR activity is intentional. It is designed to
influence, gain understanding, provide
information and obtain feed back.
PR activity is organized. Solutions to
problems are discovered and logistics are
thought out, with the activity taking place
over a period of time. It is systematic,
requiring research and analysis.
Performance
 Effective PR is based on actual policies and
performance. No amount of PR will generate good
will and support if the organization is unresponsive
to community concerns. A passific Northwest timber
company, despite a compaign with the theme “ for
us, every day is Earth day”, became known as the
villain of Washington State because of its insistence
on logging old growth forests and bulldozing a
logging road into a prime elk habitat.
Public Interest
 PR activity should be mutually beneficial to the
organization and the public; it is the allignment of
the organization’s self interests with the public’s
concerns and interests. For example; the mobil
corporation sponsors quality programming on public
television because it enhances the company’s
image; by the same token, the public benefits from
the availability of such programming.
Two-way Communication and
Management Function
 PR is more than one-way dissemination of
informational materials. It is equally important to
solicit feedback.

PR is most effective when it is an integral part of
decision making by top management. PR involves
counseling and problem solving at high levels, not
just the dissemination of information after a decision
has been made.
PR as a Process
 PR is a process that is, a series of actions, changes
or functions that bring about a result. One popular
way to describe the process and to remember its
compenents, is to use the RACE acronym that is first
articulated by John Marston. RACE means that PR
activity consists of 4 key element:

Research. What is the problem or situation?

Action (program planning). What is going to be
done about it?
 Communication (execution). How will the public be
told?

Evaluation. Was the audience reached and what
was the effect?
 Another approach is to think of the process as a
never ending cycle in which 6 components are links
in the chain:

PR personnel obtain insights into the problem from
numerous resources.

PR personnel analyze these inputs and make
recommendations to management.

Management makes policy and action decisions.

PR personnel execute a program of action.

PR personnel evaluate the effectiveness of the
action.

PR personnel makes the adjustments again to the
master plan or changes the goals.


Through out this process the PR practitioner utilizes
a variety of proffessional communication skills and
plays an integrative role both within the organization
and between the organization and the external
environment.
They are the linking agents or boundary spanners.
The compenents of PR
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Counselling: Providing advice to management
concerning policies, relationships and communications
Research: Determining attitudes and behaviors of
publics in order to plan PR strategies.
Media relations: Working with mass media in seeking
publicty or responding to their interests in the
organization.
Publicity: Disseminating planned massages through
selected media to further the organization’s interests.
Employee/member relations: Responding to
concerns, informing and motivating an organization’s
employees or members.

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

Community relations: Planned activity with a
community to maintain an environment that benefits
both the organization and the community.
Public affairs: Developing effective involvement in
public policy and helping an organization adapt to
public expectations.
Government affairs: Relating directly with
legislatures and regulatory agencies on behalf of the
organization. Lobbying can be pariof a government
affairs program.
Issues management: Identifying and adressing
issues of public concern that affect the organization.



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Financial relations: creating and maintaining
investor confidence and building good relationships
with the financial community. Also known as investor
relations or shareholder relations.
Industry relations: relating with other firms in the
industry of an organization and with trade
associations.
Development/fund-raising: demonstrating the
need for and encouraging the public to support an
organization, primarily through financial
contributions.
Multicultural relations/workplace diversity.
Relating with individuals and groups in various
cultural groups.



Social events: Stimulating a interest in a person,
product or organization by means of a focused
“happining”; also activities designed to interact with
publics and listen to them.
Marketing communications: Combination of
activities designed to sell a product, service or idea,
including advertising, collateral materials, publicity,
promotion, direct mail, trade shows and special
events.
These components and how they function are
subjects you will learn all through your university
courses.
How PR differs from journalism
 Writing is a common activity of both PR
professionals and journalists. Both also do their jobs
in many of the same ways:

They interview people, gather and synthenize large
amounts of information, write in a journalisticstyle
and are tained to produce good copy on deadline. In
fact, many reporters eventually change careers and
become PR practitioners.
Journalism& PR
 Scope. PR, has many components, ranging from
counselling to issues management and special
events.

Journalistic writing and media relations, altough
important are only two of these elements. In
addition, effective practiceof PR requires strategic
thinking, problem-solving capability and other
management skills.
Journalism& PR
 Objectives:
Journalists
gather
and
select
information for the primary purpose of providing the
public with news and information. PR personnel also
gather facts and information for the purpose of
informing the public but the objective is different.

Communication activity is only a means to the end.
In other words, the objective is not only to inform
but to change people’s attitudes and behaviors, in
order to further an organization’s goals and
objectives.

Whereas journalists are objective observes, PR
personnels are advocates.
Journalism& PR
 Audiences: journalists write primarily for a mass
audience- readers, listeners or viewers of the
medium for which they work. By definition, mass
audience are not well defined and a journalists on a
daily newspaper, for example, writes for the general
public.

A PR professiona, in contrast, carefully segments
audiences
into
various
demographic
and
psychological characteristics. Such research allows
massages to be tailored to audience needs.,
concerns and interests for maximum effect.
Journalism& PR

Channels: Most journalists, by nature of their
employments,
reach
audiences
through
one
channel- the medium that the publishes or
broadcasts their work. PR professionals use a variety
of channels to reach the audiences previously
described. The channels employed may be a
combination of mass media outlets-newspapers,
magazines, radio and television. Or they may
include direct mail, pamphlets, posters, newsletters,
trade journals, special events and posting massages
on the internet.
Advertising &PR
 Just as many people mistakenly equate publicity
with PR, there is also some confusion about the
distinction between publicity (one are of public
relations) and advertising.

Altough publicity and advertising both utilize mass
media for dissemination of massages, the format
and context are different. Publicity information about
an event, an individual or group or a product
appears as a news item or feature story in the mass
media. Material is prepared by PR personnel and
submitted to the news department for consideration.

Editors, known as gatekeepers, determine whether
the material will be used or simply thrown away.
Advertising &PR
 Advrtising, in contrast, is paid space and
broadcast time. Organizations and individuals
typically contract with the advertising
department of mass media outlet for a full
page ad or a one minute commercial. An
organization writes the advertisement,
decides the type and graphics and controls
where and when the advertisement will be
run.
Advertising &PR

In other words, advertising is simply
renting space in mass medium.the
lion’s share of revenue for all mass
media comes from the selling of
advertising space.
Advertising &PR
Differances between PR activities and
advertising include:
 Advertising works almost exclusively through

mass media outles; PR relies on a number of
communication tools –brochures, slide
presentations, special events, speeches, news
releases, feature stories and so forth.
Advertising is addressed to external audiencesprimarily consumers of goods and services; PR
presents its massage to specialized external
audiences (stockholders, vendors, community
leaders, enviromental groups and so on) and
internal public (employees).
Advertising &PR
Other differances between PR activities and
advertising:


Advertising is readily identified as a specialized
communication function; PR is broader in scope,
dealing with the policies and performance of the
entire organization, from the moral of employees
to the way telephone operators respond to calls.
Advertising is often used as a communication tool
in PR activity often supports advertising
campaigns. Advertising function is to sell goods
and services; the PR function is to create an
enviroment in which the organization can thrive.
The latter calls for dailing with economic, social
and political factors that can affect the
organization.
Advertising &PR
Other differances between PR activities and
advertising:

The major disadvantage of advertising, of
course, is the cost. An example from U.S.;
Typically, a full page ad in a Parade magazine,
distributed weekly in almost 359 dailies, costs
$421.000. Advertising campaigns on network TV
can run into the millions of dolars. For example
advertisers paid an average of $2.3 millian for a
super bowl ad in 2002. Because of this,
campanies are increasingly using a tool of PR product publicity–that is more cost effective and
often more credible because the message
appears in a news context.
Marketing &PR


PR is distinct from marketing in several
ways, altough their boundaries often
overlap.
The functions of overlap, for example,
because both deal with an organization’s
relationships
and
employ
similar
communication tools to reach the public.
Both have the ultimate purpose of assuring
an organiation’s success and economic
survival. PR and marketing, however
approach this task from somewhat different
perspectives or worldviews.
Marketing &PR
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
PR is the management process whose goal is to
attain and maintain accord and positive behaviors
among social groupings on which an organization
depends in order to achieve its missions.Its
fundamental responsibility is to build and maintain a
hospitable environment for an organization.
On the other hand, marketing is the management
process whose goal is to attract and maintain satisfy
customers on a long-term basis in order to achieve
an
organization’s
economic
objectives.
Its
fundamental responsibility is to build and maintain
markets for an organization’s products or services.
Marketing &PR

In other words, PR is concerned with
building relationships and generating
goodwill for the organization; marketing
is concerned with customers and selling
products and services.
How PR Supports Marketing

Philip Kotler, professor of marketing, says PR is
the fifth “P” of marketing strateg, which includes
four other Ps –pruduct, price, place and
promotion. As he wrote, “PR takes longer to
cultivate, but when energized, it can help pull
the company into the market.”
How PR Supports Marketing


When PR is used to support directly an
organization marketing objectives, it is called
marketing communications. This was idendified
as a compenent of PR. Another term, coined by
Thomas Harries, marketing PR. He says:
“I make clear distinction between those PR
functions which support marketing, which I call
Marketing PR (MPR) and the other PR activities
that define the corporation’s relationships with
its non-customer publics, which I label corporate
PR (CPR)”
How PR Supports Marketing

Dennis L. Wilcox, lists 8 ways in which PR
activities contribute to fulfilling marketing
objectives:
1- Developing new prospects for new markets,
such as people who inquire after seeing of
hearing a product release in the news media.
2- Providing third-party endorsements – via
newspapers, magazines, radio and TV- Through
news releases about a company’s products or
services, community, community involvement,
inventions and new plans.
3- Generating sales
leads, usually through
articles in the trade press about new products
and services.
4- Paving the way for sales calls.
How PR Supports Marketing
5- Stretching the organization’s advertising and
promotional
dollars
through
timely
and
supportive releases about it and its products.
6- Providing inexpensive sales literature, because
articles about the company and its products can
be reprinted as informative pieces for
prospective customers.
7- Establishing the corporation as an authorative
source of information on a given product.
8- Helping to sell minor products that don’t have
large advertising budgets.
Harris Summarizes

In its market- support function, PR is used to
achieve a number of objectives. The most
important of these are to raise awareness, to
inform and educate, to gain understanding, to
build trust, to make friends, to give people
reasons to buy and finally to create a climate of
consumer acceptance.
Toward an Integrated Perspective


Altough well defined differences exist among
the fields of advertising, marketing and PR,
there is an incereasing realization that an
organization’s goals and objectives can be best
accomplished through an intagrated approach.
The understanding gave rise in the 1990s to
such
terms
as
intagrated
marketing
communications, convergent communications
and integrated communications.
Integrated Marketing
Communications

A concept of marketing communication
planning that recognizes the added value
of a comprehensive plan that evaluates
the strategic roles of a variety of
communication disciplines -e.g., general
advertising,
direct
response,
sales
promotion and PR- and combines these
disciplines to provide clarity, consistency
and maximum communication impact.
Integrated Marketing
Communications


The concept of integration, is the realization that
an organization’s communications should be
consistent. As Michael Lissauer says: “ Its
essential that there be a consistency of message,
that the communication effort project a singular
voice. Business must deliver the right message in
the right medium to elicit the right result.”
This concept is less controversial than its
implementation.
It
makes
sense
for
an
organization to coordinate its communications
strategies, but considerable discord arises on
exactly how to accomplish this.
Integrated Marketing
Communications

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In many organizations, marketing is the
dominant voice. PR has historically been
relegated to a marketing-support function,
concentrating on techniques instead of
strategy. This role often includes creating
product publicity, planning promotions and
arrenging media interviews at a trade
show.
Problems also arise when advertising
agencies
attempt
to
do
integrated
programs. In many cases, 90% of the
budget is spent on advertising and 10% or
less on PR.


Such
examples
make
many
PR
professionals
wary
of
integrated
communications. They see it is a veiled
attempt by marketing or advertising to
reduce PR to a product –publicity function.
Thus, many PR practitioners prefer to
remain in separate departments and
coordinate, not integrate, with other
functions such as advertising, direct mail
and marketing.
 All disciplines deserve an equal voice at
the table when an organization considers
its
communication
objectives
and
strategies.
The Values of PR
 We have placed PR within the context of
definitions, activities and process. We also
attempted to explain how PR differs from
journalism, advertising and marketing. And
finally, we have discussed the concept of an
organization coordinating all its various
communications to achieve maximum
effectiveness.
 More than ever, today the world needs not
more
information
but
sensitive
communicators and facilitators who can
explain the goals and methods of
individuals, organizations and government
to others in a socially responsible manner.
Equally, these experts in communication
and public opinion must provide their
employers with knowledge of what others
are thinking, to guide them in setting their
policies wisely for the common good.
6 THE LESSON
THE INDIVIDUAL IN PR
The objective of this lecture is to
gain personal perspective on PR
work (how the individual fits into PR
practice and the rewards and
challenges for a practitioner).
The PR Role
 A
person entering PR may develop a
career in numerous areas of this
increasingly diverse field. Similarly, the
variety of personal traits and skills that
bring success wide.

While certain abilities are basic for all,
such as writing well, PR practitioners, as
their experience grows, may develop social
skills and find personally gratifying niches.
A Changing Focus in PR
 Traditionally, it was widely held that PR
practitioners should if possible have
experience as reporters, to polish their
writing skills and to learn firsthand how the
media function. In an earlier era, a large
percentage of PR people did have
newspaper or broadcast experience. This is
no longer true for several reasons,
however.
A Changing Focus in PR
 The field of PR has broadened far beyond
working with the mass media. Much writing
today is PR is done for controlled media
such as company publications, direct mail
campaigns
to
key
audiences
and
membership newsletters, requiring no
media relations contacts.

Writing skills and knowledge of the media
are vital, but so is training in management,
logistics and planning.
A Changing Focus in PR


More universities than in the past are now
offering joint PR / Advertising programs, in
part because of growing interest in
integrated marketing communications.
Fortunately the number of PR jobs
continues to increase as the field expands.
According to the federal Bureau of Labor
Statistics, employment of PR managers
increased faster than the average for all
occupations through the year 2005, placing
PR in the top ten growth industries.
A Range of PR Work

Women and men entering PR may
work in company departments, PR
firms that serve clients or a wide
range of organizations that require
PR service. The major areas of PR
work they will find include:
A Range of PR Role
 Corporations:
Departments seek to
protect
and
enhance
a
company’s
reputation. They provide information to the
public as well as to special audiences such
as stockholders, financial analysts and
employees.Their
work
also
includes
community relations and often marketing
communications.
A Range of PR Role
 Nonprofit

organizations: These range
from membership organizations, such as
trade and environmental associations to
social and cultural groups, hospitals and
other health agencies. Fund raising often is
involved.
Entertaintment, Sports and Travel:
Practitioners in these areas often are
concerned with publiicity for individuals and
promotion of events ranging from football
games to motion pictures.
A Range of PR Role
 Government
and Military: This area
includes promotion of political issues,
sometimes through lobbying, work with
politicians , dissemination of information
about government activities to citizens and
distrubution of information about the
armed forces.
A Range of PR Role


Education: At the college level, PR people
work primarily with alumni, faculty and
administration, student and the public to
promote the schools image, recruit students
and
raise
funds.
Secondary
schools
frequently have specialists to handle
community relations.
International PR: The immense expansion
of almost instantaneous global
communications has opened an intriguing
new area, especially for practitioners with
language skills and familiarity with other
cultures .
Job Levels in PR



Entry-Level Technician: Use of technical
“craft” skill to disseminate information,
persuade, gather data or solicit feedback
Supervisor: Supervisors projects,
including planning, scheduling, budgeting,
organizing, leading, controlling, evaluating
and problem solving
Manager: Constituency and issue-trend
analysis; departmental management,
including organizing, budgeting, organizing,
leading, controlling, evaluating and
problem solving
Job Levels in PR


Director: Constituency and issue-trend
analysis; communication and operational
planning
Executive: Organizational leadership and
management skills, including developing
the organizational vision, corporate vision,
strategies, policies and systems.
Personal Qualifiations and
Attitudes
 Any attempt to define a single PR type of

personality is pointless, because the field is
so diverse that it needs people of differing
personalities.
Some practitioners deal with clients and
the public in person on a frequent basis;
others work primarily at desks, planning,
writing and researching. Many do both.
Basic Personal Attributes
 Ability with words, written or spoken




Analytical skill, to identify and define
problems
Creative ability, to develop fresh, effective
solutions to problems
An instinct for persuasion
Ability to make compelling and polished
presentation.
PR Personality Checklist
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Good sense of humor
Positive and optimistic
Friendly, meet people easily
Can keep a conversation going with anybody
Take frustration and rejection in stride
Able to persuade others easily
Well-groomed, businesslike appearance
Flair for showmanship
Strong creative urge
Considerate and tactful
Adept in use of words
Able to gain managements confidence
PR Personality Checklist
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Enjoy being with people
Enjoy listening
Enjoy helping other people resolve problems
Curious about many things
Enjoy reading in diverse areas
Determined to complete projects
High energy level
Can cope with sudden emergencies
See mistakes as learning experiences
Factual and objective
Respect other people’s viewpoints
Perspective and sensitive
Quickly absorb and retain information
Four Essential Abilities
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Writing skills
Research ability
Planning expertise
Problem solving ability
Four Essential Abilities:
1. Writing Skills
 The ability to put information and ideas
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on to paper clearly and concisely is
essential. Good grammar and good
spelling are vital.
Misspelled words and sloppy sentence
structure look amateurish.
Four Essential Abilities:
2. Research Ability
 Arguments for causes must have factual support
instead of generalities. A person must have the
persistence and ability to gather information from
a variety of sources, as well as to conduct original
research by designing and implementing opinion
polls or audits.
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Too many PR programs fail because the
organization does not assess audience needs and
perceptions. Skillful use of the internet and
computer databases is an important element of
research work.
Four Essential Abilities:
3. Planning Expertise
 A PR program involves a number of
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communication tools and activities that
must
be
carefully
planned
and
coordinated.
A person needs to be a good planner to
make
certain
that
materials
are
distributed in a timely manner, events
occur without problems and budgets are
not exceeded. PR people must be highly
organized, detail-oriented and able to see
the big picture.
Four Essential Abilities:
4. Problem Solving Ability
 Innovative ideas and fresh approaches
are needed to solve complex problems or
to make a PR program unique and
memorable.
Increased
salaries
and
promotions go to people who show top
management how to solve problems
creatively.
Qualities for a Successful Career
1. Must be an excellent writer capable of writing client
reports, effective article themes to editors, news
releases, annual reportss, feature stories and the
like.
2. Must be able to do short and long range planning,
conceive and execute a full PR plan for each account
and adhere strictly to deadlines.
3. Must be innovative and imaginative, not bound by
trite, tradional ideas. Must be willing to keep an
open mind to new ideas and to researching better
ways.
Qualities for a Successful Career
4. Must be well informed about a client’s business and
continue to keep abreast of all developments in
business and government that have an effect on the
client’s or company’s business. Must function as a
counselor as well as a communicator.
5. Must be results oriented, whether the task is the
placement of major stories about a client in
important publications or the successful execution of
a special event. Must be doer and a self –starter.
Must know what follow-up means and have a solid
respect for timetables and deadlines.
Qualities for a Successful Career
6. Must know how to create publicity by conceiving a
meaningful idea and carring it through to its
conclution. Must know how to create sundry ideas
where none are evident and must know where to
take them.
7. Must be thorough “pro”, skilled in all the techniques
used in the practice of PR: Writing and distribution
of news releases, producing press kits, running
press conferences and so on. Must be familiar with
feature writers, magazine contributors and hot
current subjects being written about.
Qualities for a Successful Career
8. Must be able to learn and grow as new situations
and client needs arise. Must draw upon prior
experiences in the PR field to move into new
situations effortlessly and effectively.
9. Must know what it takes to establish and maintain
acquaintanceship with key media people, since
editorial contact is one of the primary functions of
the PR professional. The PR professional must know
how to deal with the media and understand their
need for quick and responsive answers.
Qualities for a Successful Career
10. Must be a good manager, capable of organizing
and arranging his or her workload for maximum
results. Must be capable of carrying many
assignments at the same time and be in control of
each one.
11. Finally, the PR professional must not be a “yes
man/woman”. PR has outgrown the caricature of
second
class
professionalism
by
producing
individuals who speak their minds confidently to top
management of major corporations and make
valuable recommendations to these executives.