The corporate philanthropy of The Home Depot, in which volunteers (employees) use material from their stores to build homes for Habitat for Humanity, is strategic giving. Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that is dedicated to building simple, decent and affordable housing for people. On The Home Depot’s website, The Home Depot Foundation, it states that the company is “working to increase awareness and successfully demonstrate the connection between housing, the urban forest and the overall health and economic success of our communities.” By allowing volunteers (employees) to use materials from their stores for Habitat for Humanity, The Home Depot is following the statement and using strategic giving.

I would not consider Exxon Mobil’s donations to organizations to protect tigers and their environment to be strategic giving. While I do think that it is a nice gesture to help the tigers and their environment, I don’t think it makes a great impact on society because it doesn’t benefit the community as a whole.

A company that does give strategically is Starbuck’s Coffee. Starbuck’s takes pride in supporting the communities that grow their product by ensuring fair pay and healthcare services for coffee bean growers. Starbuck’s also has also ensured environmental responsibility, making its drink sleeves out of 10% post-consumer product. The company’s commitment to diversity and equality are ranked above profitability in its list of core values.

Three websites about using Charitable giving as a PR Strategy:

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

One advantage using a creative commons license is that it allows people to reproduce a message.  This is helpful because an individual can take a message and reproduce it in a manner that allows more individuals access to it and understand what the message is trying to convey.  This makes the original message more effective.

A second advantage of using a creative commons license is that it makes an individuals work easier to use.  A creative commons license allows an individual to use another individual’s work, as long as the creator of the work is given credit.  This also allows a PR persons work to be used more effectively.

A final advantage of using a creative commons license is that it enables a PR person to contribute to society by allowing individuals to use their work rather than waiting for a copyright to expire.  Creative work that has a copyright has a time limit of the life of the creator plus 70 years before the work can be reproduced. The creative commons license would allow an individual to give credit to the creator of the work, yet possibly expand upon the work to make an even larger impact on society.

Blogging

Blogging is a very effective tool to reach an audience.  A blog is a type website that is usually maintained by an individual with entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.  This is a great resource for a PR practitioner because they can blog about an event or a crisis and get information out to the public as quickly as possible.  Some examples of blogging websites include WordPress and Blogger.

Social Networking

Social networking is another effective tool to reach an audience.  Social networking as defined as a group of Internet-based applications that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.  A few examples of social networking applications are Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace.  These applications allow an individual to share an idea or an interest with other like minded individuals.  By using a social networking application, a PR practitioner is able to generate a lot of followers and interest in an idea or an event.  Social networking can also help with the word of mouth communication, allowing ideas to reach a significant amount of individuals in a short amount of time.

Wikis

Wikis are a resourceful tool for PR practitioners because they allow them to create collaborative websites and to power community websites and can also be used in corporate intranets.  By doing this, it allows a PR practitioner to have a lot of information put on a number of pages and a wiki keeps it all together.  Additionally, if there is a crisis among an organization, a Wiki can help keep things organized internally.

Podcasting

Podcasting is a series of digital media files, either in audio or video format, which are released episodically and downloaded through web syndication.  This tool is especially resourceful for a PR practitioner because it allows a practitioner to be able to send out video and audio feed about an event that is going on, or in times of a crisis it is an easy way to get important information out to the pubic.

Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking is method for internet users to share, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web resources.  This is an excellent resource for PR practitioners because social bookmarking allows a PR practitioner the ability to provide informative links to many publics. It also allows information that is on various computers and to have a large amount of information to be organized.

A public relations practitioner plays a very important role in times of a crisis. When an organization faces a crisis, a public relations practitioner must respond quickly, yet efficiently, effectively and in a premeditated way to help to minimize any damage. One key rule with crisis management is to tell it all, tell it fast and tell the truth. This means that if a crisis arises, an organization should not try to withhold any information that could cause further damage. Telling it fast means an organization should address the crisis the moment it hits and to not delay in responding to it. Telling the truth is also important because lying about a crisis will always make the situation worse and can cause more damage to the organization. Public relations practitioners do help to solve crises by making an effective communication plan and taking swift action to minimize the damage to an organizations reputation and image.

A crisis can sometimes be good for an organization. For example, In October of 1982, Tylenol, the leading pain-killer medicine in the United States at the time, faced a tremendous crisis when seven people in Chicago were reported dead after taking extra-strength Tylenol capsules (http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Fall02/Susi/tylenol.htm) McNeil Consumer Products, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, conducted an immediate product recall from the entire country which amounted to about 31 million bottles and a loss of more than $100 million dollars. Eventually, the cause of death was determined to be cyanide poisoning, and Tylenol was reintroduced with triple seal tamper-proof seals. By recalling every bottle of Tylenol, the organization not only effectively handled the crisis at hand, but it instilled trust in consumers; they realized that Tylenol cared about their consumers rather than making a profit and Tylenol has since recovered from this crisis.

With the Agenda-Setting Theory, the media does not tell an audience what to think, but they do tell their audience what to think about (http://www.uky.edu/~drlane/capstone/mass/agenda.htm) In other words, the audience is given the opportunity to formulate their own opinions.
The news media is a great example of the Agenda-Setting Theory. The news media gives their audience factual information, and leaves the audience to make up their own judgments based on the information received. There are also a number of different news media channels that an audience can choose from, but the information is usually the same.

Public relations practitioners serve an important role in both the Uses and Gratifications Theory and the Agenda-Setting Theory. In the Uses and Gratifications Theory, the public relations practitioner’s role is to deliver messages through the public to the media. In the Agenda-Setting Theory, the role of the public relations practitioner is to deliver the media messages and information, and in turn the media delivers these messages and information to the public.

Introduction:

It has been said that the public relations profession lacks credibility within the USA.  Public relations is important because people act based upon their perception of facts. By managing, controlling, or influencing people’s perceptions, public relations professionals hope to initiate a sequence of behaviors that will lead to the achievement of an organization’s objectives. When those in public relations successfully create, change, or reinforce opinion through persuasion, their primary objective is accomplished. (http://www.worldwidelearn.com/business-career/article/the-importance-of-public-relations.html) As the Communications Director for the PRSA, I have created a communications plan that will generate more credibility for the public relations profession.

Goal:
The goal of this communications plan is to increase awareness about the public relations profession and to generate more credibility for the public relations profession.  By doing this, publics will have a more positive view towards the public relations profession.

Objective 1:

To appear on local or national television and radio shows as a guest to increase awareness about the public relations profession within 6 months

-          Speak to community groups, Chambers of Commerce, as well as universities and colleges around the country to demonstrate the positive influence that public relations has.

-          Get coverage in local and national newspapers to help spread the word about the public relations profession.

-          Inform the public about the APR certification and talk about the importance.

Objective 2:

To identify and determine why people believe that the public relations profession lacks credibility and work to dismiss those beliefs within 6 months to 1 year.

-          Conduct research and surveys to figure out what people know about public relations and to figure out why they believe the profession lacks credibility

-          Based on the research findings, come up with solutions to the problems.

-          Inform people about the importance of APR certification

I believe this plan will be successful in creating more credibility for public relations because it will help generate awareness of the profession and it will determine why people feel that public relations lacks credibility.  Many people do not understand what public relations is or why it is important, and creating awareness about the uses and importance of public relations will help increase the credibility.  Another way to increase the credibility of the public relations profession is to figure out exactly what people find about the profession that lacks credibility by conducting research and surveys and based off of those findings, come up with solutions to help get the record straight.

There are three ways that I believe that the PRSA can make the APR more visible and important to business leaders.  The first way is to make sure that organizations are aware of the fact that an individual who as an APR must complete maintenance requirements every three years.  Not only does this allow for someone who has an APR to learn the latest rules, but it also shows business leaders that this individual is committed to the profession and that they take their work seriously.

Another way that I believe that the PRSA can make the APR more visible and important to business leaders is by offering a period in time where qualified candidates for the APR can sign up for the program for a discount.  The cost to get APR is $385, and if you are a member of the PRSA you get a $110 rebate upon completion of the online examination, according to the website.  Maybe if an organization wanted a group of individuals to complete the APR program, it could receive a discount for a certain number of individuals.

A third way that I believe that the PRSA can make the APR more visible and important to business leaders is through a newsletter or some sort of informative advertisement.  The PRSA can list the benefits of an APR and the advantages for an individual to having an APR over an unaccredited individual.  Hiring an individual who is APR is beneficial to business leaders because this individual can generate more income for the organization.

One skill I think that every Public Relations practitioner must have to succeed is to have excellent communications skills.  Most of a PR practitioner’s job is to be able to communicate effectively both orally and in writing, and this has to be done effectively enough to be able to convey the right message.  I think that this skill is the most important, because it is the first thing that is “seen”.

Another skill that is important is Organization.  Not only do you need to have excellent organizational skills with dealing with clients and making sure things don’t get mixed up, but you also need to be able to organize your thoughts and words into clear, effective messages, with no spelling or grammar errors.  You also need to have great attention to detail.  All three of these Public Relations jobs require a strong attention to detail as well as somebody who is organized.

A third skill that is important for a PR practitioner is good problem solving skills.  There are plenty of situations that can arise that require a PR practitioner to solve problems between clients and a company, and being able to think clearly and analytically about these problems is important.  A PR practitioner will also need to be able to “think on their feet” when a crisis arises in order to solve a problem effectively.

Research is also an important skill for a PR practitioner because you have to be able to research and find out who your audience you are trying to reach.  You will also have to be able to research information about your client and their needs.  A PR practitioner probably will need to research a certain field or industry of their client or company to be able to understand all the terminology and how things work.  All of these jobs listed require some amount of research and knowledge.

Another skill that I believe a PR practitioner needs to have is to be able to work well with others.  For all three of these jobs that I found, it lists that a requirement is to be a “strong team player”.  You also need to be able to work with all types of people.  You may have to work with a difficult person or client, but you still need to be able to learn to work with all types of people.

I agree with the statement above that public relations should never be ranked below advertising and marketing within an organization.  All three of these areas are important in their own ways.  Public relations and advertising both have elements of persuasion, but have a number of differences. However, public relations and advertising are key components in the marketing process.

One difference between public relations and advertising is that public relations has many publics, which can include consumers.  Advertising and marketing both primarily focus on consumers, although advertising can target other publics. PR is about building positive relationships with the public primarily through exposure and coverage in the media, such as interviews in newspapers, on the radio on or a TV newscast. Public relations people work closely with marketing people in order to support publicity efforts for promotional events and any other activities that encourage participation from the public (http://hooplamedia.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/defining-the-terms-the-differences-between-pr-marketing-and-advertising/)

Another difference is that public relations is “free” in a sense because an organization doesn’t have to pay the media for press coverage. Public relations deals with earned media as opposed to media exposure that is bought through advertising on television, magazines, or using other media.  The downside of this is that with advertising, organizations are able to control exactly what the message needs to convey in an ad or campaign, and with public relations, the information given to the media is used however it chooses.

Marketing comes into all of this because public relations and advertising make up part of marketing. Public relations again deals with the image of a organization or brand, and advertising gets the word out about a product or service and decisions as to where to place an ad or an ad campaign. Marketing uses a plan that defines a target market in which to sell a product or service to, and then focuses on key competitors. (http://marketing.about.com/cs/advertising/a/marketvsad.htm)  Marketing plans also need to be able to keep as well as attract customers. ( http://www.businessknowledgesource.com/marketing/the_difference_between_marketing_and_public_relations_026011.html)

In order of where public Relations, advertising, and marketing should be ranked within an organization, I would say that marketing is the most important, because organizations need to know who they are selling to, such as a target audience, and also need to have a marketing plan established to effectively advertise and promote. I would say that both advertising and public relations are equally important because they both change opinions and make publics aware of issues or products.  Public relations is also important because it builds relationships between organizations.