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Ad campaign

a series of related ads meant to work in tandem.

Advertising

a message or group of messages designed with three intentions: to raise awareness in the population about brands, products and services; to encourage consumers to make purchases; and to inspire people to advocate for their favorite brands.

Appointment viewing

watching a show as it airs live at the same time every week or every day. This refers largely to a time before DVRs or VCRs when you had to catch a show live in order to see it. Appointment viewing is largely a thing of the past; however, the popularity of major shows and the frequency of live events are bringing back appointment viewing in limited ways. For example, people will view live sporting events as they happen, and people will try to watch new Game of Thrones episodes as soon as they air.

Binge-watching

consuming several hours of video content in a single viewing or in a very limited time frame.

Botnets appears in Ch. 1 and Ch. 3

computers programmed to create false social media accounts, websites and other digital properties.

Brand

a term used to label a specific product or a limited family of products.

Brand advocate

someone who is so supportive of a product or service that they publicly encourage others to buy it.

Bricolage appears in Ch. 2

in the context of the praxis of digital culture, it means to "do it yourself," or to make a creative work on any media platform of your choosing using available tools and content. From the French and related to another French word, "collage."

Citizen journalist appears in Ch. 2

a person who is not a paid professional but who delivers news to audiences nonetheless.

Collaborative television

a media phenomenon in which content producers work with the audience to produce, alter or enhance content, including to decide the outcomes of televised competitions.

Collective memory

the shared cultural memory of a group of people.

Common culture

the knowledge, beliefs and practices of a massive group of people at a certain time and place.

Communication

an exchange of meaning between people using symbols, which can include spoken, written or signed words as well as other nonverbal forms such as shared images and sounds.

Communication structure

a combination of information and communication technologies (ICTs), guidelines for using those technologies, and professional workers dedicated to managing information and messages.

Company

a business entity that produces several types of product.

Computer-mediated communication

messages conveyed using computers.

Consumer Journey

see "Purchase funnel"

Content marketing

a common practice where brands produce their own content, or hire someone else to produce it, and then market that information as an alternative to advertising.

Convergence

the process by which various types or formats of media (audio, video, text, animation and so forth) and the industries they are tied to merge on global computer and mobile network platforms.

Corporate narrative

the story of how the company came to exist and how it represents certain values and ideals — at least, this is how such stories are framed from a marketing point of view. Many corporate narratives are based only partly in fact.

Cultivation theory

a mass communication theory, which some argue is more of a hypothesis. It states that media effects build up over time and that through TV, video games and online media, the United States (and perhaps other cultures) is becoming a culture centered on violence that has devalued sex and succumbed to hyper-consumerism. This is a contested theory. There is evidence of cultivation, but its mechanisms and its importance in the context of other social influences such as family, friends, churches and other institutional influences besides the mass media are not well developed from a theoretical standpoint.

Cultural norms

shared beliefs about the way things ought to be.

Culture appears in Ch. 1 and Ch. 2

the knowledge, beliefs and practices of a group of people.

De-massification

the breakdown of mass media audiences. As the amount of information being produced and the number of channels and platforms on which news and other content can be disseminated grows exponentially, massive ready-made audiences are in decline.

Digital culture

the knowledge, beliefs and practices of people interacting on digital networks that may recreate tangible-world cultures or create new strains of cultural thought and practice native to digital networks.

Double delusion

this delusion is at the core of the third-person effect theory, wherein we think other people are probably affected more by advertising and other mass media content than they are, and we think we are influenced less than we are.

Dreck

trash.

Earned media

the amount of free air time on TV or space in major newspapers and magazines that is earned by getting other mass media channels to tell your product's stories without having to pay for ad space.

Echo chamber

a space in a communication platform, or a whole platform, where like-minded people congregate to speak only or mostly to one another.

Encoding

voluntarily or involuntarily paying attention to a message and its underlying symbols.

Entry point

a position in an industry that an individual can use to gain the experience needed to move up the career ladder.

Episodic media

a type of storytelling often used in radio and television in which shows usually feature a different story with each episode.

Filter bubble appears in Ch. 1

a space or a set of habits using mass media and social media preferences where the user hears or sees almost exclusively the voices and information that they want to hear.

Folk culture

the cultural products borne out of everyday life with practical uses or purposes.

Gatekeeper appears in Ch. 1, Ch. 2, Ch. 3, Ch. 7, Ch. 8, and Ch.9

as the concept relates to the study of mass communication, a gatekeeper is someone, professional or not, who decides what information to share with mass audiences and what information to leave out.

Gatewatching

when someone takes a message already published by professionals or amateurs and shares it for others to see.

Group culture

the phenomenon formerly referred to as a "subculture." It is the knowledge, beliefs and practices of a subset of people considered to be part of a larger culture. Group culture is distinct in some ways from the shared, broader common culture. Group culture might center on religious beliefs and practices, ethnic norms and interests, or food, music and other forms of material production.

High culture

arguably the best cultural material a society has to offer. Economic class often comes into play in defining what is “high culture” and what is not.

Inbound marketing

inviting customers into social media spaces or to view messages on other platforms so that the potential customer can experience your brand-related content in your territory, rather than going out and demanding their attention with more traditional forms of advertising.

Individualism

(as used here) refers not only to an individual's ability to act as their own publisher online but also to a social condition in which individuals are free from government control.

Influencers

people who promote products on their social media streams.

Information economy

an economic system where manufacturing and services still exist, but they are dependent upon information and communication technologies for strategic planning capabilities, transaction management, moving and storage of currency and the ability to automate tasks.

Intermedia agenda setting

related to the broader theory of agenda setting, it is the idea that many journalists, particularly in broadcast journalism, rely on other news media to set the agenda for them, which they then pass along to their audiences. In digitally networked communications, it has been noted that newspapers and their digital counterparts still generate much of the original reporting that then is spread through broadcast journalism and social media the world over.

Interpersonal communication

the exchange of meaning between two or more people on a personal, often one-on-one, level. Interpersonal communication can be verbal or nonverbal. Most often, it happens in face-to-face settings.

Intertextual media

mediated messages that combine various types of text into one. Texts are broadly defined here to include video, audio, animated, graphic and other forms of textual information.

Legacy media

media platforms that existed before the development of massive digital networks.

Limited capacity model

a theory that states that our cognitive abilities are limited, so we are unable to process all of the information that we see, hear and read.

Limited effects

a paradigm, which is to say a collection of mass communication theories based on thousands of empirical studies. All of these studies found in one way or another that the direct effects of messages or message campaigns on mass society are limited. This is not to say that the mass media are inconsequential, only that to directly influence the behavior of massive numbers of people via message campaigns is difficult in part because there are so many other social and cultural factors influencing behavior.

Marketing

a branch of the field of economics and also a practice which includes developing advertising strategies and other research efforts meant to guide advertising strategies as part of larger sales and production strategies. Put simply, it is the entire process of strategizing to sell a product.

Marketing's four P's

produce, price, place and promotion.

Mass communication

involves sharing meaning through symbolic messages to a broad audience from one source to many receivers.

Mass-mediated messages

usually professionally selected and produced messages on topics meant for widespread dissemination.

Massively individuated

content produced for mass audiences but having the appearance of personalized messages.

Media literacy appears in Ch. 1, Ch. 2, and Ch. 3

a term describing media consumers' understanding of how mass media work. Being media literate means knowing where different types of information can be found, who owns various mass media channels and products, how messages are produced and how they are framed to suit various interests.

Media studies

the broad category of academic inquiry analyzing and critiquing the mass media, its products, possible effects of messages and campaigns, and media history.

Metropolitan daily newspapers

newspapers that cover large cities or a few geographically connected smaller cities.

Modernity

in reference to art and other forms of cultural production, a purposeful break from the past.

News frame

the way a story is presented including which sources and facts are selected as well as the tone the story or message takes.

News norm

see "Norm"

Nickelodeon

a parlor or theater housing kinetoscopes, which were early machines used for viewing motion pictures. So named because kinetoscopes usually cost a nickel to play. Nickel + odeon, which itself is a classical term (Greek and Roman) for a building dedicated to singing or poetry productions.

Norm appears in Ch. 1 and Ch. 2

a behavioral standard. Professional norms are the written and unwritten rules guiding behavior decided on, and often contested by, people in a given field.

Objectivity appears Ch. 1 and Ch. 7

in news, this is a professional norm or normative practice that refers to efforts to keep individual biases out of the published news and to consider the information presented by sources with an open mind during the information gathering process. No one is completely objective, and no news outlet is, either; however, the guiding principle is to attempt to take personal and institutional biases out of news reporting.

Organizational communication

the symbolic exchange of messages carrying specific meaning for members belonging to formal organizations. In practical terms, it is the internal communication that helps governments, businesses, schools and hospitals to run.

Participation

in the context of the praxis of digital culture, a term indicating that everyone with access to the internet has the ability to contribute to new media products and platforms. Contributions could come in the form of text, photos, videos, audio clips, graphics or memes.

Penny press

the first mass medium. They were tabloid-style newspapers written for and read by working-class audiences. The small-sized pages were cheaper to produce and relatively easy to distribute.

Personal culture

the knowledge, beliefs and practices held most dear to an individual.

Platform appears in Ch.1, Ch.2, Ch.3, Ch.7, Ch.8, and Ch.10

a digital space where creation may happen. For example, Facebook is a platform where people can communicate with friends, share content and see ads purchased on behalf of Russian intelligence officials. Facebook produces almost none of its own content. Instead, it brings people together to share the content they find and create. Reddit is a platform where news and image links are shared and voted on. It is a sort of platform popularity contest. In digital gaming, a digital platform is a space where people can create their own worlds or their own gaming experiences (Minecraft is a good example of this kind of digital space).

Pop culture

the vast array of cultural products that appeal to the masses.

Post-nationalism

in the context of a discussion of digital culture refers to the way one’s country appears to matter less as an influence on behavior and values online than it does in the tangible world, perhaps because we can be free of our national identities when engaging in digital networks with people from around the globe. Note that the rise of online nationalism calls into question the validity of the argument that digital culture is post-nationalistic.

Purchase funnel

a conceptual model depicting different stages at which audiences can be reached with advertising messages. It progresses from the very broad Awareness phase through garnering Interest and creating the Desire for a product before finishing with Action, or closing the deal.

Remediation

old media products, concepts and practices presented in new ways on new platforms as new information and communication technologies (ICTs) make it possible.

Retrieved appears in Ch.7 and Ch.9

according to the Limited Capacity Processing Model, the term used when ideas communicated to us are recalled when we wish to remember them.

Rule of seven

a rule of thumb, or what social scientists call a heuristic, in the advertising field that suggests that people need to see an advertisement seven times before they act on it.

S-M-C-R model of communication

a basic communication model indicating that all messages begin with a Sender, are conceived of as individual Messages, travel along a Channel and reach a Receiver. Models built on S-M-C-R also account for noise, which can confuse message transmission, and it must be noted in a networked communication environment it is quite easy for receivers to become senders instantaneously by clicking "share" or performing similar actions.

Salience

the acceptance of messages in the mass media as being true or, at least, worth remembering.

Second screen experience

consuming media on one platform (usually television) while interacting with the show, the show's producers or other fans on a second media platform such as social media or a voting website, in the case of contest shows such as American Idol or Dancing with the Stars.

Serialized media

a way of organizing stories in which an ongoing narrative with several threads is told in a series of episodes. Each episode, more or less, picks up where the last one left off. This form dates back to the serial publication of novels in the 19th century, but it has also been used in radio, television and podcasting.

Slow journalism

a movement in the field of journalism that aims to protect accuracy and care in journalism by prioritizing fact-finding above covering breaking news with speed and perhaps recklessness.

Social capital

the potential to get help, not limited to financial assistance, from the people in your social networks, in the tangible world and online, when needed.

Social responsibility

in the study of journalism ethics, social responsibility is a specific concept referring to the need for media organizations to be responsible for the possible repercussions of the news they produce.

Society

a very large group of people held together over time through formalized relationships. Relationships can be economic, legal, political, or some combination of these. Society may be viewed as a hierarchy where individuals come together in small groups which then join or form bonds to create larger, more formalized groups called institutions. A large enough collection of institutions can be said to form a society.

Sponsorship

when a company pays to support an event or a mass media production in exchange for having its brand promoted alongside the activity or content.

Stored appears in Ch.2 and Ch.7

according to the Limited Capacity Processing Model, the term used when ideas communicated to us are recorded in our memories.

Superbug media products

podcasts, web series, independent news websites and other digital media products that survive and thrive in highly competitive environments with limited initial access to traditional media resources.

Symbolic interactionism

a communication theory stating that people assign symbolic meaning to phenomena around them. It suggests our behavior is guided and influenced by our perceptions of reality interpreted through symbols.

Transparency appears in Ch.2, Ch.3and Ch.5

as a normative news practice, it refers to showing audiences how the news is made. In some cases, it may even mean inviting audience members to join in the process of reporting professional news stories. Journalists who prioritize transparency over objectivity will strive to demonstrate to audiences how they know what they know rather than merely presenting two or three extreme points of view on a news topic and calling the news fair and balanced.

Voice-over

voiced information edited to accompany video such that the audio overrides the sound of the original video. Voice-overs can complement the video but do not necessarily reference it directly. As an editing technique, using voice-over is common in entertainment and video news production.

]]> 281 0 1 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=back-matter&p=283 Tue, 11 Jun 2019 17:50:18 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/back-matter/glossary-2/

Ad campaign

a series of related ads meant to work in tandem.

Advertising

a message or group of messages designed with three intentions: to raise awareness in the population about brands, products and services; to encourage consumers to make purchases; and to inspire people to advocate for their favorite brands.

Appointment viewing

watching a show as it airs live at the same time every week or every day. This refers largely to a time before DVRs or VCRs when you had to catch a show live in order to see it. Appointment viewing is largely a thing of the past; however, the popularity of major shows and the frequency of live events are bringing back appointment viewing in limited ways. For example, people will view live sporting events as they happen, and people will try to watch new Game of Thrones episodes as soon as they air.

Binge-watching

consuming several hours of video content in a single viewing or in a very limited time frame.

Botnets appears in Ch. 1 and Ch. 3

computers programmed to create false social media accounts, websites and other digital properties.

Brand

a term used to label a specific product or a limited family of products.

Brand advocate

someone who is so supportive of a product or service that they publicly encourage others to buy it.

Bricolage appears in Ch. 2

in the context of the praxis of digital culture, it means to "do it yourself," or to make a creative work on any media platform of your choosing using available tools and content. From the French and related to another French word, "collage."

Citizen journalist appears in Ch. 2

a person who is not a paid professional but who delivers news to audiences nonetheless.

Collaborative television

a media phenomenon in which content producers work with the audience to produce, alter or enhance content, including to decide the outcomes of televised competitions.

Collective memory

the shared cultural memory of a group of people.

Common culture

the knowledge, beliefs and practices of a massive group of people at a certain time and place.

Communication

an exchange of meaning between people using symbols, which can include spoken, written or signed words as well as other nonverbal forms such as shared images and sounds.

Communication structure

a combination of information and communication technologies (ICTs), guidelines for using those technologies, and professional workers dedicated to managing information and messages.

Company

a business entity that produces several types of product.

Computer-mediated communication

messages conveyed using computers.

Consumer Journey

see "Purchase funnel"

Content marketing

a common practice where brands produce their own content, or hire someone else to produce it, and then market that information as an alternative to advertising.

Convergence

the process by which various types or formats of media (audio, video, text, animation and so forth) and the industries they are tied to merge on global computer and mobile network platforms.

Corporate narrative

the story of how the company came to exist and how it represents certain values and ideals — at least, this is how such stories are framed from a marketing point of view. Many corporate narratives are based only partly in fact.

Cultivation theory

a mass communication theory, which some argue is more of a hypothesis. It states that media effects build up over time and that through TV, video games and online media, the United States (and perhaps other cultures) is becoming a culture centered on violence that has devalued sex and succumbed to hyper-consumerism. This is a contested theory. There is evidence of cultivation, but its mechanisms and its importance in the context of other social influences such as family, friends, churches and other institutional influences besides the mass media are not well developed from a theoretical standpoint.

Cultural norms

shared beliefs about the way things ought to be.

Culture appears in Ch. 1 and Ch. 2

the knowledge, beliefs and practices of a group of people.

De-massification

the breakdown of mass media audiences. As the amount of information being produced and the number of channels and platforms on which news and other content can be disseminated grows exponentially, massive ready-made audiences are in decline.

Digital culture

the knowledge, beliefs and practices of people interacting on digital networks that may recreate tangible-world cultures or create new strains of cultural thought and practice native to digital networks.

Double delusion

this delusion is at the core of the third-person effect theory, wherein we think other people are probably affected more by advertising and other mass media content than they are, and we think we are influenced less than we are.

Dreck

trash.

Earned media

the amount of free air time on TV or space in major newspapers and magazines that is earned by getting other mass media channels to tell your product's stories without having to pay for ad space.

Echo chamber

a space in a communication platform, or a whole platform, where like-minded people congregate to speak only or mostly to one another.

Encoding

voluntarily or involuntarily paying attention to a message and its underlying symbols.

Entry point

a position in an industry that an individual can use to gain the experience needed to move up the career ladder.

Episodic media

a type of storytelling often used in radio and television in which shows usually feature a different story with each episode.

Filter bubble appears in Ch. 1

a space or a set of habits using mass media and social media preferences where the user hears or sees almost exclusively the voices and information that they want to hear.

Folk culture

the cultural products borne out of everyday life with practical uses or purposes.

Gatekeeper appears in Ch. 1, Ch. 2, Ch. 3, Ch. 7, Ch. 8, and Ch.9

as the concept relates to the study of mass communication, a gatekeeper is someone, professional or not, who decides what information to share with mass audiences and what information to leave out.

Gatewatching

when someone takes a message already published by professionals or amateurs and shares it for others to see.

Group culture

the phenomenon formerly referred to as a "subculture." It is the knowledge, beliefs and practices of a subset of people considered to be part of a larger culture. Group culture is distinct in some ways from the shared, broader common culture. Group culture might center on religious beliefs and practices, ethnic norms and interests, or food, music and other forms of material production.

High culture

arguably the best cultural material a society has to offer. Economic class often comes into play in defining what is “high culture” and what is not.

Inbound marketing

inviting customers into social media spaces or to view messages on other platforms so that the potential customer can experience your brand-related content in your territory, rather than going out and demanding their attention with more traditional forms of advertising.

Individualism

(as used here) refers not only to an individual's ability to act as their own publisher online but also to a social condition in which individuals are free from government control.

Influencers

people who promote products on their social media streams.

Information economy

an economic system where manufacturing and services still exist, but they are dependent upon information and communication technologies for strategic planning capabilities, transaction management, moving and storage of currency and the ability to automate tasks.

Intermedia agenda setting

related to the broader theory of agenda setting, it is the idea that many journalists, particularly in broadcast journalism, rely on other news media to set the agenda for them, which they then pass along to their audiences. In digitally networked communications, it has been noted that newspapers and their digital counterparts still generate much of the original reporting that then is spread through broadcast journalism and social media the world over.

Interpersonal communication

the exchange of meaning between two or more people on a personal, often one-on-one, level. Interpersonal communication can be verbal or nonverbal. Most often, it happens in face-to-face settings.

Intertextual media

mediated messages that combine various types of text into one. Texts are broadly defined here to include video, audio, animated, graphic and other forms of textual information.

Legacy media

media platforms that existed before the development of massive digital networks.

Limited capacity model

a theory that states that our cognitive abilities are limited, so we are unable to process all of the information that we see, hear and read.

Limited effects

a paradigm, which is to say a collection of mass communication theories based on thousands of empirical studies. All of these studies found in one way or another that the direct effects of messages or message campaigns on mass society are limited. This is not to say that the mass media are inconsequential, only that to directly influence the behavior of massive numbers of people via message campaigns is difficult in part because there are so many other social and cultural factors influencing behavior.

Marketing

a branch of the field of economics and also a practice which includes developing advertising strategies and other research efforts meant to guide advertising strategies as part of larger sales and production strategies. Put simply, it is the entire process of strategizing to sell a product.

Marketing's four P's

produce, price, place and promotion.

Mass communication

involves sharing meaning through symbolic messages to a broad audience from one source to many receivers.

Mass-mediated messages

usually professionally selected and produced messages on topics meant for widespread dissemination.

Massively individuated

content produced for mass audiences but having the appearance of personalized messages.

Media literacy appears in Ch. 1, Ch. 2, and Ch. 3

a term describing media consumers' understanding of how mass media work. Being media literate means knowing where different types of information can be found, who owns various mass media channels and products, how messages are produced and how they are framed to suit various interests.

Media studies

the broad category of academic inquiry analyzing and critiquing the mass media, its products, possible effects of messages and campaigns, and media history.

Metropolitan daily newspapers

newspapers that cover large cities or a few geographically connected smaller cities.

Modernity

in reference to art and other forms of cultural production, a purposeful break from the past.

News frame

the way a story is presented including which sources and facts are selected as well as the tone the story or message takes.

News norm

see "Norm"

Nickelodeon

a parlor or theater housing kinetoscopes, which were early machines used for viewing motion pictures. So named because kinetoscopes usually cost a nickel to play. Nickel + odeon, which itself is a classical term (Greek and Roman) for a building dedicated to singing or poetry productions.

Norm appears in Ch. 1 and Ch. 2

a behavioral standard. Professional norms are the written and unwritten rules guiding behavior decided on, and often contested by, people in a given field.

Objectivity appears Ch. 1 and Ch. 7

in news, this is a professional norm or normative practice that refers to efforts to keep individual biases out of the published news and to consider the information presented by sources with an open mind during the information gathering process. No one is completely objective, and no news outlet is, either; however, the guiding principle is to attempt to take personal and institutional biases out of news reporting.

Organizational communication

the symbolic exchange of messages carrying specific meaning for members belonging to formal organizations. In practical terms, it is the internal communication that helps governments, businesses, schools and hospitals to run.

Participation

in the context of the praxis of digital culture, a term indicating that everyone with access to the internet has the ability to contribute to new media products and platforms. Contributions could come in the form of text, photos, videos, audio clips, graphics or memes.

Penny press

the first mass medium. They were tabloid-style newspapers written for and read by working-class audiences. The small-sized pages were cheaper to produce and relatively easy to distribute.

Personal culture

the knowledge, beliefs and practices held most dear to an individual.

Platform appears in Ch.1, Ch.2, Ch.3, Ch.7, Ch.8, and Ch.10

a digital space where creation may happen. For example, Facebook is a platform where people can communicate with friends, share content and see ads purchased on behalf of Russian intelligence officials. Facebook produces almost none of its own content. Instead, it brings people together to share the content they find and create. Reddit is a platform where news and image links are shared and voted on. It is a sort of platform popularity contest. In digital gaming, a digital platform is a space where people can create their own worlds or their own gaming experiences (Minecraft is a good example of this kind of digital space).

Pop culture

the vast array of cultural products that appeal to the masses.

Post-nationalism

in the context of a discussion of digital culture refers to the way one’s country appears to matter less as an influence on behavior and values online than it does in the tangible world, perhaps because we can be free of our national identities when engaging in digital networks with people from around the globe. Note that the rise of online nationalism calls into question the validity of the argument that digital culture is post-nationalistic.

Purchase funnel

a conceptual model depicting different stages at which audiences can be reached with advertising messages. It progresses from the very broad Awareness phase through garnering Interest and creating the Desire for a product before finishing with Action, or closing the deal.

Remediation

old media products, concepts and practices presented in new ways on new platforms as new information and communication technologies (ICTs) make it possible.

Retrieved appears in Ch.7 and Ch.9

according to the Limited Capacity Processing Model, the term used when ideas communicated to us are recalled when we wish to remember them.

Rule of seven

a rule of thumb, or what social scientists call a heuristic, in the advertising field that suggests that people need to see an advertisement seven times before they act on it.

S-M-C-R model of communication

a basic communication model indicating that all messages begin with a Sender, are conceived of as individual Messages, travel along a Channel and reach a Receiver. Models built on S-M-C-R also account for noise, which can confuse message transmission, and it must be noted in a networked communication environment it is quite easy for receivers to become senders instantaneously by clicking "share" or performing similar actions.

Salience

the acceptance of messages in the mass media as being true or, at least, worth remembering.

Second screen experience

consuming media on one platform (usually television) while interacting with the show, the show's producers or other fans on a second media platform such as social media or a voting website, in the case of contest shows such as American Idol or Dancing with the Stars.

Serialized media

a way of organizing stories in which an ongoing narrative with several threads is told in a series of episodes. Each episode, more or less, picks up where the last one left off. This form dates back to the serial publication of novels in the 19th century, but it has also been used in radio, television and podcasting.

Slow journalism

a movement in the field of journalism that aims to protect accuracy and care in journalism by prioritizing fact-finding above covering breaking news with speed and perhaps recklessness.

Social capital

the potential to get help, not limited to financial assistance, from the people in your social networks, in the tangible world and online, when needed.

Social responsibility

in the study of journalism ethics, social responsibility is a specific concept referring to the need for media organizations to be responsible for the possible repercussions of the news they produce.

Society

a very large group of people held together over time through formalized relationships. Relationships can be economic, legal, political, or some combination of these. Society may be viewed as a hierarchy where individuals come together in small groups which then join or form bonds to create larger, more formalized groups called institutions. A large enough collection of institutions can be said to form a society.

Sponsorship

when a company pays to support an event or a mass media production in exchange for having its brand promoted alongside the activity or content.

Stored appears in Ch.2 and Ch.7

according to the Limited Capacity Processing Model, the term used when ideas communicated to us are recorded in our memories.

Superbug media products

podcasts, web series, independent news websites and other digital media products that survive and thrive in highly competitive environments with limited initial access to traditional media resources.

Symbolic interactionism

a communication theory stating that people assign symbolic meaning to phenomena around them. It suggests our behavior is guided and influenced by our perceptions of reality interpreted through symbols.

Transparency appears in Ch.2, Ch.3and Ch.5

as a normative news practice, it refers to showing audiences how the news is made. In some cases, it may even mean inviting audience members to join in the process of reporting professional news stories. Journalists who prioritize transparency over objectivity will strive to demonstrate to audiences how they know what they know rather than merely presenting two or three extreme points of view on a news topic and calling the news fair and balanced.

Voice-over

voiced information edited to accompany video such that the audio overrides the sound of the original video. Voice-overs can complement the video but do not necessarily reference it directly. As an editing technique, using voice-over is common in entertainment and video news production.

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https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/whatispublicrelations/ Fri, 03 Apr 2015 00:54:17 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/whatispublicrelations/ What Is Public Relations?

According to the Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS), "Public relations is the strategic management of relationships between an organization and its diverse publics, through the use of communication, to achieve mutual understanding, realize organizational goals and serve the public interest."* Simply put, public relations helps to influence an audience’s perceptions by building relationships and shaping public conversations about a client or company. These public conversations often take place through mass and social media, which is why public relations professionals need to understand how to work with and write effective messages for the media.

* The last phrase in this definition, "public interest," is something that is often defined differently by different groups. We will explore the concept of public interest in greater detail in section 1.3, which focuses on the ethical and legal responsibilities of the PR practitioner.  This short video, titled "What is public relations?" helps to visualize public relations. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/mmAjtPJao6U[/embed]

Public relations professionals are in charge of a wide range of communication activities that may include increasing brand visibility and awareness, planning events, and creating content. Some of them also deal with crisis communication and help to salvage a brand’s integrity and reputation during a negative event. This video from Kate Finley, chief executive officer of Belle Communications, explains what it is like to work at a public relations agency.

Why Do Companies Need Public Relations?

There was a time when many companies did not see the value of public relations, unless a crisis happened. Even now, some public relations professionals face challenges in convincing key executives of their value to the function of the company.

With the abundance of information readily available to audiences worldwide, companies are more vulnerable than ever to misinformation about their brand. An audience’s attitudes and beliefs about a company can greatly influence its success. Therefore, the public relations professional helps to monitor and control conversations about a company or client and manage its reputation in the marketplace. Viewing public relations as a key management function of a business or an essential strategy to manage one’s individual reputation will help accomplish important goals such as establishing trust among key publics, increasing news media and social media presence, and maintaining a consistent voice across communication platforms.

For more on the impact of reputation on business success, take a look at this article from The Entrepreneur.

Public Relations Versus Marketing Versus Advertising

Many people confuse public relations with marketing and advertising. Although there are similarities, there also are key differences.

Probably the most important difference between marketing, public relations, and advertising is the primary focus. Public relations emphasizes cultivating relationships between an organization or individual and key publics for the purpose of managing the client’s image. Marketing emphasizes the promotion of products and services for revenue purposes. Advertising is a communication tool used by marketers in order to get customers to act.

Four Models Of Public Relations

Grunig and Hunt (1984) developed four models of public relations that describe the field’s various management and organizational practices. These models serve as guidelines to create programs, strategies, and tactics and are still commonly cited today.

  [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="721"] Four Models of PR” by Michael Shiflet and Jasmine Roberts is licensed under CC BY 2.0[/caption]

In the press agent/publicity model, communications professionals use persuasion to shape the thoughts and opinions of key audiences. In this model, accuracy is often sacrificed and organizations do not seek audience feedback or conduct audience analysis research. It is a one-way form of communication. One example is propaganda techniques.

The public information model moves away from the manipulative tactics used in the press agent model and presents more accurate information. However, the communication pattern is still one-way. Practitioners do not conduct audience analysis research to guide their strategies and tactics. Some press releases and newsletters are created based on this model, when audiences are not necessarily targeted or researched beforehand.

The two-way asymmetrical model presents a more “scientifically persuasive” way of communicating with key audiences. Here, content creators conduct research to better understand the audience’s attitudes and behaviors, which in turn informs the message strategy and creation. Still, persuasive communication is used in this model to benefit the organization more so than audiences; therefore, it is considered asymmetrical or imbalanced. The model is particularly popular in advertising and consumer marketing, fields that are specifically interested in increasing an organization’s profits.

Finally, the two-way symmetrical model argues that the public relations practitioner should serve as a liaison between the organization and key publics, rather than as a persuader. Here, practitioners are negotiators and use communication to ensure that all involved parties benefit, not just the organization that employs them. The term “symmetrical” is used because the model attempts to create a mutually beneficial situation. The two-way symmetrical model is deemed the most ethical model, one that professionals should aspire to use in their everyday tactics and strategies (Simpson, 2014).

General Roles In Public Relations

According to Smith (2013), public relations practitioners can be placed in two groups based on responsibilities: communication managers and communication technicians. Communication managers assist in the strategic planning of an organization’s communication efforts. The broad term “communication manager” includes several similar public relations positions: expert consultant, problem-solving facilitator, and communication liaison. Expert consultants develop a specific communication plan to help achieve organizational goals. Problem-solving facilitators provide crisis management to an organization during an obstacle. Liaisons speak on behalf of the brand and facilitate communication between the organization and its key publics.

Before entering a managerial role, most public relations practitioners begin their career as a communication technician. This can refer to a variety of entry-level positions, including public relations or communications specialist, communication assistant, and junior account executive. Communication technicians write news releases, pitches, feature articles, and other communication materials and assist in event planning. Together, communication managers and technicians play a vital role in relationship building and the management of a brand.

PR Functions

Either private PR companies and agencies, or in-house communications staffers carry out PR functions. A PR group generally handles all aspects of an organization’s or individual’s media presence, including company publications and news releases. Such a group can range from just one person to dozens of employees depending on the size and scope of the organization.

PR functions include the following:

• Media relations: takes place with media outlets and includes news releases, news conferences, interviews, op-eds and editorial board meetings
• Organizational communications: occurs within a company between management and employees, and among subsidiaries of the same company
• Business-to-business: happens between businesses that are in partnership
• Public affairs: takes place with community leaders, opinion formers, and those involved in public issues (includes government lobbying)
• Investor relations: occurs with investors and shareholders
• Strategic communication: intended to accomplish a specific goal
• Issues management: keeping tabs on public issues important to the organization
• Crisis management: handling events that could damage an organization’s image and reputation¹

Anatomy of a PR Campaign

Figure 12.13

Anatomy of a PR campaign

PR campaigns occur for any number of reasons. They can be a quick response to a crisis or emerging issue, or they can stem from a long-term strategy tied in with other organizational efforts. Regardless of its purpose, a typical campaign often involves four phases.

The Canadian Public Relations Society often references a similar model of campaign development called the R-A-C-E formula (Research, Analysis, Communication, Evaluation). See how Electra Communications applies it to their work in health marketing.

Initial Research Phase (Research in the RACE formula)

The first step of many PR campaigns is the initial research phase. First, practitioners identify and qualify the issue to be addressed/problem to be solved. Then, they research the organization itself to clarify issues of public perception, positioning, and internal dynamics. Strategists can also research the potential audience of the campaign. This audience may include media outlets, constituents, consumers, and competitors. Finally, the context of the campaign is often researched, including the possible consequences of the campaign and the potential effects on the organization. After considering all of these factors, practitioners are better educated to select the best type of campaign.

Strategy Phase (Analysis in the RACE formula)

During the strategy phase, PR professionals usually determine objectives focused on the desired goal of the campaign and formulate strategies to meet those objectives. Broad strategies such as deciding on the overall message of a campaign and the best way to communicate the message can be finalized at this time.

Tactics Phase (Communication in the RACE formula)

During the tactics phase, the PR group decides on the means to implement the strategies they formulated during the strategy phase. This process can involve devising specific communication techniques and selecting the forms of media that suit the message best. This phase may also address budgetary restrictions and possibilities. In the RACE formula, this phase include the actual implementation of tactics in the form of communication.

Evaluation Phase (Evaluation in the RACE formula)

After the overall campaign has been determined, PR practitioners enter the evaluation phase. The group can review their campaign plan and evaluate its potential effectiveness. They may also conduct research on the potential results to better understand the cost and benefits of the campaign. Specific criteria for evaluating the campaign when it is completed are also established at this time (Smith, 2002). In the RACE formula, evaluation metrics are outlined prior to communication taking place, and should be evaluated during and after the communication effort to determine if adjustments are required midstream, and to assess results and improve future efforts.

Branding and the Shift From Advertising to PR

While advertising is an essential aspect of initial brand creation, PR campaigns are vital to developing the more abstract aspects of a brand. These campaigns work to position a brand in the public arena in order to give it a sense of cultural importance.

Pioneered by such companies as Procter & Gamble during the 1930s, the older, advertising-centric model of branding focused on the product, using advertisements to associate a particular branded good with quality or some other positive cultural value. Yet, as consumers became exposed to ever-increasing numbers of advertisements, traditional advertising’s effectiveness dwindled. The ubiquity of modern advertising means the public is skeptical of—or even ignores—claims advertisers make about their products. This credibility gap can be overcome, however, when PR professionals using good promotional strategies step in.

The new PR-oriented model of branding focuses on the overall image of the company rather than on the specific merits of the product. This branding model seeks to associate a company with specific personal and cultural values that hold meaning for consumers.

Recently Toyota faced a marketing crisis when it instituted a massive recall based on safety issues. To counter the bad press, the company launched a series of commercials featuring top Toyota executives, urging the public to keep their faith in the brand (Bernstein, 2010). Much like the Volkswagen ads half a century before, Toyota used a style of self-awareness to market its automobiles. The positive PR campaign presented Toyotas as cars with a high standard of excellence, backed by a company striving to meet customers’ needs.

Studies in Success: Apple and Nike

Apple has also employed this type of branding with great effectiveness. By focusing on a consistent design style in which every product reinforces the Apple experience, the computer company has managed to position itself as a mark of individuality. Despite the cynical outlook of many Americans regarding commercial claims, the notion that Apple is a symbol of individualism has been adopted with very little irony.

Brand managers that once focused on the product now find themselves in the role of community leaders, responsible for the well-being of a cultural image (Atkin, 2004).

Kevin Roberts, the current CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide, a branding-focused creative organization, has used the term “lovemark” as an alternative to trademark. This term encompasses brands that have created “loyalty beyond reason,” meaning that consumers feel loyal to a brand in much the same way they would toward friends or family members. Creating a sense of mystery around a brand generates an aura that bypasses the usual cynical take on commercial icons. A great deal of Apple’s success comes from the company’s mystique. Apple has successfully developed PR campaigns surrounding product releases that leak selected rumors to various press outlets but maintain secrecy over essential details, encouraging speculation by bloggers and mainstream journalists on the next product. All this combines to create a sense of mystery and an emotional anticipation for the product’s release.

Emotional connections are crucial to building a brand or lovemark. An early example of this kind of branding was Nike’s product endorsement deal with Michael Jordan during the 1990s. Jordan’s amazing, seemingly magical performances on the basketball court created his immense popularity, which was then further built up by a host of press outlets and fans who developed an emotional attachment to Jordan. As this connection spread throughout the country, Nike associated itself with Jordan and also with the emotional reaction he inspired in people. Essentially, the company inherited a PR machine that had been built around Jordan and that continues to function long after his retirement (Roberts, 2003).

Branding Backlashes

An important part of maintaining a consistent brand is preserving the emotional attachment consumers have to that brand. Just as PR campaigns build brands, PR crises can damage them. For example, the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010 became a PR nightmare for BP, an oil company that had been using PR to rebrand itself as an environmentally friendly energy company.

In 2000, BP began a campaign presenting itself as “Beyond Petroleum,” rather than British Petroleum, the company’s original name. By acquiring a major solar company, BP became the world leader in solar production and in 2005 announced it would invest $8 billion in alternative energy over the following 10 years. BP’s marketing firm developed a PR campaign that, at least on the surface, emulated the forward-looking two-way symmetric PR model. The campaign conducted interviews with consumers, giving them an opportunity to air their grievances and publicize energy policy issues. BP’s website featured a carbon footprint calculator consumers could use to calculate the size of their environmental impact (Solman, 2008). The single explosion on BP’s deep-water oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico essentially nullified the PR work of the previous 10 years, immediately putting BP at the bottom of the list of environmentally concerned companies.

Other branding backlashes have plagued companies such as Nike and Starbucks. By building their brands into global symbols, both companies also came to represent unfettered capitalist greed to those who opposed them. During the 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, activists targeted Starbucks and Nike stores for physical attacks such as window smashing. Labor activists have also condemned Nike over the company’s use of sweatshops to manufacture shoes. Eventually, Nike created a vice president for corporate responsibility to deal with sweatshop issues.²

Blackspot: The Antibrand Brand

Adbusters, a publication devoted to reducing advertising’s influence on global culture, added action to its criticisms of Nike by creating its own shoe. Manufactured in union shops, Blackspot shoes contain recycled tire rubber and hemp fabric. The Blackspot logo is a simple round dot that looks like it has been scribbled with white paint, as if a typical logo had been covered over. The shoes also include a symbolic red dot on the toe with which to kick Nike. Blackspot shoes use the Nike brand to create their own antibrand, symbolizing progressive labor reform and environmentally sustainable business practices (New York Times, 2004).

Figure 12.16

Blackspot shoes developed as an antibrand alternative to regular sneakers.

Geoff Stearns - Black spot sneakers - CC BY 2.0.

Relationship With Politics and Government

Politics and PR have gone hand in hand since the dawn of political activity. Politicians communicate with their constituents and make their message known using PR strategies. An early example of political PR that followed the publicity model is Benjamin Franklin’s trip as US ambassador to France during the American Revolution. At the time of his trip, Franklin was an international celebrity, and the fashionable society of Paris celebrated his arrival; his choice of a symbolic American-style fur cap immediately inspired a new style of women’s wigs. Franklin also took a printing press with him to produce leaflets and publicity notices that circulated through Paris’s intellectual and fashionable circles. Such PR efforts eventually led to a treaty with France that helped the colonists win their freedom from Great Britain (Isaacson, 2003).

A recent and notable Canadian political PR effort is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's daily press conferences during the COVID-19 pandemic (a mix of crisis communication, issues management, and publicity). The photogenic Trudeau has combined his strength in public speaking and projection of empathy  (though not in making occasional gaffes e.g. "Speaking Moistly") with the medium of daily live video press conferences to help his government dominate the airwaves, and be seen as taking action, thereby bolstering his government's reputation in the eyes of voters, and improving its future election prospects.

Lobbyists also attempt to influence public policy using PR campaigns. In 2013, I worked with the Coastal First Nations to produce a television and online ad campaign to sensitize viewers to the dangers of an oil spill. The Coastal First Nations were actively opposing the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline which would bring oil tankers to the north coast of British Columbia, and were seeking to sway the federal government to cancel the project. Using archival footage of the Exxon Valdez oil spill from the Alaskan government archives, and pairing it with an iconic song from Simon & Garfunkel (The Sound of Silence). We created a commercial that visualized the horrors of an oil spill and connected with our target audience (baby boomers). The message was this is the sounds of an oil spills (silence) after marine life and ocean-dependent industries are closed. The ad racked up significant views on YouTube, but even more significantly, earned additional media coverage from television, newspapers, radio, and social media, helping us to reach a much larger audience on our small budget. The Globe and Mail called it a "hit" and it won an award. 

Key Takeaways

• The four models of PR include traditional publicity, public information, persuasive communication, and two-way symmetrical models.
• PR campaigns begin with a research phase, develop objectives during a strategy phase, formulate ways to meet objectives during the tactics phase, and assess the proposed campaign during the evaluation phase.
• Branding focuses on the lifestyles and values inherent in a brand’s image as opposed to the products that are manufactured. It can be quickly undone by PR crises such as the BP oil spill.
• PR has always been an important part of political campaigning and activity. In recent years, branding has become an important part of national political campaigns.

¹Theaker, 7. ²Klein, 366.

References

Alberts, Sheldon. “Brand Obama,” Financial Post, January 17, 2009, http://www.financialpost.com/m/story.html?id=1191405. Associated Press, “Blackwater Ditches Tarnished Brand Name,” USA Today, February 13, 2009, http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2009-02-13-blackwater_N.htm. Associated Press, “Cheney Hunting Accident Seen as P.R. Disaster,” MSNBC, February 16, 2006, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11396608/ns/politics/. Atkin, Douglas. interview, Frontline, PBS, February 2, 2004, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/interviews/atkin.html. BBC World, “Taco Bell Cashes in on Mir,” March 20, 2001, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1231447.stm. Bernstein, Sharon. “Toyota faces a massive marketing challenge,” Los Angeles Times, February 9, 2010, http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/09/business/la-fi-toyota-marketing10-2010feb10. Dictionary.com, s.v. “Propaganda,” http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/propaganda. Entine, Jon. “Queen of Green Roddick’s ‘Unfair Trade’ Started When She Copied Body Shop Formula,” Daily Mail (London), September 15, 2007, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-482012/Queen-Green-Roddicks-unfair-trade-started-copied-Body-Shop-formula.html. Grunig, James E. and Todd Hunt, Managing Public Relations, 1984 (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing). Isaacson, Walter. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003), 325–349. Kiley, David. “How Will Bill Clinton Manage His Brand?” BusinessWeek, June 10, 2008, analysishttp://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jun2008/db2008069_046398.htm. New York Times, “Nat Ives, “Anti-Ad Group Tries Advertising,” New York Times, September 21, 2004, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/21/business/media/21adco.html. Parsons, Patricia. Ethics in Public Relations (Sterling, VA: Chartered Institute of Public Relations, 2005), 7. Reid, Stuart. “The Diamond Myth,” Atlantic, http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/12/the-diamond-myth/5491/. Ries, Al and Laura Ries, The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR (New York: HarperBusiness, 2004), 90. Roberts, Kevin. interview, Frontline, PBS, December 15, 2003, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/interviews/roberts.html. Saffir, Leonard. Power Public Relations: How to Master the New PR (Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Contemporary, 2000), 77–88. Smith, Ronald. Strategic Planning for Public Relations (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum Associates, 2002), 9–11. Solman, Gregory. “BP: Coloring Public Opinion?” Adweek, January 14, 2008, 1http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/strategy/e3i9ec32f006d17a91cd72d6192b9f7599a. Stauber, John and Sheldon Rampton, Toxic Sludge is Good for You! (Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 1995), 105–119. Theaker, Alison. The Public Relations Handbook (Oxfordshire, England: Routledge, 2004), 4.]]> 297 319 1 0 ]]> ]]> https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-1-sentence-writing/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 04:25:16 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-1-sentence-writing/

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the components of a basic sentence.
2. Identify the four most serious writing errors.

Imagine you are reading a book for school. You need to find important details that you can use for an assignment. However, when you begin to read, you notice that the book has very little punctuation. Sentences fail to form complete paragraphs and instead form one block of text without clear organization. Most likely, this book would frustrate and confuse you. Without clear and concise sentences, it is difficult to find the information you need.

For both students and public relations professionals, clear communication is important. Whether you are typing an e-mail or writing a news release, it is your responsibility to present thoughts and ideas clearly and precisely. Writing in complete sentences is one way to ensure that you communicate well. This section covers how to recognize and write basic sentence structures and how to avoid some common writing errors.

Components of a Sentence

Clearly written, complete sentences require key information: a subject, a verb and a complete idea. A sentence needs to make sense on its own. Sometimes, complete sentences are also called independent clauses. A clause is a group of words that may make up a sentence. An independent clause is a group of words that may stand alone as a complete, grammatically correct thought. The following sentences show independent clauses.

All complete sentences have at least one independent clause. You can identify an independent clause by reading it on its own and looking for the subject and the verb.

Subjects

When you read a sentence, you may first look for the subject, or what the sentence is about. The subject usually appears at the beginning of a sentence as a noun or a pronoun. A noun is a word that identifies a person, place, thing, or idea. A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun. Common pronouns are I, he, she, it, you, they, and we. In the following sentences, the subject is underlined once.

Malik is the project manager for this project. He will give us our assignments.

In these sentences, the subject is a person: Malik. The pronoun He replaces and refers back to Malik.

The computer lab is where we will work. It will be open twenty-four hours a day.

In the first sentence, the subject is a place: computer lab. In the second sentence, the pronoun It substitutes for computer lab as the subject.

The project will run for three weeks. It will have a quick turnaround.

In the first sentence, the subject is a thing: project. In the second sentence, the pronoun It stands in for the project.

Tip

In this chapter, please refer to the following grammar key:

Subjects are underlined once. Verbs are underlined twice. LV means linking verb, HV means helping verb, and V means action verb.

Compound Subjects

A sentence may have more than one person, place, or thing as the subject. These subjects are called compound subjects. Compound subjects are useful when you want to discuss several subjects at once.

Desmond and Maria have been working on that design for almost a year. Books, magazines, and online articles are all good resources.

Prepositional Phrases

You will often read a sentence that has more than one noun or pronoun in it. You may encounter a group of words that includes a preposition with a noun or a pronoun. Prepositions connect a noun, pronoun, or verb to another word that describes or modifies that noun, pronoun, or verb. Common prepositions include in, on, under, near, by, with, and about. A group of words that begin with a preposition is called a prepositional phrase. A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and modifies or describes a word. It cannot act as the subject of a sentence. The following circled phrases are examples of prepositional phrases.

Exercise 1

Read the following sentences. Underline the subjects, and circle the prepositional phrases.

1. The gym is open until nine o’clock tonight.
2. We went to the store to get some ice.
3. The student with the most extra credit will win a prize.
4. Maya and Tia found an abandoned cat by the side of the road.
5. The driver of that pickup truck skidded on the ice.
6. Anita won the race with time to spare.
7. The people who work for that company were surprised about the merger.
8. Working in haste means that you are more likely to make mistakes.
9. The soundtrack has over sixty songs in languages from around the world.
10. His latest invention does not work, but it has inspired the rest of us.

Verbs

Once you locate the subject of a sentence, you can move on to the next part of a complete sentence: the verb. A verb is often an action word that shows what the subject is doing. A verb can also link the subject to a describing word. There are three types of verbs that you can use in a sentence: action verbs, linking verbs, or helping verbs.

Action Verbs

A verb that connects the subject to an action is called an action verb. An action verb answers the question what is the subject doing? In the following sentences, the action verbs are in italics.

The dog barked at the jogger. He gave a short speech before we ate.

Linking Verbs

A verb can often connect the subject of the sentence to a describing word. This type of verb is called a linking verb because it links the subject to a describing word. In the following sentences, the linking verbs are in italics.

The coat was old and dirty. The clock seemed broken.

If you have trouble telling the difference between action verbs and linking verbs, remember that an action verb shows that the subject is doing something, whereas a linking verb simply connects the subject to another word that describes or modifies the subject. A few verbs can be used as either action verbs or linking verbs.

Action Verb: The boy looked for his glove. Linking Verb: The boy looked tired.

Although both sentences use the same verb, the two sentences have completely different meanings. In the first sentence, the verb describes the boy’s action. In the second sentence, the verb describes the boy’s appearance.

Helping Verbs

A third type of verb you may use as you write is a helping verb. Helping verbs are verbs that are used with the main verb to describe a mood or tense. Helping verbs are usually a form of be, do, or have. The word can is also used as a helping verb.

The restaurant is known for its variety of dishes. She does speak up when prompted in class. We have seen that movie three times. She can tell when someone walks on her lawn. (is, does, have, and can are helping verbs and known, speak up, seen, and tell are verbs)

Tip

Whenever you write or edit sentences, keep the subject and verb in mind. As you write, ask yourself these questions to keep yourself on track:

Subject: Who or what is the sentence about?

Verb: Which word shows an action or links the subject to a description?

Sentence Structure, Including Fragments and Run-ons

Now that you know what makes a complete sentence—a subject and a verb—you can use other parts of speech to build on this basic structure. Good writers use a variety of sentence structures to make their work more interesting. This section covers different sentence structures that you can use to make longer, more complex sentences.

Sentence Patterns

Six basic subject-verb patterns can enhance your writing. A sample sentence is provided for each pattern. As you read each sentence, take note of where each part of the sentence falls. Notice that some sentence patterns use action verbs and others use linking verbs.

Subject–Verb

Computers (subject) hum (verb)

Subject–Linking Verb–Noun

Computers (subject) are (linking verb) tools (noun)

Subject–Linking Verb–Adjective

Computers (subject) are (linking verb) expensive (adjective)

Subject–Verb–Adverb

Computers (subject) calculate (verb) quickly (adverb)

Subject–Verb–Direct Object

When you write a sentence with a direct object (DO), make sure that the DO receives the action of the verb.

Sally (subject) rides (verb) a motorcycle (direct object)

Subject–Verb–Indirect Object–Direct Object

In this sentence structure, an indirect object explains to whom or to what the action is being done. The indirect object is a noun or pronoun, and it comes before the direct object in a sentence.

My coworker (subject) gave (verb) me (indirect object) the reports (direct object)

Exercise 2

Use what you have learned so far to bring variety in your writing. Use the following lines or your own sheet of paper to write six sentences that practice each basic sentence pattern. When you have finished, label each part of the sentence (S, V, LV, N, Adj, Adv, DO, IO).

1. ________________________________________________________________
2. ________________________________________________________________
3. ________________________________________________________________
4. ________________________________________________________________
5. ________________________________________________________________
6. ________________________________________________________________

Collaboration

Find an article in a newspaper, a magazine, or online that interests you. Bring it to class or post it online. Then, looking at a classmate’s article, identify one example of each part of a sentence (S, V, LV, N, Adj, Adv, DO, IO). Please share or post your results.

Fragments

The sentences you have encountered so far have been independent clauses. As you look more closely at your past writing assignments, you may notice that some of your sentences are not complete. A sentence that is missing a subject or a verb is called a fragment. A fragment may include a description or may express part of an idea, but it does not express a complete thought.

Fragment: Children helping in the kitchen.

Complete sentence: Children helping in the kitchen often make a mess.

You can easily fix a fragment by adding the missing subject or verb. In the example, the sentence was missing a verb. Adding often make a mess creates an S-V-N sentence structure.

Figure 2.1 Editing Fragments That Are Missing a Subject or a Verb

See whether you can identify what is missing in the following fragments.

Fragment: Told her about the broken vase.

Complete sentence: I told her about the broken vase.

Fragment: The store down on Main Street.

Complete sentence: The store down on Main Street sells music.

Common Sentence Errors

Fragments often occur because of some common error, such as starting a sentence with a preposition, a dependent word, an infinitive, or a gerund. If you use the six basic sentence patterns when you write, you should be able to avoid these errors and thus avoid writing fragments.

When you see a preposition, check to see that it is part of a sentence containing a subject and a verb. If it is not connected to a complete sentence, it is a fragment, and you will need to fix this type of fragment by combining it with another sentence. You can add the prepositional phrase to the end of the sentence. If you add it to the beginning of the other sentence, insert a comma after the prepositional phrase.

Figure 2.2 Editing Fragments That Begin with a Preposition

Example A

Incorrect: After walking over two miles. John remembered his wallet. Correct: After walking over two miles, John remembered his wallet. Correct: John remembered his wallet After after walking over two miles.

Example B

Incorrect: The dog growled at the vacuum cleaner. When it was switched on. Correct: When the vacuum cleaner was switched on, the dog growled. Correct: The dog growled at the vacuum cleaner When when it was switched on.

Clauses that start with a dependent word—such as since, because, without, or unless—are similar to prepositional phrases. Like prepositional phrases, these clauses can be fragments if they are not connected to an independent clause containing a subject and a verb. To fix the problem, you can add such a fragment to the beginning or end of a sentence. If the fragment is added at the beginning of a sentence, add a comma.

Incorrect: Because we lost power. The entire family overslept. Correct: Because we lost power, the entire family overslept. Correct: The entire family overslept Because because we lost power.

Incorrect: He has been seeing a physical therapist. Since his accident. Correct: Since his accident, he has been seeing a physical therapist. Correct: He has been seeing a physical therapist Since since his accident.

When you encounter a word ending in -ing in a sentence, identify whether or not this word is used as a verb in the sentence. You may also look for a helping verb. If the word is not used as a verb or if no helping verb is used with the -ing verb form, the verb is being used as a noun. An -ing verb form used as a noun is called a gerund.

Verb: I was (helping verb) working (verb) on homework until midnight. Noun: Working until midnight makes me tired the next morning.

Once you know whether the -ing word is acting as a noun or a verb, look at the rest of the sentence. Does the entire sentence make sense on its own? If not, what you are looking at is a fragment. You will need to either add the parts of speech that are missing or combine the fragment with a nearby sentence.

Figure 2.3 Editing Fragments That Begin with Gerunds

Incorrect: Taking deep breaths. Saul prepared for his presentation.

Correct: Taking deep breaths, Saul prepared for his presentation.

Correct: Saul prepared for his presentation. He was taking deep breaths.

Incorrect: Congratulating the entire team. Sarah raised her glass to toast their success.

Correct: She was congratulating the entire team. Sarah raised her glass to toast their success.

Correct: Congratulating the entire team, Sarah raised her glass to toast their success.

Another error in sentence construction is a fragment that begins with an infinitive. An infinitive is a verb paired with the word to; for example, to run, to write, or to reach. Although infinitives are verbs, they can be used as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. You can correct a fragment that begins with an infinitive by either combining it with another sentence or adding the parts of speech that are missing.

Incorrect: We needed to make three hundred more paper cranes. To reach the one thousand mark.

Correct: We needed to make three hundred more paper cranes to reach the one thousand mark.

Correct: We needed to make three hundred more paper cranes. We wanted to reach the one thousand mark.

Exercise 3

Copy the following sentences onto your own sheet of paper and circle the fragments. Then combine the fragment with the independent clause to create a complete sentence.

1. Working without taking a break. We try to get as much work done as we can in an hour.
2. I needed to bring work home. In order to meet the deadline.
3. Unless the ground thaws before spring break. We won’t be planting any tulips this year.
4. Turning the lights off after he is done in the kitchen. Robert tries to conserve energy whenever possible.
5. You’ll find what you need if you look. On the shelf next to the potted plant.
6. To find the perfect apartment. Deidre scoured the classifieds each day.

Run-on Sentences

Just as short, incomplete sentences can be problematic, lengthy sentences can be problematic too. Sentences with two or more independent clauses that have been incorrectly combined are known as run-on sentences. A run-on sentence may be either a fused sentence or a comma splice.

Fused sentence: A family of foxes lived under our shed young foxes played all over the yard.

Comma splice: We looked outside, the kids were hopping on the trampoline.

When two complete sentences are combined into one without any punctuation, the result is a fused sentence. When two complete sentences are joined by a comma, the result is a comma splice. Both errors can easily be fixed.

Figure 2.4 Is Your Sentence a Run-on?  

Punctuation

One way to correct run-on sentences is to correct the punctuation. For example, adding a period will correct the run-on by creating two separate sentences.

Run-on: There were no seats left, we had to stand in the back. Correct: There were no seats left. we We had to stand in the back.

Using a semicolon between the two complete sentences will also correct the error. A semicolon allows you to keep the two closely related ideas together in one sentence. When you punctuate with a semicolon, make sure that both parts of the sentence are independent clauses.

Run-on: The accident closed both lanes of traffic we waited an hour for the wreckage to be cleared.

Complete sentence: The accident closed both lanes of traffic; we waited an hour for the wreckage to be cleared.

When you use a semicolon to separate two independent clauses, you may wish to add a transition word to show the connection between the two thoughts. After the semicolon, add the transition word and follow it with a comma.

Run-on: The project was put on hold we didn’t have time to slow down, so we kept working.

Complete sentence: The project was put on hold; however, we didn’t have time to slow down, so we kept working.

Coordinating Conjunctions

You can also fix run-on sentences by adding a comma and a coordinating conjunction. A coordinating conjunction acts as a link between two independent clauses.

Tip

These are the seven coordinating conjunctions that you can use: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. Use these words appropriately when you want to link the two independent clauses. The acronym FANBOYS will help you remember this group of coordinating conjunctions.

Run-on: The new printer was installed, no one knew how to use it.

Complete sentence: The new printer was installed, but no one knew how to use it.

Dependent Words

Adding dependent words is another way to link independent clauses. Like the coordinating conjunctions, dependent words show a relationship between two independent clauses.

Run-on: We took the elevator, the others still got there before us.

Complete sentence: Although we took the elevator, the others got there before us.

Run-on: Cobwebs covered the furniture, the room hadn’t been used in years.

Complete sentence: Cobwebs covered the furniture because the room hadn’t been used in years.

Writing at Work

Figure 2.5 Sample e-mail

Isabelle’s e-mail opens with two fragments and two run-on sentences containing comma splices. The e-mail ends with another fragment. What effect would this e-mail have on Mr. Blankenship or other readers? Mr. Blankenship or other readers may not think highly of Isaebelle’s communication skills or—worse—may not understand the message at all! Communications written in precise, complete sentences are not only more professional but also easier to understand. Before you hit the “send” button, read your e-mail carefully to make sure that the sentences are complete, are not run together, and are correctly punctuated.

Exercise 4

A reader can get lost or lose interest in material that is too dense and rambling. Use what you have learned about run-on sentences to correct the following passages:

1. The report is due on Wednesday but we’re flying back from Miami that morning. I told the project manager that we would be able to get the report to her later that day she suggested that we come back a day early to get the report done and I told her we had meetings until our flight took off. We e-mailed our contact who said that they would check with his boss, she said that the project could afford a delay as long as they wouldn’t have to make any edits or changes to the file our new deadline is next Friday.
2. Anna tried getting a reservation at the restaurant, but when she called they said that there was a waiting list so she put our names down on the list when the day of our reservation arrived we only had to wait thirty minutes because a table opened up unexpectedly which was good because we were able to catch a movie after dinner in the time we’d expected to wait to be seated.
3. Without a doubt, my favorite artist is Leonardo da Vinci, not because of his paintings but because of his fascinating designs, models, and sketches, including plans for scuba gear, a flying machine, and a life-size mechanical lion that actually walked and moved its head. His paintings are beautiful too, especially when you see the computer enhanced versions researchers use a variety of methods to discover and enhance the paintings’ original colors, the result of which are stunningly vibrant and yet delicate displays of the man’s genius.

Key Takeaways

• A sentence is complete when it contains both a subject and verb. A complete sentence makes sense on its own.
• Every sentence must have a subject, which usually appears at the beginning of the sentence. A subject may be a noun (a person, place, or thing) or a pronoun.
• A compound subject contains more than one noun.
• A prepositional phrase describes, or modifies, another word in the sentence but cannot be the subject of a sentence.
• A verb is often an action word that indicates what the subject is doing. Verbs may be action verbs, linking verbs, or helping verbs.
• Variety in sentence structure and length improves writing by making it more interesting and more complex.
• Focusing on the six basic sentence patterns will enhance your writing.
• Fragments and run-on sentences are two common errors in sentence construction.
• Fragments can be corrected by adding a missing subject or verb. Fragments that begin with a preposition or a dependent word can be corrected by combining the fragment with another sentence.
• Run-on sentences can be corrected by adding appropriate punctuation or adding a coordinating conjunction.

]]> 360 352 1 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-2-subject-verb-agreement/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 04:32:49 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-2-subject-verb-agreement/

Learning Objectives

1. Define subject-verb agreement.
2. Identify common errors in subject-verb agreement.

In the workplace and especially in public relations, you want to present a professional image. Grammatical mistakes in your writing or even in speaking can make a negative impression on coworkers, clients, and potential employers. Subject-verb agreement is one of the most common errors that people make. Having a solid understanding of this concept is critical when making a good impression, and it will help ensure that your ideas are communicated clearly.

Agreement

Agreement in speech and in writing refers to the proper grammatical match between words and phrases. Parts of sentences must agree, or correspond with other parts, in number, person, case, and preferred pronouns (e.g. they, he, she).

• Number. All parts must match in singular or plural forms.
• Person. All parts must match in first person (I), second person (you), or third person (he, she, it, they) forms.
• Case. All parts must match in subjective (I, you, he, she, it, they, we), objective (me, her, him, them, us), or possessive (my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, their, theirs, our, ours) forms. For more information on pronoun case agreement, see Section 2.5.1 "Pronoun Agreement".
• Gender. All parts must match the preferred pronouns of the people being written about. APA Style recently welcomed the use of singular "they."

Subject-verb agreement describes the proper match between subjects and verbs.

Because subjects and verbs are either singular or plural, the subject of a sentence and the verb of a sentence must agree with each other in number. That is, a singular subject belongs with a singular verb form, and a plural subject belongs with a plural verb form. For more information on subjects and verbs, see Section 2.1 "Sentence Writing".

Singular: The cat jumps over the fence. Plural: The cats jump over the fence.

Regular Verbs

Regular verbs follow a predictable pattern. For example, in the third person singular, regular verbs always end in -s. Other forms of regular verbs do not end in -s. Study the following regular verb forms in the present tense. Please note that "they" can be used in either a singular or plural form depending on context.

	Singular Form	Plural Form
First Person	I live.	We live.
Second Person	You live.	You live.
Third Person	He/She/They/It lives.	They live.

Singular: I read every day. Plural: We read every day.

In these sentences, the verb form stays the same for the first person singular and the first person plural.

Singular: You stretch before you go to bed. Plural: You stretch before every game.

In these sentences, the verb form stays the same for the second person singular and the second person plural. In the singular form, the pronoun you refers to one person. In the plural form, the pronoun you refers to a group of people, such as a team.

Singular: My mother walks to work every morning.

In this sentence, the subject is mother. Because the sentence only refers to one mother, the subject is singular. The verb in this sentence must be in the third person singular form.

Plural: My friends like the same music as I do.

In this sentence, the subject is friends. Because this subject refers to more than one person, the subject is plural. The verb in this sentence must be in the third person plural form.

Tip

Many singular subjects can be made plural by adding an -s. Most regular verbs in the present tense end with an -s in the third person singular. This does not make the verbs plural.

Singular subject, singular verb: The cat races across the yard. Plural subject, plural verb: The cats race across the yard.

Exercise 1

On your own sheet of paper, write the correct verb form for each of the following sentences.

1. I (brush/brushes) my teeth twice a day.
2. You (wear/wears) the same shoes every time we go out.
3. She (kick/kicks) the soccer ball into the goal.
4. They (watch/watches) foreign films.
5. Catherine (hide/hides) behind the door.
6. We (want/wants) to have dinner with you.
7. You (work/works) together to finish the project.
8. They (need/needs) to score another point to win the game.
9. It (eat/eats) four times a day.
10. David (fix/fixes) his own motorcycle.

Irregular Verbs

Not all verbs follow a predictable pattern. These verbs are called irregular verbs. Some of the most common irregular verbs are be, have, and do. Learn the forms of these verbs in the present tense to avoid errors in subject-verb agreement.

Be

Study the different forms of the verb to be in the present tense. As per APA Style, please note that, "...when "they" is the subject of a sentence, "they" takes the plural form regardless of whether "they" is is meant to be singular or plural."

	Singular Form	Plural Form
First Person	I am.	We are.
Second Person	You are.	You are.
Third Person	He/She/They are/It is.	They are.

Have

Study the different forms of the verb to have in the present tense.

	Singular Form	Plural Form
First Person	I have.	We have.
Second Person	You have.	You have.
Third Person	He/She/They have/It has.	They have.

Do

Study the different forms of the verb to do in the present tense.

	Singular Form	Plural Form
First Person	I do.	We do.
Second Person	You do.	You do.
Third person	He/She/They do/It does.	They do.

Exercise 2

Complete the following sentences by writing the correct present tense form of be, have, or do. Use your own sheet of paper to complete this exercise.

1. I ________ sure that you will succeed.
2. They ________ front-row tickets to the show.
3. He ________ a great Elvis impersonation.
4. We ________ so excited to meet you in person!
5. She ________ a fever and a sore throat.
6. You ________ not know what you are talking about.
7. You ________ all going to pass this class.
8. She ________ not going to like that.
9. It ________ appear to be the right size.
10. They ________ ready to take this job seriously.

Errors in Subject-Verb Agreement

Errors in subject-verb agreement may occur when

• a sentence contains a compound subject;
• the subject of the sentence is separate from the verb;
• the subject of the sentence is an indefinite pronoun, such as anyone or everyone;
• the subject of the sentence is a collective noun, such as team or organization;
• the subject appears after the verb.

Recognizing the sources of common errors in subject-verb agreement will help you avoid these errors in your writing. This section covers the subject-verb agreement errors in more detail.

Compound Subjects

A compound subject is formed by two or more nouns and the coordinating conjunctions and, or, or nor. A compound subject can be made of singular subjects, plural subjects, or a combination of singular and plural subjects.

Compound subjects combined with and take a plural verb form.

Two singular subjects: Alicia and Miguel ride their bikes to the beach. Two plural subjects: The girls and the boys ride their bikes to the beach. Singular and plural subjects: Alicia and the boys ride their bikes to the beach.

Compound subjects combined with or and nor are treated separately. The verb must agree with the subject that is nearest to the verb.

Two singular subjects: Neither Elizabeth nor Rianna wants to eat at that restaurant. Two plural subjects: Neither the kids nor the adults want to eat at that restaurant. Singular and plural subjects: Neither Elizabeth nor the kids want to eat at that restaurant. Plural and singular subjects: Neither the kids nor Elizabeth wants to eat at that restaurant.

Two singular subjects: Either you or Jason takes the furniture out of the garage. Two plural subjects: Either you or the twins take the furniture out of the garage. Singular and plural subjects: Either Jason or the twins take the furniture out of the garage. Plural and singular subjects: Either the twins or Jason takes the furniture out of the garage.

Tip

If you can substitute the word they for the compound subject, then the sentence takes the third person plural verb form.

Separation of Subjects and Verbs

As you read or write, you may come across a sentence that contains a phrase or clause that separates the subject from the verb. Often, prepositional phrases or dependent clauses add more information to the sentence and appear between the subject and the verb. However, the subject and the verb must still agree.

If you have trouble finding the subject and verb, cross out or ignore the phrases and clauses that begin with prepositions or dependent words. The subject of a sentence will never be in a prepositional phrase or dependent clause.

The following is an example of a subject and verb separated by a prepositional phrase:

The students with the best grades win the academic awards. The puppy under the table is my favorite.

The following is an example of a subject and verb separated by a dependent clause:

The car that I bought has power steering and a sunroof. The representatives who are courteous sell the most tickets.

Indefinite Pronouns

Indefinite pronouns refer to an unspecified person, thing, or number. When an indefinite pronoun serves as the subject of a sentence, you will often use a singular verb form.

However, keep in mind that exceptions arise. Some indefinite pronouns may require a plural verb form. To determine whether to use a singular or plural verb with an indefinite pronoun, consider the noun that the pronoun would refer to. If the noun is plural, then use a plural verb with the indefinite pronoun. View the chart to see a list of common indefinite pronouns and the verb forms they agree with.

Indefinite Pronouns That Always Take a Singular Verb	Indefinite Pronouns That Can Take a Singular or Plural Verb
anybody, anyone, anything	All
each	Any
everybody, everyone, everything	None
much	Some
many
nobody, no one, nothing
somebody, someone, something

Singular: Everybody in the kitchen sings along when that song comes on the radio.

The indefinite pronoun everybody takes a singular verb form because everybody refers to a group performing the same action as a single unit.

Plural: All the people in the kitchen sing along when that song comes on the radio.

The indefinite pronoun all takes a plural verb form because all refers to the plural noun people. Because people is plural, all is plural.

Singular: All the cake is on the floor.

In this sentence, the indefinite pronoun all takes a singular verb form because all refers to the singular noun cake. Because cake is singular, all is singular.

Collective Nouns

A collective noun is a noun that identifies more than one person, place, or thing and considers those people, places, or things one singular unit. Because collective nouns are counted as one, they are singular and require a singular verb. Some commonly used collective nouns are group, team, army, flock, family, and class.

Singular: The class is going on a field trip.

In this sentence, class is a collective noun. Although the class consists of many students, the class is treated as a singular unit and requires a singular verb form.

The Subject Follows the Verb

You may encounter sentences in which the subject comes after the verb instead of before the verb. In other words, the subject of the sentence may not appear where you expect it to appear. To ensure proper subject-verb agreement, you must correctly identify the subject and the verb.

Here or There

In sentences that begin with here or there, the subject follows the verb.

Here is my wallet! There are thirty dolphins in the water.

If you have trouble identifying the subject and the verb in sentences that start with here or there; it may help to reverse the order of the sentence so the subject comes first.

My wallet is here! Thirty dolphins are in the water.

Questions

When you ask questions, a question word (who, what, where, when, why, or how) appears first. The verb and then the subject follow.

Who are the people you are related to? When am I going to go to the grocery store?

Tip

If you have trouble finding the subject and the verb in questions, try answering the question being asked.

When am I going to the grocery store? I am going to the grocery store tonight!

Exercise 3

Correct the errors in subject-verb agreement in the following sentences. If there are no errors in subject-verb agreement, write OK. Copy the corrected sentence or the word OK on your own sheet of notebook paper.

1. My dog and cats chases each other all the time.

   ________________________________________________________________

2. The books that are in my library is the best I have ever read.

   ________________________________________________________________

3. Everyone are going to the concert except me.

   ________________________________________________________________

4. My family are moving to California.

   ________________________________________________________________

5. Here is the lake I told you about.

   ________________________________________________________________

6. There is the newspapers I was supposed to deliver.

   ________________________________________________________________

7. Which room is bigger?

   ________________________________________________________________

8. When are the movie going to start?

   ________________________________________________________________

9. My sister and brother cleans up after themselves.

   ________________________________________________________________

10. Some of the clothes is packed away in the attic.

    ________________________________________________________________

Exercise 4

Correct the errors in subject-verb agreement in the following paragraph. Copy the paragraph on a piece of notebook paper and make corrections.

Dear Hiring Manager, I feels that I am the ideal candidate for the receptionist position at your company. I has three years of experience as a receptionist in a company that is similar to yours. My phone skills and written communication is excellent. These skills, and others that I have learned on the job, helps me understand that every person in a company helps make the business a success. At my current job, the team always say that I am very helpful. Everyone appreciate when I go the extra mile to get the job done right. My current employer and coworkers feels that I am an asset to the team. I is efficient and organized. Is there any other details about me that you would like to know? If so, please contact me. Here are my résumé. You can reach me by e-mail or phone. I looks forward to speaking with you in person. Thanks, Felicia Fellini

Writing at Work

Figure 2.5 Advertisement

Imagine that you are a prospective client and that you saw this ad online. Would you call Terra Services to handle your next project? Probably not! Mistakes in subject-verb agreement can cost a company business. Paying careful attention to grammatical details ensures professionalism that clients will recognize and respect.

Key Takeaways

• Parts of sentences must agree in number, person, case, and preferred pronouns.
• A verb must always agree with its subject in number. A singular subject requires a singular verb; a plural subject requires a plural verb (an exception is the singular and plural subject uses of "they" which always use a plural verb form).
• Irregular verbs do not follow a predictable pattern in their singular and plural forms. Common irregular verbs are to be, to have, and to do.
• A compound subject is formed when two or more nouns are joined by the words and, or, or nor.
• In some sentences, the subject and verb may be separated by a phrase or clause, but the verb must still agree with the subject.
• Indefinite pronouns, such as anyone, each, everyone, many, no one, and something, refer to unspecified people or objects. Most indefinite pronouns are singular.
• A collective noun is a noun that identifies more than one person, place, or thing and treats those people, places, or things one singular unit. Collective nouns require singular verbs.
• In sentences that begin with here and there, the subject follows the verb.
• In questions, the subject follows the verb.

]]> 363 352 2 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-3-verb-tense/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 04:37:29 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-3-verb-tense/

Learning Objectives

1. Use the correct regular verb tense in basic sentences.
2. Use the correct irregular verb tense in basic sentences.

Suppose you must give an oral presentation about a conference you attended last fall. How do you make it clear that you are talking about the past and not about the present or the future? Using the correct verb tense can help you do this.

It is important to use the proper verb tense. Mistakes in tense can leave a listener or reader confused, or with an impression that your writing is less professional.

Regular Verbs

Verbs indicate actions or states of being in the past, present, or future using tenses. Regular verbs follow regular patterns when shifting from the present to past tense. For example, to form a past-tense or past-participle verb form, add -ed or -d to the end of a verb. You can avoid mistakes by understanding this basic pattern.

Verb tense identifies the time of action described in a sentence. Verbs take different forms to indicate different tenses. Verb tenses indicate

• an action or state of being in the present,
• an action or state of being in the past,
• an action or state of being in the future.

Helping verbs, such as be and have, also work to create verb tenses, such as the future tense.

Present Tense: Tim walks to the store. (Singular subject) Present Tense: Sue and Kimmy walk to the store. (Plural subject) Past Tense: Yesterday, they walked to the store to buy some bread. (Singular or plural subject) Future tense: Tim is going to walk to the store. (Singular subject)

Exercise 1

Complete the following sentences by selecting the correct form of the verb in simple present, simple past, or simple future tenses. Write the corrected sentence on your own sheet of paper.

1. The Dust Bowl (is, was, will be) a name given to a period of very destructive dust storms that occurred in the United States during the 1930s.
2. Historians today (consider, considered, will consider) The Dust Bowl to be one of the worst weather of events in American history.
3. The Dust Bowl mostly (affects, affected, will affect) the states of Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico.
4. Dust storms (continue, continued, will continue) to occur in these dry regions, but not to the devastating degree of the 1930s.
5. The dust storms during The Dust Bowl (cause, caused, will cause) irreparable damage to farms and the environment for a period of several years.
6. When early settlers (move, moved, will move) into this area, they (remove, removed, will remove) the natural prairie grasses in order to plant crops and graze their cattle.
7. They did not (realize, realized, will realize) that the grasses kept the soil in place.
8. There (is, was, will be) also a severe drought that (affects, affected, will affect) the region.
9. The worst dust storm (happens, happened, will happen) on April 14, 1935, a day called Black Sunday.
10. The Dust Bowl era finally came to end in 1939 when the rains (arrive, arrived, will arrive).
11. Dust storms (continue, continued, will continue) to affect the region, but hopefully they will not be as destructive as the storms of the 1930s.

Irregular Verbs

The past tense of irregular verbs is not formed using the patterns that regular verbs follow. Study Table 2.1 "Irregular Verbs", which lists the most common irregular verbs.

Tip

The best way to learn irregular verbs is to memorize them. With the help of a classmate, create flashcards of irregular verbs and test yourselves until you master them.

 

Table 2.1 Irregular Verbs

Simple Present	Past	Simple Present	Past
be	was, were	lose	lost
become	became	make	made
begin	began	mean	meant
blow	blew	meet	met
break	broke	pay	paid
bring	brought	put	put
build	built	quit	quit
burst	burst	read	read
buy	bought	ride	rode
catch	caught	ring	rang
choose	chose	rise	rose
come	came	run	ran
cut	cut	say	said
dive	dove (dived)	see	saw
do	did	seek	sought
draw	drew	sell	sold
drink	drank	send	sent
drive	drove	set	set
eat	ate	shake	shook
fall	fell	shine	shone (shined)
feed	fed	shrink	shrank (shrunk)
feel	felt	sing	sang
fight	fought	sit	sat
find	found	sleep	slept
fly	flew	speak	spoke
forget	forgot	spend	spent
forgive	forgave	spring	sprang
freeze	froze	stand	stood
get	got	steal	stole
give	gave	strike	struck
go	went	swim	swam
grow	grew	swing	swung
have	had	take	took
hear	heard	teach	taught
hide	hid	tear	tore
hold	held	tell	told
hurt	hurt	think	thought
keep	kept	throw	threw
know	knew	understand	understood
lay	laid	wake	woke
lead	led	wear	wore
leave	left	win	won
let	let	wind	wound

Here we consider using irregular verbs.

Present Tense: Lauren keeps all her letters. Past Tense: Lauren kept all her letters. Future Tense: Lauren will keep all her letters.

Exercise 2

Complete the following sentences by selecting the correct form of the irregular verb in simple present, simple past, or simple future tense. Copy the corrected sentence onto your own sheet of paper.

1. Marina finally (forgived, forgave, will forgive) her sister for snooping around her room.
2. The house (shook, shaked, shakes) as the airplane rumbled overhead.
3. I (buyed, bought, buy) several items of clothing at the thrift store on Wednesday.
4. She (put, putted, puts) the lotion in her shopping basket and proceeded to the checkout line.
5. The prized goose (layed, laid, lay) several golden eggs last night.
6. Mr. Batista (teached, taught, taughted) the class how to use correct punctuation.
7. I (drink, drank, will drink) several glasses of sparkling cider instead of champagne on New Year’s Eve next year.
8. Although Hector (growed, grew, grows) three inches in one year, we still called him “Little Hector.”
9. Yesterday our tour guide (lead, led, will lead) us through the maze of people in Times Square.
10. The rock band (burst, bursted, bursts) onto the music scene with their catchy songs.

Exercise 3

On your own sheet of paper, write a sentence using the correct form of the verb tense shown below.

1. Throw (past)
2. Paint (simple present)
3. Smile (future)
4. Tell (past)
5. Share (simple present)

Maintaining Consistent Verb Tense

Consistent verb tense means the same verb tense is used throughout a sentence or a paragraph. As you write and revise, it is important to use the same verb tense consistently and to avoid shifting from one tense to another unless there is a good reason for the tense shift. In the following box, see whether you notice the difference between a sentence with consistent tense and one with inconsistent tense.

Inconsistent tense: The crowd starts cheering as Melina approached the finish line. Consistent tense: The crowd started cheering as Melina approached the finish line. Consistent tense: The crowd starts cheering as Melina approaches the finish line.

Tip

In some cases, clear communication will call for different tenses. Look at the following example:

When I was a teenager, I wanted to be a fire fighter, but now I am studying computer science.

If the time frame for each action or state is different, a tense shift is appropriate.

Exercise 4

Edit the following paragraph by correcting the inconsistent verb tense. Copy the corrected paragraph onto your own sheet of paper.

In the Middle Ages, most people lived in villages and work as agricultural laborers, or peasants. Every village has a “lord,” and the peasants worked on his land. Much of what they produce go to the lord and his family. What little food was leftover goes to support the peasants’ families. In return for their labor, the lord offers them protection. A peasant’s day usually began before sunrise and involves long hours of backbreaking work, which includes plowing the land, planting seeds, and cutting crops for harvesting. The working life of a peasant in the Middle Ages is usually demanding and exhausting.

Writing at Work

Read the following excerpt from a work e-mail:

The inconsistent tense in the e-mail will very likely distract the reader from its overall point. Most likely, your coworkers will not correct your verb tenses or call attention to grammatical errors, but it is important to keep in mind that errors such as these can have a subtle negative impact on the perception of your professionalism in the workplace.

Key Takeaways

• Verb tense helps you express when an event takes place.
• Regular verbs follow regular patterns when shifting from present to past tense.
• Irregular verbs do not follow regular, predictable patterns when shifting from present to past tense.
• Using consistent verb tense is a key element to effective writing.

Writing Application

Tell a family story. You likely have several family stories to choose from, but pick the one that you find most interesting to write about. Use as many details as you can in the telling. As you write and proofread, make sure all of your verbs are correct and the tenses are consistent.

]]> 366 352 3 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-4-capitalization/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 04:40:51 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-4-capitalization/

Learning Objectives

1. Learn the basic rules of capitalization.
2. Identify common capitalization errors.

Text messages, casual e-mails, and instant messages often ignore the rules of capitalization. In fact, it can seem unnecessary to capitalize in these contexts. In other, more formal forms of communication, however, knowing the basic rules of capitalization and using capitalization correctly gives the reader the impression that you choose your words carefully and care about the ideas you are conveying.

Capitalize the First Word of a Sentence

Incorrect: the museum has a new butterfly exhibit. Correct: The museum has a new butterfly exhibit. Incorrect: cooking can be therapeutic. Correct: Cooking can be therapeutic.

Capitalize Proper Nouns

Proper nouns—the names of specific people, places, objects, streets, buildings, events, or titles of individuals—are always capitalized.

Incorrect: He grew up in harlem, new york. Correct: He grew up in Harlem, New York. Incorrect: The sears tower in chicago has a new name. Correct: The Sears Tower in Chicago has a new name.

Tip

Always capitalize nationalities, races, languages, and religions. For example, American, African American, Hispanic, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and so on.

Do not capitalize nouns for people, places, things, streets, buildings, events, and titles when the noun is used in general or common way. See the following chart for the difference between proper nouns and common nouns.

Common Noun	Proper Noun
museum	The Art Institute of Chicago
theater	Apollo Theater
country	Malaysia
uncle	Uncle Javier
doctor	Dr. Jackson
book	Pride and Prejudice
college	Smith College
war	the Spanish-American War
historical event	The Renaissance

Exercise 1

On your own sheet of paper, write five proper nouns for each common noun that is listed. The first one has been done for you.

Common noun: river

1. Nile River

Common noun: musician

Common noun: magazine

Collaboration

Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

Capitalize Days of the Week, Months of the Year, and Holidays

Incorrect: On wednesday, I will be traveling to Austin for a music festival. Correct: On Wednesday, I will be traveling to Austin for a music festival. Incorrect: The fourth of july is my favorite holiday. Correct: The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday.

Capitalize Titles

Incorrect: The play, fences, by August Wilson is one of my favorites. Correct: The play, Fences, by August Wilson is one of my favorites. Incorrect: The president of the united states will be speaking at my university. Correct: The President of the United States will be speaking at my university.

Tip

Computer-related words such as “Internet” and “World Wide Web” are usually capitalized; however, “e-mail” and “online” are never capitalized.

Exercise 2

Edit the following sentences by correcting the capitalization of the titles or names.

1. The prince of england enjoys playing polo.
2. “Ode to a nightingale” is a sad poem.
3. My sister loves to read magazines such as the new yorker.
4. The house on Mango street is an excellent novel written by Sandra Cisneros.
5. My physician, dr. alvarez, always makes me feel comfortable in her office.

Exercise 3

Edit the following paragraphs by correcting the capitalization.

david grann’s the lost City of Z mimics the snake-like winding of the amazon River. The three distinct Stories that are introduced are like twists in the River. First, the Author describes his own journey to the amazon in the present day, which is contrasted by an account of percy fawcett’s voyage in 1925 and a depiction of James Lynch’s expedition in 1996. Where does the river lead these explorers? the answer is one that both the Author and the reader are hungry to discover. The first lines of the preface pull the reader in immediately because we know the author, david grann, is lost in the amazon. It is a compelling beginning not only because it’s thrilling but also because this is a true account of grann’s experience. grann has dropped the reader smack in the middle of his conflict by admitting the recklessness of his decision to come to this place. the suspense is further perpetuated by his unnerving observation that he always considered himself A Neutral Witness, never getting personally involved in his stories, a notion that is swiftly contradicted in the opening pages, as the reader can clearly perceive that he is in a dire predicament—and frighteningly involved.

Writing at Work

Did you know that, if you use all capital letters to convey a message, the capital letters come across like SHOUTING? In addition, all capital letters are actually more difficult to read and may annoy the reader. To avoid “shouting” at or annoying your reader, follow the rules of capitalization and find other ways to emphasize your point.

Key Takeaways

• Learning and applying the basic rules of capitalization is a fundamental aspect of good writing.
• Identifying and correcting errors in capitalization is an important writing skill.

Writing Application

Write a one-page biography. Make sure to identify people, places, and dates and use capitalization correctly.

]]> 368 352 4 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-5-pronouns/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 04:48:56 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-5-pronouns/

Learning Objectives

1. Identify pronouns and their antecedents.
2. Use pronouns and their antecedents correctly.

If there were no pronouns, all types of writing would be quite tedious to read. We would soon be frustrated by reading sentences like Bob said that Bob was tired or Christina told the class that Christina received an A. Pronouns help a writer avoid constant repetition. Knowing just how pronouns work is an important aspect of clear and concise writing.

Pronoun Agreement

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of (or refers back to) a noun or another pronoun. The word or words a pronoun refers to is called the antecedent of the pronoun.

1. Lani complained that she was exhausted.

• She refers to Lani.
• Lani is the antecedent of she.

 

2. Jeremy left the party early, so I did not see him until Monday at work.

• Him refers to Jeremy.
• Jeremy is the antecedent of him.

3. Kai has a job interview tomorrow morning, so I hope they get some sleep (singular use of "they").

• They refers to Kai.
• Kai is the antecedent of they.

4. Crina and Rosalie have been best friends ever since they were in high school (plural use of "they").

• They refers to Crina and Rosalie.
• Crina and Rosalie is the antecedent of they.

 

Pronoun agreement errors occur when the pronoun and the antecedent do not match or agree with each other. There are several types of pronoun agreement.

Agreement in Person

	Singular Pronouns			Plural Pronouns
First Person	I	me	my (mine)	we	us	our (ours)
Second Person	you	you	your (yours)	you	you	your (your)
Third Person	he, she, they, it	him, her, they, it	his, her, their, its	they	them	their (theirs)

If you use a consistent person, your reader is less likely to be confused.

Incorrect: When a person (3rd) goes to a restaurant, you (2nd) should leave a tip. Correct: When a person (3rd) goes to a restaurant, they (3rd) should leave a tip. Correct: When we (1st) go to a restaurant, I should (1st) should leave a tip.

Indefinite Pronouns and Agreement

Indefinite pronouns do not refer to a specific person or thing and are usually singular. Note that a pronoun that refers to an indefinite singular pronoun should also be singular. The following are some common indefinite pronouns.

Common Indefinite Pronouns
all	each one	few	nothing	several
any	each other	many	one	some
anybody	either	neither	one another	somebody
anything	everybody	nobody	oneself	someone
both	everyone	none	other	something
each	everything	no one	others	anyone

Indefinite pronoun agreement Correct: Everyone (sing.) should do what they (sing.) can to help. Correct: Someone (sing.) left their (sing.) backpack in the library.

Collective Nouns

Collective nouns suggest more than one person but are usually considered singular. Look over the following examples of collective nouns.

Common Collective Nouns
audience	faculty	public
band	family	school
class	government	society
committee	group	team
company	jury	tribe

Collective noun agreement Incorrect: Lara's company (sing.) will have their (plur.) annual picnic next week. Correct: Lara's company (sing.) will have its (sing.) annual picnic next week.

Exercise 2

Complete the following sentences by selecting the correct pronoun. Copy the completed sentence onto your own sheet of paper. Then circle the noun the pronoun replaces.

1. In the current economy, nobody wants to waste ________ money on frivolous things.
2. If anybody chooses to go to medical school, ________ must be prepared to work long hours.
3. The plumbing crew did ________ best to repair the broken pipes before the next ice storm.
4. If someone is rude to you, try giving ________ a smile in return.
5. My family has ________ faults, but I still love them no matter what.
6. The school of education plans to train ________ students to be literacy tutors.
7. The commencement speaker said that each student has a responsibility toward ________.
8. My mother’s singing group has ________ rehearsals on Thursday evenings.
9. No one should suffer ________ pains alone.
10. I thought the flock of birds lost ________ way in the storm.

Subject and Object Pronouns

Subject pronouns function as subjects in a sentence. Object pronouns function as the object of a verb or of a preposition.

Singular Pronouns		Plural Pronouns
Subject	Object	Subject	Object
I	me	we	us
you	you	you	you
he, she, they, it	him, her, them, it	they	them

The following sentences show pronouns as subjects:

1. She loves the Blue Ridge Mountains in the fall.
2. Every summer, they picked up litter from national parks.

The following sentences show pronouns as objects:

1. Marie leaned over and kissed him.
2. Jane moved it to the corner.

Tip

Note that a pronoun can also be the object of a preposition.

Near them, the children played.

My mother stood between us.

The pronouns us and them are objects of the prepositions near and between. They answer the questions near whom? And between whom?

Key Takeaways

• Pronouns and their antecedents need to agree.
• Pronouns can function as subjects or objects.

]]> 370 352 5 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-6-adjectives-and-adverbs/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 04:51:05 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-6-adjectives-and-adverbs/

Learning Objectives

1. Identify adjectives and adverbs.
2. Use adjectives and adverbs correctly.

Adjectives and adverbs are descriptive words that bring your writing to life.

Adjectives and Adverbs

An adjective is a word that describes a noun or a pronoun. It often answers questions such as which one, what kind, or how many?

1. The green sweater belongs to Iris.

2. She looks beautiful.

• In sentence 1, the adjective green describes the noun sweater.
• In sentence 2, the adjective beautiful describes the pronoun she.

An adverb is a word that describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs frequently end in -ly. They answer questions such as how, to what extent, why, when, and where.

3. Bertrand sings horribly. 4. My sociology instructor is extremely wise.

5. He threw the ball very accurately.

• In sentence 3, horribly describes the verb sings. How does Bertrand sing? He sings horribly.
• In sentence 4, extremely describes the adjective wise. How wise is the instructor? Extremely wise.
• In sentence 5, very describes the adverb accurately. How accurately did he throw the ball? Very accurately.

Exercise 1

Complete the following sentences by adding an adjective or adverb as needed. Identify the word as an adjective or an adverb (Adj, Adv).

1. Sam ________ choked on the piece of chicken when he saw Sonja walk through the door.
2. His ________ eyes looked at everyone and everything as if they were specimens in a biology lab.
3. Despite her pessimistic views on life, Lauren believes that most people have ________ hearts.
4. Although Stefan took the criticism ________, he remained calm.
5. The child developed a ________ imagination because he read a lot of books.
6. Raj spoke ________ while he was visiting his grandmother in the hospital.
7. Shelby's most ________ possession was her father’s bass guitar from the 1970s.
8. My definition of a ________ afternoon is walking to the park on a beautiful day, spreading out my blanket, and losing myself in a good book.
9. At the party, Denise ________ devoured two pieces of pepperoni pizza and a several slices of ripe watermelon.

Comparative versus Superlative

Comparative adjectives and adverbs are used to compare two people or things.

1. Jorge is thin.

2. Steven is thinner than Jorge.

• Sentence 1 describes Jorge with the adjective thin.
• Sentence 2 compares Jorge to Steven, stating that Steven is thinner. So thinner is the comparative form of thin.

Form comparatives in one of the following two ways:

1. If the adjective or adverb is a one syllable word, add -er to it to form the comparative. For example, big, fast, and short would become bigger, faster, and shorter in the comparative form.
2. If the adjective or adverb is a word of two or more syllables, place the word more in front of it to form the comparative. For example, happily, comfortable, and jealous would become more happily, more comfortable, and more jealous in the comparative.

Superlative adjectives and adverbs are used to compare more than two people or two things.

1. Jackie is the loudest cheerleader on the squad.

2. Kenyatta was voted the most confident student by her graduating class.

• Sentence 1 shows that Jackie is not just louder than one other person, but she is the loudest of all the cheerleaders on the squad.
• Sentence 2 shows that Kenyatta was voted the most confident student of all the students in her class.

Form superlatives in one of the following two ways:

1. If the adjective or adverb is a one-syllable word, add -est to form the superlative. For example, big, fast, and short would become biggest, fastest, and shortest in the superlative form.
2. If the adjective or adverb is a word of two or more syllables, place the word most in front of it. For example, happily, comfortable, and jealous would become most happily, most comfortable, and most jealous in the superlative form.

Tip

Remember the following exception: If the word has two syllables and ends in -y, change the -y to an -i and add -est. For example, happy would change to happiest in the superlative form; healthy would change to healthiest.

Exercise 2

Edit the following paragraph by correcting the errors in comparative and superlative adjectives.

Our argument started on the most sunny afternoon that I have ever experienced. Max and I were sitting on my front stoop when I started it. I told him that my dog, Jacko, was more smart than his dog, Merlin. I could not help myself. Merlin never came when he was called, and he chased his tail and barked at rocks. I told Max that Merlin was the most dumbest dog on the block. I guess I was angrier about a bad grade that I received, so I decided to pick on poor little Merlin. Even though Max insulted Jacko too, I felt I had been more mean. The next day I apologized to Max and brought Merlin some of Jacko’s treats. When Merlin placed his paw on my knee and licked my hand, I was the most sorry person on the block.

Collaboration

Share and compare your answers with a classmate.

Irregular Words: Good, Well, Bad, and Badly

Good, well, bad, and badly are often used incorrectly. Study the following chart to learn the correct usage of these words and their comparative and superlative forms.

		Comparative	Superlative
Adjective	good	better	best
Adverb	well	better	best
Adjective	bad	worse	worst
Adverb	badly	worse	worst

Good versus Well

Good is always an adjective—that is, a word that describes a noun or a pronoun. The second sentence is correct because well is an adverb that tells how something is done.

Incorrect: Cecilia felt that she had never done so good on a test.

Correct: Cecilia felt that she had never done so well on a test.

Well is always an adverb that describes a verb, adverb, or adjective. The second sentence is correct because good is an adjective that describes the noun score.

Incorrect: Cecilia’s team received a well score.

Correct: Cecilia’s team received a good score.

Bad versus Badly

Bad is always an adjective. The second sentence is correct because badly is an adverb that tells how the speaker did on the test.

Incorrect: I did bad on my accounting test because I didn’t study.

Correct: I did badly on my accounting test because I didn’t study.

Badly is always an adverb. The second sentence is correct because bad is an adjective that describes the noun thunderstorm.

Incorrect: The coming thunderstorm looked badly.

Correct: The coming thunderstorm looked bad.

Better and Worse

The following are examples of the use of better and worse:

Tyra likes sprinting better than long distance running.

The traffic is worse in Chicago than in Atlanta.

Best and Worst

The following are examples of the use of best and worst:

Tyra sprints best of all the other competitors.

Peter finished worst of all the runners in the race.

Tip

Remember better and worse compare two persons or things. Best and worst compare three or more persons or things.

Exercise 3

Write good, well, bad, or badly to complete each sentence. Copy the completed sentence onto your own sheet of paper.

1. Donna always felt ________ if she did not see the sun in the morning.
2. The school board president gave a ________ speech for once.
3. Although my dog, Comet, is mischievous, he always behaves ________ at the dog park.
4. I thought my back injury was ________ at first, but it turned out to be minor.
5. Steve was shaking ________ from the extreme cold.
6. Apple crisp is a very ________ dessert that can be made using whole grains instead of white flour.
7. The meeting with my son’s math teacher went very ________.
8. Juan has a ________ appetite, especially when it comes to dessert.
9. Magritte thought the guests had a ________ time at the party because most people left early.
10. She ________ wanted to win the writing contest prize, which included a trip to New York.

Exercise 4

Write the correct comparative or superlative form of the word in parentheses. Copy the completed sentence onto your own sheet of paper.

1. This research paper is ________ (good) than my last one.
2. Tanaya likes country music ________ (well) of all.
3. My motorcycle rides ________ (bad) than it did last summer.
4. That is the ________ (bad) joke my father ever told.
5. The hockey team played ________ (badly) than it did last season.
6. Tracey plays guitar ________ (well) than she plays the piano.
7. It will go down as one of the ________ (bad) movies I have ever seen.
8. The deforestation in the Amazon is ________ (bad) than it was last year.
9. Movie ticket sales are ________ (good) this year than last.
10. My partner says mystery novels are the ________ (good) types of books.

Writing at Work

The irregular words good, well, bad, and badly are often misused along with their comparative and superlative forms better, best, worse, and worst. You may not hear the difference between worse and worst, and therefore type it incorrectly. In a formal or business-like tone, use each of these words to write eight separate sentences. Assume these sentences will be seen and judged by your current or future employer.

Key Takeaways

• Adjectives describe a noun or a pronoun.
• Adverbs describe a verb, adjective, or another adverb.
• Most adverbs are formed by adding -ly to an adjective.
• Comparative adjectives and adverbs compare two persons or things.
• Superlative adjectives or adverbs compare more than two persons or things.
• The adjectives good and bad and the adverbs well and badly are unique in their comparative and superlative forms and require special attention.

]]> 372 352 6 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-7-misplaced-and-dangling-modifiers/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 04:53:44 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-7-misplaced-and-dangling-modifiers/

Learning Objectives

1. Identify modifiers.
2. Learn how to correct misplaced and dangling modifiers.

A modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that clarifies or describes another word, phrase, or clause. Sometimes writers use modifiers incorrectly, leading to strange and unintentionally humorous sentences. The two common types of modifier errors are called misplaced modifiers and dangling modifiers. If either of these errors occurs, readers can no longer read smoothly. Instead, they become stumped trying to figure out what the writer meant to say. A writer’s goal must always be to communicate clearly and to avoid distracting the reader with strange sentences or awkward sentence constructions. The good news is that these errors can be easily overcome.

Misplaced Modifiers

A misplaced modifier is a modifier that is placed too far from the word or words it modifies. Misplaced modifiers make the sentence awkward and sometimes unintentionally humorous.

Incorrect: She wore a bicycle helmet on her head that was too large.

Correct: She wore a bicycle helmet that was too large on her head.

• Notice in the incorrect sentence it sounds as if her head was too large! Of course, the writer is referring to the helmet, not to the person’s head. The corrected version of the sentence clarifies the writer’s meaning.

Look at the following two examples:

Incorrect: They bought a kitten for my brother they call Shadow.

Correct: They bought a kitten they call Shadow for my brother.

• In the incorrect sentence, it seems that the brother’s name is Shadow. That’s because the modifier is too far from the word it modifies, which is kitten.

Incorrect: The patient was referred to the physician with stomach pains.

Correct: The patient with stomach pains was referred to the physician.

• The incorrect sentence reads as if it is the physician who has stomach pains! What the writer means is that the patient has stomach pains.

Tip

Simple modifiers like only, almost, just, nearly, and barely often get used incorrectly because writers often stick them in the wrong place.

Confusing: Tyler almost found fifty cents under the sofa cushions.

Repaired: Tyler found almost fifty cents under the sofa cushions.

• How do you almost find something? Either you find it or you do not. The repaired sentence is much clearer.

Exercise 1

On a separate sheet of paper, rewrite the following sentences to correct the misplaced modifiers.

1. The young lady was walking the dog on the telephone.
2. I heard that there was a robbery on the evening news.
3. Uncle Louie bought a running stroller for the baby that he called “Speed Racer.”
4. Rolling down the mountain, the explorer stopped the boulder with his powerful foot.
5. We are looking for a babysitter for our precious six-year-old who doesn’t drink or smoke and owns a car.
6. The teacher served cookies to the children wrapped in aluminum foil.
7. The mysterious woman walked toward the car holding an umbrella.
8. We returned the wine to the waiter that was sour.
9. Charlie spotted a stray puppy driving home from work.
10. I ate nothing but a cold bowl of noodles for dinner.

Dangling Modifiers

A dangling modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that describes something that has been left out of the sentence. When there is nothing that the word, phrase, or clause can modify, the modifier is said to dangle.

Incorrect: Riding in the sports car, the world whizzed by rapidly.

Correct: As Jane was riding in the sports car, the world whizzed by rapidly.

• In the incorrect sentence, riding in the sports car is dangling. The reader is left wondering who is riding in the sports car. The writer must tell the reader!

Incorrect: Walking home at night, the trees looked like spooky aliens.

Correct: As Jonas was walking home at night, the trees looked like spooky aliens.

Correct: The trees looked like spooky aliens as Jonas was walking home at night.

• In the incorrect sentence walking home at night is dangling. Who is walking home at night? Jonas. Note that there are two different ways the dangling modifier can be corrected.

Incorrect: To win the spelling bee, Luis and Gerard should join our team.

Correct: If we want to win the spelling bee this year, Luis and Gerard should join our team.

• In the incorrect sentence, to win the spelling bee is dangling. Who wants to win the spelling bee? We do!

Figure: Does Your Sentence Have a Dangling Modifier?

Tip

The following three steps will help you quickly spot a dangling modifier:

1. Look for an -ing modifier at the beginning of your sentence or another modifying phrase:

   Painting for three hours at night, the kitchen was finally finished by Maggie. (Painting is the -ing modifier.)

2. Underline the first noun that follows it:

   Painting for three hours at night, the kitchen was finally finished by Maggie.

3. Make sure the modifier and noun go together logically. If they do not, it is very likely you have a dangling modifier.

   After identifying the dangling modifier, rewrite the sentence.

   Painting for three hours at night, Maggie finally finished the kitchen.

Exercise 2

Rewrite the following the sentences onto your own sheet of paper to correct the dangling modifiers.

1. Bent over backward, the posture was very challenging.
2. Making discoveries about new creatures, this is an interesting time to be a biologist.
3. Walking in the dark, the picture fell off the wall.
4. Playing a guitar in the bedroom, the cat was seen under the bed.
5. Packing for a trip, a cockroach scurried down the hallway.
6. While looking in the mirror, the towel swayed in the breeze.
7. While driving to the veterinarian’s office, the dog nervously whined.
8. The priceless painting drew large crowds when walking into the museum.
9. Piled up next to the bookshelf, I chose a romance novel.
10. Chewing furiously, the gum fell out of my mouth.

Exercise 3

Rewrite the following paragraph correcting all the misplaced and dangling modifiers.

I bought a fresh loaf of bread for my sandwich shopping in the grocery store. Wanting to make a delicious sandwich, the mayonnaise was thickly spread. Placing the cold cuts on the bread, the lettuce was placed on top. I cut the sandwich in half with a knife turning on the radio. Biting into the sandwich, my favorite song blared loudly in my ears. Humming and chewing, my sandwich went down smoothly. Smiling, my sandwich will be made again, but next time I will add cheese.

Collaboration

Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

Key Takeaways

• Misplaced and dangling modifiers make sentences difficult to understand.
• Misplaced and dangling modifiers distract the reader.
• There are several effective ways to identify and correct misplaced and dangling modifiers.

Writing Application

See how creative and humorous you can get by writing ten sentences with misplaced and dangling modifiers. This is a deceptively simple task, but rise to the challenge. Your writing will be stronger for it. Exchange papers with a classmate, and rewrite your classmate’s sentences to correct any misplaced modifiers.

]]> 374 352 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-8-writing-basics-end-of-chapter-exercises/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 04:55:21 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-8-writing-basics-end-of-chapter-exercises/

Learning Objectives

1. Use the skills you have learned in the chapter.
2. Work collaboratively with other students.

Exercises

1. On your own sheet of paper, identify each sentence as a fragment, a run-on, or correct (no error). Then rewrite the paragraph by correcting the sentence fragments and run-ons.

   My favorite book is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, he was born in 1894 and died in 1963 ________. Written in 1931 ________. A futuristic society where humans are born out of test tubes and kept in rigid social classes ________. This may not seem like a humorous premise for a novel, but Huxley uses satire, which is a type of humor that is used to make a serious point ________. The humans in Brave New World learn through sleep teaching, Huxley calls this “hypnopedia” ________. Everyone is kept “happy” in the brave new world by taking a pill called soma, there is one character named John the Savage who does not take soma ________. because he comes from a different part of the world where there is no technology, and he believes in natural ways of living ________. It turns out that John has a big problem with the brave new world and how people live there ________. Will he be able to survive living there, well you will have to read the novel to find out ________. Brave New World is considered a classic in English literature, it is one of the best novels I have ever read ________.

2. Each sentence contains an error in subject-verb agreement, irregular verb form, or consistent verb tense. Identify the type of error. Then, on your own sheet of paper, rewrite the sentence correctly.

   a. Maria and Ty meets me at the community center for cooking classes on Tuesdays.

   ________________________________________________________________

    

   b. John’s ability to laugh at almost anything amaze me.

   ________________________________________________________________

    

   c. Samantha and I were walking near the lake when the large, colorful bird appears.

   ________________________________________________________________

    

   d. I builded my own telescope using materials I bought at the hardware store.

   ________________________________________________________________

    

   e. My mother freezed the remaining tomatoes from her garden so that she could use them during the winter.

   ________________________________________________________________

    

   f. Bernard asked the stranger sitting next to him for the time, and she says it was past midnight.

   ________________________________________________________________

    

   g. My mother and brother wears glasses, but my father and sister do not.

   ________________________________________________________________

    

   h. We held our noses as the skunk runs away.

   ________________________________________________________________

    

   i. Neither Soren nor Andrew are excited about the early morning swim meet.

   ________________________________________________________________

    

   j. My hands hurted at the thought of transcribing all those notes.

   ________________________________________________________________

    

   k. The police questioned the suspect for hours but she gives them no useful information.

   ________________________________________________________________

    

   l. Terry takes short weekend trips because her job as a therapist was very emotionally draining.

   ________________________________________________________________

    

   m. She criticize delicately, making sure not to hurt anyone’s feelings.

   ________________________________________________________________

    

   n. Davis winded the old clock and set it atop his nightstand.

   ________________________________________________________________

    

   o. Cherie losed four poker hands in a row before realizing that she was playing against professionals.

   ________________________________________________________________

    

   p. Janis and Joan describes their trip to the Amazon in vivid detail.

   ________________________________________________________________

    

   q. You should decides for yourself whether or not to reduce the amount of processed foods in your diet.

   ________________________________________________________________

    

   r. The oil rig exploded and spills millions of gallons of oil into the ocean.

   ________________________________________________________________

    

   s. The handsome vampire appeared out of nowhere and smiles at the smitten woman.

   ________________________________________________________________

    

   t. The batter swinged at the ball several times but never hit it.

   ________________________________________________________________

    

3. Correct the capitalization errors in the following fictional story. Copy the corrected paragraph onto your own sheet of paper.

   lance worthington signed a Recording Contract with Capitol records on june 15, 2007. Despite selling two million copies of his Debut Album, nothing to lose, lance lost quite a bit as his tax returns from the irs revealed. lance did not think it was fair that the Record Company kept so much of his earnings, so he decided to hire robert bergman, a prominent music Attorney with a Shark-like reputation. bergman represented lance all the way to the supreme court, where lance won the case against capitol records. Lance worthington was instrumental in changing intellectual property rights and long standing Record Company practices. All artists and musicians can thank him for his brave stance against record companies. Lance subsequently formed his own independent record label called worthy records. worthy is now a successful Label based out of chicago, illinois, and its Artists have appeared on well known shows such as The tonight show and Saturday night live. Lance worthington is a model for success in the do-it-yourself World that has become the Music Industry.

   Collaboration

   Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

4. Complete the following sentences by selecting the correct comparative or superlative adjective or adverb. Then copy the completed sentence onto your own sheet of paper.

   a. Denise has a (cheerful) ________ outlook on life than her husband. b. I don’t mean to brag, but I think I am the (good) ________ cook in my family. c. Lydia is the (thoughtful) ________ person I know. d. Italy experienced the (bad) ________ heat wave in its history last year. e. My teacher, Ms. Beckett, is the (strange) ________ person I know, and I like that. f. Dorian’s drawing skills are (good) ________ this semester than last. g. My handwriting is the (sloppy) ________ of all my classmates. h. Melvin’s soccer team played (badly) ________ than it did last season. i. Josie’s pen writes (smooth) ________ than mine. j. I felt (lucky) ________ than my sister because I got in to the college of my choice.

]]> 376 352 8 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/3-1-commas/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 22:57:46 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/3-1-commas/

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the uses of commas.
2. Correctly use commas in sentences.

One of the punctuation clues to reading you may encounter is the comma. The comma is a punctuation mark that indicates a pause in a sentence or a separation of things in a list. Commas can be used in a variety of ways. Look at some of the following sentences to see how you might use a comma when writing a sentence.

• Introductory word: Personally, I think the practice is helpful.
• Lists: The barn, the tool shed, and the back porch were destroyed by the wind.
• Coordinating adjectives: He was tired, hungry, and late.
• Conjunctions in compound sentences: The bedroom door was closed, so the children knew their mother was asleep.
• Interrupting words: I knew where it was hidden, of course, but I wanted them to find it themselves.
• Dates, addresses, greetings, and letters: The letter was postmarked December 8, 1945.

Commas after an Introductory Word or Phrase

You may notice a comma that appears near the beginning of the sentence, usually after a word or phrase. This comma lets the reader know where the introductory word or phrase ends and the main sentence begins.

Without spoiling the surprise, we need to tell her to save the date.

In this sentence, without spoiling the surprise is an introductory phrase, while we need to tell her to save the date is the main sentence. Notice how they are separated by a comma. When only an introductory word appears in the sentence, a comma also follows the introductory word.

Ironically, she already had plans for that day.

Exercise 1

Look for the introductory word or phrase. On your own sheet of paper, copy the sentence and add a comma to correct the sentence.

1. Suddenly the dog ran into the house.
2. In the blink of an eye the kids were ready to go to the movies.
3. Confused he tried opening the box from the other end.
4. Every year we go camping in the woods.
5. Without a doubt green is my favorite color.
6. Hesitating she looked back at the directions before proceeding.
7. Fortunately the sleeping baby did not stir when the doorbell rang.
8. Believe it or not the criminal was able to rob the same bank three times.

Commas in a List of Items

When you want to list several nouns in a sentence, you separate each word with a comma. This allows the reader to pause after each item and identify which words are included in the grouping. When you list items in a sentence, put a comma after each noun, then add the word and before the last item. However, you do not need to include a comma after the last item.

We’ll need to get flour, tomatoes, and cheese at the store.

The pizza will be topped with olives, peppers, and pineapple chunks.

Commas and Coordinating Adjectives

You can use commas to list both adjectives and nouns. A string of adjectives that describe a noun are called coordinating adjectives. These adjectives come before the noun they modify and are separated by commas. One important thing to note, however, is that unlike listing nouns, the word and does not always need to be before the last adjective.

It was a bright, windy, clear day.

Our kite glowed red, yellow, and blue in the morning sunlight.

Exercise 2

On your own sheet of paper, use what you have learned so far about comma use to add commas to the following sentences.

1. Monday Tuesday and Wednesday are all booked with meetings.
2. It was a quiet uneventful unproductive day.
3. We’ll need to prepare statements for the Franks Todds and Smiths before their portfolio reviews next week.
4. Michael Nita and Desmond finished their report last Tuesday.
5. With cold wet aching fingers he was able to secure the sails before the storm.
6. He wrote his name on the board in clear precise delicate letters.

Commas before Conjunctions in Compound Sentences

Commas are sometimes used to separate two independent clauses. The comma comes after the first independent clause and is followed by a conjunction, such as for, and, or but. For a full list of conjunctions, see Chapter 2 "Writing Basics: What Makes a Good Sentence?".

He missed class today, and he thinks he will be out tomorrow, too.

He says his fever is gone, but he is still very tired.

Exercise 3

On your own sheet of paper, create a compound sentence by combining the two independent clauses with a comma and a coordinating conjunction.

1. The presentation was scheduled for Monday. The weather delayed the presentation for four days.

   ________________________________________________________________

2. He wanted a snack before bedtime. He ate some fruit.

   ________________________________________________________________

3. The patient is in the next room. I can hardly hear anything.

   ________________________________________________________________

4. We could go camping for vacation. We could go to the beach for vacation.

   ________________________________________________________________

5. I want to get a better job. I am taking courses at night.

   ________________________________________________________________

6. I cannot move forward on this project. I cannot afford to stop on this project.

   ________________________________________________________________

7. Patrice wants to stop for lunch. We will take the next exit to look for a restaurant.

   ________________________________________________________________

8. I’ve got to get this paper done. I have class in ten minutes.

   ________________________________________________________________

9. The weather was clear yesterday. We decided to go on a picnic.

   ________________________________________________________________

10. I have never dealt with this client before. I know Leonardo has worked with them. Let’s ask Leonardo for his help.

    ________________________________________________________________

Commas before and after Interrupting Words

In conversations, you might interrupt your train of thought by giving more details about what you are talking about. In a sentence, you might interrupt your train of thought with a word or phrase called interrupting words. Interrupting words can come at the beginning or middle of a sentence. When the interrupting words appear at the beginning of the sentence, a comma appears after the word or phrase.

If you can believe it, people once thought the sun and planets orbited around Earth.

Luckily, some people questioned that theory.

When interrupting words come in the middle of a sentence, they are separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. You can determine where the commas should go by looking for the part of the sentence that is not essential for the sentence to make sense.

An Italian astronomer, Galileo, proved that Earth orbited the sun.

We have known, for hundreds of years now, that the Earth and other planets exist in a solar system.

Exercise 4

On your own sheet of paper, copy the sentence and insert commas to separate the interrupting words from the rest of the sentence.

1. I asked my neighbors the retired couple from Florida to bring in my mail.
2. Without a doubt his work has improved over the last few weeks.
3. Our professor Mr. Alamut drilled the lessons into our heads.
4. The meeting is at noon unfortunately which means I will be late for lunch.
5. We came in time for the last part of dinner but most importantly we came in time for dessert.
6. All of a sudden our network crashed and we lost our files.
7. Alex hand the wrench to me before the pipe comes loose again.

Collaboration

Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

Commas in Dates, Addresses, and the Greetings and Closings of Letters

You also use commas when you write the date, such as in cover letters and e-mails. Commas are used when you write the date, when you include an address, and when you greet someone.

If you are writing out the full date, add a comma after the day and before the year. You do not need to add a comma when you write the month and day or when you write the month and the year. If you need to continue the sentence after you add a date that includes the day and year, add a comma after the end of the date.

The letter is postmarked May 4, 2001.

Her birthday is May 5.

He visited the country in July 2009.

I registered for the conference on March 7, 2010, so we should get our tickets soon.

You also use commas when you include addresses and locations. When you include an address in a sentence, be sure to place a comma after the street and after the city. Do not place a comma between the state and the zip code. Like a date, if you need to continue the sentence after adding the address, simply add a comma after the address.

We moved to 4542 Boxcutter Lane, Hope, Missouri 70832.

After moving to Boston, Massachusetts, Eric used public transportation to get to work.

Greetings are also separated by commas. When you write an e-mail or a letter, you add a comma after the greeting word or the person’s name. You also need to include a comma after the closing, which is the word or phrase you put before your signature.

Hello, I would like more information about your job posting. Thank you, Anita Al-Sayf

Dear Mrs. Al-Sayf, Thank you for your letter. Please read the attached document for details. Sincerely, Jack Fromont

 

Exercise 5

On your own sheet of paper, use what you have learned about using commas to edit the following letter.

March 27 2010 Alexa Marché 14 Taylor Drive Apt. 6 New Castle Maine 90342 Dear Mr. Timmons Thank you for agreeing to meet with me. I am available on Monday the fifth. I can stop by your office at any time. Is your address still 7309 Marcourt Circle #501? Please get back to me at your earliest convenience. Thank you Alexa

Exercise 6

On your own sheet of paper, use what you have learned about comma usage to edit the following paragraphs.

1. My brother Nathaniel is a collector of many rare unusual things. He has collected lunch boxes limited edition books and hatpins at various points of his life. His current collection of unusual bottles has over fifty pieces. Usually he sells one collection before starting another.
2. Our meeting is scheduled for Thursday March 20. In that time we need to gather all our documents together. Alice is in charge of the timetables and schedules. Tom is in charge of updating the guidelines. I am in charge of the presentation. To prepare for this meeting please print out any e-mails faxes or documents you have referred to when writing your sample.
3. It was a cool crisp autumn day when the group set out. They needed to cover several miles before they made camp so they walked at a brisk pace. The leader of the group Garth kept checking his watch and their GPS location. Isabelle Raoul and Maggie took turns carrying the equipment while Carrie took notes about the wildlife they saw. As a result no one noticed the darkening sky until the first drops of rain splattered on their faces.
4. Please have your report complete and filed by April 15 2010. In your submission letter please include your contact information the position you are applying for and two people we can contact as references. We will not be available for consultation after April 10 but you may contact the office if you have any questions. Thank you HR Department.

Collaboration

Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

Key Takeaways

• Punctuation marks provide visual cues to readers to tell them how to read a sentence. Punctuation marks convey meaning.
• Commas indicate a pause or a list in a sentence.
• A comma should be used after an introductory word to separate this word from the main sentence.
• A comma comes after each noun in a list. The word and is added before the last noun, which is not followed by a comma.
• A comma comes after every coordinating adjective except for the last adjective.
• Commas can be used to separate the two independent clauses in compound sentences as long as a conjunction follows the comma.
• Commas are used to separate interrupting words from the rest of the sentence.
• When you write the date, you add a comma between the day and the year. You also add a comma after the year if the sentence continues after the date.
• When they are used in a sentence, addresses have commas after the street address, and the city. If a sentence continues after the address, a comma comes after the zip code.
• When you write a letter, you use commas in your greeting at the beginning and in your closing at the end of your letter.

]]> 380 378 1 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/3-2-semicolons/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 23:00:05 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/3-2-semicolons/

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the uses of semicolons.
2. Properly use semicolons in sentences.

Another punctuation mark that you will encounter is the semicolon (;). Like most punctuation marks, the semicolon can be used in a variety of ways. The semicolon indicates a break in the flow of a sentence, but functions differently than a period or a comma. When you encounter a semicolon while reading aloud, this represents a good place to pause and take a breath.

Semicolons to Join Two Independent Clauses

Use a semicolon to combine two closely related independent clauses. Relying on a period to separate the related clauses into two shorter sentences could lead to choppy writing. Using a comma would create an awkward run-on sentence.

Correct: Be sure to wear clean, well-pressed clothes to the interview; appearances are important.

Choppy: Be sure to wear clean, well-pressed clothes to the interview. Appearances are important.

Incorrect: Be sure to wear clean, well-pressed clothes to the interview, appearances are important.

In this case, writing the independent clauses as two sentences separated by a period is correct. However, using a semicolon to combine the clauses can make your writing more interesting by creating a variety of sentence lengths and structures while preserving the flow of ideas.

Semicolons to Join Items in a List

You can also use a semicolon to join items in a list when the items in the list already require commas. Semicolons help the reader distinguish between items in the list.

Correct: The color combinations we can choose from are black, white, and grey; green, brown, and black; or red, green, and brown.

Incorrect: The color combinations we can choose from are black, white, and grey, green, brown, and black, or red, green, and brown.

By using semicolons in this sentence, the reader can easily distinguish between the three sets of colors.

Tip

Use semicolons to join two main clauses. Do not use semicolons with coordinating conjunctions such as and, or, and but.

Exercise 1

On your own sheet of paper, correct the following sentences by adding semicolons. If the sentence is correct as it is, write OK.

1. I did not notice that you were in the office I was behind the front desk all day.
2. Do you want turkey, spinach, and cheese roast beef, lettuce, and cheese or ham, tomato, and cheese?
3. Please close the blinds there is a glare on the screen.
4. Unbelievably, no one was hurt in the accident.
5. I cannot decide if I want my room to be green, brown, and purple green, black, and brown or green, brown, and dark red.
6. Let’s go for a walk the air is so refreshing.

Key Takeaways

• Use a semicolon to join two independent clauses.
• Use a semicolon to separate items in a list when those items already require a comma.

]]> 382 378 2 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/3-3-colons/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 23:02:21 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/3-3-colons/

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the uses of colons.
2. Properly use colons in sentences.

The colon (:) is another punctuation mark used to indicate a full stop. Use a colon to introduce lists, quotes, examples, and explanations. You can also use a colon after the greeting in business letters and memos.

Dear Hiring Manager:

To: Human Resources

From: Deanna Dean

Colons to Introduce a List

Use a colon to introduce a list of items. Introduce the list with an independent clause.

The team will tour three states: New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

I have to take four classes this semester: Composition, Statistics, Ethics, and Italian.

Colons to Introduce a Quote

You can use a colon to introduce a quote.

Mark Twain said it best: “When in doubt, tell the truth.”

If a quote is longer than forty words, skip a line after the colon and indent the left margin of the quote five spaces. Because quotations longer than forty words use line spacing and indentation to indicate a quote, quotation marks are not necessary.

My father always loved Mark Twain’s words:

There are basically two types of people. People who accomplish things, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The first group is less crowded.

Tip

Long quotations, which are forty words or more, are called block quotations. Block quotations frequently appear in longer essays and research papers. For more information about block quotations, see Chapter 11 "Writing from Research: What Will I Learn?".

Colons to Introduce Examples or Explanations

Use a colon to introduce an example or to further explain an idea presented in the first part of a sentence. The first part of the sentence must always be an independent clause; that is, it must stand alone as a complete thought with a subject and verb. Do not use a colon after phrases like such as or for example.

Correct: Our company offers many publishing services: writing, editing, and reviewing.

Incorrect: Our company offers many publishing services, such as: writing, editing, and reviewing.

Tip

Capitalize the first letter following a colon for a proper noun, the beginning of a quote, or the first letter of another independent clause. Do NOT capitalize if the information following the colon is not a complete sentence.

Proper noun: We visited three countries: Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador.

Beginning of a quote: My mother loved this line from Hamlet: “To thine own self be true.”

Two independent clauses: There are drawbacks to modern technology: My brother’s cell phone died and he lost a lot of phone numbers.

Incorrect: The recipe is simple: Tomato, basil, and avocado.

Exercise 1

On your own sheet of paper, correct the following sentences by adding semicolons or colons where needed. If the sentence does not need a semicolon or colon, write OK.

1. Don’t give up you never know what tomorrow brings.

   ________________________________________________________________

2. Our records show that the patient was admitted on March 9, 2010 January 13, 2010 and November 16, 2009.

   ________________________________________________________________

3. Allow me to introduce myself I am the greatest ice-carver in the world.

   ________________________________________________________________

4. Where I come from there are three ways to get to the grocery store by car, by bus, and by foot.

   ________________________________________________________________

5. Listen closely you will want to remember this speech.

   ________________________________________________________________

6. I have lived in Sedona, Arizona Baltimore, Maryland and Knoxville, Tennessee.

   ________________________________________________________________

7. The boss’s message was clear Lateness would not be tolerated.

   ________________________________________________________________

8. Next semester, we will read some more contemporary authors, such as Vonnegut, Miller, and Orwell.

   ________________________________________________________________

9. My little sister said what we were all thinking “We should have stayed home.”

   ________________________________________________________________

10. Trust me I have done this before.

    ________________________________________________________________

Key Takeaways

• Use a colon to introduce a list, quote, or example.
• Use a colon after a greeting in business letters and memos.

]]> 384 378 3 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/3-4-quotes/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 23:05:00 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/3-4-quotes/

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the uses of quotes.
2. Correctly use quotes in sentences.

Quotation marks (“ ”) set off a group of words from the rest of the text. Use quotation marks to indicate direct quotations of another person’s words or to indicate a title. Quotation marks always appear in pairs.

Direct Quotations

A direct quotation is an exact account of what someone said or wrote. To include a direct quotation in your writing, enclose the words in quotation marks. An indirect quotation is a restatement of what someone said or wrote. An indirect quotation does not use the person’s exact words. You do not need to use quotation marks for indirect quotations.

Direct quotation: Carly said, “I’m not ever going back there again.”

Indirect quotation: Carly said that she would never go back there.

Writing at Work

Most word processsing software is designed to catch errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. While this can be a useful tool, it is better to be well acquainted with the rules of punctuation than to leave the thinking to the computer. Properly punctuated writing will convey your meaning clearly. Consider the subtle shifts in meaning in the following sentences:

• The client said he thought our manuscript was garbage.
• The client said, “He thought our manuscript was garbage.”

The first sentence reads as an indirect quote in which the client does not like the manuscript. But did he actually use the word “garbage”? (This would be alarming!) Or has the speaker paraphrased (and exaggerated) the client’s words?

The second sentence reads as a direct quote from the client. But who is “he” in this sentence? Is it a third party?

Word processing software would not catch this because the sentences are not grammatically incorrect. However, the meanings of the sentences are not the same. Understanding punctuation will help you write what you mean, and in this case, could save a lot of confusion around the office!

Punctuating Direct Quotations

Quotation marks show readers another person’s exact words. Often, you will want to identify who is speaking. You can do this at the beginning, middle, or end of the quote. Notice the use of commas and capitalized words.

Beginning: Madison said, “Let’s stop at the farmers market to buy some fresh vegetables for dinner.”

Middle: “Let’s stop at the farmers market,” Madison said, “to buy some fresh vegetables for dinner.”

End: “Let’s stop at the farmers market to buy some fresh vegetables for dinner,” Madison said.

Speaker not identified: “Let’s stop at the farmers market to buy some fresh vegetables for dinner.”

Always capitalize the first letter of a quote even if it is not the beginning of the sentence. When using identifying words in the middle of the quote, the beginning of the second part of the quote does not need to be capitalized.

Use commas between identifying words and quotes. Quotation marks must be placed after commas and periods. Place quotation marks after question marks and exclamation points only if the question or exclamation is part of the quoted text.

Question is part of quoted text: The new employee asked, “When is lunch?”

Question is not part of quoted text: Did you hear her say you were “the next Picasso”?

Exclamation is part of quoted text: My supervisor beamed, “Thanks for all of your hard work!”

Exclamation is not part of quoted text: He said I “single-handedly saved the company thousands of dollars”!

Quotations within Quotations

Use single quotation marks (‘ ’) to show a quotation within in a quotation.

Theresa said, “I wanted to take my dog to the festival, but the man at the gate said, ‘No dogs allowed.’”

“When you say, ‘I can’t help it,’ what exactly does that mean?”

“The instructions say, ‘Tighten the screws one at a time.’”

Titles

Use quotation marks around titles of short works of writing, such as essays, songs, poems, short stories, and chapters in books. Usually, titles of longer works, such as books, magazines, albums, newspapers, and novels, are italicized.

“Annabelle Lee” is one of my favorite romantic poems.

The New York Times has been in publication since 1851.

Writing at Work

In many businesses, the difference between exact wording and a paraphrase is extremely important. For legal purposes, or for the purposes of doing a job correctly, it can be important to know exactly what the client, customer, or supervisor said. Sometimes, important details can be lost when instructions are paraphrased. Use quotes to indicate exact words where needed, and let your coworkers know the source of the quotation (client, customer, peer, etc.).

Exercise 1

Copy the following sentences onto your own sheet of paper, and correct them by adding quotation marks where necessary. If the sentence does not need any quotation marks, write OK.

1. Yasmin said, I don’t feel like cooking. Let’s go out to eat.

   ________________________________________________________________

2. Where should we go? said Russell.

   ________________________________________________________________

3. Yasmin said it didn’t matter to her.

   ________________________________________________________________

4. I know, said Russell, let’s go to the Two Roads Juice Bar.

   ________________________________________________________________

5. Perfect! said Yasmin.

   ________________________________________________________________

6. Did you know that the name of the Juice Bar is a reference to a poem? asked Russell.

   ________________________________________________________________

7. I didn’t! exclaimed Yasmin. Which poem?

   ________________________________________________________________

8. The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost Russell explained.

   ________________________________________________________________

9. Oh! said Yasmin, Is that the one that starts with the line, Two roads diverged in a yellow wood?

   ________________________________________________________________

10. That’s the one said Russell.

    ________________________________________________________________

Key Takeaways

• Use quotation marks to enclose direct quotes and titles of short works.
• Use single quotation marks to enclose a quote within a quote.
• Do not use any quotation marks for indirect quotations.

]]> 386 378 4 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/descriptive-writing/ Wed, 20 Jan 2021 14:53:44 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=511

Descriptive Writing

A good feature writer uses plot devices and dialogues that help move the story forward while focusing on the central theme and providing supporting information through descriptive language and specific examples. You want to show readers what’s happening, not simply tell them. They should be able to visualize the characters, places, and events highlighted in the feature piece.

Show Versus Tell

Tell: Friends describe Amariah as a generous and vibrant person who was involved in several nonprofit organizations.

Show: Tracey proudly recalls her friend’s generosity. “Amariah is usually the first person to arrive at a volunteer event and the last to leave. She spends four hours every Saturday morning volunteering at the mentoring center. It’s rare to not catch her laughing, flashing her perfect smile. She’s just a burst of positive energy.”

It’s often tempting to end a feature piece with a summary conclusion. Instead, use an anecdote, passage, or compelling quote that will leave a lasting impression on your readers.

News Writing Versus Public Relations Writing

Effective public relations writing draws from news writing principles because the news media is one of the preferred channels for promoting products and services. However, news writing and public relations writing differ in terms of audience, tone, and media channels. News writing should be objective in tone, with the purpose of presenting information to educate an audience about newsworthy events. On the other hand, public relations writing advocates for the client. It is informative, but it should also influence key publics’ perception of the organization. Some would also argue that public relations writing is even more concise than new writing.

Reporters usually write for one audience: readers or listeners of the respective media outlet. Public relations professionals may have to write for a variety of audiences, including internal audiences (such as employees, shareholders, and distributors) and external audiences (such as the media, customers, volunteers, and bloggers). News writing uses one primary communication channel, the news outlet (which can be a newspaper or a television or radio broadcast). Although journalists are increasingly using Twitter to post their articles, this usually entails posting a link that directs the audience to the news outlet’s primary website. Public relations professionals use a variety of channels to distribute their messages, including news media, social media, advertisements, blogs, press kits, and many more.

Storytelling and the Information Strategy

The way information is crafted into the final media message depends on two key factors:

• how the message is being delivered (a story in a newspaper versus on a mobile device, a TV brand ad or one in an interactive magazine)
• the audience for whom the message is intended

The storytelling techniques you use must take into account the media format in which the information is delivered and the audience's expectations for the message. [caption id="attachment_1603" align="alignleft" width="420"] Storytelling by Beth Kanter. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] While this course does not delve into the actual construction of the messages themselves – you will get those skills in your reporting or strategic writing classes - it is worthwhile to acknowledge some of the considerations that message creators must keep in mind – and the information requirements there might be for different storytelling conventions. Goals of Storytelling Storytelling can serve different kinds of goals. Determining the intention or purpose of the story or message is an important first step in crafting the message. As you have learned, messages can inform or enlighten people about current events or issues or about the availability of products or services. They can provide background and context to a discussion of ideas. Stories can be written to persuade people to make certain purchases or hold certain views. News, advertising and public relations messages perform some or all of these functions while employing different storytelling techniques and formats to communicate with audiences in the most effective way. There are a number of different storytelling decisions to make as a producer of media content. Regardless of which type of media you are working within, it is important that you, the communicator, are aware of the fundamental storytelling devices you might want to use to tell your story in a way that is direct, efficient, and appropriate for the story’s objective. Therefore, you will want to have a full and accessible set of tools that you are ready to employ for any kind of message, depending on the type of media you are creating, your chosen channel of communication, as well as the specific style, tone, and needs of your story subject. Characteristics of Good Storytelling Usually the word “story” implies something fictional. But in the case of media messages, "story" refers to fact-based information about products, or events, or the actions taken by a company. The distinction between fiction and non-fiction stories is an absolutely critical one for you to grasp. It affects every decision that you make about the selection and evaluation of information for messages. Good storytelling consists of knowing your audience. Is the audience going to be reading the story, hearing it, experiencing it in a non-linear fashion online? What kind of background information does the audience for the story already have about the topic? Good storytelling also begins with a foundation in the subject matter. The storyteller must have a firm grasp of the subject matter in order to effectively communicate the story to someone else. Good storytelling demands that the storyteller have command of the mechanics of writing. Good storytelling understands how different media elements play into the effective telling of the story. Good storytelling demonstrates ethical standards for accuracy, truth, verifiability, sufficient evidence, and information reliability. Non-fiction stories, especially, require a solid grounding in factual information that can withstand scrutiny by the most skeptical audience members. Storytellers must deliver within the parameters and requirements of the story assignment. They must:

• meet the deadline
• follow directions on the expected length and focus for the story
• meet the expectation for clean, distribution-ready copy
• use proper grammar, word choice, and style
• apply the appropriate story characteristics for the channel of message delivery

The information strategy skills you will learn in this course will provide you with the tools you need to meet these storytelling requirements. Moving confidently through the information strategy process will help you identify your audience, locate the relevant content for your message, ensure the accuracy of your information and provide the details that will make your message stand out.

ADVERTISING

• Examples of Advertising Techniques: http://www.sales-and-marketing-for-you.com/advertising-techniques.html
• How to Develop your Brand's Story: http://www.bulldogreporter.com/dailydog/article/pr-storytelling-how-develop-your-brands-story

JOURNALISM

• The Transition to Digital Journalism: a guide to resources about storytelling online: http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/
• Journalists as Storytellers: http://niemanreports.org/articles/journalists-as-storytellers/

PUBLIC RELATIONS

• Storytelling and PR: http://aboutpublicrelations.net/aa061001a.htm
• The Art of Storytelling in PR: http://prinyourpajamas.com/the-art-of-storytelling-pr/

]]> 511 925 1 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=547 Sun, 12 Jun 2016 04:52:58 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/what-is-media-relations/ "News Reporters and a TV Cameraman" by Digital Vision is licensed under CC BY 2.0.[/caption] A large part of the public relations profession involves working with the media. Public relations seeks to garner publicity that benefits a client. Mass media is the preferred channel for reaching out to the public because audiences view media coverage as more credible than traditional advertising or promotional efforts. Therefore, learning how to develop and manage relationships with reporters and editors is critical to your outreach strategy. Media relations refers to the mutually beneficial relationship between journalists and public relations professionals. One of the biggest benefits for journalists is the easy access to story ideas and sources. As previously discussed, reporters spend a large amount of time and effort gathering information in order to write a story. Working with public relations professionals cuts down on the time needed to look for sources and other information to validate an article’s content. Public relations practitioners benefit from media relations because it secures free publicity and promotion for a client. By using media as a promotional tool, they are able to reach a large audience without high costs.]]> 547 544 2 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=549 Sun, 12 Jun 2016 04:53:33 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/working-with-journalists/ Columbus Dispatch. She discusses her experiences working with public relations professionals and some of the factors that made them positive.

[iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8a-smPLGg4Y" width="560" height="315" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"]

A Journalist's Perspective on Pitching with Alissa Widman Neese

]]> 549 544 3 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=552 Sun, 12 Jun 2016 04:55:10 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/pitching-to-the-media/ Before pitching Before you send an email pitch or call a reporter, it is important to have a solid understanding of your key audience. Carefully examine the interests, preferences, media consumption behaviors, and key demographic information associated with that group. Then you can more accurately select which media outlet will help reach the target audience. Go where your audience is located. For example, as you conduct research about your target audience, you might learn that members read blog posts more than news articles. Therefore, reaching out to bloggers could be more beneficial than targeting news reporters. Place your message or story in media outlets that your intended audience frequently visits or reads. One of the most common complaints from journalists about public relations pitches involves the use of mass emails. Generic pitches sent out to anyone and everyone come across to reporters and bloggers as careless and can compromise your credibility among media professionals. Remember, reporters are going to look at how your story will appeal to their specific readers; therefore, your pitch needs to be strategic. Failure to keep this in mind may result in a rejected pitch or no response at all. Before you pitch to a particular media outlet, be sure to research which specific writer within the organization can help you target your audience. Each reporter covers a different topic, or “beat.” Reading some of a reporter’s previous stories will give you an indication of whether he or she is the right person to cover your story. Let’s say your client is a restaurant that wants to publicize the opening of a new location. A reporter who covers food topics and brands, lifestyle topics, or the restaurant industry would be the most logical choice to write your story.

Writing the pitch

Now that you’ve done your homework on the audience, media outlet, and specific writer, pay close attention to how you craft your pitch message. The subject line is especially important if you’re using email. It needs to be creative enough to catch the attention of the writer; however, avoid exaggerated phrases or visual gimmicks such as all capital letters. Do not use generic headlines such as “Story Idea” or “Cool Upcoming Event.” Try to create a headline similar to one the journalist might use in writing the story. Next, address the reporter or blogger by name and begin the body of the pitch. State why you’re writing, and provide some information about yourself and the company or client you represent. Next, summarize the lead of the story. Writing in this manner resonates with some reporters, as it is the style they are accustomed to. You also can start the email with a catchy line that will hook the journalist, but be careful not to overdo this. Reporters and editors do not like flowery or gimmicky language because it sounds more like a hard sales pitch than a public relations pitch. Continue with the pitch by providing important details about the story and talking about why it would be interesting to the media outlet’s audience. Doing this indicates that the story has news value, which is very important in pitching. Toward the end of the email pitch, state when you would like a response, indicate when you plan to follow up if necessary, and offer specific help. Be sure to thank the reporter or blogger for his or her time. [caption id="attachment_744" align="aligncenter" width="1033"] from "How to Bootstrap Your PR Like a Boss" by Kate Finley[/caption] Don't feel discouraged if the person does not respond immediately. Journalists are extremely busy, and sometimes they simply overlook emails. If necessary, send a reminder email by the follow-up date you mentioned in the first communication. This date depends on when the story should hit the press. If you pitched a story that needs to be published relatively quickly, you may want to follow up no later than two days after sending the initial pitch. If there’s more flexibility in the desired publication date, you may indicate that you will follow up within a week. If the person still does not respond to your pitch, move on to another outlet, reporter, or blogger who can help you accomplish your publicity goals. It is important to also consider timing; for example, do not make a follow-up call at 4:55 p.m. on a Friday when the journalist may be getting ready to head home for the weekend. Grammar, punctuation, tone, and spelling are important when writing email pitches. Some journalists have admitted to not responding to a pitch that contains grammatical and spelling errors. Reread your message several times to check for errors. Here are more articles that discuss media relations, proper etiquette, and tips on gaining media exposure:

• Surprising tips to get the media's attention
• 9 pitch tips from PR News Online
• How not to pitch

]]> 552 544 4 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=554 Mon, 22 Aug 2016 22:33:03 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/references-8/ Finley, K. (2014). How to bootstrap your PR like a BOSS. Retrieved from: http://www.thinkbelle.com/resources/

]]> 554 544 5 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=772 Wed, 08 May 2019 17:41:52 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-5-making-an-argument/

Questions for reflection

• Have you ever argued with someone online? If so, how did you present your argument? Was your argument successful?
• How do people create arguments in your area of study or career path? Are there certain ethical rules that people in your industry must follow?
• How do people argue in your culture? Do you argue with everyone the same way (an elder vs. someone your age)?
• Do you think it’s possible to change someone’s mind using logic?
• Do you find it easier to create an argument in writing or in person? Why?

Making an argument

Making an argument means trying to convince others that you are correct as you describe a thing, situation, or phenomenon and/or persuade them to take a particular action. Important not just in university, that skill will be necessary for nearly every professional job you hold. Realizing that your research report, essay, blog post, or oral presentation is to make an argument gives you a big head start because right off you know the sources you’re going to need are those that will let you write the components of an argument for your reader. It’s no accident that people are said to make arguments. They are constructed from components that act like building blocks. The components are selected because of what they contribute to the argument. The components generally, though not always, appear in a certain order because they build on or respond to one another.

Components of an argument

Making an argument in a report, term paper, or other college writing task is like laying out a case in court. Just as there are conventions that lawyers must adhere to as they make their arguments in court, there are conventions in arguments made in university assignments. Among those conventions is to use the components of an argument. One common arrangement for an argument is to begin with an introduction that explains why the situation is important—why the reader should care about it. Your research question will probably not appear here, but your answer to it (your thesis or claim) usually appears as the last sentence or two of the introduction. The body of your essay or paper follows and consists of:

• Your reasons the thesis or claim is correct or at least reasonable.
• The evidence that supports each reason, often occurring right after the reason the evidence supports.
• An acknowledgement that some people have/could have objections, reservations, counterarguments, or alternative solutions to your argument and a statement of each. (Posters often don’t have room for this component.)
• A response to each acknowledgement that explains why that criticism is incorrect or not very important. Sometimes you might have to concede a point you think is unimportant, if you can’t really refute it.
• After the body, the paper or essay ends with a conclusion, which states your thesis in a slightly different way than occurred in the introduction. The conclusion also may mention why research on this situation is important. Sometimes recommendations also follow based on the argument made and conclusions stated.

For example, the thesis or claim is derived from the initial question. The reasons are bolstered by evidence to support the claim. Objections are raised, acknowledged and subsequently responded to.

Attributions

This chapter contains material taken from Order Of The Components in Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide To Academic Research (used under a CC-BY 4.0 International license) and Making An Argument Using Sources in Business Writing for Everyone (used under a CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license).]]> 772 544 1 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/3-5-apostrophes/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 23:06:10 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/3-5-apostrophes/

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the uses of apostrophes.
2. Correctly use apostrophes in sentences.

An apostrophe (’) is a punctuation mark that is used with a noun to show possession or to indicate where a letter has been left out to form a contraction.

Possession

An apostrophe and the letter s indicate who or what owns something. To show possession with a singular noun, add ’s.

Jen’s dance routine mesmerized everyone in the room.

The dog’s leash is hanging on the hook beside the door.

Jess’s sister is also coming to the party.

Notice that singular nouns that end in s still take the apostrophe s (’s) ending to show possession.

To show possession with a plural noun that ends in s, just add an apostrophe (’). If the plural noun does not end in s, add an apostrophe and an s (’s).

Plural noun that ends in s: The drummers’ sticks all moved in the same rhythm, like a machine.

Plural noun that does not end in s: The people’s votes clearly showed that no one supported the management decision.

Contractions

A contraction is a word that is formed by combining two words. In a contraction, an apostrophe shows where one or more letters have been left out. Contractions are commonly used in informal writing but not in formal writing.

I do not like ice cream.

I don’t like ice cream.

Notice how the words do and not have been combined to form the contraction don’t. The apostrophe shows where the o in not has been left out.

We will see you later.

We’ll see you later.

Look at the chart for some examples of commonly used contractions.

aren’t	are not
can’t	cannot
doesn’t	does not
don’t	do not
isn’t	is not
he’ll	he will
I’ll	I will
she’ll	she will
they’ll	they will
you’ll	you will
it’s	it is, it has
let’s	let us
she’s	she is, she has
there’s	there is, there has
who’s	who is, who has

Tip

Be careful not to confuse it’s with its. It’s is a contraction of the words it and is. Its is a possessive pronoun.

It’s cold and rainy outside. (It is cold and rainy outside.)

The cat was chasing its tail. (Shows that the tail belongs to the cat.)

When in doubt, substitute the words it is in a sentence. If sentence still makes sense, use the contraction it’s.

Exercise 1

On your own sheet of paper, correct the following sentences by adding apostrophes. If the sentence is correct as it is, write OK.

1. “What a beautiful child! She has her mothers eyes.”
2. My brothers wife is one of my best friends.
3. I couldnt believe it when I found out that I got the job!
4. My supervisors informed me that I wouldnt be able to take the days off.
5. Each of the students responses were unique.
6. Wont you please join me for dinner tonight?

Key Takeaways

• Use apostrophes to show possession. Add ’s to singular nouns and plural nouns that do not end in s. Add ’ to plural nouns that end in s.
• Use apostrophes in contractions to show where a letter or letters have been left out.

]]> 388 378 5 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/3-6-parentheses/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 23:07:40 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/3-6-parentheses/

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the uses of parentheses.
2. Properly use parentheses in sentences.

Parentheses ( ) are punctuation marks that are always used in pairs and contain material that is secondary to the meaning of a sentence. Parentheses must never contain the subject or verb of a sentence. A sentence should make sense if you delete any text within parentheses and the parentheses.

Attack of the Killer Potatoes has to be the worst movie I have seen (so far).

Your spinach and garlic salad is one of the most delicious (and nutritious) foods I have ever tasted!

Exercise 1

On your own sheet of paper, clarify the following sentences by adding parentheses. If the sentence is clear as it is, write OK.

1. Are you going to the seminar this weekend I am?
2. I recommend that you try the sushi bar unless you don’t like sushi.
3. I was able to solve the puzzle after taking a few moments to think about it.
4. Please complete the questionnaire at the end of this letter.
5. Has anyone besides me read the assignment?
6. Please be sure to circle not underline the correct answers.

Key Takeaways

• Parentheses enclose information that is secondary to the meaning of a sentence.
• Parentheses are always used in pairs.

]]> 390 378 6 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/3-7-dashes/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 23:08:34 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/3-7-dashes/

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the uses of dashes.
2. Correctly use dashes in sentences.

A dash (—) is a punctuation mark used to set off information in a sentence for emphasis. You can enclose text between two dashes, or use just one dash. To create a dash in Microsoft Word, type two hyphens together. Do not put a space between dashes and text.

Arrive to the interview early—but not too early.

Any of the suits—except for the purple one—should be fine to wear.

Exercise 1

On your own sheet of paper, clarify the following sentences by adding dashes. If the sentence is clear as it is, write OK.

1. Which hairstyle do you prefer short or long?
2. I don’t know I hadn’t even thought about that.
3. Guess what I got the job!
4. I will be happy to work over the weekend if I can have Monday off.
5. You have all the qualities that we are looking for in a candidate intelligence, dedication, and a strong work ethic.

Key Takeaways

• Dashes indicate a pause in text.
• Dashes set off information in a sentence to show emphasis.

]]> 392 378 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/3-8-hyphens/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 23:14:36 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/3-8-hyphens/

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the uses of hyphens.
2. Properly use hyphens in sentences.

A hyphen (-) looks similar to a dash but is shorter and used in different ways.

Hyphens between Two Adjectives That Work as One

Use a hyphen to combine words that work together to form a single description.

The fifty-five-year-old athlete was just as qualified for the marathon as his younger opponents.

My doctor recommended against taking the medication, since it can be habit-forming.

My study group focused on preparing for the midyear review.

Hyphens When a Word Breaks at the End of a Line

Use a hyphen to divide a word across two lines of text. You may notice that most word-processing programs will do this for you. If you have to manually insert a hyphen, place the hyphen between two syllables. If you are unsure of where to place the hyphen, consult a dictionary or move the entire word to the next line.

My supervisor was concerned that the team meet-

ing would conflict with the client meeting.

Key Takeaways

• Hyphens join words that work as one adjective.
• Hyphens break words across two lines of text.

]]> 394 378 8 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/3-9-punctuation-end-of-chapter-exercises/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 23:16:35 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/3-9-punctuation-end-of-chapter-exercises/

Learning Objectives

1. Use the skills you have learned in this chapter.
2. Work collaboratively with other students.

Exercises

1. Each sentence contains a punctuation error. On your own sheet of paper, correct each sentence by adding the correct punctuation. The headings will let you know which type of punctuation mistakes to look for. If the sentence does not need corrections, write OK.

   Commas

   a. The wedding will be July 13 2012. b. The date by the way is the anniversary of the day that they met. c. The groom the bride and their parents are all planning the event. d. Actually all of their friends and relatives are involved in the planning. e. The bride is a baker so she will be making the wedding cake herself. f. The photography the catering and the music will all be friends.

   Semicolons

   a. Some people spend a lot of money hiring people for wedding services they are lucky to have such talented friends. b. The flowers will be either roses, daisies, and snapdragons orchids, tulips, and irises or peonies and lilies.

   Colons

   a. There will be three colors for the wedding: white, black, and gold. b. They’ve finally narrowed down the dinner choices salmon, steak, and a vegan stew. c. Their wedding invitations contained the following quote from the Roman poet Ovid If you want to be loved, be lovable.

   Quotes

   a. The invitations said that the wedding would be “outdoor casual.” b. “What exactly does ‘outdoor casual’ mean?” I asked the bride. c. She told me to dress comfortably and wear shoes that do not sink into the ground.

   Apostrophes

   a. On the day of the wedding, were going to rent a limo. b. My brothers wife will make the arrangements. c. Shes a great party organizer.

   Parentheses

   a. On the day of the wedding, the bride looked more beautiful than ever and I’ve known her for fifteen years. b. All the details were perfect in my opinion.

   Dashes

   a. Everyone danced at the wedding except my mother. b. It was to be expected she just had hip surgery.

   Hyphens

   a. The groom danced with his new mother in law. b. It was a spectacular, fun filled day for everyone.

2. Each sentence contains a punctuation error. On your own sheet of paper, correct each sentence by adding commas, semicolons, colons, apostrophes, parentheses, hyphens, and dashes as needed.

   a. My mothers garden is full of beautiful flowers. b. She has carefully planted several species of roses peonies and irises. c. She is especially proud of her thirty year old Japanese maple tree. d. I am especially proud of the sunflowers I planted them! e. You should see the birds that are attracted to the garden hummingbirds, finches, robins, and sparrows. f. I like to watch the hummingbirds they are my favorite. g. We spend a lot of time in the garden planting weeding and just enjoying the view. h. Each flower has its own personality some seem shy and others seem bold. i. Arent gardens wonderful? j. You should come visit sometime Do you like to garden?

3. The following paragraph contains errors in punctuation. On your own sheet of paper, correct the paragraph by adding commas, semicolons, colons, apostrophes, parentheses, hyphens, and dashes as needed. There may be more than one way to correct the paragraph.

   May 18 2011

   Dear Hiring Manager

   Allow me to introduce myself in my previous position I was known as the King of Sales. I hope to earn the same title within your company. My name is Frances Fortune. I have thirteen years experience in corporate sales and account management. I have been the top rated seller for two years in a row in my previous position. Clients recognize me as dependable honest and resourceful. I have a strong work ethic and great interpersonal skills. I excel at goal setting and time management. However you don’t have to take my word for it I will be happy to provide personal and professional references upon request. Youre welcome to contact my previous employer to inquire about my work performance. I look forward to speaking with you in person in the near future.

   Sincerely

   Frances Fortune

4. Read the following paragraph. Edit by adding apostrophes, parentheses, dashes, and hyphens where needed. There may be more than one correct way to edit some sentences. Consider how the punctuation you choose affects the meaning of the sentence.

   I was a little nervous about the interview it was my first in years. I had to borrow my roommates suit, but it fit me well. A few days ago, I started to research the companys history and mission. I felt like I was well qualified for the job. When I arrived, I shook hands with the interviewer she had a strong grip! It nearly caught me off guard, but I did my best to smile and relax. I was a little distracted by all the books in the womans office she must have had a hundred books in that tiny room. However, I think my responses to her questions were good. Ill send her an e-mail to thank her for her time. Hopefully shell call me soon about the position.

Collaboration

Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

Writing Application

Review some of the recent or current assignments you have completed for school or work. Look through recent business and personal e-mails. Does your work contain any errors in punctuation? Correct the errors and compile a list of the types of errors you are correcting (commas, semicolons, colons, apostrophes, quotation marks, parentheses, dashes, hyphens, etc.). Use this list as a reference for the types of punctuation marks that you should review and practice.

If you do not find many errors—great! You can still look for ways to add interest to your writing by using dashes, semicolons, colons, and parentheses to create a variety of sentence lengths and structures.

]]> 396 378 9 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/news-value-and-the-public-relations-professional/ Sat, 11 Jun 2016 23:03:45 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/news-value-and-the-strategic-comm/ agenda-setting theory. A story’s newsworthiness is largely determined by its news value, a standard that determines whether an event or situation is worth media attention. News value is referred to as “criteria used by media outlets to determine whether or not to cover a story and how much resources it should receive” (Kraft, 2015). Journalists and reporters are likely to spend their limited time and resources on a story that has many news values. Again this conception of news value is based on assumptions about human interest and what stories are most popular. For example, "If it bleeds, it leads" is an old newsroom mantra that captures the idea that news outlets often lead with stories that relate to violent, dangerous or disturbing incidents. Public relations professionals who understand what constitutes newsworthy content can increase their chances of gaining media coverage for their brand or organization. In fact, there is a saying that “the most successful public relations professionals are those who think and act like reporters” (Caruso, 2011, para. 1). Because journalists are more interested in stories that will appeal to their readers or listeners, understanding the news value of your messages will help to enhance your company’s media relations and general coverage.]]> 515 513 1 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/news-value-types/ Sat, 11 Jun 2016 23:04:45 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/news-value-types/ Dr. Meredith Clark’s article on considering a new set of news values). Currently, eight values are used to determine a story’s newsworthiness (Kraft, 2015). Some of the values’ names may differ slightly in other sources, but their meaning is the same.

Immediacy/Timeliness

Events or stories that have recently taken place or will happen in the immediate future have immediacy or timeliness. Breaking news stories or stories about unexpected events that are developing are good examples. Media gatekeepers (e.g. reporters and editors) deem these stories so important that they often interrupt regular broadcast schedules to immediately give audiences the information. Recent happenings typically carry more news value than less timely events. Timeliness also takes into consideration factors such as seasonal events, commemorations, and holidays. A PR professional may pitch a story to the media about an organizational activity that connects with this type of timeliness—for example, a company fundraiser that distributes toys to low-income children during the holiday season.

Proximity

Proximity considers the location of the event in relation to the target audience of the media outlet. Audiences are more likely to pay attention to stories that take place in their local communities. For example, a news station in Vancouver usually wouldn’t cover day-to-day events about Toronto City Hall. However, happenings at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) often get coverage in British Columbian news outlets.

Human interest

Stories that are emotionally compelling capture the audience’s attention and appeal to their attitudes and beliefs. Feature articles often are good examples of human interest stories when they depict a person, organization, or community in a way that triggers an emotional connection between the audience and the characters. Other examples are a behind-the-scenes look at the life of an athlete or the story of a person struggling to overcome an obstacle.

Currency

Topics that are trending in traditional news media and social media, are considered newsworthy. “Hot topics of the day” or stories that are in the general public discourse are other examples. Many media outlets cover stories about memes that go viral on social media. Since many people discuss and debate these memes, news outlets will often decide to cover the story. However, topics that have currency value generally have a short life span in the news cycle because they are discussed only briefly by the public.]]> 517 513 2 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/goal-of-a-news-story/ Sat, 11 Jun 2016 23:12:05 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/goal-of-a-news-story/ Columbus Dispatch reporter, discusses the nature of news writing in the video below.

[iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aj8J2D73SsQ" width="640" height="360" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"]

Discussion on News Writing with Alissa Widman Neese

As you pursue a career in public relations, consider the responsibility you will have in influencing the opinions and attitudes of large numbers of people. PR professionals have the power to affect public opinion, whether through a news release, a feature article, or a website. Therefore, basic understanding of techniques and styles related to news writing is key to effectively using the media to shape the image of your organization, company, or client.

Straight news/Hard news

Stories that report only the most essential information in a concise and impartial manner are referred to as straight or hard news stories. This type of story typically follows the inverted pyramid style, which organizes information by descending order of importance or places the most newsworthy information at the beginning of the article. This style will be discussed in more detail shortly. Examples of hard news stories include those about political topics and crime. [caption id="attachment_527" align="alignright" width="300"] "Newspapers B&W" by Jon S is licensed under CC BY 2.0[/caption]

Features

The primary difference between a feature story and a straight news story is the style. A feature article is more in-depth than a traditional hard news article and uses the types of storytelling devices and details that you might find in novels. Feature stories are considered soft news and do not focus merely on the basic facts. Writers typically have more flexibility to use a wider range of formats, provide rich descriptions, and include scene-setting anecdotes. Features often are given more space on the page and are accompanied by pictures, illustrations, graphics, maps, and other visual components. A profile of an athlete or a political figure is an example of a feature article. The characteristics of feature writing will be explained further in a later chapter.

Editorial

Although journalistic ethical standards call for general news writing to be objective in content and tone, newswriters also have the opportunity to communicate personal points of view about current events and topics. The editorial is a type of news story used to develop an argument about an issue and even sway readers’ opinions. The essay also represents the official view of an editorial board that determines what views to share after some kind of deliberative process.]]> 525 513 4 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/inverted-pyramid-style/ Sat, 11 Jun 2016 23:13:14 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/inverted-pyramid-style/ a century ago, the inverted pyramid style remains the basic formula for news writing (Scanlan, 2003). [caption id="attachment_746" align="aligncenter" width="353"] "Inverted pyramid in comprehensive form" by Christopher Schwartz is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0[/caption] It is important to note that some news stories do not strictly follow the inverted pyramid style, although the lead for a hard news piece always does. Furthermore, not everyone in the journalism field embraces the style; some detractors believe it is an unnatural way to engage in storytelling and present news to the public. Yet, proponents believe it is an efficient way to organize and share information in a fast-paced society (Scanlan, 2003). Therefore, it’s important for students to learn the style; one good way to do so is to regularly read hard news stories and pay attention to how the leads are structured. The lead (also known as the summary lead) and the body of the inverted pyramid style are discussed in the next sections.]]> 531 513 5 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/summary-lead/ Sat, 11 Jun 2016 23:13:41 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/summary-lead/

Who is the story about? or Who is involved?

• What is the story about? or What happened?

• When did the event take place?

• Where did the event take place?

• Why did the event take place?

• How did the event happen?

Keeping the 5Ws and H in mind when writing a news story will help you organize the content and find a focus for the article. News judgment consists of figuring out the organization of these aspects of the content and prioritizing them in terms of their importance. It’s not necessary to cram the 5Ws and H into one sentence for the lead; however, the lead usually should contain information about the Who and What. Take a look at the lead in this article from the CBC. Now, let’s answer the 5Ws and H for the lead:

• Who? Indigenous man and granddaughter and Bank of Montreal and Vancouver Police Department

• What? Human rights complaint filed

• When? Complaint filed on date of story, but in response to being handcuffed last year (second paragraph specifies Dec. 20)

• Where? Vancouver

• Why? Handcuffed while trying to open an bank account (false report of fraud to police)

• How? Legal action

In this case, the How of the story is not directly addressed in the summary lead, because of the complexity of the issue. Still, the reader can easily understand the main idea of the article. When you’re practicing writing summary leads, remember to keep the sentence(s) relatively concise, with no more than 30 words.]]> 533 513 6 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/body-of-the-article/ Sat, 11 Jun 2016 23:14:04 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/body-of-the-article/ 535 513 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/attribution/ Sat, 11 Jun 2016 23:14:24 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/attribution/

“The libraries are usually crowded and filled with students around this time in the semester,” said Laura Skyborn, a KPU librarian.

• A heavy cloud of smog hung over the city Wednesday, Metro Vancouver officials said.

• According to a statement from the Premier's Office, the Premier will announce his cabinet picks on Monday.

When initially referencing a human source, include the person’s full name and titled. Use only the last name for subsequent references. Include important qualifiers with the first reference to demonstrate that the source has expertise on the topic. For example:

• “Using role-plays in the classroom enhances student engagement,” said Andrew Frank, a public relations instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

Notice that the direct quote with attribution uses the qualifier “public relations instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University” to indicate the source’s credibility. Qualifiers are also used to explain a source’s relevance to the topic. The following example might be used in a news article reporting on a crime.

• “It was just complete chaos in the street. The police were trying very hard to catch the assailants,” eyewitness Angela Nelson said.

The qualifier “eyewitness” helps to establish Nelson’s relevance to the narrative. Finally, attribution should flow well within the story. Avoid using long qualifiers or awkward phrases.]]> 537 513 8 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/headlines/ Sat, 11 Jun 2016 23:14:54 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/headlines/ Print versus web headlines [caption id="attachment_542" align="alignright" width="338"] This print news headline includes a subheadline and an image that provides context, and uses an attention-grabbing phrase. "The Globe and Mail, Toronto, ON Canada" by Cliff is licensed under CC BY 2.0[/caption] Print headlines tend to be concise (using fewer than six or seven words) and straightforward. Online headlines tend to be longer and use catchy language. Images, captions, and subheadlines are more common with print headlines than web headlines (Davis & Davis, 2009). Web headlines usually appear as links that lead the reader to the actual article. Given the acceleration of media consumption, many readers simply want to know the basic information about an event. The headlines used with web publications give readers enough information to understand what is happening without reading the story.

How to create a headline

Writing headlines take practice. You need to select words carefully and use strong writing in order to entice the audience to read the article. Create the headline after you finish writing the article so that you have complete understanding of the story. Focus on how you can communicate the main idea in a manner that will capture the reader’s attention. Also focus on key words. Use present-tense verbs for headlines about events in the past or present. For events in the future, use the infinitive form of the verb: for example, “Local store to open new location.”]]> 540 513 9 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/the-difference-between-news/ Sun, 12 Jun 2016 04:59:47 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/the-difference-between-news/ 560 556 1 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/public-relations-writing-materials/ Sun, 12 Jun 2016 05:00:49 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/public-relations-writing-materials/ 562 556 2 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/definition-and-characteristics/ Sun, 12 Jun 2016 05:02:11 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/definition-and-characteristics/ Social media are online communications platforms that allow people to share content. The phrase typically brings to mind sites such as Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok; however, there are many other forms of social media where people share photos, text, videos, podcasts, music, discussions, and ideas. Social media also include a range of professional communication forums, online review sites (for example, Google Reviews and Rotten Tomatoes), and microblogging (for example, Twitter). Social media have become everyday communication tools for almost every demographic in modern society. Many brands use social media to leverage their marketing and public relations efforts. Specifically, organizations can use social media to enhance brand awareness, roll out promotions, and build online traffic (e.g. for websites and online stores). Social media also provide opportunities to develop relationships with audiences through engagement and key messaging. Valentini and Kruckeberg (2012) note that “social media provide a relatively inexpensive means to communicate with, and, more importantly, to enter into a dialogue with strategic publics” (p. 11).]]> 801 799 1 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/traditional-news-writing-vs-feature-writing/ Sat, 11 Jun 2016 23:16:23 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/traditional-news-writing-vs-feature-writing/ here for more information on the different types of features. It is important to understand the circumstances that warrant a feature piece from a strategic communication perspective. Communication professionals write feature articles to provide in-depth exposure for their client or organization. A feature can increase a client or company’s visibility and even help find new key audiences. If you need to quickly get information about your client or organization to the media, a feature article may not be the best tool because it typically is longer than a traditional news story. However, you could write a feature article on, for example, your company’s new CEO to provide more background information to key audiences. Feature stories are also used in an organization’s internal communications, such as newsletters and magazines. Overall, feature articles use an informative tone while incorporating creative and descriptive devices in order to increase audience appeal. Here is an example of a feature article from the New York Times. ]]> 850 848 1 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/types-of-features/ Sat, 11 Jun 2016 23:20:53 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/types-of-features/

Discussion on News Writing with Chris Davey

]]> 852 848 2 0 ]]> ]]> https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/feature-leads/ Sat, 11 Jun 2016 23:21:43 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/feature-leads/ Sharon Jackson was sitting at the table reading an old magazine when the phone rang. It was a reporter asking to set up an interview to discuss a social media controversy involving Jackson and another young woman.“Sorry,” she said. “I’ve already spoken to several reporters about the incident and do not wish to make any further comments.” Notice that the lead unfolds more slowly than a traditional lead and centers on a particular aspect of the larger story. The nut graph, or a paragraph that reveals the importance of the minor story and how it fits into the broader story, would come after the lead. There will be more on the nut graph later in this chapter. Descriptive leads begin the article by describing a person, place, or event in vivid detail. They focus on setting the scene for the piece and use language that taps into the five senses in order to paint a picture for the reader. This type of lead can be used for both traditional news and feature stories. The following is an example of a descriptive lead:

Thousands dressed in scarlet and gray T-shirts eagerly shuffled into the football stadium as the university fight song blared.

For each article below, identify whether it uses a descriptive or anecdotal lead:

• A thin line of defense
• Pediatric patient
• Inside Jay Z's Roc Nation

]]> 854 848 3 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/feature-article-organization/ Sat, 11 Jun 2016 23:22:07 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/feature-article-organization/ Wall Street Journal (WSJ) formula (International Center for Journalists, 2016). The formula was named after the well-known and respected publication, which created the term “nut graph” and mastered feature news writing (Rich, 2016). The formula consists of beginning the story with feature-style leads to grab the reader’s attention, followed by the nut graph (Scanlan, 2003). After this comes a longer body of the story that provides the usual background, facts, quotes, and so on. The formula then specifies a return to the opening focus at the end of the story using another descriptive passage or anecdote, also known as the “circle kicker” (Rich, 2016). This could be, for example, an update on what eventually happened to the main character or how the event or issue turned out. This blog post provides a detailed example of the WSJ formula.]]> 856 848 4 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/the-big-picture-topic-voice/ Fri, 04 Aug 2017 07:20:53 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/the-big-picture-topic-voice/ [caption id="attachment_344" align="aligncenter" width="368"] Several years after creating his blog Breakfast with Nick, Columbus blogger Nick Dekker now breaks 100,000 pageviews per month.[/caption] Columbus blogger Nick Dekker started his blog Breakfast with Nick in 2007 as a hobby. He grew up loving breakfast and started the blog as a way to remember the places he’d been and his experiences. Dekker now breaks 100,000 pageviews a month on his blog, has more than 11,000 followers on his related Instagram account and receives requests for sponsored content. He also published a guidebook to breakfast in Columbus in 2011. An individual or a brand looking to launch a new blog should ask a few questions to hone in on a sustainable topic and voice:

• What do I know?
• What’s my personality?
• What am I passionate about?
• Who is my intended audience?
• How much time do I have to devote to this?
• What skills do I have (i.e., writing, editing, photography, technology)?

Just like other platforms, blogs should define an intended audience (or two or three, but that’s about the max). For Dekker, this audience is anyone living in Columbus or traveling to Columbus. “I always think of people in the city and helping them discover a new favorite spot, get to know new places that have opened or rediscover an old favorite,” says Dekker, noting the trend of using food to get to know places. With that audience in mind and knowing that 75 percent of his readers live in Columbus, Dekker uses his blog to help readers discover local food and things to do. This means he also provides images, addresses, websites, dietary restrictions and other logistical information since his readers often rely on the blog to find new places to eat. In the video below, Dekker talks about the importance of finding a niche and establishing a trusted voice in that space.

[iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AhvuD_JDKnI?rel=0" width="560" height="315" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"]

Nick Dekker YouTube Interview

Breakfast with Nick blogger Nick Dekker talks about blogging.

Dekker says he follows advice he received early on from a fellow food blogger: the best thing you can do for your readers is to be honest and consistent. “If I gush about every place I go, it won’t seem honest. Having a trusted voice has helped me build a readership,” says Dekker. The voice in his blog – laid back, honest and passionate about food – built a niche that set Dekker apart from other resources offering formal culinary instruction or restaurant critiques. Lauren Powers runs Columbus style and travel blog An Explorer’s Heart. She notes that a defined target audience is also helpful if the goal is to monetize the blog because brands appreciate knowing who you’re targeting with the content. Polaris Fashion Place, AMC Theatres and Modcloth are among the brands that sponsor Powers’ posts because they’re interested in the target audience she reaches. [caption id="attachment_347" align="aligncenter" width="440"] Local blogger Lauren Powers rebranded her blog into An Explorer's Heart to focus more on her key topics of style and travel.[/caption]]]> 459 330 4 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/quality-content-ingredients/ Fri, 04 Aug 2017 07:21:14 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/quality-content-ingredients/ A captivating voice baits the hook, but a blog won’t land a strong and returning readership if the content and mechanics behind the voice are subpar. What are some examples of strong versus subpar content?

Timely and Current Connections Originality Organization and Relevance Links Visual Appeal Proper Mechanics Formatting Fit for a Scan

Timely and Current Connections Blogging requires planning, because new posts should appear regularly. An established blogger, Dekker posts two to three times a week. He uses Google calendar to keep content planned two to three weeks in advance, and he schedules sponsored posts and paid work often a month or two in advance. Creating a content calendar helps ensure a steady flow of content and also encourages strategic and timely topic choices. Beyond adding fresh content on a regular basis, the posts themselves should be timely. This might mean tying in to a current event or trending topic: in Dekker’s case, visiting a newly opened restaurant or offering “12 Ideas for Spring Brunch Season.” With a more timeless or evergreen topic, content can link to current other resources or websites. [caption id="attachment_349" align="alignright" width="320"] Dekker highlights Kittie's Cafe in his blog, featuring unique offerings like the s'moretado.[/caption] Originality Whatever the blog topic – food, fashion, sports, cars, vintage Barbie dolls – be original in the thoughts shared and the voice and writing style used to share them. Dekker speaks in his own voice about his experiences, keeping content casual and in the first person. He seeks out new and interesting restaurants and experiences and talks about them with his own personal spin. Unique and fun visuals also add interest. Photos, other graphics and multimedia elements can bring the content to life and capture the attention of readers scanning the page. In a post about Kittie's Café in Bexley, Dekker highlights key options at the WiFi and laptop-free café, including the s'moretado drink, one of the standout menu items to not only hear about but see. Organization and Relevance Good posts have a strong and relevant takeaway for readers. Maybe it’s helpful cooking tips or purely to entertain, but writers should know what they intend for the reader to gain from reading each post. Keep an eye on word count and structure the content. It’s not a meandering diary entry. A typical guideline is 300-500 words, but it depends on the style of the writer and the blog. Creating a rough outline before writing can help writers organize key messages and place links and images. Links A blog post that starts a conversation and links to other great content mean readers never need to hit a dead-end. Links give readers a choose-your-own-adventure experience that lets them explore examples, dig deeper into the post’s main points or check out other perspectives. Use links to connect your blog content to other expertise, unique perspectives, resources or examples. Links also force readers to choose between continuing on or clicking, so limit links to key outside sources and clearly show readers where links will take them. Avoid "click here" and use the text in the link to indicate where the link leads. Visual Appeal Images tell great stories and most blog posts fall flat without some type of photos, graphics or video. Dekker recommends using original artwork as much as possible, “especially considering the fact that we all carry small cameras with us.” An Explorer's Heart author Powers is also a photographer and includes multiple photos with each post to use both images and words to share information. In a 2016 post How to Plan a Trip to Aspen, Colorado this Fall, she includes 24 photos that illustrate different aspects of her content from scenery to fall leaves to local hot spots. [caption id="attachment_351" align="alignleft" width="257"] Powers illustrates the fall foliage and weather in Aspen.[/caption] Assume all existing images are copyrighted unless you prove otherwise. Ask permission (via email to create a paper trail) and then link back to the original image and include photo credit within the post. Read about author and blogger Roni Loren's expensive and lawyer-filled experience when she unknowingly posted a copyrighted photo, and her suggestions for avoiding this pitfall. Proper Mechanics Blogs position their writers as subject-matter experts. And it’s hard to build trust as an expert with spelling and grammatical mistakes, inconsistencies or other weak writing. Dekker says he uses the lessons he learned from journalism, skills like careful proofreading and fact checking. Other fundamental to keep in mind:

• Using active verbs
• Crafting strong headlines
• Proofreading carefully for both grammar and spelling
• Relying on a stylebook for consistency
• Learning about and using keywords to help readers find your post
• Editing. Editing Again. And Again. [caption id="attachment_352" align="alignright" width="356"] This image features a local Aspen hotspot.[/caption]

Powers agrees that a good blog posts needs not only great photos but solid writing. “It should be informative and the best out there,” Powers says. “The competition is tough, so a post with 100 words and a [caption id="attachment_353" align="alignleft" width="337"] Lauren Powers pictures the scenic mountains and brisk weather of Aspen in the fall.[/caption] few mediocre photos won’t get you very far.” Formatting Fit for a Scan The majority of people don’t read online information word-for-word. They scan, and this means the length and format of online content should look different. These tips will help make your online content scanner-friendly:

• Cut online content to about half the word count (or less) than a similar piece of content intended for print
• Use shorter sentences and more, shorter paragraphs to allow scanners to digest smaller pieces of information
• Chunk the text by limiting content to one idea per paragraph when possible and separating paragraphs with a space to create visual breaks in the text
• Add subheads and make them meaningful so scanners get a good overview of available topics and can jump around in the text
• Look for information in the narrative that lends itself to a list format or series of bullet points
• Highlight keywords or subheads by making them bold or a different typeface (but use these sparingly so they still stand out)
• Avoid distracting backgrounds and difficult to read font colors and types

]]> 465 330 5 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/news-value-types-part-2/ Tue, 16 Aug 2016 01:37:18 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/news-value-types-part-2/ Prominence Stories that feature well-known individuals or public figures such as politicians and entertainers carry news value. News outlets covered the story when model Tyra Banks completed a management program at Harvard’s School of Business. Banks’s celebrity profile raised the news value of a story that would have received little or no attention had it involved just about anyone else.

Impact

The United Kingdom’s vote to exit the European Union in June 2016 had global implications, and many media outlets in the U.S. and abroad reported the story. However, British news stations such as BBC News and Sky News covered the event more extensively than American media did because the decision impacts Britain’s economy and citizens much more so than Americans. Generally, people are more likely to care about stories that directly affect their lives; therefore, media gatekeepers often devote more time and resources to stories that have implications for their respective audiences.

Novelty

Stories that are odd, unusual, shocking, or surprising have novelty value. An example would be a story about an unusual animal friendship, such as that between a dog and a deer. Because such a friendship is not a normal occurrence, it sparks the curiosity of audiences. In 2015, CNN covered a story about a weatherman who was able to correctly pronounce the extremely long name of a Welsh village. Take a look at this clip of the story:

[iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dCGkqUr1kbY" width="560" height="315" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"]

Weatherman pronounces long village name (Source: CNN)

Conflict

Strife or power struggles between individuals or ethnic groups or organizations contain a conflict value and often grab the attention of audiences. For example, stories about war, crime, and social discord are newsworthy because their conflict narrative spurs interest. The continuous coverage by U.S. media outlets of worldwide terrorism is another example. Stories about major sports competitions, such as the National Basketball Association finals or the Super Bowl, also contain a conflict element because teams are vying for a prestigious title.]]> 519 513 3 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/references-6/ Sun, 21 Aug 2016 03:43:20 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/references-6/ Ragan.com. Retrieved from: http://www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/What_makes_a_good_PR_pro_A_degree_or_a_journalism_43397.aspx

Davis, S. & Davis, E. (2009). Think like an editor: 50 strategies from the print and digital world. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Galtung, J. & Ruge, M.H. (1965). The structure of foreign news: The presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus crises in four Norwegian newspapers. Journal of Peace Research, 2(1), 64-90. Harrower, T. (2012). Inside reporting. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education. Kraft, N. (2015, August 12). COMM 2221-News Value [YouTube video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akgY46ejiQY

Scanlan, C. (2003). Writing from the top down: Pros and cons of the inverted pyramid. Poynter. Retrieved from: http://www.poynter.org/2003/writing-from-the-top-down-pros-and-cons-of-the-inverted-pyramid/12754/

]]> 542 513 10 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/writing-the-press-release/ Mon, 22 Aug 2016 22:52:46 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/writing-the-press-release/

Is the announcement or event newsworthy? Does it appeal to the media outlet’s audience? Some announcements do not warrant a release and can simply be posted on the company website.

What is the key message? What should the reader take away?

Who is the target audience for the release? Although you’re writing the release for the media, you need to keep in mind the kind of readers or listeners you hope to attract.

In this video, Gina Bericchia, senior media strategist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, discusses proper news release writing.

[iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zdZz5mBsLZU" width="640" height="360" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"]

Discussion on Press Release Writing with Gina Bericchia

]]> 564 556 3 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/press-release-structure-and-format/ Tue, 23 Aug 2016 00:55:24 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/press-release-structure-and-format/ like Canada Newswire and the formatting is just simple text. The body of the news release should be written using news writing techniques and style. Be sure to include a headline (often 14 pt bold); you also may include a subheadline which is normally written as a single sentence (12 pt), followed by dateline (location and date where the news is taking place), a summary lead paragraph and the body of the news release (12 pt or 11 pt unbolded). Foe example, below is the news release that was written and sent to media resulting in the CBC article referenced earlier.    Be sure to use the inverted pyramid to organize the information throughout the news release. Include at least two quotes, one from the company or organization and another from a third party (example: customer, volunteer, current or former attendee at the event) if possible. After you’ve finished with the body, you can include boilerplate at the end of the document. The boilerplate provides information about the company or organization, similar to the “About Us” section that you might find on a company website. The news release should be as concise as possible and ideally no longer than one page.]]> 567 556 4 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/press-kit-materials/ Tue, 19 Jul 2016 20:23:11 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/press-kit-materials/

Backgrounder

News release

Fact sheet

Publicity photos or list of photo opportunities

Media advisory / Media alert

Click here for information on how to assemble a media kit.

Backgrounder

A backgrounder contains the history of a company and biographies of key executives. The purpose is to supplement the news release and explain the company’s story or event, products, services, and milestones. It is in paragraph format and relatively brief (one to two pages). Click here for a sample corporate backgrounder from GainSpan, a semiconductor company (creator: Javed Mohammed).

Fact Sheet

A fact sheet provides a summary of an event, product, service, or person by focusing only on essential information or key characteristics. It is more concise than a backgrounder and serves as a quick reference for reporters. However, the fact sheet is not meant for publication. The headings of a fact sheet vary; the creator of the document chooses how to categorize major information. The most common type of fact sheet is the organizational profile, which gives basic information about an organization. This includes descriptions of products or services, annual revenues, markets served, and number of employees. The standard fact sheet contains a company letterhead and contact information. The body is single-spaced, with an extra space between paragraphs and subheadings. Although the fact sheet is typically one page, put the word “-more-” at the bottom of the first page to indicate additional pages. To make it easy to read, group similar information together and include bulleted items if appropriate. Click here for an example of a fact sheet. Keep in mind that the subheadings/categories used in this example may not be used in another one. Writers have flexibility in the categories they choose in a fact sheet.

Media Advisory or Media Alert

There are times when announcements do not require the distribution of a news release, but rather a concise notice to the media. This is called a media alert or media advisory. Media alerts are memos to reporters about an interview opportunity, press conference, or upcoming event. They use the 5Ws and H format to quickly deliver information. The illustration below explains the key differences between a press release and a media advisory:

Here are some examples of media alerts:

• Economic Policy Institute
• Institute for Women's Policy Research

]]> 570 556 5 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/references-9/ Tue, 23 Aug 2016 01:32:18 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/references-9/ Galant, G. (2014). The end of the press release? PR Say: The Voice of Public Relations. Retrieved from: http://prsay.prsa.org/2014/05/22/the-end-of-the-press-release/

White, R. (2016). 13 PR truths—how many do you believe? PR Daily. Retrieved from: http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/0eb7ac16-f3f1-4fc5-a467-32d56b4ba7f4.aspx

]]> 572 556 6 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/types-of-social-media/ Sun, 12 Jun 2016 05:03:16 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/types-of-social-media/ 803 799 2 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/the-impact-of-social-media/ Sun, 12 Jun 2016 05:04:59 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/the-impact-of-social-media/ Bell's Let's Talk campaign is a multi-year, multimedia campaign that bills itself as "the world's biggest conversation about mental health," with a goal of raising awareness and de-stigmatizing mental health issues. Since its start in 2011, the campaign claims to have generated over a billion interactions while raising millions of dollars in donations to support mental health-facing non-profit organizations and support services in Canada. Using the hashtag #BellLetsTalk the company's initiative has successfully become a major convenor of mental health discussions, with social media influencers like the Duchess and Duke of Sussex (Meghan and Harry) sharing posts as part of the campaign. To help incentivize the sharing of its content, the campaign links sharing, starting discussions and watching short educational videos on the topic, to donations (e.g. every view of a video results in a small donation to mental health organizations). The company has also created online and offline supporter toolkits for people to share their stories online with friends and family using graphics, stickers, and discussion guides to have healthy conversations about mental health. To be sure, this campaign has enhanced Bell's reputation and increased brand awareness among consumers, but it has also made a significant impact. This example demonstrates the powerful utility of using social media to create reputation and relationship management campaigns for a good cause.   [caption id="attachment_822" align="alignnone" width="558"] Instagram post from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex supporting the #BellLetsTalk campaign.[/caption]]]> 806 799 3 0 ]]> ]]> https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/crafting-social-media/ Sun, 12 Jun 2016 05:05:55 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/crafting-social-media/ Identify the message goal As with all purposeful communication, it is counterproductive to create social media messages that do not have a specific goal. Furthermore, social media message goals should reflect the organization or individual's overall mission. Message goals can include increasing brand awareness, creating a favorable perception of an organization, and convincing an audience to buy a product. The goal should be clearly articulated in the content. It is also important to select the social media platform that would be the most effective at reaching the intended audience and accomplishing the message goal. Each social media tool has specific characteristics and audiences, which will affect whether the message goals are achieved.

Identify the target audience

Similar to other forms of public relations writing, social media messages need to be targeted. After identifying the key audience, examine what they’re talking about: their interests, attitudes, and beliefs. Social media content should reflect audience analysis and research findings. As you tailor the content of the message to this audience, do not exaggerate attempts to be interesting or relevant. Because social media messages are audience centered, they’re not necessarily grounded in what you personally think is appealing. The lack of attention to audience analysis can have serious consequences. One example (and a good contrast from #BellLetsTalk) is a series of tweets from Sunny D in 2019, as explained by Inc.com in an article titled, "The 10 Worst Social Media Fails of 2019":

"After Denny's paved the way for brands to post outlandish, random (but good-natured) content for attention, it's the norm for companies to try to be funny. But some jokes don't land, especially when they make light of a mental illness that affects 300 million people worldwide.

That's what happened when citrus punch brand SunnyD unleashed a series of tweets implying that the brand was losing its will to live. While some users were entertained, others pointed out that a juice brand posturing as a depressed individual was inherently insensitive." [embed]https://twitter.com/sunnydelight/status/1092247574336163840[/embed]

These kinds of mishaps demonstrate the need for careful message and audience analysis. They also reinforce the point that although you may react favorably to a message (or think its funny, viral or catchy), your target audience may not.

Identify the organization's social media approach

Communication choices should reflect organizational strategies. Wilson et al. (2011) have identified four general ways in which companies use social media. They are determined by the “company’s tolerance for uncertain outcomes and the level of results sought” (para. 2):

1. The Predictive Practitioner: This approach uses caution when sending out social media messages. Instead of launching a social media strategy that involves all departments in a company, only a specific department (example: marketing or human resources) uses its social media platforms. This allows more control of social media messaging and guarantees some level of certainty in accomplishing the stated objectives.
2. The Creative Experimenter: This approach accepts uncertainty and deploys small social media “experiments” to learn and improve overall business functions. Sometimes, businesses will take to Facebook or Twitter to receive feedback on products or business practices from internal (example: employees) or external (example: customers) audiences. The overall goal is to listen and learn from interactions; therefore, unpredictable results are accepted. 
3. The Social Media Champion: This approach takes strategies to a more advanced level. A designated team is in charge of the organization’s overall social media presence. The team also creates an official social media policy and guidelines for the organization. Larger social media projects typically use this strategy. Unlike the predictive practitioner strategy, this approach does not confine social media use to a particular department and considers social media messages across various functions. 
4. The Social Media Transformer: This strategy targets both internal and external audiences by launching large-scale projects that involve multiple departments. As with the social media champion approach, a team is devoted to planning, creating, and launching the organization’s social media projects. However, these projects are usually larger and more advanced than those using the social media champion approach. This strategy specifically considers how social media can influence business strategy, brand, and culture.

Organizations can use multiple approaches when designing a social media message. What is important is that they carefully consider their approach before writing and posting any content to social media platforms.]]> 808 799 4 0

I can’t do this anymore

— SUNNYD (@sunnydelight) February 4, 2019]]>

I can’t do this anymore

— SUNNYD (@sunnydelight) February 4, 2019]]> https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/creating-social-media-messages/ Mon, 29 Aug 2016 19:06:27 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/creating-social-media-messages/ Engagement, engagement, engagement More than many forms of communication, social media messages need to motivate the audience to engage with the content. Several strategies can encourage engagement, such as responding quickly to feedback from audience members, creating contests, and inviting the audience to respond to a question. Including photos and videos in social media posts substantially increases engagement, as does integrating trending topics (Redsicker, 2014). This requires careful consideration and research that will pay off if the trending hashtags are chosen wisely. Hai Poke, a startup restaurant in Columbus, did this by tapping into the Pokemon Go craze in the summer of 2016. The restaurant launched a social media contest and created a fun, timely, interactive message.   [caption id="attachment_778" align="aligncenter" width="516"] "Poké" social media campaign image from Hai Poké's Facebook page.[/caption]

Consistency

The core message needs to be articulated across all social media platforms in a consistent way that conveys a unified voice. The message also needs to reflect the brand image; in other words, it should reinforce the brand “feel” or personality. When you think about the various social media fails you've no doubt encountered online, a major reason audiences often dislike a message is because its tone or content is inconsistent with the company’s brand personality.

Timeliness

Studies have shown a significant correlation between social media engagement (e.g. sharing activity, views and clickthroughs) and common work and break schedules (e.g. higher engagement before, after and during breaks in work, as well as on the weekend). Being aware of your audience's social media habits is key to posting content at the right time to increase engagement.

#GetFound

Ensuring that your content is seen by your intended audience is largely dependent on a longer term social media strategy (building relationships, community, social capital and credibility), however hashtags (#) can be used to flag/signal that your content is part of a larger ongoing discussion (e.g. #COVID19). Depending on who your audience and stakeholders are, they may be using different hashtags to continue an online discussion about a specific issue. In the case of Twitter, doing a quick keyword or hashtag search can help reveal what hashtags are being used most often for any issues that your content and communications goal might relate to. Make sure to use hashtags correctly and somewhat sparingly (a long list of hashtags can sometimes come across as "spammy" and may be criticized by members of your audience).

Concise writing

Similar to news writing, social media writing is straightforward. Because you’re competing against countless other messages in the social media sphere, you do not have much time and space to capture the audience’s attention. This is especially the case with platforms that have character limits. You have to think carefully not only about what the message will say but how to say it in a concise manner that has the intended effect. For more information on effective social media writing, take a look at this video with Nicholas Love, social media director at The Ohio State University: [embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/Fdgod6dLTC0[/embed]  

A/B Testing 

Social media content creators will often do small tests of their social media messages, almost like mini-focus groups, using either internal or external audiences. This is typically done by issuing two versions of the same message on a social media platform (the only difference being one key element that the writer wants to test), and seeing which version elicits more immediate and significant interaction from the audience. Through ongoing A/B testing, a social media writer can become aware of what forms of messaging resonate the most with their audience (e.g. specific words, phrasing, length, hashtags, use of emoji, images, invitations for engagement etc.). Hootsuite has an excellent short article on A/B testing here. ]]> 811 799 5 0 ]]> https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/references-10/ Mon, 29 Aug 2016 19:10:23 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/references-10/ Black, L. (2011). 5 smart social PR campaigns to learn from. Mashable. Retrieved from: http://mashable.com/2011/03/08/social-pr-campaigns/#zE8n38EXNOqB

Green, D. (2012). How to think about social media. New Statesman. Retrieved from:  http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/david-allen-green/2012/01 social-media-regulation

Redsicker, P. (2014). Social photos generate more engagement: New research. Social Media Examiner. Retrieved from: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/photos-generate-engagement-research/

Valentini, C. & Kruckeberg, D. (2012). New media versus social media: A conceptualization of their meanings, uses, and implication for public relations. In S. Duhe (ed.), New media and public relations (pp. 3-12). New York: Peter Lang.

Wilson, H., Guinan, P., Parise, S. & Weinberg, B. (2011). What’s your social media strategy? Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2011/07/whats-your-social-media-strategy

]]> 813 799 6 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/feature-writing-devices/ Sun, 21 Aug 2016 03:38:29 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/feature-writing-devices/ Literary Devices Feature writers use a particular style of writing to convey the story’s message. The use of literary devices helps in this task. These devices include similes and metaphors, onomatopoeia (use of words that mimic a sound), imagery (figurative language), climax, and more. Here are a few examples of onomatopoeia and imagery: Onomatopoeia: The tires screeched against the concrete as she hit the pedal. Imagery (example modified from Butte College, 2016): The apartment smelled of old cooking odors, cabbage, and mildew; . . . a haze of dusty sunlight peeked from the one cobwebbed, gritty window. Click here for more information on literary devices, including specific examples.

Descriptive Writing

A good feature writer uses plot devices and dialogues that help move the story forward, while focusing on the central theme and providing supporting information through descriptive language and specific examples. You want to show readers what’s happening, not simply tell them. They should be able to visualize the characters, places, and events highlighted in the feature piece. Show versus tell Tell: Friends describe Amariah as a generous and vibrant person who was involved in several nonprofit organizations. Show: Tracey proudly recalls her friend’s generosity. “Amariah is usually the first person to arrive at a volunteer event, and the last to leave. She spends four hours every Saturday morning volunteering at the mentoring center. It’s rare to not catch her laughing, flashing her perfect smile. She’s just a burst of positive energy.” It’s often tempting to end a feature piece with a summary conclusion. Instead, consider using an anecdote, passage, or compelling quote that will leave a lasting impression on your readers.]]> 858 848 5 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/references-5/ Sun, 21 Aug 2016 03:40:00 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/references-5/ International Center for Journalists. (2016). Use these tools for the story structure. Retrieved from: http://www.icfj.org/resources/who%E2%80%99s-running-company-guide-reporting-corporate-governance/use-these-tools-story-structure

Literary Devices Editors. (2013). What are literary devices? Retrieved from: http://literarydevices.net/

Rich, C. (2016). Writing and reporting news: A coaching method. Cengage Learning: Boston, MA.

Scanlan, C. (2003). The nut graf, Part I. Poynter. Retrieved from: http://www.poynter.org/2003/the-nut-graf-part-i/11371/

]]> 860 848 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/why-create-a-writing-portfolio/ Mon, 01 Aug 2016 17:22:40 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/why-create-a-writing-portfolio/ 885 883 1 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/online-versus-hardcopy-portfolios/ Mon, 01 Aug 2016 17:23:42 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/online-versus-hardcopy-portfolios/ http://www.laurenmarinigh.com It's recommended that you create an online portfolio, such as a professional website, so that the general public can see your work. Send the online portfolio to professional contacts in your network or to potential employers before the job interview so they can see your writing samples and other examples of your work. As a precautionary measure, also print some of the writing samples and put them in a zip-up portfolio or a professional binder when you’re preparing for a job interview.]]> 887 883 2 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/writing-portfolio-content/ Mon, 01 Aug 2016 17:24:07 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/writing-portfolio-content/

News releases

Backgrounders

Bios and profiles

Website copy

Feature articles

Social media and blog posts (ideally that you have created for an organization)

Media pitches (and ideally copies of any resulting news media coverage you secured from the pitch)

A detailed communications plan for a public relations campaign

Include brief information about each document, such as the name of the organization it was created for and the date. Be ready to discuss your writing samples during a job interview and the purpose and strategy behind each one. You may explain why you created the material and the results that came from it, such as increased website traffic or social media followers. For more examples of portfolios, ideas for how to organize them, and how-to articles on creating them, click on the following links:

• http://www.laurenmarinigh.com 
• https://generationpr.ca/what-to-include-in-your-online-communications-portfolio/
• https://maggiestanton.com
• Gari Cruze, copywriter
• Brandi Uyemura, features writer
• https://prsahouston.org/blog/id/37

]]> 889 883 3 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/more-important-points-about-the-writing-portfolio/ Mon, 01 Aug 2016 17:25:11 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/more-important-points-about-the-writing-portfolio/ WordPress (this is a link to KPU's Wordpress installation site for students), Drupal, Wix, and Squarespace. Other options for creating and hosting your online portfolio include purpose-specific CMS's such as clippings.me or portfolio building options within social media platforms like LinkedIn. As you work on more projects and articles, remember to include them in your portfolio. Make sure to constantly update your portfolio so that employers and professional contacts can see your most recent work. Include a minimum of two to three writing samples, although the quality of the portfolio materials matters more than the quantity (Lovering, 2016).]]> 891 883 4 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/references-12/ Tue, 30 Aug 2016 03:59:39 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/references-12/ Lovering, C. (2016). How to make an impressive writing portfolio. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved from: http://work.chron.com/make-impressive-writing-portfolio-3214.html

]]> 893 883 5 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=36 Tue, 11 Jun 2019 22:12:06 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/chapter-1-introduction-understanding-medias-impact-on-society/ Bronze bust of John Dewey sculpted by Jacob Epstein, 1927. John Dewey by Cliff. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0.[/caption]

“Society not only continues to exist by transmission, by communication, but it may fairly be said to exist in transmission, in communication.” — John Dewey in Democracy and Education, 1916

             

The purpose of this chapter is to define media, society and culture broadly. Additionally, the term "communication" is defined in its many forms. Chapters 2 and 3 deal with communication theory in more detail. Digital culture is covered in depth in Chapter 2. We will discuss media literacy and media studies in Chapter 3, but we have to learn to walk before we run, as the saying goes.

More than one hundred years ago, John Dewey wrote in Democracy and Education that society is not only supported by various forms of communication but also enveloped in communication. Dewey reiterated what philosophers and scholars had noted for centuries: small groups, larger communities and vast institutions — all the things that make up a society — function in relation to how communication flows within and between groups.

There are different forms of communication. At the broadest level, communication is an exchange of meaning between people using symbols. The most common symbols we use are verbal and written words, but there are also many forms of nonverbal communication such as American Sign Language. What sign language, verbal communication and written communication have in common is the use of abstract symbols to convey meaning. Whether you say "thank you" in face-to-face communication, send someone a card with the words "thank you" written on it, or use nonverbal cues to express thanks, the meaning is the same.

[caption id="attachment_34" align="alignleft" width="300"] A boy smiles as he stands next to a Christmas tree.[/caption]

Interpersonal communication generally refers to the exchange of meaning between two or more people on a personal, often one-on-one, level. Interpersonal communication can be verbal or nonverbal. Most often, it happens in face-to-face settings. It differs from mass communication, which involves sharing meaning through symbolic messages to a wide audience from one source to many receivers. Sometimes, particularly in computer-mediated communication, messages conveyed using computers, it can be difficult to tell the difference between interpersonal communication and mass communication because individuals can send messages intended only for other individuals that might quickly reach large numbers of people. Social media platforms are often structured in ways that allow interpersonal messages to "go viral" and become mass messages whether the original sender intended to address a mass audience or not.

It is not the type of message that determines interpersonal or mass communication. It is the way the message is distributed and the relationships between sender and receiver(s). This text will continue to grapple with the overlap of interpersonal communication and mass communication structures on networked communication platforms, but first, another form of communication commonly studied in academic settings should be introduced.

Organizational communication is the symbolic exchange of messages carrying specific meaning for members belonging to formal organizations. In practical terms, it is the internal communication that helps governments, businesses, schools and hospitals to run.

People working together in organizations get usually things done by communicating directly with one another or in small groups. Organizations cannot function without communication. Organizational communication effectiveness can influence the success or failure of businesses and other social institutions. Thus, communication does not merely happen within organizations; it is an essential part of the way they are structured. Organizational communication is a separate field of study, introduced well in this YouTube video.

Successful communication, whether intended for personal use, for use within an organization, or for a wide audience, can help people to understand each other and to get things done.

If good organizational communication is necessary for groups to function with a formal purpose, mass communication is essential for societies to function. Societies are made up of formal organizations of various sizes. Usually, the larger the group, the more complex its communication structures.

Communication structure refers to a combination of information and communication technologies (ICTs), guidelines for using those technologies, and professional workers dedicated to managing information and messages. In the mass communication field, communication structures are more than computers and transmission networks. The guidelines for using networks to create and distribute messages for mass consumption are a matter of corporate policy as well as law.

It has been noted that a society is made up of small groups, larger communities, and vast institutions. A more complete definition of the term comes from the field of sociology. A society is a very large group of people organized into institutions held together over time through formalized relationships. Nations, for example, are made up of formal institutions organized by law. Governments of different size, economic institutions, educational institutions and others all come together to form a society.

By comparison, culture — the knowledge, beliefs, and practices of groups large and small — is not necessarily formalized. Culture is necessary for enjoying and making sense of the human experience, but there are few formalized rules governing culture.

Mass communication influences both society and culture. Different societies have different media systems, and the way they are set up by law influences how the society works. Different forms of communication, including messages in the mass media, give shape and structure to society. Additionally, mass media outlets can spread cultural knowledge and artistic works around the globe. People exercise cultural preferences when it comes to consuming media, but mass media corporations often decide which stories to tell and which to promote, particularly when it comes to forms of mass media that are costly to produce such as major motion pictures, major video game releases and global news products.

More than any other, the field of mass communication transmits culture. At the same time, it helps institutional society try to understand itself and whether its structures are working.

The Mass Media Dynamic

The mass media system is an institution itself. What sets it apart is its potential to influence the thinking of massive numbers of individuals. In fact, the ideas exchanged in organizational communication and interpersonal communication are often established, reinforced or negated by messages in the mass media. This is what it means for societies "to exist in transmission, in communication." Different types of communication influence each other.

But the mass media are also shaped and influenced by social groups and institutions. This is the nature of the mass media dynamic.

Individuals and groups in society influence what mass media organizations produce through their creativity on the input side and their consumption habits on the output side. It is not accurate to say that society exists within the mass media or under mass media "control." Social structures are too powerful for mass media to completely govern how they operate. But neither is it accurate to say that the mass media are contained within societies. Many mass media products transcend social structures to influence multiple societies, and even in societies that heavily censor their mass media the news of scandals and corruption can get out. The mass media and society are bound together and shape each other.

Almost everything you read, see and hear is framed within a mass media context; however, mere familiarity is no guarantee of success. Products in the mass media that fail to resonate with audiences do not last long, even if they seem in tune with current tastes and trends.

The Mass Communication Origin Story

In his book, John notes how, in the early 20th century, the mass media were beginning to connect large institutions in new ways. The production of mass media messages accelerated with the development of the telegraph and the popular newspaper. The spread of telegraph technology that began in the mid-1800s continued through the early 1900s to network the globe with a nearly instantaneous information transmission system. Much of the growth of newspapers occurred as a result of improvements in telegraph technology.

[caption id="attachment_34" align="alignright" width="225"] The television station's webpage at KOMU, a local affiliate owned and operated by the University of Missouri-Columbia, is constantly on display in the newsroom.[/caption]

Thus, a primary function of the global mass communication system is to save time. People have a need to understand what is going on in the world, and they desire entertainment. Global electronic telecommunication networks collapse space by transmitting messages in much less time than the older, physical delivery systems.

The dynamic between society and mass media that is so prevalent today developed throughout the 20th century. Starting near the end of the 1800s, communication flows began to move at electronic speeds. More people knew about more things than ever before, but scholars are quick to point out that communication is not synonymous with understanding.

Dewey wanted to focus on educating people so that they could live and work well in societies heavily shaped by global telecommunication networks. For him, education was the meaning of life and the global information and communication system needed to be molded into an educational tool. Many of us still hold out hope for Dewey's educational goals, but as ICTs have advanced over the past century or two, it has become clear that the mere existence of global mass communication networks does not ensure that societies will learn to coexist and thrive.

This can be difficult for people to acknowledge. Shortly after the widespread dissemination of the telegraph, the radio, broadcast television and public internet access, some form of communication utopia was imagined or even expected. The telegraph collapsed space. Radio enabled instantaneous mass communication. Television brought live images from one side of the globe to the other for even larger mass audiences, and internet access gave individuals the power to be information senders, not just receivers. At each step hope and imagination flourished, but social and cultural clashes persisted. Communication systems can be used as weapons. The evolution of mass communication tools is the story of increased capacity to do the same good and evil things people have always done in societies and between them.

Looking beyond technological utopianism — the idea that new technologies (particularly ICTs) will lead to greater social understanding and better conditions for the global population — we are left with a tedious but massively meaningful project. We must find ways to coexist with other societies even as we are constantly aware of our differences and of possible threats that may have existed before but now are much easier to see.

Perhaps if we are to make the best of our digital global communication network, it would help to track the evolution of different forms of mass communication. This text very briefly touched on the continuum from telegraph to widespread internet adoption, but the first mass medium was ink on paper.

The First Mass Medium

The first global medium, besides the spoken word, was neither the internet nor the telegraph. In fact, it was not a mass medium at all. It was paper. Via trade routes, messages in the form of letters moved around the world in a matter of weeks or months. It was global communication, but it was slow.

The development of a global telegraph network made it possible for messages to spread in minutes. When the telegraph was wed to mass-consumed newspapers, the world saw the rise of fast, global, mass communication that had the power to potentially influence large groups of people at once.

Books transmitted messages widely and inspired literacy, but they did not establish a channel for consistent, timely communication meant for mass audiences. After the Gutenberg printing press was developed around 1440, the Gutenberg Bible was slowly mass produced and disseminated around the Western world. It opened up access to sacred texts that had been bound up for centuries by large institutions like the Roman Catholic Church, and its dissemination helped fuel the Protestant Reformation. Still, it was an outlier. Most other books, even those that were mass produced from around the 1500s to the 1800s were not disseminated as widely as the Gutenberg Bible. They were simply too expensive.

Nevertheless, mass literacy slowly paved the way for mass newspaper readership to emerge in the 20th century. After the telegraph was invented and developed for wide-scale use and after the cost of printing newspapers dropped, publishers could share news from around the globe with mass audiences. The newspaper, specifically the penny press, was the first mass medium.

[caption id="attachment_34" align="alignleft" width="300"] The front page of the Cincinnati Penny Paper from Monday, May 16, 1881. From: George Edward Stevens' article "From Penny Paper to Post and Times-Star: Mr. Scripps' First Link" in the Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin No. 27, 1969. The Penny Paper, May 16, 1881 by The Penny Paper. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain.[/caption]

What distinguished the penny press was affordability. These papers were published in tabloid format, which used small-sized pages and was cheaper to produce. Penny papers were written for and read by working class audiences starting in about the 1830s. They covered all manner of current events. Soon, major institutions such as political parties and unions developed their own papers to cover the topics that suited their agendas and to promote the cultural values that they held dear.

Mass Media Growth And Consolidation

As mass production of all sorts of manufactured goods grew during the 20th century, so did advertising budgets and the concept of brands. Brand advertising became fuel for the mass media, and as profitability rose, newspapers were bought up and organized into chains throughout the 20th century. Many newspapers grew their audience as they merged.

Partisan papers gave way to a brand of news that strived for objectivity. The profit motive mostly drove the change. To attract a mass audience, newspapers had to represent various points of view. This pushed some of the most opinionated citizens, particularly strong advocates for workers, to the fringes of mass discourse. Some advocates developed alternative media offerings. Others went mostly unheard or plied their craft directly in politics.

At the same, throughout much of the 20th century, the journalism workforce became more professionalized. Professional norms, that is the written and unwritten rules guiding behavior decided on by people in a given field, evolved. Many full-time, paid professional journalists stressed and continue to stress the need to remain detached from the people they cover so that journalists can maintain the practice and appearance of objectivity. Journalists emphasized objectivity in order to remain autonomous and to be perceived as truthful. The norm of objective reporting still strongly influences news coverage in newspapers as well as on most mainstream radio and television news networks.

That being said, the practice of maintaining objectivity is being called into question in our current hyper-partisan political media environment. Other strategies for demonstrating truthfulness require journalists to be transparent about how they do their work, about who owns their media outlets, and about what investments and personal views they may have. Chapter 9 covers news norms and their evolution in greater detail.

At the heart of the ethical discussion for professional journalists is a sort of battle between the need to be autonomous to cover news accurately with minimal bias and the need to be socially responsible. Social responsibility in the study of journalism ethics is a specific concept referring to the need for media organizations to be responsible for the possible repercussions of the news they produce. The debate goes on even as more and more platforms for mass communication are developed.

Beyond advancements in ink-on-paper newspapers (including the development of color offset printing), technological developments have contributed to the diversification of mass media products. Photography evolved throughout the 20th century as did motion picture film, radio and television technology. Other mass media presented challenges and competition for newspapers. Still, newspapers were quite a profitable business. They grew to their greatest readership levels in the middle-to-late 20th century, and their value was at its high point around the turn of the 21st century. Then came the internet.

Stewing In Our Own Juices

With the rise of global computer networks, particularly high-speed broadband and mobile communication technologies, individuals gained the ability to publish their own work and to comment on mass media messages more easily than ever before. If mass communication in the 20th century was best characterized as a one-to-many system where publishers and broadcasters reached waiting audiences, the mass media made possible by digital information networks in the twenty-first have taken on a many-to-many format.

For example, YouTube has millions of producers who themselves are also consumers. None of the social media giants such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Qzone and Weibo (in China), Twitter, Reddit or Pinterest is primarily known for producing content. Instead, they provide platforms for users to submit their own content and to share what mass media news and entertainment companies produce. The result is that the process of deciding what people should be interested in is much more decentralized in the digital network mass media environment than it was in the days of an analog one-to-many mass media system.

The process of making meaning in society — that is, the process of telling many smaller stories that add up to a narrative shared by mass audiences — is now much more collaborative than it was in the 20th century because more people are consuming news in networked platforms than through the channels managed by gatekeepers. A mass media gatekeeper is someone, professional or not, who decides what information to share with mass audiences and what information to leave out.

Fiction or non-fiction, every story leaves something out, and the same is true for shows made up of several stories, such as news broadcasts and heavily edited reality television. Gatekeepers select what mass audiences see, and then edit or disregard the rest. The power of gatekeepers may be diminished in networks where people can decide for themselves what topics they care most about, but there is still an important gatekeeping function in the mass media since much of what is ultimately shared on social media platforms originates in the offices and studios of major media corporations.

On social media platforms, media consumers have the ability to add their input and criticism, and this is an important function for users. Not only do we have a say as audience members in the content we would like to see, read and hear, but we also have an important role to play in society as voting citizens holding their elected officials accountable.

If social media platforms were only filled with mass media content, individual user comments, and their own homegrown content, digitally networked communication would be complex enough, but there are other forces at work. Rogue individuals, hacker networks and botnets — computers programmed to create false social media accounts, websites and other digital properties — can contribute content alongside messages produced by professionals and legitimate online community members. False presences on social media channels can amplify hate and misinformation and can stoke animosity between groups in a hyper-partisan media age.

Around the world, societies have democratized mass communication, but in many ways, agreeing on a shared narrative or even a shared list of facts is more difficult than ever. Users create filter bubbles for themselves where they mostly hear the voices and information that they want to hear. This has the potential to create opposing worldviews where users with different viewpoints not only have differing opinions, but they also have in mind completely different sets of facts creating different images about what is happening in the world and how society should operate.

When users feel the need to defend their filtered worldviews, it is quite harmful to society.

De-Massification

The infiltration of bots on common platforms is one issue challenging people working in good faith to produce accurate and entertaining content and to make meaning in the mass media. De-massification is another. Professionals working on mass-market media products now must fight to hold onto mass audiences. De-massification signifies the breakdown of mass media audiences. As the amount of information being produced and the number of channels on which news and other content can be disseminated grows exponentially, ready-made audiences are in decline.

In the future, it is anticipated that audiences, or fan bases, must be built rather than tapped into. One path to growing audiences in digital networks is to take an extreme point of view. Producers of news and entertainment information on the right and left of the political spectrum often rail against mainstream media as they promote points of view which are more or less biased. This kind of polarization along with the tendency of social media platforms to allow and even encourage people to organize along political lines likely contributes to de-massification as people organize into factions.

The future of some mass communication channels as regular providers of shared meaning for very large audiences is in question. That said, claims that any specific medium is "dead" are overblown. For example, newspaper readership, advertising revenue and employment numbers have been declining for about 25 years, but as of 2018, there are still more than 30 million newspaper subscribers. Mass audiences are shrinking and shifting, but they can still be developed.

Convergence

As mass audiences are breaking up and voices from the fringe are garnering outsized influence, the various types of media (audio, video, text, animation and the industries they are tied to) have come together on global computer and mobile network platforms in a process called convergence.

[caption id="attachment_34" align="alignright" width="418"] Beef stew by Robin DeGrassi from Denver, Colorado, USA. Source: Wikimedia. CC BY 2.0[/caption]

It is as though all media content is being tossed into a huge stew, one that surrounds and composes societies and cultures, and within this stew of information, people are re-organizing themselves according to the cultural and social concerns they hold most dear.

According to one hypothesis, in a society dominated by digital communication networks, people gather around the information they recognize and want to believe because making sense of the vast amount of information now available is impossible.

This text covers several mass media channels including social media, film, radio, television, music recording and podcasting, digital gaming, news, advertising, public relations and propaganda because these are still viable industries even as the content they produce appears more and more often on converged media platforms.

What we see emerging in networked spaces is a single mass media channel with a spectrum of possible text, photo, audio, video, graphic and game elements; however, the sites of professional production still mostly identify as one particular industry (such as radio and recorded music, film, television, cable television, advertising, PR, digital advertising or social media). Some of these are "legacy" media that have existed as analog industries prior to convergence, while others originated in digital media environments.

For the foreseeable future, we should expect legacy media producers to continue to hold formidable power as elements of larger media conglomerates, which acquired many media companies as a result of industry deregulation. We should also expect audiences to continue to fragment and digital media start-ups trying to build audiences out of fragmented communities to be common even if they are difficult to sustain.

What this means for social structures and for cultural production is disruption, limited perhaps by legacy media traditions and corporate power.

Melding Theories

The world of mass media has witnessed the convergence of media content on digital platforms, the ability of individuals to engage in one-to-many communication as though they were major broadcasters, and the emergence of structures that allow for many-to-many communication. These developments force us to rethink how separate interpersonal, organizational and mass communication truly are.

From a theoretical standpoint, these are well-established approaches to thinking about communication, but in practice, certain messages might fit into multiple categories. For example, a YouTube video made for a few friends might reach millions if it goes viral. Is it interpersonal communication, mass communication or both? Viral videos and memes spread to vast numbers of people but might start out as in-jokes between internet friends or trolls. The message's original meaning is often lost in this process. In a networked society, it can be difficult to differentiate between interpersonal and mass communication. For our purposes, it will be helpful to consider the message creator's intent.

As a user, it is essential to realize the possibility that interpersonal messages may be shared widely. As professionals, it also helps to realize that you cannot force a message to go viral, although most social media platforms now engage in various kinds of paid promotion where brands and influential users can pay to have their content spread more widely more quickly.

[caption id="attachment_34" align="alignleft" width="300"] Two women discuss a record album selection in a music shop in Amora, Portugal. Choosing Vinyl music by Pedro Ribeiro Simões. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption]

We must also understand that advertisers treat digital communication platforms much the same way whether they appear to users to be interpersonal or mass media environments. Users can be targeted down to the individual on either type of platform, and advertisers (with the help of platform creators), can access mass audiences, even when users are intending only to participate on a platform for purposes of interpersonal communication.

Scholars are still working to define how these platforms mix aspects of interpersonal and mass communication. Here is one takeaway: If you are not paying to use a platform like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube (Google), Instagram or Snapchat, you are the product. It is your attention that is being sold to advertisers.

The Big Picture

Society functions when the mass media work well, and we tend not to think about the technologies or the professionals who make it all possible. Interpersonal communication can function with or without a massive technological apparatus. It is more convenient, though, to be able to text each another. When interpersonal communication breaks down, we have problems in our relationships. When organizational communication breaks down, it creates problems for groups and companies. But when mass communication breaks down, society breaks down.

Cultural Production

There is another way of looking at the mass media that needs to be mentioned after looking in some depth at the structural changes going on in and around the field of mass communication. Mass media channels are also huge engines of cultural production. That is, they make the entertainment that helps us define who we are as large and small groups of people. To quote from Dead Poets Society: "We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race, and the human race is filled with passion. Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for." If you replace "reading and writing poetry" with "creating culture," you get a sense of the importance of cultural production. We can define culture as a collection of our knowledge, beliefs and practices. In practice, culture it how we express ourselves and enjoy life's experiences.

In media, there are three main types of cultural works, those associated with “high” culture, popular culture and folk culture. (Some scholars discuss “low” culture, but it is argued here that "low culture" is just another way of describing the low end of pop culture.)

High culture is arguably the best cultural material a society has to offer. Economic class often comes into play in defining what is “high culture” and what is not. Pop culture is the vast array of cultural products that appeal to the masses.

Folk culture refers to cultural products borne out of everyday life identifiable because they usually have practical uses as well as artistic value. It is often associated with prehistoric cultures, but that is because the folk culture, pop culture and high culture of prehistoric peoples were often one and the same. Their best art may also have been an everyday object like a bowl or a basket or a doll or a mask. Don’t confuse prehistoric art with modern folk art.

Modern folk art has the specific quality of trying to capture what is both beautiful and useful in everyday life.

Folk music tends to rely on “traditional” sounds and instruments. Topically, it focuses on the value of everyday existence. Folk music is often built around narratives that carry morals much the same way fairy tales do. Fairy tales are probably the best example of folk literature.

So much of the interpretation and the value of cultural production is culturally relative. This means that an object or work’s value is determined by perceptions of people in different cultural groups.

In modern society, mass media often drive our perceptions. It is important to recognize that different cultures have different moral values and to acknowledge that some practices should be universally abhorred and stopped, even if they are partially or wholly accepted in other cultures.

The relationship between culture and mass media is complex; it is difficult to distinguish modern culture from how it appears in the various mass media. Culture in the developed world is spread through mass media channels. Just as society forms and is formed in part by messages in the mass media, so it goes with culture. Cultural products and their popularity can influence which media channels people prefer. Conversely, changes in media and ICTs can lead to changes in how we produce culture.

When we discuss digital culture in the next chapter, we will continue to break down different levels of culture and the relationship between cultural forms and mass communication in the networked communication age. To begin to understand the mass media, their role in society and how they shape culture and are shaped by cultural preferences, it helps to think about how the mass media may influence you.

 

The internal culture of the media has become more competitive over the years. Given the pressure to be the first to break a story, journalists increasingly feel the need to market themselves as trustworthy news sources. Those who work for the same media outlet may compete with one another. Journalists are expected to create a likeable personal brand. They are rated not only on viewership, but on social media likes, shares, personal appearances, and so on.

Journalists can no longer hide behind their byline; they must put their best face forward and work to increase followers. It is important for you to realize this when pitching a news story to a journalist. These topics will be covered in depth later in the book.

 

Writing And Communications

Writing is a fundamental business skill that can greatly affect the credibility and success of an organization. A recent survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (2016) found that 70 percent of employers look for evidence of strong writing skills in recent college graduates.

Styles of writing vary with the medium, the type of message being communicated, and the audience.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="448"] Students write in a notebook while meeting in a coffee house. People Coffee Meeting Team by Startup Stock Photos. Source: Pexels. CCO[/caption]

Media writing as discussed here differs from academic writing, which most higher education audiences are accustomed to using. Media writing is clear, straightforward, accurate, and appealing to the target audience. It is active and dynamic, and it allows an organization to engage with its key audiences and clearly communicate ideas and goals. It should also influence the target audience’s perceptions and/or behaviors. Word choice, tone, and message packaging are some of the techniques you will need to master in order to be a strong communicator.

As with any skill, you have to consistently practice writing and be open to suggestions in order to improve. Because there is a perceived—if sometimes unjustified—association between intelligence and writing ability, you may misinterpret constructive feedback as criticism. However, one of the best ways to learn whether you’re clearly communicating through your writing is to get a third-party audience to read and react honestly to it.

The 24-hour news cycle places high demands on journalists and news media professionals to work against tight deadlines while being the first to break news. Strict deadlines are not isolated to the newsroom; public relations professionals also are expected to produce under pressure. For example, if your organization has an unanticipated product recall, audiences will expect some type of official announcement quickly. Furthermore, you often get only one chance to create the right message, one that has its intended effect.

Corporate media organizations compete with one another to break stories or report on events. Being the first to deliver a story brings a media outlet prestige and credibility. Furthermore, being the first to publish often results in a higher search engine ranking, which results in more clicks and stronger viewership.

The onset of cable television in the 1980s changed the media landscape. One of the most notable results is what we refer to as the 24-hour news cycle. Audiences in the past had to wait until specific broadcast times—usually at noon and in the early and late evening—to hear the latest about current events.

Today, many media outlets disseminate news constantly, every hour of the day. This immediacy of news coverage seeks to meet the audience’s demand to have essential information quickly. Furthermore, media outlets compete not only against each other but against the Internet. In this fast-paced environment, media professionals are expected to provide quality news stories to the masses even as they find it more difficult to gather and report facts accurately and responsibly.

]]> 36 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=45 Tue, 11 Jun 2019 17:50:09 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/chapter-2-digital-culture/ [caption id="attachment_41" align="alignleft" width="300"] Lighted brushed-steel Google logo sign attached to a marble wall. I2age by Google. Source: Flickr. CCO Public Domain[/caption]

“The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn't understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had.” — Eric Schmidt, former executive chairman of Alphabet Inc.

Origin

Until the end of 2017, Eric Schmidt was the executive chairman of Alphabet Inc. Alphabet emerged out of Google to become a large holding company that would manage Google and several related properties including YouTube and Calico (a biotech company). Schmidt has a Ph.D. in computer science from Berkeley. He serves on advisory boards for Khan Academy, an education company with strong ties to YouTube, and The Economist, a global news magazine with both digital and print products. Schmidt's résumé suggests he is intellectually outstanding and that he cares about technology, education and the mass media. If one of the biggest brains of our time, and the former leader of one of the few corporations with direct influence on the way the internet is shaped, describes the internet as “anarchy,” it's a good indication that things are in flux in the digital world.

Of course, we should analyze critically any statements coming from someone whose primary purpose it is to maximize profits for their company. At the time he made these statements, Schmidt was running Google. The loyalties of executive-level leaders presumably rest with the corporation that signs their checks and provides their stock options. Google has an interest in making you feel that the internet is a confusing place since their search engine is one solution to the confusion. (However, if you rely on autocomplete, Google's suggestions may not only be confusing; they may even be morally reprehensible.)

Still, Schmidt's characterization of the internet as a place of anarchy is accurate. And as we seek to define digital culture and to discuss the cultural relevance of social media in this chapter, we must recognize that there is no grand plan. The only constant in digital culture is change, which may sound cliché, but the underlying ICT structures shift so often that it can be difficult for cultural trends to take hold.

Chapter 1 of this text defined society and culture in the context of the field of mass communication. It covered the distinction between interpersonal communication, organizational communication and mass communication, and then it delved deeper into concepts relating to mass communication. The purpose of the first chapter was to start a discussion about how evolving information and communication technologies (ICTs) can influence the mass media and contribute to social and cultural change in the process.

A Brief Overview

If you are anticipating a roadmap of neat, organized plans for how the evolution of culture on digital platforms will unfurl, you're gonna have a bad time. Instead, this chapter offers a brief, lively discussion of how we define digital culture and what we might expect from it as it emerges in online spaces, mobile apps and platforms.

Additionally, this chapter includes a breakdown of the roles social media platforms may play in influencing culture.

If you acknowledge that cultures have always been in flux, then perhaps the concept of a digital culture emerging online amidst anarchy will look less like disruption and more like evolution (Spoiler Alert: Reveals the plot of The Last Jedi). However you classify it, the cultural impact of the merger of the mass media and digital networks is vast, and that is the topic of this chapter.

This chapter begins with a definition of "digital culture" that comes from the media studies portion of mass communication literature. Media studies refers to the broad category of academic inquiry analyzing and critiquing the mass media, its products, possible effects of messages and campaigns, and even media history. Chapter 2 then continues with a deeper discussion of identity in the digital age and covers privacy and surveillance as well as the praxis of digital culture as defined by scholars. The term "praxis" here refers to how a theory plays out in actual practice.

This chapter also identifies different levels of culture (a concept borrowed from anthropology) as they relate to cultural products reaching audiences through digital mass communication channels. In other words, we ultimately answer this question: If we take existing theory for describing the levels of culture and apply it to digital culture, what are some immediately recognizable traits?

Finally, social media are defined from a scholarly point of view with particular attention given to the cultural potential of digitally networked social platforms.

Digital Culture Defined

Scholars argue whether we can understand what the spread of digital networks will mean for relatively well-established cultures in the tangible world, or predict with any certainty how cultures will evolve on digital platforms. There are two basic schools of thought. The first argues that existing cultures might find themselves essentially recreated in digital form as more and more life experiences, from the exciting to the mundane, play out in digital spaces. The second school of thought posits that the dominant digital culture emerging now is a separate culture unto itself.

It seems likely that neither version of these imagined forms of digital culture will dominate; instead, we will likely see a combination of the two. Parts of existing culture will appear online as they do in the physical world and parts of digital culture will seem completely new, previously unfathomable because they could not or would not appear in the tangible world.

[caption id="attachment_41" align="alignleft" width="300"] Commuters on the Washington DC Metro use their mobile phones beneath an ad stating, "It Begins with Bonjour." It Begins with Bonjour by Craig Moe. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption]

Before we delve in with prognostications about where digital culture is headed, let us first define our terms. Digital culture refers to the knowledge, beliefs, and practices of people interacting on digital networks that may recreate tangible-world cultures or create new strains of cultural thought and practice native to digital networks.

For example, an online fandom and a real-world fan club are both made up of people who are geographically separated but share a common interest. If a fan club were to "go online," networked communication platforms might make the experience better than it was in the physical world. Before the advent of the internet, most fan clubs produced a newsletter, offered connections with pen pals, and provided early opportunities to buy tickets and merchandise. Online, fans can create deeper relationships with one another. They can connect and communicate on official channels or make their own unofficial groups where they need not communicate through a central authority or gatekeeper. Fan and star interactions can be direct, one-on-one interactions on multiple social media channels. There may be an official, organized fan group, but many other avenues can appear on relatively open platforms with few rules.

The cultural product at the core of a fandom might still be a "legacy media" product. Legacy media are any media platforms that existed prior to the development of massive digital networks. Yes, there are people who are "Instagram famous" or "YouTube" famous, but the biggest stars in our cultural world still have many ties to legacy media. Musicians, film stars and comic book heroes come to mind. What other types of "legacy media" stars have huge online fandoms?

Online fandoms may simultaneously expect less centralized authority over the fan experience and more direct access to their heroes. They often expect to see transparency during the creative process, such as Instagram or Twitter posts with "secret" messages for longtime followers or behind-the-scenes videos as albums and movies are made. Fandoms might demand to hear key information first or to have special access via social media.

Similar things could be said of fan clubs in the age of snail mail. Essential elements of the culture of fandom — gaining access to artists and finding friends in a community — have not changed as much in kind as they have in degree.

Is this an example of the transition of an existing cultural form (the fan club) to digital environments, or is online fandom something truly different from a snail mail fan club? This is a good question to debate in the classroom.

It is worth noting that there are also niche fandoms that probably would not exist without the aid of digital networks. With virtually unlimited communication space, there is room for incredibly rarified fan groups to form on platforms such as Tumblr, and they are not always socially positive communities. In many cases of hyper-specific fandoms, it is difficult to argue that these cultures existed in the physical world and simply "moved online." Being digitally networked is what makes it possible to find people with particularly narrow shared interests, for better and for worse.

Digital Dynamic

Even with the presence of niche online groups, digital culture cannot currently be separated from the influence of physical-world cultures. We can say two things about the relationship between online and physical-world cultures at this time. First, the growth of interaction on digital networks influences “traditional” cultures. Second, longstanding cultural traditions are influencing digital culture as it takes shape. The ethics and norms established in the physical world shape our views about behavior and values in digital networks. The term norm refers to a behavioral standard. Mutual influences of what is considered "normal" in online behavior and well established physical world norms are emerging in a dynamic fashion. Sometimes they clash.

One example is online dating. Dating in real life (IRL) is changing as more and more people use dating apps and websites. Previously, dating was limited to the people you were likely to meet. You could meet friends of friends. You could meet people at school, at parties, at bars or on blind dates. Your options were limited geographically and by how outgoing you were, how much time you wanted to spend looking, and who you trusted to set you up. The personal ads in newspapers were often considered sad places for losers. Using a mass medium to find your true love was often considered a risky last resort.

[caption id="attachment_41" align="alignright" width="300"] Lindsay Blackwell, My Super Pseudo-Scientific Online Dating Experiment™. Ignite Waterloo 8 by James Bastow. Source: Flickr. CC BY-SA 2.0[/caption]

When online dating first became available, it was often compared to posting and perusing digital personal ads. This was a cultural perception based on previous experiences, behavior and expectations from a pre-Internet culture.

Over the course of approximately ten years (1998-2008), what once was considered odd, creepy or desperate in many parts of the Western world came to be considered commonplace. Apps and sites like OkCupid, Tinder, Match.com and eHarmony have millions of users. Culturally, many of us have accepted this new digital form of dating. It’s not for everyone, but online dating does not carry the stigma it once did.

Even Tinder, which has a reputation as a "hook-up" app, maintains popularity and cultural significance as it is referenced often on other media platforms.

Whatever it may be in a given culture, sexual morality still exists, even if new technologies make hooking up easier and new capabilities challenge old norms of what dating should be.

This is the dynamic at the heart of this chapter. Digital technology can influence knowledge, beliefs and especially practices around dating. This can, in turn, shape the way people think about dating in general, not just in digital environments. The "old" cultural norms and morals can still be applied to judge those who use digital apps for casual hookups, but the new culture can push back, so to speak, and change how people think about dating even if they never use dating apps themselves.

We have discussed how the digital culture and physical world culture dynamic functions, but we have not yet defined digital culture. For that, we must look to scholars who have spent years trying to pinpoint what emergent digital culture seems to be.

Individualization, Post-Nationalism, And Globalization

We turn to Mark Deuze, a scholar from the University of Amsterdam, for a complete definition. He seeks to provide a preliminary definition of “digital culture” in his 2006 article, "Participation, Remediation, Bricolage: Considering Principal Components of a Digital Culture."

In his analysis of academic literature, Deuze finds that scholars often make assumptions when trying to explain how digital culture works. The main he identifies is the idea that culture moves to digital networks more or less intact. There was, a decade ago, a lack of explanation about what happens to culture in digital environments.

How much might culture change when certain practices move online? How often can existing cultural beliefs and expectations be transferred intact? Deuze does not think digital culture is merely a recreation of physical world culture in online spaces, but he does not have a good answer for what has been emerging. He analyzes independent media sites, blogs and radical online media outlets to see what these new forms of communication demonstrate about digital culture.

That these forms are not meant to represent all culture but rather a cultural vanguard. They are (or were) the tip of the spear of newly evolving digital cultures. These sites are often progressive politically, so this is not as much a prediction of what will happen with all digital culture as it is a discussion of what is possible. Deuze maintains that the real practice of digital culture is “an expression of individualization, post-nationalism, and globalization.”

Individualization

Deuze finds individualization in blogs most frequently written by one person and focused on a specific topic or small geographical region. Individualism, as it is used here, refers not only to an individual's ability to act as their own publisher online but also to a social condition in which individuals are free from government control. It means that even in authoritarian nations such as North Korea, Russia, China and Iran that try to control the behavior of their citizens, individuals may seek freedom of expression on the internet, although it comes at a greater risk.

Beyond Deuze's observations, evidence of individualism online comes from partisan news sites such as The Drudge Report and HuffPost. Both are named for individual founders. They are digital mass media outlets that started largely as personal points of view.

The importance of individualized expression on social media is clear. We appear as individuals on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Tumblr. This increases our reach. Each of us can potentially connect with every other individual on a given social media platform, but these platforms also raise questions about surveillance and privacy.

Digital Individualism Versus Privacy

Eric Schmidt once said about online privacy and Google, “If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place.” While this might make sense in a free society, there are many places in the world — North Korea for example — where government surveillance can utilize corporate invasions of privacy to crack down on dissent and severely limit freedom.

Suppose someone living in North Korea would like to use a social media channel such as Twitter to connect with like-minded people without government officials finding out. Should Twitter protect those users? What if a state threatens legal action or violence against Twitter employees? Would social media channels give up their users?

There is a difference between government surveillance (that is, state-sanctioned data gathering and analysis on massive scales) and corporate data aggregation for targeted marketing purposes. Usually, by accepting the Terms and Conditions of apps and web services, you opt in to having your data stored, crunched and analyzed by corporations. Legally, you are responsible for that decision. Technically, the data gathering platform is not supposed to identify you as an individual, but so-called "safe harbor" laws can be ineffectual.

Should Google protect your searches and refuse to divulge information about your habits to governments, even if they share that data with other companies for marketing purposes? Should Google give you a way to hide your online activity? Is there a way for the liberty-loving Southeast Asian to have his privacy protected while still enabling Western governments to watch out for terrorists? These questions relate to larger issues of freedom and individualism in digital culture.

Throughout its history, the United States of America has taken pride in its First Amendment and the rest of the Bill of Rights as guarantees of liberty. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, many Americans accepted new levels of scrutiny, particularly in digital environments. Support for strong leaders increased until very recently. Concerns about the global rise of authoritarianism have people questioning government surveillance and corporate surveillance as they may limit our ability to engage as individuals in digital culture.

Eric Schmidt’s statement implies that privacy in digital networks is limited. This sentiment is echoed by Mark Zuckerberg, who has suggested that privacy is dead. What this means is that physical world behavior is expected to adapt to the demands of digital culture because the capabilities of digital culture also carry with them unique risks that we are not necessarily adapted to deal with.

Our experience with the anarchy of online mass communication platforms is quite limited. As we learn what government surveillance and corporate invasions of privacy are capable of, it may continue to deeply affect our physical world behavior.

Many would agree with the sentiment, "If you do nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about," but even advocates for a more open digital society want their privacy. Zuckerberg bought several properties around his house to keep his physical location secure. Eric Schmidt does not want people to know where he lives. He generally does not invite the public into his private life, and, one might assume, does not want people to examine why his former wife said she felt like a “piece of luggage” when married to him. Such information about Schmidt's personal life is easy to find online and could be used against him, but should we care? Does it matter in the broader cultural sense?

This text argues that privacy does matter. The vast majority of us are not using digital platforms to break laws or to interact in negative ways with others and yet we still have aspects of ourselves that we would like to remain private. Has a parent or guardian ever snooped on your Facebook account or followed your Instagram? We have incredible freedoms and amazing digital communication capabilities as individuals living our lives in the new digital culture. It comes with a price we have yet to grasp.

Terms and Conditions

The film Terms and Conditions May Apply details the ways our private information, such as our emails and texts, can easily be related to our public information on social networks.

The filmmakers note that the knowledge and hardware needed to snoop on people are bought and sold all over the world and are often unregulated.

Are we becoming more open because of the ways social media function? Is there anything wrong with that? Are we surrendering our privacy in ways that cannot be undone?

[caption id="attachment_41" align="alignleft" width="300"] An old-school screen capture of Microsoft's Terms and Conditions. I accept the licensing terms and conditions By IvanWalsh.com Source: Creative Commons. CC BY 2.0[/caption]

One of the major cultural challenges of the network society will be to deal with people in power who would like to use our information against us as a means of control. It has already happened in some of the countries where the Arab Spring revolutions took place (Egypt, for one).

You never know what you might need to protest in the future, but we’re beginning to see tools deployed to pre-empt protest and other acts of dissent. What this means for our efforts to define digital culture is that digital culture can free us as individuals, but it can also imprison us.

We can use the internet and smartphones to help us to get questions answered and to draw attention to ourselves in good ways. We can coordinate with others for fundraisers and to have parties. Digital communication networks are amazingly sophisticated tools that can help us connect as individuals to form groups to celebrate all sorts of interests, political and otherwise.

On the other hand, if individuals believe they have no privacy, digital networks could become virtual wastelands where innovative collaboration is hindered and where corporate commercial speech and government surveillance dominate.

Capitalism depends on risk-taking, and if you kill risk-taking online, you have hindered the entrepreneurialism that the network society offers. We scholars will study for decades to come how individual behavior changes and how relationships morph in a digital culture that discourages behavior we want to keep private while simultaneously encouraging levels of sharing that border on exhibitionism. How can we maintain privacy and gain attention, which is so often the currency of the open Internet? This is an interesting dilemma that arises in an individualistic digital culture.

Post-Nationalism

Post-nationalism is another aspect of digital culture that Deuze notes in his article. It may seem unrelated to our previous discussion of individualism and privacy in digital culture, but in fact, it is an analysis of the ways individuals represent themselves online.

Most simply, "post-nationalism" in digital culture means that one’s country appears to matter less as an influence on behavior and values online than it does in the tangible world, perhaps because we can be free of our national identities when engaging in digital networks with people from around the globe.

This does not mean that we should expect to see an end to nationalism in the tangible world. Quite the opposite seems to be true: As post-nationalism appears in digital spaces, nationalism is on the rise in global politics. It might seem odd that people drop their nationalism online but demand it in physical spaces, but if you look at the way culture is expressed online, it is clear that for many people their nationality has little to do with their online identities.

For example, your country may be important to you, but it may not be one of the ways you define yourself in social media environments. You can love America without talking about it all of the time on Facebook or Twitter. Remember as well that national boundaries may be felt more readily in the daily lives of Africans, Asians, Europeans and others living in nations that are geographically smaller, more tightly packed and culturally distinct. In digital spaces, these cultural differences can evaporate.

Although war and immigration are highly influential on the current cultural climate in the physical world, the perception of evaporating culture in networked spaces may help drive the sense that physical world cultures are being threatened.

Recent political developments, however, make it somewhat more difficult to think of digital culture as post-nationalistic given the rise of online nationalism — particularly white nationalism in Europe and the United States. White nationalism is a brand of nationalism related to white supremacy, but it is an identity connected to the nation-state nonetheless. A nationalist's primary modus operandi in digital culture may not reflect what nation states ultimately become in the 21st century, but rather what they wish it were. Even so, there is evidence that some factions will use digital spaces to promote a return to nationalism.

Does this mean that post-nationalism in digital culture is a false notion conceived in the early 2000s that has no bearing on culture today? Perhaps, but it is more likely that we are seeing a backlash against the rise of a global post-nationalist space online.

Globalization

Digital culture, Deuze posits, reflects a globalized or globalizing world. Behaviors, interests, and relationships cross international boundaries. The economic structure of digital networks, including the mass media system, is global. For example, multinational conglomerate corporations tend to dominate the media industry, not just in the United States but around the world. Books, academic articles and simple infographics show that most mass media companies fall under the ownership of large corporate firms. It is not accurate to say this represents all media or that "the media" are being controlled, but it is accurate to say a significant level of influence can be attributed to a handful of media corporations in most developed parts of the world.

Mass media consumers should be aware of the environment in which media products are produced, but this is not to say that the globalization of mass media is always a negative thing. When it comes to culture, globalization has its supporters. Here is a site in English about K-pop music. The music comes from Korea, but the fanbase is spread worldwide, and the site can reach a global audience only because of the global nature of digital networks. It works only because computer servers are connected by wires all over the globe to make this bit of culture, like many others, available to the entire globe.

There exists a global point of view in both the physical world and in digital culture which is open to all kinds of cultural production as long as it is interesting, funny and shows great talent. There are videos that go viral globally, although it is not always clear why. (If we had the formula, we’d include it here.) All we can say at this time is that you can reach the world with any online message and, for whatever reason, some things are globally likable and "shareable."

A Place Called Gangnam

Humanity’s recently developed ability to develop a globalized point of view and to establish a common digital culture is the reason you have heard (and likely tired) of "Gangnam Style." Ironically, PSY, who performs the song, is kind of an anti-pop star within Korea. The song makes fun of the country’s higher class, a conspicuously wealthy subculture from a place called the Gangnam District. But PSY is a global success. He is popular, many argue, because he is quite funny and because he is not the prototypical K-pop hero. He comes from a particular national cultural tradition, but he also transcends it by being absurd. Thus, as a distinctly individual performer, he personifies a type of post-nationalism and the globalization of digital culture.

Individualism, post-nationalism and globalization go a long way toward defining the emergent “digital culture.” For more information, consult Deuze's original article.

Digital Culture In Practice

Deuze makes one more observation not about what digital culture is but rather how it works. Deuze argues that the production of digital culture will be carried out through participation, remediation and bricolage.

Participation means that every individual will have the ability to contribute to online media. Professionals and amateurs will work together much more often than they did on "legacy media" products and projects.

Because people do not want to work for free, they will not flock to an online platform simply because it has been opened up for contributions. If anyone could build a Facebook, there would be hundreds or even thousands of competing platforms. As it stands, there are perhaps ten major social media platforms worldwide, if "major" means they are home to more than 200 million members.

It is also clear from social networking sites, Reddit, and similar social news sharing sites that people will contribute to a platform even if it is not necessarily well-policed or easy to use. In digital culture, it helps to be the first to be big. Success breeds success in an economy based on attention, and what dominates tends to be emotional issues, as satirized here.

Consistency also seems to help, but what matters most is the ability to consistently draw an audience. Think of a person trying to become a YouTube influencer. They must publish interesting content regularly for months or even years before they develop a following that they might be able to sell to advertisers. Once the YouTube star does begin to peddle products, they run the risk of alienating a portion of their audience.

Participation is an essential part of digital culture. It can be easy and fun to do it for free. If you want to make a career out of it, it takes professional-level commitment, and the resulting content often favors what is popular and emotionally gripping rather than what is informative or socially beneficial.

Remediation means that old media are made new again in digital spaces. Television becomes YouTube. Radio becomes podcasting, Spotify and Pandora. Newspapers become ... online newspapers! The new media take elements of the old media and repurpose them, while "legacy" media firms copycat digital media trends, buy out media startups, or try to forge new paths at significant expense.

In the practice of digital culture, media are remade in digital environments in a process that combines the appealing parts of existing forms of media with additional functionalities made possible by new ICTs and digital networking capabilities. The author's own research argues that attempts by legacy media organizations to create new businesses online face many institutional hurdles. Remediation is constantly happening, but that does not mean existing media companies can determine how to monetize the practice in a sustainable way. We should expect considerable remediation innovation to come from startup companies and individual tech entrepreneurs with few ties to legacy media.

A good example of remediation is taking classic movies or video games and showing them to young people to record their reactions for YouTube. Reaction videos of all kinds take media products people are familiar with and show them to the unfamiliar so that viewers can judge their reactions. This new media product repurposes old content with an added element designed to pique our interest; however, remediation does not always add much value.

Bricolage is a French term not easy to translate literally to English. A translation offering deep context might be: Do it yourself by combining elements found elsewhere. Much of digital culture is an amalgamation of existing content and new cultural work being done at home by people with amateur skills and affordable but capable tools, such as smartphones and tablet computers. Even basic tools are quite powerful. Smartphones come with front- and back-facing cameras as well as HD-quality video. The computing power of a smartphone is more powerful than a mainframe computer was 70 years ago. Independent producers have video and audio editing software options and can create professional looking, popular media products on their own with little formal training.

Professionalism

What is formal training for, then? It prepares you to transition from making professional looking and sounding media products once in a while to consistently making professional quality media. Formal training prepares you to think strategically about where industries are going so that you know not only how to make mass media products but where to place them and how to use and possibly develop your own communication platforms.

Formal training includes an education in history and ethics. Amateur producers are skilled at chasing trends and gaining popularity, but they often ride cultural waves that last from a few months to a couple of years. Planning for multiple media shifts and seeing digital cultural trends as or before they emerge requires an education in more than the tools and tricks of the trade.

Deuze In Sum

Deuze's analysis suggests that barriers between professionals and amateurs are breaking down. Old media are made new again in digital culture, through a process of making digital media collages, so to speak. (The word "bricolage" is related to "collage.")

Thus, in practice, digital culture is democratizing (though not fully democratic, of course). Amateurs can create media products that challenge the popularity of cultural production made by corporate conglomerates valued at hundreds of billions of dollars. What emerges in terms of popularity, though, is not necessarily high in quality or accuracy. Quality and accuracy are the hallmarks of professional communication (although not all professionals behave as they should).

Levels Of Culture In Digital Media

Let’s take a step back and look at the definition of culture again. In the first chapter, this text defined culture as being made up of the knowledge, beliefs and practices of a group of people. We need to tweak that definition a little. It is more accurate to say that the knowledge, beliefs and practices of a massive group of people at a certain time and place defines common culture.

Three levels of culture exist in anthropology literature, and they apply to the ways culture is expressed in the mass media. The three levels of culture are personal culture, group culture and common culture (similar to pop culture).

Any kind of culture, whether it is personal, group or common culture, relies on shared knowledge. There must be shared experiences and shared stories about those experiences for us to have a common culture. If we did not have shared experiences, cultural references would not make sense. Thus common culture can be arrived at when individuals and groups tell the same stories, or when mass media reach mass audiences with the same messages at the same (or about the same) time.

The more people who know about a song, film, work of art or event with cultural significance, and the more information that they know about it, the more likely it is that event will become part of the common culture. The mass media influence common culture, although it is not correct to say that they directly shape it. There are many other institutional influences on common culture such as governments, churches, families and educational systems.

In fact, messages in the mass media may not be as influential now as they were in the mid-20th century when millions of people watched the same TV shows each week at the same time and read the same major metropolitan daily newspapers and national magazines. Demassification has affected the ways common culture is established and fed.

The mass media influence may have less power to influence common culture directly, but it is still relevant. Think about any major global news event of the past few months. When an event is big enough that it is shared across all media platforms, especially cable television, broadcast television and social media channels, it can form a piece of common culture. If several events occur or if an event has a broad enough global impact, it can enter the global collective memory, the shared cultural memory of a group of people.

Group culture is what we used to refer to as a "subculture." It is the knowledge, beliefs and practices of a subset of people considered to be part of a larger culture. Group culture is distinct in some ways from the shared, broader common culture. Group culture might center on religious beliefs and practices, ethnic norms and interests, or food, music and other forms of material production. Groups can be as large as all Chinese-Americans and as small as the remaining St. Louis NFL fan culture.

You have a say in defining your personal culture — the knowledge, beliefs and practices held most dear to the individual. You may find yourself identifying with many group cultures or taking most of your interests from the dominant common culture. Do you take your cultural cues about what to think about and talk about from television, social media or small group cultures with which you identify? This much is your prerogative. You can choose your personal culture. It is based both on what you believe in and what cultural products you consume.

America, ‘Merica, Los Estadas Unidos, Etc.

There is a common culture in America, but there is no single, dominant, common culture across global digital networks. There may be a tendency for people to believe that the group cultures they interact with most often online constitute the "real" digital culture, but as yet there is no clear consensus about what our shared digital culture is or even if we will develop one.

Algorithms in search engines and social media platforms determine much of what we find when we search the internet and what we see when we look at news and information feeds from our friends. Do algorithms constitute common culture? They may shape it, and they may be influenced by user preferences, but they are not always designed for truth, accuracy or information literacy. They are most often designed to give consumers whatever makes them consume more of what the platform wants them to consume. Google usually wants you to spend money with its advertisers. Facebook wants your time and your data so it can sell your information to third party advertisers.

What shapes digital culture is often in a "black box": It is the proprietary information of very large corporations, and the public may or may not have access to the code. Even if we did have it, it would be difficult to explain exactly how algorithms work. There are times when the corporations that deploy algorithms seem surprised by how they function in the hands of massive numbers of users.

Major events that cut across algorithms and show up on almost everyone's news feed and in almost everyone's search results are still likely to have an impact on common culture. Major events are likely to shape personal, group, and common culture if they are significant enough. What kind of cultural impact does a given event have? It depends.

The impact of a school shooting near Miami might be felt differently in Florida than in California because of proximity and because the gun laws in each state are quite different. In other words, something can enter the common culture but still be perceived quite differently by individual members of the public.

Norms

By now you should understand that the cultural impact of messages in the mass media at each level — personal, group and common culture — is related to the shared knowledge that existed before the event.

Events are often going to be perceived differently by people identifying with different small group cultures within a larger common culture. Events will usually be interpreted differently by individuals within a small group culture, depending on an individual’s beliefs about and personal experiences with the issue at hand.

[caption id="attachment_43" align="alignright" width="300"] Graffiti explaining the role of women in Egypt's revolution. Women in the revolution by Gigi Ibrahim. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption]

A person's response to current events as they appear in the mass media is also related to the existence and strength of shared beliefs about the way they think things ought to be. We call those beliefs cultural norms.

There is no single, agreed-upon set of norms that everyone in a given group culture adheres to. If you have lived your whole life as part of the dominant culture, and you do not recognize the existence and struggle of various cultural groups, it can be difficult to recognize reactions in digital media spaces that do not relate much to what you see in your physical world. Conversely, if you have grown up being oppressed as part of a small group, you may find it hard to understand how others identifying with the dominant portion of a common culture can miss the cruelty present in some cultural norms they don't think twice about.

Exposure to other groups' cultures in a network society can bring about both greater understanding and greater anxiety. This is something that will be worked out, for better or for worse, over the next several decades as digital culture evolves. Figuring out how groups with different cultural interests, norms, and values can get along while being constantly exposed to one another's views in the free-for-all of network society is the challenge of emergent digital culture.

One response is to run to echo chambers, to partisan spaces that feel safe for certain group cultures and for our personal cultural beliefs and priorities, but this practice can only deepen the divide between cultural groups.

In the early years of working to establish a common culture in the network society, we have managed to inundate ourselves with information from all manner of cultural groups and to isolate ourselves from views that contradict our own group cultural norms. This is anarchy. This is culture without a strong social structure to hold it together.

The question facing mass communication scholars that members of our common culture also face is whether the institutions of the physical world can or should try to control how digital culture is shaped. You have the power to decide if digital culture should be regulated and how. This may be the most important civic responsibility you have, but it is also a matter of cultural power.

Social Media And Social Capital

What do you think it means for society that networked communication platforms can make anybody a mass communicator? One answer is that there is great potential for social change because society, as Dewey said in Chapter 1, is not just transmitted by communication, it exists in it.

That means every individual with a computer or a smartphone has the potential to disseminate messages that influence broader society. Think of the Arab Spring revolutions of 2010-2012. Think of #Ferguson protests in the summer and fall of 2014. Think of the way candidate Donald Trump bypassed mass media outlets to reach voters and to set a separate news agenda in 2015 and 2016. Individuals and small groups are now able to coordinate and to lead social movements using networked communication technologies.

[caption id="attachment_43" align="alignleft" width="300"] Facebook's Facebook Page by "Christopher". Source: Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0[/caption]

You have probably heard the term “social movement.” In a sense, a social movement is a change in society brought on by communication. What is different about the world of networked communication is how interpersonal messages and message campaigns can shift in an instant to being mass messages or massive campaigns. This makes digital networks battlegrounds because networked public communication platforms are centers of power now more than ever.

Just as they can influence and even disrupt social structures, individuals and small groups can shape culture using social media channels. This makes our communication system as ripe for abuse by outside forces as it is for use by legitimate citizens. Governments, corporations and rogue dictators all have an interest in learning our secrets, and they could potentially hold them against us.

We cannot underestimate how important this is will be in the mass communication field. Individual, group and broader social secrets — including consumer behavior, political behavior and even personal thoughts and interests — are easier to discern and possibly manipulate than ever before because of the vast amounts of data collected about us from our social media and other internet habits. This can have a profound effect on our behavior and on our society, and we are not prepared as a society to defend ourselves against attacks.

Before you get discouraged about digital culture and privacy, and before you get inundated with all of the possibilities and implications of digital culture, consider Clay Shirky’s Ted talk, “How social media can make history."

Shirky outlines the power of social connectivity and applies the concept of social capital. The basic definition of social capital is the potential to get help, not just financial assistance, from the people around you when needed. Social media platforms can be great places to build social capital. Thus, they have the potential to be constructive or disruptive. It depends on how you use them. Watch the video for a complete definition.

Interpersonal communication, organizational communication and mass communication are separate areas of academic interest, as stated in the first chapter, but our ability as consumers and as producers to alternate from one to the other is as powerful as it has ever been. Being connected to each other almost at all times by digital networks creates the capacity for relatively quick mass social action. People are beginning to use this power to pull society in different directions. Large numbers of people can be organized and we could see social shifts and rifts develop more quickly than they can be put back together. It will be up to individual users and groups of users to decide how to respond to such social and cultural changes.

Participatory Media

A major shaper of culture and society is the news media. There will be separate sections on the evolution of news in later chapters, but in the context of digital culture, it bears noting that the role of news media within broader media landscapes is also shifting.

Apart from the ability of social movements and cultural movements to arise and take shape on social media platforms, there is also the potential for public opinion to be influenced quickly and deeply when mass media outlets operated in the same digital networks as influential individuals and groups.

[caption id="attachment_44" align="alignright" width="300"] New York tabloid newspapers cover the killing of Eric Garner by police during an arrest. Eric Garner, Daily News & New York Post Covers by Mike Mozart. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption]

You may contribute to news information by volunteering. One of the biggest stories to gain national attention in 2014 that was filmed and posted by a citizen journalist was the story of Eric Garner, who was seen being put into a chokehold by NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo. Reports said that Garner had asthma and that he died of a heart attack. Here the term "citizen journalist" refers to a person who is not a paid professional but who delivers news to audiences nonetheless.

It is doubtful that the story would have received national attention had it not been for the video bystander Taisha Allen took with her mobile phone. When she shared that video, and it went viral on social media channels, she made the mass media story possible.

Allen probably had several reasons for sharing the video of Garner, and she was probably aware of the potential social and cultural impact of the video. You do not have to be a media literacy expert to know that such a video would receive broad attention and generate controversy. Allen chose to share the video because she thought people needed to see what had happened.

Further solidifying the cultural significance of the video, within days of the story breaking, Spike Lee had re-cut a scene from his groundbreaking film Do the Right Thing where the character Radio Raheem is choked to death by an NYPD officer. He interspersed his original film clip with bystander video of Eric Garner’s death. This almost instant connection between a post made by a citizen using social media and a bit of modern classic film speaks to the rising power and cultural influence of amateur media. Individuals can affect major producers in a mutual effort to shape social norms and structures as well as cultural influences.

We should expect more and more professionals to make these kinds of connections with amateurs and bystanders in the future. Mashups of professionally made mass media messages and citizen-generated messages are likely to proliferate. Can you think of video footage from individuals present during major news events that shaped the news and public opinion?

The events in Ferguson, Missouri followed a similar path as the Eric Garner story: Social media accounts of the killing of Michael Brown were shared virally almost immediately after the incident. Social media activity on YouTube, Twitter and other channels helped shape the way events unfolded. This drove the way the story was covered in the national media in the early reporting, but backlash inevitably followed.

Much of the work done by citizen journalists will be controversial. Media professionals working in news and other fields will have to use discernment in deciding which views to share because in a sense sharing is promoting, even if one disagrees with the sentiment of the tweet, video, or post.

No piece of media that is meaningful on a cultural level is going to be captured and disseminated with universal agreement about its importance or its meaning, but for society to function and for culture to serve its purposes we need to agree in a general sense on what's real and what is not. The real danger in the rise of the power of individuals and small groups in digital culture is that they can pull larger groups away from looking for fact-based discourse.

]]> 45 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/ethics-in-writing/ Tue, 11 Jun 2019 22:44:38 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/ethics-in-writing/

Defining the Public Interest At the beginning of this book, we began with a definition of public relations from the Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS): "Public relations is the strategic management of relationships between an organization and its diverse publics, through the use of communication, to achieve mutual understanding, realize organizational goals and serve the public interest." What is the public interest? Who defines it? How can we be sure that we are serving it as professional communicators? To be sure, different groups have different beliefs about what the public interest is. Sometimes, their definitions of the public interest seem to align very nicely with their own individual interests. In these situations, the term "public interest" is being used to argue in favour of a more narrow interest - an intentional or unintentional manipulation of the term, to argue in favour of what they want. Collins Dictionary defines "public interest" as "the welfare or well-being of the general public." This definition is egalitarian in nature, meaning based on equality among people, with equal rights and opportunities for all. Fairness is important. 

This definition is helpful because it gives us a basis from which to assess whether a public interest claim is valid or not. Things like evidence, science and critical thinking can be used to assess whether a specific project or activity is truly in the interest of the general public. Our own personal ethics, morals, values and knowledge can also affect our interpretations of the public interest, but at the end of the day, anyone who claims to be advancing the public interest should be able to point to hard evidence, facts, and show a very broad and extensive examination of the relative impacts and benefits of what they are proposing, both over the short and long term, and how those impacts and benefits could affect interested and affected publics. Assessing public interest claims is always complex and challenging, but we can use science and critical thinking as tools to help assess these claims and to make sure we ourselves are truly communicating in the public interest. Ethical and Legal Responsibilities

Ethics is a moral code that serves as a compass for individual or societal behavior. Engaging in unethical behavior or messaging can be particularly damaging for business brands. Countless businesses have been involved in scandals and crises stemming from unethical behavior and judgment. Recovering from these instances is difficult, and the effects are sometimes irreversible.The issue of ethics is critically important in public relations. Creators of content should heavily rely on a code of ethics when carrying out various tasks. Using ethical reasoning, whether you’re designing a social media campaign or writing an opinion editorial for a newspaper, demonstrates basic understanding of the influence of messages on audiences. Ethical communication also helps an organization avoid dilemmas and compromising situations. Several cases covered in the media highlight the ramifications of failure to use ethical and honest standards in communication efforts. Most subfields related to professional or strategic communications have what is called a code of ethics or a collection of rules and values that play a foundational role in conduct and the decision-making process. Here are links to the major codes of ethics for public relations, journalism, and advertising in Canada:

• Canadian Public Relations Society's Code of Professional Standards
• Canadian Association of Journalists' Ethics Guidelines
• Canadian Marketing Code of Ethics & Standards
• The Canadian Code of Advertising Standards

Defamation

Compromising a code of ethics may have legal consequences, depending upon the situation. One of the most common ethical problems that occurs in court cases is defamation. Defamation is intentional damage done to one party’s reputation by another party. Although it is not a crime, it is considered a civil suit in a court of law. Individuals or organizations with particularly high stakes attached to their reputation (for example, celebrities, public figures or popular businesses) are more inclined to sue for defamation. A recent example is a defamation case launched by Canadian-based Dominion Voting Systems against Donald Trump, as reported by Global News:

"An [sic] senior employee of Dominion Voting Systems has sued U.S. President Donald Trump‘s re-election campaign in a Colorado court for spreading false conspiracy theories related to November’s presidential election that Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden...The lawsuit claims that Trump’s campaign and its agents 'manufactured and spread a false narrative' that Dominion 'conspired to rig its equipment and the election in favor of President-Elect Biden,' which led to 'devastating consequences,' including death threats which forced Coomer to leave his home for fear of his safety."

Slander And Libel

There are two categories of defamation: slander and libel. Slander is the non-permanent spoken or gestured version of defamation, when something is said verbally or symbolically that harms another party’s reputation. Libel is the written or "permanent record" version of defamation, when something is published that damages a party’s reputation in print, online or in another medium. Because this textbook focuses on writing, libel will be discussed in greater detail. Libel includes both print and online publications; even social media posts can be grounds for a libel suit. In 2011, lawyer Rhonda Holmes sued her former client, punk rocker Courtney Love, over a disparaging tweet Love had sent in reference to Holmes’s work ethic. Love was the first person in history to stand trial for social media defamation; prior to her case, there was no record of someone being sued for defamation because of something posted on Twitter (Chow, 2014). Popular media dubbed the case “Twibel.” A jury acquitted Love of all charges. Click here for more information on the case and its implications. Canadian Journalists for Free Expression Offers a good short primer on defamation, libel and slander in the Canadian context.

The risk of defamation is of great concern to every public relations professional. Careful information gathering and rigorous fact-checking are vital in order to avoid defamatory communication. Double-checking quotes and sources helps minimize the risk of publishing libelous statements.

Conflict Of Interest

Before reading the section on conflict of interest, think about the following situation: Should a newspaper travel writer accept a free hotel stay, airline ticket, meals, and so on from a resort as an enticement to get the writer to do a story? Does this produce real or perceived bias in the resulting reporting? Is this arrangement disclosed to readers? What if the only way the newspaper could afford to have a travel writer was to accept such free offers? What kinds of conflicts, real or perceived, need to be considered? Conflict of interest is “a clash between a person’s self-interest and professional interest or public interest” (Business Dictionary, 2016). Communication professionals should try to eliminate any action that may compromise their impartiality or the interests of their organization. That includes separating personal interests from the organization’s goals. The definition seems straightforward, but real-life situations can be murky. As a PR consultant, should you take on two clients who are competitors? Most within the industry would say that you should inform both parties of the situation and let them decide if they want to proceed. However, let’s say your agency takes on a client who has a history of using unethical labor practices, something that you staunchly oppose. How do you remain impartial in this situation? How do you write material that benefits your client when your personal opinions may affect the content? Or, should you, as a journalist, accept a small gift from a source (for example, they offer to pick-up the tab for lunch) before or after an interview? Most journalists would say no, because accepting a gift from a source, no matter how small, could affect their feelings toward the individual (or affect the way others perceive their feelings about the individual), which could be reflected in their writing (or affect the perception of it). There are several ways to avoid a conflict of interest. Gather as much information as you can about the potential conflict in order to make as objective a decision as possible. Firms should have formal rules, and conflicts should be disclosed to supervisors. To safeguard your career and reputation, it’s important to always uphold high ethical standards and conduct yourself in a manner above reproach. You may want to ask colleagues or supervisors for advice. Also, be as upfront as possible with the parties involved.

Here is an example of conflict of interest playing out in the worlds of journalism and public relations in the Canadian context.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is an issue in both academic and professional situations. The term refers to using another person’s work without proper credit or attribution. Plagiarism is a very serious offence in public relations and other professional communication fields, including journalism. Former Globe and Mail columnist, Margaret Wente, has been in the news multiple times for instances of plagiarism. The instances created controversy and ultimately cost Wente several professional opportunities.

Another recent and highly publicized case of plagiarism involved a speech given at the 2016 Republican National Convention by Melania Trump, wife of the party’s presidential nominee, Donald Trump. Soon after she delivered the speech, some took to social media to point out similarities to a speech given by Michelle Obama at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. News media outlets later reported that parts of the speech were lifted directly from Obama’s speech (Horowitz, 2016). Meredith McIver, Melania’s speechwriter and an employee of the Trump organization, took responsibility for the incident and stated that it was a mistake (Horowitz, 2016). McIver was not fired, and many outraged observers questioned the integrity of the Trump campaign.

Lack Of Transparency

Most crisis communication experts agree that transparency is key to maintaining or regaining the public’s trust. Lack of transparency can have devastating effects that sometimes leave a permanent stain on a company or brand’s image. Brands cannot thrive without the public’s trust. A recent case that demonstrates the negative outcomes of failing to be transparent is the emissions scandal at Volkswagen. In 2015, news outlets reported that the German car company used a “defeat device” in many of its cars as far back as 2009 to cheat on several emissions tests conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency. These devices were able to detect when tests were being conducted and help reduce toxic emissions during the procedures. In reality, the vehicle emissions were well above the levels permitted by the EPA. Soon after the public received the news, Volkswagen sales plummeted and a social backlash against the company ensued. As a result, the CEO resigned and the company lost the public’s trust. The organization is still going through damage control and court settlement procedures. Compromising transparency to benefit a company’s bottom line in the short-term can create long-term damage. 

Misleading Advertisements

Advertising firms often have a reputation for using manipulative tactics at the expense of the consumer. This is largely due to consumers’ experiences with misleading advertisements, or promotions that exaggerate claims or misinform audiences. The goal of an advertisement is to emphasize the benefits of a product or service over any drawbacks or shortcomings. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="434"] Source: Pxhere. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] However, agencies should not create deceptive advertisements at the expense of consumers. By law, claims in advertisements have to be truthful and supported by evidence. Going back to the Volkswagen emissions scandal, the company also faced legal troubles for falsely advertising that its cars had low emissions. The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint against Volkswagen in federal court, arguing that the company deceived its consumers through unsubstantiated claims and corrupt evidence. In Canada, the Competition Bureau enforces legal provisions that, "...prohibit making any deceptive representations for the purpose of promoting a product or a business interest, and encourage the provision of sufficient information to allow consumers to make informed choices." Ad Standards is a national, not-for-profit, advertising self-regulating body in Canada that includes a complaint and review process for advertising (as does the Competition Bureau).

Propaganda, Misinformation, Fake News and Harmful Speech

According to Wikipedia (quoting from Encyclopedia Britannica), propaganda, "...is communication that is primarily used to influence an audience and further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts in order to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded language in order to produce an emotional rather than a rational response to the information that is being presented." In this sense, it is undeniable that some public relations efforts can be classified as propaganda.  In his book of the same title (Propaganda), Edward Bernays, who some term "the father of public relations," states that, “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of.”^[8] In the 20th century, propaganda has taken on an increasingly negative connotation, primarily because of false and dangerous examples of its use (e.g. to promote war and hatred). Even with less extreme examples, the public is increasingly weary of any effort to influence and manipulate their opinion, and yet, such efforts are everywhere, and in some places the public is becoming increasingly polarized and partisan as a result of such efforts in the political sphere. From the the non-profit imploring you with celebrities and sad music to donate to a worthy cause, to the oil company that uses the term "oil sands" while environmentalists use "tar sands," there is an ongoing battle to influence your opinion and values, and sometimes at the expense of rational thinking. As PR practitioners, where do we draw our own ethical boundaries? Are we doomed to be spin doctors and PR hacks? No. We can make a conscious decision to engage in ethical persuasion, and many would argue that most practitioners, especially those that are successful and respected, take an ethical approach to their work. For example, the third principle of the CPRS's Code of Professional Standards for the PR industry states that, "A member shall practice the highest standards of honesty, accuracy, integrity and truth, and shall not knowingly disseminate false or misleading information." This principle prohibits the worst excesses of propaganda, excesses that all PR practitioners should disavow, primarily because they are ethically wrong, but also because they are counterproductive even from a simple business point of view. In the United States, the Trump reelection campaign has completely abandoned any notion of honesty or truth, and has gone beyond propaganda to embrace misinformation, disinformation (fake news), and in some instances harmful speech in an effort to overturn election results and to vilify political opponents (read this Q&A on Harmful Speech by the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University and this short primer on the difference between propaganda, disinformation and misinformation from Wayne State university). In the end, these efforts have only undermined the brand value and political fortunes of the Republican party. Most recently, the party appears to be headed to defeat in two Senate run-off races in the state of Georgia, which will determine control of the United States Senate, thereby giving President-Elect Joe Biden's government, full control of the legislative branch. Coinciding with dangerous efforts to manipulate public opinion, has been a rise in the proliferation of fake news (a form of disinformation) and misinformation in the service of both local and international/national interests. This content has flooded social media networks and has forced businesses like Facebook and Twitter to begin fact-checking and investigating these sources (efforts that many say currently miss the mark). Critical thinking An important antidote to fake news, and indeed a skill that future employers expect of PR practitioners is to read and think critically, which means moving beyond what a text says to asking questions about the how and why of the text’s meaning. In an era of proliferating “fake news” stories and campaigns to improve information literacy, being cautious in consuming information and media is paramount. Let’s reflect on what it means to think and read critically.

Questions for reflection

• What do you think “fake news” is and isn’t?
• Do you feel comfortable identifying sources of information or news stories as biased or inaccurate?
• Can you think of an example of a “fake news” story? What makes it biased or inaccurate?
• What are the potential dangers of making decisions or acting upon biased or inaccurate information?
• What does it mean to think critically? How do you do it?
• What does it mean to read critically? How do you do it?

Reading critically

Reading critically means reading skeptically, not accepting everything a text says at face value, and wondering why a particular author made a particular argument in a particular way. When you read critically, you read not only to understand the meaning of the text, but also to question and analyze the text. You want to know not just what the text says, but also how and why it says what it says. Asking questions is one key strategy to help you read more critically. As you read a text critically, you are also reading skeptically. A critical reader aims to answer two basic questions:

1. What is the author doing?
2. How well is the author doing it?

What is the author doing?

To answer “what is the author doing?” begin by carefully examining the following:

• What are the author’s claims (a claim is what the author says is true)?
• What is the evidence (evidence is what the author offers to support what they say is true)?
• What are the assumptions (assumptions are what the author says is true or will happen without giving any support)?

It may be helpful to try to see the argument from different angles:

• How else could the author have written this piece?
• What other kinds of evidence could have been used?
• What difference would that other evidence make?
• How has the author constructed his or her argument?

How well is the author doing it?

To answer “how well is the author doing it?” consider the following questions:

• How effective is the introduction? Why might the author have started the piece with this paragraph?
• Are the main ideas supported by solid evidence?
• What evidence does the author use? Is it effective? Useful? Can you think of other evidence?
• Is the author biased or neutral? How do you know?
• Does the conclusion effectively tie the argument together? Could you draw a different conclusion from this evidence?
• What kind of language is used? How would you describe the author’s style?
• How is the piece organized?

Asking questions

Asking questions of a text helps readers:

• Predict what a text will be about
• Identify confusing parts of the reading
• Clarify what confused them
• Develop a response to the text
• Understand the author’s purpose for writing a text

The easiest way to develop questions about a text is to be aware of your thinking process before, during, and after reading.

• What did you wonder about before you started reading?
• What did you think the text might be about?
• What questions did the text raise in your mind as you read?
• What seemed important or surprising?
• What were you wondering when you finished reading?
• What did the author hope to accomplish in writing this text?
• Did the author achieve that purpose?
• What remains unresolved in your mind?

Thinking critically

As you approach your writing, it is important to practice the habit of thinking critically. Critical thinking can be defined as “self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking” (Paul & Elder, 2007). It is the difference between watching television in a daze versus analyzing a movie with attention to its use of lighting, camera angles, and music to influence the audience. One activity requires very little mental effort, while the other requires attention to detail, the ability to compare and contrast, and sharp senses to receive all the stimuli.

As a habit of mind, critical thinking requires established standards and attention to their use, effective communication, problem solving, and a willingness to acknowledge and address our own tendency for confirmation bias. We’ll use the phrase “habit of mind” because clear, critical thinking is a habit that requires effort and persistence. People do not start an exercise program, a food and nutrition program, or a stop-smoking program with 100 percent success the first time. In the same way, it is easy to fall back into lazy mental short cuts, such as “If it costs a lot, it must be good,” when in fact the statement may very well be false. You won’t know until you gather information that supports (or contradicts) the assertion. As we discuss getting into the right frame of mind for writing, keep in mind that the same recommendations apply to reading and research. If you only pay attention to information that reinforces your existing beliefs and ignore or discredit information that contradicts your beliefs, you are guilty of confirmation bias (Gilovich, 1993). As you read, research, and prepare for writing, make an effort to gather information from a range of reliable sources, whether or not this information leads to conclusions you didn’t expect. Remember that those who read your writing will be aware of, or have access to, this universe of data as well and will have their own confirmation bias. Reading and writing from an audience-centered view means acknowledging your confirmation bias and moving beyond it to consider multiple frames of references, points of view, and perspectives as you read, research, and write. False thinking strategies can lead to poor conclusions, so be sure to watch out for your tendency to read, write, and believe that which reflects only what you think you know without solid research and clear, critical thinking.

Tying it All Together

For our part as public relations writers, assuming we value a healthy democratic society that is informed by objective information and truths based on science and hopefully social justice, we must read and think critically, and we can and should refuse to produce work that is dishonest or inaccurate, regardless of who our client is. Often the most persuasive arguments and messages we can create are the one's that can speak truthfully and respectfully about opposing views, while also making the case for our own position.

References

Gilovich, T. (1993). How we know what isn’t so: The fallibility of human reason in everyday life. New York, NY: The Free Press. Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2007). The miniature guide to critical thinking: Concepts and tools. Dillon Beach, CA: The Foundation for Critical Thinking Press.

Attributions

This chapter contains material taken from “Critical thinking”; “Overview 3”; and “Reading critically” in Developmental Writing by Lumen Learning (used under a CC-BY 3.0  license) and Chapter 5.1 “Think, then write: Writing preparation” in Business Communication for Success (used under a CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 International license).]]> 81 319 3 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=93 Tue, 11 Jun 2019 19:01:27 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/references-2/ International Center for Journalists. (2016). Use these tools for the story structure. Retrieved from: http://www.icfj.org/resources/who%E2%80%99s-running-company-guide-reporting-corporate-governance/ Literary Devices Editors. (2013). What are literary devices? Retrieved from: http://literarydevices.net/ Rich, C. (2016). Writing and reporting news: A coaching method. Cengage Learning: Boston, MA. Scanlan, C. (2003). The nut graf, Part I. Poynter. 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“The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn't understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had.” — Eric Schmidt, former executive chairman of Alphabet Inc.

Origin

Until the end of 2017, Eric Schmidt was the executive chairman of Alphabet Inc. Alphabet emerged out of Google to become a large holding company that would manage Google and several related properties including YouTube and Calico (a biotech company). Schmidt has a Ph.D. in computer science from Berkeley. He serves on advisory boards for Khan Academy, an education company with strong ties to YouTube, and The Economist, a global news magazine with both digital and print products. Schmidt's résumé suggests he is intellectually outstanding and that he cares about technology, education and the mass media. If one of the biggest brains of our time, and the former leader of one of the few corporations with direct influence on the way the internet is shaped, describes the internet as “anarchy,” it's a good indication that things are in flux in the digital world.

Of course, we should analyze critically any statements coming from someone whose primary purpose it is to maximize profits for their company. At the time he made these statements, Schmidt was running Google. The loyalties of executive-level leaders presumably rest with the corporation that signs their checks and provides their stock options. Google has an interest in making you feel that the internet is a confusing place since their search engine is one solution to the confusion. (However, if you rely on autocomplete, Google's suggestions may not only be confusing; they may even be morally reprehensible.)

Still, Schmidt's characterization of the internet as a place of anarchy is accurate. And as we seek to define digital culture and to discuss the cultural relevance of social media in this chapter, we must recognize that there is no grand plan. The only constant in digital culture is change, which may sound cliché, but the underlying ICT structures shift so often that it can be difficult for cultural trends to take hold.

Chapter 1 of this text defined society and culture in the context of the field of mass communication. It covered the distinction between interpersonal communication, organizational communication and mass communication, and then it delved deeper into concepts relating to mass communication. The purpose of the first chapter was to start a discussion about how evolving information and communication technologies (ICTs) can influence the mass media and contribute to social and cultural change in the process.

A Brief Overview

If you are anticipating a roadmap of neat, organized plans for how the evolution of culture on digital platforms will unfurl, you're gonna have a bad time. Instead, this chapter offers a brief, lively discussion of how we define digital culture and what we might expect from it as it emerges in online spaces, mobile apps and platforms.

Additionally, this chapter includes a breakdown of the roles social media platforms may play in influencing culture.

If you acknowledge that cultures have always been in flux, then perhaps the concept of a digital culture emerging online amidst anarchy will look less like disruption and more like evolution (Spoiler Alert: Reveals the plot of The Last Jedi). However you classify it, the cultural impact of the merger of the mass media and digital networks is vast, and that is the topic of this chapter.

This chapter begins with a definition of "digital culture" that comes from the media studies portion of mass communication literature. Media studies refers to the broad category of academic inquiry analyzing and critiquing the mass media, its products, possible effects of messages and campaigns, and even media history. Chapter 2 then continues with a deeper discussion of identity in the digital age and covers privacy and surveillance as well as the praxis of digital culture as defined by scholars. The term "praxis" here refers to how a theory plays out in actual practice.

This chapter also identifies different levels of culture (a concept borrowed from anthropology) as they relate to cultural products reaching audiences through digital mass communication channels. In other words, we ultimately answer this question: If we take existing theory for describing the levels of culture and apply it to digital culture, what are some immediately recognizable traits?

Finally, social media are defined from a scholarly point of view with particular attention given to the cultural potential of digitally networked social platforms.

Digital Culture Defined

Scholars argue whether we can understand what the spread of digital networks will mean for relatively well-established cultures in the tangible world, or predict with any certainty how cultures will evolve on digital platforms. There are two basic schools of thought. The first argues that existing cultures might find themselves essentially recreated in digital form as more and more life experiences, from the exciting to the mundane, play out in digital spaces. The second school of thought posits that the dominant digital culture emerging now is a separate culture unto itself.

It seems likely that neither version of these imagined forms of digital culture will dominate; instead, we will likely see a combination of the two. Parts of existing culture will appear online as they do in the physical world and parts of digital culture will seem completely new, previously unfathomable because they could not or would not appear in the tangible world.

[caption id="attachment_104" align="alignleft" width="300"] Commuters on the Washington DC Metro use their mobile phones beneath an ad stating, "It Begins with Bonjour." It Begins with Bonjour by Craig Moe. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption]

Before we delve in with prognostications about where digital culture is headed, let us first define our terms. Digital culture refers to the knowledge, beliefs, and practices of people interacting on digital networks that may recreate tangible-world cultures or create new strains of cultural thought and practice native to digital networks.

For example, an online fandom and a real-world fan club are both made up of people who are geographically separated but share a common interest. If a fan club were to "go online," networked communication platforms might make the experience better than it was in the physical world. Before the advent of the internet, most fan clubs produced a newsletter, offered connections with pen pals, and provided early opportunities to buy tickets and merchandise. Online, fans can create deeper relationships with one another. They can connect and communicate on official channels or make their own unofficial groups where they need not communicate through a central authority or gatekeeper. Fan and star interactions can be direct, one-on-one interactions on multiple social media channels. There may be an official, organized fan group, but many other avenues can appear on relatively open platforms with few rules.

The cultural product at the core of a fandom might still be a "legacy media" product. Legacy media are any media platforms that existed prior to the development of massive digital networks. Yes, there are people who are "Instagram famous" or "YouTube" famous, but the biggest stars in our cultural world still have many ties to legacy media. Musicians, film stars and comic book heroes come to mind. What other types of "legacy media" stars have huge online fandoms?

Online fandoms may simultaneously expect less centralized authority over the fan experience and more direct access to their heroes. They often expect to see transparency during the creative process, such as Instagram or Twitter posts with "secret" messages for longtime followers or behind-the-scenes videos as albums and movies are made. Fandoms might demand to hear key information first or to have special access via social media.

Similar things could be said of fan clubs in the age of snail mail. Essential elements of the culture of fandom — gaining access to artists and finding friends in a community — have not changed as much in kind as they have in degree.

Is this an example of the transition of an existing cultural form (the fan club) to digital environments, or is online fandom something truly different from a snail mail fan club? This is a good question to debate in the classroom.

It is worth noting that there are also niche fandoms that probably would not exist without the aid of digital networks. With virtually unlimited communication space, there is room for incredibly rarified fan groups to form on platforms such as Tumblr, and they are not always socially positive communities. In many cases of hyper-specific fandoms, it is difficult to argue that these cultures existed in the physical world and simply "moved online." Being digitally networked is what makes it possible to find people with particularly narrow shared interests, for better and for worse.

Digital Dynamic

Even with the presence of niche online groups, digital culture cannot currently be separated from the influence of physical-world cultures. We can say two things about the relationship between online and physical-world cultures at this time. First, the growth of interaction on digital networks influences “traditional” cultures. Second, longstanding cultural traditions are influencing digital culture as it takes shape. The ethics and norms established in the physical world shape our views about behavior and values in digital networks. The term norm refers to a behavioral standard. Mutual influences of what is considered "normal" in online behavior and well established physical world norms are emerging in a dynamic fashion. Sometimes they clash.

One example is online dating. Dating in real life (IRL) is changing as more and more people use dating apps and websites. Previously, dating was limited to the people you were likely to meet. You could meet friends of friends. You could meet people at school, at parties, at bars or on blind dates. Your options were limited geographically and by how outgoing you were, how much time you wanted to spend looking, and who you trusted to set you up. The personal ads in newspapers were often considered sad places for losers. Using a mass medium to find your true love was often considered a risky last resort.

[caption id="attachment_104" align="alignright" width="300"] Lindsay Blackwell, My Super Pseudo-Scientific Online Dating Experiment™. Ignite Waterloo 8 by James Bastow. Source: Flickr. CC BY-SA 2.0[/caption]

When online dating first became available, it was often compared to posting and perusing digital personal ads. This was a cultural perception based on previous experiences, behavior and expectations from a pre-Internet culture.

Over the course of approximately ten years (1998-2008), what once was considered odd, creepy or desperate in many parts of the Western world came to be considered commonplace. Apps and sites like OkCupid, Tinder, Match.com and eHarmony have millions of users. Culturally, many of us have accepted this new digital form of dating. It’s not for everyone, but online dating does not carry the stigma it once did.

Even Tinder, which has a reputation as a "hook-up" app, maintains popularity and cultural significance as it is referenced often on other media platforms.

Whatever it may be in a given culture, sexual morality still exists, even if new technologies make hooking up easier and new capabilities challenge old norms of what dating should be.

This is the dynamic at the heart of this chapter. Digital technology can influence knowledge, beliefs and especially practices around dating. This can, in turn, shape the way people think about dating in general, not just in digital environments. The "old" cultural norms and morals can still be applied to judge those who use digital apps for casual hookups, but the new culture can push back, so to speak, and change how people think about dating even if they never use dating apps themselves.

We have discussed how the digital culture and physical world culture dynamic functions, but we have not yet defined digital culture. For that, we must look to scholars who have spent years trying to pinpoint what emergent digital culture seems to be.

Individualization, Post-Nationalism, And Globalization

We turn to Mark Deuze, a scholar from the University of Amsterdam, for a complete definition. He seeks to provide a preliminary definition of “digital culture” in his 2006 article, "Participation, Remediation, Bricolage: Considering Principal Components of a Digital Culture."

In his analysis of academic literature, Deuze finds that scholars often make assumptions when trying to explain how digital culture works. The main he identifies is the idea that culture moves to digital networks more or less intact. There was, a decade ago, a lack of explanation about what happens to culture in digital environments.

How much might culture change when certain practices move online? How often can existing cultural beliefs and expectations be transferred intact? Deuze does not think digital culture is merely a recreation of physical world culture in online spaces, but he does not have a good answer for what has been emerging. He analyzes independent media sites, blogs and radical online media outlets to see what these new forms of communication demonstrate about digital culture.

That these forms are not meant to represent all culture but rather a cultural vanguard. They are (or were) the tip of the spear of newly evolving digital cultures. These sites are often progressive politically, so this is not as much a prediction of what will happen with all digital culture as it is a discussion of what is possible. Deuze maintains that the real practice of digital culture is “an expression of individualization, post-nationalism, and globalization.”

Individualization

Deuze finds individualization in blogs most frequently written by one person and focused on a specific topic or small geographical region. Individualism, as it is used here, refers not only to an individual's ability to act as their own publisher online but also to a social condition in which individuals are free from government control. It means that even in authoritarian nations such as North Korea, Russia, China and Iran that try to control the behavior of their citizens, individuals may seek freedom of expression on the internet, although it comes at a greater risk.

Beyond Deuze's observations, evidence of individualism online comes from partisan news sites such as The Drudge Report and HuffPost. Both are named for individual founders. They are digital mass media outlets that started largely as personal points of view.

The importance of individualized expression on social media is clear. We appear as individuals on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Tumblr. This increases our reach. Each of us can potentially connect with every other individual on a given social media platform, but these platforms also raise questions about surveillance and privacy.

Digital Individualism Versus Privacy

Eric Schmidt once said about online privacy and Google, “If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place.” While this might make sense in a free society, there are many places in the world — North Korea for example — where government surveillance can utilize corporate invasions of privacy to crack down on dissent and severely limit freedom.

Suppose someone living in North Korea would like to use a social media channel such as Twitter to connect with like-minded people without government officials finding out. Should Twitter protect those users? What if a state threatens legal action or violence against Twitter employees? Would social media channels give up their users?

There is a difference between government surveillance (that is, state-sanctioned data gathering and analysis on massive scales) and corporate data aggregation for targeted marketing purposes. Usually, by accepting the Terms and Conditions of apps and web services, you opt in to having your data stored, crunched and analyzed by corporations. Legally, you are responsible for that decision. Technically, the data gathering platform is not supposed to identify you as an individual, but so-called "safe harbor" laws can be ineffectual.

Should Google protect your searches and refuse to divulge information about your habits to governments, even if they share that data with other companies for marketing purposes? Should Google give you a way to hide your online activity? Is there a way for the liberty-loving Southeast Asian to have his privacy protected while still enabling Western governments to watch out for terrorists? These questions relate to larger issues of freedom and individualism in digital culture.

Throughout its history, the United States of America has taken pride in its First Amendment and the rest of the Bill of Rights as guarantees of liberty. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, many Americans accepted new levels of scrutiny, particularly in digital environments. Support for strong leaders increased until very recently. Concerns about the global rise of authoritarianism have people questioning government surveillance and corporate surveillance as they may limit our ability to engage as individuals in digital culture.

Eric Schmidt’s statement implies that privacy in digital networks is limited. This sentiment is echoed by Mark Zuckerberg, who has suggested that privacy is dead. What this means is that physical world behavior is expected to adapt to the demands of digital culture because the capabilities of digital culture also carry with them unique risks that we are not necessarily adapted to deal with.

Our experience with the anarchy of online mass communication platforms is quite limited. As we learn what government surveillance and corporate invasions of privacy are capable of, it may continue to deeply affect our physical world behavior.

Many would agree with the sentiment, "If you do nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about," but even advocates for a more open digital society want their privacy. Zuckerberg bought several properties around his house to keep his physical location secure. Eric Schmidt does not want people to know where he lives. He generally does not invite the public into his private life, and, one might assume, does not want people to examine why his former wife said she felt like a “piece of luggage” when married to him. Such information about Schmidt's personal life is easy to find online and could be used against him, but should we care? Does it matter in the broader cultural sense?

This text argues that privacy does matter. The vast majority of us are not using digital platforms to break laws or to interact in negative ways with others and yet we still have aspects of ourselves that we would like to remain private. Has a parent or guardian ever snooped on your Facebook account or followed your Instagram? We have incredible freedoms and amazing digital communication capabilities as individuals living our lives in the new digital culture. It comes with a price we have yet to grasp.

Terms and Conditions

The film Terms and Conditions May Apply details the ways our private information, such as our emails and texts, can easily be related to our public information on social networks.

The filmmakers note that the knowledge and hardware needed to snoop on people are bought and sold all over the world and are often unregulated.

Are we becoming more open because of the ways social media function? Is there anything wrong with that? Are we surrendering our privacy in ways that cannot be undone?

[caption id="attachment_104" align="alignleft" width="300"] An old-school screen capture of Microsoft's Terms and Conditions. I accept the licensing terms and conditions By IvanWalsh.com Source: Creative Commons. CC BY 2.0[/caption]

One of the major cultural challenges of the network society will be to deal with people in power who would like to use our information against us as a means of control. It has already happened in some of the countries where the Arab Spring revolutions took place (Egypt, for one).

You never know what you might need to protest in the future, but we’re beginning to see tools deployed to pre-empt protest and other acts of dissent. What this means for our efforts to define digital culture is that digital culture can free us as individuals, but it can also imprison us.

We can use the internet and smartphones to help us to get questions answered and to draw attention to ourselves in good ways. We can coordinate with others for fundraisers and to have parties. Digital communication networks are amazingly sophisticated tools that can help us connect as individuals to form groups to celebrate all sorts of interests, political and otherwise.

On the other hand, if individuals believe they have no privacy, digital networks could become virtual wastelands where innovative collaboration is hindered and where corporate commercial speech and government surveillance dominate.

Capitalism depends on risk-taking, and if you kill risk-taking online, you have hindered the entrepreneurialism that the network society offers. We scholars will study for decades to come how individual behavior changes and how relationships morph in a digital culture that discourages behavior we want to keep private while simultaneously encouraging levels of sharing that border on exhibitionism. How can we maintain privacy and gain attention, which is so often the currency of the open Internet? This is an interesting dilemma that arises in an individualistic digital culture.

Post-Nationalism

Post-nationalism is another aspect of digital culture that Deuze notes in his article. It may seem unrelated to our previous discussion of individualism and privacy in digital culture, but in fact, it is an analysis of the ways individuals represent themselves online.

Most simply, "post-nationalism" in digital culture means that one’s country appears to matter less as an influence on behavior and values online than it does in the tangible world, perhaps because we can be free of our national identities when engaging in digital networks with people from around the globe.

This does not mean that we should expect to see an end to nationalism in the tangible world. Quite the opposite seems to be true: As post-nationalism appears in digital spaces, nationalism is on the rise in global politics. It might seem odd that people drop their nationalism online but demand it in physical spaces, but if you look at the way culture is expressed online, it is clear that for many people their nationality has little to do with their online identities.

For example, your country may be important to you, but it may not be one of the ways you define yourself in social media environments. You can love America without talking about it all of the time on Facebook or Twitter. Remember as well that national boundaries may be felt more readily in the daily lives of Africans, Asians, Europeans and others living in nations that are geographically smaller, more tightly packed and culturally distinct. In digital spaces, these cultural differences can evaporate.

Although war and immigration are highly influential on the current cultural climate in the physical world, the perception of evaporating culture in networked spaces may help drive the sense that physical world cultures are being threatened.

Recent political developments, however, make it somewhat more difficult to think of digital culture as post-nationalistic given the rise of online nationalism — particularly white nationalism in Europe and the United States. White nationalism is a brand of nationalism related to white supremacy, but it is an identity connected to the nation-state nonetheless. A nationalist's primary modus operandi in digital culture may not reflect what nation states ultimately become in the 21st century, but rather what they wish it were. Even so, there is evidence that some factions will use digital spaces to promote a return to nationalism.

Does this mean that post-nationalism in digital culture is a false notion conceived in the early 2000s that has no bearing on culture today? Perhaps, but it is more likely that we are seeing a backlash against the rise of a global post-nationalist space online.

Globalization

Digital culture, Deuze posits, reflects a globalized or globalizing world. Behaviors, interests, and relationships cross international boundaries. The economic structure of digital networks, including the mass media system, is global. For example, multinational conglomerate corporations tend to dominate the media industry, not just in the United States but around the world. Books, academic articles and simple infographics show that most mass media companies fall under the ownership of large corporate firms. It is not accurate to say this represents all media or that "the media" are being controlled, but it is accurate to say a significant level of influence can be attributed to a handful of media corporations in most developed parts of the world.

Mass media consumers should be aware of the environment in which media products are produced, but this is not to say that the globalization of mass media is always a negative thing. When it comes to culture, globalization has its supporters. Here is a site in English about K-pop music. The music comes from Korea, but the fanbase is spread worldwide, and the site can reach a global audience only because of the global nature of digital networks. It works only because computer servers are connected by wires all over the globe to make this bit of culture, like many others, available to the entire globe.

There exists a global point of view in both the physical world and in digital culture which is open to all kinds of cultural production as long as it is interesting, funny and shows great talent. There are videos that go viral globally, although it is not always clear why. (If we had the formula, we’d include it here.) All we can say at this time is that you can reach the world with any online message and, for whatever reason, some things are globally likable and "shareable."

A Place Called Gangnam

Humanity’s recently developed ability to develop a globalized point of view and to establish a common digital culture is the reason you have heard (and likely tired) of "Gangnam Style." Ironically, PSY, who performs the song, is kind of an anti-pop star within Korea. The song makes fun of the country’s higher class, a conspicuously wealthy subculture from a place called the Gangnam District. But PSY is a global success. He is popular, many argue, because he is quite funny and because he is not the prototypical K-pop hero. He comes from a particular national cultural tradition, but he also transcends it by being absurd. Thus, as a distinctly individual performer, he personifies a type of post-nationalism and the globalization of digital culture.

Individualism, post-nationalism and globalization go a long way toward defining the emergent “digital culture.” For more information, consult Deuze's original article.

Digital Culture In Practice

Deuze makes one more observation not about what digital culture is but rather how it works. Deuze argues that the production of digital culture will be carried out through participation, remediation and bricolage.

Participation means that every individual will have the ability to contribute to online media. Professionals and amateurs will work together much more often than they did on "legacy media" products and projects.

Because people do not want to work for free, they will not flock to an online platform simply because it has been opened up for contributions. If anyone could build a Facebook, there would be hundreds or even thousands of competing platforms. As it stands, there are perhaps ten major social media platforms worldwide, if "major" means they are home to more than 200 million members.

It is also clear from social networking sites, Reddit, and similar social news sharing sites that people will contribute to a platform even if it is not necessarily well-policed or easy to use. In digital culture, it helps to be the first to be big. Success breeds success in an economy based on attention, and what dominates tends to be emotional issues, as satirized here.

Consistency also seems to help, but what matters most is the ability to consistently draw an audience. Think of a person trying to become a YouTube influencer. They must publish interesting content regularly for months or even years before they develop a following that they might be able to sell to advertisers. Once the YouTube star does begin to peddle products, they run the risk of alienating a portion of their audience.

Participation is an essential part of digital culture. It can be easy and fun to do it for free. If you want to make a career out of it, it takes professional-level commitment, and the resulting content often favors what is popular and emotionally gripping rather than what is informative or socially beneficial.

Remediation means that old media are made new again in digital spaces. Television becomes YouTube. Radio becomes podcasting, Spotify and Pandora. Newspapers become ... online newspapers! The new media take elements of the old media and repurpose them, while "legacy" media firms copycat digital media trends, buy out media startups, or try to forge new paths at significant expense.

In the practice of digital culture, media are remade in digital environments in a process that combines the appealing parts of existing forms of media with additional functionalities made possible by new ICTs and digital networking capabilities. The author's own research argues that attempts by legacy media organizations to create new businesses online face many institutional hurdles. Remediation is constantly happening, but that does not mean existing media companies can determine how to monetize the practice in a sustainable way. We should expect considerable remediation innovation to come from startup companies and individual tech entrepreneurs with few ties to legacy media.

A good example of remediation is taking classic movies or video games and showing them to young people to record their reactions for YouTube. Reaction videos of all kinds take media products people are familiar with and show them to the unfamiliar so that viewers can judge their reactions. This new media product repurposes old content with an added element designed to pique our interest; however, remediation does not always add much value.

Bricolage is a French term not easy to translate literally to English. A translation offering deep context might be: Do it yourself by combining elements found elsewhere. Much of digital culture is an amalgamation of existing content and new cultural work being done at home by people with amateur skills and affordable but capable tools, such as smartphones and tablet computers. Even basic tools are quite powerful. Smartphones come with front- and back-facing cameras as well as HD-quality video. The computing power of a smartphone is more powerful than a mainframe computer was 70 years ago. Independent producers have video and audio editing software options and can create professional looking, popular media products on their own with little formal training.

Professionalism

What is formal training for, then? It prepares you to transition from making professional looking and sounding media products once in a while to consistently making professional quality media. Formal training prepares you to think strategically about where industries are going so that you know not only how to make mass media products but where to place them and how to use and possibly develop your own communication platforms.

Formal training includes an education in history and ethics. Amateur producers are skilled at chasing trends and gaining popularity, but they often ride cultural waves that last from a few months to a couple of years. Planning for multiple media shifts and seeing digital cultural trends as or before they emerge requires an education in more than the tools and tricks of the trade.

Deuze In Sum

Deuze's analysis suggests that barriers between professionals and amateurs are breaking down. Old media are made new again in digital culture, through a process of making digital media collages, so to speak. (The word "bricolage" is related to "collage.")

Thus, in practice, digital culture is democratizing (though not fully democratic, of course). Amateurs can create media products that challenge the popularity of cultural production made by corporate conglomerates valued at hundreds of billions of dollars. What emerges in terms of popularity, though, is not necessarily high in quality or accuracy. Quality and accuracy are the hallmarks of professional communication (although not all professionals behave as they should).

Levels Of Culture In Digital Media

Let’s take a step back and look at the definition of culture again. In the first chapter, this text defined culture as being made up of the knowledge, beliefs and practices of a group of people. We need to tweak that definition a little. It is more accurate to say that the knowledge, beliefs and practices of a massive group of people at a certain time and place defines common culture.

Three levels of culture exist in anthropology literature, and they apply to the ways culture is expressed in the mass media. The three levels of culture are personal culture, group culture and common culture (similar to pop culture).

Any kind of culture, whether it is personal, group or common culture, relies on shared knowledge. There must be shared experiences and shared stories about those experiences for us to have a common culture. If we did not have shared experiences, cultural references would not make sense. Thus common culture can be arrived at when individuals and groups tell the same stories, or when mass media reach mass audiences with the same messages at the same (or about the same) time.

The more people who know about a song, film, work of art or event with cultural significance, and the more information that they know about it, the more likely it is that event will become part of the common culture. The mass media influence common culture, although it is not correct to say that they directly shape it. There are many other institutional influences on common culture such as governments, churches, families and educational systems.

In fact, messages in the mass media may not be as influential now as they were in the mid-20th century when millions of people watched the same TV shows each week at the same time and read the same major metropolitan daily newspapers and national magazines. Demassification has affected the ways common culture is established and fed.

The mass media influence may have less power to influence common culture directly, but it is still relevant. Think about any major global news event of the past few months. When an event is big enough that it is shared across all media platforms, especially cable television, broadcast television and social media channels, it can form a piece of common culture. If several events occur or if an event has a broad enough global impact, it can enter the global collective memory, the shared cultural memory of a group of people.

Group culture is what we used to refer to as a "subculture." It is the knowledge, beliefs and practices of a subset of people considered to be part of a larger culture. Group culture is distinct in some ways from the shared, broader common culture. Group culture might center on religious beliefs and practices, ethnic norms and interests, or food, music and other forms of material production. Groups can be as large as all Chinese-Americans and as small as the remaining St. Louis NFL fan culture.

You have a say in defining your personal culture — the knowledge, beliefs and practices held most dear to the individual. You may find yourself identifying with many group cultures or taking most of your interests from the dominant common culture. Do you take your cultural cues about what to think about and talk about from television, social media or small group cultures with which you identify? This much is your prerogative. You can choose your personal culture. It is based both on what you believe in and what cultural products you consume.

America, ‘Merica, Los Estadas Unidos, Etc.

There is a common culture in America, but there is no single, dominant, common culture across global digital networks. There may be a tendency for people to believe that the group cultures they interact with most often online constitute the "real" digital culture, but as yet there is no clear consensus about what our shared digital culture is or even if we will develop one.

Algorithms in search engines and social media platforms determine much of what we find when we search the internet and what we see when we look at news and information feeds from our friends. Do algorithms constitute common culture? They may shape it, and they may be influenced by user preferences, but they are not always designed for truth, accuracy or information literacy. They are most often designed to give consumers whatever makes them consume more of what the platform wants them to consume. Google usually wants you to spend money with its advertisers. Facebook wants your time and your data so it can sell your information to third party advertisers.

What shapes digital culture is often in a "black box": It is the proprietary information of very large corporations, and the public may or may not have access to the code. Even if we did have it, it would be difficult to explain exactly how algorithms work. There are times when the corporations that deploy algorithms seem surprised by how they function in the hands of massive numbers of users.

Major events that cut across algorithms and show up on almost everyone's news feed and in almost everyone's search results are still likely to have an impact on common culture. Major events are likely to shape personal, group, and common culture if they are significant enough. What kind of cultural impact does a given event have? It depends.

The impact of a school shooting near Miami might be felt differently in Florida than in California because of proximity and because the gun laws in each state are quite different. In other words, something can enter the common culture but still be perceived quite differently by individual members of the public.

Norms

By now you should understand that the cultural impact of messages in the mass media at each level — personal, group and common culture — is related to the shared knowledge that existed before the event.

Events are often going to be perceived differently by people identifying with different small group cultures within a larger common culture. Events will usually be interpreted differently by individuals within a small group culture, depending on an individual’s beliefs about and personal experiences with the issue at hand.

[caption id="attachment_199" align="alignright" width="300"] Graffiti explaining the role of women in Egypt's revolution. Women in the revolution by Gigi Ibrahim. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption]

A person's response to current events as they appear in the mass media is also related to the existence and strength of shared beliefs about the way they think things ought to be. We call those beliefs cultural norms.

There is no single, agreed-upon set of norms that everyone in a given group culture adheres to. If you have lived your whole life as part of the dominant culture, and you do not recognize the existence and struggle of various cultural groups, it can be difficult to recognize reactions in digital media spaces that do not relate much to what you see in your physical world. Conversely, if you have grown up being oppressed as part of a small group, you may find it hard to understand how others identifying with the dominant portion of a common culture can miss the cruelty present in some cultural norms they don't think twice about.

Exposure to other groups' cultures in a network society can bring about both greater understanding and greater anxiety. This is something that will be worked out, for better or for worse, over the next several decades as digital culture evolves. Figuring out how groups with different cultural interests, norms, and values can get along while being constantly exposed to one another's views in the free-for-all of network society is the challenge of emergent digital culture.

One response is to run to echo chambers, to partisan spaces that feel safe for certain group cultures and for our personal cultural beliefs and priorities, but this practice can only deepen the divide between cultural groups.

In the early years of working to establish a common culture in the network society, we have managed to inundate ourselves with information from all manner of cultural groups and to isolate ourselves from views that contradict our own group cultural norms. This is anarchy. This is culture without a strong social structure to hold it together.

The question facing mass communication scholars that members of our common culture also face is whether the institutions of the physical world can or should try to control how digital culture is shaped. You have the power to decide if digital culture should be regulated and how. This may be the most important civic responsibility you have, but it is also a matter of cultural power.

Social Media And Social Capital

What do you think it means for society that networked communication platforms can make anybody a mass communicator? One answer is that there is great potential for social change because society, as Dewey said in Chapter 1, is not just transmitted by communication, it exists in it.

That means every individual with a computer or a smartphone has the potential to disseminate messages that influence broader society. Think of the Arab Spring revolutions of 2010-2012. Think of #Ferguson protests in the summer and fall of 2014. Think of the way candidate Donald Trump bypassed mass media outlets to reach voters and to set a separate news agenda in 2015 and 2016. Individuals and small groups are now able to coordinate and to lead social movements using networked communication technologies.

[caption id="attachment_199" align="alignleft" width="300"] Facebook's Facebook Page by "Christopher". Source: Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0[/caption]

You have probably heard the term “social movement.” In a sense, a social movement is a change in society brought on by communication. What is different about the world of networked communication is how interpersonal messages and message campaigns can shift in an instant to being mass messages or massive campaigns. This makes digital networks battlegrounds because networked public communication platforms are centers of power now more than ever.

Just as they can influence and even disrupt social structures, individuals and small groups can shape culture using social media channels. This makes our communication system as ripe for abuse by outside forces as it is for use by legitimate citizens. Governments, corporations and rogue dictators all have an interest in learning our secrets, and they could potentially hold them against us.

We cannot underestimate how important this is will be in the mass communication field. Individual, group and broader social secrets — including consumer behavior, political behavior and even personal thoughts and interests — are easier to discern and possibly manipulate than ever before because of the vast amounts of data collected about us from our social media and other internet habits. This can have a profound effect on our behavior and on our society, and we are not prepared as a society to defend ourselves against attacks.

Before you get discouraged about digital culture and privacy, and before you get inundated with all of the possibilities and implications of digital culture, consider Clay Shirky’s Ted talk, “How social media can make history."

Shirky outlines the power of social connectivity and applies the concept of social capital. The basic definition of social capital is the potential to get help, not just financial assistance, from the people around you when needed. Social media platforms can be great places to build social capital. Thus, they have the potential to be constructive or disruptive. It depends on how you use them. Watch the video for a complete definition.

Interpersonal communication, organizational communication and mass communication are separate areas of academic interest, as stated in the first chapter, but our ability as consumers and as producers to alternate from one to the other is as powerful as it has ever been. Being connected to each other almost at all times by digital networks creates the capacity for relatively quick mass social action. People are beginning to use this power to pull society in different directions. Large numbers of people can be organized and we could see social shifts and rifts develop more quickly than they can be put back together. It will be up to individual users and groups of users to decide how to respond to such social and cultural changes.

Participatory Media

A major shaper of culture and society is the news media. There will be separate sections on the evolution of news in later chapters, but in the context of digital culture, it bears noting that the role of news media within broader media landscapes is also shifting.

Apart from the ability of social movements and cultural movements to arise and take shape on social media platforms, there is also the potential for public opinion to be influenced quickly and deeply when mass media outlets operated in the same digital networks as influential individuals and groups.

[caption id="attachment_200" align="alignright" width="300"] New York tabloid newspapers cover the killing of Eric Garner by police during an arrest. Eric Garner, Daily News & New York Post Covers by Mike Mozart. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption]

You may contribute to news information by volunteering. One of the biggest stories to gain national attention in 2014 that was filmed and posted by a citizen journalist was the story of Eric Garner, who was seen being put into a chokehold by NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo. Reports said that Garner had asthma and that he died of a heart attack. Here the term "citizen journalist" refers to a person who is not a paid professional but who delivers news to audiences nonetheless.

It is doubtful that the story would have received national attention had it not been for the video bystander Taisha Allen took with her mobile phone. When she shared that video, and it went viral on social media channels, she made the mass media story possible.

Allen probably had several reasons for sharing the video of Garner, and she was probably aware of the potential social and cultural impact of the video. You do not have to be a media literacy expert to know that such a video would receive broad attention and generate controversy. Allen chose to share the video because she thought people needed to see what had happened.

Further solidifying the cultural significance of the video, within days of the story breaking, Spike Lee had re-cut a scene from his groundbreaking film Do the Right Thing where the character Radio Raheem is choked to death by an NYPD officer. He interspersed his original film clip with bystander video of Eric Garner’s death. This almost instant connection between a post made by a citizen using social media and a bit of modern classic film speaks to the rising power and cultural influence of amateur media. Individuals can affect major producers in a mutual effort to shape social norms and structures as well as cultural influences.

We should expect more and more professionals to make these kinds of connections with amateurs and bystanders in the future. Mashups of professionally made mass media messages and citizen-generated messages are likely to proliferate. Can you think of video footage from individuals present during major news events that shaped the news and public opinion?

The events in Ferguson, Missouri followed a similar path as the Eric Garner story: Social media accounts of the killing of Michael Brown were shared virally almost immediately after the incident. Social media activity on YouTube, Twitter and other channels helped shape the way events unfolded. This drove the way the story was covered in the national media in the early reporting, but backlash inevitably followed.

Much of the work done by citizen journalists will be controversial. Media professionals working in news and other fields will have to use discernment in deciding which views to share because in a sense sharing is promoting, even if one disagrees with the sentiment of the tweet, video, or post.

No piece of media that is meaningful on a cultural level is going to be captured and disseminated with universal agreement about its importance or its meaning, but for society to function and for culture to serve its purposes we need to agree in a general sense on what's real and what is not. The real danger in the rise of the power of individuals and small groups in digital culture is that they can pull larger groups away from looking for fact-based discourse.

]]> 111 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=159 Tue, 11 Jun 2019 19:01:27 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/references-2-2/ International Center for Journalists. (2016). Use these tools for the story structure. Retrieved from: http://www.icfj.org/resources/who%E2%80%99s-running-company-guide-reporting-corporate-governance/ Literary Devices Editors. (2013). What are literary devices? Retrieved from: http://literarydevices.net/ Rich, C. (2016). Writing and reporting news: A coaching method. Cengage Learning: Boston, MA. Scanlan, C. (2003). The nut graf, Part I. Poynter. Retrieved from: http://www.poynter.org/2003/the-nut-graf-part-i/11371/ Berg, K. (2009). Finding connections between public relations, lobbying, and advocacy. Public Relations Journal, 3(3), 2-19. Grunig, J. & Hunt, T. (1984). Managing public relations. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Public Relations Society of America. (2016). About public relations. Retrieved PRSA website. Simpson, E. (2014). The four models in Grunig’s and Hunt’s PR theories. Linkedin.com. Retrieved from: The Four Models in Grunig’s and Hunt’s PR Theories Smith, R. (2013). Strategic planning for public relations. New York, NY: Routledge. Hare, K. (2013). Keller, Greenwald debate whether journalists can be impartial. Poynter. Retrieved from: http://www.poynter.org/2013/keller-greenwald-debate-whether-journalists-can-be-impartial/227386/ National Association of Colleges and Employers. (2015). Retrieved from: Job outlook 2016: Attributes employers want to see on new college graduates’ resumes. Society of Professional Journalists. (2014). SPJ Code of Ethics. Retrieved from: http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp Wemple, E. (2014). New York Post settles ‘bag men’ defamation suit. The Washington Post. Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2014/10/02/new-york-post-settles-bag-men-defamation-suit/ 1Theaker, 7. 2Klein, 366. Alberts, Sheldon. “Brand Obama,” Financial Post, January 17, 2009, http://www.financialpost.com/m/story.html?id=1191405. Associated Press, “Blackwater Ditches Tarnished Brand Name,” USA Today, February 13, 2009, http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2009-02-13-blackwater_N.htm. Associated Press, “Cheney Hunting Accident Seen as P.R. Disaster,” MSNBC, February 16, 2006, http://www.nbcnews.com/id/11396608/ns/politics/t/cheney-hunting-accident-seen-pr-disaster/#.XjiCABNKju0. Atkin, Douglas. interview, Frontline, PBS, February 2, 2004, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/interviews/atkin.html. BBC World, “Taco Bell Cashes in on Mir,” March 20, 2001, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1231447.stm. Bernstein, Sharon. “Toyota faces a massive marketing challenge,” Los Angeles Times, February 9, 2010, http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/09/business/la-fi-toyota-marketing10-2010feb10. Dictionary.com, s.v. “Propaganda,” http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/propaganda. Entine, Jon. “Queen of Green Roddick’s ‘Unfair Trade’ Started When She Copied Body Shop Formula,” Daily Mail (London), September 15, 2007, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-482012/Queen-Green-Roddicks-unfair-trade-started-copied-Body-Shop-formula.html. Grunig, James E. and Todd Hunt, Managing Public Relations, 1984 (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing). Isaacson, Walter. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003), 325–349. Kiley, David. “How Will Bill Clinton Manage His Brand?” BusinessWeek, June 10, 2008, analysis https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2008-06-10/how-will-bill-clinton-manage-his-brand-businessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice. New York Times, “Nat Ives, “Anti-Ad Group Tries Advertising,” New York Times, September 21, 2004, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/21/business/media/21adco.html. Parsons, Patricia. Ethics in Public Relations (Sterling, VA: Chartered Institute of Public Relations, 2005), 7. Reid, Stuart. “The Diamond Myth,” Atlantic, http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/12/the-diamond-myth/5491/. Ries, Al and Laura Ries, The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR (New York: HarperBusiness, 2004), 90. Roberts, Kevin. interview, Frontline, PBS, December 15, 2003, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/interviews/roberts.html. Saffir, Leonard. Power Public Relations: How to Master the New PR (Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Contemporary, 2000), 77–88. Smith, Ronald. Strategic Planning for Public Relations (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum Associates, 2002), 9–11. Solman, Gregory. “BP: Coloring Public Opinion?” Adweek, January 14, 2008, https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/bp-coloring-public-opinion-91662/. Stauber, John and Sheldon Rampton, Toxic Sludge is Good for You! (Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 1995), 105–119. Theaker, Alison. The Public Relations Handbook (Oxfordshire, England: Routledge, 2004), 4. Dilworth, D., “FedEx Launches Fully Integrated Campaign, Featuring E-mail, Direct Mail,” Direct Marketing News, January 7, 2010, http://www.dmnews.com/fedex-launches-fully-integrated-campaign-featuring-e-mail-direct-mail/article/160829/ “Social Network Site Users Ready to Go Mobile But Telecom Carriers Need to Set the Stage for Mass Adoption, Says IDC,” IDC, November 17, 2009, https://www.ryt9.com/es/prg/89478 (accessed January 20, 2010). Cotton, D., “Mobile-Ad Spending Projected to Reach $2.61B in 2012,” Ad Age Digital, January 26, 2012, http://adage.com/article/digital/mobile-ad-spending-projected-reach-2-61b-2012/232334/ Loechner. J., “Advertising Growth Spreads in All Mobile Formats,” Research Brief, MediaPost Blogs, May 27, 2009, http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/106675/advertising-growth-spreads-in-all-mobile-formats.html (accessed March 12, 2012). Tanner, J. F. Jr., and Dennis Pitta, “Identifying and Creating Customer Value” (special session presentation, Summer Educators’ Conference, Chicago, 2009). Apple, Inc., “Apple Introduces the New iPhone 3G,” https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2008/06/09Apple-Introduces-the-New-iPhone-3G/ (accessed December 9, 2009). Mobile Loaves & Fishes Blog, “Stubb’s Teams Up With MLF to Launch ‘Feed The World’ Tour!” May 22, 2009, http://mobileloavesandfishes.typepad.com/weblog/2009/05/stubbs-teams-up-with-mlf-to-launch-feed-the-world-tour-homeless.html (accessed December 9, 2009). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staples_Center (accessed December 9, 2009). “Events and Sponsorship 2008 Marketing Fact Book,” Marketing News, July 15, 2008, 26. http://brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=489 (accessed December 9, 2009). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cast_Away (accessed December 9, 2009). Gillette, F., "Did Will Ferrell Win the Super Bowl?" BusinessWeek, February 19, 2012, 27–28. ]]> 159 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/the-role-of-writing-in-public-relations/ Wed, 06 Jan 2021 16:15:15 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=307 The Role of Writing in Public Relations Public relations professionals at all levels need to have solid writing skills. White (2016) says, “To succeed as a PR pro, it’s vital to have a passion for writing and communication, and to be committed to excelling in both. You’re bound to fail if you don’t” (para. 9). Public relations professionals are responsible for developing communication materials intended to influence the attitudes and/or behaviors of key publics. Many employers require candidates for public relations positions to complete a writing test and provide a writing sample to demonstrate proficiency in this skill. Therefore, it is critical to understand how to craft effective messages through written communication. Here are some of the many materials and messages that public relations professionals have to write:

• Press/News releases
• Fact sheets
• Feature articles
• Social media messages
• Blog posts
• Speeches
• PowerPoint presentations
• Brochures
• Media pitches
• Statements
• Website messages

News Writing vs. Public Relations Writing

Effective public relations writing draws from news writing principles, because the news media is one of the preferred channels for promoting products and services. However, news writing and public relations writing differ in terms of audience, tone, and media channels. News writing should be objective in tone, with the purpose of presenting information to educate an audience about newsworthy events. On the other hand, public relations writing advocates for the client. It is informative, but it should also influence key publics’ perception of the organization. Some would also argue that public relations writing is even more concise than new writing. Reporters usually write for one audience: readers or listeners of the respective media outlet. Public relations professionals may have to write for a variety of audiences, including internal audiences (such as employees, shareholders, and distributors) and external audiences (such as the media, customers, volunteers, and bloggers). News writing uses one primary communication channel, the news outlet (which can be a newspaper or a television or radio broadcast). Although journalists are increasingly using Twitter to post their articles, this usually entails posting a link that directs the audience to the news outlet’s primary website. Public relations professionals use a variety of channels to distribute their messages, including news media, social media, advertisements, blogs, press kits, and many more.

Good Writing

Many jobs and industries rely on good writing. Even within the public relations or communication industry, writing responsibilities can vary. You may be writing a news release, a newsletter article or a memo. Maybe you’re scripting video shoots, writing speeches, drafting social or advertising content or writing scripts or instructions for the upcoming event you’re planning. Strong writing for email also helps you show your professionalism, intelligence and attention to detail. On the flip side, when you can’t write clearly, concisely and quickly, it can cost you – money, time, clients, morale or even a lawsuit. Joseph Kimble, author of Writing for Dollars, Writing to Please, shares 25 case studies of organizations that saved time and money by improving the readability of their content. General Electric rewrote software manuals and customer calls asking questions plummeted. The U.S. Navy made memos quicker and easier to read, saving officers’ time to the tune of $27 to $37 million per year. Employers understand the cost of unclear, clunky or otherwise poor writing. And the need for clear writing threads throughout many jobs in communication, whether or not the primary job responsibility appears to be writing.  Heather Whaling is the founder and CEO of Geben Communication, which specializes in traditional and digital public relations. She says, “writing is still the most important skill” in today’s digital world. Allie Lehman is the co-founder of The Wonder Jam, which has a strong focus on branding, graphics and photography. Lehman agrees, “it’s really important for students to be comfortable with writing.” As famous basketball coach John Wooden said: “When you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur.” Writing improves with practice. The more you do something and work at it, the better you get. This is true whether you consider yourself a strong writer at the start, or someone who struggles with writing. In her book Everybody Writes, Ann Handley makes the argument that “good writing can be learned—the way trigonometry or algebra or balancing a balance sheet is a skill most of us can master.” The boxes below highlight some of the most common writing errors and a few ways to intentionally improve your writing.

Common Errors

• Spelling errors
• Its vs. it's
• There vs. their
• Affect/effect confusion
• Random capitalization
• Starting sentences with numerals
• Poor sentence structure (run-ons, fragments)
• Incorrect comma use
• Incorrect semicolon use

Quick Tips

• Use simple words, short sentences
• Keep it simple by adding visuals
• Challenge ‘to be’ verbs & use active voice
• Challenge prepositional phrases
• Avoid clichés, overused phrases & jargon
• Trim any other wordiness

Also, make editing a formal step in your writing process to force yourself to analyze your own writing. Allow time for re-reading and corrections even when you’re on a tight timeline. Before you send even a brief email to a colleague, pause and read through it one final time to correct minor spelling or punctuation errors.

Reading, Resourcefulness & Curiosity

Reading can teach grammar, but it also gives you insight on different types of writing, different voices and different styles. Read newspapers, blogs, books in many genres, websites, Twitter posts, magazines. Read some things you know you’ll like and some things that will stretch you. Be curious. If you see something new or unfamiliar or interesting, dig a little deeper. In addition to reading and exploring things that pique your curiosity, there are many resources to help novice writers grow and to help expert writers continue to advance. Take advantage of colleagues, mentors, bosses and educators who are willing to review your work and give constructive criticism. There are also amazing resources out there as references when you have questions, need edits or just want to explore ways to step up your writing game. They can help whether you’re Pulitzer-worthy or not able to recognize a run-on. A few to check out include:

• Grammar Girl. Mignon Fogarty, also known as Grammar Girl, explores many common grammar questions with a fun, easy-to-understand style. Check out her website or social media platforms, or listen in on her podcasts.
• Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content. Marketing veteran Ann Handley writes a great book that goes from writing basics to best practices.
• Grammar Bytes: Grammar Instruction with Attitude
• Apps, websites and browser plugins. Do a little digging to see what’s out there. Things like Grammarly, which can help check your spelling and grammar, or Hemingway Editor, which focuses on making writing more concise and readable.

Canadian Press Style

The majority of journalists and public relations practitioners in Canada use CP Style, based on the Canadian Press Stylebook. As the foundation for journalistic writing, this style focuses on achieving the best possible accuracy and consistency to make content easily read and understood by readers. This translates to the public relations arena because:

• Adhering to a consistent style improves readability and brand recognition.
• Using CP style gives you a common language with journalists, who often become the mouthpiece for your messages.

Many public relations agencies and corporations interviewing potential employees will require a CP style writing or copyediting test to ensure new hires come in able to write in this style from day one. In the US they used Associated Press or AP Style.

Know the Basics It’s worth your time to learn the basics of CP style that will surface again and again in your writing.

• Dates
• Numerals
• Dollars & percents
• Times
• Addresses
• Titles
• Names
• Composition titles
• Abbreviations
• Social media use

There are a few guiding CP style rules to memorize, but keep a hard copy or online version of the book handy for reference when other questions emerge. Like the English language, there are exceptions to many of the rules, but a few of the often-used CP style standards include: Every word has one and only one spelling.

• Check the stylebook first – then a dictionary. CP style occasionally has “preferred” spellings.

Avoid unnecessary capitalization.

• Far fewer words should be capitalized than you think.
• Always look it up before you capitalize anything other than proper names.

Avoid excessive abbreviation. Punctuate according to generally accepted rules. In general, spell out zero through nine.

• Many exceptions and contingencies to this rule.
• Pay attention and memorize.

An updated version of the stylebook is regularly. Some years, the changes are minimal and other years they are more significant. Many times organizations will use CP style as their overarching style but customize specifics such as how to abbreviate the organization’s name or whether to capitalize the names of its boards or committees.]]> 307 319 2 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-1-learning-to-write/ Sun, 10 Jan 2021 16:22:19 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=332

4.1 Learning to write

You may think that some people are simply born as better writers than others, but in fact writing is a reflection of experience and effort. If you think about your successes as a writer, you may come up with a couple of favourite books, authors, or teachers that inspired you to express yourself. You may also recall a sense of frustration with your earlier writing experiences. It is normal and natural to experience a sense of frustration at the perceived inability to express oneself. The emphasis here is on your perception of yourself as a writer as one aspect of how you communicate.

Looking back

Before you can learn to write in a new context, it’s helpful to explore how you got to this point. Every one of us arrives in the workplace (and the classroom) with our own beliefs and assumptions about communication. Sometimes, these beliefs are helpful. Sometimes, however, our beliefs can hold us back. So, before we dive in, let’s take a moment to reflect. Read the following questions and think them over. It may be helpful for you to write some notes in a journal.

Questions for reflection

1. How did you learn to read and write? Who influenced you?
2. What do people in your culture and/or your family believe about reading, writing, and telling stories?
3. What are some of your most positive reading and writing memories?
4. Describe some moments when you struggled with reading or writing. How did you react?
5. Have you ever changed a belief around reading and writing?
6. Do you believe that you are a good writer? Why or why not?
7. What is the most frustrating part of reading or writing for you?

Now, reflect on your answers. Do you notice any patterns? Can you identify any beliefs that might hold you back? Let’s take a look at how another student answered.

Simran’s story

Simran’s earliest memories of reading involve being snuggled up with her grandma, siblings and cousins. She loved being read to. Before she was old enough to go to school, she often sat with her older siblings as they did their homework and pretended to write. Unfortunately, when Simran was in Grade 4, she had a teacher who criticized her writing. She began to believe that she was a bad writer. By the time she reached Grade 12, English was Simran’s worst subject. Today, Simran likes to read for fun, but hates to read for school. When she gets a writing assignment, she often starts and stops and procrastinates. She writes a sentence then gets caught up in grammar details, deletes it, starts over, then checks social media. In the end, she pulls an all-nighter and hands in her assignment with just minutes to spare. Simran likes to write fan fiction based on her favourite T.V. show, and she doesn’t understand why the words come so easily when she’s writing for fun, but so painfully when she’s writing for school.

Simran is a good writer (she can write short stories!), but her unhelpful beliefs about her writing could set her up for failure before she has even started. By talking about our reading and writing beliefs and figuring our where they came from, we can challenge unhelpful beliefs and be more successful. Thinking about our reading and writing beliefs is also a great way to celebrate the communication strengths you already have. For example, if you’ve learned Traditional Stories from elders in your community, you already know a story can be used as a powerful teaching tool when tailored to the right audience at the right time. Your ability to play music or sing will help you write sentences that people will enjoy reading. If you can shift between multiple languages or dialects, you can adapt to a new workplace environment. Our goal is not to erase what’s unique about your writing voice, but to build on your existing skills so that you can be successful in your writing for public relations.

What do experts say about reading and writing beliefs?

The question of how to become a better writer has been studied extensively for decades. We actually know a lot about how people learn to read and write, and how we can improve our writing. Here are just a few writing beliefs that researchers, writing teachers and scholars believe to be true (Fink, 2015). How many of these points do you agree with?

1. Everyone can become a better writer.
2. People learn to write by writing.
3. Writing is a process.
4. Writing helps us think and figure out what we have to say.
5. There is no one way to write well. Different writers have different processes and may even change their process depending on what type of writing they’re doing.
6. Editing, revising and rethinking are important to help writers reach their potential.
7. Writing and reading are related. Reading will improve your writing. It doesn’t even matter what genre you read. Read what you enjoy.
8. Talking about your writing with your peers and your teacher can make you a better writer.

In short, you can become a better writer. In fact, some studies have found that students who believe that they can become good writers improve faster than those who don’t (Baaijen, Galbraith, and de Glopper, 2014). You are a good writer, and you can become a better writer. You use your writing skills every day. It’s hard to change a belief overnight, but over the course of the semester, we’ll build on what you already know and apply it to writing for public relations. We’ll figure out a writing process that works for you. And hopefully, by the end of the semester, you’ll have created writing that you’re proud of.

Looking forward

You are your own best ally when it comes to your writing. Keeping a positive frame of mind about your journey as a writer is not a cliché or simple, hollow advice. Your attitude toward writing can and does influence your written products.

Reading is one step many writers point to as an integral step in learning to write effectively. You may like reading Harry Potter books, anime or romance novels, but if you want to write effectively in public relations, you also need to read public relations-related documents. These can include news releases, opinion columns, news and feature articles, social media posts, advertisements, speeches and annual reports. You can also gain an advantage by reading publications in fields other than public relations; often reading outside your niche can enhance your versatility and help you learn how other people express similar concepts. Reading is one of the most useful lifelong habits you can practice to boost your public relations writing skills.

In the “real world” when you are under a deadline and production is paramount, you’ll be rushed and may lack the time to do adequate background reading for a particular assignment. For now, take advantage of this course by exploring common public relations documents you may be called on to write, contribute to, or play a role in drafting in your future career. Some documents have a degree of formula to them, and your familiarity with them will reduce your preparation and production time while increasing your effectiveness.

Learning to write effectively involves reading, writing, critical thinking, and self-reflection. At times, it may seem like it’s an incredibly messy process. Other times, it may feel tedious. Ultimately, writing is a process that takes time, effort, and practice. In the long-term, your skillful ability to craft messages will make a significant difference in your career.

References

Baaijen, V., Galbraith, D., and de Glopper, K. (2014). Effects of writing beliefs and planning on writing performance. Retrieved from https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Effects-of-writing-beliefs-and-planning-on-writing-Baaijen-Galbraith/03701e3c57c3bca04881b7f7716f111250d6ce39. Fink, L. (2015). Beliefs about the teaching of writing. Retrieved from http://www2.ncte.org/blog/2015/05/beliefs-about-the-teaching-of-writing/.

Attributions

This chapter contains material taken from Chapter 4.2 “How is writing learned” in Business Communication for Success (used under a CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 International license) and Chapter 1 “Exploring your reading and writing beliefs” and Chapter 2 “The writing process” in Business Writing for Everyone (used under a CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license).

]]> 332 330 1 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-2-pre-writing/ Sun, 10 Jan 2021 16:33:09 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=343

4.2 Pre-writing

If you think that a blank sheet of paper or a blinking cursor on the computer screen is a scary sight, you are not alone. Many writers find that beginning to write can be intimidating. When faced with a blank page, however, experienced writers remind themselves that writing, like other everyday activities, is a process. Every process, from writing to cooking, bike riding, and learning to use a new cell phone, will get significantly easier with practice.

Just as you need a recipe, ingredients, and proper tools to cook a delicious meal, you also need a plan, resources, and adequate time to write well. In other words, writing is a process that requires following steps and using strategies to accomplish your goals.

Let’s begin by thinking about your current writing process.

Questions for reflection

1. Describe your writing process. How do you tackle writing tasks?
2. Describe a time when you wrote something you’re proud of. How did you get started? What conditions did you write under? Did you revise?
3. How do you normally complete an assignment? Do you feel that this method is successful?
4. If you write in more than one language, do you use the same writing process for each language you write? How are your writing processes the same and different?

What role do emotions play in writing?

How you feel about a writing task often determines how effectively you can complete it. For example, have you ever struggled to write an apology to someone you upset? Have you ever found yourself procrastinating to write an assignment you don’t really understand? Have you ever found that you write better or more easily in some classes than others?

Emotions are the reason that sometimes you can write without thinking and sometimes you find yourself procrastinating, then staring at a blank screen, typing and deleting the same words over and over, feeling your writing becoming more awkward rather than less. That’s why simply acknowledging how you feel can help you avoid procrastination.

The first step is acknowledging how you feel, and the second step is figuring out why you feel that way. For example, some students have negative feelings about a writing assignment because they don’t like the teacher (or a teacher they had years ago), or they’ve had past struggles in a subject, or they don’t understand the point of the assignment, or they’re overwhelmed with other classes. Being able to identify why you’re feeling an emotion takes the power out of it. Sometimes you can even find a solution to make the writing task easier. Here are some stories about how student writers changed their writing processes.

Raveena’s Story Whenever Raveena writes, she feels a little editor on her shoulder who’s always chiming in correcting her grammar and telling her that her sentences are awkward and sloppy. She spends so much time editing while she writes that she loses her train of thought and has trouble just letting her thoughts flow. Writing a single page takes her hours. Raveena’s instructor asked if she had always written this way. Raveena said she used to write easily, but during her first semester of university she had a couple of instructors who were tough graders. Whenever she would write, she would imagine her instructors criticizing her. Raveena’s instructor suggested two solutions: 1) She should pretend to write to someone she likes. It’s easier to write to a friendly reader than a hostile one. Raveena imagined writing to her favourite cousin and writing got a little easier. 2) She asked Raveena to put a piece of paper over her laptop screen or turn the screen’s brightness to the lowest setting, then type out her thoughts. At first, Raveena found this very uncomfortable. When she turned her screen back on, she saw a jumble of text. But Raveena soon discovered that she had quickly written 500 words, which would have taken her hours under her old method. Raveena then used her excellent editing skills to shape what she had written.

If your writing process is working for you, then there’s no need to change it. But if the way you write frustrates you, consider making some changes. You might also consider changing your writing process for certain writing tasks.

What is effective writing?

Effective writing can be simply described as good ideas that are expressed and arranged in a way your audience understands. Although many more pre-writing strategies exist, this chapter covers six: using experience and observations, freewriting, asking questions, brainstorming, idea mapping, and searching the internet. Using the strategies in this chapter can help you overcome the fear of the blank page and confidently begin the writing process.

Definition

Pre-writing is the stage of the writing process during which you transfer your abstract thoughts into more concrete ideas in ink on paper (or in type on a computer screen). Although pre-writing techniques can be helpful in all stages of the writing process, the following six strategies are best used when initially deciding on a topic:

1. Using experience and observations
2. Freewriting
3. Asking questions
4. Brainstorming
5. Idea mapping
6. Searching the internet

The first important step is for you to tell yourself why you are writing (to inform, to explain, to persuade, or some other purpose) and for whom you are writing. Write your purpose and your audience on your own sheet of paper.

Using experience and observations

When selecting a topic, you may want to consider something that interests you or something based on your own life and personal experiences. Even everyday observations can lead to interesting topics. After writers think about their experiences and observations, they often take notes on paper to better develop their thoughts. These notes help writers discover what they have to say about their topic.

Freewriting

Freewriting is an exercise in which you write freely about any topic for a set amount of time (usually three to five minutes). During the time limit, you may jot down any thoughts that come to your mind. Try not to worry about grammar, spelling, or punctuation. Instead, write as quickly as you can without stopping. If you get stuck, just copy the same word or phrase over and over until you come up with a new thought.

Writing often comes easier when you have a personal connection with the topic you have chosen. Remember, to generate ideas in your freewriting, you may also think about readings that you have enjoyed or that have challenged your thinking. Doing this may lead your thoughts in interesting directions.

Quickly recording your thoughts on paper will help you discover what you have to say about a topic. When writing quickly, try not to doubt or question your ideas. Allow yourself to write freely and without being self-conscious. Once you start writing with few limitations, you may find you have more to say than you first realized. Your flow of thoughts can lead you to discover even more ideas about the topic. Freewriting may even lead you to discover another topic that excites you even more.

Asking questions

Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? In everyday situations, you pose these kinds of questions to get more information.

You seek the answers to these questions to gain knowledge, to better understand your daily experiences, and to plan for the future. Asking these types of questions will also help you with the writing process. As you choose your topic, answering these questions can help you revisit the ideas you already have and generate new ways to think about your topic. You may also discover aspects of the topic that are unfamiliar to you and that you would like to learn more about. All these idea-gathering techniques will help you plan for future work on your writing project.

Pre-writing is very purpose driven; it does not follow a set of hard-and-fast rules. The purpose of pre-writing is to find and explore ideas so that you will be prepared to write. A pre-writing technique like asking questions can help you both find a topic and explore it. The key to effective pre-writing is to use the techniques that work best for your thinking process. Freewriting may not seem to fit your thinking process, but keep an open mind. It may work better than you think.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is similar to list making. You can make a list on your own or in a group. Start with a blank sheet of paper (or a blank computer document) and write your general topic across the top. Underneath your topic, make a list of more specific ideas. Think of your general topic as a broad category and the list items as things that fit in that category. Often you will find that one item can lead to the next, creating a flow of ideas that can help you narrow your focus to a more specific paper topic.

Idea mapping

Idea mapping allows you to visualize your ideas on paper using circles, lines, and arrows. This technique is also known as clustering because ideas are broken down and clustered or grouped together. Many writers like this method because the shapes show how the ideas relate or connect, and writers can find a focused topic from the connections mapped. Using idea mapping, you might discover interesting connections between topics that you had not thought of before.

To create an idea map, start with your general topic in a circle in the center of a blank sheet of paper. Then write specific ideas around it and use lines or arrows to connect them together. Add and cluster as many ideas as you can think of.

Searching the internet

Using search engines on the internet are good ways to see what kinds of articles and websites are available on your topic. Writers use search engines not only to understand more about the topic’s specific issues but also to get better acquainted with their audience. Be choosy about the websites you use. Make sure they are reliable sources for the kind of information you seek.

When you search the internet, type some key words from your broad topic or words from your narrowed focus into your browser’s search engine (many good general and specialized search engines are available for you to try). Then look over the results for relevant and interesting articles.

Results from an internet search show who is talking about the topic, how the topic is being discussed, and what specific points are currently being discussed about the topic. If the search engine results are not what you are looking for, revise your key words and search again. Some search engines also offer suggestions for related searches that may give you better results.

Not all the results online search engines return will be useful or reliable. Give careful consideration to the reliability of an online source before selecting a topic based on it. Remember that factual information can be verified in other sources, both online and in print. If you have doubts about any information you find, either do not use it or identify it as potentially unreliable.

Want to switch up your writing process?

Here are some ideas if you’re getting stuck.

Ways to switch up your writing process

Here are some simple ways to change your writing process. Pick a few and try them.

Pre-Writing

1. Go for a walk (or do some exercise) and think about your writing task. Sometimes moving your body helps you do brainstorming.
2. Create an outline for your work.
3. Use brainstorming (mind mapping, bubble maps, etc).
4. Try illustrating your project visually. Connect ideas and thoughts with lines.
5. Read a similar document to get ideas.
6. Talk about your writing task with a friend.
7. Represent your writing task visually. Sometimes creating a comic strip or series of doodles helps you to figure out where to start.

Writing

1. Turn off the screen of your computer and try writing your document. This will help you get your thoughts down without worrying about editing.
2. Use the voice recorder in your phone to record yourself describing what you want to write about as if to a friend.
3. Write an imaginary conversation between your sources. How would they respond to each other?
4. Try free-writing. Write the phrase “What I want my reader to know is…” or “The most surprising thing about my research is…” Then, set a timer for 5 minutes and write about this topic. Don’t stop writing. Ignore all grammar and spelling errors. See how much you can write.
5. Schedule a time each day to write and put it in your calendar.
6. Try the Pomodoro Technique, where you work intensely for 25 minutes then take a 5 minute break.
7. Use website blocking software like Freedom, FocusBooster or StayFocusd to block your internet use for a few hours so you can concentrate.

Revising

1. Read your work out loud. The ear is a better editor than the eye.
2. Leave your work overnight so that you can come back to it with fresh eyes.
3. Describe your work to a trusted friend or family member and encourage them to ask you questions.
4. Print your work out and cut it up so that each paragraph is on its own piece of paper. Try reorganizing your paragraphs. Does another order work better?
5. If your writing uses sources, print your work out and highlight every time you use a source. If your writing has no highlighted parts, you might want to add sources. If your writing is mostly highlighted, you might want to do more analysis of the sources.
6. Underline the main point of each paragraph. If you can’t point out what the point of the paragraph is, you may need to rethink it. If your paragraph has multiple points, you may need to break it up.
7. Show your work to your instructor, a colleague or friend and ask them what they think the goal of the assignment is.

Attributions

This chapter contains material from Chapter 7 “The writing process: How do I begin” in Business English for Success (used under a CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0 license) and Chapter 2 “The Writing Process” in Business Writing for Everyone (used under a CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license).

]]> 343 330 2 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/revising-editing-and-proofreading/ Sun, 10 Jan 2021 16:35:54 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=345 4.8 Revising, editing, and proofreading  

After you have written a draft of your blog/article/post/news release (you name it), you will need to make changes. While you may feel that you write best “under pressure," writing a single draft at the last minute rarely results in anyone’s best work. You may feel that you’ve put a lot of effort into your first draft, so it can be challenging to think about changing your work or even eliminating words that you toiled over. However, it’s well worth the pain of revising, editing, and proofreading so you produce a polished piece of writing that others can easily understand.To revise a piece of writing, it may help you to consider three approaches: look at the big picture, check your organization, and proofread your final draft.

Higher order concerns

Revising for higher order concerns means working on the organization of your ideas. You might insert sentences, words, or paragraphs; you might move them elsewhere in your document; or you might remove them entirely (Meyer, 2017). When you revise at the “big picture” stage, you are looking at the most important aspects of the writing tasks, and the ones that require the most thought. Here’s a set of questions to help you revise for these higher order concerns:

• Have I met the purpose and requirements?
• Does my draft say what I mean?
• Have I changed my thinking through writing or researching?
• Are there parts that do not belong here?
• Are there pieces missing?
• Are there places where the writing does not make sense?
• Is the tone right for my reader?
• Are my sources the right kind for my purpose and reader?
• Are all the pieces in the right place?
• Are sources documented?

Another way to edit for higher order concerns is to prepare a reverse outline using your draft.

Lower order concerns

Lower order concerns focus on editing and proofreading. When you edit, you work from your revised draft to systematically correct issues or errors in punctuation, grammar, spelling, and other things related to writing mechanics (Meyer, 2017). Proofreading is the last stage where you work from your almost-finished document to fix any issues or errors in formatting or typos you missed (Meyer, 2017). Here’s another way of distinguishing these two tasks. Editing is the act of making changes or indicating what to change; proofreading means checking to make sure those changes were made. Perhaps you are the person who proofreads and edits as you write a draft, so when you are done drafting and revising for content and structure, you may not have that much editing or proofreading to do. Or maybe you are the person who pays no attention to grammar and spelling as you draft, saving all of the editing until you are finished writing. Either way, plan to carefully edit and proofread your work. Here are some additional strategies for editing and proofreading your work:

• Take a break between writing and editing. Even a 15 minute break can help you look at your document anew.
• Read your work aloud.
• Work through your document slowly, moving word by word.
• Start at the end of your document and work towards the beginning.
• Focus on one issue at a time. Trying to look for spelling errors, punctuation issues, awkward phrasing, and more all at once can make it easier to miss items needing correction.
• Don’t rely exclusively on spelling- or grammar-checking software. (This poem was run through such a program and no problems were detected!)
• Review through your document several times.

References

Meyer, C. (2017). Communicating for results: A Canadian student’s guide (4th ed.). Don Mills, Canada: Oxford University Press.

Attribution

This chapter contains material taken from “Higher order versus lower order concerns” in The Word on College Reading and Writing by M. Babin, C. Burnell, S. Pesznecker, N. Rosevear, and J. Wood and is used under a CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license.

]]> 345 330 8 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/giving-and-receiving-feedback/ Sun, 10 Jan 2021 16:38:34 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=348

4.9 Giving and receiving feedback

In many writing classes, students are expected to learn how to give feedback to their peers (commonly called peer review). At first, this may seem intimidating. You may think, “I’m not a teacher–how can I give useful feedback to another student?” What you CAN do is give your classmates an honest reaction as a reader and give advice based on your own experience. It is ultimately up to the person receiving the feedback to decide if they want to use the feedback they receive. If you feel unsure of your ability to give feedback, remember that you are learning from the process too. If you are unsure about the feedback you receive, you can choose to ignore it or check with your instructor. Being able to give feedback professionally is a powerful skill you will use throughout your career.

Giving peer feedback

When your role in peer review is to give feedback, your job is to help the writer by giving your reaction. Think about the kind of feedback you would like to get and also how you would like that feedback to be given. What follows here are some basic rules to follow for responding to someone else’s writing. First, listen to the writer. What kind of feedback are they asking for? Do they want to know if their message purpose is clear? Do they have questions about citing sources? Make a note about what kind of feedback the writer has requested and keep that in mind as you respond. Be kind. When you are receiving criticism, isn’t it easier to hear if the person giving the criticism is kind and respectful to you? Do the same for your peer. This doesn’t mean you avoid should avoid pointing out what could be improved; rather, it means you should take care to think about your tone, word choice, and delivery in providing feedback on things that could be improved. Comment on the higher order concerns first. That means asking questions about anything that confuses you, checking to see if the writing did what the assignment called for, and considering if the order of the message makes sense. Use “I” statements to help stay focused on your reaction to the writing. For example, instead of saying, “You aren’t clear in this paragraph,” try saying, “I’m confused in this paragraph. Did you mean X or Y?” Be specific. When your feedback includes statements like “I liked it” or “It was good,” follow up with an explanation of exactly what you liked or thought was good. The same goes for criticism; say exactly what confused you or what was missing. Ask questions. Use questions to clarify what the writer means, what the resources given are saying, and what the writer is trying to do. Offer advice based on your own experience. Be specific and provide options, if possible. For example, you could say “If this were my message, based on my experience, you could do A, B, or C.” Don’t try to make the writer sound like you. If a word is the wrong word, then note that. However, if you just think of a word you like better, that’s just a matter of style and voice. Don’t edit your peer’s writing for them. If you find the writer has a lot of issues or errors with writing mechanics, such as spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence construction, paragraphing, please do make note these issues exist. However, the responsibility for correcting these errors and rewriting the material to correct these problems lies with the writer, not with you. Providing feedback is helpful, but rewriting someone’s work is plagiarism and can carry serious academic consequences. Mention what works well AND what could be improved. Imagine you were throwing a ball at a target on the wall with your eyes closed. It seems reasonable to assume you might be missing the target more than you were hitting it. Now imagine if you only heard from those around you what could be improved. Based on that feedback of what you could improve, you may or may not be able to adjust your throws and get the ball on the target. Conversely, if you only heard from those around you what you were doing well, you again may or may not be able to adjust your throws and get the ball on target. However, by combining these two aspects of feedback–what works well AND what could be improved–you’re providing the person with a more wholesome view of their efforts and work, and providing them better guidance around how to improve. It does not serve them well to only provide one-sided feedback, so make sure you mention what works well AND what could be improved.

Make the most of peer feedback

Let’s now consider your role in receiving feedback. Are you eager to get feedback? Scared to share your work? If you are receiving feedback from your peers, remember that ultimately YOU get to decide what feedback to accept and what to ignore. If you don’t think the feedback is correct, ask your instructor what they think. One way to improve the feedback you get is to ask for the kind of feedback you want. Don’t be afraid to give your peer reviewer some direction. Listen to or read the feedback with an open mind. Consider that the peer reviewer is your reader. It’s good to know what a real reader got out of your writing. If you aren’t sure about the feedback or feel upset about it, reconsider the suggestions after a break. It’s okay to say, “I’ll think about that.” If you feel that the reviewer is trying to change your style so that the paper doesn’t sound like you anymore, consider whether the feedback helps you make the paper better. If not, feel free to set that feedback aside.

Attribution

This chapter contains material from “Giving and receiving feedback” in The Word on College Reading and Writing by M. Babin, C. Burnell, S. Pesznecker, N. Rosevear, and J. Wood and is used under a CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license.]]> 348 330 9 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/embrace-the-online-presence/ Fri, 04 Aug 2017 07:21:54 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/embrace-the-online-presence/ Blogging falls within the world of social media, which means it works best as a two-way street. Successful blogs thrive as part of a community and this requires conversations with readers and relationships with other bloggers. Thanking readers for comments, answering questions and commenting on other blogs, especially those on similar topics or in the same geographic area. Cross-marketing a blog with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or other social media profiles drives readership. Dekker’s @breakfastwithnick Instagram account highlights food images for his more than 12,000 followers and Powers posts fashion and travel photos for the 17,000+ followers on her @anexplorersheart Instagram, which drives additional readers to their blogs. Powers also considers other strategic ways to share her content, giving the example that a post about a small town in Ohio might benefit from a tweet that tags the visitor’s bureau and gets them to share the post. Powers also recommends thinking strategically about the keywords used in a posts (the words and phrases that will make your post pop up when potential readers are searching online). She suggests looking at where those potential keywords rank on Google and whether there is strong competition for this topic. “You need to find the sweet spot – a topic that is popular enough that people will want to read what you wrote, but also a topic that isn’t too popular, so you can get on the first page or two of Google,” she explains. Powers notes that Google is looking for the best content out there, so you need to position yourself as an “expert” on the topic you’re sharing. For more details on keyword research and how to use keywords to optimize blog content for better search engine results, take a look at this VEIO design blog post: How to do Keyword Research for your Next Blog Post.]]> 469 330 6 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/pr-pro-advice-nick-dekker-blogger-breakfast-with-nick/ Fri, 04 Aug 2017 07:22:59 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/pr-pro-advice-nick-dekker-blogger-breakfast-with-nick/

Advice for Students

Just start writing. You don’t even have to write long blog posts to start out. Write some short things about a topic that interests you. A picture and a short paragraph. I took time to build content and that built readership and that helped me refine my style. Set a goal of two short posts a week about something that interests you and it helps you get to know your topic.

 

Advice for Students

The most important thing you can do is start. However, at some point you will want to come up with a plan, if you’d like to monetize your blog. I think there’s a big misconception out there that you just start a blog and the money rolls in. There are several ways to make money blogging, but it’s important to position yourself so that brands know [who you are, who your followers are and how the brand might benefit from a relationship with you] when they contact you. For example, would you like to be an influencer? If so, you should focus on growing your social following. Would you like to be hired to write? If so, focus on your writing and use your blog as a portfolio/home base for your work. Would you like to write a book? Focus on writing long-form content, etc.

]]> 471 330 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/references-4/ Wed, 16 Aug 2017 21:46:17 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/references-4/

• Scott, D., (2015). The New Rules of Marketing & PR. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Kretler, L. (2016, September 19). The Benefits of Blogging [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.frazierheiby.com/benefits-of-blogging/
• Dekker, Nick. (2017, June). Personal interview.
• Powers, Lauren. (2017, July). Personal correspondence.
• Dekker, N. “12 ideas for spring brunch season [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.breakfastwithnick.com/2017/04/11/spring-brunch-ideas/
• Dekker, N. (2014, April 4). “How do you want your eggs?” Eleven ways to cook an eggs [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.breakfastwithnick.com/2014/04/08/how-do-you-want-your-eggs-eleven-ways-to-cook-an-egg/
• Powers, L. (2016, September 30). “How to plan a trip to Aspen, Colorado this Fall [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.anexplorersheart.com/plan-trip-aspen-fall/
• Loren, R. (2012, July 20). “Bloggers Beware: You CAN get sued for using pics on Your blog – My story” [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://roniloren.com/blog/2012/7/20/bloggers-beware-you-can-get-sued-for-using-pics-on-your-blog.html
• Winsauer, E. (2017, May 24). "How to Do Keyword Research for Your Next Blog Post" [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.vieodesign.com/blog/how-to-do-keyword-research-next-blog-post/

]]> 475 330 10 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/finding-your-voice-and-practicing-your-writing-through-blogging-or-journaling/ Wed, 13 Jan 2021 17:09:28 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=478

Writing that is grammatically correct and readable

Writing for the web (pretty crucial when much of the content written for companies ultimately ends up on the web)

Developing a strong point of view

Positioning yourself or an organization as a subject matter expert

Understanding the basics of search engine optimization

Using a content management system

Building and managing an online community

There is also a good chance that you will work with blogs in some capacity throughout your career. In The New Rules of Marketing & PR, David Meerman Scott outlines the four uses of blogs for marketing and PR:

1. Monitor what lots of people are saying about you, your organization, your products, your industry
2. Participate in conversations by commenting on other blogs
3. Work with bloggers who write about your company, industry or products
4. Shape the conversations by creating and writing your own blog

The job responsibilities for many public relations practitioners include one or more items from the above list. For additional insights, check out The Benefits of Blogging post authored by Lara Kretler, vice president at Columbus agency FrazierHeiby, and read the blogging success story from student Rachel Gaylord below.

In January 2017 I wrote a blog post after Kate Finley, founder and CEO of Belle Communications, presented at an Ohio State PRSSA meeting. I tweeted the link to the post, tagged Kate and Belle and in minutes was offered an internship with her company. Blogging is a simple yet effective way to get your name out there!  – Rachel Gaylord

Guest blogs have allowed me to showcase my writing publicly and gain portfolio pieces without having to keep up with the hassles of a personal blog. -Emma Grubaugh

 

 ]]> 478 330 3 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-1-research-questions/ Wed, 08 May 2019 17:40:42 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-1-research-questions/

Questions for reflection

• Think about the last time that you did research. What kind of research did you do? Were you able to find all the sources you needed? If not, what kind of sources did you struggle to find?
• How do you use the internet when you research? What kind of sites do you visit? Why?
• What does academic integrity mean to you?
• How do you determine what sources to trust online?
• If you’ve also attended school in a different country, how does that school system teach source use?

At the core of all public relations writing is research. You can't write knowledgeably or persuasively about something without a clear understanding of it. Whether a new product, service, technological process or pressing social issue, the PR writer needs to develop an above-average understanding of what they are writing about to write convincingly and strategically about the subject. This information can be gathered through a mixture of primary research, including interviews, and secondary research, including accessing company materials, articles and academic studies. In most organizations, there will be experts or specialists who can help the PR writer understand what is being written about, but it all starts with asking and answering clear questions. Both professional researchers and successful student researchers develop research questions. That’s because research questions are more than handy tools; they are essential to the research process. By defining exactly what you are trying to find out, these questions influence most of the rest of the steps taken to conduct the research. That’s true even if the research is not for professional or academic purposes but for other areas of our lives. For instance, if you’re seeking information about a health problem in order to learn whether you have anything to worry about, research questions will make it possible for you to more effectively decide whether to seek medical help–and how quickly. Or, if you’re researching a potential employer, having developed and used research questions will mean you’re able to more confidently decide whether to apply for an internship or job there. The confidence you’ll have when making such decisions will come from knowing that the information they’re based on was gathered by conscious thought rather than serendipity and whim.

Narrowing a topic

Narrowing a topic is a process of working from the outside in: you start with the world of all possible topics (or your specific writing task/project) and narrow down until you’ve focused enough to be able to tell precisely what you want or need to find out, instead of only what you want to “write about.”

Process of narrowing a topic

Visualize narrowing a topic as starting with all possible topics and choosing narrower and narrower subsets until you have a specific enough topic to form a research question. All possible topics – You’ll need to narrow your topic in order to do research effectively. Without specific areas of focus, it will be hard to even know where to begin. Assigned topic – Ideas about a narrower topic can come from anywhere, but in the PR context, they will be based on the communication goals of your written piece, as determined by a communications plan or creative brief (or an informal set of communication goals relayed to you by a client or manager/director). Topic narrowed by initial exploration – It’s wise to do some more reading about the narrower topic to a) learn more about it and b) learn specialized terms used by professionals and scholars who study it. Topic narrowed to research question(s) – A research question defines exactly what you are trying to find out. It will influence most of the steps you take to conduct the research. A PR writing project may require answers to more than one research question. The best way to determine what these questions might be is to put yourself in the shoes of your audience: what do they need or want to know about the subject? What questions might they ask? What questions would a journalist ask?

Background reading

It’s wise to do some more reading about your narrower topic once you have it. For one reason, you probably don’t know much about it yet. For another, such reading will help you learn the terms used by professionals and scholars in the field of your narrow topic. Those terms are certain to be helpful when you’re looking for sources later, so jot them down or otherwise remember them. For instance, if you were going to do research about the treatment for humans with bird flu, this background reading would teach you that professionals and scholars usually use the term avian influenza instead of bird flu when they write about it (often, they also use H1N1 or H1N9 to identify the strain.) If you didn’t learn that, you would miss the kinds of sources you’ll eventually need for your project. Most sources other than journal articles are good sources for this initial reading, including the Globe and Mail or other mainstream news outlets, Wikipedia, encyclopedias for the discipline your topic is in, dictionaries for the discipline, and manuals, handbooks, blogs, and web pages that could be relevant. After this upfront work, you’re ready to start developing the research question(s) you will try to answer.

Developing your research question

Because of all their influence, you might worry that research questions are very difficult to develop. Sometimes it can seem that way. But luckily, none of us has to come up with perfect ones right off. It’s more like doing a rough draft and then improving it. That’s why we talk about developing research questions instead of just writing them.

Steps for developing a research question

The steps for developing a research question, listed below, can help you organize your thoughts. Step 1: Pick a topic (or consider the one assigned to you). Step 2: Write a narrower/smaller topic that is related to the first. Step 3: List some potential questions that could logically be asked in relation to the narrow topic. Step 4: Pick the question(s) that most closely align with your communications goals. Step 5: Revise the question(s) you’ve selected so that they are more focused and less vague.

Attributions

This chapter contains information taken from multiple sources:

• The Purpose of Research Questions, Narrowing a Topic, Background Reading, Developing your Research Question, and Regular vs Research Questions in Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research, which is used under a CC-BY 4.0 International license
• The Research Process in Business Writing for Everyone, which is used under a CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license.

]]> 763 761 1 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-2-categorizing-sources/ Wed, 08 May 2019 17:41:00 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-2-categorizing-sources/

Books and encyclopedias

Websites, web pages, and blogs

Magazine, journal, and newspaper articles

Research reports and conference papers

Field notes and diaries

Social media posts

Photographs, paintings, cartoons, and other art works

TV and radio programs, podcasts, movies, and videos

Illuminated manuscripts and artifactsArchitectural plans and maps

Pamphlets and government documents

Music scores and recorded performances

People with expertise or experience on a particular topic

With so many sources available, the question usually is not whether sources exist for your project but which ones will best meet your information needs. Being able to categorize a source helps you understand the kind of information it contains, which is a big clue to (1) whether it might meet one or more of your information needs and (2) where to look for it and similar sources. A source can be categorized by:

• Whether it contains quantitative or qualitative information or both
• Whether the source is objective (factual) or persuasive (opinion) and may be biased
• Whether the source is a scholarly, professional or popular publication
• Whether the material is a primary, secondary or tertiary source
• What format the source is in

As you may already be able to tell, sources can be in more than one category at the same time because the categories are not mutually exclusive.

Quantitative or qualitative

One of the most obvious ways to categorize information is by whether it is quantitative or qualitative. Some sources contain either quantitative information or qualitative information, but sources often contain both. Many people first think of information as something like what’s in a table or spreadsheet of numbers and words. But information can be conveyed in more ways than textually or numerically. Quantitative information – Involves a measurable quantity—numbers are used. Some examples are length, mass, temperature, and time. Quantitative information is often called data, but can also be things other than numbers. Qualitative information – Involves a descriptive judgment using concept words instead of numbers. Gender, country name, animal species, and emotional state are examples of qualitative information.

Data Differences

Quantitative	Qualitative
Provides an overall picture of a general population or geographical region. It can also often be used to measure trends over time. This type of evidence is valuable for describing who, what, where, and when.	Provides richer, deeper, and broader information based on a few individuals or case examples. This type of evidence is valuable for describing how and why.

*

Fact or opinion

Thinking about the reason an author produced a source can be helpful to you because that reason was what dictated the kind of information they chose to include. Depending on that purpose, the author may have chosen to include factual, analytical, and objective information. Or, instead, it may have suited their purpose to include information that was subjective and therefore less factual and analytical. The author’s reason for producing the source also determined whether they included more than one perspective or just their own. Authors typically want to do at least one of the following:

• Inform and educate
• Persuade
• Sell services or products
• Entertain
• Combined purposes

Sometimes authors have a combination of purposes, as when a marketer decides he can sell more smart phones with an informative sales video that also entertains us. The same is true when a singer writes and performs a song that entertains us but that she intends to make available for sale. Other examples of authors having multiple purposes occur in most forms of public relations writing and scholarly writing. In those cases, authors certainly want to inform and educate their audiences, but they also want to persuade their audiences that what they are writing is a true description of a situation, event, or phenomenon or a valid argument that their audience must take a particular action.

Why intent matters

Authors’ intent usually matters in how useful their information can be to your research and writing project, depending on which information need you are trying to meet. For instance, when you’re looking for sources that will help you decide your answer to a research question or evidence for your answer that you will share with an audience, you will want the author’s main purpose to have been to inform or educate their audience. That’s because, with that intent, they are likely to have used:

• Facts where possible.
• Multiple perspectives instead of just their own.
• Little subjective information.
• Seemingly unbiased, objective language that cites where they got the information.

The reason you want that kind of resource when trying to answer your research question or explaining that answer is that all of those characteristics will lend credibility to the argument you are making. Both you and your audience will simply find it easier to believe—will have more confidence in the argument being made—when you include those types of sources. Sources whose authors intend only to persuade others won’t meet your information need for an answer to your research question or evidence with which to convince your audience. That’s because they don’t always confine themselves to facts. Instead, they tell us their opinions without backing them up with evidence. If you used those sources, your readers will notice and may not believe your argument.

Fact vs. opinion vs. objective vs. subjective

Need to brush up on the differences between fact, objective information, subjective information, and opinion? Fact – Facts are useful to inform or make an argument. Examples:

• The sky is blue.
• Some countries follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and others follow International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
• Beethoven had a reputation as a virtuoso pianist.

Opinion – Opinions are useful to persuade, but careful readers and listeners will notice and demand evidence to back them up. Examples:

• That was a good movie.
• Strawberries taste better than blueberries.
• Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) are better than International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
• Beethoven’s reputation as a virtuoso pianist is overrated.

Objective – Objective information reflects a research finding or multiple perspectives that are not biased. Examples:

• “Several studies show that some font types are more easily read by people with vision impairment than others.”
• “A 2017 study from Kwantlen Polytechnic University showed that adults have the same ability as toddlers in taking the perspective of another person.”

Subjective – Subjective information presents one person or organization’s perspective or interpretation. Subjective information can be meant to distort, or it can reflect educated and informed thinking. All opinions are subjective, but some are backed up with facts more than others. Examples:

• “The simple truth is this: You should never use the Comic Sans font to write a business message.”
• “Resumes for graduating students should be as short as possible—ideally one to two pages.”

Primary, secondary & tertiary sources

Another information category is called publication mode and has to do with whether the information is:

• First-hand information (information in its original form, not translated or published in another form).
• Second-hand information (a restatement, analysis, or interpretation of original information).
• Third-hand information (a summary or repackaging of original information, often based on secondary information that has been published).

When you make distinctions between primary, secondary, and tertiary sources, you are relating the information itself to the context in which it was created. Understanding that relationship is an important skill. Noting the relationship between creation and context helps us understand the “big picture” in which information operates and helps us figure out which information we can depend on. Primary sources – Because it is in its original form, the information in primary sources has reached us from its creators without going through any filter. We get it first-hand (or are sometimes doing the original research ourselves). Here are some examples that are often used as primary sources:

• Diaries
• Advertisements
• Performances
• Interviews, focus groups and eyewitness accounts
• Data
• Artifacts such as tools, clothing, or other objects.
• Original documents such as tax returns, marriage licenses, and transcripts of trials
• Journal articles that report original research for the first time (the parts about the new research, plus their data)

Primary research is research that we conduct ourselves and often focuses on answering questions about current trends, issues, human behaviour, or is used to reinforce secondary research. For example, a telephone survey gathering opinions on the best options for the housing crisis, or an in-depth interview administered with the goal to gather personal insight on the culture and values of an organization. It is often undertaken after the researcher has gained some insight into the topic by reviewing and analyzing secondary research.  Secondary sources – These sources are translated, repackaged, restated, analyzed, or interpreted from a primary source. Thus, the information comes to us second-hand, or through at least one filter. Here are some examples that are often used as secondary sources:

• All nonfiction books and magazine articles other than autobiography
• An article or website that critiques a novel, play, painting, or piece of music
• An article or web site that synthesizes expert opinion and several eyewitness accounts for a new understanding of an event
• The literature review portion of a journal article

Secondary sources allow you to broaden your research by providing background information, analyses, and unique perspectives on various elements for a specific communications goals. Bibliographies of these sources can lead to the discovery of further resources to enhance your research. Secondary research involves the collection of data and information that exists and has already been published. Secondary research focuses on answering questions with past research studies and existing information. Tertiary sources – These sources further repackage the original information because they index, condense, or summarize the original. Tertiary sources are usually publications that you are not intended to read from cover to cover but to dip in and out of for the information you need. You can think of them as a good place for background information to start your research but a bad place to end up. Here are some examples that are often used as tertiary sources:

• Almanacs
• Dictionaries
• Guide books
• Survey articles
• Timelines
• Bibliographies
• Encyclopedias, including Wikipedia
• Most textbooks

 

Is it a primary source or a secondary source? Deciding whether to consider a journal article a primary or a secondary source can be complicated for at least two reasons. First, journal articles that report new research for the first time are usually based on data. Some disciplines consider the data to be the primary source, and the journal article that describes and analyzes them is considered a secondary source. However, particularly in the sciences, the original researcher might find it difficult or impossible (they might not be allowed) to share the data. Sometimes you have nothing more first-hand than the journal article, which argues for calling it the relevant primary source because it’s the closest thing that exists to the data. Second, even journal articles that announce new research for the first time usually contain more than data. They also typically contain secondary source elements, such as a literature review, bibliography, and sections on data analysis and interpretation. They can actually be a mix of primary and secondary elements. Even so, in some disciplines, a journal article that announces new research findings for the first time is considered to be, as a whole, a primary source for the researchers using it. What are considered primary and secondary sources can vary from discipline to discipline.

Popular, professional & scholarly sources

We can also categorize information by the expertise of its intended audience. Considering the intended audience—how expert one has to be to understand the information—can indicate whether the source has sufficient credibility and thoroughness to meet your need. There are varying degrees of expertise: Popular – Popular newspaper and magazine articles (such as The Walrus, the Globe & Mail, and Maclean’s) are meant for a large general audience, are generally affordable, and are easy to purchase or available for free. They are written by staff writers or reporters for the general public. Additionally, they are:

• About news, opinions, background information, and entertainment
• More attractive than scholarly journals, with catchy titles, attractive artwork, and many advertisements but no footnotes or references
• Published by commercial publishers
• Published after approval from an editor

Professional – Professional magazine articles (such as Communication World) are meant for people in a particular profession and are often accessible through a professional organization. Staff writers or other professionals in the targeted field write these articles at a level and with the language to be understood by everyone in the profession. Additionally, they are:

• About trends and news from the targeted field, book reviews, and case studies
• Often less than ten pages, some of which may contain footnotes and references
• Usually published by professional associations and commercial publishers
• Published after approval from an editor

Scholarly – Scholarly journal articles (such as Journal of Management Information Systems and Business Marketing) are meant for scholars, students, and the general public who want a deep understanding of a problem or issue. Researchers and scholars write these articles to present new knowledge and further understanding of their field of study. Additionally, they are:

• Where findings of research projects, data and analytics, and case studies usually appear first
• Often long (usually over ten pages) and always include footnotes and references
• Usually published by universities, professional associations, and commercial publishers
• Published after approval by peer review or from the journal’s editor

Attributions

This chapter contains information taken from Categorizing Sources, Qualitative or Quantitative, Fact or Opinion, Primary, Secondary & Tertiary Sources, and Popular, Professional & Scholarly in Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research, which issued under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.]]> 765 761 2 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-3-evaluating-sources/ Wed, 08 May 2019 17:41:18 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-3-evaluating-sources/

Questions for reflection

• Do you evaluate information you find online or elsewhere before using it in your writing?
• What parts of evaluating sources do you find challenging? What parts are easy?
• What things do you look for to decide whether to use a source?

This section talks about how to identify relevant and credible sources that you have found online and through searches of library databases and catalogs, Google Scholar, and other specialized databases. Relevant, credible sources will meet the information needs of your research project. Evaluating your sources is critical to the process of research. The CRAAP test allows you to analyze your sources and determine if they are appropriate for your research or just plain crap! The CRAAP test uses a series of questions that address specific evaluation criteria like the authority and purpose of the source. This test should be used for all your sources and it is not intended to make you exclude your sources, but to help you to analyze how you intend to use them to support your own arguments. C = Currency: The timeliness of the information.

• When was the information published or posted?
• Has the information been revised or updated?
• Does your topic require current information, or will older sources work as well?

R = Relevance: The importance of the information for your needs

• Does the information relate to your topic or answer your question?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Is the information at an appropriate level (i.e. not too elementary or advanced for your needs)?
• Have you looked at a variety of sources before determining this is one you will use?
• Would you be comfortable citing this source in your writing project?

A = Authority: The source of the information.

• What are the author’s credentials or organizational affiliations?
• Is the author qualified to write on the topic? Do you trust the author?
• Is there contact information, such as a publisher or email address?
• Does the URL reveal anything about the author or source? examples: .ca .com .edu .gov .org .net

A= Accuracy: The reliability, truthfulness and correctness of the content.

• Where does the information come from?
• Is the information supported by evidence?
• Has the information been reviewed or refereed?
• Can you verify any of the information in another source or from personal knowledge?
• Does the language or tone seem unbiased and free of emotion?
• Are there spelling, grammar or typographical errors?

P = Purpose: The reason the information exists.

• What is the purpose of the information? Is it to inform, teach, sell, entertain or persuade?
• Do the authors/sponsors make their intentions or purpose clear?
• Is the information fact, opinion or propaganda?
• Does the point of view appear objective and impartial?
• Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional or personal biases?

Attributions

This chapter contains information taken from Thinking Critically About Sources in Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide To Academic Research (used under a CC-BY 4.0 International license) and Evaluate What You Find With The "CRAAP Test" in Write Here, Right Now: An Interactive Introduction To Academic Writing And Research (used under a CC-BY 4.0 International license).]]> 767 761 3 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-4-citing-sources/ Wed, 08 May 2019 17:41:32 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/2-4-citing-sources/

Questions for reflection

• What kind of sources have you used in the workplace? How has this differed from the kind of sources you’ve used in school?
• Why do we cite sources?
• How does your culture handle using other people’s ideas and words? Who “owns” an idea? How do you respectfully use someone’s words?
• What questions do you have about citation?
• What’s your definition of “academic integrity?”
• Do you think that the rules of “academic integrity” apply to the workplace?
• When you use researched sources, do you typically paraphrase, summarize, or quote other ideas/words?
• What do you think about when deciding whether to quote or paraphrase?
• Are you comfortable writing someone else’s idea in your own words?

In this section, we’ll tackle how to use sources ethically, analyze them, and combine them to create effective public relations writing.  But first: a note about the difference between workplace citation and academic citation. In the workplace, especially in public relations, you may often find yourself using your colleague’s words without crediting them. For example, your boss might ask you to write a news release using text from a product description and to write quotes for the lead product developers. Many people might work on the same set of speaking notes or you might update a document written by someone else. In public relations, your employer usually owns the writing you produce, so PR materials don’t often cite individual authors (though contributors are usually named in an acknowledgements section if it’s a large project/report). That doesn’t mean that you should take credit for someone else’s work, but in general a lot of sharing and remixing goes on within an organization. That said, writers in the workplace often use a wide range of sources to build their credibility. Citation is not only an ethical practice, but it is also a great persuasive strategy, showing that your work is credible and anchored based on facts and information from other reputable sources. The citation practices you learn in school will therefore serve you well in public relations and the workplace in general. In school in North America, the context is different. Unless your instructor specifically tells you otherwise, they will assume that you wrote everything in your assignment, unless you use quotation marks.

What is academic integrity?

Different universities have different definitions. Here is the definition we use at Kwantlen Polytechnic University:

The University ascribes to the highest standards of academic integrity. Adhering to these standards of academic integrity means observing the values on which good academic work must be founded: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility. Students are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with these values. These standards of academic integrity require students to not engage in or tolerate integrity violations, including falsification, misrepresentation or deception, as such acts violate the fundamental ethical principles of the University community and compromise the worth of work completed by others. You can read the full policy here.

In other words, you must take full responsibility for your work, acknowledge your own efforts, and acknowledge the contributions of others’ efforts. Working/ writing with integrity requires accurately representing what you contributed as well as acknowledging how others have influenced your work. When you are a student, an accurate representation of your knowledge is important because it will allow both you and your professors to know the extent to which you have developed as a scholar.

It’s worth noting that other cultures have different – equally valid – definitions of academic integrity. By making you aware of what we mean by academic integrity in this context, you can be aware of the expectations that are being placed on you.

What is plagiarism?

Let’s take a look at a common definition of plagiarism. This one comes from Ohio State University’s First Year Experience Office: "At any stage of the writing process, all academic work submitted to the teacher must be a result of a student’s own thought, research or self-expression. When a student submits work purporting to be [their] own, but which in any way borrows organization, ideas, wording or anything else from a source without appropriate acknowledgment of the fact, [they are] engaging in plagiarism."

Plagiarism can be intentional (knowingly using someone else’s work and presenting it as your own) or unintentional (inaccurately or inadequately citing ideas and words from a source). It may be impossible for your professor to determine whether plagiarized work was intentional or unintentional.

While academic integrity calls for work resulting from your own effort, scholarship requires that you learn from others. In the world of “academic scholarship” you are actually expected to learn new things from others AND come to new insights on your own. There is an implicit understanding that as a student you will be both using other’s knowledge as well as your own insights to create new scholarship. To do this in a way that meets academic integrity standards you must acknowledge the part of your work that develops from others’ efforts. You do this by citing the work of others. You plagiarize when you fail to acknowledge the work of others and do not follow appropriate citation guidelines.

What is citing?

Citing is basically giving credit. If your source is well-cited, you’ve told the audience whose ideas/words belong to whom and you’ve told the audience exactly where to go to find those words.

Why cite sources?

There are many good reasons to cite sources.

To avoid plagiarism and maintain academic integrity

Misrepresenting your academic achievements by not giving credit to others indicates a lack of academic integrity. This is not only looked down upon by the scholarly community, but it is also punished. When you are a student this could mean a failing grade or even expulsion from the university. In the professional world, plagiarism can result in damage to your reputation as a PR practitioner, and you could lose your job.

To acknowledge the work of others

One major purpose of citations is to simply provide credit where it is due. When you provide accurate citations, you are acknowledging both the hard work that has gone into producing research and the person(s) who performed that research.

To provide credibility to your work and to place your work in context

Providing accurate citations puts your work and ideas into an academic or professional context. They tell your reader that you’ve done your research and know what others have said about your topic. Not only do citations provide context for your work but they also lend credibility and authority to your claims. For example, if you’re researching and writing about sustainability and construction, you should cite experts in sustainability, construction, and sustainable construction in order to demonstrate that you are well-versed in the most common ideas in the fields. Although you can make a claim about sustainable construction after doing research only in that particular field, your claim will carry more weight if you can demonstrate that your claim can be supported by the research of experts in closely related fields as well. Citing sources about sustainability and construction as well as sustainable construction demonstrates the diversity of views and approaches to the topic. Further, proper citation also demonstrates the ways in which research is social: no one researches in a vacuum—we all rely on the work of others to help us during the research process.

To help your future researching self  and other researchers easily locate sources

Having accurate citations will help you as a researcher and writer keep track of the sources and information you find so that you can easily find the source again. Accurate citations may take some effort to produce, but they will save you time in the long run. Think of proper citation as a gift to your future researching self!

Other challenges in citing sources

Besides the clarifications and difficulties around citing that we have already considered, there are additional challenges that might make knowing when and how to cite difficult for you.

You learned how to write in a different school system

Citation practices are not universal. Different countries and cultures approach using sources in different ways. If you’re new to the Canadian school system, you might have learned a different way of citing. For example, some countries have a more communal approach to sources. Others see school as “not real life,” so you don’t need to cite sources in the same way that you would on the job.

Not really understanding the material you’re using

If you are working in a new field or subject area, you might have difficulty understanding the information from other scholars, thus making it difficult to know how to paraphrase or summarize that work properly. It can be tempting to change just one or two words in a sentence, but this is still plagiarism.

Running out of time

When you are a student taking many classes, working and/or taking care of family members, it may be hard to devote the time needed to doing good scholarship and accurately representing the sources you have used. Research takes time. The sooner you can start and the more time you can devote to it, the better your work will be.

Shifting cultural expectations of citation

Because of new technologies that make finding, using, and sharing information easier, many of our cultural expectations around how to do that are changing as well. For example, blog posts often “reference” other articles or works by simply linking to them. It makes it easy for the reader to see where the author’s ideas have come from and to view the source very quickly. In these more informal writings, blog authors do not have a list of citations (bibliographic entries). The links do the work for them. This is a great strategy for online digital mediums, but this method fails over time when links break and there are no hints (like an author, title and date) to know how else to find the reference, which might have moved. This example of a cultural change of expectations in the non-academic world might make it seem that there has been a change in academic scholarship as well, or might make people new to academic scholarship even less familiar with citation. But in fact, the expectations around citing sources in academic research remain formal.

How to cite sources

Now that we know why we cite, let’s learn how to cite. Citation and source use are all about balance. If you don’t use enough sources, you might struggle to write something that is convincing or well-developed. If you cite too much, you won’t leave room for your own voice in your piece. To illustrate this point, think of a lawyer arguing a case in a trial. If the lawyer just talks to the jury and doesn’t call any witnesses, they probably won’t win the case. After all, a lawyer isn’t an expert in forensics or accident reconstruction or Internet fraud. The lawyer also wasn’t there when the incident occurred. That’s where witnesses come in. The witnesses have knowledge that the lawyer doesn’t. But if the lawyer just lets the witnesses talk and sits there quietly, they’ll likely also lose the case. That’s because the lawyer is the one who’s making the overall argument. The lawyer asks the witnesses questions and shows how the testimony of different witnesses piece together to prove the case. To cite sources, you should make two things clear:

• The difference between your words and the source’s words.
• The difference between your ideas and the source’s ideas.

This diagram illustrates the difference:

Attributing a source’s words

When you quote someone in your document, you’re basically passing the microphone to them. Inviting another voice into your piece means that the way that person said something is important. Maybe that person is an expert and their words are a persuasive piece of evidence. Maybe you’re using the words as an example. Either way, you’ll likely do some sort of analysis on the quote. When you use the source’s words, put quotation marks around them. This creates a visual separation between what you say and what your source says. You also don’t just want to drop the quote into the document with no explanation. Instead, you should build a “frame” around the quote by explaining who said it and why it’s important. In short, you surround the other person’s voice with your own voice. Tip: The longer the source, the more analysis you’re likely going to do. Here’s an example of a way to integrate a quote within a paragraph. According to Haudenosaunee writer Alicia Elliot (2019, p. 18), “We know our cultures have meaning and worth, and that culture lives and breathes inside our languages.” Here, Elliot shows that when Indigenous people have the opportunity to learn Indigenous languages, which for generations were intentionally suppressed by the Canadian government, they can connect with their culture in a new way. As you can see, Elliot’s words are important. If you tried to paraphrase them, you’d lose the meaning. Elliot is also a well-known writer, so adding her voice into the document adds credibility. If you’re writing about Indigenous people, it’s also important to include the voices of Indigenous people in your work. You can see that in this example, the author doesn’t just pass the microphone to Alicia Elliot. Instead, they surround the quote with their own words, explaining who said the quote and why it’s important.

Attributing the source’s ideas

When the source’s ideas are important, you’ll want to paraphrase. For example, Elliot goes on to say that when over half of Indigenous people in a community speak an Indigenous language, the suicide rate goes down (2019). Here, it’s the idea that’s important, not the words, so you should paraphrase it. What is paraphrasing? Paraphrasing is when you restate an idea in your own words. It’s this last bit — the “own words” part – that is confusing. What counts as your own words? When you’re paraphrasing, you should ask yourself, “Have I restated this in a way that shows that I understand it?” If you simply swap out a few words for synonyms, you haven’t shown that you understand the idea. For example, let’s go back to that Alicia Elliot quote: “We know our cultures have meaning and worth, and that culture lives and breathes inside our languages.” What if I swapped out a few words so it said “We know our cultures have value and importance, and that culture lives and exhales inside our languages.”? Does this show that I understand the quote? No. Elliot composed that line with a lot of precision and thoughtfulness. Switching a few words around actually shows disrespect for the care she took with her language. Instead, paraphrase by not looking at the source material. Put down the book or turn off your computer monitor, then describe the idea back as if you were speaking to a friend.

What information do I cite?

Citing sources is often depicted as a straightforward, rule-based practice. In fact, there are many grey areas around citation, and learning how to apply citation guidelines takes practice and education. If you are confused by it, you are not alone – in fact you might be doing some good thinking. Here are some guidelines to help you navigate citation practices. Cite when you are directly quoting. This is the easiest rule to understand. If you are stating word for word what someone else has already written, you must put quotes around those words and you must give credit to the original author. Not doing so would mean that you are letting your reader believe these words are your own and represent your own effort. Cite when you are summarizing and paraphrasing. This is a trickier area to understand. First of all, summarizing and paraphrasing are two related practices but they are not the same. Summarizing is when you read a text, consider the main points, and provide a shorter version of what you learned. Paraphrasing is when you restate what the original author said in your own words and in your own tone. Both summarizing and paraphrasing require good writing skills and an accurate understanding of the material you are trying to convey. Summarizing and paraphrasing are important skills that become easier to perform over time with practice. Cite when you are citing something that is highly debatable. For example, if you want to claim that an oil pipeline is necessary for economic development, you will have to contend with those who say that it produces few jobs and has a high risk of causing an oil spill that would be devastating to wildlife and tourism. To do so, you’ll need experts on your side.

When don’t you cite?

Don’t cite when what you are saying is your own insight. Research involves forming opinions and insights around what you learn. You may be citing several sources that have helped you learn, but at some point you are integrating your own opinion, conclusion, or insight into the work. The fact that you are NOT citing it helps the reader understand that this portion of the work is your unique contribution developed through your own research efforts. Don’t cite when you are stating common knowledge. What is common knowledge is sometimes difficult to discern. Generally quick facts like historical dates or events are not cited because they are common knowledge. Examples of information that would not need to be cited include:

• Partition in India happened on August 15, 1947.
• Greater Vancouver is the 3rd largest population centre in Canada.

Some quick facts, such as statistics, are trickier. A guideline that can help with determining whether or not to cite facts is to determine whether the same data is repeated in multiple sources. If it is not, it is best to cite. The other thing that makes this determination difficult might be that what seems new and insightful to you might be common knowledge to an expert in the field. You have to use your best judgment, and probably err on the side of over-citing, as you are learning to do research. You can seek the advice of your instructor, a writing tutor, or a librarian. Knowing what is and is not common knowledge is a practiced skill that gets easier with time and with your own increased knowledge.

Creating in-text citations and references

Now that we know what to cite and how to quote and paraphrase, we need to decide what format to use when creating our in-text citations and references. Your instructor will tell you whether they prefer MLA, APA, Chicago or another style format. Luckily, the Kwantlen Library librarians have come up with handy citation guides, which you can access on the Citation Styles section of the KPU website.

When to quote, paraphrase, or summarize

To build everything but the research question, you will need to summarize, paraphrase, and/or directly quote your sources. But how should you choose what technique to use when? Choose a direct quote when it is more likely to be accurate than would summarizing or paraphrasing; when what you’re quoting is the text you’re analyzing; when a direct quote is more concise that a summary or paraphrase would be and conciseness matters; when the author is a particular authority whose exact words would lend credence to your argument; and when the author has used particularly effective language that is just too good to pass up. Choose to paraphrase or summarize rather than to quote directly when the meaning is more important than the particular language the author used and you don’t need to use the author’s preeminent authority to bolster your argument at the moment. Choose to paraphrase instead of summarizing when you need details and specificity. Paraphrasing lets you emphasize the ideas in resource materials that are most related to your term paper or essay instead of the exact language the author used. It also lets you simplify complex material, sometimes rewording to use language that is more understandable to your reader. Choose to summarize instead of paraphrasing when you need to provide a brief overview of a larger text. Summaries let you condense the resource material to draw out particular points, omit unrelated or unimportant points, and simplify how the author conveyed his or her message.

Attributions

This chapter contains material taken from Chapter 10a - Citing Sources and Chapter 10b - Making An Argument Using Sources in Business Writing for Everyone (used under a CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license).]]> 770 761 4 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/feature-writing-lead-generation/ Wed, 24 Mar 2021 16:25:39 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=878 lead generation (/ˈliːd/) is the initiation of consumer interest or enquiry into products or services of a business. Leads can be created for purposes such as list building, e-newsletter list acquisition or for sales leads. The methods for generating leads typically fall under the umbrella of advertising, but may also include non-paid sources such as organic search engine results or referrals from existing customers."  In the context of lead generation, feature writing can be used as a form of content marketing, which involves creating content of value for specific online audiences, with the ultimate goal of converting them to leads. This form of writing requires the writer to be mindful of additional writing techniques like search engine optimization (SEO) and the strategic use of keywords to improve the likelihood of content being found by the audience through searches on search engines like Google. In terms of a lead generation continuum, marketers often refer to a "conversion funnel" or "sales funnel" with audiences beginning at an "awareness" stage before progressing through to an "action" stage. Because feature writing is focused on creating a compelling narrative and less about "how-to" styles of explanatory writing or "take action" forms of persuasive writing, it is best positioned as content that can help to create awareness at the broad beginning of the conversion funnel. Content can and should include common types of feature writing, but with additional thought given to the audience's interests and values in the context of lead generation. For example, a compelling personal story might be used to offer insight about a specific issue or problem your audience might have, and may even briefly introduce them to a potential solution to the problem (ideally offered by your company or organization). In the early stage of awareness building, the primary goals of your writing might be to position you or your organization as a trusted authority on a topic that matters to your audience, providing them with high value content that they enjoy reading and sharing. By building a relationship of trust with your audience, it's more likely they will share your content and become potential leads themselves (e.g. signing up for a company newsletter or mailing list, following you on social media, becoming a member of your non-profit organization, or making a donation or purchase).]]> 878 848 6 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=62 Tue, 11 Jun 2019 22:32:07 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/chapter-3-the-world-of-public-relations/ Curation and Revision provided by: Boundless.com is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

What is Public Relations?

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) defines public relations as “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics” (2016, para. 4). Simply put, public relations helps to influence an audience’s perceptions by building relationships and shaping public conversations about a client or company. These public conversations often take place through mass media and social media, which is why public relations professionals need to understand how to work with and write effective messages for the media. Click here for more information on what you can expect in a public relations career.

Public relations professionals are in charge of a wide range of communication activities that may include increasing brand visibility and awareness, planning events, and creating content. Some of them also deal with crisis communication and help to salvage a brand’s integrity and reputation during a negative event. This video from Kate Finley, chief executive officer of Belle Communications, explains what it is like to work at a public relations agency.

What to Expect from a PR Agency with Kate Finley

 

Video Clip

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Four Models Of Public Relations

Grunig and Hunt (1984) developed four models of public relations that describe the field’s various management and organizational practices. These models serve as guidelines to create programs, strategies, and tactics.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="721"] Four Models of PR” by Michael Shiflet and Jasmine Roberts is licensed under CC BY 2.0[/caption]

In the press agent/publicity model, communications professionals use persuasion to shape the thoughts and opinions of key audiences. In this model, accuracy is sacrificed and organizations do not seek audience feedback or conduct audience analysis research. It is a one-way form of communication. One example is propagandist techniques.

The public information model moves away from the manipulative tactics used in the press agent model and presents more accurate information. However, the communication pattern is still one-way. Practitioners do not conduct audience analysis research to guide their strategies and tactics. Some press releases and newsletters are created based on this model, when audiences are not necessarily targeted or researched beforehand.

The two-way asymmetrical model presents a more “scientifically persuasive” way of communicating with key audiences. Here, content creators conduct research to better understand the audience’s attitudes and behaviors, which in turn informs the message strategy and creation. Still, persuasive communication is used in this model to benefit the organization more so than audiences; therefore, it is considered asymmetrical or imbalanced. The model is particularly popular in advertising and consumer marketing, fields that are specifically interested in increasing an organization’s profits.

Finally, the two-way symmetrical model argues that the public relations practitioner should serve as a liaison between the organization and key publics, rather than as a persuader. Here, practitioners are negotiators and use communication to ensure that all involved parties benefit, not just the organization that employs them. The term “symmetrical” is used because the model attempts to create a mutually beneficial situation. The two-way symmetrical model is deemed the most ethical model, one that professionals should aspire to use in their everyday tactics and strategies (Simpson, 2014).

Why Do Companies Need Public Relations?

There was a time when many companies did not see the value of public relations, unless a crisis happened. Even now, some public relations professionals face challenges in convincing key executives of their value to the function of the company.

With the abundance of information readily available to audiences worldwide, companies are more vulnerable than ever to misinformation about their brand. An audience’s attitudes and beliefs about a company can greatly influence its success. Therefore, the public relations professional helps to monitor and control conversations about a company or client and manage its reputation in the marketplace. Viewing public relations as a key management function of a business or an essential strategy to manage one’s individual reputation will help accomplish important goals such as establishing trust among key publics, increasing news media and social media presence, and maintaining a consistent voice across communication platforms.

For more on the impact of reputation on business success, take a look at this article from The Entrepreneur.

Public Relations Versus Marketing Versus Advertising

Many people confuse public relations with marketing and advertising. Although there are similarities, there also are key differences.

Probably the most important difference between marketing, public relations, and advertising is the primary focus. Public relations emphasizes cultivating relationships between an organization or individual and key publics for the purpose of managing the client’s image. Marketing emphasizes the promotion of products and services for revenue purposes. Advertising is a communication tool used by marketers in order to get customers to act.

General Roles In Public Relations

According to Smith (2013), public relations practitioners can be placed in two groups based on responsibilities: communication managers and communication technicians. Communication managers assist in the strategic planning of an organization’s communication efforts. The broad term “communication manager” includes several similar public relations positions: expert consultant, problem-solving facilitator, and communication liaison. Expert consultants develop a specific communication plan to help achieve organizational goals. Problem-solving facilitators provide crisis management to an organization during an obstacle. Liaisons speak on behalf of the brand and facilitate communication between the organization and its key publics.

Before entering a managerial role, most public relation practitioners begin their career as a communication technician. This can refer to a variety of entry-level positions, including public relations specialist, communication assistant, and junior account executive. Communication technicians write news releases, pitches, feature articles, and other communication materials and assist in event planning. Together, communication managers and technicians play a vital role in relationship building and the management of a brand.

Public Relations

The history of the public relations field is often misunderstood. Many think of public relations as organized manipulation made up of corporate, political and even non-profit propaganda. It is often thought of as deception, but this is not always the case. In a society fueled by networked communications, it is becoming less important to ask what messages people receive and more important to ask what messages they seek out, according to Greg Jarboe, author of a brief history of PR. Jarboe worked for a PR firm with offices in San Francisco and Boston, two of the most well-established technology markets in the country. He argues that PR is more about creating a sense of understanding between consumers and brands and that this might be done just as well by the brand in digital spaces just as it is via other mass media channels controlled by other corporate entities. Historically, PR depended on other media platforms such as TV, newspapers and magazines to promote its content. Content marketing means this is no longer the case. Mass media platforms may still be needed to reach mass audiences outside of a brand's collection of fans and followers, but much goodwill can be generated by maintaining a proactive, positive and professional digital presence. While it is true that PR often tries to put a good face on companies with all manner of reputations and harmful business practices, it also serves charities, governmental services and small local businesses. Not every institutional organization can have a huge PR budget, but the practices can be taught to just about any small business owner.

More Concepts In PR

For most of the 20th century, the shorthand definition of PR was that it was like advertising only instead of paying a media outlet to run a message, you sent the message out to journalists and other gatekeepers (see Chapter 7) in the hopes that they would share the information as news. Now, PR has to work in a digital media system where news reporters and editors are not the major gatekeepers deciding what information will be made public. PR professionals now need to think about search algorithms, search engine optimization, social media trends, social media platform algorithms, social media influencers and social link sharing sites such as Reddit. Publicity on these channels can be worth tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. PR often measures its worth in earned media — the amount of free air time on TV or space in major newspapers and magazines that is earned by getting other mass media channels to tell your product's stories without having to pay for ad space An example of earned media is when Apple released a new iPhone, and news organizations provided coverage of the lines that wrapped around city blocks as people waited for the latest gadget. For years, Apple earned millions of dollars in earned media by keeping new features a secret and then releasing new iPhones with considerable hype. Free marketing time and space in digital and print publications can help push a brand from being a leader to being legendary. Global PR is a $14 billion industry. PR can take the form of an event, a product placement, or a skillfully crafted message delivered during a crisis. It is much less about promoting specific brands and more about promoting and maintaining the image of a brand, company or large corporation. Recall that advertising tends to focus on brands and products. PR can focus on the company and the corporate narrative, the story of how the company came to exist and how it represents certain values and ideals — at least in theory. Sometimes it helps us to understand an element of mass media if we discuss when it all goes wrong. When British Petroleum (BP) had an oil gusher erupt in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, 11 people died, and more than three million barrels of oil leaked into the gulf. It took almost three months to cap the oil gusher. The CEO of BP, Anthony Bryan "Tony" Hayward, lost his job because he made a major PR blunder when he said he just wanted his "life back." Eleven people were dead. The fishing and tourism industries of Louisiana, Mississippi and parts of Texas, ravaged by hurricanes just years before, were being threatened again. This time, though, Mother Nature was not to blame. It was BP, a multinational corporation that up to that point had been working to create a more environmentally friendly image. It took BP years to come back from that disaster, and it was made worse because of poor crisis communications. PR is about promoting good relationships with your consumers, your employees and the communities where your products are made. It is about earning "free" news and social media coverage, but perhaps most importantly it is about managing crises so that people are not given a reason not to buy your products.

Crisis Management

The best way to build good PR is to carefully maintain a good reputation over time and to avoid behaviors as an individual, company or corporation that might harm others. The best prevention against bad PR is to follow your industry's and your own ethical codes at all times, whatever they are. Even if you do this, you might face a PR crisis. For example, a politician might decide to target your brand regardless of whether your business practices are ethical. All the more reason to maintain good longstanding relationships with your consumers.Public Relations

Whereas advertising is the paid use of media space to sell something, public relations (PR) is the attempt to establish and maintain good relations between an organization and its constituents (Theaker, 2004). Practically, PR campaigns strive to use the free press to encourage favorable coverage. In their book The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR, Al and Laura Ries make the point that the public trusts the press far more than they trust advertisements. Because of this, PR efforts that get products and brands into the press are far more valuable than a simple advertisement. Their book details the ways in which modern companies use public relations to far greater benefit than they use advertising (Ries & Ries, 2004). Regardless of the fate of advertising, PR has clearly come to have an increasing role in marketing and ad campaigns.

Grunig and Hunt’s Four PR Models

 

A table describing Grunig and Hunt’s Four PR Models

Type of Model	Description	Example
Traditional publicity model (the press agentry model)	Professional agents seek media coverage for a client, product, or event.	Thong-clad actor Sacha Baron Cohen promotes Bruno by landing in Eminem’s lap at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
Public information model	Businesses communicate information to gain desired results.	Colleges send informational brochures to potential students; a company includes an “about” section on its website.
Persuasive communication model (the two-way asymmetric model)	Organizations attempt to persuade an audience to take a certain point of view.	Public service announcements like the one that shows “your brain” and “your brain on drugs.”
Two-way symmetric model	Both parties make use of a back-and-forth discussion.	A company sends out customer satisfaction surveys; company Facebook groups and message boards.

Source: James E. Grunig and Todd Hunt, Managing Public Relations (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 1984). Todd Hunt and James Grunig developed a theory of four models of PR. This model has held up in the years since its development and is a good introduction to PR concepts (Grunig & Hunt, 1984).

Traditional Publicity Model

Under the traditional publicity model, PR professionals seek to create media coverage for a client, product, or event. These efforts can range from wild publicity stunts to simple news conferences to celebrity interviews in fashion magazines. P. T. Barnum was an early American practitioner of this kind of PR. His outrageous attempts at publicity worked because he was not worried about receiving negative press; instead, he believed that any coverage was a valuable asset. More recent examples of this style of extreme publicity include controversy-courting musicians such as Lady Gaga and Marilyn Manson. More restrained examples of this type of PR include the modern phenomenon of faded celebrities appearing on TV shows, such as Paula Abdul’s long-running appearances on American Idol.

Public Information Model

The goal of the public information model is to release information to a constituency. This model is less concerned with obtaining dramatic, extensive media coverage than with disseminating information in a way that ensures adequate reception. For example, utility companies often include fliers about energy efficiency with customers’ bills, and government agencies such as the IRS issue press releases to explain changes to existing codes. In addition, public interest groups release the results of research studies for use by policy makers and the public.

Persuasive Communication: Two-Way Asymmetric

The persuasive communication model, or the two-way asymmetric, works to persuade a specific audience to adopt a certain behavior or point of view. To be considered effective, this model requires a measured response from its intended audience.

PR Functions

Either private PR companies or in-house communications staffers carry out PR functions. A PR group generally handles all aspects of an organization’s or individual’s media presence, including company publications and press releases. Such a group can range from just one person to dozens of employees depending on the size and scope of the organization. PR functions include the following:

• Media relations: takes place with media outlets
• Internal communications: occurs within a company between management and employees, and among subsidiaries of the same company
• Business-to-business: happens between businesses that are in partnership
• Public affairs: takes place with community leaders, opinion formers, and those involved in public issues
• Investor relations: occurs with investors and shareholders
• Strategic communication: intended to accomplish a specific goal
• Issues management: keeping tabs on public issues important to the organization
• Crisis management: handling events that could damage an organization’s image1

Anatomy of a PR Campaign

[caption id="attachment_741" align="aligncenter" width="1576"] Anatomy of a PR Campaign[/caption] PR campaigns occur for any number of reasons. They can be a quick response to a crisis or emerging issue, or they can stem from a long-term strategy tied in with other marketing efforts. Regardless of its purpose, a typical campaign often involves four phases.

Initial Research Phase

The first step of many PR campaigns is the initial research phase. First, practitioners identify and qualify the issue to be addressed. Then, they research the organization itself to clarify issues of public perception, positioning, and internal dynamics. Strategists can also research the potential audience of the campaign. This audience may include media outlets, constituents, consumers, and competitors. Finally, the context of the campaign is often researched, including the possible consequences of the campaign and the potential effects on the organization. After considering all of these factors, practitioners are better educated to select the best type of campaign.

Strategy Phase

During the strategy phase, PR professionals usually determine objectives focused on the desired goal of the campaign and formulate strategies to meet those objectives. Broad strategies such as deciding on the overall message of a campaign and the best way to communicate the message can be finalized at this time.

Tactics Phase

During the tactics phase, the PR group decides on the means to implement the strategies they formulated during the strategy phase. This process can involve devising specific communication techniques and selecting the forms of media that suit the message best. This phase may also address budgetary restrictions and possibilities.

Evaluation Phase

After the overall campaign has been determined, PR practitioners enter the evaluation phase. The group can review their campaign plan and evaluate its potential effectiveness. They may also conduct research on the potential results to better understand the cost and benefits of the campaign. Specific criteria for evaluating the campaign when it is completed are also established at this time (Smith, 2002).

Public Relations Tools

Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing the flow of information between an individual or an organization and the public. The aim is to persuade the public, investors, partners, employees, and other stakeholders to maintain a certain point of view about the company and its leadership, products, or political decisions. Common PR activities include speaking at conferences, seeking industry awards, working with the press, communicating with employees, and sending out press releases. Public relations may include an organization or individual gaining exposure to an audience through topics of public interest and news items.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="528"] The Media in Action: The media is often utilized in PR campaigns. The Media. By Bart Everson. Source: Flickr CC BY 2.0[/caption]

Building and managing relationships with those who influence an organization's or individual's audiences is critical in public relations. When a public relations practitioner is working in the field, they build a list of relationships that become assets, especially in media relations. The ultimate objective of PR is to retain goodwill as well as create it; the procedure to follow to achieve this is to first do good and then take credit for it. The PR program must describe its target audience—in most instances, PR programs are aimed at multiple audiences that have varying points of view and needs. There are several PR tools firms can utilize to ensure the efficacy of PR programs: messaging, audience targeting, and media marketing.

Messaging

Messaging is the process of creating a consistent story around a product, person, company, or service. Messaging aims to avoid having readers receive contradictory or confusing information that will instill doubt in their purchasing choice or spur them to make other decisions that will have a negative impact on the company. A brand should aim to have the same problem statement, industry viewpoint, or brand perceptionshared across multiple sources and media.

Audience Targeting

A fundamental technique of public relations is identifying the target audience and tailoring messages to appeal to them. Sometimes the interests of different audiences and stakeholders vary, meaning several distinct but complementary messages must be created. Stakeholder theory identifies people who have a stake in a given institution or issue. All audiences are stakeholders (or presumptive stakeholders), but not all stakeholders are audiences. For example, if a charity commissions a public relations agency to create an advertising campaign that raises money toward finding the cure for a disease, the charity and the people with the disease are stakeholders, but the audience is anyone who might be willing to donate money.

Media Marketing

Digital marketing is the use of Internet tools and technologies, such as search engines, Web 2.0 social bookmarking, new media relations, blogs, and social media marketing. Interactive PR allows companies and organizations to disseminate information without relying solely on mainstream publications and to communicate directly with the public, customers, and prospects. Online social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter ensure that firms can get their messages heard directly and quickly. Other forms of media include newspapers, television programs, radio stations, and magazines. Public relations people can use these various platforms and channels to publish press releases. It is important to ensure that the information across all channels is accurate and as complementary as possible. The amount of money spent on traditional media channels has declined as more and more readers have turned to favor online and social media news sources. As the readership of traditional media shift to online media, so has the focus of many in public relations. The advent and increase of social media releases, search engine optimization, and online content publishing and the introduction of podcasts and video are related trends. Sponsorship is often used as part of a public relations campaign. A company will pay money to compensate a public figure, spokesperson, or "influencer" to use its logo or products. An example of sponsorship is a concert tour presented by a bank or drink company. Product placement is basically passive advertising in which a company pays to have its products used prominently in a photograph, film, or video message or during a live appearance. The most common use of product placement is in films where characters use branded products. Both product placement and sponsorship decisions are based on a shared targetmarket. No matter the public relations vehicle, there must be a common buyer that all parties want to reach.

Examples Of PR Campaigns

Since its modern inception in the early 20th century, PR has turned out countless campaigns—some highly successful, others dismal failures. Some of these campaigns have become particularly significant for their lasting influence or creative execution. This section describes a few notable PR campaigns over the years.

Diamonds For The Common Man

During the 1930s, the De Beers company had an enormous amount of diamonds and a relatively small market of luxury buyers. They launched a PR campaign to change the image of diamonds from a luxury good into an accessible and essential aspect of American life. The campaign began by giving diamonds to famous movie stars, using their built-in publicity networks to promote De Beers. The company created stories about celebrity proposals and gifts between lovers that stressed the size of the diamonds given. These stories were then given out to selected fashion magazines. The result of this campaign was the popularization of diamonds as one of the necessary aspects of a marriage proposal (Reid, 2006).

Big Tobacco Aids Researchers

[caption id="attachment_742" align="aligncenter" width="355"] In response to the increasing number of health concerns surrounding smoking, tobacco companies began running ads that argued the benefits of smoking their brand. Big Tobacco. By Ceylon Standard 190706.08 Source: Wikimedia. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] In 1953, studies showing the detrimental health effects of smoking caused a drop in cigarette sales. An alliance of tobacco manufacturers hired the PR group Hill & Knowlton to develop a campaign to deal with this problem. The first step of the campaign Hill & Knowlton devised was the creation of the Tobacco Industry Research Committee (TIRC) to promote studies that questioned the health effects of tobacco use. The TIRC ran advertisements featuring the results of these studies, giving journalists who were addressing the subject an easy source to quote. The groups working against smoking were not familiar with media relations, making it harder for journalists to quote them and use their arguments. The campaign was effective, however, not because it denied the harmful effects of smoking but because it stressed the disagreements between researchers. By providing the press with information favorable to the tobacco manufacturers and publicly promoting new filtered cigarettes, the campaign aimed to replace the idea that smoking was undeniably bad with the idea that there was disagreement over the effects of smoking. This strategy served tobacco companies well up through the 1980s.

Taco Bell Targets Mir

When the Russian space station Mir was set to crash land in the Pacific Ocean in 2001, Taco Bell created a floating vinyl target that the company placed in the Pacific. Taco Bell promised to give every American a free taco if the space station hit the target. This simple PR stunt gave all the journalists covering the Mir crash landing a few lines to add to their stories. Scientists even speculated on the chances of the station hitting the target—slim to none. Ultimately, the stunt gained Taco Bell global advertising (BBC World, 2001).

PR As A Replacement For Advertising

In some cases, PR has begun overtaking advertising as the preferred way of promoting a particular company or product. For example, the tobacco industry offers a good case study of the migration from advertising to PR. Regulations prohibiting radio and TV cigarette advertisements had an enormous effect on sales. In response, the tobacco industry began using PR techniques to increase brand presence. Tobacco company Philip Morris started underwriting cultural institutions and causes as diverse as the Joffrey Ballet, the Smithsonian, environmental awareness, and health concerns. Marlboro sponsored events that brought a great deal of media attention to the brand. For example, during the 1980s, the Marlboro Country Music Tour took famous country stars to major coliseums throughout the country and featured talent contests that brought local bands up on stage, increasing the audience even further. Favorable reviews of the shows generated positive press for Marlboro. Later interviews with country artists and books on country music history have also mentioned this tour. On the fifth anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1987, Marlboro’s PR groups organized a celebration hosted by comedian Bob Hope. Country music legends the Judds and Alabama headlined the show, and Marlboro paid for new names inscribed on the memorial. By attaching the Marlboro brand to such an important cultural event, the company gained an enormous amount of publicity. Just as importantly, these efforts at least partially restored the stature that the brand lost due to health concerns (Saffir, 2000).

Branding

While advertising is an essential aspect of initial brand creation, PR campaigns are vital to developing the more abstract aspects of a brand. These campaigns work to position a brand in the public arena in order to give it a sense of cultural importance.

Shift From Advertising To PR

Pioneered by such companies as Procter & Gamble during the 1930s, the older, advertising-centric model of branding focused on the product, using advertisements to associate a particular branded good with quality or some other positive cultural value. Yet, as consumers became exposed to ever-increasing numbers of advertisements, traditional advertising’s effectiveness dwindled. The ubiquity of modern advertising means the public is skeptical of—or even ignores—claims advertisers make about their products. This credibility gap can be overcome, however, when PR professionals using good promotional strategies step in. The new PR-oriented model of branding focuses on the overall image of the company rather than on the specific merits of the product. This branding model seeks to associate a company with specific personal and cultural values that hold meaning for consumers. In the early 1990s, for example, car company Saturn marketed its automobiles not as a means of transportation but as a form of culture. PR campaigns promoted the image of the Saturn family, associating the company with powerful American values and giving Saturn owners a sense of community. Events such as the 1994 Saturn homecoming sought to encourage this sense of belonging. Some 45,000 people turned out for this event; families gave up their beach holidays simply to come to a Saturn manufacturing plant in Tennessee to socialize with other Saturn owners and tour the facility. Recently Toyota faced a marketing crisis when it instituted a massive recall based on safety issues. To counter the bad press, the company launched a series of commercials featuring top Toyota executives, urging the public to keep their faith in the brand (Bernstein, 2010). Much like the Volkswagen ads half a century before, Toyota used a style of self-awareness to market its automobiles. The positive PR campaign presented Toyotas as cars with a high standard of excellence, backed by a company striving to meet customers’ needs.

Studies In Success: Apple And Nike

Apple has also employed this type of branding with great effectiveness. By focusing on a consistent design style in which every product reinforces the Apple experience, the computer company has managed to position itself as a mark of individuality. Despite the cynical outlook of many Americans regarding commercial claims, the notion that Apple is a symbol of individualism has been adopted with very little irony. Douglas Atkin, who has written about brands as a form of cult, readily admits and embraces his own brand loyalty to Apple: I’m a self-confessed Apple loyalist. I go to a cafe around the corner to do some thinking and writing, away from the hurly-burly of the office, and everyone in that cafe has a Mac. We never mention the fact that we all have Macs. The other people in the cafe are writers and professors and in the media, and the feeling of cohesion and community in that cafe becomes very apparent if someone comes in with a PC. There’s almost an observable shiver of consternation in the cafe, and it must be discernable to the person with the PC, because they never come back. Brand managers that once focused on the product now find themselves in the role of community leaders, responsible for the well-being of a cultural image (Atkin, 2004). Kevin Roberts, the current CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide, a branding-focused creative organization, has used the term “lovemark” as an alternative to trademark. This term encompasses brands that have created “loyalty beyond reason,” meaning that consumers feel loyal to a brand in much the same way they would toward friends or family members. Creating a sense of mystery around a brand generates an aura that bypasses the usual cynical take on commercial icons. A great deal of Apple’s success comes from the company’s mystique. Apple has successfully developed PR campaigns surrounding product releases that leak selected rumors to various press outlets but maintain secrecy over essential details, encouraging speculation by bloggers and mainstream journalists on the next product. All this combines to create a sense of mystery and an emotional anticipation for the product’s release. Emotional connections are crucial to building a brand or lovemark. An early example of this kind of branding was Nike’s product endorsement deal with Michael Jordan during the 1990s. Jordan’s amazing, seemingly magical performances on the basketball court created his immense popularity, which was then further built up by a host of press outlets and fans who developed an emotional attachment to Jordan. As this connection spread throughout the country, Nike associated itself with Jordan and also with the emotional reaction he inspired in people. Essentially, the company inherited a PR machine that had been built around Jordan and that continued to function until his retirement (Roberts, 2003).

Branding Backlashes

An important part of maintaining a consistent brand is preserving the emotional attachment consumers have to that brand. Just as PR campaigns build brands, PR crises can damage them. For example, the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010 became a PR nightmare for BP, an oil company that had been using PR to rebrand itself as an environmentally friendly energy company. In 2000, BP began a campaign presenting itself as “Beyond Petroleum,” rather than British Petroleum, the company’s original name. By acquiring a major solar company, BP became the world leader in solar production and in 2005 announced it would invest $8 billion in alternative energy over the following 10 years. BP’s marketing firm developed a PR campaign that, at least on the surface, emulated the forward-looking two-way symmetric PR model. The campaign conducted interviews with consumers, giving them an opportunity to air their grievances and publicize energy policy issues. BP’s website featured a carbon footprint calculator consumers could use to calculate the size of their environmental impact (Solman, 2008). The single explosion on BP’s deep-water oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico essentially nullified the PR work of the previous 10 years, immediately putting BP at the bottom of the list of environmentally concerned companies. A company’s control over what its brand symbolizes can also lead to branding issues. The Body Shop, a cosmetics company that gained popularity during the 1980s and early 1990s, used PR to build its image as a company that created natural products and took a stand on issues of corporate ethics. The company teamed up with Greenpeace and other environmental groups to promote green issues and increase its natural image. By the mid-1990s, however, revelations about the unethical treatment of franchise owners called this image into serious question. The Body Shop had spent a great deal of time and money creating its progressive, spontaneous image. Stories of travels to exotic locations to research and develop cosmetics were completely fabricated, as was the company’s reputation for charitable contributions. Even the origins of the company had been made up as a PR tool: The idea, name, and even product list had been ripped off from a small California chain called the Body Shop that was later given a settlement to keep quiet. The PR campaign of the Body Shop made it one of the great success stories of the early 1990s, but the unfounded nature of its PR claims undermined its image dramatically. Competitor L’Oréal eventually bought the Body Shop for a fraction of its previous value (Entine, 2007). Other branding backlashes have plagued companies such as Nike and Starbucks. By building their brands into global symbols, both companies also came to represent unfettered capitalist greed to those who opposed them. During the 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, activists targeted Starbucks and Nike stores for physical attacks such as window smashing. Labor activists have also condemned Nike over the company’s use of sweatshops to manufacture shoes. Eventually, Nike created a vice president for corporate responsibility to deal with sweatshop issues.2 Adbusters, a publication devoted to reducing advertising’s influence on global culture, added action to its criticisms of Nike by creating its own shoe. Manufactured in union shops, Blackspot shoes contain recycled tire rubber and hemp fabric. The Blackspot logo is a simple round dot that looks like it has been scribbled with white paint, as if a typical logo had been covered over. The shoes also include a symbolic red dot on the toe with which to kick Nike. Blackspot shoes use the Nike brand to create their own antibrand, symbolizing progressive labor reform and environmentally sustainable business practices (New York Times, 2004). [caption id="attachment_743" align="aligncenter" width="478"] Blackspot shoes developed as an antibrand alternative to regular sneakers. Black Spot Sneakers. By TenSafeFrogs. Source: Flickr CC BY 2.0[/caption]

Relationship With Politics And Government

Politics and PR have gone hand in hand since the dawn of political activity. Politicians communicate with their constituents and make their message known using PR strategies. Benjamin Franklin’s trip as ambassador to France during the American Revolution stands as an early example of political PR that followed the publicity model. At the time of his trip, Franklin was an international celebrity, and the fashionable society of Paris celebrated his arrival; his choice of a symbolic American-style fur cap immediately inspired a new style of women’s wigs. Franklin also took a printing press with him to produce leaflets and publicity notices that circulated through Paris’s intellectual and fashionable circles. Such PR efforts eventually led to a treaty with France that helped the colonists win their freedom from Great Britain (Isaacson, 2003). Famous 20th-century PR campaigns include President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats, a series of radio addresses that explained aspects of the New Deal. Roosevelt’s personal tone and his familiarity with the medium of radio helped the Fireside Chats become an important promotional tool for his administration and its programs. These chats aimed to justify many New Deal policies, and they helped the president bypass the press and speak directly to the people. More recently, Blackwater Worldwide, a private military company, dealt with criticisms of its actions in Iraq by changing its name. The new name, Xe Services, was the result of a large-scale PR campaign to distance the company from associations with civilian violence (Associated Press, 2009). The proliferation of media outlets and the 24-hour news cycle have led to changes in the way politicians handle PR. The gap between old PR methods and new ones became evident in 2006, when then–Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a friend during a hunting trip. Cheney, who had been criticized in the past for being secretive, did not make a statement about the accident for three days. Republican consultant Rich Galen explained Cheney’s silence as an older PR tactic that tries to keep the discussion out of the media. However, the old trick is less effective in the modern digital world. That entire doctrine has come and gone. Now the doctrine is you respond instantaneously, and where possible with a strong counterattack. A lot of that is because of the Internet, a lot of that is because of cable TV news (Associated Press, 2006). PR techniques have been used in propaganda efforts throughout the 20th century. During the 1990s, the country of Kuwait employed Hill & Knowlton to encourage U.S. involvement in the Persian Gulf region. One of the more infamous examples of their campaign was a heavily reported account by a Kuwaiti girl testifying that Iraqi troops had dumped babies out of incubators in Kuwaiti hospitals. Outrage over this testimony helped galvanize opinion in favor of U.S. involvement. As it turned out, the Kuwaiti girl was really the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador and had not actually witnessed any of the alleged atrocities (Parsons, 2005). Lobbyists also attempt to influence public policy using PR campaigns. The Water Environment Federation, a lobbying group representing the sewage industry, initiated a campaign to promote the application of sewage on farms during the early 1990s. The campaign came up with the word biosolids to replace the term sludge. Then it worked to encourage the use of this term as a way to popularize sewage as a fertilizer, providing information to public officials and representatives. In 1992, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adopted the new term and changed the classification of biosolids to a fertilizer from a hazardous waste. This renaming helped New York City eliminate tons of sewage by shipping it to states that allowed biosolids (Stauber & Rampton, 1995).

Political Branding

Politics has also embraced branding. Former President Bill Clinton described his political battles in terms of a brand war: [The Republicans] were brilliant at branding. They said they were about values…. Everybody is a values voter, but they got the brand…they said they were against the death tax…what a great brand…. I did a disservice to the American people not by putting forth a bad plan, but by not being a better brander, not being able to explain it better (Kiley, 2008). Branding has been used to great effect in recent elections. A consistently popular political brand is that of the outsider, or reform-minded politician. Despite his many years of service in the U.S. Senate, John McCain famously adopted this brand during the 2008 presidential election. McCain’s competitor, Barack Obama, also employed branding strategies. The Obama campaign featured several iconic portraits and slogans that made for a consistent brand and encouraged his victory in 2008. Before Obama’s inauguration in January 2009, an unprecedented amount of merchandise was sold, a further testament to the power of branding (Alberts, 2009). [caption id="attachment_744" align="aligncenter" width="492"] The 2008 Obama campaign used logos as a way to publicize Obama’s brand. Obama '08 Logo. By Phillip Jeffrey. Source: Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0[/caption]

Do The Right Thing

In any emergency situation, it is imperative that a company put the public interest ahead of the organization's interest. The company's first responsibility is to the safety and well-being of the people involved. Once safety has been restored, the company needs to face the public and face the facts. The company should never try to minimize a serious problem or "smooth it over" in the hope that no one will notice. Conversely, don't blow minor incidents out of proportion or allow others to do so. Social media has accelerated the speed at which information about a crisis can spread; the viral affect of social networks such as Twitter means that stakeholders can break news faster than traditional media, which makes managing a crisis harder. However, a company should not speculate; if they don't know the facts, they should say so and promise to get back to the media as soon as possible.

Communicate Quickly And Accurately

Positive, assertive communication focuses attention on the most important aspects of the problem and moves the process forward to resolution, even in the face of antagonistic news media. Media representatives have an obligation to provide reliable information to their audiences, and they will get that information whether or not company spokespeople cooperate; if a company will not comment on the situation, someone else will. Serving as one of the major sources of media information in a crisis is a means of maintaining control. If necessary, activate the crisis management team. Act quickly and spare no expense in distributing the information you determine the media and others should have.

Follow Up

It is important to make amends to those affected and then do whatever is necessary to restore the organization's reputation in the community. It is helpful to perform an act of goodwill during or immediately after a crisis when possible. Internal policies should be changed to minimize a repeat of the crisis situation. The crisis communication plan should be revised based on any new learnings.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="308"] Johnson & Johnson's Tylenol medication was once laced with cyanide. In time, Johnson & Johnson learned to deal with the negative public relations. By Ragesoss Source: Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 4.0[/caption]

Public Relations' Components and Roles

Components of Public Relations	Explanations of Role
Counseling	Providing advice to management concerning policies, relationships, and communications
Research	Determining the attitudes and behaviors of groups to plan public relations strategies. Such research can be used to generate mutual understanding or influence and persuade publics.
Media Relations	Working with mass media (television, web sites, newspapers, magazines, and the like) by seeking publicity or responding to their interests in the organization.
Publicity	Disseminating planned messages through selected  media to further an organization’s interests.
Employee Member Relations	Responding to concerns, informing, and motivating and organization’s current employees or members.
Community Relations	Undertaking activities within a community to maintain an environment that benefits both an organization and the community .
Public Affairs	Developing effective involvement in public policy and helping an organization adapt to public expectations. The term “public affairs” is also used by government agencies to describe their public relations activities and by many corporations as an umbrella term to describe multiple public relation activities.
Government Affairs	Relating directly with legislatures and regulatory agencies on behalf of an organization. Lobbying can be part of a government affairs program.
Issue Management	Identifying and addressing issues of public concern that affect an organization.
Financial Relations	Creating and maintaining investor confidence and building good relationships with financial community.
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 support charitable organization primarily through financial contributions.
Multicultural Relations/Workplace Diversity	Communicating with individuals and groups in various cultural groups.
Special Events	Stimulating an interest in a person, product, or organization by means of focused “happenings” as well as other activities designed to encourage interacting with publics and listening to them.
Marketing Communications	Employing a combination of activities, designed to sell a product, service, or idea, including advertising, collateral materials, publicity, promotions, direct mail, trade shows, and special events.

 

]]> 62 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=78 Tue, 11 Jun 2019 22:36:46 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/chapter-4-integrated-marketing-communications-and-public-relations/

Once companies have developed products and services, they must communicate the value and benefits of the offerings to current and potential customers in both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) markets. Integrated marketing communications (IMC) provide an approach designed to deliver one consistent message to buyers through an organization’s promotions that may span all different types of media such as TV, radio, magazines, the Internet, mobile phones, professional selling, and social media. For example, Campbell’s Soup Company typically includes the “Mm, mm good” slogan in the print ads it places in newspapers and magazines, in ads on the Internet, and in commercials on television and radio. Delivering consistent information about a brand or an organization helps establish it in the minds of consumers and potential customers across target markets. Although the messages are very similar, Campbell’s uses two variations of commercials designed to target different consumers. Watch the following two YouTube videos. You’ll notice that the message Campbell’s gets across is consistent. But can you figure out who is in the two target audiences?

 

Video Clip

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/W5ZM1cqpdT0[/embed]

A Meal That’s Always Popular with the Group (click to see video)

 

Video Clip

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/IN3c4rZJNd4[/embed]

So Many Possibilities for Enjoying Soup. Campbell’s soup pleases people of all ages.

(click to see video)

Changes in communication technology and instant access to information through tools such as the Internet and social media (online communication among interdependent and interconnected networks of organizations, people, and communities) explain one of the reasons why integrated marketing communications have become so important. Consumers are also changing. With access to many sources of information and often an interest in interactive media, consumers may collect more product information on their own. Marketers must organize and assemble available information to build a consistent brand message and make it relevant. With IMC, organizations can coordinate their messages to build the brand and develop strong customer relationships while also helping customers satisfy their needs.

FedEx’s two recent campaigns, the “We Understand” tagline launched in 2009 and the “Solutions that Matter” tagline launched in 2011, illustrate examples of IMC campaigns they used to deliver a consistent message across all media channels including television commercials, e-mails, social media, mobile marketing, direct mail, and the FedEx channel on YouTube (Dilworth, 2010). Watch the following videos to see examples of commercials in the FedEx campaigns.

Video Clip

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/Et1oZPNf2d0[/embed]

The “We Understand” at FedEx Shows Customers that They Understand and Can Satisfy Their Needs. FedEx often uses a humorous appeal.

(click to see video)

 

Changing Media

Many consumers and business professionals seek information and connect with other people and businesses from their computers and phones. The work and social environments are changing, with more people having virtual offices and texting on their cell phones or communicating through social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter. As the media landscape changes, the money that organizations spend on different types of communication will change as well. Some forecasts indicate that companies will spend almost 27 percent of their total promotional budgets, or $160 billion, on electronic or non-traditional media by 2012.

[caption id="attachment_756" align="aligncenter" width="640"] "iPhone" by Yeray Hdez Guerra. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0.[/caption]

Some consumers feel lost without their cell phones. Phones such as the one pictured provide a source of information for consumers and a new medium for advertisers to deliver information.

Many college students are part of the millennial generation, and it is consumers from this generation (people like you perhaps) who are driving the change toward new communication technologies. You might opt to get promotions via mobile marketing—say, from stores on your cell phone as you walk by them or via a mobile gaming device that allows you to connect to the Web. Likewise, advertisements on Facebook are popular as businesses continue to utilize more social media. For example, when Honda let people on Facebook use the Honda logo to give heart-shaped virtual gifts on Valentine’s Day, over one and a half million people participated in the event and viewed the Honda Fit online in the process. Imagine the brand awareness generated for the Honda Fit.

  [caption id="attachment_757" align="aligncenter" width="331"] Search-Engine-Marketing by Danard Vincente. Source: Flickr. CC BY-NC-SA.[/caption]

Marketing based on the Internet and wireless technology is popular.

 

Traditional media (magazines, newspapers, television) compete with media such as the Internet, texting, mobile phones, social media, user-generated content such as blogs, and YouTube as well as out-of-home advertising such as billboards and movable promotions. You might have noticed that the tray tables on airplanes sometimes have ads on them. You have probably also seen ads on the inside of subway cars, in trains and buses, and even in bathroom stalls. These, too, are examples of out-of-home advertising.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Interior of an unrefurbished R160A car by Gh9449. Source: Flickr. CC BY-SA 4.0[/caption]

The inside walls of many subways provide an opportunity for advertisers to reach commuters with their messages.

 

As the media landscape changes, marketers may change the type of promotions they use in order to reach their target markets. With changing technology and social media (e.g., Facebook), less money is being budgeted for traditional media such as magazines and more money is budgeted for “non-traditional media.” Regardless of the type of media used, marketers use integrated marketing communications (IMC) to deliver one consistent message to buyers.

 

The Promotion (Communication) Mix

Although the money organizations spend promoting their offerings may go to different media channels, a company still wants to send its customers and potential consumers a consistent message (IMC). The different types of marketing communications an organization uses compose its promotion or communication mix, which consists of advertising, sales promotions, direct marketing, public relations and publicity, sponsorships (events and experiences), social media and interactive marketing, and professional selling. The importance of IMC will be demonstrated throughout the discussion of traditional media as well as newer, more targeted, and often interactive online media.

Advertising involves paying to disseminate a message that identifies a brand (product or service) or an organization being promoted to many people at one time. The typical media that organizations utilize for advertising of course include television, magazines, newspapers, the Internet, direct mail, and radio. Businesses also advertise on mobile devices and social media such as Facebook, blogs, and Twitter.

Consumer sales promotions consist of short-term incentives such as coupons, contests, games, rebates, and mail-in offers that supplement the advertising and sales efforts. Sales promotions include promotions that are not part of another component of the communication mix and are often developed to get customers and potential customers to take action quickly, make larger purchases, and/or make repeat purchases.

In business-to-business marketing, sales promotions are typically called trade promotions because they are targeted to channel members who conduct business or trade with consumers. Trade promotions include trade shows and special incentives given to retailers to market particular products and services, such as extra money, in-store displays, and prizes.

Direct marketing involves the delivery of personalized and often interactive promotional materials to individual consumers via channels such as mail, catalogs, Internet, e-mail, telephone, and direct-response advertising. By targeting consumers individually, organizations hope to get consumers to take action.

Professional selling is an interactive, paid approach to marketing that involves a buyer and a seller. The interaction between the two parties can occur in person, by telephone, or via another technology. Whatever medium is used, developing a relationship with the buyer is usually something the seller desires.

When you interview for internships or full-time positions and try to convince potential employers to hire you, you are engaging in professional selling. The interview is very similar to a buyer-seller situation. Both the buyer and seller have objectives they hope to achieve. Business-to-business marketers generally utilize professional selling more often than most business-to-consumer marketers. If you have ever attended a Pampered Chef party or purchased something from an Amway or Mary Kay representative, you’ve been exposed to professional selling.

  100722-N-6736G-065 MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (July 22, 2010) Chief Navy Counselor John Epp performs a cooking demonstration on a local TV station as part of Twin Cities Navy Week. Twin Cities Navy Week is one of 20 Navy Weeks planned across America for 2010. Navy Weeks show Americans the investment they have made in their Navy and increase awareness in cities that do not have a significant Navy presence. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Sean Gallagher/Released) [caption id="attachment_760" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Sean Gallagher. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain.[/caption]  

Pampered Chef and Tastefully Simple have built their businesses primarily on the professional selling skills of their consultants. Professional selling is used more in business-to-business markets than in business-to-consumer markets.

 

Public relations (PR) involves communication designed to help improve and promote an organization’s image and products. PR is often perceived as more neutral and objective than other forms of promotion because much of the information is tailored to sound as if it has been created by an organization independent of the seller. Public relations materials include press releases, publicity, and news conferences. While other techniques such as product placement and sponsorships, especially of events and experiences, tend to generate a lot of PR, the growth of expenditures and importance of sponsorships are so critical for so many companies that it is often considered a separate component in the communication mix. Many companies have internal PR departments or hire PR firms to find and create public relations opportunities for them. As such, PR is part of a company’s promotion budget and their integrated marketing communications.

Sponsorships typically refer to financial support for events, venues, or experiences and provide the opportunity to target specific groups. Sponsorships enhance a company’s image and usually generate public relations. With an increasing amount of money being spent on sponsorships, they have become an important component of the promotion mix.

Technology is changing the way businesses and individuals communicate. Organizations use Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) to deliver a consistent message across all components of the promotion mix. The promotion (communication) mix is composed of advertising, professional selling, public relations, sponsorships (events and experiences), sales promotion, direct marketing, and online media, including social media.

 

 Factors Influencing The Promotion Mix, Communication Process, And Message Problems

 

A marketing manager from one company might decide to focus on social media, whereas a marketing manager from another company might decide to focus her company’s efforts on television commercials. Why do companies select different types of media for what may be perceived as similar messages? As "Factors That Influence Selection of Promotion Mix" shows, a number of factors affect the choice of promotion mix elements.

[caption id="attachment_764" align="aligncenter" width="769"] Factors That Influence Selection of Promotion Mix.[/caption]

Long Description

Factors That Influence Selection of Promotion Mix.

Budget available, stage in product life cycle, type of product, type of purchase decision, target market characteristics, consumer's readiness to purchase, consumers's preferences for media, regulations, competitors, availability of media, and push versus pull strategy influence the advertising, personal setting, sales promotion, public relations,and direct marketing influence print, television, radio online, social, news release, and mail.

Budget Available. For many companies, the budget available to market a product determines what elements of the promotion mix are utilized. The budget affects a promotion’s reach (number of people exposed to the message) and frequency (how often people are exposed). For example, many smaller companies may lack the money to create and run commercials on top-rated television shows or during the Super Bowl. As a result, they may not get the exposure they need to be successful. Other firms such as McDonald’s may come up with creative ways to reach different target markets. For example, McDonald’s targeted college students with a special promotion that it filmed live in a Boston University lecture.

Stage in the product life cycle. The stage in the product life cycle also affects the type and amount of promotion used. Products in the introductory stages typically need a lot more promotional dollars to create awareness in the marketplace. Consumers and businesses won’t buy a product if they do not know about it. More communication is needed in the beginning of the product life cycle to build awareness and trial.

Type of product and type of purchase decision. Different products also require different types of promotion. Very technical products and very expensive products (high involvement) often need professional selling so the customer understands how the product operates and its different features. By contrast, advertising is often relied upon to sell convenience goods and products purchased routinely (low involvement) since customers are familiar with the products and they spend relatively little time making purchase decisions.

Target market characteristics and consumers’ readiness to purchase. In order to select the best methods to reach different target markets, organizations need to know what types of media different targets use, how often they make purchases, where they make purchases, and what their readiness to purchase is as well as characteristics such as age, gender, and lifestyle. Some people are early adopters and want to try new things as soon as they are available, and other groups wait until products have been on the market for a while. Some consumers might not have the money to purchase different products, although they will need the product later. For example, are most college freshmen ready to purchase new cars?

Consumers’ preferences for various media. We’ve already explained that different types of consumers prefer different types of media. In terms of target markets, college-aged students may prefer online, cell phone, mobile marketing, and social media more than older consumers do. Media preferences have been researched extensively by academics, marketing research companies, and companies to find out how consumers want to be reached.

Regulations, competitors, and environmental factors. Regulations can affect the type of promotion used. For example, laws in the United States prohibit tobacco products from being advertised on television. In some Asian countries, controversial products such as alcohol cannot be advertised during Golden (prime) time on television. The hope is that by advertising late at night, young children do not see the advertisements. The strength of the economy can have an impact as well. In a weak economy, some organizations use more sales promotions such as coupons to get consumers into their stores. The risk is that consumers may begin to expect coupons and not want to buy items without a special promotion.

Availability of media. Organizations must also plan their promotions based on availability of media. The top-rated television shows and Super Bowl ad slots, for example, often sell out quickly. Magazines tend to have a longer lead time, so companies must plan far in advance for some magazines. By contrast, because of the number of radio stations and the nature of the medium, organizations can often place radio commercials the same day they want them to be aired. Social media and online media may be immediate, but users must be careful about what they post and their privacy. Uncontrollable events can affect a company’s promotions, too. For example, when a disaster occurs, TV stations often cut advertisements to make way for continuous news coverage. If there is a crisis or disaster and your company is in the middle of a promotion being advertised on TV, you will likely have to scramble to reach consumers via another medium.

The Communication Process

Do you use TiVo or a digital video recorder (DVR) to record movies or television shows so you can watch them when you want without television commercials? Do you ever use the remote to skip the commercials or zap (change channels) to look at different shows? Think about which television shows you choose to watch, which magazines you read, which radio stations you select. The perceptual process is how a person decides what to pay attention to and how to interpret and remember different things, including information in advertising. By selecting a magazine, a television show, or even an elective class in school, you’re selecting what you’re exposed to and deciding what gets your attention. However, your selection does not insure you’ll either pay attention or remember or correctly interpret what you see or hear.

Think about what else you are doing when you watch television, when you are studying, or when you are listening to the radio. It’s a hot day in July and you’re enjoying a day at the beach. Your friends brought a radio and the volume is turned up so you can hear all the music. If you’re listening to the music or talking to a friend at the beach while you’re listening to the radio, do you hear or pay attention to the commercials? Do you remember which products were advertised? If you’re with a friend and hear someone else say your name, do you pay more attention to the person talking about you than to your friend?

The same thing happens when you are watching a television show, reading a magazine, or studying for a test. The phone rings or your friends show up and your attention shifts to them. With so many different types of distractions and technology (such as recording devices), imagine how difficult it is for an advertiser to get you to pay attention much less remember the message. Do you remember the terms you memorized for a test a day later? Do you know your friends’ phone numbers and e-mail addresses or do you just find their names on your contact list? To increase retention, advertisers may repeat the same message multiple times in different places, but they must be careful that consumers don’t get so tired of the message that there is a negative effect.

The communication process illustrates how messages are sent and received, as shown in "The Communication Process". The source (or sender) encodes, or translates, a message so that it’s appropriate for the message channel—say, for a print advertisement, TV commercial, or store display—and shows the benefits and value of the offering. The receiver (customer or consumer) then decodes, or interprets, the message. For effective communication to occur, the receiver must interpret the message as the sender intended.

Message Problems

You’re ready to go home on a Friday afternoon and you hear someone mention an upcoming event on Saturday. However, you did not listen to all the details and assume the event is the next day, not the following Saturday. Since you already made other plans for the next day, you don’t even consider showing up the following Saturday. Has this ever happened to you? You don’t show up at an event because you didn’t interpret the message correctly? If you do not hear someone correctly, misread information, or misinterpret a message, you might think a product or service provides different benefits or is easier or harder to use than it really is.

Interference, or noise, can distort marketing messages. Factors such as poor reception, poor print quality, problems with a server, or a low battery can interfere with your getting messages. Interference includes any distractions receivers and senders face during the transmission of a message. For example, when you were growing up did you see commercials for toys such as the pogo ball, which appeared to be so easy to use but when you tried to jump up and down on it, you found out it was extremely difficult? The same thing may happen if you’re studying for an exam while you’re talking on the phone. The conversation interferes with remembering what you’re reading. If a friend tells you a story, then you tell another friend, and that person tells someone else, will the message be the same after it is relayed to multiple people? If you miss class and borrow someone else’s notes, do you understand what they mean? Not only must advertisers try to present consistent messages (IMC), they must also try to ensure that you interpret the message as they intended.

Purchasing a product provides the sender with feedback, which often tells the seller that you saw information and wanted to try the product. If you use any coupons or promotions when you buy a product, the advertiser knows which vehicle you used to get the information. Market research and warranty registration also provide feedback.

We tend to purchase products and remember information that has some relevance to our personal situation or beliefs. If you have no need for a product or service, you might not pay attention to or remember the messages used to market it. Advertisers also want you to remember their brands so that you’ll think of their products/services when you need to make a purchase.

[caption id="attachment_765" align="aligncenter" width="868"] The Communication Process.[/caption]

Long Description

The Communication Process

Interference(noise) is composed of friends, other ads, and other and influcne everything in the communication.The main cycle of communication is Sender(Ad Agency,Marketing department), Encode(convert the idea into words and pcitures), Message Channel(In-store display, radio or TV ad,etc.), Decode(interpret the message), Receiver(customer or consumers) once this is done then Feedback is sent to the Sender

Many factors, such as a firm’s marketing budget, the type of product, regulations, target customers, and competitors, influence what composes the promotion mix. Depending on what medium is used, marketers use the communication process to encode or translate ideas into messages that can be correctly interpreted (decoded) by buyers. However, marketers must determine how to get consumers’ attention and avoid as much interference and noise as possible. Perceptual processes include how a person decides what to pay attention to and how to interpret and remember different things.

Advertising

Advertising is paid promotion with an identified sponsor that reaches many people at one time and can be repeated many times. One of the biggest issues an organization must address is which medium or media provides the biggest bang for the buck, given a product’s characteristics and target market. For example, a thirty-second ad aired during Super Bowl XLII cost $2.7 million. Since 97.5 million people watched the game, the cost per ad was less than three cents per viewer. For Super Bowl XLVI, the cost for a thirty-second spot increased to $3.5 million, and approximately 111.3 million viewers watched. However, do the ads pay off in terms of sales? Many advertising professionals believe many of the ads don’t, yet the ads probably do create brand awareness or a public relations type of effect since many people tune in and then talk about Super Bowl commercials.

Whether it’s a commercial on the Super Bowl or an ad in a magazine, each medium (e.g., television, magazines, mobile phones, social media) has different advantages and disadvantages. Mobile phones provide continuous access to people on the go, although reception may vary in different markets. Radios, magazines, and newspapers are also portable. People tend to own more than one radio, but there are so many radio stations in each market that it may be difficult to reach all target customers. People are also typically doing another activity (e.g., driving or studying) while listening to the radio, and without visuals, radio relies solely on audio. Both television and radio must get a message to consumers quickly. Although many people change channels (zap) or leave the room during commercials, television does allow for visual demonstrations. In an effort to get attention, advertisers changed the volume for television commercials for years. However, the Federal Trade Commission passed a regulation effective in 2010 that prohibits advertisers from changing the volume level of commercials on television, although consumers still notice that some commercials are louder than the regular shows.

People save magazines for a long time, but advertisers must plan in advance to have ads in certain issues. With the Internet, both magazines and newspapers are suffering in terms of readership and advertising dollars. Many major newspapers, such as papers in Seattle and Chicago, have gone out of business. Other newspapers, such as USA Today are free online, although printed copies are also available. The fact that local retailers get cheaper rates for advertising in local newspapers may encourage both local businesses and consumers to support newspapers in some markets.

Within each different medium, an organization might select a different vehicle. A vehicle is the specific means within a medium to reach a selected target market. For example, if a company wants to develop television commercials to reach teenagers, it might select Gossip Girl on the CW as the best vehicle. If an organization wants to use magazines to reach males interested in sports, it might use Sports Illustrated. Sports Illustrated launched SI.com so readers could get up-to-date information on the Web. On SI.com, readers can also access links to popular articles and “SIVault” (https://www.si.com/vault), where they can search articles and pictures that have run in the magazine since it was launched in 1954. The printed SI swimsuit edition continues to be one of the most popular issues of any magazine. Over 67 million consumers saw the 2010 SI swimsuit franchise (via magazine, mobile, SIVault, etc.)¹.

Direct Marketing

Direct marketing allows organizations to target a specific set of customers, measure the return on investment (ROI), and test different strategies before implementing to all targeted consumers. It can be personalized as a call for consumers to take action, which is a desired response. However, direct marketing is very intrusive, and many consumers may ignore attempts to reach them. Catalogs and direct mail provide popular alternatives for many marketers, although the volume of mail sent may drop significantly in a weak economy.

Telemarketing involves direct marketing by phone. You may have just sat down for dinner when the phone rings with a local charity calling to raise money. The calls always seem to come at dinner or at other inconvenient times. Although expensive, telemarketing can be extremely effective for charitable organizations and different service firms and retailers. However, because some consumers have negative perceptions of telemarketers, many organizations do not use it. The Do Not Call Registry, which was established in 2008, prevents organizations from calling any numbers registered with the Federal Trade Commission.

Direct response advertising includes an offer and a call to action. You may be watching television when an interesting product is shown. The announcer says, “Call now and receive a bonus package.” They want consumers to call to purchase the product or to get more information. The Internet provides the preferred direct response medium for direct marketing because it is less expensive and easier for the organization to utilize.

Advertising is paid for communication that has an identified sponsor and reaches many people at one time. Once companies decide on different media (e.g., magazines or television), they must also select specific vehicles (e.g., Sports Illustrated or the Super Bowl), Direct marketing allows organizations to target specific individuals and use direct response advertising. Telemarketing, the Internet, direct mail, and catalogs are popular direct marketing methods.

Utilizing A Product’s Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

When organizations want to communicate value, they must determine what message strategies work best for them. Smart organizations determine a product’s unique selling proposition (USP), or specific benefit consumers will remember. Domino’s “Pizza delivered in 30 minutes or it’s free” is a good example of a unique selling proposition. Likewise, Nike’s global slogan “Just Do It” helps athletes and other consumers realize their potential, and many consumers may think of all the things that they do when they use Nike products. Watch the following video on Nike to get an idea of the many different activities people from different countries do when using Nike products.

Video Clip

People around the World Use Nike Products

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/Pp5dZZBKTXQ[/embed] (click to see video)

Nike products are used for many different sports by all types of athletes.

 

Nike and Coca-Cola have been extremely successful in adapting their promotions to different international markets. Both companies have very popular global brands. Sometimes the same promotions work in different cultures (countries), but others must be adapted for different international audiences—similar to the way products may be adapted for international markets. Companies must be careful of how words translate, how actions are interpreted, how actors (or models) look, and what different colors in ads may mean.

When deciding on a message strategy, organizations must consider the audience, the objectives of the promotion, the media, and the budget, as well as the USP and the product. Knowing your audience and whom you are trying to reach is critical. The more advertisers know about the consumers (or businesses) exposed to the message, the better. Commercials for golf products shown during golf tournaments focus specifically on golfers. Other commercials, such as several recent ones for the fast-food chain Hardee’s, are on the risqué side. They may appeal to some college students but may offend other consumers such as senior citizens. What do you think? Do you think Hardee’s is trying to reach a younger demographic? Do the ads make you more inclined to purchase fast food from Hardee’s? See the Hardee’s commercial in the video below.

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Commercial for Hardee’s Thickburger

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/Avq2LAcPdj0[/embed] (click to see video)

This commercial that may be offensive to some consumers.

 

The Organization’s Promotion Objectives

Advertisers must also examine their promotion objectives. What are they trying to accomplish with their promotions? Are they trying to build awareness for a new product, are they wanting to get people to take action immediately, or are they interested in having people remember their brand in the future? Building primary demand, or demand for a product category, such as orange juice, might be one objective, but a company also wants to build selective demand, or demand for its specific brand(s), such as Tropicana orange juice.

Other common objectives follow the AIDA model (attention, interest, desire, and action). AIDA objectives typically are achieved in steps. First, companies focus on attention and awareness of a product or service, which is especially important for new offerings. If a consumer or business is not aware of a product or service, they won’t buy it. Once consumers or businesses are aware of products or services, organizations try to get consumers interested and persuade them that their brands are best. Ultimately, companies want consumers to take action or purchase their products or services.

Message Characteristics

Organizations must also determine what type of appeal to use and how to structure their messages. Some of the common advertising appeals are humorous, emotional, frightening (fear), rational (informative), and environmentally conscious. If you were asked to name your favorite commercial, would it be one with a humorous appeal? Many people like commercials that use humor because they are typically entertaining and memorable. Humor sells, but firms must be careful that the brand is remembered. Some commercials are very entertaining, but consumers cannot remember the brand or product.

Each year, some of the most talked-about commercials take place during the Super Bowl. Many people watch the game just to see the commercials. Watch the following YouTube videos to see one of the top ten Super Bowl commercials of all time and how newer commercials relied on a similar approach. Notice how many of them use a humorous appeal. But do you think some are more effective than others? In other words, will viewers actually buy the product(s)?

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Often Rated the Best Super Bowl Commercial Ever

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/Lc0izCGKxP8[/embed] (click to see video)

This commercial uses a child and fun to appeal to many consumers.

 

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Rated One of the Best Super Bowl Commercials of 2009

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/v_pYddCq7Hg[/embed] (click to see video)

Coke Zero uses the same approach in 2009 as the award-winning commercial in the 1980 Super Bowl.

 

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Pepsi’s Version of “Asking for a Shirt”

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/Jx38M9llRtA[/embed] (click to see video)

Pepsi uses a humorous approach for a commercial although it was not a Super Bowl commercial.

 

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Pepsi’s You’re a Winner

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/BYeoxkF8xfc[/embed] (click to see video)

See the Coke man in a Pepsi commercial.

 

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Pepsi and the Song, “Your Cheatin Heart”

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/TnXArm-NViI[/embed] (click to see video)

Pepsi used a similar strategy in 1996.

 

Companies must also be careful when using fear appeals so consumers don’t get too alarmed or frightened. A few years ago, Reebok had to discontinue a TV ad because it upset so many people. The ad showed a bungee jumper diving off a bridge, followed by a shot of just his shoes hanging from the bridge by the bungee cord. That ad provoked people because it implied the jumper had fallen to his death.

Firms also decide whether to use strategies such as an open-ended or closed-ended message; whether to use a one-sided or two-sided message; and whether to use slogans, characters, or jingles. An open-ended message allows the consumer to draw his or her own conclusion, such as a commercial for perfume or cologne. A closed-ended message draws a logical conclusion. Most messages are one sided, stressing only the positive aspects, similar to what you include on your résumé. However, two-sided messages are often utilized as well. Pharmaceutical companies often show both the positive aspects (benefits) of using a drug and the negative aspects of not using it. (Of course, U.S. laws require companies to list the side effects of prescriptions—hence the long “warnings” you hear and read about in conjunction with drug ads.)

Video Clip

Example of an Open-Ended Commercial

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/bEmrdO8tW3w[/embed] (click to see video)

Do you interpret cologne and perfume ads the same way you see them portrayed on television?

The order of presentation also affects how well consumers remember a brand. If you forgot about a twenty-five-page term paper that you had to write before the next day of class, which sections of the paper would be the strongest? Would the beginning, the end, or the middle be the best section? Many students argue that either the beginning or the end is most important, hoping that the instructor does not read the entire paper carefully. The same strategy is true for commercials and advertisements. The beginning and the end of the message should be strong and include the brand name. That way, if consumers hear or read only part of the message, they will hopefully remember the brand name.

  [caption id="attachment_768" align="aligncenter" width="683"] he Jolly Green Giant helped kids remember the Green Giant jingle and hopefully reminded them to eat their vegetables. Jolly Green Giant by greefus groinks. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0.[/caption]  

Some companies use characters or mascots and/or jingles or slogans. Although media is changing, many of the characters and jingles have stayed the same for decades. When you think of Campbell’s soup, do you think “Mm, mm good”? Just as the commercials viewed in the beginning of the chapter focused on “Mm, mm good,” Campbell’s has used the same slogan since the early 1900s, and the Campbell Soup Kids were created in 1904. Although Campbell’s changed its slogan in 1998, the company still uses the “Mm, mm good” slogan in most of its promotions across different media. Apparently, the slogan still resonates with consumers. Other jingles, characters (mascots), or symbols you may be familiar with include the Jolly Green Giant, the Wienermobile, and the Pillsbury Doughboy known as Poppin’ Fresh. How successful are advertisers in making sure consumers know their brands? Try the brand quiz and see how many brand icons you know. The following figures also illustrate some of these characters and symbols.

  [caption id="attachment_769" align="aligncenter" width="689"] The Wienermobile tours the country. Wienermobile-Bologna by Scottfamily5. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain.[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_762" align="aligncenter" width="550"] The Pillsbury Doughboy, Poppin’ Fresh, is popular around the world. Pillsbury doughboy by Giora Eshkol. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0.[/caption]  

Do you remember the Oscar Mayer jingles? Watch the video below and see if you find yourself singing along. The jingle was originally developed in 1963 and is now recorded in different languages. In 2006 Oscar Mayer promoted a singing contest for the jingle, which still remains popular. Kraft’s promotions are also consistent across media, using the visuals from commercials as pictures in their print ads in both English and Spanish versions, following the IMC concept.

Organizations must determine promotion objectives, or what they want to accomplish with their promotions. For example, if a company has a new brand they may want to generate awareness or attention. Later, they may focus on persuading customers to buy their brand. Each brand needs to have a unique selling proposition (USP) for customers to remember and want their product. Depending on their objectives and their USP, marketers must develop a message strategy. Some companies prefer humor or rational appeals while others may use a fear appeal.

 

The Promotion Budget

An offering’s budget is a critical factor when it comes to deciding which message strategies to pursue. Several methods can be used to determine the promotion budget. The simplest method for determining the promotion budget is often merely using a percentage of last year’s sales or the projected sales for the next year. This method does not take into account any changes in the market or unexpected circumstances. However, many firms use this method because it is simple and straightforward.

The affordable method, or what you think you can afford, is a method used often by small businesses. Unfortunately, things often cost more than anticipated, and you may not have enough money. Many small businesses think they’re going to have money for promotion, but they run out and cannot spend as much on promotion as they had hoped. Such a situation may have happened to you when you planned a weekend trip based on what you thought you could afford, and you did not have enough money. As a result, you had to modify your plans and not do everything you planned.

Other companies may decide to use competitive parity—that is, they try to keep their promotional spending comparable to the competitors’ spending level. This method is designed to keep a brand in the minds of consumers. During a recession, some firms feel like they must spend as much—if not more—than their competitors to get customers to buy from them. Other companies are forced to cut back on their spending or pursue more targeted promotions. When Kmart faced bankruptcy, they cut back on expenditures, yet they kept their advertising inserts (free-standing inserts, or FSI) in Sunday newspapers to remain competitive with other businesses that had an FSI.

A more rational and ideal approach is the objective and task method, whereby marketing managers first determine what they want to accomplish (objectives) with their communication. Then they determine what activities—commercials, sales promotions, and so on—are necessary to accomplish the objectives. Finally, they conduct research to figure out how much the activities, or tasks, cost in order to develop a budget.

Part of the budgeting process includes deciding how much money to allocate to different media. Although most media budgets are still spent predominantly on traditional media, shifts in spending are occurring as the media landscape continues to change. Mobile marketing continues to become more popular as a way to reach specific audiences. Over one-third of cell phone users were exposed to mobile advertising in 2009 and 16 percent of the people exposed to mobile advertising responded to the ads via text messaging. Younger people are typically the most accepting of mobile advertising (Loechner, 2009). Spending on mobile ads is expected to grow 80% from $1.45 billion in 2011 to $2.61 billion in 2012. A big part of the growth is due to the mobile search business of Google (Cotton, 2012).

The manufacturers of most major brands use texting and multimedia messages. Mobile marketing allows advertisers to communicate with consumers and businesses on the go. Over half of Chinese, Korean, Indian, and Thai Internet users access social media sites through their phones rather than through computers¹. While many marketers plan to use electronic devices for their mobile-marketing strategies, other firms may use movable or mobile promotions, which, as discussed earlier, are also considered out-of-home advertising.

Companies can determine how much to spend on promotion several different ways. The percent of sales method, in which companies use a set percentage of sales for their promotion, is often the easiest method to use. Small companies may focus on what they think they can afford while other organizations may try to keep their promotions relatively equal to their competitors’. The objective and task approach takes objectives into consideration and the costs of the tasks necessary to accomplish objectives in order to determine the promotion budget.

Sales promotions are activities that supplement a company’s advertising, public relations, and professional selling efforts. They create incentives for customers to buy products more quickly and make larger purchases. Sales promotions are often temporary, but when the economy is weak, sales promotions become even more popular for consumers and are used more frequently by organizations.

Consumer Sales Promotions

Samples, coupons, premiums, contests, and rebates are examples of consumer sales promotions. Do you like free samples? Most people do. A free sample allows consumers to try a small amount of a product so that hopefully they will purchase it. The strategy encourages trial and builds awareness. You have probably purchased a product that included a small free sample with it—for example, a small amount of conditioner packaged with your shampoo. Have you ever gone to a store that provided free samples of different food items? Although sampling is an expensive strategy, it is usually very effective for food products. People try the product, and the person providing the sample tells them about the product and mentions any special prices for it.

In many retail grocery stores, coupons are given to consumers with the samples. Coupons provide an immediate price reduction off an item. The amount of the coupon is later reimbursed to the retailer by the manufacturer. The retailer gets a handling fee for accepting coupons. When the economy is weak, more consumers cut out coupons and look for special bargains such as double coupons and buy-one-get-one-free (BOGO) coupons. They may also buy more store brands.

  [caption id="attachment_763" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Consumers cut out and use more coupons in a weak economy. Coupon Pile Stock Photo by Carol Pyles. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0.[/caption]

While many consumers cut coupons from the inserts in Sunday newspapers, other consumers find coupons online or on their cell phones. Point-of-purchase displays, including coupon machines placed next to products in stores, encourage consumers to buy a brand or product immediately. When a consumer sees a special display or can get a coupon instantly, manufacturers hope the sales promotion increases sales. Stores may also provide coupons for customers with loyalty cards to encourage them to select particular brands and products.

Mobile marketing and the Internet provide consumers in international markets access to coupons and other promotions. In India, the majority of coupons used are digital, while paper coupons have the largest share in the United States. Over 80 percent of diapers are purchased with coupons; imagine how much easier and less wasteful digital coupons scanned from a mobile phone are for both organizations and consumers.

Other sales promotions may be conducted online and include incentives such as free items, free shipping, coupons, and sweepstakes. For example, many online merchants such as Shoe Station and Zappos offer free shipping and free return shipping to encourage consumers to shop online. Some firms have found that the response they get to their online sales promotions is better than response they get to traditional sales promotions.

Another very popular sales promotion for consumers is a premium. A premium is something you get either for free or for a small shipping and handling charge with your proof of purchase (sales receipt or part of package). Remember wanting your favorite cereal because there was a toy in the box? The toy is an example of a premium. Sometimes you might have to mail in a certain number of proofs of purchase to get a premium. The purpose of a premium is to motivate you to buy a product multiple times. What many people don’t realize is that when they pay the shipping and handling charges, they may also be paying for the premium.

Contests or sweepstakes also attract a lot of people. Contests are sales promotions people enter or participate in to have a chance to win a prize. The Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes and the Monopoly Game at McDonald’s are both examples. The organization that conducts the sweepstakes or contest hopes you will not only enter its contest but buy some magazines (or more food) when you do.

Loyalty programs are sales promotions designed to get repeat business. Loyalty programs include things such as frequent flier programs, hotel programs, and shopping cards for grocery stores, drugstores, and restaurants. Sometimes point systems are used in conjunction with loyalty programs. After you accumulate so many miles or points, an organization might provide you with a special incentive such as a free flight, free hotel room, or free sandwich. Many loyalty programs, especially hotels and airlines, have partners to give consumers more ways to accumulate and use miles and points.

Rebates are popular with both consumers and the manufacturers that provide them. When you get a rebate, you are refunded part (or all) of the purchase price of a product back after completing a form and sending it to the manufacturer with your proof of purchase. The trick is completing the paperwork on time. Although different types of sales promotions work best for different organizations, rebates are very profitable for companies because many consumers forget or wait too long to send in their rebate forms. Consequently, they do not get any money back. Rebates sound great to consumers until they forget to send it back.

Trade Promotions

In business-to-business (B2B) marketing, sales promotions are typically called trade promotions because they are targeted to channel members who conduct business or “trade” with consumers. Trade promotions include trade shows, conventions, event marketing, trade allowances, training, and special incentives given to retailers to market particular products and services, such as extra money, in-store displays, and prizes.

Trade shows are one of the most common types of sales promotions in B2B markets. A trade show is an event in which firms in a particular industry display and demonstrate their offerings to other organizations they hope will buy them. There are typically many different trade shows in which one organization can participate. Using displays, brochures, and other materials, representatives at trade shows can identify potential customers (prospects), inform customers about new and existing products, and show them products and materials. Representatives can also get feedback from prospects about their company’s products and materials and perhaps about competitors.

Companies also gather competitive information at trade shows because they can see the products other firms are exhibiting and how they are selling them. While approximately 75 percent of representatives attending trade shows actually buy the product(s) they see, 93 percent of attendees are influenced by what they see at the trade shows. However, only 20 percent of organizations follow up on leads obtained at trade shows and only 17 percent of buyers are called upon after they express interest in a particular company’s products (Tanner & Pitta, 2009). The image below is an example of a booth display at a trade show showcasing the Korean electronics firm Samsung. Trade shows can be very successful, although the companies that participate in them need to follow-up on the leads generated at the shows. With changing technology, Webinars are being used to reach businesses that may not be able to attend trade shows. Follow-up after a Webinar is also essential.

[caption id="attachment_766" align="aligncenter" width="920"] LG CES 2010 by LGEPR. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.0.[/caption]

Conventions, or meetings, with groups of professionals also provide a way for sellers to show potential customers different products. For example, a medical convention might be a good opportunity to display a new type of medical device. Sales representatives and managers often attend conventions to market their products.

  [caption id="attachment_767" align="aligncenter" width="325"] La Clínica IMQ... by Docor Comunicacion. Source: Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.[/caption]

Intuitive Surgical is the maker of the da Vinci robot, a new type of technology used to make surgeries easy to perform and less invasive. Intuitive Surgical often demonstrates the robot at surgical conventions.

 

Sales contests, which are often held by manufacturers or vendors, provide incentives for salespeople to increase their sales. Often, the contests focus on selling higher-profit or slow-moving products. The sales representative with the most sales of the product wins a prize such as a free vacation, company recognition, or cash.

Trade allowances give channel partners—for example, a manufacturer’s wholesalers, distributors, retailers, and so forth—different incentives to push a product. One type of trade allowance is an advertising allowance (money) to advertise a seller’s products in local newspapers. An advertising allowance benefits both the manufacturer and the retailer. Typically, the retailer can get a lower rate than manufacturers on advertising in local outlets, saving the manufacturer money. The retailer benefits by getting an allowance from the manufacturer.

Another sales promotion that manufacturers, such as those in the tool or high tech industries, offer businesses is training to help their salespeople understand how the manufacturers’ products work and how consumers can be enticed to buy them. Many manufacturers also provide in-store product demonstrations to show a channel partner’s customers how products work and answer any questions they might have. Demonstrations of new video game systems and computers are extremely popular and successful in generating sales.

Free merchandise, such as a tool, television, or other product produced by the manufacturer, can also be used to get retailers to sell products to consumers. In other words, a manufacturer of televisions might offer the manager of a retail electronics store a television to push its products. If a certain number of televisions are sold, the manager gets the television. Have you ever been to an electronics store or a furniture store and felt like the salesperson was pushing one particular television or one particular mattress? Perhaps the salesperson was getting push money, or a cash incentive from the manufacturer to push a particular item. The push to sell the item might be because there is a large amount of inventory of it, it is being replaced by a new model, or the product is not selling well. Figure 11.15 "Examples of Sales Promotions" recaps the different types of sales promotions designed for both consumers and businesses.

Consumer Sales Promotions, and Business-to-business sales promotions

Consumer Sales Promotions	Business-to-Business Sales Promotions
Coupons	Trade shows and conventions
Sweepstakes or contests	Sales contests
Premiums	Trade and advertising allowances
Rebates	Product demonstrations
Samples	Training
Loyalty programs	Free merchandise
Point-of-purchase displays	Push money

 

Push Versus Pull Strategy

Businesses must also decide whether to use a push strategy, a pull strategy, or both push and pull strategies. A push strategy involves promoting a product to businesses (middlemen), such as wholesalers and retailers, who then push the product through the channel promoting it to final consumers. Manufacturers may set up displays in retail outlets for new products or provide incentives such as price discounts to the retailer so the retailer can promote or push the product to consumers.

Companies use a pull strategy when they target final consumers with promotions. In other words, a company promotes it products and services to final consumers to pull consumers into the stores or get the consumers asking for the product. If a company sends coupons to the consumers, hopefully the consumers will take the coupons (sales promotion) to the store and buy the product. A manufacturer promotes its new product on television to consumers and places coupons in the newspaper inserts, hoping consumers will demand the product. Their pull causes wholesalers and retailers to buy the product to try to meet the demand.

Many manufacturers use both a push strategy and a pull strategy, promoting their products and services to both final consumers and their trade partners (e.g., retailers and wholesalers). The image below "A Push versus a Pull Strategy" shows how push strategy differs from a pull strategy.

[caption id="attachment_771" align="aligncenter" width="569"] Push Vs Pull[/caption]

Companies use sales promotions to get customers to take action (make purchases) quickly. Sales promotions increase the awareness of products, help introduce new products, and often create interest in the organizations that run the promotions. Coupons, contests, samples, and premiums are among the types of sales promotions aimed at consumers. Trade promotions, or promotions aimed at businesses, include trade shows, sales contests, trade allowances, and push money.

 

Public Relations Activities And Tools

Good public relations efforts can help a firm create rapport with its customers, promote what it has to offer, and supplement its sales efforts. PR puts a positive spin on news stories and is often perceived as more neutral and objective than other forms of promotion because much of the information is tailored to sound as if it has been created by an organization independent of the seller. Public relations materials include press releases, publicity, and news conferences. Companies also use PR to promote products and to supplement their sales efforts.

Many organizations that engage in public relations have in-house PR departments, media relations groups, or investor relations groups. Other organizations sometimes hire external PR firms or advertising agencies to find and create public relations opportunities for them. PR specialists must build relationships with people at different media outlets to help get their stories placed. Universities, hospitals, government organizations, and charitable organizations often hire PR people to help disseminate positive information about their services and to increase interest in what they do. As such, PR is part of a company’s promotion budget and their integrated marketing communications.

PR specialists also help political campaign managers generate positive information in the press. PR specialists can handle crisis communication and put a positive view on situations when something bad happens to an organization or person. In foreign markets, PR agencies may help ensure product concepts are understood correctly. Getting all PR stories placed in desired media is not guaranteed. A lot of time and effort is spent getting to know people who can help publish or announce the information to the public.

Companies use a variety of tools for their public relations purposes, including annual reports, brochures and magazines for both employees and the public, Web sites to show good things they’re doing, speeches, blogs, and podcasts. Some of the most commonly used PR tools include press releases, news conferences, and publicity. Sponsorships, product placements, and social media also generate a lot of positive PR.

Press Releases

Part of a company’s public relations efforts includes putting a positive spin on news stories. A press release is a news story written by an organization to promote a product, organization, or person. Consider how much better a story or a product recommendation is likely to be perceived when the receiver thinks the content is from an objective third party rather than an organization writing about itself. Public relations personnel frequently prepare press releases in hopes that the news media will pick them up and disseminate the information to the public. However, there is no guarantee that the media will use a press release. Some of the PR opportunities that companies may seek to highlight in their press releases include charity events, awards, new products, company reports, and things they are doing to improve the environment or local community.

Read the following two examples of press releases. The first story sounds like it was written by a news organization, but it was created by Apple and their public relations people to highlight the introduction of the new iPhone 3G. The second press release provides an example of how a company like Stubb’s Bar-B-Q teams up with Mobile Loaves & Fishes, a charity that helps feed the hungry, to help feed homeless and poor people and restock food banks around the country. The story enhances the positive image of both organizations.

An Example of a Press Release to Introduce a New Product

Apple Introduces the New iPhone 3G

Twice as Fast at Half the Price

SAN FRANCISCO—June 9, 2008—Apple® today introduced the new iPhone™ 3G, combining all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking that is twice as fast* as the first generation iPhone, built-in GPS for expanded location-based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs the hundreds of third party applications already built with the recently released iPhone SDK. In the US the new iPhone 3G is priced at a stunning $199 for the 8GB model, and just $299 for the 16GB model.** iPhone 3G will be available in more than 70 countries later this year, beginning with customer availability in 22 countries—Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US—on July 11.

*Based on 3G and EDGE testing. Actual speeds vary by site conditions.

**Based on iPhone 3G (8GB) and first generation iPhone (8GB) purchases. Requires new two year AT&T rate plan, sold separately¹.

An Example of a Press Release to Show How a Company Helps Feed the Hungry and Restock Food Banks around the Country

Stubb’s Teams Up with Mobile Loaves & Fishes to Launch “Feed the World Tour”

Tuesday, May 26, 5 p.m. @ Wooldridge Park

AUSTIN—Stubb’s Legendary Kitchen will kick off its 12-city “Feed the World Tour” this Tuesday, May 26 at 5 p.m. in Wooldridge Square Park, 9th and Guadalupe Streets, by serving chopped beef sandwiches with famous Stubb’s barbecue sauce to homeless and working poor people from one of Mobile Loaves & Fishes’ special catering trucks, which serve people in six cities every day.

Kurt Koegler, president of Stubb’s Legendary Kitchen, will join Alan Graham, Mobile Loaves’ founder/president, and volunteers from the company and MLF volunteers to serve the sandwiches and distribute Stubb’s T-shirts. The Austin-based company chose Mobile Loaves as its partner to kick off the “Feed the World Tour,” which is named for the stated mission of Texas Bar-B-Q legend, C.B. “Stubb” Stubblefield, who said: “I was born hungry I want to feed the world.”

After leaving Austin, the tour will swing through the Southeast, up the East Coast and into Washington, D.C. where the Stubb’s team will compete at the annual BBQ Battle on Pennsylvania Avenue. In each city, Stubb’s Legendary Kitchen and company president Koegler will barbecue for the homeless and help restock depleted food banks.

“Stubb was a cook but more than that, a lover of people. The values that guided his life still guide the company that bears his name. Stubb’s life truly is in every bottle of sauce and marinade we make. All of us at Stubb’s are thrilled to be working with Mobile Loaves and bringing all of Stubb’s Love and Happiness to those who all too often need it most” said Koegler.

“The economy has placed greater demand on organizations like Mobile Loaves and local food banks, so we couldn’t think of a better time to show our support,” Koegler said. “Stubb’s greatest joy was feeding the people who came from all around for a taste of his famous barbecue, and it is an honor for us to fulfill his mission with our Feed the World Tour.”

“We’re honored to be selected as Stubb’s charity partner for the kick-off of this awesome tour,” Graham said. “As someone who once was poor and hungry, C.B. ‘Stubb’ Stubblefield is smiling in heaven to know that his creation is helping feed brothers and sisters on the street here in Austin and around the country. We look forward to connecting Stubb’s with people on the streets here and in the other cities we serve².”

Press releases and other PR activities can also be used for damage control purposes. Crisis communication is the process of countering the extreme negative effects a company gets when it receives bad publicity. Domino’s Pizza was forced to engage in damage control after two of its employees created a video doing disgusting things to pizzas and then posting it to YouTube. If the publicity is particularly bad, as it was for Domino’s, a company might hold a press conference or prepare a speech for the top executive to give. For example, the president of Domino’s spoke on video to try to control the damage to Domino’s business. The company then posted the following video on YouTube.

 

Video Clip

An Example of Crisis Communication

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/xvg4-E2C8UE[/embed] (click to see video)

Patrick Doyle, the president of Domino’s, responds on YouTube to a video created by two Domino’s employees, who were subsequently fired by the pizza chain.

Similarly, companies that move into foreign markets are sometimes perceived negatively by locals because they have little information about the firms. In India, the reputation of companies is very important to workers and their families. As a result, U.S. employers recruiting in the tech industry in India often have to work hard to make their brands and products known so people will want to work for them. The firms do so via various PR efforts.

Just as press releases can be used to promote the good things an organization or person does, press conferences can also be held when a company is simply seeking good PR. An organization might hold a press conference to announce that it has hired new, highly sought-after executives, that it is breaking ground on a new building, or to talk about its community service projects.

Sponsorships

Many of you have heard of the Staples Center, where the Los Angeles Lakers play basketball. But imagine how many more people heard about the Staples Center following the announcement that Michael Jackson’s public memorial would take place there. All the news stories talking about tickets and information about the memorial provided “free” publicity for the center and for the office supplies store, Staples, for which the center is named. Staples paid $375 million for naming rights of the center, which was built in 1998³. Indeed, the chain has gotten a huge return on its sponsorship of the center.

 

The Staples Center in Los Angeles is an example of a venue sponsorship. The office supplies store Staples paid for the naming rights to the stadium.

[caption id="attachment_770" align="aligncenter" width="603"]
Staples Center by Ms. Highsmith. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain.[/caption]

A sponsorship involves paying a fee to have your name associated with different things, such as the following:

• A particular venue (Wrigley Field; the Staples Center)
• A superstar’s apparel (Tiger Woods wearing Nike hats and shirts)
• An event (the AT&T National Golf Tournament; the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl)
• A cause (M&M’s support of the Special Olympics)
• An educational workshop or information session
• A NASCAR vehicle (by Pfizer, the maker of Viagra; see image below)

Even though sponsorships are expensive, they are growing in popularity as corporations seek ways to strengthen their corporate image, increase their brand awareness, differentiate their products, and reach their target markets. Worldwide, corporations spent over $43 billion on sponsorships in 2008⁴; however, the recession has taken a toll and the new stadium for the Dallas Cowboys still doesn’t have a sponsor with naming rights. Over two-thirds of the sponsorships in North America are for sports, followed by entertainment (e.g., music and performing arts) and causes (e.g., the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and “alternative spring breaks” for college students). Other organizations and structures, such as buildings and bridges, may seek sponsorships as a means of generating revenue. Imagine how many people drive across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York or the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and how much awareness an organization would get if they were allowed to pay to have their name on either of the bridges.

[caption id="attachment_761" align="aligncenter" width="477"] scan0070 by Jay Bonvouloir. Source: Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.[/caption]

Pfizer, the maker of Viagra, is one of the many companies that sponsor NASCAR racing teams.

 

Cause-related marketing is one of the fastest-growing types of sponsorships. It occurs when a company supports a nonprofit organization in some way. For example, M&M’s sponsors the Special Olympics and American Airlines raises money for breast cancer research with an annual celebrity golf and tennis tournament. The airline also donates frequent flier miles to the cause. Yoplait Yogurt donates money for breast cancer research for every pink lid that is submitted. Cause-related marketing can have a positive PR impact by strengthening the affinity people have for a company that does it.

 

Product Placements

Getting a company’s product included as part of a television show, movie, video game, special event, or book is called a product placement. When you watch reruns of Seinfeld, you often see different Coca-Cola products being consumed. Likewise, you might see a Nissan Maxima on Desperate Housewives. Over four hundred product placements typically appear in each episode of The Biggest Loser. Apple placed products in twenty-four movies that reached number one between August 1, 2008, and August 1, 2009, while Ford products appeared twenty times and Budweiser products appeared twelve times⁵.

Video Clip

Example of Product Placement

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/d36wUmJGzvA[/embed] (click to see video)

Although the video sounds like a paid commercial, it is actually part of an episode of 30 Rock.

Typically, a company pays a fee to have one of its products placed. But sometimes the company pays nothing if the product is needed for a show in some way or as part of the plot. FedEx did not pay for product placement in the movie Cast Away⁶. Product placement can improve a brand’s awareness and exposure and often increase its sales. Given the number of exposures an organization receives with product placement, the cost of a product placement can be less expensive than commercials might cost.

Although most product placements appear in television shows and movies, corporations are pursuing other options. For example, they are now placing products in online videos, computer games, and books. The number of product placements is expected to increase as consumers continue to skip commercials and advertisements using digital video recorders (DVRs).

Public relations (PR) are the activities organizations engage in to create a positive image for a company, product, service, or a person. Press releases, a commonly used PR tool, are designed to generate publicity, but there is no guarantee the media will use them in the stories they write. Sponsorships are designed to increase brand awareness, improve corporate image, and reach target markets. Product placements are designed to generate exposure, brand awareness, and interest.

Social media uses technology and mobility to provide an interactive means of communication among people, organizations, and communities who are interconnected and interdependent. Many channels and vehicles are available for social media just as there are many different television shows and magazines. With changing technology, new vehicles are added frequently.

With over half of Americans participating in social networks, people and organizations who don’t participate may be at a disadvantage with some groups in society. Not only does the majority of the population in the United States have a profile on a social network, but at least one-third of those people access the sites multiple times a day. Not only is social media popular for keeping in touch with friends, but companies use social media to promote their brands and as a tool for recruiting and hiring. People follow companies and brands on social media, especially on Facebook, whereas LinkedIn generates more job referrals. Just as companies are allocating more of their promotion budget to social media, they are also increasing their expenditures on social recruiting.

Social media is complex and rapidly changing. While there is some overlap between personal and business, one way to improve the understanding of social media is to think about social media zones. Social media zones include social communities, social publishing, social entertainment, and social commerce. Think about the different ways you use social media and which zones you utilize. You probably use all of the zones.

Social communities are channels that focus on activities and relationships and include social networking sites (online hosts such as Facebook and LinkedIn), forums, wikis, and message boards, channels where you may already participate. Think about your profile. Whatever you type becomes a digital version of you. In social communities, you communicate and socialize with others. While you may share information with others, you must be careful how much and what information you choose to post.

Social publishing helps distribute information to different audiences and includes channels such as blogs (Web sites with content that is updated regularly) and media sharing sites with searchable content featuring videos (YouTube), photos (Flickr), and music (iTunes). Think about videos you may have posted. When companies pay to have product reviews posted or to promote contests or their brands, they may use social publishers to write blogs and generate word of mouth. Many companies are also posting their own commercials and other content on YouTube.

Opportunities for games and entertainment are part of the social entertainment zone. Social games like FarmVille, entertainment networks, action games, puzzle games, and reality games have increased revenues in the social gaming industry. Social gaming appears to be growing in popularity.

Do you remember talking about e-commerce? Well, the social commerce zone is part of e-commerce where people buy and sell products on the Internet. Social commerce provides a means for interactive shopping, including reviews, ratings, and social shopping Web sites where you can chat with merchant personnel or with friends while you are shopping. Think about the questions you may ask a customer service person in a chat room versus what you may ask at a store in a mall.

While organizations are allocating more of their promotion budgets to social media, they are also generating a lot of buzz or talk without a lot of expense. To see the impact social media has, consider the buzz created by Old Milwaukee’s commercial shown during Super Bowl XLVI, which only aired locally in North Platte, Nebraska. North Platte is the second smallest television market in the country with only 15,000 homes but it is hometown to New England Patriots Danny Woodhead, While the thirty-second spot only targeted a small audience at a cost of $700–$1500 in the local market (compared to $3.5 million for national thirty-second spot), the commercial created more buzz than many of the nationally broadcast commercials (Gillette, 2012). The YouTube version shown in the following video has been viewed over a million times, much more than the always popular Budweiser commercials. The commercial became so popular that Old Milwaukee put a link to the commercial on their Web site. Talk about the impact of social media and bragging rights!

Video Clip

Old Milwaukee and Will Ferrell in the Super Bowl

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/YjzesjojNhA[/embed] (click to see video)

Old Milwaukee and their strategy to play during the Super Bowl.

Social media uses technology and mobility to provide an interactive means of communication among people, organizations, and communities who are interconnected and interdependent. Social media zones include social communities, social publishing, social entertainment, and social commerce. More companies are using social media to promote their products as well as for recruiting.

]]> 78 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=91 Mon, 17 Jun 2019 17:10:06 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/chapter-8-ethical-and-legal-copnsiderations/

Previously we discussed the personal attributes that will help you succeed on the job. There are also standards for conducting your professional work ethically and legally that must be understood and heeded. Missteps in these areas will undermine not only your own credibility but can have wide-ranging repercussions for the organization and profession within which you work. Following is a discussion of the levels of responsibility that affect the information you gather and use, and the messages you create. Once you understand the constraints you must acknowledge in your work as a message creator, you’ll be able to think strategically about the information you need to create that outcome. Having this foundation will also help you evaluate the appropriateness of the information you find.
Being a socially responsible communicator requires attention to both ethical standards and legal requirements. First, we need to draw a distinction between ethics and law. Distinction Between Ethics and Law [caption id="" align="alignright" width="300"] Scales of Justice by Karen Arnold PublicDomainPictures.net. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] Ethics

• A branch of philosophy
• Deals with values relating to human conduct
• Concerned with “rightness” and “wrongness” of actions
• Self-legislated and self-enforced
• Sometimes difficult to determine because of competing, equally-valid possible choices

Law

• Derived from ethical values in a society
• Formally / institutionally determined and enforced through courts and law enforcement officials
• Easily determined because it is a matter of statute and the legality of action and consequences for not adhering to the law is spelled out

In the previous lessons on developing your information task list and determining questions to answer, we’ve focused on specific information-seeking goals. In each of the communication professions, there are key legal considerations that must be understood that will either help or hinder, the seeking of information to meet those goals. In news, for example, if some of the information needed requires the use of public records then an understanding of public records and privacy laws will help you know what it is possible to get, and how to legally use these records. In advertising, you might want to make the most of the attributes of the product you are promoting, but you will need to abide by laws dictating the substantiation of product claims. For public relations professionals, you may need to issue a corporate response to a crisis, therefore it is important to understand the requirements or restrictions of corporate disclosure laws. We will discuss these legal perspectives later in this lesson. Socially responsible communicators are not content with just staying on the right side of the law. While the law embodies a significant portion of our values, individuals and organizations that want to be considered socially responsible must go beyond the rough requirements of the law itself and adopt higher and more thoughtful standards. In some cases, these standards may have a legal basis as well as an ethical one. Following these standards requires the communicator to consider both “positive obligations” (things that you must always strive to do) or “negative obligations” (things that you must guard against doing). Let’s look at the positive and negative obligations that apply to those crafting news messages. These are drawn from the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists, a long-standing professional association for news professionals. [caption id="attachment_84" align="alignright" width="255"] Society of Professional Journalists logo by Wikipedia. Source: Wikipedia. Fair use[/caption]

Positive Obligations (goals you try always to achieve)

  1) Seek truth and report it. This requires that you:

a. test the accuracy of information from all sources.

b. fairly represent multiple perspectives and viewpoints.

c. identify sources whenever feasible so the public may judge the reliability of the information.

d. safeguard the public’s need for information.

Despite the rhetoric of First Amendment attorneys, the public does not have a “right to know” per se. The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States says that citizens have a right to assemble, speak, practice their chosen religion, petition the government for a redress of grievances, and that the Congress shall make no law limiting the freedom of the press. It does not address the public’s “right to know” anything. But most communication scholars acknowledge the crucial role that the media play in nurturing an informed electorate and citizenry.

2) Minimize harm. This requires that you:

a. avoid privacy violations. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone’s privacy and such intrusion may invoke legal sanctions if a source can demonstrate harm. In the context of information seeking, information that can be found should not necessarily be used.

b. be cautious about naming criminals before the formal filing of charges, identifying juvenile suspects or victims, or seeking interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.

3) Act independently. This requires that you:

a. be wary of sources offering information for favors or money.

b. disclose potential conflicts of interest. IE: failing to label the content from a video news release in a TV broadcast story is a breach of ethics.

c. hold those with power accountable.

4) Be accountable. This requires that you:

a. admit mistakes and correct them promptly. Libel law may be invoked if the mistake injures a news subject.

b. stand up for what is right in the media organization.

c. abide by the same high standards to which you hold others.

Negative Obligations:  (actions that must be avoided)

1) Plagiarism. Never, ever, ever represent someone else’s work as your own.  Never. Ever. 2) Concealing conflicts of interest, real or perceived, in seeking or using information.  If you have a stake in the outcome of what you are reporting on, you must acknowledge it and perhaps suggest that someone else cover the story. 3) Distorting the content of news photos or video. Image enhancement for technical clarity is permissible, but any other type of manipulation must not happen. 4) Eavesdropping. Listening in on others’ conversations, electronically or otherwise, is a form of information-stealing and may invoke wiretapping laws or other legal sanctions. 5) Breaking the “contract” with a source. Publicly identifying a source who provided information confidentially, for instance, is both an ethical and a legal violation. We will discuss the details of the source contract in lesson 9 on interviewing. These are a sample of the negative and positive obligations that help you weigh your decisions when a situation arises in your information gathering for a news message. Ethical thinking requires that you establish for yourself, ahead of time, how you value these various obligations and which take precedence in your own scheme of decision-making. You also must be fully aware of how your media organization has ordered these priorities for their own publications, and comply with the standards that your organization has established. Just as in news, advertising professionals adhere to a number of constraints when gathering and using information, regardless of the type of advertisement they may be creating. We can once again understand these in the context of positive and negative obligations. These are drawn from the principles and practices of the Institute for Advertising Ethics.

Positive Obligations

1) Create messages with the objective of truth and high ethical standards in serving the public. Advertising is commercial information that must be treated with the same accuracy standards as news and there may be legal repercussions if the standards are not upheld.

2) Apply personal ethics, like being an honest person, in the creation and dissemination of commercial information to consumers.

3) Clearly distinguish advertising from news and editorial content and entertainment, both online and offline.

4) Clearly disclose all material conditions, such as payment or a free product, that affects endorsements in social media and traditional message channels. This is both an ethical and a legal requirement, enforced by the Federal Trade Commission and other regulatory bodies. For example, a blogger who is paid by a company to spread positive information about the company’s product or service must disclose she being paid for her opinions

5) Treat consumers fairly, especially when ads are directed at audiences such as children. In fact, the legal requirements for advertising aimed at children are increasingly stringent.

6) Follow all federal, state and local advertising laws, and cooperate with industry self-regulatory programs for the resolution of complaints.

7) Stand up for what is right within the organization. Members of the team creating ads should express their ethical or legal concerns when they arise. This is a good example of the personal ethics that must factor in decision-making in creating messages.

Negative Obligations

These are obligations that represent both an ethical and, in most cases, a legal/regulatory element. The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, the National Advertising Review Board, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Food and Drug Administration and many other bodies enforce these obligations when necessary.

1) Do not plagiarize. Never, ever, ever represent someone else’s work as your own.

2) Do not use false or misleading visual or verbal statements.

3) Do not make misleading price claims.

4) Do not make unfair comparisons with a competitive product or service.

5) Do not make insufficiently supported claims.

6) Do not use offensive statements, suggestions or pictures.

7) Do not compromise consumers’ personal privacy, and their choices as to whether to participate in providing personal information should be transparent and easily made.

Let’s look at the positive and negative obligations that help PR specialists gather and use information responsibly. These examples come from the Public Relations Society of America Member Code of Ethics. Once again, many of these obligations refer to both ethical and legal responsibilities.

Positive Obligations

1) Serve the public interest by acting as responsible advocates for those the PR firm or professional represents.

2) Adhere to the highest standards of truth and accuracy while advancing the interests of those the PR firm or professional represents.

[caption id="attachment_84" align="alignright" width="282"] PRSA Foundation logo by PRSA Foundation. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain[/caption]

3) Acquire and responsibly use specialized knowledge and experience in preparing public relations messages to build mutual understanding, credibility, and relationships among a wide array of institutions and audiences.

4) Provide objective counsel to those the PR firm or professional represents. For example, the best advice for a client may be to admit wrongdoing and apologize. The PR practitioner must objectively weigh this advice and offer it if it is the best option.

5) Deal fairly with clients, employers, competitors, peers, vendors, the media and the general public.

6) Act promptly to correct erroneous communication for which the PR firm or professional is responsible. Again, failure to do this could invoke both ethical and legal sanctions.

Negative Obligations

1) Do not plagiarize. Never, ever, ever represent someone else’s work as your own.

2) Do not give or receive gifts of any type from clients or sources that might influence the information in a message beyond the legal limits and/or in violation of government reporting requirements.

3) Do not violate intellectual property rights in the marketplace. Sharing competitive information, leaking proprietary information, taking confidential information from one employer to another and other such practices are both legal and ethical violations.

4) Do not employ deceptive practices. Asking someone to pose as a “volunteer” to speak at public hearings or participate in a “grass roots” campaign is deceptive, for instance.

5) Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived. PR professionals and firms must encourage clients and customers as well as colleagues in the profession to notify all affected parties when a conflict of interest arises.

You can see from the sampling of positive and negative obligations that as a communications professional you must weigh a wide variety of considerations when gathering and using the information to create a message. The intended audience, the purpose of the message, the intent of the communicator, the ethical considerations, the legal constraints, and many other variables help determine how you pursue the information strategy. [caption id="attachment_90" align="aligncenter" width="674"] Leadership and Social Responsibility by Peter Durand. Source: Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0[/caption] As a communications professional you must also conduct your work in the context of a commitment to social responsibility at a number of levels. Because mass communication messages are pervasive and influential, media organizations and professionals are held to high standards for their actions. The social responsibility perspective helps outline how this works. There are three levels of responsibility that affect your work as a communicator. These are:

• Societal:  the relationships between media systems and other major institutions in society.
• Professional / OrganizationalL: your profession’s and your media organization’s own self-regulation and standards for professional conduct.
• Individual: the responsibility you have to society, to your profession, to your audience and to yourself.

We’ll examine each of these in turn.
The societal perspective examines how media institutions interact with other major institutions in society. As a communications professional, it is important to understand the societal implications of your work and the rules under which you operate. Professional education and licensing have been traditional means by which society has sought to ensure legal and ethical behavior from those who bear important social responsibilities. For law, medicine, accounting, teaching, architecture, engineering and other fields of expertise, specific training is followed by examinations, state licensing and administration of oaths that include promises to live up to the standards established for the profession. However, there is no U.S. law that requires communicators to be licensed. Without the power to control entry into the field and withdraw the license to operate as in these other professions, it is even more important for mass communication professionals to police themselves. Especially in light of the huge explosion of "fake news" being generated by individuals with political, cultural or financial motives, legitimate news professionals must defend their crucial role in society. Let’s look at examples of the way the media interact with other major social institutions. One of the major tenets of journalism is the goal of exposing public officials or business executives to public scrutiny. This “watchdog” role, one of the most important functions of the press, is used to justify journalists’ behavior in investigating what public officials or corporate executives are doing and whether or not they are meeting their responsibilities to constituents, citizens or shareholders. The First Amendment protects journalists’ rights to challenge government power. However, serious observers argue that when overly aggressive investigative techniques expose individual politicians or corporate executives to scrutiny about their private lives that may have nothing to do with the performance of their official duties, it causes cynicism, it undermines public confidence in major social institutions, and it drives people away from participation in public and civic engagement. How far does the “watchdog” role go? When is a journalist crossing the line from examining public behavior to voyeurism about private lives? Similarly, strategic communications professionals face questions about their interactions with other major social institutions. There is more and more agitation for government regulation of advertising because people perceive that advertisers do not police themselves enough. [caption id="attachment_90" align="alignleft" width="278"] ftc.gov on skechers by Betsy Lordan Source: FTC. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] In 2012, the Federal Trade Commission imposed the largest fine in its history on the company that manufactures Skechers athletic shoes and apparel. The company paid $40 million because its ads falsely represented clinical studies backing up claims that Shape-Ups, Resistance Runner, Toners, and Tone-Ups would help people lose weight, and strengthen and tone their gluteal, leg and abdominal muscles. The ads used lines such as “Shape up while you walk,” and “Get in shape without setting foot in a gym.” As part of the settlement, Skechers had to take down the advertising and inform retailers to remove the deceptive claims. It also agreed to stop misrepresenting any tests, studies, or research results regarding toning shoes. And customers who purchased the shoes or apparel were able to file through the FTC for a refund from the company. (Bachman) The example points out the interactions between advertisers, government regulators and the public at the societal level. Another example points out the social responsibility interactions between advertisers, corporations and the customers they serve around the sensitive issue of personal privacy. The social network Facebook, used by 900 million people worldwide, agreed in June 2012 to pay $20 million to settle a lawsuit in California that claimed Facebook publicized that some of its users had “liked” certain advertisers but didn't pay the users, or give them a way to opt-out. The so-called “Sponsored Story” feature on Facebook was essentially an advertisement that appeared on the site and included a member’s Facebook page and generally consisted of another friend’s name, profile picture and a statement that the person “likes” that advertiser. The suit was one in a long list of complaints against the social media giant and other online organizations such as Google that appear to be working with advertisers to intrude on consumers’ privacy. (Levine & McBride) A group of digital advertising trade organizations called the Digital Advertising Alliance is concerned enough about advertisers’ interaction with consumers, technology companies, [caption id="" align="alignright" width="190"] Digital Advertising Alliance Icon by Digital Advertising Alliance. Source: Logolynx. DMCA license[/caption] privacy advocates and federal/state regulators that it has created a way for people to opt out of having their online behavior tracked. A turquoise triangle that appears in the upper right-hand corner of banner ads on web sites allows users who click on it to remove themselves from having personalized advertising directed at them. The group created the option in reaction to pressure from other institutions, including the Federal Trade Commission, which is threatening to regulate mobile and digital privacy and exert more control over children’s privacy online. The example points out how various societal-level institutions interact to impose social responsibility on media practitioners if they do not regulate themselves. As strategic communicators have adopted social media platforms to distribute their messages, scrutiny by other societal institutions has increased. The Federal Trade Commission was so concerned about claims being made by advertisers and PR practitioners via social media that they updated their social media guidelines in 2013. The new FTC guidelines require social media marketers to:

• fully disclose their sponsorship of the information. If an advertiser has hired a blogger to endorse a product or service, the blogger MUST disclose that he or she is working for that advertiser; if a PR firm posts positive comments about its clients on social media, the firm MUST disclose that they are working on behalf of the client. Further, the disclosure must be clear and conspicuous; it cannot be buried in the fine print.
• monitor the social media conversation and correct misstatements or problematic claims by commenters.
• create social media policies to instruct employees about the expectations and practices that will be enforced.

The mention of company-specific social media policies leads us to the next category of responsibility: the professional or organizational perspective. In addition to the societal level of interactions, communication organizations and professionals engage in self-criticism and set standards for their own conduct and performance as information gatherers. One of the most conspicuous examples of this lies in the proliferation of codes of conduct for mass communication activities at all levels. As our discussion of positive and negative obligations (above) demonstrated, every mass communication industry develops these professional and organizational guidelines for its practitioners.

In the news industries, codes have expanded in number and scope over several decades. Organizations that have adopted such codes include the American Society of News Editors, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press Managing Editors Association, the Radio Television Digital News Association, and the National Press Photographers Association. Individual news organizations and publications frequently establish their own codes to which they expect their staff to adhere. Advertising codes reflect some of the specific criticism directed at the field, such as charges of deceptive advertising, unfair stereotyping, false testimonials, and misleading claims. Organizations as diverse as the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association, the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the Beer Institute have guidelines and codes for the content and placement of advertisements in their respective industries or for the audiences with which they are concerned. For instance, here is a portion of the Advertising and Marketing Code for the Beer Institute. Any advertising professional working with a client who sells and advertises beer would need to adhere to this industry code. “Brewers should employ the perspective of the reasonable adult consumer of legal drinking age in advertising and marketing their products, and should be guided by the following basic principles, which have long been reflected in the policies of the brewing industry and continue to underlie this Code:

• Beer advertising should not suggest directly or indirectly that any of the laws applicable to the sale and consumption of beer should not be complied with.
• Brewers should adhere to contemporary standards of good taste applicable to all commercial advertising and consistent with the medium or context in which the advertising appears.
• Advertising themes, creative aspects, and placements should reflect the fact that Brewers are responsible corporate citizens.
• Brewers strongly oppose abuse or inappropriate consumption of their products.” (Beer Institute)

Individual advertising agencies and corporate advertising departments also have codes and standards to help employees recognize and deal with ethical questions. Most media outlets accept or reject ads submitted to them using a set of guidelines about what types of ads are acceptable and what type of content they will allow. For example, here is a portion of the policy for acceptance of advertising that appears in Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine

• All advertisements are subject to the approval of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (Publisher), which reserves the right to reject or cancel any ad at any time if the ad does not conform to the editorial or graphic standards of the magazine as determined by the Publisher.
• Advertisements that are not appropriate for viewing by youth will not be accepted. Advertisements will not be accepted for tobacco or alcohol products. (Tex. Parks & Wild. Code §11.172(c); 31 Tex. Admin. Code §51.72. Other products that are not compatible with the mission of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will also not be accepted.
• Advertisers must keep in mind the diverse audience of the magazine when determining the suitability of an ad. That audience includes hunters, anglers, campers, bird watchers, state parks visitors, other outdoor enthusiasts and readers of all ages including children. (Magazine Advertising Policy)

Any advertising professional gathering information and creating an ad for a product or service that might appear in this magazine would need to be aware of the publication’s organizational level guidelines about acceptable advertising, and the societal level regulations (Texas state laws) about tobacco or alcohol advertising in this publication. Public relations practitioners, like advertising specialists, work closely with clients. Through these associations, legal and ethical decisions often arise as clients and publicists discuss information-gathering strategies. For example, the Securities and Exchange Commission monitors the way corporations report their financial affairs, scrutinizing information about stock offerings and financial balance sheets for accuracy and omission of important facts. Their objective is to ensure that investors and stock analysts can get accurate information about the companies that are offering securities. Increasingly, legal and ethical standards are holding public relations practitioners, along with stockbrokers, lawyers, and accountants responsible for the accuracy of the information they communicate to the public. When public relations professionals find themselves on the losing side of an important ethical question with a client, it is not unusual for them to resign their positions as a matter of principle. The Public Relations Society of America’s Code of Ethics emphasizes honesty and accountability, in addition to expertise, advocacy, fairness, independence, and loyalty. The public relations code, like those for advertising and journalism, reflects the concerns of society as well as the practitioners who adopt the codes. Provisions of all the codes are designed, at least in part, to provide the public with reasons to have confidence in communicators’ integrity and in the messages they create. Of course, the codes are also there to help keep communicators out of court. For example, a large multinational PR firm resigned its account with a major tire manufacturer just months after landing the account. The reason was that the tire manufacturer failed to disclose to the PR firm that it knew about defects in its tires that had caused a number of fatal accidents. The PR professionals decided they could not ethically represent the tire manufacturer to the public under such circumstances and ended their relationship with the company. The PR firm’s adherence to professional and organizational standards was more important than the income that would have been generated from the account with the tire manufacturer. (Miller) There is an individual level of responsibility for your own behavior. As a communications professional, you may find yourself confronting conflicting obligations in your daily routine. You will be doing your work in a decidedly ambivalent atmosphere. News professionals are criticized for reinforcing the assumptions of those in power and ignoring reality as experienced by most of the population. Advertising is criticized for contributing to materialism, wasteful consumption, and the corruption of the electoral system. Public relations is criticized for creating and manipulating images on behalf of those with narrow interests, failing to give public interest information a priority. In confronting your social responsibility using the individual perspective, you are likely to place duty to yourself at the top of the list. You always need to abide by your own moral standards. But this may conflict with more worldly ambitions – the desire for recognition, advancement, and financial security. The duty to the organization may be at odds with the loyalty to colleagues or to the profession. Let’s look at a few examples that illustrate these tensions.

Am I Comfortable Working on Advertising for This Client?   

[caption id="attachment_90" align="alignright" width="300"] Question Problem Think Thinking Reflect by geralt. Source: pixabay. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] Individual-level responsibility may arise when ad professionals object to ads they have to work on or have to accept. It is usually not necessary to violate your own standards. Concerns about taking on an assignment will be something to discuss during the message clarification step. If, for example, you are a strict vegetarian, it may be difficult for you to work on a campaign to sell bacon. Or let’s say that you are the advertising manager for a local magazine. You receive an ad that you think is offensive, even though the product or service being advertised is perfectly legal and the company is a big advertiser in your publication. You don’t have to accept that offensive ad, but you also don’t have to forgo the ad revenue for your publication (again, we’re weighing two competing obligations—your obligation to your own standards against your obligation to your media organization to generate revenue). The way to resolve this dilemma is to call the ad agency and ask for another version of the advertisement. Advertisers almost always have another version in anticipation that some media outlets will refuse to run a potentially-offensive version of an ad. With this solution, you can adhere to your own standards and still generate revenue for your publication by accepting the more appropriate ad.
There are entire texts and semester-long courses that examine the specific laws and regulations under which mass communicators operate. We will discuss here briefly a few of the most relevant types of legal and regulatory constraints that affect communicators’ gathering and use of information in messages in this lesson. We will return to some of these examples in more depth throughout the rest of the lessons where appropriate.

Journalism Law and Regulation

You will learn about the relevant legal and regulatory framework for your career as a journalist in later classes. We will mention just a couple of examples that demonstrate the way that laws and regulations affect journalists’ information strategy process. Federal, state and local law outlines the way journalists gather information. For example, photographers/videographers have a constitutional right to photograph anything that is in plain view when they are lawfully in a public space. Police officers may not confiscate or demand to view journalists’ photographs or videos without a warrant. However, the right to photograph does NOT give journalists the right to break other laws. For example, you may not trespass on private property to capture an image. Likewise, there are a wide variety of laws that detail the types of information that are accessible to the public, including journalists. Public records laws will be discussed in more detail in Lesson 13. Suffice it to say that journalists have many tools in their toolbelt when they are seeking access to public record information. Libel law defines the ways that journalists USE the information they gather in their messages. Again, there are many nuances in libel law and journalists generally defer to the experts within their media organizations when questions arise about whether a particular item in a news story exposes the news organization to a charge of libel. It is most important for you, as an information gatherer, to understand that best practices require you to double- and triple-check any facts, claims or evidence you intend to use in a message and to vet that information with the appropriate gatekeepers in your organization. The advertising substantiation rule is of paramount importance for anyone collecting and evaluating information to use in a comparison ad. The advertiser must be able to substantiate any claim about a product or service with information that backs up such claims. This means that you, as the advertising professional, will follow a comprehensive information strategy in preparing the background information for any such ad. The main governmental regulatory agency for advertising is the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC regulates unfair and deceptive practices on a case-by-case basis and occasionally with industry-wide regulations. The FTC has the power to require that advertisers prove their claims. If the FTC determines that an advertisement is deceptive, it can stop the ad and order the sponsor to issue corrections. Corrective advertising provides information that was omitted from a deceptive ad. Some companies are fined for their illegal acts. It is extremely rare, but someone could also be jailed for a deception. Many states also have laws that regulate deceptive advertising. Individual consumers also have the right to sue companies for deceptive advertising. The advertising industry also has a two-tiered self-regulatory mechanism. Advertising that is charged with being deceptive can be referred to as the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. For cases that are not satisfactorily resolved through NAD, appeals can be made to the National Advertising Review Board. The Board can put pressure on advertisers through persuasion, publicity or even legal action if it is deemed necessary. Public relations firms increasingly are investigated along with the corporations they represent in situations of litigation, disputes about investor relations, etc. In fact, after a number of highly publicized cases of major corporate financial malfeasance came to light, public relations departments and firms reviewed their own roles in unwittingly misleading the public about the financial health of organizations that were in deep trouble. In another example, athletic apparel giant Nike was taken to court by a workers’ safety advocate because it released press statements defending its reputation against charges of mistreating overseas workers. The news releases were said to represent false advertising. The case served as a wake-up call to public relations firms that send out press releases every day. (Egelko) [caption id="attachment_90" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Chromium – Search Engine Optimization Icons by Kabedi Fernando. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] In a relatively new twist, a number of “guerilla marketing” firms tout their ability to generate “buzz” about products and services on web sites populated by teens. The firms were recruiting young people with promises of gifts and access to the newest gadgets. In exchange, the teens agreed to go online to popular social networking sites and sing the praises of the products they had received and encourage their peers to buy the merchandise, all without disclosing that they were actually working for a marketing firm. These practices raised ethical questions about the truthfulness of messages that fail to disclose conflicts of interest (one of the negative obligations mentioned earlier). When confronted with ethical concerns, many of the marketing and promotion firms claimed that if someone asked, their operatives were instructed to say that they were working for the movie studio, the gadget company or the bubble gum producer. But how many audience members, especially younger ones, were likely to ask? As we’ve said, the Federal Trade Commission has now ruled that "word-of-mouth" endorsers of products or services (such as those who post positive messages on social networking sites, etc.) must disclose that they are being compensated with money or free goods and services as part of their posts to these sites. Guidelines originally issued by the Food and Drug Administration regarding direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising now include similar advice for any person or company making claims about medical, food or cosmetic products through social media. All of these levels of responsibility influence how communicators weigh their actions and make their decisions. Societal expectations, organizational and professional routines and norms, and individual standards are going to play a role in each decision you are faced with making. As long as you have a systematic method for evaluating each situation and for applying your professional standards, you should be able to make your information decisions in an ethical and defensible manner. The information strategy provides you with the skills to ensure that you don’t have to resort to inappropriate, unethical, or illegal means to gather information. If one method of gathering information seems inappropriate, your skill with a well-developed information strategy means you can use another, more appropriate, method to find what you need. Being a highly skilled information gatherer in an information-overloaded society brings credibility to you and to your organization. Further, using an explicit information strategy helps you explain your standards to others. When the public, colleagues, or supervisors challenge the information on which you base a message, you can present an ordered, rational account of your information search and selection process. Using the standards and methods available in the information strategy allows others to evaluate your skill and expertise as a communications professional.

Endnotes: Bachman, K. (2012, May 16). Skechers Settles Deceptive Ad Case with FTC for $40M. AdWeek, at http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/skechers-settles-deceptive-ad-case-ftc-40m-140577 captured on July 26, 2012. Beer Institute Advertising and Marketing Code, at https://www.beerinstitute.org/responsibility/advertising-marketing-code/, captured on August 15, 2017. Egelko, B. (2003, September 13) Nike settles suit for $1.5 million, San Francisco Chronicle at http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Nike-settles-suit-for-1-5-million-Shoe-giant-2589523.php, captured on July 26, 2012. Levine, D. and McBride, S. (2012, June 18). Facebook ‘Sponsored Stories’ Lawsuit: Company to Pay $10 Million Settlement. HuffPost Tech Blog at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/16/facebook-sponsored-stories-lawsuit-10-million_n_1602905.html, captured on July 26, 2012. Magazine Advertising Policy, Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine, at http://www.tpwmagazine.com/advertising/policy/, captured on July 26, 2015. Miller, K. (2000, September 7). Firestone’s PR Firm Resigns, Washington Post at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20000907/aponline231008_000.htm, captured on July 26, 2012. RESOURCES: A collection of news organizations' ethics codes can be found at The Center for Journalism Ethics' Ethics Resources page.

]]> 91 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=102 Tue, 11 Jun 2019 22:12:06 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/chapter-1-introduction-understanding-medias-impact-on-society-2/ Bronze bust of John Dewey sculpted by Jacob Epstein, 1927. John Dewey by Cliff. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0.[/caption]

“Society not only continues to exist by transmission, by communication, but it may fairly be said to exist in transmission, in communication.” — John Dewey in Democracy and Education, 1916

             

The purpose of this chapter is to define media, society and culture broadly. Additionally, the term "communication" is defined in its many forms. Chapters 2 and 3 deal with communication theory in more detail. Digital culture is covered in depth in Chapter 2. We will discuss media literacy and media studies in Chapter 3, but we have to learn to walk before we run, as the saying goes.

More than one hundred years ago, John Dewey wrote in Democracy and Education that society is not only supported by various forms of communication but also enveloped in communication. Dewey reiterated what philosophers and scholars had noted for centuries: small groups, larger communities and vast institutions — all the things that make up a society — function in relation to how communication flows within and between groups.

There are different forms of communication. At the broadest level, communication is an exchange of meaning between people using symbols. The most common symbols we use are verbal and written words, but there are also many forms of nonverbal communication such as American Sign Language. What sign language, verbal communication and written communication have in common is the use of abstract symbols to convey meaning. Whether you say "thank you" in face-to-face communication, send someone a card with the words "thank you" written on it, or use nonverbal cues to express thanks, the meaning is the same.

[caption id="attachment_95" align="alignleft" width="300"] A boy smiles as he stands next to a Christmas tree.[/caption]

Interpersonal communication generally refers to the exchange of meaning between two or more people on a personal, often one-on-one, level. Interpersonal communication can be verbal or nonverbal. Most often, it happens in face-to-face settings. It differs from mass communication, which involves sharing meaning through symbolic messages to a wide audience from one source to many receivers. Sometimes, particularly in computer-mediated communication, messages conveyed using computers, it can be difficult to tell the difference between interpersonal communication and mass communication because individuals can send messages intended only for other individuals that might quickly reach large numbers of people. Social media platforms are often structured in ways that allow interpersonal messages to "go viral" and become mass messages whether the original sender intended to address a mass audience or not.

It is not the type of message that determines interpersonal or mass communication. It is the way the message is distributed and the relationships between sender and receiver(s). This text will continue to grapple with the overlap of interpersonal communication and mass communication structures on networked communication platforms, but first, another form of communication commonly studied in academic settings should be introduced.

Organizational communication is the symbolic exchange of messages carrying specific meaning for members belonging to formal organizations. In practical terms, it is the internal communication that helps governments, businesses, schools and hospitals to run.

People working together in organizations get usually things done by communicating directly with one another or in small groups. Organizations cannot function without communication. Organizational communication effectiveness can influence the success or failure of businesses and other social institutions. Thus, communication does not merely happen within organizations; it is an essential part of the way they are structured. Organizational communication is a separate field of study, introduced well in this YouTube video.

Successful communication, whether intended for personal use, for use within an organization, or for a wide audience, can help people to understand each other and to get things done.

If good organizational communication is necessary for groups to function with a formal purpose, mass communication is essential for societies to function. Societies are made up of formal organizations of various sizes. Usually, the larger the group, the more complex its communication structures.

Communication structure refers to a combination of information and communication technologies (ICTs), guidelines for using those technologies, and professional workers dedicated to managing information and messages. In the mass communication field, communication structures are more than computers and transmission networks. The guidelines for using networks to create and distribute messages for mass consumption are a matter of corporate policy as well as law.

It has been noted that a society is made up of small groups, larger communities, and vast institutions. A more complete definition of the term comes from the field of sociology. A society is a very large group of people organized into institutions held together over time through formalized relationships. Nations, for example, are made up of formal institutions organized by law. Governments of different size, economic institutions, educational institutions and others all come together to form a society.

By comparison, culture — the knowledge, beliefs, and practices of groups large and small — is not necessarily formalized. Culture is necessary for enjoying and making sense of the human experience, but there are few formalized rules governing culture.

Mass communication influences both society and culture. Different societies have different media systems, and the way they are set up by law influences how the society works. Different forms of communication, including messages in the mass media, give shape and structure to society. Additionally, mass media outlets can spread cultural knowledge and artistic works around the globe. People exercise cultural preferences when it comes to consuming media, but mass media corporations often decide which stories to tell and which to promote, particularly when it comes to forms of mass media that are costly to produce such as major motion pictures, major video game releases and global news products.

More than any other, the field of mass communication transmits culture. At the same time, it helps institutional society try to understand itself and whether its structures are working.

The Mass Media Dynamic

The mass media system is an institution itself. What sets it apart is its potential to influence the thinking of massive numbers of individuals. In fact, the ideas exchanged in organizational communication and interpersonal communication are often established, reinforced or negated by messages in the mass media. This is what it means for societies "to exist in transmission, in communication." Different types of communication influence each other.

But the mass media are also shaped and influenced by social groups and institutions. This is the nature of the mass media dynamic.

Individuals and groups in society influence what mass media organizations produce through their creativity on the input side and their consumption habits on the output side. It is not accurate to say that society exists within the mass media or under mass media "control." Social structures are too powerful for mass media to completely govern how they operate. But neither is it accurate to say that the mass media are contained within societies. Many mass media products transcend social structures to influence multiple societies, and even in societies that heavily censor their mass media the news of scandals and corruption can get out. The mass media and society are bound together and shape each other.

Almost everything you read, see and hear is framed within a mass media context; however, mere familiarity is no guarantee of success. Products in the mass media that fail to resonate with audiences do not last long, even if they seem in tune with current tastes and trends.

The Mass Communication Origin Story

In his book, John notes how, in the early 20th century, the mass media were beginning to connect large institutions in new ways. The production of mass media messages accelerated with the development of the telegraph and the popular newspaper. The spread of telegraph technology that began in the mid-1800s continued through the early 1900s to network the globe with a nearly instantaneous information transmission system. Much of the growth of newspapers occurred as a result of improvements in telegraph technology.

[caption id="attachment_95" align="alignright" width="225"] The television station's webpage at KOMU, a local affiliate owned and operated by the University of Missouri-Columbia, is constantly on display in the newsroom.[/caption]

Thus, a primary function of the global mass communication system is to save time. People have a need to understand what is going on in the world, and they desire entertainment. Global electronic telecommunication networks collapse space by transmitting messages in much less time than the older, physical delivery systems.

The dynamic between society and mass media that is so prevalent today developed throughout the 20th century. Starting near the end of the 1800s, communication flows began to move at electronic speeds. More people knew about more things than ever before, but scholars are quick to point out that communication is not synonymous with understanding.

Dewey wanted to focus on educating people so that they could live and work well in societies heavily shaped by global telecommunication networks. For him, education was the meaning of life and the global information and communication system needed to be molded into an educational tool. Many of us still hold out hope for Dewey's educational goals, but as ICTs have advanced over the past century or two, it has become clear that the mere existence of global mass communication networks does not ensure that societies will learn to coexist and thrive.

This can be difficult for people to acknowledge. Shortly after the widespread dissemination of the telegraph, the radio, broadcast television and public internet access, some form of communication utopia was imagined or even expected. The telegraph collapsed space. Radio enabled instantaneous mass communication. Television brought live images from one side of the globe to the other for even larger mass audiences, and internet access gave individuals the power to be information senders, not just receivers. At each step hope and imagination flourished, but social and cultural clashes persisted. Communication systems can be used as weapons. The evolution of mass communication tools is the story of increased capacity to do the same good and evil things people have always done in societies and between them.

Looking beyond technological utopianism — the idea that new technologies (particularly ICTs) will lead to greater social understanding and better conditions for the global population — we are left with a tedious but massively meaningful project. We must find ways to coexist with other societies even as we are constantly aware of our differences and of possible threats that may have existed before but now are much easier to see.

Perhaps if we are to make the best of our digital global communication network, it would help to track the evolution of different forms of mass communication. This text very briefly touched on the continuum from telegraph to widespread internet adoption, but the first mass medium was ink on paper.

The First Mass Medium

The first global medium, besides the spoken word, was neither the internet nor the telegraph. In fact, it was not a mass medium at all. It was paper. Via trade routes, messages in the form of letters moved around the world in a matter of weeks or months. It was global communication, but it was slow.

The development of a global telegraph network made it possible for messages to spread in minutes. When the telegraph was wed to mass-consumed newspapers, the world saw the rise of fast, global, mass communication that had the power to potentially influence large groups of people at once.

Books transmitted messages widely and inspired literacy, but they did not establish a channel for consistent, timely communication meant for mass audiences. After the Gutenberg printing press was developed around 1440, the Gutenberg Bible was slowly mass produced and disseminated around the Western world. It opened up access to sacred texts that had been bound up for centuries by large institutions like the Roman Catholic Church, and its dissemination helped fuel the Protestant Reformation. Still, it was an outlier. Most other books, even those that were mass produced from around the 1500s to the 1800s were not disseminated as widely as the Gutenberg Bible. They were simply too expensive.

Nevertheless, mass literacy slowly paved the way for mass newspaper readership to emerge in the 20th century. After the telegraph was invented and developed for wide-scale use and after the cost of printing newspapers dropped, publishers could share news from around the globe with mass audiences. The newspaper, specifically the penny press, was the first mass medium.

[caption id="attachment_95" align="alignleft" width="300"] The front page of the Cincinnati Penny Paper from Monday, May 16, 1881. From: George Edward Stevens' article "From Penny Paper to Post and Times-Star: Mr. Scripps' First Link" in the Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin No. 27, 1969. The Penny Paper, May 16, 1881 by The Penny Paper. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain.[/caption]

What distinguished the penny press was affordability. These papers were published in tabloid format, which used small-sized pages and was cheaper to produce. Penny papers were written for and read by working class audiences starting in about the 1830s. They covered all manner of current events. Soon, major institutions such as political parties and unions developed their own papers to cover the topics that suited their agendas and to promote the cultural values that they held dear.

Mass Media Growth And Consolidation

As mass production of all sorts of manufactured goods grew during the 20th century, so did advertising budgets and the concept of brands. Brand advertising became fuel for the mass media, and as profitability rose, newspapers were bought up and organized into chains throughout the 20th century. Many newspapers grew their audience as they merged.

Partisan papers gave way to a brand of news that strived for objectivity. The profit motive mostly drove the change. To attract a mass audience, newspapers had to represent various points of view. This pushed some of the most opinionated citizens, particularly strong advocates for workers, to the fringes of mass discourse. Some advocates developed alternative media offerings. Others went mostly unheard or plied their craft directly in politics.

At the same, throughout much of the 20th century, the journalism workforce became more professionalized. Professional norms, that is the written and unwritten rules guiding behavior decided on by people in a given field, evolved. Many full-time, paid professional journalists stressed and continue to stress the need to remain detached from the people they cover so that journalists can maintain the practice and appearance of objectivity. Journalists emphasized objectivity in order to remain autonomous and to be perceived as truthful. The norm of objective reporting still strongly influences news coverage in newspapers as well as on most mainstream radio and television news networks.

That being said, the practice of maintaining objectivity is being called into question in our current hyper-partisan political media environment. Other strategies for demonstrating truthfulness require journalists to be transparent about how they do their work, about who owns their media outlets, and about what investments and personal views they may have. Chapter 9 covers news norms and their evolution in greater detail.

At the heart of the ethical discussion for professional journalists is a sort of battle between the need to be autonomous to cover news accurately with minimal bias and the need to be socially responsible. Social responsibility in the study of journalism ethics is a specific concept referring to the need for media organizations to be responsible for the possible repercussions of the news they produce. The debate goes on even as more and more platforms for mass communication are developed.

Beyond advancements in ink-on-paper newspapers (including the development of color offset printing), technological developments have contributed to the diversification of mass media products. Photography evolved throughout the 20th century as did motion picture film, radio and television technology. Other mass media presented challenges and competition for newspapers. Still, newspapers were quite a profitable business. They grew to their greatest readership levels in the middle-to-late 20th century, and their value was at its high point around the turn of the 21st century. Then came the internet.

Stewing In Our Own Juices

With the rise of global computer networks, particularly high-speed broadband and mobile communication technologies, individuals gained the ability to publish their own work and to comment on mass media messages more easily than ever before. If mass communication in the 20th century was best characterized as a one-to-many system where publishers and broadcasters reached waiting audiences, the mass media made possible by digital information networks in the twenty-first have taken on a many-to-many format.

For example, YouTube has millions of producers who themselves are also consumers. None of the social media giants such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Qzone and Weibo (in China), Twitter, Reddit or Pinterest is primarily known for producing content. Instead, they provide platforms for users to submit their own content and to share what mass media news and entertainment companies produce. The result is that the process of deciding what people should be interested in is much more decentralized in the digital network mass media environment than it was in the days of an analog one-to-many mass media system.

The process of making meaning in society — that is, the process of telling many smaller stories that add up to a narrative shared by mass audiences — is now much more collaborative than it was in the 20th century because more people are consuming news in networked platforms than through the channels managed by gatekeepers. A mass media gatekeeper is someone, professional or not, who decides what information to share with mass audiences and what information to leave out.

Fiction or non-fiction, every story leaves something out, and the same is true for shows made up of several stories, such as news broadcasts and heavily edited reality television. Gatekeepers select what mass audiences see, and then edit or disregard the rest. The power of gatekeepers may be diminished in networks where people can decide for themselves what topics they care most about, but there is still an important gatekeeping function in the mass media since much of what is ultimately shared on social media platforms originates in the offices and studios of major media corporations.

On social media platforms, media consumers have the ability to add their input and criticism, and this is an important function for users. Not only do we have a say as audience members in the content we would like to see, read and hear, but we also have an important role to play in society as voting citizens holding their elected officials accountable.

If social media platforms were only filled with mass media content, individual user comments, and their own homegrown content, digitally networked communication would be complex enough, but there are other forces at work. Rogue individuals, hacker networks and botnets — computers programmed to create false social media accounts, websites and other digital properties — can contribute content alongside messages produced by professionals and legitimate online community members. False presences on social media channels can amplify hate and misinformation and can stoke animosity between groups in a hyper-partisan media age.

Around the world, societies have democratized mass communication, but in many ways, agreeing on a shared narrative or even a shared list of facts is more difficult than ever. Users create filter bubbles for themselves where they mostly hear the voices and information that they want to hear. This has the potential to create opposing worldviews where users with different viewpoints not only have differing opinions, but they also have in mind completely different sets of facts creating different images about what is happening in the world and how society should operate.

When users feel the need to defend their filtered worldviews, it is quite harmful to society.

De-Massification

The infiltration of bots on common platforms is one issue challenging people working in good faith to produce accurate and entertaining content and to make meaning in the mass media. De-massification is another. Professionals working on mass-market media products now must fight to hold onto mass audiences. De-massification signifies the breakdown of mass media audiences. As the amount of information being produced and the number of channels on which news and other content can be disseminated grows exponentially, ready-made audiences are in decline.

In the future, it is anticipated that audiences, or fan bases, must be built rather than tapped into. One path to growing audiences in digital networks is to take an extreme point of view. Producers of news and entertainment information on the right and left of the political spectrum often rail against mainstream media as they promote points of view which are more or less biased. This kind of polarization along with the tendency of social media platforms to allow and even encourage people to organize along political lines likely contributes to de-massification as people organize into factions.

The future of some mass communication channels as regular providers of shared meaning for very large audiences is in question. That said, claims that any specific medium is "dead" are overblown. For example, newspaper readership, advertising revenue and employment numbers have been declining for about 25 years, but as of 2018, there are still more than 30 million newspaper subscribers. Mass audiences are shrinking and shifting, but they can still be developed.

Convergence

As mass audiences are breaking up and voices from the fringe are garnering outsized influence, the various types of media (audio, video, text, animation and the industries they are tied to) have come together on global computer and mobile network platforms in a process called convergence.

[caption id="attachment_95" align="alignright" width="418"] Beef stew by Robin DeGrassi from Denver, Colorado, USA. Source: Wikimedia. CC BY 2.0[/caption]

It is as though all media content is being tossed into a huge stew, one that surrounds and composes societies and cultures, and within this stew of information, people are re-organizing themselves according to the cultural and social concerns they hold most dear.

According to one hypothesis, in a society dominated by digital communication networks, people gather around the information they recognize and want to believe because making sense of the vast amount of information now available is impossible.

This text covers several mass media channels including social media, film, radio, television, music recording and podcasting, digital gaming, news, advertising, public relations and propaganda because these are still viable industries even as the content they produce appears more and more often on converged media platforms.

What we see emerging in networked spaces is a single mass media channel with a spectrum of possible text, photo, audio, video, graphic and game elements; however, the sites of professional production still mostly identify as one particular industry (such as radio and recorded music, film, television, cable television, advertising, PR, digital advertising or social media). Some of these are "legacy" media that have existed as analog industries prior to convergence, while others originated in digital media environments.

For the foreseeable future, we should expect legacy media producers to continue to hold formidable power as elements of larger media conglomerates, which acquired many media companies as a result of industry deregulation. We should also expect audiences to continue to fragment and digital media start-ups trying to build audiences out of fragmented communities to be common even if they are difficult to sustain.

What this means for social structures and for cultural production is disruption, limited perhaps by legacy media traditions and corporate power.

Melding Theories

The world of mass media has witnessed the convergence of media content on digital platforms, the ability of individuals to engage in one-to-many communication as though they were major broadcasters, and the emergence of structures that allow for many-to-many communication. These developments force us to rethink how separate interpersonal, organizational and mass communication truly are.

From a theoretical standpoint, these are well-established approaches to thinking about communication, but in practice, certain messages might fit into multiple categories. For example, a YouTube video made for a few friends might reach millions if it goes viral. Is it interpersonal communication, mass communication or both? Viral videos and memes spread to vast numbers of people but might start out as in-jokes between internet friends or trolls. The message's original meaning is often lost in this process. In a networked society, it can be difficult to differentiate between interpersonal and mass communication. For our purposes, it will be helpful to consider the message creator's intent.

As a user, it is essential to realize the possibility that interpersonal messages may be shared widely. As professionals, it also helps to realize that you cannot force a message to go viral, although most social media platforms now engage in various kinds of paid promotion where brands and influential users can pay to have their content spread more widely more quickly.

[caption id="attachment_95" align="alignleft" width="300"] Two women discuss a record album selection in a music shop in Amora, Portugal. Choosing Vinyl music by Pedro Ribeiro Simões. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption]

We must also understand that advertisers treat digital communication platforms much the same way whether they appear to users to be interpersonal or mass media environments. Users can be targeted down to the individual on either type of platform, and advertisers (with the help of platform creators), can access mass audiences, even when users are intending only to participate on a platform for purposes of interpersonal communication.

Scholars are still working to define how these platforms mix aspects of interpersonal and mass communication. Here is one takeaway: If you are not paying to use a platform like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube (Google), Instagram or Snapchat, you are the product. It is your attention that is being sold to advertisers.

The Big Picture

Society functions when the mass media work well, and we tend not to think about the technologies or the professionals who make it all possible. Interpersonal communication can function with or without a massive technological apparatus. It is more convenient, though, to be able to text each another. When interpersonal communication breaks down, we have problems in our relationships. When organizational communication breaks down, it creates problems for groups and companies. But when mass communication breaks down, society breaks down.

Cultural Production

There is another way of looking at the mass media that needs to be mentioned after looking in some depth at the structural changes going on in and around the field of mass communication. Mass media channels are also huge engines of cultural production. That is, they make the entertainment that helps us define who we are as large and small groups of people. To quote from Dead Poets Society: "We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race, and the human race is filled with passion. Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for." If you replace "reading and writing poetry" with "creating culture," you get a sense of the importance of cultural production. We can define culture as a collection of our knowledge, beliefs and practices. In practice, culture it how we express ourselves and enjoy life's experiences.

In media, there are three main types of cultural works, those associated with “high” culture, popular culture and folk culture. (Some scholars discuss “low” culture, but it is argued here that "low culture" is just another way of describing the low end of pop culture.)

High culture is arguably the best cultural material a society has to offer. Economic class often comes into play in defining what is “high culture” and what is not. Pop culture is the vast array of cultural products that appeal to the masses.

Folk culture refers to cultural products borne out of everyday life identifiable because they usually have practical uses as well as artistic value. It is often associated with prehistoric cultures, but that is because the folk culture, pop culture and high culture of prehistoric peoples were often one and the same. Their best art may also have been an everyday object like a bowl or a basket or a doll or a mask. Don’t confuse prehistoric art with modern folk art.

Modern folk art has the specific quality of trying to capture what is both beautiful and useful in everyday life.

Folk music tends to rely on “traditional” sounds and instruments. Topically, it focuses on the value of everyday existence. Folk music is often built around narratives that carry morals much the same way fairy tales do. Fairy tales are probably the best example of folk literature.

So much of the interpretation and the value of cultural production is culturally relative. This means that an object or work’s value is determined by perceptions of people in different cultural groups.

In modern society, mass media often drive our perceptions. It is important to recognize that different cultures have different moral values and to acknowledge that some practices should be universally abhorred and stopped, even if they are partially or wholly accepted in other cultures.

The relationship between culture and mass media is complex; it is difficult to distinguish modern culture from how it appears in the various mass media. Culture in the developed world is spread through mass media channels. Just as society forms and is formed in part by messages in the mass media, so it goes with culture. Cultural products and their popularity can influence which media channels people prefer. Conversely, changes in media and ICTs can lead to changes in how we produce culture.

When we discuss digital culture in the next chapter, we will continue to break down different levels of culture and the relationship between cultural forms and mass communication in the networked communication age. To begin to understand the mass media, their role in society and how they shape culture and are shaped by cultural preferences, it helps to think about how the mass media may influence you.

 

The internal culture of the media has become more competitive over the years. Given the pressure to be the first to break a story, journalists increasingly feel the need to market themselves as trustworthy news sources. Those who work for the same media outlet may compete with one another. Journalists are expected to create a likeable personal brand. They are rated not only on viewership, but on social media likes, shares, personal appearances, and so on.

Journalists can no longer hide behind their byline; they must put their best face forward and work to increase followers. It is important for you to realize this when pitching a news story to a journalist. These topics will be covered in depth later in the book.

 

Writing And Communications

Writing is a fundamental business skill that can greatly affect the credibility and success of an organization. A recent survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (2016) found that 70 percent of employers look for evidence of strong writing skills in recent college graduates.

Styles of writing vary with the medium, the type of message being communicated, and the audience.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="448"] Students write in a notebook while meeting in a coffee house. People Coffee Meeting Team by Startup Stock Photos. Source: Pexels. CCO[/caption]

Media writing as discussed here differs from academic writing, which most higher education audiences are accustomed to using. Media writing is clear, straightforward, accurate, and appealing to the target audience. It is active and dynamic, and it allows an organization to engage with its key audiences and clearly communicate ideas and goals. It should also influence the target audience’s perceptions and/or behaviors. Word choice, tone, and message packaging are some of the techniques you will need to master in order to be a strong communicator.

As with any skill, you have to consistently practice writing and be open to suggestions in order to improve. Because there is a perceived—if sometimes unjustified—association between intelligence and writing ability, you may misinterpret constructive feedback as criticism. However, one of the best ways to learn whether you’re clearly communicating through your writing is to get a third-party audience to read and react honestly to it.

The 24-hour news cycle places high demands on journalists and news media professionals to work against tight deadlines while being the first to break news. Strict deadlines are not isolated to the newsroom; public relations professionals also are expected to produce under pressure. For example, if your organization has an unanticipated product recall, audiences will expect some type of official announcement quickly. Furthermore, you often get only one chance to create the right message, one that has its intended effect.

Corporate media organizations compete with one another to break stories or report on events. Being the first to deliver a story brings a media outlet prestige and credibility. Furthermore, being the first to publish often results in a higher search engine ranking, which results in more clicks and stronger viewership.

The onset of cable television in the 1980s changed the media landscape. One of the most notable results is what we refer to as the 24-hour news cycle. Audiences in the past had to wait until specific broadcast times—usually at noon and in the early and late evening—to hear the latest about current events.

Today, many media outlets disseminate news constantly, every hour of the day. This immediacy of news coverage seeks to meet the audience’s demand to have essential information quickly. Furthermore, media outlets compete not only against each other but against the Internet. In this fast-paced environment, media professionals are expected to provide quality news stories to the masses even as they find it more difficult to gather and report facts accurately and responsibly.

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What is Public Relations?

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) defines public relations as “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics” (2016, para. 4). Simply put, public relations helps to influence an audience’s perceptions by building relationships and shaping public conversations about a client or company. These public conversations often take place through mass media and social media, which is why public relations professionals need to understand how to work with and write effective messages for the media. Click here for more information on what you can expect in a public relations career.

Public relations professionals are in charge of a wide range of communication activities that may include increasing brand visibility and awareness, planning events, and creating content. Some of them also deal with crisis communication and help to salvage a brand’s integrity and reputation during a negative event. This video from Kate Finley, chief executive officer of Belle Communications, explains what it is like to work at a public relations agency.

What to Expect from a PR Agency with Kate Finley

 

Video Clip

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_av8i27di04[/embed]

Four Models Of Public Relations

Grunig and Hunt (1984) developed four models of public relations that describe the field’s various management and organizational practices. These models serve as guidelines to create programs, strategies, and tactics.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="721"] Four Models of PR” by Michael Shiflet and Jasmine Roberts is licensed under CC BY 2.0[/caption]

In the press agent/publicity model, communications professionals use persuasion to shape the thoughts and opinions of key audiences. In this model, accuracy is not important and organizations do not seek audience feedback or conduct audience analysis research. It is a one-way form of communication. One example is propagandist techniques created by news media outlets in North Korea.

The public information model moves away from the manipulative tactics used in the press agent model and presents more accurate information. However, the communication pattern is still one-way. Practitioners do not conduct audience analysis research to guide their strategies and tactics. Some press releases and newsletters are created based on this model, when audiences are not necessarily targeted or researched beforehand.

The two-way asymmetrical model presents a more “scientifically persuasive” way of communicating with key audiences. Here, content creators conduct research to better understand the audience’s attitudes and behaviors, which in turn informs the message strategy and creation. Still, persuasive communication is used in this model to benefit the organization more so than audiences; therefore, it is considered asymmetrical or imbalanced. The model is particularly popular in advertising and consumer marketing, fields that are specifically interested in increasing an organization’s profits.

Finally, the two-way symmetrical model argues that the public relations practitioner should serve as a liaison between the organization and key publics, rather than as a persuader. Here, practitioners are negotiators and use communication to ensure that all involved parties benefit, not just the organization that employs them. The term “symmetrical” is used because the model attempts to create a mutually beneficial situation. The two-way symmetrical model is deemed the most ethical model, one that professionals should aspire to use in their everyday tactics and strategies (Simpson, 2014).

Some experts think of public relations more broadly. For instance, they may argue that political lobbying is a form of public relations because lobbyists engage in communication activities and client advocacy in order to shape the attitudes of Congress (Berg, 2009). However, this book focuses on a public relations approach based particularly on writing for the media. Furthermore, the goal is to disseminate communication based on the two- way symmetrical model presented by Grunig and Hunt (1984).

Discussion PointDo you think the two-way symmetrical model is plausible? Consider this example from Dr. William Sledzik, associate professor of journalism and mass communication at Kent State University:“Can we realistically serve multiple stakeholders whose needs conflict? For example, can we represent the interests of loyal employee groups while our shareholders demand layoffs in favor of low-cost offshore suppliers?”

Why Do Companies Need Public Relations?

There was a time when many companies did not see the value of public relations, unless a crisis happened. Even now, some public relations professionals face challenges in convincing key executives of their value to the function of the company.

With the abundance of information readily available to audiences worldwide, companies are more vulnerable than ever to misinformation about their brand. An audience’s attitudes and beliefs about a company can greatly influence its success. Therefore, the public relations professional helps to monitor and control conversations about a company or client and manage its reputation in the marketplace. Viewing public relations as a key management function of a business or an essential strategy to manage one’s individual reputation will help accomplish important goals such as establishing trust among key publics, increasing news media and social media presence, and maintaining a consistent voice across communication platforms.

For more on the impact of reputation on business success, take a look at this article from The Entrepreneur.

Public Relations Versus Marketing Versus Advertising

Many people confuse public relations with marketing and advertising. Although there are similarities, there also are key differences.

Probably the most important difference between marketing, public relations, and advertising is the primary focus. Public relations emphasizes cultivating relationships between an organization or individual and key publics for the purpose of managing the client’s image. Marketing emphasizes the promotion of products and services for revenue purposes. Advertising is a communication tool used by marketers in order to get customers to act. The image below outlines other differences.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="631"] The difference between marketing, public relations, and advertising” by Jasmine Roberts and Michael Shiflet is licensed under CC BY 2.0.[/caption]

Long Description

MARKETING

• Systematic process and planning of an organization's promotional efforts
• Larger umbrella term that includes public relations and advertising
• Focused on the promotion of products and/or services in order to drive sales
• Audience is primarily customers or potential buyers
• Paid media: companies have to pay for marketing efforts

P.R.

• Focused on creating a favorable public image through relationship building and reputation management
• Draws attention to public conversations and media coverage. Also diverts attention away from public discussions if damaging.
• Audiences varies; not just customers (examples: media, internal employees)
• Component of marketing
• Earned media: Publicity achieved through pitching or convincing journalists to cover your client or organization

ADVERTISING

• Focused on drawing attention to the product through strategic placement and imagery
• Component of marketing (falls under the umbrella of marketing efforts)
• Execution of some marketing plans
• Paid media: companies have to pay for advertisement creation
• Audience is primarily customers or potential buyers

For more information on the differences between marketing, public relations, and advertising, read the following articles:

• Marketing versus PR: Five ways to tell the difference
• The real difference between public relations and advertising

General Roles In Public Relations

According to Smith (2013), public relations practitioners can be placed in two groups based on responsibilities: communication managers and communication technicians. Communication managers assist in the strategic planning of an organization’s communication efforts. The broad term “communication manager” includes several similar public relations positions: expert consultant, problem-solving facilitator, and communication liaison. Expert consultants develop a specific communication plan to help achieve organizational goals. Problem-solving facilitators provide crisis management to an organization during an obstacle. Liaisons speak on behalf of the brand and facilitate communication between the organization and its key publics.

Before entering a managerial role, most public relation practitioners begin their career as a communication technician. This can refer to a variety of entry-level positions, including public relations specialist, communication assistant, and junior account executive. Communication technicians write press releases, pitches, feature articles, and other communication materials and assist in event planning. Together, communication managers and technicians play a vital role in relationship building and the management of a brand.

This article from PRSA provides tips to those beginning a career in public relations.

[caption id="attachment_210" align="alignleft" width="300"] Don Draper seeing a ghost. DON LOOKS UP ... by Bill Strain. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] “What you call love was invented by guys like me to sell nylons.” — Don Draper, fictional advertising executive from the AMC series Mad Men  

Advertising, Public Relations and Propaganda

Think Critically About Where Persuasion Becomes Propaganda

Advertising is a relatively straightforward process, right? Companies develop brands and specific products they want to sell. They need to make consumers aware of their brands, products and those products' features, so they develop creative campaigns to promote them and often pay ad agencies to do the creative work and place the ads in front of mass audiences. The basic definition of advertising is a message or group of messages designed with three intentions: to raise awareness in the population about brands, products and services; to encourage consumers to make purchases; and, ultimately, to inspire people to advocate for their favorite brands. A brand advocate is someone who is so supportive of a product or service that they publicly encourage others to buy it. There are paid brand advocates, of course, but in a networked communication environment, even unpaid individuals with modest followings can become influencers — people who promote products on their social media streams. Consumers who have been so successfully persuaded to purchase and enjoy a product that they try to persuade others to buy it too extend the reach of advertising potentially exponentially. A company is a business entity that produces several types of product, whereas a brand is a term used to label a specific product or a limited family of products. It is important to differentiate between the two. For example, PepsiCo owns the Pepsi brand but also Frito Lay, Gatorade and Quaker, among others. Under the Pepsi brand, there are several products such as Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Wild Cherry and many other variations around the world. Advertising most often focuses on brands and products rather than the companies and large corporations that own them. As this chapter progresses, it defines the core concept of advertising and its relationship to public relations in more depth. Then, it discusses the history of advertising. It defines two general strategies or approaches known as "above-the-line" and "below-the-line" advertising before examining in detail the "advertising funnel," or "purchase funnel." A few other basic theories are introduced. There are sections on content marketing and other forms of persuasion. The big picture of marketing is briefly addressed before the chapter concludes with sections on public relations and propaganda.

Advertising Defined

On one level, advertising is a simple concept. Mass media professionals craft messages to help sell products by raising awareness and pushing people to make actual purchase decisions, but in the network society and the age of targeted marketing, the ability to reach individual consumers who fit precise sets of characteristics is incredible. More is expected of advertisers than to put interesting messages in front of the "right people" based on general demographics. Brands may advertise during certain TV shows or publications to reach a particular type of media consumer. This more traditional form of mass media advertising is still a multibillion-dollar industry, but with data-driven targeting capabilities, brands can reach people based not only on general demographic characteristics but on specific behaviors as well. The combination of detailed demographic information, search and digital media usage behaviors and physical world behaviors (such as whether someone has entered a Walmart or Macy's in the past week) makes advertising in the information age more powerful, sometimes more meaningful and often more ethically questionable than in the past. The level of targeting that is possible is incredible and would have been unimaginable 20 years ago. Advertising has always been about tapping into consumers' existing needs or about creating a need and inserting a product to fill it. Now, there is a greater ability than ever to identify and create a need not only for interested members of a mass audience but also for specific individuals in real time based on their online and physical world behavior.

The History Of Advertising

Before delving into a discussion about the future of advertising, it might help to survey the history of the field. Advertising in the modern sense emerged between the mid-19th and early-20th centuries. At the same time that the concept of brands was developing, mass-media platforms such as daily newspapers and radio broadcasts grew their audiences and spread their influence geographically. Corporations, conveniently, grew large enough to have massive budgets to spend on advertising. The promotion of products dates back thousands of years, but the modern advertising explosion tracks explosive growth in industrial manufacturing from roughly the mid-1800s through the entire 20th century. [caption id="attachment_210" align="alignleft" width="300"] Early newspaper ad for Stark Trees from the Boston Public Library Collection. Source: flickr. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] HubSpot has a deck of 472 slides that presents a narrative about the history of advertising. Some highlights are referenced here. One key point made in this visual history is that non-branded newspaper ads would often outnumber branded ads in the early days of the newspaper industry. As uniformity in mass-produced goods became the norm and brand differentiation became possible, so did the need to communicate it. Ayer & Son is credited with being the first ad agency to work on commission. In other words, it is known as the first modern ad agency. It was founded in Philadephia in 1869. Today there are about 500,000 ad agencies in the world of all shapes and sizes. They employ ever-evolving techniques to try to stay ahead of information weary consumers.

Categorizing Advertising Methods

From the mid-20th century on, advertisers conceptualized their work by breaking it down into one of two strategic categories: "above-the-line" and "below-the-line" methods. Put simply, "above the line" (ATL) refers to methods of advertising that target mass audiences on mass media platforms with messages usually designed from a one-to-many point of view. Often, "above the line" implies that the ad or ad campaign — a series of related ads meant to work in tandem — appears on legacy media platforms. (Recall that "legacy media" has been defined previously in this text to refer to platforms in existence before the transition to digital.) ATL campaigns most often include television, radio and print ads as well as sponsorships. A sponsorship is when a company pays to support an event or a mass media production in exchange for having its brand promoted alongside the activity or content. The organizing concept for ATL advertising, as the term is used today, is that the ads target a mass audience primarily on "legacy" media platforms. [caption id="attachment_210" align="alignright" width="300"] Billboards clutter the roadway in Leakey, Texas. Photo by Marc St. Gil. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] "Below the line" (BTL) advertising refers to more one-on-one marketing approaches which can include targeted social media campaigns, direct mail marketing, point-of-sale ads, coupons and deals, and email and telemarketing appeals. This is not an exhaustive list of ATL or BTL methods, but these examples demonstrate that ATL has more in common with the concept of mass communication introduced in earlier chapters, and BTL has more in common with interpersonal communication, also as previously discussed. This is not to say that BTL messages are crafted one at a time for individual consumers. Rather, the tone, style and method of dissemination of BTL advertising are more personal. In the 20th century, the term ATL advertising was associated with ad agency work (mostly mass media campaign ads), whereas BTL advertising referred to pamphlets, point-of-sale marketing and other relatively "small" tasks that ad agencies typically did not handle. Now, there are ad agencies of all sizes, and even very large agencies might do BTL marketing. Online advertising and social media marketing have made it possible to target people with personal messages but still purchase the ads on a massive scale. Thus, advertising can be massively individuated — that is, produced for mass audiences but having the appearance of personalized messages — much like social media content. The profit in BTL marketing comes from reaching large audiences with tailored messages at specific times in relation to their previous purchasing and shopping behaviors. So much data exists on individual users and on the behavior of similar people who have made similar purchases that advertisers can try to target people at precisely the right moment to influence their purchase decisions. ATL and BTL advertising can work hand in hand. Think of a summer soft drink promotion advertised on television and on the radio (ATL) that is also backed up with neighborhood-specific billboards and hyper-targeted Twitter messages with surprise prizes given out (BTL). BTL messages still reach large numbers of people, but they are by definition more tailored than ATL ads. An individual ad in a BTL context may not cost as much as a massive ad buy facilitated by an agency that primarily does ATL advertising; however, BTL advertising can still be costly for advertisers and profitable for ad agencies in the aggregate. For example, an ad agency that does not typically manage multimillion-dollar television ad buys might still put together hundreds of thousands of dollars in targeted social media ads. Rather than displaying one commercial for several months, the BTL social media campaign might be made up of dozens of targeted videos, tweets, influencer posts and online ads. Often software algorithms are used to decide who sees which targeted ad and when.

The Advertising Funnel, And Other Key Concepts

At its heart, advertising is a matter of raising awareness, creating a deeper interest in a product, and encouraging consumers to desire to make a purchase and ultimately to take action. Professional communicators tailor messages in relation to the advertising funnel or purchase funnel, as shown in the image on the left. Brands, either on their own or with the help of advertising agencies, target audiences in different ways at specific points along the funnel to reach their strategic goals. For example, if an unknown brand launches a new product, people need to be made aware of both the brand and product. The brand may need to establish itself with an awareness campaign. If Nike introduces a new Air Jordan, the branding is easily handled. The top of the funnel areas of awareness and interest will not need as much focus as the decision and action areas, the "down funnel" aspects of a campaign for a well-known and well-loved brand. [caption id="attachment_210" align="aligncenter" width="437"] Simple graphic representation of the purchase funnel. By BronHiggs. Wikipedia CC BY-SA[/caption]

Long Description

The image is an illustration of a purchase funnel. It is wide and the top and narrows at the bottom. This indicates a broad marketplace narrowing to the group of actual customers. The funnel is split into four parts labeled Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action. Awareness is associated with broad market potential. Interest refers to the somewhat narrower subset of people who are prospective customers. Desire is an even smaller group of people who are real prospects as customers and at the action point, the funnel narrows where the real customers are located. The purpose is to squeeze as many people through the funnel as you can and to be able to identify the level of interest in a given market subset. Another way to think of this is as a pathway a potential customer makes, also known as the consumer journey. First, the consumer needs to be made aware of the brand and its products. Then, they might take an interest in a particular product as they learn more about its features. They need to move from being interested to desiring a product if they are going to make the purchase. Ultimately, from the advertiser's point of view, the goal is not only to move the consumer to purchase the product but also to inspire them to advocate for the brand. This is not conceptually complicated. The idea is to move people in straightforward steps toward desired behaviors; however, there are complex processes of cognition and persuasion that underlie consumer decisions. Consumer behavior is about as unpredictable as other forms of human behavior. There are also ethical concerns. If a product or service proves to be harmful, advertisers and public relations professionals have to decide if and when they will stop marketing the brand. Advertising is challenging enough when products do not raise ethical dilemmas. Promoting harmful products can be damaging socially, professionally and personally. Thus, the world of consumer advertising in the mass media is more complex than the funnel makes it seem, although it is an essential strategic model in the industry. There are two other advertising concepts or theories that this text aims to introduce: the basic rule of seven and the third-person effect.

The Rule Of Seven

[caption id="attachment_210" align="alignright" width="300"] The number 7 painted above goods entrance to old Carlton United Brewery, Victoria Street, Melbourne, Australia. Photo by Chris Samuel. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] The advertising rule of seven is a rule of thumb, or what social scientists call a heuristic, which suggests that people need to see an advertisement seven times before they act on it. Even then, there is no guarantee that seeing something seven times will compel a person to buy a certain product, vote for a particular politician or take any other consumer action. Instead, the point is that consistent messaging is a base requirement for advertising to work. The purchase decision is ultimately a personal one. You can create the conditions and increase the probability of a product being bought, but it is difficult (perhaps impossible) to predict behaviors based on messaging. Even the most successful advertising and propaganda campaigns only constitute one area of influence on behavior. As previously stated in this text, social institutions such as your family, friends, church and workplace can influence your behavior in tandem with or contrary to what you see and hear in the mass media.

The Third-Person Effect

There is a theory in the study of mass communication called the third-person effect that says we tend to think advertising is effective but we believe that it does not affect us. Note here that social science theories are based on many observable facts. This is not a flight of fancy. Rather, this is a tested theory demonstrated in multiple studies. Here is how the third-person effect works with regard to advertising: You might think upon seeing a clever advertisement, “Sure, that ad probably got someone else to buy the product, but it doesn’t influence me. I’m a savvy shopper. I don’t just go out and buy whatever ads tell me to buy. I’m not Homer Simpson looking at billboards." And yet we do know that advertising works at least to influence behavior. It has measurable effects on attitudes, that is, what people think about brands. Advertising influences brand and product awareness in individuals and in groups. We can say with a degree of certainty that some people are directly influenced by some ads some of the time, and we can say that many people are indirectly influenced by ads almost all of the time. For example, you may not drink Coke Zero, but you probably know what it is, and you may know that it is now called Coke Zero Sugar after a name change in 2017. Whether you understand the logic behind the name change or you actually buy the soft drink is another question. Campaigns to make consumers aware of new brands and products have a track record of widespread but still limited success. Now here is what's interesting about the third-person effect. Knowing that advertising can influence people's awareness and purchase decisions, we tend to develop a sort of double delusion where we think other people are probably affected more than they are, and we think we are influenced less than we are. Sometimes we even base our behavior on what we think other people will do after receiving a message in the mass media. It works like this: We hear a message that a winter storm is coming, and we worry that other people will be easily influenced by that news. That worry and not the original message may influence our behavior. The author of the original study noted that if there is news of a possible shortage, people sometimes buy up that item at grocery stores. This has happened as recently as 2008. Rice futures went up and up out of fear that people were stockpiling rice. So, what did people do? They stockpiled rice. Costco and Sam's Club even put limits on the number of large bags of rice people could purchase. How does the bread and milk effect work? Following the third-person effect theory, an individual hears about a storm coming to the East Coast of the United States. He thinks that other people are going to feel the need to go out and buy up all of the bread and milk, so, aware of the threat and concerned about their behavior, he goes out and buys bread and milk. Now the concern has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. People are, in fact, buying up the bread and milk. The question is whether they are buying it up because they are unduly influenced by messages in the mass media, or they are responding out of fear of how other people will behave. You can imagine other people foolishly thinking a winter storm is going to be worse than it is and you can think to yourself you had better buy the bread and milk before those fools, but to them, you have become the fool. [caption id="attachment_210" align="alignleft" width="300"] Three-person horse graffiti. Photo by Seth de L'Isle. Source: Flickr. CC BY-SA 2.0[/caption] The third-person effect is also a major issue in race relations and partisan politics. We often presume that we know how individuals from other groups will think because we have seen messages in the media and we presume to know how the "other" will respond. The third-person effect is based on three presumptions. First, we assume that other people have seen the messages we have. Then, we presume that they will be influenced by those messages. Finally, we presume that they will behave in certain ways because of the message and because of our preconceptions about different groups. For the theory to work, it does not matter if the "other" is Democrats, Republicans, frat bros, Mexican people, snobby professors or slacker college students. Our assumptions can be completely wrong and we may still find ourselves acting in ways to pre-empt or counteract the imagined behavior of the imagined "other." There are different degrees of the third-person effect. Researchers have found it is probably strongest in situations where groups have little understanding of one another and where the messages and perceived outcomes are thought to be negative (note the section on Perloff). This is not to overstate the third-person effect. Like other theories related to persuasion in the mass media the behavioral influences it identifies have to contend with other social forces to influence behavior. Still, it is one of the most interesting theories in the field of mass communication, and it can explain why people race out to buy a certain product when they perceive it to be scarce. We do not want anyone to beat us to the bread and milk.

Content Marketing

Content marketing refers to a common practice where brands produce their own content, or hire someone else to produce it, and then market that information as an alternative to advertising. It still moves people along the purchase funnel, but there is usually added value in this type of content. If an advertisement for a mattress describes its features and price, a blog funded by the mattress brand might compare the pros and cons of many different mattresses, perhaps with a bias for the brand. It isn't always pretty. Content produced for a brand should ethically be labeled as sponsored, but it is not always done. In cases when consumers have discovered that trusted sources were content marketers rather than independent reviewers, the revelations have created public relations problems for the brands. Content marketing done ethically offers financial transparency while providing valuable information and an emotional connection to the product for consumers. It can take the form of blog posts or entire blogs. Such marketing is usually optimized for search engines, which is to say the posts are written to attract search engine attention as well as outside links, which also alerts search engines that this content is valuable. Done well, branded content can be seen as more authentic than advertising content, and it can be cheaper to produce and disseminate. It is difficult to do well, of course. The most common types of content created in this context besides blog content are social media profiles and posts, sponsored content in social media spaces and even viral video and meme chasing. Brands might have their own social media profiles, or they might support social media influencers to promote their products in a sponsored way. Brands might also use their influencer teams or their own internal marketing teams to follow viral social media trends and to create memes. In a sense, content marketing allows a brand to create a more human profile in digital spaces. In this manner, brands can engage with potential and repeat customers. Brands can foster relationships and encourage brand advocacy among people not being paid to promote their products. Many brands use this form of marketing to engage consumers on a deep level and to offer information and emotion that might not be present in other forms of advertising.

Marketing Clarified

The more you study the bigger picture of marketing — which includes advertising strategies and other research efforts meant to guide advertising strategies as part of larger sales and production strategies—the more you recognize how focused advertising is. It may seem that advertising is the biggest, most important element of the mass communication industry because its revenues fuel other types of mass media production, but advertising is only one piece of the marketing puzzle. Marketing's four P's — often described as product, price, place and promotion (or position) — encompass much more than making messages to support brands and products. Marketing professionals worry about all four and consider advertising as just one part of the promotion category. Advertising professionals will often argue that the best branding helps define and redefine the product over time so that the product only exists in consumers' minds as advertising has described it, but marketing gets into the business of deciding what products to make, how to promote them, whom to market them to and when to stop making them. There is also a thought process that defines a fifth 'P';  Public Relations, and that it should be counted separately from the fourth 'P' of promotion. This thought highlights the growing value and performance of public relations to the marketing mix. HubSpot, the advertising company that provided the quick history of advertising early on in this chapter also gets credit for helping to popularize inbound marketing. The idea of inbound marketing is that you bring people in to learn about your product using content marketing and then you can make sales to them in the context of a relationship where they found you rather than vice versa. In a sense, inbound marketing turns advertising upside down by building spaces and inviting consumers in to find what they are already looking for rather than trying to create a need out of the glut of information in digital communication networks. Inbound marketing is advertising's answer to de-massification. It involves developing consistent messages and content of uses that are so compelling people will come to the brand to experience them. It is the audience-building aspect of advertising. It relates in many ways to the superbug media concept from previous chapters, and it is growing in popularity as people and companies develop new and better ways of avoiding advertising. An established method of inbound marketing is to write a blog or develop a podcast that attracts audiences who come for information and who stay for the delicious products. To fully understand the power of inbound marketing, ask yourself if you have ever become a brand advocate. Have you ever sung the praises of your new smartphone or told people they had to try a new restaurant? If you have advocated for a brand and sent people looking for it online, you have probably become part of someone's inbound marketing strategy. In many ways, marketing (particularly content marketing) bridges the concepts of advertising and public relations because it includes content production similar to advertising and it establishes relationships with consumers, which is the ultimate purpose of PR.

Public Relations

The history of the public relations field is often misunderstood. Many think of public relations as organized manipulation made up of corporate, political and even non-profit propaganda. It is often thought of as deception, but this is not always the case. In a society fueled by networked communications, it is becoming less important to ask what messages people receive and more important to ask what messages they seek out, according to Greg Jarboe, author of a brief history of PR. Jarboe worked for a PR firm with offices in San Francisco and Boston, two of the most well-established technology markets in the country. He argues that PR is more about creating a sense of understanding between consumers and brands and that this might be done just as well by the brand in digital spaces just as it is via other mass media channels controlled by other corporate entities. Historically, PR depended on other media platforms such as TV, newspapers and magazines to promote its content. Content marketing means this is no longer the case. Mass media platforms may still be needed to reach mass audiences outside of a brand's collection of fans and followers, but much goodwill can be generated by maintaining a proactive, positive and professional digital presence. While it is true that PR often tries to put a good face on companies with all manner of reputations and harmful business practices, it also serves charities, governmental services and small local businesses. Not every institutional organization can have a huge PR budget, but the practices can be taught to just about any small business owner.

The History Of PR And Propaganda

At the core of PR is a simple model developed by Harold Lasswell in the 1940s. Developing an effective PR model was an important war effort during World War II when it was essential to develop theories for how propaganda worked to determine what the Nazis were doing and, if possible, how their propaganda could be stopped. Lasswell’s model asked five simple questions: who (Sender) sent what (Message) through which channel (Channel) to which audience (Receiver) and with what effect. This was a way of breaking down mass influence beyond advertising. In a sense, governmental propaganda is PR, but the client is a country. The S-M-C-R model (often attributed in that particular configuration to Berlo) is the most efficient model for understanding how to break down and analyze messages in the mass media. [caption id="attachment_212" align="alignright" width="300"] "Communication" by Jonny Hughes. Source: flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] Professionals and academics examine and manipulate all four components to isolate which changes correlate with which behavioral effects. S-M-C-R assumes that the sender comes first and the receiver comes last. There is a time element that must be established in researching the effects of mass-mediated messages, but the point is that this simple model of propaganda became the basis for all sorts of media effects studies. Propaganda and PR messaging does not work immediately to bring about drastic changes in behavior. Behavioral phenomena, particularly changes in behavior, are driven by many variables, as we have discussed several times; however, if you want to begin to look at an advertising campaign, film or news documentary to examine its effects, this is the model to start with. Noise must be accounted for, and in an age dominated by the digital information glut, the opportunity for immediate feedback and engagement must also be considered. Receivers almost immediately become senders in a network. Thus, the S-M-C-R model will often include measures looking at how much noise gets into the system and looking at what happens when receivers immediately start their own S-M-C-R processes. Wherever a message originates, even if it is as simple as clicking "Share" on Facebook, the S-M-C-R model starts again.

More Concepts In PR

For most of the 20th century, the shorthand definition of PR was that it was like advertising only instead of paying a media outlet to run a message, you sent the message out to journalists and other gatekeepers (see Chapter 7) in the hopes that they would share the information as news. Now, PR has to work in a digital media system where news reporters and editors are not the major gatekeepers deciding what information will be made public. PR professionals now need to think about search algorithms, search engine optimization, social media trends, social media platform algorithms, social media influencers and social link sharing sites such as Reddit. Publicity on these channels can be worth tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. PR often measures its worth in earned media — the amount of free air time on TV or space in major newspapers and magazines that is earned by getting other mass media channels to tell your product's stories without having to pay for ad space An example of earned media is when Apple released a new iPhone, and news organizations provided coverage of the lines that wrapped around city blocks as people waited for the latest gadget. For years, Apple earned millions of dollars in earned media by keeping new features a secret and then releasing new iPhones with considerable hype. Free marketing time and space in digital and print publications can help push a brand from being a leader to being legendary. Global PR is a $14 billion industry. PR can take the form of an event, a product placement, or a skillfully crafted message delivered during a crisis. It is much less about promoting specific brands and more about promoting and maintaining the image of a brand, company or large corporation. Recall that advertising tends to focus on brands and products. PR can focus on the company and the corporate narrative, the story of how the company came to exist and how it represents certain values and ideals — at least in theory. Sometimes it helps us to understand an element of mass media if we discuss when it all goes wrong. When British Petroleum (BP) had an oil gusher erupt in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, 11 people died, and more than three million barrels of oil leaked into the gulf. It took almost three months to cap the oil gusher. The CEO of BP, Anthony Bryan "Tony" Hayward, lost his job because he made a major PR blunder when he said he just wanted his "life back." Eleven people were dead. The fishing and tourism industries of Louisiana, Mississippi and parts of Texas, ravaged by hurricanes just years before, were being threatened again. This time, though, Mother Nature was not to blame. It was BP, a multinational corporation that up to that point had been working to create a more environmentally friendly image. It took BP years to come back from that disaster, and it was made worse because of poor crisis communications. PR is about promoting good relationships with your consumers, your employees and the communities where your products are made. It is about earning "free" news and social media coverage, but perhaps most importantly it is about managing crises so that people are not given a reason not to buy your products.

Crisis Management

The best way to build good PR is to carefully maintain a good reputation over time and to avoid behaviors as an individual, company or corporation that might harm others. The best prevention against bad PR is to follow your industry's and your own ethical codes at all times, whatever they are. Even if you do this, you might face a PR crisis. For example, a politician might decide to target your brand regardless of whether your business practices are ethical. All the more reason to maintain good longstanding relationships with your consumers. [caption id="attachment_212" align="alignleft" width="300"] "War on the bullshit!" graffiti in London. Photo by Duncan Hull. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] The first rule of crisis communications is to plan ahead by anticipating the kinds of problems your company might have. Chemical companies should prepare for chemical spills. Sports teams will probably not prepare for environmental disasters, but they may have to prepare for the social media scandals that players sometimes land themselves in. If there is a disaster, the advice is to “be truthful and transparent,” to not say too much and to correct any exaggerations that emerge in the news media and on social media, within reason. Engaging in social media arguments is almost never productive for a brand, unless you have Wendy's level of Twitter clapback. A major goal of PR efforts during a crisis is to try to make people forget there ever was a crisis. Journalists often have the opposite interest because reporting on conflict is interesting. Helping people to survive is one of the primary functions of journalism. This explains why negative news gets so much more attention than positive news. No one dies when people do their jobs salting the roads and drivers maneuver safely in snowstorms. When people crash, that, sadly, is news. Journalists know that people care about safety perhaps more than any other issue, so they focus on safety concerns during times of crisis. At these times, PR and journalism can be at odds, but truth and transparency are still advisable to the PR professional. You do not legally have to tell journalists everything that has happened (depending on the circumstances and whether your institution is funded by taxpayers), but if journalists discover a negative impact that you failed to disclose, they will wonder what else you are hiding, and they may give your critics and detractors extra consideration and attention. PR professionals work to manage story framing. (Recall that framing was defined in Chapter 9.) PR pros often work with journalists to cover negative stories with clarity and honesty rather than trying to hide the facts about a crisis. Finally, in PR there is the need to learn from mistakes and to analyze a company or corporation's crisis responses. As difficult as it might be to go back and discuss where communication failed, it is essential. Reflection is a critical step in learning and corporations are like any other social institution. They need to learn to survive and to thrive.

Handling Unfavorable Publicity

Handling unfavorable publicity means being honest with consumers and putting public interest first.

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Key Points

Being prepared for harmful situations is imperative. It is important to map out potential negative scenarios and have a PR plan for each one. It is important to have a crisis management team who can handle these situations. Protecting the integrity and reputation of an organization is important, but putting public interest ahead of the organization's interest is key to gaining consumer trust and loyalty. A media reaction plan should include a company media representative as part of the crisis management team. Firms need to show that they are working toward positive resolutions to deflect the negative publicity.

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Term

• Crisis Management Team A team in an organization that prepares contingency plans in advance, as part of a crisis management plan.

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Example

• • In 1982, Johnson & Johnson's Tylenol medication commanded 35% of the US over-the-counter analgesic market and represented 15% of the company's profits. Unfortunately, one individual succeeded in lacing the drug with cyanide. Seven people died as a result, so a panic ensued about how widespread the contamination might be. By the end of the episode, everyone knew that Tylenol was associated with the scare. The company's market value fell by $1 billion as a result. When the same situation happened again in 1986, the company had learned its lesson. It quickly ordered that Tylenol be recalled from every outlet, not just those in the state where it had been tampered with. The company also decided that the product would not be re-established on the shelves until something had been done to provide better product protection. As a result, Johnson & Johnson developed the tamperproof packaging that would make it much more difficult for a similar incident to occur in the future.

Crisis communication planning can help a firm deal effectively with unexpected disasters, emergencies, or other unusual events that may lead to unfavorable publicity. Effectively responding to any crisis means both controlling the public narrative and ameliorating any harm done, whether tangibly or to a company's reputation. The following principles represent best practices in crisis management: be prepared, do the right thing, communicate quickly and accurately, and follow up.

Be Prepared

Although emergencies are by their very nature unpredictable, it is possible to list and prepare for negative scenarios that might occur. It is also possible to set up a communication system that can be activated in almost any emergency situation.

PR Wars | PR And Advertising | PR And Marketing

Besides the conflict during crisis situations between journalists and PR professionals, there are PR battles that go on between competing brands and between non-profits, corporations and government officials all the time. Lobbyists make demands on politicians but also push agendas on mass media and social media platforms. In an age of digital communication, it is cheap and easy to develop detailed, professional messages employing a variety of media types that PR pros can try to spread around the world instantaneously. You should be aware as an information consumer that there are ongoing battles for your allegiance. Corporations engage in PR combat all the time, though they often try to work undetected. This is not to claim conspiracy or to frighten readers. It is simply a matter of fact that PR efforts are ongoing and that attacks within these battles do not always take the form of headlines. They may come in the form of messages from Twitter bots, botnets, collections of fake social media profiles run by software or blogs, or email spam. You can influence other people by what you read and share, and you are encouraged once again to be aware of where your news sources get their information. Read and think before you share. It has become easy for individuals and fake accounts to publish information into the world's information glut. Twitter and Instagram followers and Facebook friends can easily be bought. Major political influence is now wielded by fake accounts working to drum up anger and to promote misinformation to sway public opinion. Individual information consumers must take responsibility for their own consumption and for what they spread. Your media health is as important as your sexual health. Protect yourself and those you share information with. What you need to be able to do is to consider a source, consider how it is presenting its message, and consider the source’s sources. Media literacy is about what enters your mind: what stays in (that is, what is salient) and what goes out. We are all publishers now. Media, society, and culture will always influence you to some degree, but they are also yours to try to control. Mass audiences may be in decline but entities who know how to build mass networks of users and how to successfully, if not always ethically, use their information are only starting to show their power.

 

Public Relations

Whereas advertising is the paid use of media space to sell something, public relations (PR) is the attempt to establish and maintain good relations between an organization and its constituents (Theaker, 2004). Practically, PR campaigns strive to use the free press to encourage favorable coverage. In their book The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR, Al and Laura Ries make the point that the public trusts the press far more than they trust advertisements. Because of this, PR efforts that get products and brands into the press are far more valuable than a simple advertisement. Their book details the ways in which modern companies use public relations to far greater benefit than they use advertising (Ries & Ries, 2004). Regardless of the fate of advertising, PR has clearly come to have an increasing role in marketing and ad campaigns.

Grunig and Hunt’s Four PR Models

 

A table describing Grunig and Hunt’s Four PR Models

Type of Model	Description	Example
Traditional publicity model (the press agentry model)	Professional agents seek media coverage for a client, product, or event.	Thong-clad actor Sacha Baron Cohen promotes Bruno by landing in Eminem’s lap at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
Public information model	Businesses communicate information to gain desired results.	Colleges send informational brochures to potential students; a company includes an “about” section on its website.
Persuasive communication model (the two-way asymmetric model)	Organizations attempt to persuade an audience to take a certain point of view.	Public service announcements like the one that shows “your brain” and “your brain on drugs.”
Two-way symmetric model	Both parties make use of a back-and-forth discussion.	A company sends out customer satisfaction surveys; company Facebook groups and message boards.

Source: James E. Grunig and Todd Hunt, Managing Public Relations (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 1984). Todd Hunt and James Grunig developed a theory of four models of PR. This model has held up in the years since its development and is a good introduction to PR concepts (Grunig & Hunt, 1984).

Traditional Publicity Model

Under the traditional publicity model, PR professionals seek to create media coverage for a client, product, or event. These efforts can range from wild publicity stunts to simple news conferences to celebrity interviews in fashion magazines. P. T. Barnum was an early American practitioner of this kind of PR. His outrageous attempts at publicity worked because he was not worried about receiving negative press; instead, he believed that any coverage was a valuable asset. More recent examples of this style of extreme publicity include controversy-courting musicians such as Lady Gaga and Marilyn Manson. More restrained examples of this type of PR include the modern phenomenon of faded celebrities appearing on TV shows, such as Paula Abdul’s long-running appearances on American Idol.

Public Information Model

The goal of the public information model is to release information to a constituency. This model is less concerned with obtaining dramatic, extensive media coverage than with disseminating information in a way that ensures adequate reception. For example, utility companies often include fliers about energy efficiency with customers’ bills, and government agencies such as the IRS issue press releases to explain changes to existing codes. In addition, public interest groups release the results of research studies for use by policy makers and the public.

Persuasive Communication: Two-Way Asymmetric

The persuasive communication model, or the two-way asymmetric, works to persuade a specific audience to adopt a certain behavior or point of view. To be considered effective, this model requires a measured response from its intended audience. [caption id="attachment_740" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Edward Bernay's Propaganda Textbook. Edward Bernays created campaigns using the persuasive communication model. By chrisch_ Source: Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0[/caption] Government propaganda is a good example of this model. Propaganda is the organized spreading of information to assist or weaken a cause (Dictionary). Edward Bernays has been called the founder of modern PR for his work during World War I promoting the sale of war bonds. One of the first professional PR experts, Bernays made the two-way asymmetric model his early hallmark. In a famous campaign for Lucky Strike cigarettes, he convinced a group of well-known celebrities to walk in the New York Easter parade smoking Lucky Strikes. Most modern corporations employ the persuasive communication model.

Two-Way Symmetric Model

The two-way symmetric model requires true communication between the parties involved. By facilitating a back-and-forth discussion that results in mutual understanding and an agreement that respects the wishes of both parties, this PR model is often practiced in town hall meetings and other public forums in which the public has a real effect on the results. In an ideal republic, Congressional representatives strictly employ this model. Many nonprofit groups that are run by boards and have public service mandates use this model to ensure continued public support. Commercial ventures also rely on this model. PR can generate media attention or attract customers, and it can also ease communication between a company and its investors, partners, and employees. The two-way symmetric model is useful in communicating within an organization because it helps employees feel they are an important part of the company. Investor relations are also often carried out under this model.

PR Functions

Either private PR companies or in-house communications staffers carry out PR functions. A PR group generally handles all aspects of an organization’s or individual’s media presence, including company publications and press releases. Such a group can range from just one person to dozens of employees depending on the size and scope of the organization. PR functions include the following:

• Media relations: takes place with media outlets
• Internal communications: occurs within a company between management and employees, and among subsidiaries of the same company
• Business-to-business: happens between businesses that are in partnership
• Public affairs: takes place with community leaders, opinion formers, and those involved in public issues
• Investor relations: occurs with investors and shareholders
• Strategic communication: intended to accomplish a specific goal
• Issues management: keeping tabs on public issues important to the organization
• Crisis management: handling events that could damage an organization’s image1

Anatomy of a PR Campaign

[caption id="attachment_741" align="aligncenter" width="1576"] Anatomy of a PR Campaign[/caption] PR campaigns occur for any number of reasons. They can be a quick response to a crisis or emerging issue, or they can stem from a long-term strategy tied in with other marketing efforts. Regardless of its purpose, a typical campaign often involves four phases.

Initial Research Phase

The first step of many PR campaigns is the initial research phase. First, practitioners identify and qualify the issue to be addressed. Then, they research the organization itself to clarify issues of public perception, positioning, and internal dynamics. Strategists can also research the potential audience of the campaign. This audience may include media outlets, constituents, consumers, and competitors. Finally, the context of the campaign is often researched, including the possible consequences of the campaign and the potential effects on the organization. After considering all of these factors, practitioners are better educated to select the best type of campaign.

Strategy Phase

During the strategy phase, PR professionals usually determine objectives focused on the desired goal of the campaign and formulate strategies to meet those objectives. Broad strategies such as deciding on the overall message of a campaign and the best way to communicate the message can be finalized at this time.

Tactics Phase

During the tactics phase, the PR group decides on the means to implement the strategies they formulated during the strategy phase. This process can involve devising specific communication techniques and selecting the forms of media that suit the message best. This phase may also address budgetary restrictions and possibilities.

Evaluation Phase

After the overall campaign has been determined, PR practitioners enter the evaluation phase. The group can review their campaign plan and evaluate its potential effectiveness. They may also conduct research on the potential results to better understand the cost and benefits of the campaign. Specific criteria for evaluating the campaign when it is completed are also established at this time (Smith, 2002).

Public Relations Tools

Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing the flow of information between an individual or an organization and the public. The aim is to persuade the public, investors, partners, employees, and other stakeholders to maintain a certain point of view about the company and its leadership, products, or political decisions. Common PR activities include speaking at conferences, seeking industry awards, working with the press, communicating with employees, and sending out press releases. Public relations may include an organization or individual gaining exposure to an audience through topics of public interest and news items.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="528"] The Media in Action: The media is often utilized in PR campaigns. The Media. By Bart Everson. Source: Flickr CC BY 2.0[/caption]

Building and managing relationships with those who influence an organization's or individual's audiences is critical in public relations. When a public relations practitioner is working in the field, they build a list of relationships that become assets, especially in media relations. The ultimate objective of PR is to retain goodwill as well as create it; the procedure to follow to achieve this is to first do good and then take credit for it. The PR program must describe its target audience—in most instances, PR programs are aimed at multiple audiences that have varying points of view and needs. There are several PR tools firms can utilize to ensure the efficacy of PR programs: messaging, audience targeting, and media marketing.

Messaging

Messaging is the process of creating a consistent story around a product, person, company, or service. Messaging aims to avoid having readers receive contradictory or confusing information that will instill doubt in their purchasing choice or spur them to make other decisions that will have a negative impact on the company. A brand should aim to have the same problem statement, industry viewpoint, or brand perceptionshared across multiple sources and media.

Audience Targeting

A fundamental technique of public relations is identifying the target audience and tailoring messages to appeal to them. Sometimes the interests of different audiences and stakeholders vary, meaning several distinct but complementary messages must be created. Stakeholder theory identifies people who have a stake in a given institution or issue. All audiences are stakeholders (or presumptive stakeholders), but not all stakeholders are audiences. For example, if a charity commissions a public relations agency to create an advertising campaign that raises money toward finding the cure for a disease, the charity and the people with the disease are stakeholders, but the audience is anyone who might be willing to donate money.

Media Marketing

Digital marketing is the use of Internet tools and technologies, such as search engines, Web 2.0 social bookmarking, new media relations, blogs, and social media marketing. Interactive PR allows companies and organizations to disseminate information without relying solely on mainstream publications and to communicate directly with the public, customers, and prospects. Online social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter ensure that firms can get their messages heard directly and quickly. Other forms of media include newspapers, television programs, radio stations, and magazines. Public relations people can use these various platforms and channels to publish press releases. It is important to ensure that the information across all channels is accurate and as complementary as possible. The amount of money spent on traditional media channels has declined as more and more readers have turned to favor online and social media news sources. As the readership of traditional media shift to online media, so has the focus of many in public relations. The advent and increase of social media releases, search engine optimization, and online content publishing and the introduction of podcasts and video are related trends. Sponsorship is often used as part of a public relations campaign. A company will pay money to compensate a public figure, spokesperson, or "influencer" to use its logo or products. An example of sponsorship is a concert tour presented by a bank or drink company. Product placement is basically passive advertising in which a company pays to have its products used prominently in a photograph, film, or video message or during a live appearance. The most common use of product placement is in films where characters use branded products. Both product placement and sponsorship decisions are based on a shared targetmarket. No matter the public relations vehicle, there must be a common buyer that all parties want to reach.

Examples Of PR Campaigns

Since its modern inception in the early 20th century, PR has turned out countless campaigns—some highly successful, others dismal failures. Some of these campaigns have become particularly significant for their lasting influence or creative execution. This section describes a few notable PR campaigns over the years.

Diamonds For The Common Man

During the 1930s, the De Beers company had an enormous amount of diamonds and a relatively small market of luxury buyers. They launched a PR campaign to change the image of diamonds from a luxury good into an accessible and essential aspect of American life. The campaign began by giving diamonds to famous movie stars, using their built-in publicity networks to promote De Beers. The company created stories about celebrity proposals and gifts between lovers that stressed the size of the diamonds given. These stories were then given out to selected fashion magazines. The result of this campaign was the popularization of diamonds as one of the necessary aspects of a marriage proposal (Reid, 2006).

Big Tobacco Aids Researchers

[caption id="attachment_742" align="aligncenter" width="355"] In response to the increasing number of health concerns surrounding smoking, tobacco companies began running ads that argued the benefits of smoking their brand. Big Tobacco. By Ceylon Standard 190706.08 Source: Wikimedia. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] In 1953, studies showing the detrimental health effects of smoking caused a drop in cigarette sales. An alliance of tobacco manufacturers hired the PR group Hill & Knowlton to develop a campaign to deal with this problem. The first step of the campaign Hill & Knowlton devised was the creation of the Tobacco Industry Research Committee (TIRC) to promote studies that questioned the health effects of tobacco use. The TIRC ran advertisements featuring the results of these studies, giving journalists who were addressing the subject an easy source to quote. The groups working against smoking were not familiar with media relations, making it harder for journalists to quote them and use their arguments. The campaign was effective, however, not because it denied the harmful effects of smoking but because it stressed the disagreements between researchers. By providing the press with information favorable to the tobacco manufacturers and publicly promoting new filtered cigarettes, the campaign aimed to replace the idea that smoking was undeniably bad with the idea that there was disagreement over the effects of smoking. This strategy served tobacco companies well up through the 1980s.

Taco Bell Targets Mir

When the Russian space station Mir was set to crash land in the Pacific Ocean in 2001, Taco Bell created a floating vinyl target that the company placed in the Pacific. Taco Bell promised to give every American a free taco if the space station hit the target. This simple PR stunt gave all the journalists covering the Mir crash landing a few lines to add to their stories. Scientists even speculated on the chances of the station hitting the target—slim to none. Ultimately, the stunt gained Taco Bell global advertising (BBC World, 2001).

PR As A Replacement For Advertising

In some cases, PR has begun overtaking advertising as the preferred way of promoting a particular company or product. For example, the tobacco industry offers a good case study of the migration from advertising to PR. Regulations prohibiting radio and TV cigarette advertisements had an enormous effect on sales. In response, the tobacco industry began using PR techniques to increase brand presence. Tobacco company Philip Morris started underwriting cultural institutions and causes as diverse as the Joffrey Ballet, the Smithsonian, environmental awareness, and health concerns. Marlboro sponsored events that brought a great deal of media attention to the brand. For example, during the 1980s, the Marlboro Country Music Tour took famous country stars to major coliseums throughout the country and featured talent contests that brought local bands up on stage, increasing the audience even further. Favorable reviews of the shows generated positive press for Marlboro. Later interviews with country artists and books on country music history have also mentioned this tour. On the fifth anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1987, Marlboro’s PR groups organized a celebration hosted by comedian Bob Hope. Country music legends the Judds and Alabama headlined the show, and Marlboro paid for new names inscribed on the memorial. By attaching the Marlboro brand to such an important cultural event, the company gained an enormous amount of publicity. Just as importantly, these efforts at least partially restored the stature that the brand lost due to health concerns (Saffir, 2000).

Branding

While advertising is an essential aspect of initial brand creation, PR campaigns are vital to developing the more abstract aspects of a brand. These campaigns work to position a brand in the public arena in order to give it a sense of cultural importance.

Shift From Advertising To PR

Pioneered by such companies as Procter & Gamble during the 1930s, the older, advertising-centric model of branding focused on the product, using advertisements to associate a particular branded good with quality or some other positive cultural value. Yet, as consumers became exposed to ever-increasing numbers of advertisements, traditional advertising’s effectiveness dwindled. The ubiquity of modern advertising means the public is skeptical of—or even ignores—claims advertisers make about their products. This credibility gap can be overcome, however, when PR professionals using good promotional strategies step in. The new PR-oriented model of branding focuses on the overall image of the company rather than on the specific merits of the product. This branding model seeks to associate a company with specific personal and cultural values that hold meaning for consumers. In the early 1990s, for example, car company Saturn marketed its automobiles not as a means of transportation but as a form of culture. PR campaigns promoted the image of the Saturn family, associating the company with powerful American values and giving Saturn owners a sense of community. Events such as the 1994 Saturn homecoming sought to encourage this sense of belonging. Some 45,000 people turned out for this event; families gave up their beach holidays simply to come to a Saturn manufacturing plant in Tennessee to socialize with other Saturn owners and tour the facility. Recently Toyota faced a marketing crisis when it instituted a massive recall based on safety issues. To counter the bad press, the company launched a series of commercials featuring top Toyota executives, urging the public to keep their faith in the brand (Bernstein, 2010). Much like the Volkswagen ads half a century before, Toyota used a style of self-awareness to market its automobiles. The positive PR campaign presented Toyotas as cars with a high standard of excellence, backed by a company striving to meet customers’ needs.

Studies In Success: Apple And Nike

Apple has also employed this type of branding with great effectiveness. By focusing on a consistent design style in which every product reinforces the Apple experience, the computer company has managed to position itself as a mark of individuality. Despite the cynical outlook of many Americans regarding commercial claims, the notion that Apple is a symbol of individualism has been adopted with very little irony. Douglas Atkin, who has written about brands as a form of cult, readily admits and embraces his own brand loyalty to Apple: I’m a self-confessed Apple loyalist. I go to a cafe around the corner to do some thinking and writing, away from the hurly-burly of the office, and everyone in that cafe has a Mac. We never mention the fact that we all have Macs. The other people in the cafe are writers and professors and in the media, and the feeling of cohesion and community in that cafe becomes very apparent if someone comes in with a PC. There’s almost an observable shiver of consternation in the cafe, and it must be discernable to the person with the PC, because they never come back. Brand managers that once focused on the product now find themselves in the role of community leaders, responsible for the well-being of a cultural image (Atkin, 2004). Kevin Roberts, the current CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide, a branding-focused creative organization, has used the term “lovemark” as an alternative to trademark. This term encompasses brands that have created “loyalty beyond reason,” meaning that consumers feel loyal to a brand in much the same way they would toward friends or family members. Creating a sense of mystery around a brand generates an aura that bypasses the usual cynical take on commercial icons. A great deal of Apple’s success comes from the company’s mystique. Apple has successfully developed PR campaigns surrounding product releases that leak selected rumors to various press outlets but maintain secrecy over essential details, encouraging speculation by bloggers and mainstream journalists on the next product. All this combines to create a sense of mystery and an emotional anticipation for the product’s release. Emotional connections are crucial to building a brand or lovemark. An early example of this kind of branding was Nike’s product endorsement deal with Michael Jordan during the 1990s. Jordan’s amazing, seemingly magical performances on the basketball court created his immense popularity, which was then further built up by a host of press outlets and fans who developed an emotional attachment to Jordan. As this connection spread throughout the country, Nike associated itself with Jordan and also with the emotional reaction he inspired in people. Essentially, the company inherited a PR machine that had been built around Jordan and that continued to function until his retirement (Roberts, 2003).

Branding Backlashes

An important part of maintaining a consistent brand is preserving the emotional attachment consumers have to that brand. Just as PR campaigns build brands, PR crises can damage them. For example, the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010 became a PR nightmare for BP, an oil company that had been using PR to rebrand itself as an environmentally friendly energy company. In 2000, BP began a campaign presenting itself as “Beyond Petroleum,” rather than British Petroleum, the company’s original name. By acquiring a major solar company, BP became the world leader in solar production and in 2005 announced it would invest $8 billion in alternative energy over the following 10 years. BP’s marketing firm developed a PR campaign that, at least on the surface, emulated the forward-looking two-way symmetric PR model. The campaign conducted interviews with consumers, giving them an opportunity to air their grievances and publicize energy policy issues. BP’s website featured a carbon footprint calculator consumers could use to calculate the size of their environmental impact (Solman, 2008). The single explosion on BP’s deep-water oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico essentially nullified the PR work of the previous 10 years, immediately putting BP at the bottom of the list of environmentally concerned companies. A company’s control over what its brand symbolizes can also lead to branding issues. The Body Shop, a cosmetics company that gained popularity during the 1980s and early 1990s, used PR to build its image as a company that created natural products and took a stand on issues of corporate ethics. The company teamed up with Greenpeace and other environmental groups to promote green issues and increase its natural image. By the mid-1990s, however, revelations about the unethical treatment of franchise owners called this image into serious question. The Body Shop had spent a great deal of time and money creating its progressive, spontaneous image. Stories of travels to exotic locations to research and develop cosmetics were completely fabricated, as was the company’s reputation for charitable contributions. Even the origins of the company had been made up as a PR tool: The idea, name, and even product list had been ripped off from a small California chain called the Body Shop that was later given a settlement to keep quiet. The PR campaign of the Body Shop made it one of the great success stories of the early 1990s, but the unfounded nature of its PR claims undermined its image dramatically. Competitor L’Oréal eventually bought the Body Shop for a fraction of its previous value (Entine, 2007). Other branding backlashes have plagued companies such as Nike and Starbucks. By building their brands into global symbols, both companies also came to represent unfettered capitalist greed to those who opposed them. During the 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, activists targeted Starbucks and Nike stores for physical attacks such as window smashing. Labor activists have also condemned Nike over the company’s use of sweatshops to manufacture shoes. Eventually, Nike created a vice president for corporate responsibility to deal with sweatshop issues.2 Adbusters, a publication devoted to reducing advertising’s influence on global culture, added action to its criticisms of Nike by creating its own shoe. Manufactured in union shops, Blackspot shoes contain recycled tire rubber and hemp fabric. The Blackspot logo is a simple round dot that looks like it has been scribbled with white paint, as if a typical logo had been covered over. The shoes also include a symbolic red dot on the toe with which to kick Nike. Blackspot shoes use the Nike brand to create their own antibrand, symbolizing progressive labor reform and environmentally sustainable business practices (New York Times, 2004). [caption id="attachment_743" align="aligncenter" width="478"] Blackspot shoes developed as an antibrand alternative to regular sneakers. Black Spot Sneakers. By TenSafeFrogs. Source: Flickr CC BY 2.0[/caption]

Relationship With Politics And Government

Politics and PR have gone hand in hand since the dawn of political activity. Politicians communicate with their constituents and make their message known using PR strategies. Benjamin Franklin’s trip as ambassador to France during the American Revolution stands as an early example of political PR that followed the publicity model. At the time of his trip, Franklin was an international celebrity, and the fashionable society of Paris celebrated his arrival; his choice of a symbolic American-style fur cap immediately inspired a new style of women’s wigs. Franklin also took a printing press with him to produce leaflets and publicity notices that circulated through Paris’s intellectual and fashionable circles. Such PR efforts eventually led to a treaty with France that helped the colonists win their freedom from Great Britain (Isaacson, 2003). Famous 20th-century PR campaigns include President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats, a series of radio addresses that explained aspects of the New Deal. Roosevelt’s personal tone and his familiarity with the medium of radio helped the Fireside Chats become an important promotional tool for his administration and its programs. These chats aimed to justify many New Deal policies, and they helped the president bypass the press and speak directly to the people. More recently, Blackwater Worldwide, a private military company, dealt with criticisms of its actions in Iraq by changing its name. The new name, Xe Services, was the result of a large-scale PR campaign to distance the company from associations with civilian violence (Associated Press, 2009). The proliferation of media outlets and the 24-hour news cycle have led to changes in the way politicians handle PR. The gap between old PR methods and new ones became evident in 2006, when then–Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a friend during a hunting trip. Cheney, who had been criticized in the past for being secretive, did not make a statement about the accident for three days. Republican consultant Rich Galen explained Cheney’s silence as an older PR tactic that tries to keep the discussion out of the media. However, the old trick is less effective in the modern digital world. That entire doctrine has come and gone. Now the doctrine is you respond instantaneously, and where possible with a strong counterattack. A lot of that is because of the Internet, a lot of that is because of cable TV news (Associated Press, 2006). PR techniques have been used in propaganda efforts throughout the 20th century. During the 1990s, the country of Kuwait employed Hill & Knowlton to encourage U.S. involvement in the Persian Gulf region. One of the more infamous examples of their campaign was a heavily reported account by a Kuwaiti girl testifying that Iraqi troops had dumped babies out of incubators in Kuwaiti hospitals. Outrage over this testimony helped galvanize opinion in favor of U.S. involvement. As it turned out, the Kuwaiti girl was really the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador and had not actually witnessed any of the alleged atrocities (Parsons, 2005). Lobbyists also attempt to influence public policy using PR campaigns. The Water Environment Federation, a lobbying group representing the sewage industry, initiated a campaign to promote the application of sewage on farms during the early 1990s. The campaign came up with the word biosolids to replace the term sludge. Then it worked to encourage the use of this term as a way to popularize sewage as a fertilizer, providing information to public officials and representatives. In 1992, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adopted the new term and changed the classification of biosolids to a fertilizer from a hazardous waste. This renaming helped New York City eliminate tons of sewage by shipping it to states that allowed biosolids (Stauber & Rampton, 1995).

Political Branding

Politics has also embraced branding. Former President Bill Clinton described his political battles in terms of a brand war: [The Republicans] were brilliant at branding. They said they were about values…. Everybody is a values voter, but they got the brand…they said they were against the death tax…what a great brand…. I did a disservice to the American people not by putting forth a bad plan, but by not being a better brander, not being able to explain it better (Kiley, 2008). Branding has been used to great effect in recent elections. A consistently popular political brand is that of the outsider, or reform-minded politician. Despite his many years of service in the U.S. Senate, John McCain famously adopted this brand during the 2008 presidential election. McCain’s competitor, Barack Obama, also employed branding strategies. The Obama campaign featured several iconic portraits and slogans that made for a consistent brand and encouraged his victory in 2008. Before Obama’s inauguration in January 2009, an unprecedented amount of merchandise was sold, a further testament to the power of branding (Alberts, 2009). [caption id="attachment_744" align="aligncenter" width="492"] The 2008 Obama campaign used logos as a way to publicize Obama’s brand. Obama '08 Logo. By Phillip Jeffrey. Source: Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0[/caption]

Do The Right Thing

In any emergency situation, it is imperative that a company put the public interest ahead of the organization's interest. The company's first responsibility is to the safety and well-being of the people involved. Once safety has been restored, the company needs to face the public and face the facts. The company should never try to minimize a serious problem or "smooth it over" in the hope that no one will notice. Conversely, don't blow minor incidents out of proportion or allow others to do so. Social media has accelerated the speed at which information about a crisis can spread; the viral affect of social networks such as Twitter means that stakeholders can break news faster than traditional media, which makes managing a crisis harder. However, a company should not speculate; if they don't know the facts, they should say so and promise to get back to the media as soon as possible.

Communicate Quickly And Accurately

Positive, assertive communication focuses attention on the most important aspects of the problem and moves the process forward to resolution, even in the face of antagonistic news media. Media representatives have an obligation to provide reliable information to their audiences, and they will get that information whether or not company spokespeople cooperate; if a company will not comment on the situation, someone else will. Serving as one of the major sources of media information in a crisis is a means of maintaining control. If necessary, activate the crisis management team. Act quickly and spare no expense in distributing the information you determine the media and others should have.

Follow Up

It is important to make amends to those affected and then do whatever is necessary to restore the organization's reputation in the community. It is helpful to perform an act of goodwill during or immediately after a crisis when possible. Internal policies should be changed to minimize a repeat of the crisis situation. The crisis communication plan should be revised based on any new learnings.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="308"] Johnson & Johnson's Tylenol medication was once laced with cyanide. In time, Johnson & Johnson learned to deal with the negative public relations. By Ragesoss Source: Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 4.0[/caption]

TYLENOL MEDICATION

 

Branding As A New Form Of Communication

That so many different groups have adopted branding as a means of communication is a testament to its ubiquity. Even anticommercial, antibrand groups such as Adbusters have created brands to send messages. Social media sites have also encouraged branding techniques by allowing users to create profiles of themselves that they use to communicate their core values. This personal application is perhaps the greatest evidence of the impact of advertising and PR on modern culture. Branding, once a technique used by companies to sell their products, has become an everyday means of communication. The four models of PR include traditional publicity, public information, persuasive communication, and two-way symmetrical models. PR campaigns begin with a research phase, develop objectives during a strategy phase, formulate ways to meet objectives during the tactics phase, and assess the proposed campaign during the evaluation phase. Branding focuses on the lifestyles and values inherent in a brand’s image as opposed to the products that are manufactured. It can be quickly undone by PR crises such as the BP oil spill. PR has always been an important part of political campaigning and activity. In recent years, branding has become an important part of national political campaigns.

Public Relations' Components and Roles

Components of Public Relations	Explanations of Role
Counseling	Providing advice to management concerning policies, relationships, and communications
Research	Determining the attitudes and behaviors of groups to plan public relations strategies. Such research can be used to generate mutual understanding or influence and persuade publics.
Media Relations	Working with mass media (television, web sites, newspapers, magazines, and the like) by seeking publicity or responding to their interests in the organization.
Publicity	Disseminating planned messages through selected  media to further an organization’s interests.
Employee Member Relations	Responding to concerns, informing, and motivating and organization’s current employees or members.
Community Relations	Undertaking activities within a community to maintain an environment that benefits both an organization and the community .
Public Affairs	Developing effective involvement in public policy and helping an organization adapt to public expectations. The term “public affairs” is also used by government agencies to describe their public relations activities and by many corporations as an umbrella term to describe multiple public relation activities.
Government Affairs	Relating directly with legislatures and regulatory agencies on behalf of an organization. Lobbying can be part of a government affairs program.
Issue Management	Identifying and addressing issues of public concern that affect an organization.
Financial Relations	Creating and maintaining investor confidence and building good relationships with financial community.
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 support charitable organization primarily through financial contributions.
Multicultural Relations/Workplace Diversity	Communicating with individuals and groups in various cultural groups.
Special Events	Stimulating an interest in a person, product, or organization by means of focused “happenings” as well as other activities designed to encourage interacting with publics and listening to them.
Marketing Communications	Employing a combination of activities, designed to sell a product, service, or idea, including advertising, collateral materials, publicity, promotions, direct mail, trade shows, and special events.

 

]]> 128 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=144 Tue, 11 Jun 2019 22:36:46 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/chapter-4-integrated-marketing-communications-and-public-relations-2/

Once companies have developed products and services, they must communicate the value and benefits of the offerings to current and potential customers in both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) markets. Integrated marketing communications (IMC) provide an approach designed to deliver one consistent message to buyers through an organization’s promotions that may span all different types of media such as TV, radio, magazines, the Internet, mobile phones, professional selling, and social media. For example, Campbell’s Soup Company typically includes the “Mm, mm good” slogan in the print ads it places in newspapers and magazines, in ads on the Internet, and in commercials on television and radio. Delivering consistent information about a brand or an organization helps establish it in the minds of consumers and potential customers across target markets. Although the messages are very similar, Campbell’s uses two variations of commercials designed to target different consumers. Watch the following two YouTube videos. You’ll notice that the message Campbell’s gets across is consistent. But can you figure out who is in the two target audiences?

 

Video Clip

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/W5ZM1cqpdT0[/embed]

A Meal That’s Always Popular with the Group (click to see video)

 

Video Clip

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/IN3c4rZJNd4[/embed]

So Many Possibilities for Enjoying Soup. Campbell’s soup pleases people of all ages.

(click to see video)

Changes in communication technology and instant access to information through tools such as the Internet and social media (online communication among interdependent and interconnected networks of organizations, people, and communities) explain one of the reasons why integrated marketing communications have become so important. Consumers are also changing. With access to many sources of information and often an interest in interactive media, consumers may collect more product information on their own. Marketers must organize and assemble available information to build a consistent brand message and make it relevant. With IMC, organizations can coordinate their messages to build the brand and develop strong customer relationships while also helping customers satisfy their needs.

FedEx’s two recent campaigns, the “We Understand” tagline launched in 2009 and the “Solutions that Matter” tagline launched in 2011, illustrate examples of IMC campaigns they used to deliver a consistent message across all media channels including television commercials, e-mails, social media, mobile marketing, direct mail, and the FedEx channel on YouTube (Dilworth, 2010). Watch the following videos to see examples of commercials in the FedEx campaigns.

Video Clip

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/Et1oZPNf2d0[/embed]

The “We Understand” at FedEx Shows Customers that They Understand and Can Satisfy Their Needs. FedEx often uses a humorous appeal.

(click to see video)

 

Changing Media

Many consumers and business professionals seek information and connect with other people and businesses from their computers and phones. The work and social environments are changing, with more people having virtual offices and texting on their cell phones or communicating through social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter. As the media landscape changes, the money that organizations spend on different types of communication will change as well. Some forecasts indicate that companies will spend almost 27 percent of their total promotional budgets, or $160 billion, on electronic or non-traditional media by 2012.

[caption id="attachment_756" align="aligncenter" width="640"] "iPhone" by Yeray Hdez Guerra. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0.[/caption]

Some consumers feel lost without their cell phones. Phones such as the one pictured provide a source of information for consumers and a new medium for advertisers to deliver information.

Many college students are part of the millennial generation, and it is consumers from this generation (people like you perhaps) who are driving the change toward new communication technologies. You might opt to get promotions via mobile marketing—say, from stores on your cell phone as you walk by them or via a mobile gaming device that allows you to connect to the Web. Likewise, advertisements on Facebook are popular as businesses continue to utilize more social media. For example, when Honda let people on Facebook use the Honda logo to give heart-shaped virtual gifts on Valentine’s Day, over one and a half million people participated in the event and viewed the Honda Fit online in the process. Imagine the brand awareness generated for the Honda Fit.

  [caption id="attachment_757" align="aligncenter" width="331"] Search-Engine-Marketing by Danard Vincente. Source: Flickr. CC BY-NC-SA.[/caption]

Marketing based on the Internet and wireless technology is popular.

 

Traditional media (magazines, newspapers, television) compete with media such as the Internet, texting, mobile phones, social media, user-generated content such as blogs, and YouTube as well as out-of-home advertising such as billboards and movable promotions. You might have noticed that the tray tables on airplanes sometimes have ads on them. You have probably also seen ads on the inside of subway cars, in trains and buses, and even in bathroom stalls. These, too, are examples of out-of-home advertising.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Interior of an unrefurbished R160A car by Gh9449. Source: Flickr. CC BY-SA 4.0[/caption]

The inside walls of many subways provide an opportunity for advertisers to reach commuters with their messages.

 

As the media landscape changes, marketers may change the type of promotions they use in order to reach their target markets. With changing technology and social media (e.g., Facebook), less money is being budgeted for traditional media such as magazines and more money is budgeted for “non-traditional media.” Regardless of the type of media used, marketers use integrated marketing communications (IMC) to deliver one consistent message to buyers.

 

The Promotion (Communication) Mix

Although the money organizations spend promoting their offerings may go to different media channels, a company still wants to send its customers and potential consumers a consistent message (IMC). The different types of marketing communications an organization uses compose its promotion or communication mix, which consists of advertising, sales promotions, direct marketing, public relations and publicity, sponsorships (events and experiences), social media and interactive marketing, and professional selling. The importance of IMC will be demonstrated throughout the discussion of traditional media as well as newer, more targeted, and often interactive online media.

Advertising involves paying to disseminate a message that identifies a brand (product or service) or an organization being promoted to many people at one time. The typical media that organizations utilize for advertising of course include television, magazines, newspapers, the Internet, direct mail, and radio. Businesses also advertise on mobile devices and social media such as Facebook, blogs, and Twitter.

Consumer sales promotions consist of short-term incentives such as coupons, contests, games, rebates, and mail-in offers that supplement the advertising and sales efforts. Sales promotions include promotions that are not part of another component of the communication mix and are often developed to get customers and potential customers to take action quickly, make larger purchases, and/or make repeat purchases.

In business-to-business marketing, sales promotions are typically called trade promotions because they are targeted to channel members who conduct business or trade with consumers. Trade promotions include trade shows and special incentives given to retailers to market particular products and services, such as extra money, in-store displays, and prizes.

Direct marketing involves the delivery of personalized and often interactive promotional materials to individual consumers via channels such as mail, catalogs, Internet, e-mail, telephone, and direct-response advertising. By targeting consumers individually, organizations hope to get consumers to take action.

Professional selling is an interactive, paid approach to marketing that involves a buyer and a seller. The interaction between the two parties can occur in person, by telephone, or via another technology. Whatever medium is used, developing a relationship with the buyer is usually something the seller desires.

When you interview for internships or full-time positions and try to convince potential employers to hire you, you are engaging in professional selling. The interview is very similar to a buyer-seller situation. Both the buyer and seller have objectives they hope to achieve. Business-to-business marketers generally utilize professional selling more often than most business-to-consumer marketers. If you have ever attended a Pampered Chef party or purchased something from an Amway or Mary Kay representative, you’ve been exposed to professional selling.

  100722-N-6736G-065 MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (July 22, 2010) Chief Navy Counselor John Epp performs a cooking demonstration on a local TV station as part of Twin Cities Navy Week. Twin Cities Navy Week is one of 20 Navy Weeks planned across America for 2010. Navy Weeks show Americans the investment they have made in their Navy and increase awareness in cities that do not have a significant Navy presence. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Sean Gallagher/Released) [caption id="attachment_760" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Sean Gallagher. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain.[/caption]  

Pampered Chef and Tastefully Simple have built their businesses primarily on the professional selling skills of their consultants. Professional selling is used more in business-to-business markets than in business-to-consumer markets.

 

Public relations (PR) involves communication designed to help improve and promote an organization’s image and products. PR is often perceived as more neutral and objective than other forms of promotion because much of the information is tailored to sound as if it has been created by an organization independent of the seller. Public relations materials include press releases, publicity, and news conferences. While other techniques such as product placement and sponsorships, especially of events and experiences, tend to generate a lot of PR, the growth of expenditures and importance of sponsorships are so critical for so many companies that it is often considered a separate component in the communication mix. Many companies have internal PR departments or hire PR firms to find and create public relations opportunities for them. As such, PR is part of a company’s promotion budget and their integrated marketing communications.

Sponsorships typically refer to financial support for events, venues, or experiences and provide the opportunity to target specific groups. Sponsorships enhance a company’s image and usually generate public relations. With an increasing amount of money being spent on sponsorships, they have become an important component of the promotion mix.

Technology is changing the way businesses and individuals communicate. Organizations use Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) to deliver a consistent message across all components of the promotion mix. The promotion (communication) mix is composed of advertising, professional selling, public relations, sponsorships (events and experiences), sales promotion, direct marketing, and online media, including social media.

 

 Factors Influencing The Promotion Mix, Communication Process, And Message Problems

 

A marketing manager from one company might decide to focus on social media, whereas a marketing manager from another company might decide to focus her company’s efforts on television commercials. Why do companies select different types of media for what may be perceived as similar messages? As "Factors That Influence Selection of Promotion Mix" shows, a number of factors affect the choice of promotion mix elements.

[caption id="attachment_764" align="aligncenter" width="769"] Factors That Influence Selection of Promotion Mix.[/caption]

Long Description

Factors That Influence Selection of Promotion Mix.

Budget available, stage in product life cycle, type of product, type of purchase decision, target market characteristics, consumer's readiness to purchase, consumers's preferences for media, regulations, competitors, availability of media, and push versus pull strategy influence the advertising, personal setting, sales promotion, public relations,and direct marketing influence print, television, radio online, social, news release, and mail.

Budget Available. For many companies, the budget available to market a product determines what elements of the promotion mix are utilized. The budget affects a promotion’s reach (number of people exposed to the message) and frequency (how often people are exposed). For example, many smaller companies may lack the money to create and run commercials on top-rated television shows or during the Super Bowl. As a result, they may not get the exposure they need to be successful. Other firms such as McDonald’s may come up with creative ways to reach different target markets. For example, McDonald’s targeted college students with a special promotion that it filmed live in a Boston University lecture.

Stage in the product life cycle. The stage in the product life cycle also affects the type and amount of promotion used. Products in the introductory stages typically need a lot more promotional dollars to create awareness in the marketplace. Consumers and businesses won’t buy a product if they do not know about it. More communication is needed in the beginning of the product life cycle to build awareness and trial.

Type of product and type of purchase decision. Different products also require different types of promotion. Very technical products and very expensive products (high involvement) often need professional selling so the customer understands how the product operates and its different features. By contrast, advertising is often relied upon to sell convenience goods and products purchased routinely (low involvement) since customers are familiar with the products and they spend relatively little time making purchase decisions.

Target market characteristics and consumers’ readiness to purchase. In order to select the best methods to reach different target markets, organizations need to know what types of media different targets use, how often they make purchases, where they make purchases, and what their readiness to purchase is as well as characteristics such as age, gender, and lifestyle. Some people are early adopters and want to try new things as soon as they are available, and other groups wait until products have been on the market for a while. Some consumers might not have the money to purchase different products, although they will need the product later. For example, are most college freshmen ready to purchase new cars?

Consumers’ preferences for various media. We’ve already explained that different types of consumers prefer different types of media. In terms of target markets, college-aged students may prefer online, cell phone, mobile marketing, and social media more than older consumers do. Media preferences have been researched extensively by academics, marketing research companies, and companies to find out how consumers want to be reached.

Regulations, competitors, and environmental factors. Regulations can affect the type of promotion used. For example, laws in the United States prohibit tobacco products from being advertised on television. In some Asian countries, controversial products such as alcohol cannot be advertised during Golden (prime) time on television. The hope is that by advertising late at night, young children do not see the advertisements. The strength of the economy can have an impact as well. In a weak economy, some organizations use more sales promotions such as coupons to get consumers into their stores. The risk is that consumers may begin to expect coupons and not want to buy items without a special promotion.

Availability of media. Organizations must also plan their promotions based on availability of media. The top-rated television shows and Super Bowl ad slots, for example, often sell out quickly. Magazines tend to have a longer lead time, so companies must plan far in advance for some magazines. By contrast, because of the number of radio stations and the nature of the medium, organizations can often place radio commercials the same day they want them to be aired. Social media and online media may be immediate, but users must be careful about what they post and their privacy. Uncontrollable events can affect a company’s promotions, too. For example, when a disaster occurs, TV stations often cut advertisements to make way for continuous news coverage. If there is a crisis or disaster and your company is in the middle of a promotion being advertised on TV, you will likely have to scramble to reach consumers via another medium.

The Communication Process

Do you use TiVo or a digital video recorder (DVR) to record movies or television shows so you can watch them when you want without television commercials? Do you ever use the remote to skip the commercials or zap (change channels) to look at different shows? Think about which television shows you choose to watch, which magazines you read, which radio stations you select. The perceptual process is how a person decides what to pay attention to and how to interpret and remember different things, including information in advertising. By selecting a magazine, a television show, or even an elective class in school, you’re selecting what you’re exposed to and deciding what gets your attention. However, your selection does not insure you’ll either pay attention or remember or correctly interpret what you see or hear.

Think about what else you are doing when you watch television, when you are studying, or when you are listening to the radio. It’s a hot day in July and you’re enjoying a day at the beach. Your friends brought a radio and the volume is turned up so you can hear all the music. If you’re listening to the music or talking to a friend at the beach while you’re listening to the radio, do you hear or pay attention to the commercials? Do you remember which products were advertised? If you’re with a friend and hear someone else say your name, do you pay more attention to the person talking about you than to your friend?

The same thing happens when you are watching a television show, reading a magazine, or studying for a test. The phone rings or your friends show up and your attention shifts to them. With so many different types of distractions and technology (such as recording devices), imagine how difficult it is for an advertiser to get you to pay attention much less remember the message. Do you remember the terms you memorized for a test a day later? Do you know your friends’ phone numbers and e-mail addresses or do you just find their names on your contact list? To increase retention, advertisers may repeat the same message multiple times in different places, but they must be careful that consumers don’t get so tired of the message that there is a negative effect.

The communication process illustrates how messages are sent and received, as shown in "The Communication Process". The source (or sender) encodes, or translates, a message so that it’s appropriate for the message channel—say, for a print advertisement, TV commercial, or store display—and shows the benefits and value of the offering. The receiver (customer or consumer) then decodes, or interprets, the message. For effective communication to occur, the receiver must interpret the message as the sender intended.

Message Problems

You’re ready to go home on a Friday afternoon and you hear someone mention an upcoming event on Saturday. However, you did not listen to all the details and assume the event is the next day, not the following Saturday. Since you already made other plans for the next day, you don’t even consider showing up the following Saturday. Has this ever happened to you? You don’t show up at an event because you didn’t interpret the message correctly? If you do not hear someone correctly, misread information, or misinterpret a message, you might think a product or service provides different benefits or is easier or harder to use than it really is.

Interference, or noise, can distort marketing messages. Factors such as poor reception, poor print quality, problems with a server, or a low battery can interfere with your getting messages. Interference includes any distractions receivers and senders face during the transmission of a message. For example, when you were growing up did you see commercials for toys such as the pogo ball, which appeared to be so easy to use but when you tried to jump up and down on it, you found out it was extremely difficult? The same thing may happen if you’re studying for an exam while you’re talking on the phone. The conversation interferes with remembering what you’re reading. If a friend tells you a story, then you tell another friend, and that person tells someone else, will the message be the same after it is relayed to multiple people? If you miss class and borrow someone else’s notes, do you understand what they mean? Not only must advertisers try to present consistent messages (IMC), they must also try to ensure that you interpret the message as they intended.

Purchasing a product provides the sender with feedback, which often tells the seller that you saw information and wanted to try the product. If you use any coupons or promotions when you buy a product, the advertiser knows which vehicle you used to get the information. Market research and warranty registration also provide feedback.

We tend to purchase products and remember information that has some relevance to our personal situation or beliefs. If you have no need for a product or service, you might not pay attention to or remember the messages used to market it. Advertisers also want you to remember their brands so that you’ll think of their products/services when you need to make a purchase.

[caption id="attachment_765" align="aligncenter" width="868"] The Communication Process.[/caption]

Long Description

The Communication Process

Interference(noise) is composed of friends, other ads, and other and influcne everything in the communication.The main cycle of communication is Sender(Ad Agency,Marketing department), Encode(convert the idea into words and pcitures), Message Channel(In-store display, radio or TV ad,etc.), Decode(interpret the message), Receiver(customer or consumers) once this is done then Feedback is sent to the Sender

Many factors, such as a firm’s marketing budget, the type of product, regulations, target customers, and competitors, influence what composes the promotion mix. Depending on what medium is used, marketers use the communication process to encode or translate ideas into messages that can be correctly interpreted (decoded) by buyers. However, marketers must determine how to get consumers’ attention and avoid as much interference and noise as possible. Perceptual processes include how a person decides what to pay attention to and how to interpret and remember different things.

Advertising

Advertising is paid promotion with an identified sponsor that reaches many people at one time and can be repeated many times. One of the biggest issues an organization must address is which medium or media provides the biggest bang for the buck, given a product’s characteristics and target market. For example, a thirty-second ad aired during Super Bowl XLII cost $2.7 million. Since 97.5 million people watched the game, the cost per ad was less than three cents per viewer. For Super Bowl XLVI, the cost for a thirty-second spot increased to $3.5 million, and approximately 111.3 million viewers watched. However, do the ads pay off in terms of sales? Many advertising professionals believe many of the ads don’t, yet the ads probably do create brand awareness or a public relations type of effect since many people tune in and then talk about Super Bowl commercials.

Whether it’s a commercial on the Super Bowl or an ad in a magazine, each medium (e.g., television, magazines, mobile phones, social media) has different advantages and disadvantages. Mobile phones provide continuous access to people on the go, although reception may vary in different markets. Radios, magazines, and newspapers are also portable. People tend to own more than one radio, but there are so many radio stations in each market that it may be difficult to reach all target customers. People are also typically doing another activity (e.g., driving or studying) while listening to the radio, and without visuals, radio relies solely on audio. Both television and radio must get a message to consumers quickly. Although many people change channels (zap) or leave the room during commercials, television does allow for visual demonstrations. In an effort to get attention, advertisers changed the volume for television commercials for years. However, the Federal Trade Commission passed a regulation effective in 2010 that prohibits advertisers from changing the volume level of commercials on television, although consumers still notice that some commercials are louder than the regular shows.

People save magazines for a long time, but advertisers must plan in advance to have ads in certain issues. With the Internet, both magazines and newspapers are suffering in terms of readership and advertising dollars. Many major newspapers, such as papers in Seattle and Chicago, have gone out of business. Other newspapers, such as USA Today are free online, although printed copies are also available. The fact that local retailers get cheaper rates for advertising in local newspapers may encourage both local businesses and consumers to support newspapers in some markets.

Within each different medium, an organization might select a different vehicle. A vehicle is the specific means within a medium to reach a selected target market. For example, if a company wants to develop television commercials to reach teenagers, it might select Gossip Girl on the CW as the best vehicle. If an organization wants to use magazines to reach males interested in sports, it might use Sports Illustrated. Sports Illustrated launched SI.com so readers could get up-to-date information on the Web. On SI.com, readers can also access links to popular articles and “SIVault” (https://www.si.com/vault), where they can search articles and pictures that have run in the magazine since it was launched in 1954. The printed SI swimsuit edition continues to be one of the most popular issues of any magazine. Over 67 million consumers saw the 2010 SI swimsuit franchise (via magazine, mobile, SIVault, etc.)¹.

Direct Marketing

Direct marketing allows organizations to target a specific set of customers, measure the return on investment (ROI), and test different strategies before implementing to all targeted consumers. It can be personalized as a call for consumers to take action, which is a desired response. However, direct marketing is very intrusive, and many consumers may ignore attempts to reach them. Catalogs and direct mail provide popular alternatives for many marketers, although the volume of mail sent may drop significantly in a weak economy.

Telemarketing involves direct marketing by phone. You may have just sat down for dinner when the phone rings with a local charity calling to raise money. The calls always seem to come at dinner or at other inconvenient times. Although expensive, telemarketing can be extremely effective for charitable organizations and different service firms and retailers. However, because some consumers have negative perceptions of telemarketers, many organizations do not use it. The Do Not Call Registry, which was established in 2008, prevents organizations from calling any numbers registered with the Federal Trade Commission.

Direct response advertising includes an offer and a call to action. You may be watching television when an interesting product is shown. The announcer says, “Call now and receive a bonus package.” They want consumers to call to purchase the product or to get more information. The Internet provides the preferred direct response medium for direct marketing because it is less expensive and easier for the organization to utilize.

Advertising is paid for communication that has an identified sponsor and reaches many people at one time. Once companies decide on different media (e.g., magazines or television), they must also select specific vehicles (e.g., Sports Illustrated or the Super Bowl), Direct marketing allows organizations to target specific individuals and use direct response advertising. Telemarketing, the Internet, direct mail, and catalogs are popular direct marketing methods.

Utilizing A Product’s Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

When organizations want to communicate value, they must determine what message strategies work best for them. Smart organizations determine a product’s unique selling proposition (USP), or specific benefit consumers will remember. Domino’s “Pizza delivered in 30 minutes or it’s free” is a good example of a unique selling proposition. Likewise, Nike’s global slogan “Just Do It” helps athletes and other consumers realize their potential, and many consumers may think of all the things that they do when they use Nike products. Watch the following video on Nike to get an idea of the many different activities people from different countries do when using Nike products.

Video Clip

People around the World Use Nike Products

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/Pp5dZZBKTXQ[/embed] (click to see video)

Nike products are used for many different sports by all types of athletes.

 

Nike and Coca-Cola have been extremely successful in adapting their promotions to different international markets. Both companies have very popular global brands. Sometimes the same promotions work in different cultures (countries), but others must be adapted for different international audiences—similar to the way products may be adapted for international markets. Companies must be careful of how words translate, how actions are interpreted, how actors (or models) look, and what different colors in ads may mean.

When deciding on a message strategy, organizations must consider the audience, the objectives of the promotion, the media, and the budget, as well as the USP and the product. Knowing your audience and whom you are trying to reach is critical. The more advertisers know about the consumers (or businesses) exposed to the message, the better. Commercials for golf products shown during golf tournaments focus specifically on golfers. Other commercials, such as several recent ones for the fast-food chain Hardee’s, are on the risqué side. They may appeal to some college students but may offend other consumers such as senior citizens. What do you think? Do you think Hardee’s is trying to reach a younger demographic? Do the ads make you more inclined to purchase fast food from Hardee’s? See the Hardee’s commercial in the video below.

Video Clip

Commercial for Hardee’s Thickburger

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/Avq2LAcPdj0[/embed] (click to see video)

This commercial that may be offensive to some consumers.

 

The Organization’s Promotion Objectives

Advertisers must also examine their promotion objectives. What are they trying to accomplish with their promotions? Are they trying to build awareness for a new product, are they wanting to get people to take action immediately, or are they interested in having people remember their brand in the future? Building primary demand, or demand for a product category, such as orange juice, might be one objective, but a company also wants to build selective demand, or demand for its specific brand(s), such as Tropicana orange juice.

Other common objectives follow the AIDA model (attention, interest, desire, and action). AIDA objectives typically are achieved in steps. First, companies focus on attention and awareness of a product or service, which is especially important for new offerings. If a consumer or business is not aware of a product or service, they won’t buy it. Once consumers or businesses are aware of products or services, organizations try to get consumers interested and persuade them that their brands are best. Ultimately, companies want consumers to take action or purchase their products or services.

Message Characteristics

Organizations must also determine what type of appeal to use and how to structure their messages. Some of the common advertising appeals are humorous, emotional, frightening (fear), rational (informative), and environmentally conscious. If you were asked to name your favorite commercial, would it be one with a humorous appeal? Many people like commercials that use humor because they are typically entertaining and memorable. Humor sells, but firms must be careful that the brand is remembered. Some commercials are very entertaining, but consumers cannot remember the brand or product.

Each year, some of the most talked-about commercials take place during the Super Bowl. Many people watch the game just to see the commercials. Watch the following YouTube videos to see one of the top ten Super Bowl commercials of all time and how newer commercials relied on a similar approach. Notice how many of them use a humorous appeal. But do you think some are more effective than others? In other words, will viewers actually buy the product(s)?

Video Clip

Often Rated the Best Super Bowl Commercial Ever

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/Lc0izCGKxP8[/embed] (click to see video)

This commercial uses a child and fun to appeal to many consumers.

 

Video Clip

Rated One of the Best Super Bowl Commercials of 2009

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/v_pYddCq7Hg[/embed] (click to see video)

Coke Zero uses the same approach in 2009 as the award-winning commercial in the 1980 Super Bowl.

 

Video Clip

Pepsi’s Version of “Asking for a Shirt”

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/Jx38M9llRtA[/embed] (click to see video)

Pepsi uses a humorous approach for a commercial although it was not a Super Bowl commercial.

 

Video Clip

Pepsi’s You’re a Winner

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/BYeoxkF8xfc[/embed] (click to see video)

See the Coke man in a Pepsi commercial.

 

Video Clip

Pepsi and the Song, “Your Cheatin Heart”

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/TnXArm-NViI[/embed] (click to see video)

Pepsi used a similar strategy in 1996.

 

Companies must also be careful when using fear appeals so consumers don’t get too alarmed or frightened. A few years ago, Reebok had to discontinue a TV ad because it upset so many people. The ad showed a bungee jumper diving off a bridge, followed by a shot of just his shoes hanging from the bridge by the bungee cord. That ad provoked people because it implied the jumper had fallen to his death.

Firms also decide whether to use strategies such as an open-ended or closed-ended message; whether to use a one-sided or two-sided message; and whether to use slogans, characters, or jingles. An open-ended message allows the consumer to draw his or her own conclusion, such as a commercial for perfume or cologne. A closed-ended message draws a logical conclusion. Most messages are one sided, stressing only the positive aspects, similar to what you include on your résumé. However, two-sided messages are often utilized as well. Pharmaceutical companies often show both the positive aspects (benefits) of using a drug and the negative aspects of not using it. (Of course, U.S. laws require companies to list the side effects of prescriptions—hence the long “warnings” you hear and read about in conjunction with drug ads.)

Video Clip

Example of an Open-Ended Commercial

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/bEmrdO8tW3w[/embed] (click to see video)

Do you interpret cologne and perfume ads the same way you see them portrayed on television?

The order of presentation also affects how well consumers remember a brand. If you forgot about a twenty-five-page term paper that you had to write before the next day of class, which sections of the paper would be the strongest? Would the beginning, the end, or the middle be the best section? Many students argue that either the beginning or the end is most important, hoping that the instructor does not read the entire paper carefully. The same strategy is true for commercials and advertisements. The beginning and the end of the message should be strong and include the brand name. That way, if consumers hear or read only part of the message, they will hopefully remember the brand name.

  [caption id="attachment_768" align="aligncenter" width="683"] he Jolly Green Giant helped kids remember the Green Giant jingle and hopefully reminded them to eat their vegetables. Jolly Green Giant by greefus groinks. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0.[/caption]  

Some companies use characters or mascots and/or jingles or slogans. Although media is changing, many of the characters and jingles have stayed the same for decades. When you think of Campbell’s soup, do you think “Mm, mm good”? Just as the commercials viewed in the beginning of the chapter focused on “Mm, mm good,” Campbell’s has used the same slogan since the early 1900s, and the Campbell Soup Kids were created in 1904. Although Campbell’s changed its slogan in 1998, the company still uses the “Mm, mm good” slogan in most of its promotions across different media. Apparently, the slogan still resonates with consumers. Other jingles, characters (mascots), or symbols you may be familiar with include the Jolly Green Giant, the Wienermobile, and the Pillsbury Doughboy known as Poppin’ Fresh. How successful are advertisers in making sure consumers know their brands? Try the brand quiz and see how many brand icons you know. The following figures also illustrate some of these characters and symbols.

  [caption id="attachment_769" align="aligncenter" width="689"] The Wienermobile tours the country. Wienermobile-Bologna by Scottfamily5. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain.[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_762" align="aligncenter" width="550"] The Pillsbury Doughboy, Poppin’ Fresh, is popular around the world. Pillsbury doughboy by Giora Eshkol. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0.[/caption]  

Do you remember the Oscar Mayer jingles? Watch the video below and see if you find yourself singing along. The jingle was originally developed in 1963 and is now recorded in different languages. In 2006 Oscar Mayer promoted a singing contest for the jingle, which still remains popular. Kraft’s promotions are also consistent across media, using the visuals from commercials as pictures in their print ads in both English and Spanish versions, following the IMC concept.

Organizations must determine promotion objectives, or what they want to accomplish with their promotions. For example, if a company has a new brand they may want to generate awareness or attention. Later, they may focus on persuading customers to buy their brand. Each brand needs to have a unique selling proposition (USP) for customers to remember and want their product. Depending on their objectives and their USP, marketers must develop a message strategy. Some companies prefer humor or rational appeals while others may use a fear appeal.

 

The Promotion Budget

An offering’s budget is a critical factor when it comes to deciding which message strategies to pursue. Several methods can be used to determine the promotion budget. The simplest method for determining the promotion budget is often merely using a percentage of last year’s sales or the projected sales for the next year. This method does not take into account any changes in the market or unexpected circumstances. However, many firms use this method because it is simple and straightforward.

The affordable method, or what you think you can afford, is a method used often by small businesses. Unfortunately, things often cost more than anticipated, and you may not have enough money. Many small businesses think they’re going to have money for promotion, but they run out and cannot spend as much on promotion as they had hoped. Such a situation may have happened to you when you planned a weekend trip based on what you thought you could afford, and you did not have enough money. As a result, you had to modify your plans and not do everything you planned.

Other companies may decide to use competitive parity—that is, they try to keep their promotional spending comparable to the competitors’ spending level. This method is designed to keep a brand in the minds of consumers. During a recession, some firms feel like they must spend as much—if not more—than their competitors to get customers to buy from them. Other companies are forced to cut back on their spending or pursue more targeted promotions. When Kmart faced bankruptcy, they cut back on expenditures, yet they kept their advertising inserts (free-standing inserts, or FSI) in Sunday newspapers to remain competitive with other businesses that had an FSI.

A more rational and ideal approach is the objective and task method, whereby marketing managers first determine what they want to accomplish (objectives) with their communication. Then they determine what activities—commercials, sales promotions, and so on—are necessary to accomplish the objectives. Finally, they conduct research to figure out how much the activities, or tasks, cost in order to develop a budget.

Part of the budgeting process includes deciding how much money to allocate to different media. Although most media budgets are still spent predominantly on traditional media, shifts in spending are occurring as the media landscape continues to change. Mobile marketing continues to become more popular as a way to reach specific audiences. Over one-third of cell phone users were exposed to mobile advertising in 2009 and 16 percent of the people exposed to mobile advertising responded to the ads via text messaging. Younger people are typically the most accepting of mobile advertising (Loechner, 2009). Spending on mobile ads is expected to grow 80% from $1.45 billion in 2011 to $2.61 billion in 2012. A big part of the growth is due to the mobile search business of Google (Cotton, 2012).

The manufacturers of most major brands use texting and multimedia messages. Mobile marketing allows advertisers to communicate with consumers and businesses on the go. Over half of Chinese, Korean, Indian, and Thai Internet users access social media sites through their phones rather than through computers¹. While many marketers plan to use electronic devices for their mobile-marketing strategies, other firms may use movable or mobile promotions, which, as discussed earlier, are also considered out-of-home advertising.

Companies can determine how much to spend on promotion several different ways. The percent of sales method, in which companies use a set percentage of sales for their promotion, is often the easiest method to use. Small companies may focus on what they think they can afford while other organizations may try to keep their promotions relatively equal to their competitors’. The objective and task approach takes objectives into consideration and the costs of the tasks necessary to accomplish objectives in order to determine the promotion budget.

Sales promotions are activities that supplement a company’s advertising, public relations, and professional selling efforts. They create incentives for customers to buy products more quickly and make larger purchases. Sales promotions are often temporary, but when the economy is weak, sales promotions become even more popular for consumers and are used more frequently by organizations.

Consumer Sales Promotions

Samples, coupons, premiums, contests, and rebates are examples of consumer sales promotions. Do you like free samples? Most people do. A free sample allows consumers to try a small amount of a product so that hopefully they will purchase it. The strategy encourages trial and builds awareness. You have probably purchased a product that included a small free sample with it—for example, a small amount of conditioner packaged with your shampoo. Have you ever gone to a store that provided free samples of different food items? Although sampling is an expensive strategy, it is usually very effective for food products. People try the product, and the person providing the sample tells them about the product and mentions any special prices for it.

In many retail grocery stores, coupons are given to consumers with the samples. Coupons provide an immediate price reduction off an item. The amount of the coupon is later reimbursed to the retailer by the manufacturer. The retailer gets a handling fee for accepting coupons. When the economy is weak, more consumers cut out coupons and look for special bargains such as double coupons and buy-one-get-one-free (BOGO) coupons. They may also buy more store brands.

  [caption id="attachment_763" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Consumers cut out and use more coupons in a weak economy. Coupon Pile Stock Photo by Carol Pyles. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0.[/caption]

While many consumers cut coupons from the inserts in Sunday newspapers, other consumers find coupons online or on their cell phones. Point-of-purchase displays, including coupon machines placed next to products in stores, encourage consumers to buy a brand or product immediately. When a consumer sees a special display or can get a coupon instantly, manufacturers hope the sales promotion increases sales. Stores may also provide coupons for customers with loyalty cards to encourage them to select particular brands and products.

Mobile marketing and the Internet provide consumers in international markets access to coupons and other promotions. In India, the majority of coupons used are digital, while paper coupons have the largest share in the United States. Over 80 percent of diapers are purchased with coupons; imagine how much easier and less wasteful digital coupons scanned from a mobile phone are for both organizations and consumers.

Other sales promotions may be conducted online and include incentives such as free items, free shipping, coupons, and sweepstakes. For example, many online merchants such as Shoe Station and Zappos offer free shipping and free return shipping to encourage consumers to shop online. Some firms have found that the response they get to their online sales promotions is better than response they get to traditional sales promotions.

Another very popular sales promotion for consumers is a premium. A premium is something you get either for free or for a small shipping and handling charge with your proof of purchase (sales receipt or part of package). Remember wanting your favorite cereal because there was a toy in the box? The toy is an example of a premium. Sometimes you might have to mail in a certain number of proofs of purchase to get a premium. The purpose of a premium is to motivate you to buy a product multiple times. What many people don’t realize is that when they pay the shipping and handling charges, they may also be paying for the premium.

Contests or sweepstakes also attract a lot of people. Contests are sales promotions people enter or participate in to have a chance to win a prize. The Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes and the Monopoly Game at McDonald’s are both examples. The organization that conducts the sweepstakes or contest hopes you will not only enter its contest but buy some magazines (or more food) when you do.

Loyalty programs are sales promotions designed to get repeat business. Loyalty programs include things such as frequent flier programs, hotel programs, and shopping cards for grocery stores, drugstores, and restaurants. Sometimes point systems are used in conjunction with loyalty programs. After you accumulate so many miles or points, an organization might provide you with a special incentive such as a free flight, free hotel room, or free sandwich. Many loyalty programs, especially hotels and airlines, have partners to give consumers more ways to accumulate and use miles and points.

Rebates are popular with both consumers and the manufacturers that provide them. When you get a rebate, you are refunded part (or all) of the purchase price of a product back after completing a form and sending it to the manufacturer with your proof of purchase. The trick is completing the paperwork on time. Although different types of sales promotions work best for different organizations, rebates are very profitable for companies because many consumers forget or wait too long to send in their rebate forms. Consequently, they do not get any money back. Rebates sound great to consumers until they forget to send it back.

Trade Promotions

In business-to-business (B2B) marketing, sales promotions are typically called trade promotions because they are targeted to channel members who conduct business or “trade” with consumers. Trade promotions include trade shows, conventions, event marketing, trade allowances, training, and special incentives given to retailers to market particular products and services, such as extra money, in-store displays, and prizes.

Trade shows are one of the most common types of sales promotions in B2B markets. A trade show is an event in which firms in a particular industry display and demonstrate their offerings to other organizations they hope will buy them. There are typically many different trade shows in which one organization can participate. Using displays, brochures, and other materials, representatives at trade shows can identify potential customers (prospects), inform customers about new and existing products, and show them products and materials. Representatives can also get feedback from prospects about their company’s products and materials and perhaps about competitors.

Companies also gather competitive information at trade shows because they can see the products other firms are exhibiting and how they are selling them. While approximately 75 percent of representatives attending trade shows actually buy the product(s) they see, 93 percent of attendees are influenced by what they see at the trade shows. However, only 20 percent of organizations follow up on leads obtained at trade shows and only 17 percent of buyers are called upon after they express interest in a particular company’s products (Tanner & Pitta, 2009). The image below is an example of a booth display at a trade show showcasing the Korean electronics firm Samsung. Trade shows can be very successful, although the companies that participate in them need to follow-up on the leads generated at the shows. With changing technology, Webinars are being used to reach businesses that may not be able to attend trade shows. Follow-up after a Webinar is also essential.

[caption id="attachment_766" align="aligncenter" width="920"] LG CES 2010 by LGEPR. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.0.[/caption]

Conventions, or meetings, with groups of professionals also provide a way for sellers to show potential customers different products. For example, a medical convention might be a good opportunity to display a new type of medical device. Sales representatives and managers often attend conventions to market their products.

  [caption id="attachment_767" align="aligncenter" width="325"] La Clínica IMQ... by Docor Comunicacion. Source: Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.[/caption]

Intuitive Surgical is the maker of the da Vinci robot, a new type of technology used to make surgeries easy to perform and less invasive. Intuitive Surgical often demonstrates the robot at surgical conventions.

 

Sales contests, which are often held by manufacturers or vendors, provide incentives for salespeople to increase their sales. Often, the contests focus on selling higher-profit or slow-moving products. The sales representative with the most sales of the product wins a prize such as a free vacation, company recognition, or cash.

Trade allowances give channel partners—for example, a manufacturer’s wholesalers, distributors, retailers, and so forth—different incentives to push a product. One type of trade allowance is an advertising allowance (money) to advertise a seller’s products in local newspapers. An advertising allowance benefits both the manufacturer and the retailer. Typically, the retailer can get a lower rate than manufacturers on advertising in local outlets, saving the manufacturer money. The retailer benefits by getting an allowance from the manufacturer.

Another sales promotion that manufacturers, such as those in the tool or high tech industries, offer businesses is training to help their salespeople understand how the manufacturers’ products work and how consumers can be enticed to buy them. Many manufacturers also provide in-store product demonstrations to show a channel partner’s customers how products work and answer any questions they might have. Demonstrations of new video game systems and computers are extremely popular and successful in generating sales.

Free merchandise, such as a tool, television, or other product produced by the manufacturer, can also be used to get retailers to sell products to consumers. In other words, a manufacturer of televisions might offer the manager of a retail electronics store a television to push its products. If a certain number of televisions are sold, the manager gets the television. Have you ever been to an electronics store or a furniture store and felt like the salesperson was pushing one particular television or one particular mattress? Perhaps the salesperson was getting push money, or a cash incentive from the manufacturer to push a particular item. The push to sell the item might be because there is a large amount of inventory of it, it is being replaced by a new model, or the product is not selling well. Figure 11.15 "Examples of Sales Promotions" recaps the different types of sales promotions designed for both consumers and businesses.

Consumer Sales Promotions, and Business-to-business sales promotions

Consumer Sales Promotions	Business-to-Business Sales Promotions
Coupons	Trade shows and conventions
Sweepstakes or contests	Sales contests
Premiums	Trade and advertising allowances
Rebates	Product demonstrations
Samples	Training
Loyalty programs	Free merchandise
Point-of-purchase displays	Push money

 

Push Versus Pull Strategy

Businesses must also decide whether to use a push strategy, a pull strategy, or both push and pull strategies. A push strategy involves promoting a product to businesses (middlemen), such as wholesalers and retailers, who then push the product through the channel promoting it to final consumers. Manufacturers may set up displays in retail outlets for new products or provide incentives such as price discounts to the retailer so the retailer can promote or push the product to consumers.

Companies use a pull strategy when they target final consumers with promotions. In other words, a company promotes it products and services to final consumers to pull consumers into the stores or get the consumers asking for the product. If a company sends coupons to the consumers, hopefully the consumers will take the coupons (sales promotion) to the store and buy the product. A manufacturer promotes its new product on television to consumers and places coupons in the newspaper inserts, hoping consumers will demand the product. Their pull causes wholesalers and retailers to buy the product to try to meet the demand.

Many manufacturers use both a push strategy and a pull strategy, promoting their products and services to both final consumers and their trade partners (e.g., retailers and wholesalers). The image below "A Push versus a Pull Strategy" shows how push strategy differs from a pull strategy.

[caption id="attachment_771" align="aligncenter" width="569"] Push Vs Pull[/caption]

Companies use sales promotions to get customers to take action (make purchases) quickly. Sales promotions increase the awareness of products, help introduce new products, and often create interest in the organizations that run the promotions. Coupons, contests, samples, and premiums are among the types of sales promotions aimed at consumers. Trade promotions, or promotions aimed at businesses, include trade shows, sales contests, trade allowances, and push money.

 

Public Relations Activities And Tools

Good public relations efforts can help a firm create rapport with its customers, promote what it has to offer, and supplement its sales efforts. PR puts a positive spin on news stories and is often perceived as more neutral and objective than other forms of promotion because much of the information is tailored to sound as if it has been created by an organization independent of the seller. Public relations materials include press releases, publicity, and news conferences. Companies also use PR to promote products and to supplement their sales efforts.

Many organizations that engage in public relations have in-house PR departments, media relations groups, or investor relations groups. Other organizations sometimes hire external PR firms or advertising agencies to find and create public relations opportunities for them. PR specialists must build relationships with people at different media outlets to help get their stories placed. Universities, hospitals, government organizations, and charitable organizations often hire PR people to help disseminate positive information about their services and to increase interest in what they do. As such, PR is part of a company’s promotion budget and their integrated marketing communications.

PR specialists also help political campaign managers generate positive information in the press. PR specialists can handle crisis communication and put a positive view on situations when something bad happens to an organization or person. In foreign markets, PR agencies may help ensure product concepts are understood correctly. Getting all PR stories placed in desired media is not guaranteed. A lot of time and effort is spent getting to know people who can help publish or announce the information to the public.

Companies use a variety of tools for their public relations purposes, including annual reports, brochures and magazines for both employees and the public, Web sites to show good things they’re doing, speeches, blogs, and podcasts. Some of the most commonly used PR tools include press releases, news conferences, and publicity. Sponsorships, product placements, and social media also generate a lot of positive PR.

Press Releases

Part of a company’s public relations efforts includes putting a positive spin on news stories. A press release is a news story written by an organization to promote a product, organization, or person. Consider how much better a story or a product recommendation is likely to be perceived when the receiver thinks the content is from an objective third party rather than an organization writing about itself. Public relations personnel frequently prepare press releases in hopes that the news media will pick them up and disseminate the information to the public. However, there is no guarantee that the media will use a press release. Some of the PR opportunities that companies may seek to highlight in their press releases include charity events, awards, new products, company reports, and things they are doing to improve the environment or local community.

Read the following two examples of press releases. The first story sounds like it was written by a news organization, but it was created by Apple and their public relations people to highlight the introduction of the new iPhone 3G. The second press release provides an example of how a company like Stubb’s Bar-B-Q teams up with Mobile Loaves & Fishes, a charity that helps feed the hungry, to help feed homeless and poor people and restock food banks around the country. The story enhances the positive image of both organizations.

An Example of a Press Release to Introduce a New Product

Apple Introduces the New iPhone 3G

Twice as Fast at Half the Price

SAN FRANCISCO—June 9, 2008—Apple® today introduced the new iPhone™ 3G, combining all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking that is twice as fast* as the first generation iPhone, built-in GPS for expanded location-based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs the hundreds of third party applications already built with the recently released iPhone SDK. In the US the new iPhone 3G is priced at a stunning $199 for the 8GB model, and just $299 for the 16GB model.** iPhone 3G will be available in more than 70 countries later this year, beginning with customer availability in 22 countries—Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US—on July 11.

*Based on 3G and EDGE testing. Actual speeds vary by site conditions.

**Based on iPhone 3G (8GB) and first generation iPhone (8GB) purchases. Requires new two year AT&T rate plan, sold separately¹.

An Example of a Press Release to Show How a Company Helps Feed the Hungry and Restock Food Banks around the Country

Stubb’s Teams Up with Mobile Loaves & Fishes to Launch “Feed the World Tour”

Tuesday, May 26, 5 p.m. @ Wooldridge Park

AUSTIN—Stubb’s Legendary Kitchen will kick off its 12-city “Feed the World Tour” this Tuesday, May 26 at 5 p.m. in Wooldridge Square Park, 9th and Guadalupe Streets, by serving chopped beef sandwiches with famous Stubb’s barbecue sauce to homeless and working poor people from one of Mobile Loaves & Fishes’ special catering trucks, which serve people in six cities every day.

Kurt Koegler, president of Stubb’s Legendary Kitchen, will join Alan Graham, Mobile Loaves’ founder/president, and volunteers from the company and MLF volunteers to serve the sandwiches and distribute Stubb’s T-shirts. The Austin-based company chose Mobile Loaves as its partner to kick off the “Feed the World Tour,” which is named for the stated mission of Texas Bar-B-Q legend, C.B. “Stubb” Stubblefield, who said: “I was born hungry I want to feed the world.”

After leaving Austin, the tour will swing through the Southeast, up the East Coast and into Washington, D.C. where the Stubb’s team will compete at the annual BBQ Battle on Pennsylvania Avenue. In each city, Stubb’s Legendary Kitchen and company president Koegler will barbecue for the homeless and help restock depleted food banks.

“Stubb was a cook but more than that, a lover of people. The values that guided his life still guide the company that bears his name. Stubb’s life truly is in every bottle of sauce and marinade we make. All of us at Stubb’s are thrilled to be working with Mobile Loaves and bringing all of Stubb’s Love and Happiness to those who all too often need it most” said Koegler.

“The economy has placed greater demand on organizations like Mobile Loaves and local food banks, so we couldn’t think of a better time to show our support,” Koegler said. “Stubb’s greatest joy was feeding the people who came from all around for a taste of his famous barbecue, and it is an honor for us to fulfill his mission with our Feed the World Tour.”

“We’re honored to be selected as Stubb’s charity partner for the kick-off of this awesome tour,” Graham said. “As someone who once was poor and hungry, C.B. ‘Stubb’ Stubblefield is smiling in heaven to know that his creation is helping feed brothers and sisters on the street here in Austin and around the country. We look forward to connecting Stubb’s with people on the streets here and in the other cities we serve².”

Press releases and other PR activities can also be used for damage control purposes. Crisis communication is the process of countering the extreme negative effects a company gets when it receives bad publicity. Domino’s Pizza was forced to engage in damage control after two of its employees created a video doing disgusting things to pizzas and then posting it to YouTube. If the publicity is particularly bad, as it was for Domino’s, a company might hold a press conference or prepare a speech for the top executive to give. For example, the president of Domino’s spoke on video to try to control the damage to Domino’s business. The company then posted the following video on YouTube.

 

Video Clip

An Example of Crisis Communication

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/xvg4-E2C8UE[/embed] (click to see video)

Patrick Doyle, the president of Domino’s, responds on YouTube to a video created by two Domino’s employees, who were subsequently fired by the pizza chain.

Similarly, companies that move into foreign markets are sometimes perceived negatively by locals because they have little information about the firms. In India, the reputation of companies is very important to workers and their families. As a result, U.S. employers recruiting in the tech industry in India often have to work hard to make their brands and products known so people will want to work for them. The firms do so via various PR efforts.

Just as press releases can be used to promote the good things an organization or person does, press conferences can also be held when a company is simply seeking good PR. An organization might hold a press conference to announce that it has hired new, highly sought-after executives, that it is breaking ground on a new building, or to talk about its community service projects.

Sponsorships

Many of you have heard of the Staples Center, where the Los Angeles Lakers play basketball. But imagine how many more people heard about the Staples Center following the announcement that Michael Jackson’s public memorial would take place there. All the news stories talking about tickets and information about the memorial provided “free” publicity for the center and for the office supplies store, Staples, for which the center is named. Staples paid $375 million for naming rights of the center, which was built in 1998³. Indeed, the chain has gotten a huge return on its sponsorship of the center.

 

The Staples Center in Los Angeles is an example of a venue sponsorship. The office supplies store Staples paid for the naming rights to the stadium.

[caption id="attachment_770" align="aligncenter" width="603"]
Staples Center by Ms. Highsmith. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain.[/caption]

A sponsorship involves paying a fee to have your name associated with different things, such as the following:

• A particular venue (Wrigley Field; the Staples Center)
• A superstar’s apparel (Tiger Woods wearing Nike hats and shirts)
• An event (the AT&T National Golf Tournament; the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl)
• A cause (M&M’s support of the Special Olympics)
• An educational workshop or information session
• A NASCAR vehicle (by Pfizer, the maker of Viagra; see image below)

Even though sponsorships are expensive, they are growing in popularity as corporations seek ways to strengthen their corporate image, increase their brand awareness, differentiate their products, and reach their target markets. Worldwide, corporations spent over $43 billion on sponsorships in 2008⁴; however, the recession has taken a toll and the new stadium for the Dallas Cowboys still doesn’t have a sponsor with naming rights. Over two-thirds of the sponsorships in North America are for sports, followed by entertainment (e.g., music and performing arts) and causes (e.g., the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and “alternative spring breaks” for college students). Other organizations and structures, such as buildings and bridges, may seek sponsorships as a means of generating revenue. Imagine how many people drive across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York or the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and how much awareness an organization would get if they were allowed to pay to have their name on either of the bridges.

[caption id="attachment_761" align="aligncenter" width="477"] scan0070 by Jay Bonvouloir. Source: Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.[/caption]

Pfizer, the maker of Viagra, is one of the many companies that sponsor NASCAR racing teams.

 

Cause-related marketing is one of the fastest-growing types of sponsorships. It occurs when a company supports a nonprofit organization in some way. For example, M&M’s sponsors the Special Olympics and American Airlines raises money for breast cancer research with an annual celebrity golf and tennis tournament. The airline also donates frequent flier miles to the cause. Yoplait Yogurt donates money for breast cancer research for every pink lid that is submitted. Cause-related marketing can have a positive PR impact by strengthening the affinity people have for a company that does it.

 

Product Placements

Getting a company’s product included as part of a television show, movie, video game, special event, or book is called a product placement. When you watch reruns of Seinfeld, you often see different Coca-Cola products being consumed. Likewise, you might see a Nissan Maxima on Desperate Housewives. Over four hundred product placements typically appear in each episode of The Biggest Loser. Apple placed products in twenty-four movies that reached number one between August 1, 2008, and August 1, 2009, while Ford products appeared twenty times and Budweiser products appeared twelve times⁵.

Video Clip

Example of Product Placement

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/d36wUmJGzvA[/embed] (click to see video)

Although the video sounds like a paid commercial, it is actually part of an episode of 30 Rock.

Typically, a company pays a fee to have one of its products placed. But sometimes the company pays nothing if the product is needed for a show in some way or as part of the plot. FedEx did not pay for product placement in the movie Cast Away⁶. Product placement can improve a brand’s awareness and exposure and often increase its sales. Given the number of exposures an organization receives with product placement, the cost of a product placement can be less expensive than commercials might cost.

Although most product placements appear in television shows and movies, corporations are pursuing other options. For example, they are now placing products in online videos, computer games, and books. The number of product placements is expected to increase as consumers continue to skip commercials and advertisements using digital video recorders (DVRs).

Public relations (PR) are the activities organizations engage in to create a positive image for a company, product, service, or a person. Press releases, a commonly used PR tool, are designed to generate publicity, but there is no guarantee the media will use them in the stories they write. Sponsorships are designed to increase brand awareness, improve corporate image, and reach target markets. Product placements are designed to generate exposure, brand awareness, and interest.

Social media uses technology and mobility to provide an interactive means of communication among people, organizations, and communities who are interconnected and interdependent. Many channels and vehicles are available for social media just as there are many different television shows and magazines. With changing technology, new vehicles are added frequently.

With over half of Americans participating in social networks, people and organizations who don’t participate may be at a disadvantage with some groups in society. Not only does the majority of the population in the United States have a profile on a social network, but at least one-third of those people access the sites multiple times a day. Not only is social media popular for keeping in touch with friends, but companies use social media to promote their brands and as a tool for recruiting and hiring. People follow companies and brands on social media, especially on Facebook, whereas LinkedIn generates more job referrals. Just as companies are allocating more of their promotion budget to social media, they are also increasing their expenditures on social recruiting.

Social media is complex and rapidly changing. While there is some overlap between personal and business, one way to improve the understanding of social media is to think about social media zones. Social media zones include social communities, social publishing, social entertainment, and social commerce. Think about the different ways you use social media and which zones you utilize. You probably use all of the zones.

Social communities are channels that focus on activities and relationships and include social networking sites (online hosts such as Facebook and LinkedIn), forums, wikis, and message boards, channels where you may already participate. Think about your profile. Whatever you type becomes a digital version of you. In social communities, you communicate and socialize with others. While you may share information with others, you must be careful how much and what information you choose to post.

Social publishing helps distribute information to different audiences and includes channels such as blogs (Web sites with content that is updated regularly) and media sharing sites with searchable content featuring videos (YouTube), photos (Flickr), and music (iTunes). Think about videos you may have posted. When companies pay to have product reviews posted or to promote contests or their brands, they may use social publishers to write blogs and generate word of mouth. Many companies are also posting their own commercials and other content on YouTube.

Opportunities for games and entertainment are part of the social entertainment zone. Social games like FarmVille, entertainment networks, action games, puzzle games, and reality games have increased revenues in the social gaming industry. Social gaming appears to be growing in popularity.

Do you remember talking about e-commerce? Well, the social commerce zone is part of e-commerce where people buy and sell products on the Internet. Social commerce provides a means for interactive shopping, including reviews, ratings, and social shopping Web sites where you can chat with merchant personnel or with friends while you are shopping. Think about the questions you may ask a customer service person in a chat room versus what you may ask at a store in a mall.

While organizations are allocating more of their promotion budgets to social media, they are also generating a lot of buzz or talk without a lot of expense. To see the impact social media has, consider the buzz created by Old Milwaukee’s commercial shown during Super Bowl XLVI, which only aired locally in North Platte, Nebraska. North Platte is the second smallest television market in the country with only 15,000 homes but it is hometown to New England Patriots Danny Woodhead, While the thirty-second spot only targeted a small audience at a cost of $700–$1500 in the local market (compared to $3.5 million for national thirty-second spot), the commercial created more buzz than many of the nationally broadcast commercials (Gillette, 2012). The YouTube version shown in the following video has been viewed over a million times, much more than the always popular Budweiser commercials. The commercial became so popular that Old Milwaukee put a link to the commercial on their Web site. Talk about the impact of social media and bragging rights!

Video Clip

Old Milwaukee and Will Ferrell in the Super Bowl

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/YjzesjojNhA[/embed] (click to see video)

Old Milwaukee and their strategy to play during the Super Bowl.

Social media uses technology and mobility to provide an interactive means of communication among people, organizations, and communities who are interconnected and interdependent. Social media zones include social communities, social publishing, social entertainment, and social commerce. More companies are using social media to promote their products as well as for recruiting.

]]> 144 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=147 Tue, 11 Jun 2019 22:44:38 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/ethics-in-writing-2/

Ethics In Public Relations

Ethics is a moral code that serves as a compass for individual or societal behavior. Engaging in unethical behavior or messaging can be particularly damaging for business brands. Countless businesses have been involved in scandals and crises stemming from unethical behavior and judgment. Recovering from these instances is difficult, and the effects are sometimes irreversible.The issue of ethics is critically important in public relations. Creators of content should heavily rely on a code of ethics when carrying out various tasks. Using ethical reasoning, whether you’re designing a social media campaign or writing an opinion editorial for a newspaper, demonstrates basic understanding of the influence of messages on audiences. Ethical communication also helps an organization avoid dilemmas and compromising situations. Several cases covered in the media highlight the ramifications of failure to use ethical and honest standards in communication efforts.

Most subfields related to professional or strategic communications have what is called a code of ethics or a collection of rules and values that play a foundational role in conduct and the decision-making process. The links below explain the code of ethics for public relations, journalism, and advertising in Canada:

• Canadian Public Relations Society's Code of Professional Standards
• Canadian Association of Journalists' Ethics Guidelines
• Canadian Marketing Code of Ethics & Standards
• The Canadian Code of Advertising Standards

Defamation

Compromising a code of ethics may have legal consequences, depending upon the situation. One of the most common ethical problems that occurs in court cases is defamation. Defamation is intentional damage done to one party’s reputation by another party. Although it is not a crime, it is considered a civil suit in a court of law. Individuals or organizations with particularly high stakes attached to their reputation (for example, celebrities, public figures or popular businesses) are more inclined to sue for defamation.  

A recent example is a defamation case launched by Dominion Voting Systems against Donald Trump, as reported by Global News: "An [sic] senior employee of Dominion Voting Systems has sued U.S. President Donald Trump‘s re-election campaign in a Colorado court for spreading false conspiracy theories related to November’s presidential election that Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden...The lawsuit claims that Trump’s campaign and its agents 'manufactured and spread a false narrative' that Dominion 'conspired to rig its equipment and the election in favor of President-Elect Biden,' which led to 'devastating consequences,' including death threats which forced Coomer to leave his home for fear of his safety."

Slander And Libel

There are two categories of defamation: slander and libel. Slander is the non-permanent spoken or gestured version of defamation, when something is said verbally or symbolically that harms another party’s reputation. Libel is the written or "permanent record" version of defamation, when something is published that damages a party’s reputation. Because this textbook focuses on writing, libel will be discussed in greater detail. Libel includes both print and online publications; even social media posts can be grounds for a libel suit. In 2011, lawyer Rhonda Holmes sued her former client, punk rocker Courtney Love, over a disparaging tweet Love had sent in reference to Holmes’s work ethic. Love was the first person in history to stand trial for social media defamation; prior to her case, there was no record of someone being sued for defamation because of something posted on Twitter (Chow, 2014). Popular media dubbed the case “Twibel.” A jury acquitted Love of all charges. Click here for more information on the case and its implication. Canadian Journalists for Free Expression Offers a good short primer on Defamation, libel and slander in the Canadian context.

The risk of defamation is of great concern to every public relations professional. Careful information gathering and rigorous fact-checking are vital in order to avoid defamatory communication. Double-checking quotes and sources helps minimize the risk of publishing libelous statements.

Conflict Of Interest

Before reading the section on conflict of interest, think about the following situation: Should a newspaper travel writer accept a free hotel stay, airline ticket, meals, and so on from a resort as an enticement to get the writer to do a story? Does this produce real or perceived bias in the resulting reporting? Is this arrangement disclosed to readers? What if the only way the newspaper could afford to have a travel writer was to accept such free offers? What kinds of conflicts, real or perceived, need to be considered? Conflict of interest is “a clash between a person’s self-interest and professional interest or public interest” (Business Dictionary, 2016). Communication professionals should try to eliminate any action that may compromise their impartiality or the interests of their organization. That includes separating personal interests from the organization’s goals. The definition seems straightforward, but real-life situations can be murky. As a PR consultant, should you take on two clients who are competitors? Most within the industry would say that you should inform both parties of the situation and let them decide if they want to proceed. However, let’s say your agency takes on a client who has a history of using unethical labor practices, something that you staunchly oppose. How do you remain impartial in this situation? How do you write material that benefits your client when your personal opinions may affect the content? Or, should you, as a journalist, accept a small gift from a source (for example, they offer to pick-up the tab for lunch) before or after an interview? Most journalists would say no, because accepting a gift from a source, no matter how small, could affect your feelings toward the individual (or affect the way others perceive your feelings about the individual), which could be reflected in your writing (or affect the perception of it). There are several ways to avoid a conflict of interest. Gather as much information as you can about the potential conflict in order to make an objective decision (or as objective as possible). Firms should have formal rules, and conflicts should be disclosed to supervisors. To safeguard your career and reputation, it’s important to always uphold high ethical standards and conduct yourself in a manner above reproach. You may want to ask colleagues or supervisors for advice. Also, be as upfront as possible with the parties involved.

Here is an example of conflict of interest playing out in the worlds of journalism and public relations in the Canadian context.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is an issue in both academic and professional situations. The term refers to using another person’s work without proper credit or attribution. Plagiarism is a very serious offence in public relations and other professional communication fields, including journalism. Former Globe and Mail columnist, Margaret Wente has been in the news multiple times for instances of plagiarism. The instances created controversy and ultimately cost Wente several professional opportunities.

Another recent and highly publicized case of plagiarism involved a speech given at the 2016 Republican National Convention by Melania Trump, wife of the party’s presidential nominee, Donald Trump. Soon after she delivered the speech, some took to social media to point out similarities to a speech given by Michelle Obama at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. News media outlets later reported that parts of the speech were lifted directly from Obama’s speech (Horowitz, 2016). Meredith McIver, Melania’s speechwriter and an employee of the Trump organization, took responsibility for the incident and stated that it was a mistake (Horowitz, 2016). McIver was not fired, and many outraged observers questioned the integrity of the Trump campaign.

Lack Of Transparency

Most crisis communication experts agree that transparency is key to maintaining or regaining the public’s trust. Lack of transparency can have devastating effects that sometimes leave a permanent stain on a company or brand’s image. Brands cannot thrive without the public’s trust. A recent case that demonstrates the negative outcomes of failing to be transparent is the emissions scandal at Volkswagen. In 2015, news outlets reported that the German car company used a “defeat device” in many of its cars as far back as 2009 to cheat on several emissions tests conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency. These devices were able to detect when tests were being conducted and help reduce toxic emissions during the procedures. In reality, the vehicle emissions were well above the levels permitted by the EPA. Soon after the public received the news, Volkswagen sales plummeted and a social backlash against the company ensued. As a result, the CEO resigned and the company lost the public’s trust. The organization is still going through damage control and court settlement procedures. Compromising transparency to benefit a company’s bottom line may seem like a good idea in the moment, but the long-term damages can be significant.

Misleading Advertisements

Advertising firms often have a reputation for using manipulative tactics at the expense of the consumer. This is largely due to consumers’ experiences with misleading advertisements, or promotions that exaggerate claims or misinform audiences. The goal of an advertisement is to emphasize the benefits of a product or service over any drawbacks or shortcomings. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="434"] Source: Pxhere. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] However, agencies should not create deceptive advertisements at the expense of consumers. By law, claims in advertisements have to be truthful and supported by evidence. Going back to the Volkswagen emissions scandal, the company also faced legal troubles for falsely advertising that its cars had low emissions. The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint against Volkswagen in federal court, arguing that the company deceived its consumers through unsubstantiated claims and corrupt evidence.The Competition Bureau of Canadian enforces legal provisions that, "...prohibit making any deceptive representations for the purpose of promoting a product or a business interest, and encourage the provision of sufficient information to allow consumers to make informed choices." Ad Standards is a national, not-for-profit, advertising self-regulating body in Canada that includes a complaint and review process (as does the Competition Bureau).

]]> 147 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=157 Mon, 17 Jun 2019 17:10:06 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/chapter-8-ethical-and-legal-copnsiderations-2/

Previously we discussed the personal attributes that will help you succeed on the job. There are also standards for conducting your professional work ethically and legally that must be understood and heeded. Missteps in these areas will undermine not only your own credibility but can have wide-ranging repercussions for the organization and profession within which you work. Following is a discussion of the levels of responsibility that affect the information you gather and use, and the messages you create. Once you understand the constraints you must acknowledge in your work as a message creator, you’ll be able to think strategically about the information you need to create that outcome. Having this foundation will also help you evaluate the appropriateness of the information you find.
Being a socially responsible communicator requires attention to both ethical standards and legal requirements. First, we need to draw a distinction between ethics and law. Distinction Between Ethics and Law [caption id="" align="alignright" width="300"] Scales of Justice by Karen Arnold PublicDomainPictures.net. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] Ethics

• A branch of philosophy
• Deals with values relating to human conduct
• Concerned with “rightness” and “wrongness” of actions
• Self-legislated and self-enforced
• Sometimes difficult to determine because of competing, equally-valid possible choices

Law

• Derived from ethical values in a society
• Formally / institutionally determined and enforced through courts and law enforcement officials
• Easily determined because it is a matter of statute and the legality of action and consequences for not adhering to the law is spelled out

In the previous lessons on developing your information task list and determining questions to answer, we’ve focused on specific information-seeking goals. In each of the communication professions, there are key legal considerations that must be understood that will either help or hinder, the seeking of information to meet those goals. In news, for example, if some of the information needed requires the use of public records then an understanding of public records and privacy laws will help you know what it is possible to get, and how to legally use these records. In advertising, you might want to make the most of the attributes of the product you are promoting, but you will need to abide by laws dictating the substantiation of product claims. For public relations professionals, you may need to issue a corporate response to a crisis, therefore it is important to understand the requirements or restrictions of corporate disclosure laws. We will discuss these legal perspectives later in this lesson. Socially responsible communicators are not content with just staying on the right side of the law. While the law embodies a significant portion of our values, individuals and organizations that want to be considered socially responsible must go beyond the rough requirements of the law itself and adopt higher and more thoughtful standards. In some cases, these standards may have a legal basis as well as an ethical one. Following these standards requires the communicator to consider both “positive obligations” (things that you must always strive to do) or “negative obligations” (things that you must guard against doing). Let’s look at the positive and negative obligations that apply to those crafting news messages. These are drawn from the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists, a long-standing professional association for news professionals. [caption id="attachment_240" align="alignright" width="255"] Society of Professional Journalists logo by Wikipedia. Source: Wikipedia. Fair use[/caption]

Positive Obligations (goals you try always to achieve)

  1) Seek truth and report it. This requires that you:

a. test the accuracy of information from all sources.

b. fairly represent multiple perspectives and viewpoints.

c. identify sources whenever feasible so the public may judge the reliability of the information.

d. safeguard the public’s need for information.

Despite the rhetoric of First Amendment attorneys, the public does not have a “right to know” per se. The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States says that citizens have a right to assemble, speak, practice their chosen religion, petition the government for a redress of grievances, and that the Congress shall make no law limiting the freedom of the press. It does not address the public’s “right to know” anything. But most communication scholars acknowledge the crucial role that the media play in nurturing an informed electorate and citizenry.

2) Minimize harm. This requires that you:

a. avoid privacy violations. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone’s privacy and such intrusion may invoke legal sanctions if a source can demonstrate harm. In the context of information seeking, information that can be found should not necessarily be used.

b. be cautious about naming criminals before the formal filing of charges, identifying juvenile suspects or victims, or seeking interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.

3) Act independently. This requires that you:

a. be wary of sources offering information for favors or money.

b. disclose potential conflicts of interest. IE: failing to label the content from a video news release in a TV broadcast story is a breach of ethics.

c. hold those with power accountable.

4) Be accountable. This requires that you:

a. admit mistakes and correct them promptly. Libel law may be invoked if the mistake injures a news subject.

b. stand up for what is right in the media organization.

c. abide by the same high standards to which you hold others.

Negative Obligations:  (actions that must be avoided)

1) Plagiarism. Never, ever, ever represent someone else’s work as your own.  Never. Ever. 2) Concealing conflicts of interest, real or perceived, in seeking or using information.  If you have a stake in the outcome of what you are reporting on, you must acknowledge it and perhaps suggest that someone else cover the story. 3) Distorting the content of news photos or video. Image enhancement for technical clarity is permissible, but any other type of manipulation must not happen. 4) Eavesdropping. Listening in on others’ conversations, electronically or otherwise, is a form of information-stealing and may invoke wiretapping laws or other legal sanctions. 5) Breaking the “contract” with a source. Publicly identifying a source who provided information confidentially, for instance, is both an ethical and a legal violation. We will discuss the details of the source contract in lesson 9 on interviewing. These are a sample of the negative and positive obligations that help you weigh your decisions when a situation arises in your information gathering for a news message. Ethical thinking requires that you establish for yourself, ahead of time, how you value these various obligations and which take precedence in your own scheme of decision-making. You also must be fully aware of how your media organization has ordered these priorities for their own publications, and comply with the standards that your organization has established. Just as in news, advertising professionals adhere to a number of constraints when gathering and using information, regardless of the type of advertisement they may be creating. We can once again understand these in the context of positive and negative obligations. These are drawn from the principles and practices of the Institute for Advertising Ethics.

Positive Obligations

1) Create messages with the objective of truth and high ethical standards in serving the public. Advertising is commercial information that must be treated with the same accuracy standards as news and there may be legal repercussions if the standards are not upheld.

2) Apply personal ethics, like being an honest person, in the creation and dissemination of commercial information to consumers.

3) Clearly distinguish advertising from news and editorial content and entertainment, both online and offline.

4) Clearly disclose all material conditions, such as payment or a free product, that affects endorsements in social media and traditional message channels. This is both an ethical and a legal requirement, enforced by the Federal Trade Commission and other regulatory bodies. For example, a blogger who is paid by a company to spread positive information about the company’s product or service must disclose she being paid for her opinions

5) Treat consumers fairly, especially when ads are directed at audiences such as children. In fact, the legal requirements for advertising aimed at children are increasingly stringent.

6) Follow all federal, state and local advertising laws, and cooperate with industry self-regulatory programs for the resolution of complaints.

7) Stand up for what is right within the organization. Members of the team creating ads should express their ethical or legal concerns when they arise. This is a good example of the personal ethics that must factor in decision-making in creating messages.

Negative Obligations

These are obligations that represent both an ethical and, in most cases, a legal/regulatory element. The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, the National Advertising Review Board, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Food and Drug Administration and many other bodies enforce these obligations when necessary.

1) Do not plagiarize. Never, ever, ever represent someone else’s work as your own.

2) Do not use false or misleading visual or verbal statements.

3) Do not make misleading price claims.

4) Do not make unfair comparisons with a competitive product or service.

5) Do not make insufficiently supported claims.

6) Do not use offensive statements, suggestions or pictures.

7) Do not compromise consumers’ personal privacy, and their choices as to whether to participate in providing personal information should be transparent and easily made.

Let’s look at the positive and negative obligations that help PR specialists gather and use information responsibly. These examples come from the Public Relations Society of America Member Code of Ethics. Once again, many of these obligations refer to both ethical and legal responsibilities.

Positive Obligations

1) Serve the public interest by acting as responsible advocates for those the PR firm or professional represents.

2) Adhere to the highest standards of truth and accuracy while advancing the interests of those the PR firm or professional represents.

[caption id="attachment_240" align="alignright" width="282"] PRSA Foundation logo by PRSA Foundation. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain[/caption]

3) Acquire and responsibly use specialized knowledge and experience in preparing public relations messages to build mutual understanding, credibility, and relationships among a wide array of institutions and audiences.

4) Provide objective counsel to those the PR firm or professional represents. For example, the best advice for a client may be to admit wrongdoing and apologize. The PR practitioner must objectively weigh this advice and offer it if it is the best option.

5) Deal fairly with clients, employers, competitors, peers, vendors, the media and the general public.

6) Act promptly to correct erroneous communication for which the PR firm or professional is responsible. Again, failure to do this could invoke both ethical and legal sanctions.

Negative Obligations

1) Do not plagiarize. Never, ever, ever represent someone else’s work as your own.

2) Do not give or receive gifts of any type from clients or sources that might influence the information in a message beyond the legal limits and/or in violation of government reporting requirements.

3) Do not violate intellectual property rights in the marketplace. Sharing competitive information, leaking proprietary information, taking confidential information from one employer to another and other such practices are both legal and ethical violations.

4) Do not employ deceptive practices. Asking someone to pose as a “volunteer” to speak at public hearings or participate in a “grass roots” campaign is deceptive, for instance.

5) Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived. PR professionals and firms must encourage clients and customers as well as colleagues in the profession to notify all affected parties when a conflict of interest arises.

You can see from the sampling of positive and negative obligations that as a communications professional you must weigh a wide variety of considerations when gathering and using the information to create a message. The intended audience, the purpose of the message, the intent of the communicator, the ethical considerations, the legal constraints, and many other variables help determine how you pursue the information strategy. [caption id="attachment_246" align="aligncenter" width="674"] Leadership and Social Responsibility by Peter Durand. Source: Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0[/caption] As a communications professional you must also conduct your work in the context of a commitment to social responsibility at a number of levels. Because mass communication messages are pervasive and influential, media organizations and professionals are held to high standards for their actions. The social responsibility perspective helps outline how this works. There are three levels of responsibility that affect your work as a communicator. These are:

• Societal:  the relationships between media systems and other major institutions in society.
• Professional / OrganizationalL: your profession’s and your media organization’s own self-regulation and standards for professional conduct.
• Individual: the responsibility you have to society, to your profession, to your audience and to yourself.

We’ll examine each of these in turn.
The societal perspective examines how media institutions interact with other major institutions in society. As a communications professional, it is important to understand the societal implications of your work and the rules under which you operate. Professional education and licensing have been traditional means by which society has sought to ensure legal and ethical behavior from those who bear important social responsibilities. For law, medicine, accounting, teaching, architecture, engineering and other fields of expertise, specific training is followed by examinations, state licensing and administration of oaths that include promises to live up to the standards established for the profession. However, there is no U.S. law that requires communicators to be licensed. Without the power to control entry into the field and withdraw the license to operate as in these other professions, it is even more important for mass communication professionals to police themselves. Especially in light of the huge explosion of "fake news" being generated by individuals with political, cultural or financial motives, legitimate news professionals must defend their crucial role in society. Let’s look at examples of the way the media interact with other major social institutions. One of the major tenets of journalism is the goal of exposing public officials or business executives to public scrutiny. This “watchdog” role, one of the most important functions of the press, is used to justify journalists’ behavior in investigating what public officials or corporate executives are doing and whether or not they are meeting their responsibilities to constituents, citizens or shareholders. The First Amendment protects journalists’ rights to challenge government power. However, serious observers argue that when overly aggressive investigative techniques expose individual politicians or corporate executives to scrutiny about their private lives that may have nothing to do with the performance of their official duties, it causes cynicism, it undermines public confidence in major social institutions, and it drives people away from participation in public and civic engagement. How far does the “watchdog” role go? When is a journalist crossing the line from examining public behavior to voyeurism about private lives? Similarly, strategic communications professionals face questions about their interactions with other major social institutions. There is more and more agitation for government regulation of advertising because people perceive that advertisers do not police themselves enough. [caption id="attachment_246" align="alignleft" width="278"] ftc.gov on skechers by Betsy Lordan Source: FTC. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] In 2012, the Federal Trade Commission imposed the largest fine in its history on the company that manufactures Skechers athletic shoes and apparel. The company paid $40 million because its ads falsely represented clinical studies backing up claims that Shape-Ups, Resistance Runner, Toners, and Tone-Ups would help people lose weight, and strengthen and tone their gluteal, leg and abdominal muscles. The ads used lines such as “Shape up while you walk,” and “Get in shape without setting foot in a gym.” As part of the settlement, Skechers had to take down the advertising and inform retailers to remove the deceptive claims. It also agreed to stop misrepresenting any tests, studies, or research results regarding toning shoes. And customers who purchased the shoes or apparel were able to file through the FTC for a refund from the company. (Bachman) The example points out the interactions between advertisers, government regulators and the public at the societal level. Another example points out the social responsibility interactions between advertisers, corporations and the customers they serve around the sensitive issue of personal privacy. The social network Facebook, used by 900 million people worldwide, agreed in June 2012 to pay $20 million to settle a lawsuit in California that claimed Facebook publicized that some of its users had “liked” certain advertisers but didn't pay the users, or give them a way to opt-out. The so-called “Sponsored Story” feature on Facebook was essentially an advertisement that appeared on the site and included a member’s Facebook page and generally consisted of another friend’s name, profile picture and a statement that the person “likes” that advertiser. The suit was one in a long list of complaints against the social media giant and other online organizations such as Google that appear to be working with advertisers to intrude on consumers’ privacy. (Levine & McBride) A group of digital advertising trade organizations called the Digital Advertising Alliance is concerned enough about advertisers’ interaction with consumers, technology companies, [caption id="" align="alignright" width="190"] Digital Advertising Alliance Icon by Digital Advertising Alliance. Source: Logolynx. DMCA license[/caption] privacy advocates and federal/state regulators that it has created a way for people to opt out of having their online behavior tracked. A turquoise triangle that appears in the upper right-hand corner of banner ads on web sites allows users who click on it to remove themselves from having personalized advertising directed at them. The group created the option in reaction to pressure from other institutions, including the Federal Trade Commission, which is threatening to regulate mobile and digital privacy and exert more control over children’s privacy online. The example points out how various societal-level institutions interact to impose social responsibility on media practitioners if they do not regulate themselves. As strategic communicators have adopted social media platforms to distribute their messages, scrutiny by other societal institutions has increased. The Federal Trade Commission was so concerned about claims being made by advertisers and PR practitioners via social media that they updated their social media guidelines in 2013. The new FTC guidelines require social media marketers to:

• fully disclose their sponsorship of the information. If an advertiser has hired a blogger to endorse a product or service, the blogger MUST disclose that he or she is working for that advertiser; if a PR firm posts positive comments about its clients on social media, the firm MUST disclose that they are working on behalf of the client. Further, the disclosure must be clear and conspicuous; it cannot be buried in the fine print.
• monitor the social media conversation and correct misstatements or problematic claims by commenters.
• create social media policies to instruct employees about the expectations and practices that will be enforced.

The mention of company-specific social media policies leads us to the next category of responsibility: the professional or organizational perspective. In addition to the societal level of interactions, communication organizations and professionals engage in self-criticism and set standards for their own conduct and performance as information gatherers. One of the most conspicuous examples of this lies in the proliferation of codes of conduct for mass communication activities at all levels. As our discussion of positive and negative obligations (above) demonstrated, every mass communication industry develops these professional and organizational guidelines for its practitioners.

In the news industries, codes have expanded in number and scope over several decades. Organizations that have adopted such codes include the American Society of News Editors, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press Managing Editors Association, the Radio Television Digital News Association, and the National Press Photographers Association. Individual news organizations and publications frequently establish their own codes to which they expect their staff to adhere. Advertising codes reflect some of the specific criticism directed at the field, such as charges of deceptive advertising, unfair stereotyping, false testimonials, and misleading claims. Organizations as diverse as the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association, the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the Beer Institute have guidelines and codes for the content and placement of advertisements in their respective industries or for the audiences with which they are concerned. For instance, here is a portion of the Advertising and Marketing Code for the Beer Institute. Any advertising professional working with a client who sells and advertises beer would need to adhere to this industry code. “Brewers should employ the perspective of the reasonable adult consumer of legal drinking age in advertising and marketing their products, and should be guided by the following basic principles, which have long been reflected in the policies of the brewing industry and continue to underlie this Code:

• Beer advertising should not suggest directly or indirectly that any of the laws applicable to the sale and consumption of beer should not be complied with.
• Brewers should adhere to contemporary standards of good taste applicable to all commercial advertising and consistent with the medium or context in which the advertising appears.
• Advertising themes, creative aspects, and placements should reflect the fact that Brewers are responsible corporate citizens.
• Brewers strongly oppose abuse or inappropriate consumption of their products.” (Beer Institute)

Individual advertising agencies and corporate advertising departments also have codes and standards to help employees recognize and deal with ethical questions. Most media outlets accept or reject ads submitted to them using a set of guidelines about what types of ads are acceptable and what type of content they will allow. For example, here is a portion of the policy for acceptance of advertising that appears in Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine

• All advertisements are subject to the approval of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (Publisher), which reserves the right to reject or cancel any ad at any time if the ad does not conform to the editorial or graphic standards of the magazine as determined by the Publisher.
• Advertisements that are not appropriate for viewing by youth will not be accepted. Advertisements will not be accepted for tobacco or alcohol products. (Tex. Parks & Wild. Code §11.172(c); 31 Tex. Admin. Code §51.72. Other products that are not compatible with the mission of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will also not be accepted.
• Advertisers must keep in mind the diverse audience of the magazine when determining the suitability of an ad. That audience includes hunters, anglers, campers, bird watchers, state parks visitors, other outdoor enthusiasts and readers of all ages including children. (Magazine Advertising Policy)

Any advertising professional gathering information and creating an ad for a product or service that might appear in this magazine would need to be aware of the publication’s organizational level guidelines about acceptable advertising, and the societal level regulations (Texas state laws) about tobacco or alcohol advertising in this publication. Public relations practitioners, like advertising specialists, work closely with clients. Through these associations, legal and ethical decisions often arise as clients and publicists discuss information-gathering strategies. For example, the Securities and Exchange Commission monitors the way corporations report their financial affairs, scrutinizing information about stock offerings and financial balance sheets for accuracy and omission of important facts. Their objective is to ensure that investors and stock analysts can get accurate information about the companies that are offering securities. Increasingly, legal and ethical standards are holding public relations practitioners, along with stockbrokers, lawyers, and accountants responsible for the accuracy of the information they communicate to the public. When public relations professionals find themselves on the losing side of an important ethical question with a client, it is not unusual for them to resign their positions as a matter of principle. The Public Relations Society of America’s Code of Ethics emphasizes honesty and accountability, in addition to expertise, advocacy, fairness, independence, and loyalty. The public relations code, like those for advertising and journalism, reflects the concerns of society as well as the practitioners who adopt the codes. Provisions of all the codes are designed, at least in part, to provide the public with reasons to have confidence in communicators’ integrity and in the messages they create. Of course, the codes are also there to help keep communicators out of court. For example, a large multinational PR firm resigned its account with a major tire manufacturer just months after landing the account. The reason was that the tire manufacturer failed to disclose to the PR firm that it knew about defects in its tires that had caused a number of fatal accidents. The PR professionals decided they could not ethically represent the tire manufacturer to the public under such circumstances and ended their relationship with the company. The PR firm’s adherence to professional and organizational standards was more important than the income that would have been generated from the account with the tire manufacturer. (Miller) There is an individual level of responsibility for your own behavior. As a communications professional, you may find yourself confronting conflicting obligations in your daily routine. You will be doing your work in a decidedly ambivalent atmosphere. News professionals are criticized for reinforcing the assumptions of those in power and ignoring reality as experienced by most of the population. Advertising is criticized for contributing to materialism, wasteful consumption, and the corruption of the electoral system. Public relations is criticized for creating and manipulating images on behalf of those with narrow interests, failing to give public interest information a priority. In confronting your social responsibility using the individual perspective, you are likely to place duty to yourself at the top of the list. You always need to abide by your own moral standards. But this may conflict with more worldly ambitions – the desire for recognition, advancement, and financial security. The duty to the organization may be at odds with the loyalty to colleagues or to the profession. Let’s look at a few examples that illustrate these tensions.

Am I Comfortable Working on Advertising for This Client?   

[caption id="attachment_246" align="alignright" width="300"] Question Problem Think Thinking Reflect by geralt. Source: pixabay. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] Individual-level responsibility may arise when ad professionals object to ads they have to work on or have to accept. It is usually not necessary to violate your own standards. Concerns about taking on an assignment will be something to discuss during the message clarification step. If, for example, you are a strict vegetarian, it may be difficult for you to work on a campaign to sell bacon. Or let’s say that you are the advertising manager for a local magazine. You receive an ad that you think is offensive, even though the product or service being advertised is perfectly legal and the company is a big advertiser in your publication. You don’t have to accept that offensive ad, but you also don’t have to forgo the ad revenue for your publication (again, we’re weighing two competing obligations—your obligation to your own standards against your obligation to your media organization to generate revenue). The way to resolve this dilemma is to call the ad agency and ask for another version of the advertisement. Advertisers almost always have another version in anticipation that some media outlets will refuse to run a potentially-offensive version of an ad. With this solution, you can adhere to your own standards and still generate revenue for your publication by accepting the more appropriate ad.
There are entire texts and semester-long courses that examine the specific laws and regulations under which mass communicators operate. We will discuss here briefly a few of the most relevant types of legal and regulatory constraints that affect communicators’ gathering and use of information in messages in this lesson. We will return to some of these examples in more depth throughout the rest of the lessons where appropriate.

Journalism Law and Regulation

You will learn about the relevant legal and regulatory framework for your career as a journalist in later classes. We will mention just a couple of examples that demonstrate the way that laws and regulations affect journalists’ information strategy process. Federal, state and local law outlines the way journalists gather information. For example, photographers/videographers have a constitutional right to photograph anything that is in plain view when they are lawfully in a public space. Police officers may not confiscate or demand to view journalists’ photographs or videos without a warrant. However, the right to photograph does NOT give journalists the right to break other laws. For example, you may not trespass on private property to capture an image. Likewise, there are a wide variety of laws that detail the types of information that are accessible to the public, including journalists. Public records laws will be discussed in more detail in Lesson 13. Suffice it to say that journalists have many tools in their toolbelt when they are seeking access to public record information. Libel law defines the ways that journalists USE the information they gather in their messages. Again, there are many nuances in libel law and journalists generally defer to the experts within their media organizations when questions arise about whether a particular item in a news story exposes the news organization to a charge of libel. It is most important for you, as an information gatherer, to understand that best practices require you to double- and triple-check any facts, claims or evidence you intend to use in a message and to vet that information with the appropriate gatekeepers in your organization. The advertising substantiation rule is of paramount importance for anyone collecting and evaluating information to use in a comparison ad. The advertiser must be able to substantiate any claim about a product or service with information that backs up such claims. This means that you, as the advertising professional, will follow a comprehensive information strategy in preparing the background information for any such ad. The main governmental regulatory agency for advertising is the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC regulates unfair and deceptive practices on a case-by-case basis and occasionally with industry-wide regulations. The FTC has the power to require that advertisers prove their claims. If the FTC determines that an advertisement is deceptive, it can stop the ad and order the sponsor to issue corrections. Corrective advertising provides information that was omitted from a deceptive ad. Some companies are fined for their illegal acts. It is extremely rare, but someone could also be jailed for a deception. Many states also have laws that regulate deceptive advertising. Individual consumers also have the right to sue companies for deceptive advertising. The advertising industry also has a two-tiered self-regulatory mechanism. Advertising that is charged with being deceptive can be referred to as the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. For cases that are not satisfactorily resolved through NAD, appeals can be made to the National Advertising Review Board. The Board can put pressure on advertisers through persuasion, publicity or even legal action if it is deemed necessary. Public relations firms increasingly are investigated along with the corporations they represent in situations of litigation, disputes about investor relations, etc. In fact, after a number of highly publicized cases of major corporate financial malfeasance came to light, public relations departments and firms reviewed their own roles in unwittingly misleading the public about the financial health of organizations that were in deep trouble. In another example, athletic apparel giant Nike was taken to court by a workers’ safety advocate because it released press statements defending its reputation against charges of mistreating overseas workers. The news releases were said to represent false advertising. The case served as a wake-up call to public relations firms that send out press releases every day. (Egelko) [caption id="attachment_246" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Chromium – Search Engine Optimization Icons by Kabedi Fernando. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] In a relatively new twist, a number of “guerilla marketing” firms tout their ability to generate “buzz” about products and services on web sites populated by teens. The firms were recruiting young people with promises of gifts and access to the newest gadgets. In exchange, the teens agreed to go online to popular social networking sites and sing the praises of the products they had received and encourage their peers to buy the merchandise, all without disclosing that they were actually working for a marketing firm. These practices raised ethical questions about the truthfulness of messages that fail to disclose conflicts of interest (one of the negative obligations mentioned earlier). When confronted with ethical concerns, many of the marketing and promotion firms claimed that if someone asked, their operatives were instructed to say that they were working for the movie studio, the gadget company or the bubble gum producer. But how many audience members, especially younger ones, were likely to ask? As we’ve said, the Federal Trade Commission has now ruled that "word-of-mouth" endorsers of products or services (such as those who post positive messages on social networking sites, etc.) must disclose that they are being compensated with money or free goods and services as part of their posts to these sites. Guidelines originally issued by the Food and Drug Administration regarding direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising now include similar advice for any person or company making claims about medical, food or cosmetic products through social media. All of these levels of responsibility influence how communicators weigh their actions and make their decisions. Societal expectations, organizational and professional routines and norms, and individual standards are going to play a role in each decision you are faced with making. As long as you have a systematic method for evaluating each situation and for applying your professional standards, you should be able to make your information decisions in an ethical and defensible manner. The information strategy provides you with the skills to ensure that you don’t have to resort to inappropriate, unethical, or illegal means to gather information. If one method of gathering information seems inappropriate, your skill with a well-developed information strategy means you can use another, more appropriate, method to find what you need. Being a highly skilled information gatherer in an information-overloaded society brings credibility to you and to your organization. Further, using an explicit information strategy helps you explain your standards to others. When the public, colleagues, or supervisors challenge the information on which you base a message, you can present an ordered, rational account of your information search and selection process. Using the standards and methods available in the information strategy allows others to evaluate your skill and expertise as a communications professional.

Endnotes: Bachman, K. (2012, May 16). Skechers Settles Deceptive Ad Case with FTC for $40M. AdWeek, at http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/skechers-settles-deceptive-ad-case-ftc-40m-140577 captured on July 26, 2012. Beer Institute Advertising and Marketing Code, at https://www.beerinstitute.org/responsibility/advertising-marketing-code/, captured on August 15, 2017. Egelko, B. (2003, September 13) Nike settles suit for $1.5 million, San Francisco Chronicle at http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Nike-settles-suit-for-1-5-million-Shoe-giant-2589523.php, captured on July 26, 2012. Levine, D. and McBride, S. (2012, June 18). Facebook ‘Sponsored Stories’ Lawsuit: Company to Pay $10 Million Settlement. HuffPost Tech Blog at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/16/facebook-sponsored-stories-lawsuit-10-million_n_1602905.html, captured on July 26, 2012. Magazine Advertising Policy, Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine, at http://www.tpwmagazine.com/advertising/policy/, captured on July 26, 2015. Miller, K. (2000, September 7). Firestone’s PR Firm Resigns, Washington Post at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20000907/aponline231008_000.htm, captured on July 26, 2012. RESOURCES: A collection of news organizations' ethics codes can be found at The Center for Journalism Ethics' Ethics Resources page.

]]> 157 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=161 Tue, 11 Jun 2019 22:52:01 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/chapter-6-the-role-of-writing-in-public-relations-2/

Previously, we touched on using the news media as an informational tool to achieve your organization’s communication goals. One useful writing material is a feature article. Features are more in-depth than traditional news stories and go beyond providing the most important facts. The purpose of these stories is to provide a detailed description of a place, person, idea, or organization.

Although reporters and editors classify features as news stories, they are not necessarily structured using the inverted pyramid style. Instead, features use storytelling devices to help the reader connect with the overall narrative and its central characters. Features are particularly common in magazine writing, although they frequently appear in other mediums.

Profiles or personality features that give insight into a person’s role, experience, or background are one type of feature. Among the most common subjects of profiles are celebrities, athletes, individuals who overcome challenges, and high-profile executives.

Click here for more information on the different types of features.

It is important to understand the circumstances that warrant a feature piece from a strategic communication perspective. Communication professionals write feature articles to provide in-depth exposure for their client or organization. A feature can increase a client or company’s visibility and even help find new key audiences.

If you need to quickly get information about your client or organization to the media, a feature article may not be the best tool because it typically is longer than a traditional news story. However, you could write a feature article on, for example, your company’s new CEO to provide more background information to key audiences. Feature stories are also used in an organization’s internal communications, such as newsletters and magazines.

Overall, feature articles use an informative tone while incorporating creative and descriptive devices in order to increase audience appeal. Here is an example of a feature article from the New York Times.

Unlike the traditional summary lead, feature leads can be several sentences long, and the writer may not immediately reveal the story’s main idea. The most common types used in feature articles are anecdotal leads and descriptive leads. An anecdotal lead unfolds slowly. It lures the reader in with a descriptive narrative that focuses on a specific minor aspect of the story that leads to the overall topic. The following is an example of an anecdotal lead:

Sharon Jackson was sitting at the table reading an old magazine when the phone rang. It was a reporter asking to set up an interview to discuss a social media controversy involving Jackson and another young woman.“Sorry,” she said. “I’ve already spoken to several reporters about the incident and do not wish to make any further comments.”

Notice that the lead unfolds more slowly than a traditional lead and centers on a particular aspect of the larger story. The nut graph, or a paragraph that reveals the importance of the minor story and how it fits into the broader story, would come after the lead. There will be more on the nut graph later in this chapter.

Descriptive leads begin the article by describing a person, place, or event in vivid detail. They focus on setting the scene for the piece and use language that taps into the five senses in order to paint a picture for the reader. This type of lead can be used for both traditional news and feature stories. The following is an example of a descriptive lead:

Thousands dressed in scarlet and gray T-shirts eagerly shuffled into the football stadium as the university fight song blared.

For each article below, identify whether it uses a descriptive or anecdotal lead:

• A thin line of defense
• Pediatric patient
• Inside Jay Z’s Roc Nation

The content in a feature article isn’t necessarily presented as an inverted pyramid; instead, the organization may depend on the writer’s style and the story angle. Nevertheless, all of the information in a feature article should be presented in a logical and coherent fashion that allows the reader to easily follow the narrative.

As previously stated, the nut graph follows the lead. This paragraph connects the lead to the overall story and conveys the story’s significance to the readers (Scanlan, 2003).

The nut graph comes from a commonly used formula for writing features, known as the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) formula (International Center for Journalists, 2016). The formula was named after the well-known and respected publication, which created the term “nut graph” and mastered feature news writing (Rich, 2016).

The formula consists of beginning the story with feature-style leads to grab the reader’s attention, followed by the nut graph (Scanlan, 2003). After this comes a longer body of the story that provides the usual background, facts, quotes, and so on. The formula then specifies a return to the opening focus at the end of the story using another descriptive passage or anecdote, also known as the “circle kicker” (Rich, 2016). This could be, for example, an update on what eventually happened to the main character or how the event or issue turned out. This blog post provides a detailed example of the WSJ formula.

Literary Devices

Feature writers use a particular style of writing to convey the story’s message. The use of literary devices helps in this task. These devices include similes and metaphors, onomatopoeia (use of words that mimic a sound), imagery (figurative language), climax, and more. Here are a few examples of onomatopoeia and imagery:

Onomatopoeia: The tires screeched against the concrete as she hit the pedal.

Imagery (example modified from Butte College, 2016): The apartment smelled of old cooking odors, cabbage, and mildew; . . . a haze of dusty sunlight peeked from the one cobwebbed, gritty window.

Click here for more information on literary devices, including specific examples.

Descriptive Writing

A good feature writer uses plot devices and dialogues that help move the story forward, while focusing on the central theme and providing supporting information through descriptive language and specific examples. You want to show readers what’s happening, not simply tell them. They should be able to visualize the characters, places, and events highlighted in the feature piece.

Show versus tell

Tell: Friends describe Amariah as a generous and vibrant person who was involved in several nonprofit organizations.

Show: Tracey proudly recalls her friend’s generosity. “Amariah is usually the first person to arrive at a volunteer event, and the last to leave. She spends four hours every Saturday morning volunteering at the mentoring center. It’s rare to not catch her laughing, flashing her perfect smile. She’s just a burst of positive energy.”

It’s often tempting to end a feature piece with a summary conclusion. Instead, use an anecdote, passage, or compelling quote that will leave a lasting impression on your readers.

]]> 161 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=204 Tue, 11 Jun 2019 23:36:45 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/chapter-7-public-relations-writing-basics-lessons-2/

Information Strategy Process and the Needs of Communicators

Information for Messages

Communicators perform two basic tasks: they gather and evaluate information, and they create messages. This course focuses on the information strategy skills communicators must hone to find the information they need to form effective messages. Media messages take myriad forms and serve different functions.  In this lesson, we will discuss the variety of media message types. To get started, answer this - which of the following is not a media message?

• Editorial about mass transit needs
• Branded content (advertorial) about nursing home services
• News release announcing a company’s merger with another company
• TV commercial for dog food
• Breaking news story about a tornado
• Profile of a performance artist
• Billboard for a mobile phone company
• Five-part series on climate change
• Pop-up ad on your mobile device for cheap car insurance
• Reporter's Twitter post linking to a new investigative report

The answer, of course, is that they all are media messages. The differences in these messages, though, are readily apparent. Where you find them, what purpose they serve, and what the message creator hopes you will do with the information contained in the message are all different. So are the information requirements in creating these different messages. The pop-up ad just needs the facts about the insurance company and a link, whereas the series on global warming needs extensive information from reports and experts to effectively create the message. Whether you are a reporter, a public relations specialist, or someone who works in advertising, the main output of your work will be a media message. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="218"] Ceramic Pot by OpenClipart-Vectors. Source: Pixabay. CC0 Public Domain.[/caption] According to Wikipedia,

“A message in its most general meaning is an object of communication. It is a vessel which provides information.”   

Just as it takes clay to make pottery, it takes information to craft a message. At all stages in the process of crafting a message, information is the essential material. Just as pottery can come in many shapes and forms and serve various purposes, so, too, do the information “vessels” communicators create.

The Information Strategy Process

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="698"] Information Strategies for Communicators by Kathleen A. Hansen and Nora Paul. Source: University of Minnesota Libraries. CC BY 4.0[/caption]

Long Description

Step 1: Message Analysis: arrows point to Context (Who is my audience? Message purpose. Message time and space. Message format and channel.) and Content (What is the topic? Topic Terminology. Questions to be answered. Narrowing the focus.). Step 2: Potential Contributors: 4 arrows point to: #1 Institutional Sources (monitor, search, interview), #2 Scholarly Sources (monitor, search, interview) #3 Journalistic Sources (monitor, search, interview) #4 Informal Sources (monitor, search, interview). Each of these 4 has 2-way arrows pointing to Evaluate and Select which has a 2-way arrow pointing to Synthesize which then has an arrow pointing to Craft the Message.

These steps, by way of review, are:

• clarify the parameters of the message assignment.
• identify potential audiences.
• generate ideas and bring focus to the topic.
• understand the variety of potential contributors of information.
• appreciate the ethical and legal considerations required.

Models can be useful ways to illustrate often complicated processes.  The Information Strategy Process model below recognizes that in an information-rich environment, it is impossible to remember thousands of specific information-finding tools and resources for answering specific questions. Instead, the model suggests a systematic course to follow when developing a strategy for determining, and seeking, the information needed for any message type or topic. The model identifies the steps in the information strategy process and indicates the paths between the steps. As the two-way arrows indicate, the process may include some backtracking in the course of verifying information or raising additional questions. As a graphic representation of both the steps to take in the process and the sources that might meet a particular information need, the model serves as the outline of your entire information-gathering process. The model also identifies the contributors to an information strategy. Information is created by many different types of sources and is intended to meet a wide variety of needs for both the information creator and for anyone who might gather and use that information.  The model points out the major contributors or sources of information: institutional sources (which include both public-sector and private- sector institutions), scholarly sources, journalistic sources, and informal sources. The information strategy model for mass communicators applies to any type of message task and any topic that you may be working on. The process applies to an information search for news, advertising, public relations or even for an academic paper. The information strategy process can facilitate the search for information on any topic and for any audience. For mass communicators, the information strategy process will help you:

• think through the message’s purpose, context, audience, and key topics
• identify and select a manageable portion of the topic which needs to be examined
• develop a method for an in-depth examination of a segment of the topic selected
• identify appropriate potential sources of information
• select effective techniques for researching the topic
• determine a vocabulary for discussing your message analysis, information gathering and selection process with others (colleagues, supervisors, critics, audience members. etc.)
• save time by helping you avoid wading through masses of information that may be interesting, but in the end, not very useful for the message task

We will use this conceptual map as a way to think about how to accomplish each of the information tasks that communication professionals might face.

Information Tasks of Communication Professionals

[caption id="attachment_167" align="alignleft" width="202"] News Globe by geralt. Source: Pixabay. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] Each of the mass communication professions - journalism, advertising, public relations – serve different information objectives for their organizations.

• Journalistic organizations want to inform and engage the readers / viewers / listeners of their messages through publishing stories about current events, people, ideas, or useful tips. By providing compelling and interesting information they hope to draw an audience to the publications in which their messages appear.
• Advertising firms create messages for their clients that inform or persuade potential customers to purchase a product or service or adopt an idea or perspective. Ads generally include a “call to action” that identifies the intended outcome of the message. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="270"] Advertising vs PR by Mark Smiciklas. Source: Flickr. CC BY-NC 1.0.[/caption]
• Public relations firms help their clients influence legislators, stakeholders (ie: regulators, business partners, media organizations and the general public) to think positively about the company or organization and manage the organization’s information environment.

They serve these key objectives using a variety of message types. Let’s look at the different forms of media messages in news organizations, advertising agencies, and public relations firms and the information tasks of the professionals creating those messages.

News Messages

[caption id="attachment_1145" align="alignleft" width="235"] Newspaper by geralt. Source: Pixabay. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] News messages are often broken into three categories: “hard” news, “soft” news or features, and opinion. “Hard” news comprises reports of important issues, current events, and other topics that inform citizens about what is going on in the world and their communities while “soft” news covers those things that are not necessarily important and are handled with a lighter approach. Opinion pieces, unlike the other two which value “objectivity,” are subjective and will have a specific point of view.

Hard News

• Breaking news – Sometimes referred to as “the first take on history” breaking news stories provide as clear and accurate an accounting of some kind of event as possible while it is happening. In reporting about wildfires raging in the west, the breaking news story requires a timely accounting of what’s happening, with a tight focus on the "who, what, when, where, why" and it requires well-honed observation and interviewing skills. For the breaking news story, the information tasks for the reporters are to show up, assess the situation, use their senses to cover the event and learn more information through first-person interviews. Breaking news provides the “need to know” information as an event unfolds.
• Depth report – The depth report is the story after the breaking news report. The goals for journalists preparing a depth report are to try to help people understand how the event happened, who was affected, what is being done about it, how people are reacting. For instance, in the aftermath of a story about wildfires in the West, the reporter’s information tasks would include gathering background information about the firefighting efforts, the economic impact of the fires, the reactions of home and business owners, the potential impact that the weather might have on future similar events. As with the breaking news story, the journalist is transmitting information, not opinion and they must be able to identify the most knowledgeable sources.

• Analysis or interpretive report – The focus here is on an issue, problem or controversy. The substance of the report is still a verifiable fact, not opinion. But instead of presenting facts as with breaking news or a depth report and hoping the facts speak for themselves, the reporter writing an interpretive piece clarifies, explains, analyzes. The report usually focuses on WHY something has (or has not) happened. The information tasks are greater for this type of report, due to the need to clarify and explain rather than simply narrate. An analysis of the wildfires might look into how environmental policy or urban sprawl factored into the event. Analyses generally require learning about different perspectives or ranges of opinion from a variety of experts and more “digging” into causes.

• Investigative report – Unlike the analysis which follows up on a news event, the information tasks for an investigative report require journalists to uncover information that will not be handed to them, these stories are reported by opening closed doors and closed mouths. These are the stories that expose problems or controversies authorities may not want to see covered. This requires unearthing hidden or previously unorganized information in order to clarify, explain and analyze something. A key technique used in investigative reports is data analysis. In the aftermath of the wildfires, a news organization might investigate the insurance claims process or how a charitable organization that received relief funds for fire victims actually allocated the money. The investigative report requires the communicator to have a high level of information sophistication, and the ability to convey complex information in a straightforward way for the audience.

Soft News

• Feature – The feature differs from the other types of news reports in intent. The previous examples seek to inform the audience about something of importance or concern. Features, on the other hand, are designed to capture audience interest and are more about providing entertainment than critical information. The feature story depends on the style, great writing, and humor as much as on the information it contains. There are several types of features:

News – A story about a man who used cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to revive a pet dog rescued from the bottom of a pool might be reported as a news feature. It is based on an event, but covered as a feature, but the information tasks require gathering material to put more emphasis on the drama of the event than on the information about how to do CPR on a dog.

Personality sketch or profile – A story about the accomplishments, attitudes and characteristics of an individual seeks to capture the essence of a person. This requires both thorough backgrounding of the subject and skills in interviewing as information tasks. The communicator has to have a well-honed ability for noticing details that bring to life what is interesting or unique about the person.

Informative – A sidebar to accompany a main news story might be written as an informative feature. For example, an informative feature that describes the various methods firefighters use to combat wildfires might accompany a breaking news story. The information tasks for the reporter include a good command of sometimes-technical information to convey the story to the audience.

Historical – Holidays are often the inspiration for this type of piece, with focus on the history of the Christmas tree, the first Thanksgiving dinner, etc. The curious communicator could also create features about the anniversary of the founding of an important local business or the celebration of statehood using background archival documents. The information tasks for these types of reports obviously require locating and interpreting extensive historical information.

Descriptive – Many features are about places people can visit, or events they can attend. Tourist spots, historical sites, recreational areas, and festivals all generate reams of feature story copy, pictures and video. Public relations specialists often have a significant hand in generating much of the background information in these types of features and promoting these events or places to the news media. The information tasks include finding a fresh and engaging angle for the content.

How-to – Some features are created to provide information about how to improve your golf game, become a power-shopper, install your own shower tile. The communicator has to have a solid grasp of the subject matter to do a respectable job with this type of piece. The information tasks for how-to features include the need for material that is descriptive, specific, and very clearly communicated.

Opinion:

• These types of reports include editorials, columns, and reviews. They are characterized by the presentation of facts and opinion to entertain and influence the audience. Nonetheless, they still require correlation and analysis of information. Because their purpose is persuasion, they must contain clear, detailed information and make logical and understandable arguments in support of the point of view being presented.

[caption id="attachment_167" align="alignright" width="558"] Inside Journalism by The Washington Post Source: Washington Post Newspapers[/caption]

Editorials – The editorial is a reflection of management's attitude rather than a reporter's or editor's personal view. Most are unsigned and run on a specific page of the newspaper or website or during a particular time of the broadcast. Editorials usually seek to do one of three things: commend or condemn some action; persuade the audience to some point of view; or entertain and amuse the audience. The information tasks for an editorial include locating and using credible information as evidence for whatever position is being taken.

Columns – A column includes the personal opinions of the writer on the state of the community and the world. Many columns are written by syndicated, national writers, but local commentators and columnists also have a following in their communities. Columnists use information selectively, based on their point of view and the argument they are making. Columnists’ information tasks include maintaining a consistent “voice” and approach to each topic.

Reviews – Reviewers make informed judgments about the content and quality of something presented to the public--books, films, theater, television programs, concerts, recorded music, art exhibits, restaurants. The responsibility of reviewers is to report and evaluate on behalf of the audience. The information must be descriptive as well as evaluative. The reviewer describes the concert and then makes an evaluation of the quality of the performance. Reviewers’ information tasks require them to be deeply knowledgeable about the type of content or activity they are reviewing, as well as having an opinion about it.

Advertising Messages

Advertising is defined as a paid form of communication from an identified sponsor using mass media to persuade or influence an audience. Because there are so many diverse advertisers attempting to reach so many different types of audiences with persuasive messages, many forms of advertising have developed. We will discuss nine types of advertising and the information tasks they require of the communicator. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="242"] 1922 Coca-Cola ad by Coca-Cola. Source:Wikimedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] 1) Brand or national consumer advertising – This type of advertising emphasizes brand identity and image. Advertising campaigns for Coca-Cola, Nike, or American Express are examples. Brand advertising seeks to generate demand for a product or service, and then convince the audience that a specific brand is the one they want. For example, Nike ads seek to generate demand for expensive athletic shoes and to convince purchasers that they want Nikes rather than Reeboks. The information tasks for these types of campaigns are extensive but much of the information that is gathered usually does not actually appear in the content of the ads themselves. Rather, the information informs the development of the advertising campaign strategy and the choice of media in which to place the ads. 2) Retail – Advertising that is local and that focuses on the store where products and services can be purchased is called retail advertising. The message emphasizes price, availability, location and hours of operation. Nike, for example, might generate a brand ad about their shoes, but the local department store would generate a retail ad telling about the great sale they are having on Nikes and other shoes. The department store managers don’t care which brand of shoe you buy as long as you shop in their store rather than their competitor’s store. The information tasks for these types of ads include gathering a lot of highly specific information about the retailer, given the purpose of the advertisements. 3) Directory – Ads that help you learn where to buy a product or service are directory ads. The telephone yellow pages are the most common form of directory ads, but many other directories perform the same function. The ads that appear as "sponsored links" next to your results from a search in a search engine are a form of directory ads. They are classified and served to you according to the terms in your search. These types of ads are almost purely information-based and meet an already-expressed need for information on the part of the audience member. The information tasks connected to directory ads include analysis of vast data sets of information about consumers, much of which is done by computer algorithms. But the ad creators need to understand how and why a particular consumer was targeted for a particular ad in order to be effective. [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="167"] Nixon_handout_1950 by Nixon for U.S. Senate campaign. Source: Wikipedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] 4) Political – Ads designed to persuade people to vote for a politician are familiar fixtures on the media landscape every political season. We can all recall candidate ads we've seen during each election cycle. Information tasks for this type of ad include gathering background research about the opposition candidate as well as material about the candidate sponsoring the ad, the latest polls of likely voters, public attitudes about the issues, and other facts that inform the strategy for the copy and placement of the ad. Communicators also must know the relevant legal and regulatory restrictions for political advertising in each market where the ads may run. 5) Direct-response – These types of ads can appear in any medium. A direct-response ad tries to stimulate a sale directly. The consumer can respond by phone, mail, or electronically, and the product is delivered directly to the consumer by mail or to a mobile device (a coupon for the pizza parlor you just passed on the street). On television, the infomercials for hair-care products, exercise equipment, or kitchen gear are examples of direct-response ads. Flyers you get in the mail to “Buy this Product” are also examples. These ads have a high information component and the communicators’ information tasks reflect the need to be well-informed. The message-makers assume the audience is already interested in or curious about the goods or services since they are watching the infomercial, reading the catalog, or have gone to the website. The direct-response piece includes lots of information about the products, and the goal is to make the sale. Mobile versions of direct response ads have to have a good “hook” to get the receiver to pay attention and act.  

6) Business-to-business – Messages directed at retailers, wholesalers, distributors, industrial purchasers, and professionals such as lawyers and physicians comprise business-to-business advertising. These ads are concentrated in business and professional publications. For example, banks advertise to small business owners; or equipment manufacturers advertise to factory managers, hospital administrators, restaurant owners, and others who might purchase their equipment. Unless you do the type of work that makes you an audience member for these kinds of messages, you aren't likely to see very many business-to-business ads. Because these types of ads require that they are directed toward a specialist audience with specific needs for products or services tailored for a particular industry, the information tasks required to produce these ads are highly detailed. 7) Institutional – This form of advertising is sometimes called corporate advertising. The focus of the message is on establishing a corporate identity or winning the public over to the organization's point of view. Rather than outlining the product or service offered by the institution, the ad attempts to create an image or reinforce an attitude about the company as a whole. Also, the ad may attempt to influence policymaking by advocating a particular position on some national issue that affects the interests of the sponsoring institution. The information component of this type of ad usually consists of extensive background research about the attitudes and psychologies of the intended audience, and the information tasks include gathering in-depth knowledge about the sponsoring institution and its goals for the message. [caption id="attachment_169" align="alignleft" width="300"] Pinder's Optometrists Advertorial by Nigel Lamb. Source: Flickr. CC BY 1.0[/caption] 8) Advertising features – Also referred to as an advertorial, branded content or native ads, this form is becoming more common. Many magazines carry inserts that look like a feature piece but are actually generated by an advertiser or a public relations firm, not by a journalist. For example, you might find an insert in a newsweekly magazine about living a healthy lifestyle, with articles and photographs that are sponsored by a pharmaceutical company. The communicator must have solid background information about the product, service or topic AND must know how to write like a journalist. Hence, the information tasks for this type of content include both content and stylistic aspects. 9) Public service – This type of ad communicates a message on behalf of some good cause, such as stopping drunk driving or preventing AIDS. Unlike the other types of advertising, media professionals create these ads for free, and time or space to run the ads are donated by media outlets. The ads typically include some information that emphasizes the nature of the problem or the cause so as to induce the audience to take the problem seriously. Information tasks for public service ads or PSAs usually includes identifying an emotional or psychological “hook” for the audience to get engaged with the ad content.  Take a look at this video from UNEP World Environment Day PSA. Much of the information that is used in the creation of advertising never actually appears in the copy of the ad or in the visuals that are produced. Instead, extensive information is uncovered to help the advertising professionals understand the background of the audience and message. For instance, communicators need to understand the product or service they will be pitching, the interests and needs of the intended audience, the competitors' product advantages and disadvantages, all of which help them decide how much money should be spent on the campaign and where the ads should appear.

Public Relations Messages

Public relations messages are sometimes referred to as "earned media" (as opposed to “paid media” like advertising.) This means that the PR professional has “earned” the attention of the journalist who decides to use the information the PR professional supplied as the germ of a news story. The messages created by public relations professionals get a major portion of their exposure through journalism organizations - output from public relations professionals is a major source of news. A significant routine for news professionals is the monitoring and use of news releases generated by public relations specialists, attendance at news conferences organized by PR professionals, coverage of events sponsored by PR strategists, and use of material from the media kits that PR firms create for their clients. Generally speaking, the policy of news organizations is that PR-generated messages are checked, edited, and supplemented by information independently generated by news professionals before running. In fact, much PR appears in mass media, but most of it is produced for specialized media such as trade, association, and employee publications. Public relations messages are also a part of what is referred to as “strategic communications” along with advertising in that there is a strategic objective in the crafting of the message to influence people’s opinions or purchasing decisions. Just as there are various forms of news and advertising messages, there are a number of forms of public relations messages, and a set of information tasks for communicators. 1) Internal PR – These include corporate newsletters, crisis management plans, corporate intelligence reports, and other forms of communication that are intended for the internal audience of employees and officers of a company. Also included here are the annual reports prepared for stockholders in publicly-held firms. These types of public relations media are information-rich and the information tasks include having an extensive understanding of the company, the issues and problems the company faces, the finances of the firm and any other factors that employees and stockholders would have an interest in knowing about. [caption id="attachment_169" align="alignright" width="300"] US Bureau of Statistics[/caption] 2) News releases – News releases are sent to media outlets by PR specialists who want to generate interest for their client or company. A news release might be prepared:

• as a simple announcement story (IBM's 3rd quarter profits rose)
• as an advance story (The circus will be unloading animals for the 3-day stay in town at such-and-such a place and time)
• as a follow-up after an event (Ground was broken for a new nursing home)
• in response to a trend, current event or unfolding crisis (Interest rates are at an all-time low, so ABC Mortgage is offering the following tips to consumers about refinancing).

The best news releases are produced to have the look and feel of a news story that might have been produced by news professionals. They, therefore, share many of the same information characteristics as news reports. The one big difference, as we have already stated, is that PR specialists are not obligated to tell all sides of the story. The information tasks for news release producers are very similar to those for feature story journalists.

3) Broadcast (video) news releases – A video news release (VNR) is simply a news release in the form of a broadcast news story. The video and voice-over are designed to look like a piece that you would see on any television news program. B-roll footage, or video images sent to the media, is closely related to a VNR. The difference is that b-roll does not include a narrated voice-over, and is not edited as a ready-to-go news package. Reporters use b-roll footage from companies to enhance their own stories. For example, for a new movie release, the promotion company might send out b-roll footage of the filming to be used in a story or review.

An audio news release (ANR) is designed to be played on the radio. The audio clip might be a "voicer," a news story recorded by a PR professional in the style of a radio announcer; or the clip might be an "actuality," the actual voice of a newsmaker or news source speaking. These types of messages are usually accompanied by a print news release or an announcement to alert news professionals that the VNR or ANR is available.   ANRs EXPLAINED Once again, these announcements are produced to have the look and sound of reports produced by news professionals, but with a different standard for completeness of the information. PR news releases rarely include information representing all sides of the issue. For that reason, it is generally considered an ethical breach to use information from a VNR or ANR without attributing it to the source so the news audience isn’t confused about where the information originated. But the information tasks are again similar to those for feature journalists. 4) Media kits – Media kits consist of a fact sheet about the client or event, biographic sketches of major people involved, a straight news story, news-column material, a news feature, a brochure, photographs, and for those kits delivered digitally, audio and video segments. Often, media professionals package these materials in a folder or other unique format that is professionally designed and printed or post the materials on a website specifically created for the distribution of the media kit content. Public relations organizations create media kits with the intent of providing story ideas for news professionals, as well as to generate interest and attention for the client. For example, the Salvation Army might update its “Kettle Bell Ringing” media kit before the holiday season each year. Magazine publishers create media kits to attract advertisers by highlighting the size and quality of their audiences, the effectiveness of their editorial content and the prices for placing an ad. With all the different components that go into a media kit, you can understand that the information tasks for communicators producing these types of messages are large in number and detailed requirements. [caption id="attachment_169" align="alignleft" width="300"] Pentagon Press Secretary George E. Little briefs... by Glenn Fawcett. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain.[/caption] 5) Backgrounder or briefing session – PR specialists provide in-depth information about an issue or event for reporters in backgrounders or briefing sessions. The PR people offer handouts (information sheets or reports) and the principal news source about the issue or event makes a presentation. Unlike news conferences, there is little give and take between reporters and the moderator of these sessions. They are used to explain a policy or situation rather than to announce something. The National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB), for example, might hold a briefing session following an airplane crash. The handouts prepared for these sessions are sometimes quite extensive, requiring solid information preparation among the PR specialists working on the handouts. The information tasks for the PR specialists include the need to anticipate the types of questions journalists will ask and the depth of follow-up material they need to provide. 6) News conferences – There are two categories of news conferences: information or personality. The information news conference usually has a single motive – someone wants media attention for an announcement, for an update on a breaking event, for a follow-up about an investigation, or some other specific item of interest to news professionals. There is give and take as reporters ask questions of the person at the podium. [caption id="attachment_169" align="alignright" width="300"] NYFF 2010 "Hereafter" Press Conference by aphrodite-in-nyc. Source: Wikimedia . CC BY 2.0[/caption] The personality news conference is designed to provide news professionals with access to someone famous, about-to-be-famous, or otherwise in the public spotlight. Whenever a professional sports team signs a major college star, for example, there is usually a personality news conference where the individual Information tasks for a news conference include preparing an opening statement, a briefing paper for the person which anticipates reporters' questions, and social media content that can be shared during and after the news conference. There may also be a handout outlining the major points made in the announcement. Again, PR specialists must understand what makes news and prepare their news conference information to meet those requirements. [caption id="attachment_169" align="alignleft" width="300"] Media Tour by Petty by Dustin Knight . Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain.[/caption] 7) Media tour – Like a briefing or background session, the purpose of a media tour is to provide in-depth information to reporters. However, the format of the meetings that take place on the media tour is often highly interactive, with one-on-one between a reporter and company official (and public relations specialist). The nature of the information provided as part of a media tour is generally slightly less timely than what would be discussed as part of a news backgrounder or briefing. A media tour might be arranged so that reporters can “demo” a new high-tech product while a company representative walks them through the features. PR specialists’ information tasks include knowing what will be most interesting to the journalists on the tour and what can and can’t be shared as part of the event. [caption id="attachment_169" align="alignright" width="300"] Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III completes crosses the finish line... by U.S. Navy. Source: Wikimedia Common. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] 8) Special events – PR specialists may plan special events (sometimes disparagingly-labeled "pseudo-events") for clients who want media attention for a cause or issue. There may be a jump-rope-a-thon for cancer research, or a grain company may sponsor a food lift for famine victims. These events must be planned to have news value, and the information that is generated to announce and entice coverage by news professionals must have all of the same characteristics that we have already mentioned. Coverage of these types of events is usually framed as a feature, with similar information tasks for PR practitioners. 9) Responses to media inquiries – There are cases when a company may not proactively send out a news release or hold a press conference but may receive requests from the media for comment. Public relations employees are there to respond to reporters' requests for quotes, examples or explanations. In these cases, the public relations practitioner needs to act quickly to help meet the journalist’s deadline, and the information tasks involve gathering additional background information about the situation and arranging a meeting or conference call with company management to discuss how best to respond. Getting back to a reporter in a timely manner is key to maintaining good relationships with the media, even if the response is that your company will not be able to provide the requested statement or information at that particular time. Keeping the reporter informed is always a better approach than “stonewalling.” 10) PR features – As is the case for advertising message types, many PR firms and corporate communications professionals are creating branded content or native ads. This is sometimes referred to as “owned media” when it is created by the sponsoring company itself. Companies may create entire websites, magazines or video channels specifically for this type of “owned media” content. The communicator must have solid background information about the product, service or topic AND must know how to write like a journalist as part of the information tasks necessary to be successful.

Storytelling and the Information Strategy

The way information is crafted into the final media message depends on two key factors:

• how the message is being delivered (a story in a newspaper versus on a mobile device, a TV brand ad or one in an interactive magazine)
• the audience for whom the message is intended

The storytelling techniques you use must take into account the media format in which the information is delivered and the audience's expectations for the message. [caption id="attachment_1603" align="alignleft" width="420"] Storytelling by Beth Kanter. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] While this course does not delve into the actual construction of the messages themselves – you will get those skills in your reporting or strategic writing classes - it is worthwhile to acknowledge some of the considerations that message creators must keep in mind – and the information requirements there might be for different storytelling conventions. Goals of Storytelling Storytelling can serve different kinds of goals. Determining the intention or purpose of the story or message is an important first step in crafting the message. As you have learned, messages can inform or enlighten people about current events or issues or about the availability of products or services. They can provide background and context to a discussion of ideas. Stories can be written to persuade people to make certain purchases or hold certain views. News, advertising and public relations messages perform some or all of these functions while employing different storytelling techniques and formats to communicate with audiences in the most effective way. There are a number of different storytelling decisions to make as a producer of media content. Regardless of which type of media you are working within, it is important that you, the communicator, are aware of the fundamental storytelling devices you might want to use to tell your story in a way that is direct, efficient, and appropriate for the story’s objective. Therefore, you will want to have a full and accessible set of tools that you are ready to employ for any kind of message, depending on the type of media you are creating, your chosen channel of communication, as well as the specific style, tone, and needs of your story subject. Characteristics of Good Storytelling Usually the word “story” implies something fictional. But in the case of media messages, "story" refers to fact-based information about products, or events, or the actions taken by a company. The distinction between fiction and non-fiction stories is an absolutely critical one for you to grasp. It affects every decision that you make about the selection and evaluation of information for messages. Good storytelling consists of knowing your audience. Is the audience going to be reading the story, hearing it, experiencing it in a non-linear fashion online? What kind of background information does the audience for the story already have about the topic? Good storytelling also begins with a foundation in the subject matter. The storyteller must have a firm grasp of the subject matter in order to effectively communicate the story to someone else. Good storytelling demands that the storyteller have command of the mechanics of writing. Good storytelling understands how different media elements play into the effective telling of the story. Good storytelling demonstrates ethical standards for accuracy, truth, verifiability, sufficient evidence, and information reliability. Non-fiction stories, especially, require a solid grounding in factual information that can withstand scrutiny by the most skeptical audience members. Storytellers must deliver within the parameters and requirements of the story assignment. They must:

• meet the deadline
• follow directions on the expected length and focus for the story
• meet the expectation for clean, distribution-ready copy
• use proper grammar, word choice, and style
• apply the appropriate story characteristics for the channel of message delivery

The information strategy skills you will learn in this course will provide you with the tools you need to meet these storytelling requirements. Moving confidently through the information strategy process will help you identify your audience, locate the relevant content for your message, ensure the accuracy of your information and provide the details that will make your message stand out.

ADVERTISING

• Examples of Advertising Techniques: http://www.sales-and-marketing-for-you.com/advertising-techniques.html
• How to Develop your Brand's Story: http://www.bulldogreporter.com/dailydog/article/pr-storytelling-how-develop-your-brands-story

JOURNALISM

• The Transition to Digital Journalism: a guide to resources about storytelling online: http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/
• Journalists as Storytellers: http://niemanreports.org/articles/journalists-as-storytellers/

PUBLIC RELATIONS

• Storytelling and PR: http://aboutpublicrelations.net/aa061001a.htm
• The Art of Storytelling in PR: http://prinyourpajamas.com/the-art-of-storytelling-pr/

Question Analysis: From Assignment to Message

As students, you’ve all dealt with frustratingly ambiguous assignments. Knowing how many pages you are required to write, how the document should be formatted, whether and how to cite the information used - all of these are specifics of the assignment that you hope your instructors spell out for you. If those specifics aren’t clear, you ask your teachers to give you more detail on the parameters of the assignment and on the “metrics” that will be used to judge the quality of the work you turn in. When on the job, the assignments you get will usually not have this level of detail. In fact, “deals well with ambiguity” is often a line on job descriptions about the ideal candidate. Clarifying the task will be one of the first steps the communicator must take when a supervisor throws out an assignment like, “One of our clients is interested in exploring e-wallets. What do we know about them?” or “We have to do a better job of getting legislators to understand our company. Do an analysis.” or “There have been lots of motorcycle accidents in the past month - we ought to do an in-depth story.” Determining as completely as possible the “context” for the message will help you begin to put parameters around the task. In this lesson, we will discuss the aspects of a message assignment that you should clarify with the “gatekeeper.” The more you know about what the “gatekeeper” in a communications organization looks for and values, the more you will be able to pursue a strategy that leads you to successfully fulfilling the message mission.

Understanding the Gatekeeper Audience

As we will discuss in Lesson 4, determining and researching the key audience for the message you will be creating is one of the most important parts of message development. But there is another, perhaps even more, the important initial audience for your work, and that is the person in the organization who will approve, support, or squash your ideas. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="350"] Gatekeeper by Luca Sartoni. Source: Wikipedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0[/caption] Referred to as “gatekeepers” these are the people within the organization who not only hand out the assignments, they are also the ones with the power to decide:

• which messages are produced
• who produces the messages
• where the messages will appear
• what the messages will contain

Examples of "gatekeepers" in communications or business organizations include:

• a newspaper's assistant managing editors who assign stories to appropriate reporters
• a television station's producers and assignment editors
• advertising agency account executives
• public relations firm client services managers
• a corporation’s chief communications officer who decides whether the new communications plan is ready to present to the CEO

An important function of gatekeepers is to maintain the standards and the "voice" that define the specific organization for which they are "keeping the gates." Within a newspaper organization, the assistant managing editor who assigns stories to various reporters on a beat has the responsibility to decide whether the reporters' stories are acceptable before the stories are sent along to the next step in the process of getting printed in the newspaper and posted online. Reporters learn to anticipate the kinds of stories that their editors (the gatekeeper audience members) want. One editor may respond positively every time a reporter writes a story that includes a quote from a particular source. That reporter will try to include that source in her stories as often as possible. In a television news operation, the newscast producer might respond well every time a reporter/photographer team does a story that is accompanied by particular types of images. Again, that reporter/photographer team will try as often as possible to select that type of video to please the producer and thus assure a spot on the newscast. In an advertising agency, the account management professionals perform a similar gatekeeper function. Client services managers in a PR firm perform the same function. They are responsible for contact with the client who is paying to have the ads created or the public relations work done. If the account manager is unhappy with the advertising or PR campaign that the other professionals have created, it may not get passed along for client approval. Communicators learn to adjust their efforts and create ads or PR work that account managers or client services managers are most likely to define as acceptable and ready for client review. In a business, non-profit organization, government agency or similar type of institution, the communications manager for the organization plays the gatekeeper role. Any content that appears on the organization’s website, the social media content that is produced, the promotions sent to mobile devices and any other messages directed at the public go through a review process. Communicators inside an organization have to conform to the rules, processes and expectations of the communications manager if their work is going to be delivered to audiences. At the initial stage in the message, process gatekeepers are the ones who will be issuing assignments. They are the ones who will determine if you delivered what was requested and they are the ones you will need to work with to clarify the assignment so you have the best chance of successfully delivering what is needed. Gatekeepers will have in mind the needs of the ultimate “client” for whatever work you produce. The editor of a publication will understand who the readers are and what they look for in the articles that run. The PR client manager will understand the objectives of the client for the campaign. The advertising account manager will know the advertiser’s sales goals. The corporate communications manager will know what image the company is trying to project. Your job is to interpret the work assignment given to you and know how the work you produce will ultimately help everyone’s objectives be met.

Journalist Checklist for Public Relations

The “5 Ws and H” (Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How) checklist that journalists use in covering a story or that strategic communicators would need to consider when developing a campaign can be used with a slightly different orientation for communicators who need to clarify an assignment. Let’s imagine that in the strategic communications context your boss sends the following text: “Our client is interested in exploring bitcoin. See what you can find out.” Or in the newsroom, your editor drops by and says, “The Times had a big story about bitcoin. Should we cover this?” How do you even start? In upcoming lessons we will delve into the kinds of questions you’ll ask and answer when developing a research agenda (who is the audience, what are the angles of the topic, where might you find information.) But before you can begin to understand the specifics of the research task itself you need further clarification about the gatekeeper’s expectations. Following are some of the kinds of questions you might ask to clarify the assignment. [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="180"] Question Mark by Marco Belluci. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption]

WHO? Who will be seeing the report you produce? This will give you clues as to the nature of the language to use, the formality or informality of the report you deliver. Previous experience with this person or team will inform you about their expectations.

WHAT? What form should the information take? Learn if this is just an informal backgrounder, information needed to justify a whole new campaign or series idea, or a competitive intelligence report. Knowing what type of report or document is expected will help you set a framework for the task.

WHEN? When is the work to be delivered? Knowing the deadline or desired delivery date for your work will help you gauge what level of work can be done (and help you manage your boss's expectations.)

WHERE? Where will the report be delivered? Do they want a written report, a briefing at a meeting, a document shared on the office cloud?

WHY? Why is the information needed? Is a campaign / series already planned and they need concrete information to move the plan forward? Is this just exploratory to see if there is justification for a particular direction?

Once these questions are answered, the HOW to begin researching will be much easier to answer. Most of the assignments you are given are intended to ultimately lead to a communications message of some type. Whether it will result in a news release, or a new advertising campaign, or a news story, knowing as much as possible about the intended outcome of the research work you do will help you understand the amount and type of information you’ll need to research. Although the answers to these questions might be revealed later in the process, it is important to understand that the answers will help form your information strategy.

Message Purpose

Another important consideration when clarifying a message task is to determine the ultimate purpose of the message. Messages fulfill seven functions:

1. they provide information about the availability of products and services: advertising and publicity
2. they entertain: special features, advertising
3. they inform: basic news, advertising, publicity
4. they provide a forum for ideas: editorials, interpretive stories, documentaries, commentaries
5. they educate: depth stories, self-help stories and columns, informative pieces, advertising with product features and characteristics
6. they serve as a watchdog on government: investigative pieces and straight coverage of trials and other public events
7. they persuade: advertising, publicity, editorials and commentaries

Communicators pay attention to these expectations as they seek information for messages. In order for a message to have audience appeal, it must meet the audience's expectations in purpose and form. Analyzing the context for a message includes the task of clearly understanding the purpose of the message. All of the subsequent information-gathering steps are affected by this basic requirement.

Time / Space

[caption id="attachment_175" align="alignleft" width="300"] Clock Alarm Clock Question Mark by geralt. Source: pixabay. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] Messages must be tailored to meet the time and space constraints imposed by the context within which the message is being created. You cannot explore all the information available for every message on every occasion. Deadlines and costs involved in collecting some information forces you to make choices about particular angles and information sources. A long, interpretive news story on which a reporter might work for days must use many information sources. That stands in contrast to a breaking news story about a fire that must be posted immediately to the news website or sent out as a 140-character tweet. The brand advertising campaign that will run over many months and include ads in several media is likely to rest on a large information base. But one retail ad placed in a local newspaper by the neighborhood shoe store does not require such an extensive information search. You make choices about the management of both time and money based on the time and space constraints of your message task. Time factors in broadcast news, for example, may be the major information constraints. If you have just 1 minute and 20 seconds to tell a story with words and pictures, you must tailor the information strategy to help in identifying the most efficient sources for telling that story. Space factors may be the major information constraints for a message that will be delivered on a mobile device. The efficient information search is essential to the audience’s expectation of effective storytelling and the media organization’s requirement for the economy in producing a message.

Formats / Channels

[caption id="attachment_1161" align="alignright" width="300"] The Blaze Dallas Studios... by LibertarianGuy. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0[/caption] An important consideration when developing a research plan is the ultimate delivery method for whatever will be produced. You will learn a great deal in your reporting or strategic writing classes about how the format and channel(s) used for your message affect the actual creation of the message. For the purposes of clarifying your information task, consideration of format and channels can help define the scope of information needed. For example, if you are assigned to cover a trial and expected to simply tweet ongoing developments, the information you need will be gleaned from your eye-witness account of the proceedings. But if you are expected to develop an in-depth story to run online and in the newspaper that will comprehensively explain the case, you will need deeper background, sources that can help you describe and explain facets of the cases from different perspectives, advice or insight from experts. Producing the story for a video news report will require finding sources you can get on camera or researching locations that can give visual appeal to the story. [caption id="attachment_1162" align="alignleft" width="300"] Eats Flies, Dates a Pig by Jan Tik. Source: FLickr. CC BY 2.5.[/caption] If you understand from your assignment that the ultimate output of your work will be recommendations on a key message to display on a billboard it will make the scope of your information seeking different than if you are creating a multi-channel campaign. All of these message context issues must be analyzed at the start of an information search. In upcoming lessons, we will begin to develop techniques for asking, and answering, questions about the audience for the message, the facet or angles of the topic or product being researched, and who are the likely sources of information on the topic. But it is only after asking and answering the basic questions about the initial task assignment that you can begin to delve into the creative work of developing a more clearly outlined information process. The rest of the information strategy is highly dependent on the parameters of the information task.

Resources

• How to Get Clear Direction from your Boss, by Alexandra Levit, posted 3/18/13. https://blog.alexandralevit.com/wcw/2013/06/how-to-get-clear-direction-from-your-boss.html

• Resolving Ambiguity and Uncertainty, posted 9/22/12. http://leadingstrategicinitiatives.com/2011/09/22/resolving-ambiguity-and-uncertainty-strategic-thinking-part-4/

Question Analysis: Who’s the Audience?

Types of Audiences

[caption id="attachment_1164" align="alignleft" width="300"] Audience Clapping by honey74129. Source: Photobucket. CC0 Public Domain[/caption]As we begin the process of analyzing the message assignment archery might be a good metaphor to use. If the arrow is your message, the audience is the target you are shooting for. Without the audience “target” your soaring arrow will just fly through the air and land uselessly. Scoping out the target helps you adjust the way you deploy the arrow to most effectively hit the bullseye. Whether you are working in a newsroom or in an advertising or public relations context, your ultimate goal as a communicator is to create messages / stories / advertisements / public relations materials that effectively engage the audience with whom you most want to connect. It is your ability to connect the message content with the valued audience that will determine how successful your communications effort has been.Advertisers want to expand their products’ market reach. The advertising communicator’s job, then, is to determine the story to tell about the product that will most effectively appeal to the audience that has been targeted for that expanded reach. They need to understand who the current audience is for the product. Questions advertisers will ask about audience include:

• Who is the product not currently effectively marketed to?
• What do the people who use the product like, or dislike about the product?
• Who are the people who use a competitor’s product and what do the competitors in the marketplace offer?
• What would an ideal customer for the product look like?
• Who buys similar products and who might find this product attractive?

Public relations professionals want to ensure positive opinions about their organization. The public relations professional’s task, then, is to create messages that will influence the important stakeholders. Questions public relations professionals will ask about audience include:

• Who are the people or groups we need to influence?
• What concerns might different stakeholders have?
• What impact would negative opinion by certain stakeholders have on the company?

Journalists' communications work is intended to inform, entertain, persuade, mobilize and/or engage the readers or viewers of the publications for which they work. Questions journalists will include about audience: 

• Who is reading/listening/viewing the news message?
• What is it that that audience already knows?
• What does the audience need to know?

As these examples indicate, each type of communicator has different types of people that they need to keep in mind and they need to understand different things about that audience they will be targeting. Before we discuss how to analyze these audience needs, we should point out two other audiences that communicators must consider as they develop their message.

Gatekeepers

We’ve already introduced the concept of the “gatekeepers” and their importance in the message creation process.  At the start of an information task, the most important audience might be the organizational gatekeeper who will give you an assignment and who you must please with your work. Journalists will want to keep the editor in mind as they set out to define the parameters of the assignment and strategic communicators will need to be sure they understand what their boss needs. Researching these “audiences” will be an on-the-job task and can require a clear conversation to clarify the assignment as discussed in Lesson 3. The gatekeepers’ concern is that the message is constructed in such a way that the goal of communication is accomplished.

Colleagues and Professionals

Communicators also keep in mind their colleagues or professional audiences when they consider how best to accomplish a message task. These are the people you work with and others in the same profession who you want to influence or impress. For example, public relations professionals quickly learn to produce news releases that fit the formula sought by the media organizations they are trying to influence. The only way to be effective with a news release is to have a news organization "pick it up" or run a story based on it (this is why PR is referred to as “earned media.”) Effective PR specialists are those who can mimic the news style of their colleagues in the local media market and tailor their news releases so that they get the maximum exposure. In this case, the colleagues in the news organization are both part of the colleague AND the gatekeeper audience. Similarly, reporters might be tempted to write their stories in a way that they know (consciously or unconsciously) will avoid offending their most important sources (the professionals from whom they have to seek information on a regular basis). Some advertising copywriters and art directors create ads with the hope that they will get nominated for the advertising awards that help boost careers and increase salaries. The awards are almost always judged by fellow advertising professionals. These colleagues or professional audience members exert an enormous influence on the way communicators in all media industries do their work. Communicators rely heavily on each other for ideas, and the rewards in most areas of communication work are measured by professional reputation and recognition rather than by high salaries. It is not surprising that communicators seek to create messages that will garner attention and recognition from peers in the industry. Also, many communicators, especially those who work in news, are heavily reliant on information provided by others (government officials, industry sources, etc.). Therefore, communicators might be reluctant to do anything objectionable that will cause someone to "turn off" the information flow. That is one of the reasons news organizations may rotate journalists off a specific beat – they don’t want reporters to get too close to their sources. And all communicators understand that if the communications they create are seen as unethical or irresponsible it harms not only their own professional careers but the credibility of the entire professional. As important as it is to recognize the gatekeeper and colleague audiences when constructing a message, it is ultimately the target audience for the message that requires creative and careful consideration. Understanding to whom the message will be directed and doing the research to ensure you have identified and understand that “end-user” is a critical, and complicated, skill.

Target Audience

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="299"] Amazon Web Service logo by Amazon. Source: Amazon Web Service. CC BY-SA 3.0.[/caption] This is the audience that most people think of when they hear the word. But all audience members are not identical. Therefore, communication researchers have devised many ways to categorize the target audience. Let’s look at the the various ways target audiences might be understood. Target Audience Segments One way to distinguish different types of audience members is to identify the audience segment(s) into which someone might fall. Communications professionals, and especially advertisers, use a number of categories to more precisely identify who they should target with messages. Audience members can be segmented according to demographic, geographic or psychographic characteristics, or some combination of those categories. There are a number of sophisticated research tools and sources that provide detailed information about these types of categories for audience analysis.

Audience Segments: Demographics

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="149"] USA Missouri age pyramid by Mulat. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.5[/caption] There are social and economic characteristics that can influence how someone behaves as an individual. Standard demographic variables include a person's age, gender, family status, education, occupation, income, race and ethnicity. Each of these variables or characteristics can provide clues about how a person might respond to a message. Advertisers are clearly interested in knowing, for instance, how age influences a person's need for goods and services. Think about the kinds of items teenagers purchase, the programs they watch on TV and online, and the magazines they read. Advertisers then compare those to the products that their parents purchase, the programs they watch, and the magazines they read. The influence of an audience member's age is also a factor in the types of news messages that appeal to one group versus another. Younger people (teens, young adults) generally do not watch the national evening news on television or read a daily newspaper, for example. The news stories on those programs or in the newspaper reflect the knowledge that the audience is more mature, settled, and concerned about different topics and issues than are the younger members of the household. Each of the other demographic variables mentioned can be examined for their influence on messages and how they are tailored to meet specific audience characteristics.

Audience Segments: Geographics

We all understand geographically-defined political jurisdictions such as cities, counties, and states. These are important geographic audience categories for politicians and for news stories or ads about politics and elections. Also, local retail advertisers want to reach audiences who are in the reading or listening range of the local newspaper or radio station and within traveling distance of their stores. The audience for a newspaper is generally defined as those within a specific metropolitan area--stories and ads are written to appeal to the residents of a well-defined locality. Local television stations tailor their messages to the audience reached by their broadcast signal. Larger, more abstract geographic definitions help define the audience for national advertisers and those creating news or public relations messages for a regional or national audience. Washington Post reporter Joel Garreau (1989) argued that regional differences in North America (Canada, the U.S., and Mexico) are important markers for understanding differences in populations that span a continent. He invented nine "nations" or non-political regions whose boundaries don't correspond to any current political jurisdictions. They are New England, The Foundry, Dixie, The Islands, MexAmerica, Breadbasket, Ecotopia, The Empty Quarter, and Quebec. [caption id="attachment_154" align="aligncenter" width="520"] Ninenations by A Max J. Source: Wikipedia. CC BY 3.0[/caption] For one example of how Garreau determined the boundaries for each “nation,” we can look at his examination of three major cities in Texas. By political considerations, the three are all part of one jurisdiction: the state of Texas. But to Garreau, Fort Worth is actually part of the Breadbasket because of its strong cattle-town heritage; San Antonio, with its large, urban Spanish-speaking community fits into MexAmerica; and Dallas is part of Dixie, with dramatic social change and economic growth. These distinctions may be irrelevant to those who draw political boundaries, but the cultural implications are crucial for those who create messages. Audience members for some types of messages in San Antonio cannot be characterized as "Texans" or even "Southerners" if one of their main cultural and regional identifiers is their close affiliation with other inhabitants of "MexAmerica." Garreau's characterizations have been widely accepted by media professionals, businesses and social scientists around the country. Another geographic definition segments audiences into rural, urban, suburban, and edge communities (the office parks that have sprung up on the outskirts of many urban communities). These geographic categories help define rifts between regions on issues such as transportation, education, taxes, housing and land use. Politicians have long understood that voters can be defined using these types of categories. Those who create media messages pay attention to these categories as well. Newspaper publishers in major metropolitan areas, for example, have long struggled with how to maintain their focus on the central city that defines the newspaper, while also attracting and keeping readers who live in the suburbs and work in an edge community high-rise office building. Demographic and geographic audience characteristics are gathered from many sources. These include the U.S. Census as well as thousands of individual studies and research services conducted by media industry professionals.

Audience Segments: Psychographics

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="378"] Different Ways to Use Psychographic Data in Online Marketing by Karlhain. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0[/caption] Psychographics refers to all of the psychological variables that combine to form a person's inner self. Even if two people share the same demographic or geographic characteristics, they may still hold entirely different ideas and values that define them personally and socially. Some of these differences are explained by looking at the psychographic characteristics that define them.  Psychographic variables include:

Motives – an internal force that stimulates someone to behave in a particular manner. A person has media consumption motives and buying motives. A motive for watching television may be to escape; a motive for choosing to watch a situation comedy rather than a police drama may be the audience member’s need to laugh rather than feel suspense and anxiety.

Attitudes - a learned predisposition, a feeling held toward an object, person or idea that leads to a particular behavior. Attitudes are enduring; they are positive or negative, affecting likes and dislikes. A strong positive attitude can make someone very loyal to a brand (one person is committed to the Mazda brand so she will only consider Mazda models when it is time to buy a new car). A strong negative attitude can turn an audience member away from a message or product (someone disagrees with the political slant of Fox News and decides to watch MSNBC instead).

Personalities - a collection of traits that make a person distinctive. Personalities influence how people look at the world, how they perceive and interpret what is happening around them, how they respond intellectually and emotionally, how they form opinions and attitudes.

Lifestyles – these factors form the mainstay of psychographic research. Lifestyle research studies the way people allocate time, energy and money. One of the most well-known lifestyle models is the Values and Lifestyles System (VALS™) devised by research firm Strategic Business Insights. The model categorizes people according to their psychological characteristics and their resources. Advertisers use it to determine what kind of products and advertising appeals will best work with an anonymous audience member who falls into one of the eight categories, or mindsets, in the VALS™ model.

For example, someone who falls into the "Striver" category is said to be seeking self-definition, motivation and approval, and is low on economic, social and psychological resources. The "Innovator" group is comprised of successful people with high self-esteem and high income, with a wide range of interests and a taste for finer things. These categories are most useful for advertisers in helping determine a “unique selling proposition” that would be most appealing to one type of person or another, but they also help other message creators understand WHY advertisers support the types of media they do and why some types of messages are created while others are not.

Combining Segment Data

As audience segmentation techniques become more sophisticated, we see new ways of organizing and clustering individuals according to a combination of characteristics. For instance, the Jefferson Institute has created a project called “Patchwork Nation.” [caption id="attachment_182" align="alignright" width="200"] US Gas Price Temperature Map by pushandplay. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] According to their website, Patchwork Nation “aims to explore what is happening in the United States by examining different kinds of communities over time. The effort uses demographic, voting and cultural data to cluster and organize communities into ‘types of place.’ Patchwork divides America's 3,141 counties into 12 community types based on characteristics such as income level, racial composition, employment and religion. It also breaks the nation’s 435 congressional districts into nine categories, using the same data points and clustering techniques.” The characteristics of Patchwork Nation locations incorporate demographic, psychographic and political data to generate a map of the country that might be used to define an advertising audience, explain voter behavior for a news story, or target a community for a PR campaign.  Examining the elements of regional characteristics can give you ideas about the diversity of audiences and an appreciation for the challenge of understanding how best to reach specific segments.

News

Journalists produce their work with the readers, listeners or viewers of the publication for which they work in mind. A journalist who works for the daily news organization in a town needs to understand the characteristics of subscribers. And if they work for a particular beat, for example, the business section, they need to understand what it is that readers of that section are looking for and how they would use the information they get. Why does this matter? If journalists don’t create stories that inform and engage their audience those people will find other outlets to satisfy their information needs. Journalism serves not only a public need, but it is also a business and a business without customers won’t be in business for long. News organizations conduct user surveys and track audience behavior just as other kinds of companies do.  The better journalists are able to understand their readership the better they will be able to anticipate and address their audience's needs. For those journalists who work as freelancers (defined by Merriam-Webster as “a person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any one employer”), it is essential that they learn about the target audience for the publication to which they want to pitch a story. If they don’t understand the characteristics of the audience who reads Sports Illustrated versus The Atlantic, they will not be able to effectively position (or "pitch") their story idea. In the case of pitching a story idea, they need to understand that the publication’s editor is the ultimate decider on whether they get the assignment or not, and the editor’s ultimate concern is to keep the publication’s audience satisfied. In order for the freelancer to get the “gatekeeper’s” go-ahead on a story idea, they must demonstrate they understand who the target audience is for the publication and what will appeal to them.

Advertising

In an age of increasing competition and consumer choice, advertisers must have a highly developed understanding of the audience (customers or consumers) they want to reach. Audience research is, perhaps, the biggest information gathering task for advertisers. Information about potential or desired audiences is required at every stage of developing an advertising campaign. The kinds of questions an advertiser will want to answer about their potential audience include:

• Who are our current customers? You need to know who you are already reaching, and how to keep them as satisfied customers.
• Who are our competitors’ customers? Understanding who uses the competitors' products or services is key to figuring out how to create a campaign that could convince them to try your company's products.
• What do our desired audience members watch / read? Knowing where to find the kinds of customers you want to attract is an essential part of media buying work. The dollars spent placing advertisements will be thrown away if the message doesn’t reach the audience you desire.
• How happy are our customers with our products? Keeping a pulse on consumer attitude and opinion of your product will help to refine the story you want to tell.

Until you have a set of questions to ask about the target audience, you won’t know how to go about finding answers.

Public Relations

[caption id="attachment_1010" align="alignleft" width="421"] Stakeholder by Grochim. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0[/caption] In public relations work, the target audience is often referred to as the “stakeholder.” Defined by Merriam-Webster as “one who is involved in or affected by a course of action” the stakeholders are those groups of people that an organization must positively influence. Just as the advertising message is intended to influence customers to regard your product positively, the public relations message is intended to influence stakeholders to regard your organization positively. Stakeholders whose opinions or actions can positively or negatively affect an organization include:

• Customers: people who don’t feel good about a company won’t buy their products
• Investors: bankers, stockholders, financial analysts and others who have committed (or advise others to commit) funding to an organization won’t maintain their support if they don’t believe in what the company is doing
• Legislators / government regulators: lawmakers who feel a company or industry is doing harm, or who get complaints from their constituents, will be likely to propose restrictions or regulations
• Employees: the people who work within an organization must have high regard for their employer or they won’t be good representatives of the organization
• Activists / philanthropic groups: organizations that have an interest in the area in which the organization operates can exert economic or policy pressure if they don’t support the organization’s work
• Business partners: most organizations work with a network of suppliers, vendors, and other types of business partners who help them maintain their position in their industry or field; partners are an important stakeholder audience for PR professionals

[caption id="attachment_1702" align="alignright" width="300"] reading-man-reading-magazine by Luis Wilker Perelo WilkerNet. Source: pixabay. CC0 Public Domain[/caption]

Who’s the Audience for News?

In some ways, the audience for journalistic messages is the most concrete and pre-determined of the three communications professions’ work. Journalists write for publications or produce reports for media outlets that have a great deal of information about their subscribers or viewers. With the ability to track digital readership, journalists know what articles people read. At the start of the message analysis process, journalists must ask a set of questions about their target audience that will help them identify the treatment of the topic about which they will be writing and make decisions about the kind of reporting they must do. Understanding the audience that uses the publication or media outlet for which they are producing a news report will help clarify some of the following questions:

• WHO: Who reads / views the publication? Who would be interested in this topic? Who needs to know about this topic? Who is the media organization interested in attracting with its offerings?
• WHAT: What would the potential audience member want to know about the topic? What kind of report would be most informative or helpful for the audience? What kind of information will be useful? What does the audience already know about this?
• WHERE: Where else do people interested in the topic find information? (For freelancers) Where should I pitch my story idea?
• WHEN: When does the audience need to get this information (is this fast-breaking news, or something that will be used as analysis after the event?)
• WHY: Why does the audience need to know this? Why does the audience care? Sometimes the audience member just wants to fill empty minutes with a news message (reading news briefs on a mobile device while standing in a line or eating alone at a restaurant). Sometimes the audience member needs to answer a specific question (who won the baseball game this afternoon? when does the movie start?). Each of these “why” questions suggests a different strategy for the communicator.
• HOW: How can we best communicate to the audience? How much background do they need to understand what we are writing about? How technical can we be? How might the audience react to this report?

Who’s the Audience for Advertising?

Advertising professionals have also developed a standard set of questions that they ask at the start of a message task, many of which specifically address audience considerations. These questions also address elements of the subject matter of the ads, the best approaches for creating the ad copy and placing the ads in the most appropriate vehicles. We will come back to many of these questions in subsequent lessons.

• What should our advertising accomplish? Again, sometimes the audience member just needs to find a nearby place to buy a specific product, or the hours and phone number of a business. Filling that immediate information need for the audience member requires a different strategy than trying to encourage the audience member to change their brand loyalty, think positively about your service, purchase your product. You want to know if the ad is intended to fill an immediate information need or to include a “call to action” on the part of the audience member. [caption id="attachment_1017" align="alignleft" width="250"] Montaña Rusa Hopi Hari by Arturo de Albornoz. Source: Flickr. CC BY-SA 2.0.[/caption]
• To whom should we advertise? Who was the target audience in previous campaigns and who has not been targeted yet that should be? Who are the competitors’ customers?
• What should we say that will most effectively convince the audience to respond to our call to action? What have our client's ads said to similar audiences in the past? What do our client's competitors' ads say?
• How should we frame our message for this specific audience? How will our proposed creative strategies work for this client's messages? How do our competitors position their creative strategies?
• Where should we place or message to reach this audience most effectively? Which media will best reach our target audience?
• How much should we spend in order to reach this audience in a cost-effective way? What has our client spent in the past? How much do our competitors spend?

Who’s the Audience for Public Relations?

Public relations professionals ask a similar set of questions when they are doing their strategic planning research. Again, these questions apply not just to the audience aspects of the message task but also to the other parts of the information strategy process.

• Defining the problem: Monitor audience knowledge, opinions, attitudes, and behaviors to answer the question, “What is happening now?” among our stakeholder audiences? In our industry or area of activity? Sometimes your goal is to help your client provide good customer service to the audience. Sometimes the goal is to positively affect audience members’ opinions. You need to understand what you are trying to accomplish in order to be successful in reaching the audience with your PR message(s).
• Identifying the stakeholder audiences: Who has an interest in or to whom might the public relations message be addressed? Sometimes you are focusing on a single stakeholder and sometimes you need information for an entire campaign that would address a variety of stakeholder concerns.
• Planning and programming: Use the information gathered to determine what should be done to most effectively reach your stakeholder audiences. What type of message(s) will best address your goals and engage the audience?
• Taking action and communicating: Design a message or program to meet specific objectives by answering the questions: “How do we do it and say it to reach our audiences?” If your goal is to create content that encourages audience members to share (in other words, for them to become your “advocates” through word-of mouth-endorsement), you have to ensure that the content is useful and easy to share.

Summary / Resources

It should be clear that for every type of communication message that this step of generating the questions you need to ask about the audience is very important. The number and variety of questions that might be asked about the audience also indicate the many different ways a communications professional can approach an information and message task. Brainstorming with colleagues and gatekeepers about the nature of the target audience at the start of the information strategy process is an essential step to ensure that you will be able to conduct an efficient and effective search for appropriate information.

Steps To Decoding Your Target Audience, by Jayson DeMers, Forbes, 8/27/13: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/%202013/08/27/6-steps-to-decoding-your-target-audience/ Garreau, J. (1989) The Nine Nations of North America. New York: Avon Books.

Question Analysis: What’s the Topic?

Overview

If you would like to see steam coming out of a research librarian’s ears, just go up and ask a question like, “Do you have anything on the environment?” A trained research librarian will quickly begin a “reference interview” designed to help the person asking that incredibly broad question to narrow and clarify his/her actual information need.

• What part of the environment? Air? Water? Soil? Weather? Plants? Animals?
• Is there a particular issue? Global warming? Pollution? Renewable energy?
• Is there a certain geographic area of interest? North America? Antarctic? Minnesota?
• Why are you seeking the information? Writing a term paper? Checking a specific fact? Just interested in keeping up on the topic?

In this lesson, we will discuss the importance of having that “research interview” with yourself.

What’s the Angle?

[caption id="attachment_186" align="alignleft" width="300"] Black and White Lines and Angles by Lyn Greyling. Source: PublicDomainPictures.net CC0 Public Domain 1.0[/caption] You arrive in your newsroom and the editor stops by to say, “ There’s going to be a decision about the expansion of the light rail line. We need something for the local section.” At the morning strategy meeting for the railroad company client, your strategic communications firm represents the account manager says, “Our client is concerned that people aren’t thinking positively about traveling by train. We need some ideas.” For each of these scenarios, the topic is transportation by rail. But depending on the audience that might be identified as the target for the message, the angle of that broad topic could be very different. Let’s play through scenarios for news and strategic communications.

News Angle

For a local news story, the people that read the section are interested in or concerned about things going on in their community. There could be a number of angles about the light rail line and different questions that could be asked: [caption id="" align="alignright" width="276"] Tramway Strasbourg Broglie by Pontauxchats. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC SA 3.0 Unported. GNU Free Documentation License[/caption]

• Economic: What will be the cost of the line and impact on taxpayers?
• Housing: Will light rail affect property values for nearby homeowners and if so, how?
• Quality of Life: Will construction disrupt current neighborhoods or businesses?
• Public Safety: What has the existing light rail line done to public safety, accidents or crime?

If the story was being written for a business news segment there would be a different set of questions based on the interests and needs of the audience for business news:

• How will construction affect the local economy or employment?
• What businesses might prosper (or be hurt) if the proposal goes through?
• What has happened to businesses on the current line?
• How will the construction contractors be selected?

Depending on the audience's needs, the questions that might be explored about a broad topic like light rail transportation can quickly get quite specific. This specificity helps to narrow the focus of the information you will need to find.

Strategic Communication Angle

In the case of advertising and public relations messages, the target audience and the message's goals will be critical to figuring out the appropriate topic angle. If, for example, the railroad’s communication concern is how to expand the appeal of train travel to people not currently using trains, the questions you might want to ask (and answer) include:

• What methods of transportation are travelers currently choosing other than trains?
• What are the demographics of current train travelers (and what demographics might be ones to be targeted?)
• What reasons do travelers give for their choosing particular traveling modes?

If, on the other hand, the communications' goal is to gain support in the legislature for an expanded train system, key questions that maybe need answers include:

• What are the environmental advantages of train travel over other transportation modes?
• How might an expanded rail system benefit local economies (jobs, commuter travel, health of rural communities?)

Once again, the topic is broadly train travel, but the possible angles to the topic and the questions that must be examined become increasingly specific (and manageable) with some brainstorming.

Key Questions to Answer

Here are some key questions to be answered in this step of the message analysis process: [caption id="attachment_186" align="alignleft" width="300"] Storefront(2012-03-22%2012.29.39) by Mike Linksvayer. Source: Flickr. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] Why has this topic or the need for this message come up? What is the broad topic of interest? What product, service, event or issue at the center? What are the possible “angles” of the topic that could be considered? What must we know about the topic before beginning the information search? Who would know about or have a perspective on the topic? If you can clearly answer these questions, you'll have a solid foundation for building your information strategy. The communications objectives are different for journalists, advertising professionals, and public relations practitioners. So, too, is the information needed for each media professional to accomplish their message goals. Where a journalist may need to become an “instant expert” on a topic they will be covering, for the PR professional it may be more important to understand the prevailing opinions about the topic, and for the advertiser finding information that helps him understand the audience’s interests in the topic to determine the most appropriate “selling proposition” would be key.

Idea Generation

[caption id="attachment_1706" align="alignright" width="300"] Mind-mapping vector 2 by Greg Williams. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] Every message begins with an idea. While it is true that many tasks are assigned by others, the actual creative work of crafting a message still rests on the skill and imagination of the individual doing the information searching and writing (that's you!) One important skill that good communicators develop early in their careers is the ability to understand what it is possible to ask about. Any idea is fair game. Because solid information strategy skills allow you to find answers to just about anything, you are not limited to those questions that can be answered easily and quickly. Advanced methods for finding these answers free you up to ask unusual, different, and perhaps difficult questions. A variety of techniques help you generate ideas for messages. Brainstorming, making idea maps and point-of-view diagrams, keeping a journal or daybook for scribbling notes, and reading everything you can get your hands on are all methods you can use to provide grist for the idea mill. A well-developed sense of curiosity will open you to new ways of looking at the world around you. Common sense and healthy skepticism (not cynicism) keep you grounded. Donald Murray, in Writing for Your Readers (1992), describes the idea-generation techniques of idea mapping and creating point-of-view diagrams for communication professionals. Idea mapping, he explains, is a more creative way of exploring a subject than using traditional subject outlines. The central, broad subject or topic is drawn in a circle in the middle of a page. All of the related ideas that occur to the “mapper” are drawn out along lines that emerge from the center circle. The new lines stemming from the central idea are like branches on a tree, each of which may have more related, narrower ideas that branch out from the ideas derived from the center. In idea development, this technique is not intended to serve as a definitive method of topic outlining, but as a quick and intuitive first step in thinking about possible angles of the topic. You may need to spend no more than five minutes making a map. A point-of-view diagram uses a similar technique. A subject or topic is again drawn in a circle in the middle of a page. Draw as many “arrows” pointing inward—toward the central topic—as you can imagine. The arrows represent the different people or organizations whose points of view on the subject or topic can be tapped. By diagramming the topic in this way, you can generate a variety of perspectives on that idea and even begin to identify possible audiences or interviewees for the message. It is easy in the idea generation stage to fall into the overuse of clichés and stereotypes. It is a challenge finding a fresh, unique perspective for the message on which you are working. One of the best ways of ensuring that you’ll avoid clichés and maintain a fresh perspective is to truly understand all angles or perspectives from which a message topic might be seen. As a journalist dealing with the issue of the U.S. government drilling for oil in the Alaskan wildlife refuge, for instance, you would probably expect widely varying perspectives from an environmentalist, a major oil company executive, the governor of Alaska, from a political science professor at the University of Minnesota, and from a park ranger in Alaska. As an advertising professional for the National Park Service, you might use many of these same sources to understand the topic even though your intent for the information will be quite different than the journalists. For any type of media, however, getting these collective, diverse perspectives will help you to find a fresh approach for addressing this issue.  This will also help you narrow a broad topic to an interesting and manageable sub-topics.

Observation for Idea Generation

You should also consider yourself and your personal observation about what is going on around you as a key source of ideas. Having a “nose for news” generally means that you are tuned in to your surroundings and can gauge when something is “off” or different and worth checking into. For example:

• Noticing the long lines in front of the automatic teller machines, for example, may be the start of a PR effort for your bank client to improve customer service
• Observing that a waterfront is eroding from the massive number of people who jog by the lake shore can lead to a series of news articles on conflicts between the goals of recreation and preservation in park systems.
• Seeing “teachers wanted” classified ads may signal the education reporter that a decade of teacher layoffs is ending.
• Standing in the grocery checkout line behind teenage shoppers can alert the advertising researcher to do further study on which family members purchase the groceries.

Keeping your eyes open, being curious about what is going on around you, listening in to what people are talking about - all of these are ways that you can generate new ideas or develop fresh angles on a topic. Bus stop posters, bumper stickers, bulletin board copy, T-shirt messages, and other informal messages visible in every community (and in digital sites like Pinterest) can also trigger ideas or perspectives for the more formal part of the information strategy. If you are in charge of an advertising account for a shoe manufacturer, being attuned to what people are wearing in different situations might give you an idea for an interesting approach to take in an ad campaign. If you are writing about light rail issues, attending meetings where community members express their concerns will give you tips on aspects of the topic that you need to research more deeply. Communicators need to keep their eyes open to these informal information sources. They can provide clues about changing public opinion, lifestyles and attitudes in an area – and can signal emerging trends.

Types of Observation: Routine

Routine observation is the most frequently used type of observation. It is “routine” in that it involves simply going to the scene of the action and observing. Professionals in all fields of mass communication perform these routine observations. The things that you might see and hear can spur new ideas.

Quick Brainstorming:

You are walking through campus one evening and see that every third street light is out. If you were a reporter for the Daily, what kind of questions might you ask as a result of this observation? If you worked for the University’s public relations office, what kind of questions might you ask? If you were developing an advertising campaign for the “Campus Escort” service, what ideas might this trigger?

Types of Observation: Participant

Participant observation involves joining or living with a group and becoming a part of the action. Members of the group being observed -- for instance, prison inmates -- may or may not know the observer's true identity, but he or she is seen as being part of the group. This method of observation is common in sociological and anthropological research, as well as in communication research. It allows the information gatherer to get direct experience and to reduce reliance on the expertise or testimony of others. In becoming part of the "scene," the observer begins to understand it as an insider and come up with ideas that might need to be explored. [caption id="attachment_1057" align="alignleft" width="206"] Nellie Bly bids fairwell by Library of Congress. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] Nellie Bly was an early proponent of participant observation as a way to get an enterprising news report.  She arranged to have herself declared mentally incompetent in order to be committed to a mental hospital so that she could see, first-hand, the conditions in which mental patients lived. Participant observation is an expensive technique, requiring a substantial amount of time in the field. It is also fraught with ethical and legal issues. Members of ABC News' Prime Time Live got jobs in several Food Lion supermarkets in order to place hidden cameras and capture video of employees re-dating the expiration labels on old meat and, in some cases, repackaging the meat to be sold as fresh. The report resulted in a lawsuit against ABC and in a jury verdict that awarded Food Lion $5.5 million in damages. The television network eventually prevailed in having the verdict overturned, but not until it had spent millions in legal fees. (Barringer) This is why it is important to consider the ethical and legal implications of the techniques you employ in researching as we will discuss in Lesson 7.

Types of Observation: Unobtrusive

[caption id="attachment_1060" align="alignright" width="240"] Spy Cam Surveillance... by Mike Mozart. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] In some circumstances, unobtrusive observation may be more effective than participant observation, especially if the observer's presence will change the situation under observation. Hidden camera investigations have traditionally been one of the most obvious types of unobtrusive observation examples. After careful deliberation within the news organization about the ethical and legal ramifications of using a hidden camera, a journalist may use unobtrusive observation techniques that capture activities or conversations. Investigative reports may rely on such observation techniques as a way to document improper behavior or malfeasance. Unobtrusive observation techniques also are used by advertising professionals. A very large Chicago agency had an ongoing research project in a town of 8,000 to 12,000 about 150 miles from Chicago. Advertising researchers visited the town on a regular basis and politely listened in on conversations in coffee shops and churches, hairdressers' shops, and taverns. The agency professionals were trying to learn what is important to average folks, what occupies their hearts and minds. In the process, they thought they would gain clues as to why people don't always follow cooking directions for frozen pizzas, or what they really think about prunes. The advertising professionals learned to prepare themselves well for their visits. One agency employee's too-hip hairdo marked her as an outsider in her observer role, while another employee learned that driving a pickup truck rather than his Audi to town would help him blend into his observation environment. (Stern) A more recent version of this type of observation involves ad agency personnel asking consumers to take video cameras into their homes to record their every-day activities in the kitchen, while cleaning the house, and other typical household behavior. The idea is to learn more about how consumers use products in their day-to-day lives rather than in the artificial environment of a focus group room or a mock living room set up in a research lab. Viewing videos posted by consumers on YouTube as they talk about how they use various products, along with their opinions about them, would be another way of conducting an unobtrusive observation.

Types of Observation: Social Listening

[caption id="attachment_1064" align="alignleft" width="300"] Social Media apps by Jason Howie. Source: Flickr:CC BY 2.0[/caption] The rise in social media has provided communicators with another excellent technique for using unobtrusive observation for idea generation. Reading over the comments on a Facebook page for a group of fans, or the user comments on a news story on a topic might give you an idea for a fresh approach to covering a story or an issue that you had not even considered. For public relations professionals, social listening can lead to important insights on issues that might be brewing.  "Sentiment analysis" (also referred to as "opinion mining") is one of the emerging skills required for savvy PR practitioners.  It requires consistent attention to the online opinions and reactions in different social media platforms.  While there are sophisticated tools to analyze large numbers of postings, even routine scanning can give you ideas for themes or trends that might require attention. Advertising professionals can use the comments in social spaces to learn more about positive, or negative, opinions there might be about a product (or about the competition.)  These comments can provide fodder for ad copy or inspire a new direction for a campaign.

Narrowing the Focus

These techniques of idea mapping and observation can help you think expansively about the potential aspects of a topic but no one, especially not a busy reporter or strategic communicator juggling multiple clients’ demands, can address all of those aspects. What is needed now is a way to narrow the focus. The following set of questions can help you identify and define a more specific aspect of a topic on which to focus.

• What disciplines of knowledge might deal with this topic - and what would their focus be? To understand “disciplines of knowledge,” think about the departments that offer majors on a university campus -- economics, political science, biology, etc.
• What parts of the city / state / country / world are dealing with this - or how are they dealing with it differently?
• Is this a new topic? How has it evolved over time? Where might it be going in the future?
• What kind of groups have a stake in this topic and what are their positions?

Once all of these questions have been posted, you are in a position to focus selectively on some aspects of the larger question and develop an exacting standard for raising questions and seeking information to address your information needs. Going through this routine frequently allows you to revise or refine the question, making your information-seeking tasks much more manageable. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="419"] Focus by Mark Hunter. Source: Flickr:CC BY 2.0[/caption] For example, if the broad topic is, “homelessness” the formula for focusing the topic might work this way: Disciplines: Economics, sociology, urban planning, and psychology are a few of the disciplines that might provide insight - each would have a specific aspect on which they focus - and their disciplinary focus might inform your own. Geographic limits: Although homelessness exists throughout the U.S., how the condition is understood and approached varies from community to community and from state to state. In one area concerns about immigration policy might be big while in another it might be how to help the homeless during cold winter weather. Time period limits: Much of mass communication work emphasizes recency. Therefore, the newest information is likely to be stressed. However, trends in homelessness over time (particularly the last decade or so) will surely help put the problem into a historical context. And some types of messages would benefit from an overview of how homelessness has been handled throughout many decades since this is a problem that has been with us for a very long time. Stakeholders: Academics, politicians, social workers, activists and advocates for the homeless have entirely different ways of approaching the issue and defining the problem. The homeless themselves are certainly another stakeholder and one that isn’t often featured in messages about the problem.

Conventional Wisdom

[caption id="attachment_1069" align="alignleft" width="384"] Intelligence and Questioning... by Digital Ralph. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] For reasons of time savings, you often concentrate on obvious or simple approaches to a message. But this may lead to a message that does nothing more than conveying the conventional wisdom in an area, failing to provide the audience with a more creative, original, or, perhaps, accurate approach. The information strategy process provides you with a method for identifying fresh angles or new twists on a topic. One of the advantages of using idea-mapping and point-of-view diagrams is that they help you identify what we think we know about a topic and to challenge yourself to come up with a fresh approach to the topic. The media are often accused of being trapped by conventional wisdom. In order to get beyond the conventional wisdom, it is first necessary to understand what it is. Conventional wisdom usually contains a grain of truth. It is different than faith, blind prejudice, or stereotypes. The essential elements of conventional wisdom about any topic can usually be demonstrated in some sense. For example: conventional wisdom says that cats are difficult to train, Midwestern universities have good hockey teams, and women are good listeners. Each of these is based on some socially-arrived-at assumptions about reality. Conventional wisdom abounds in every field and for every topic. Advertisers and marketers operated under the assumption that women generally were not big purchasers and users of technology until a study done for a women's magazine showed that 65 percent of the women surveyed had purchased a personal computer for home use in the previous two years. And 53 percent of those surveyed said that advertising for computer-related products did not appeal to them because it was aimed at men. Advertisers trapped by the conventional wisdom about who purchases products and services lose opportunities to create messages with a fresh, new and effective appeal.

Conclusion/Endnotes

One of the most important skills communicators can develop is a method for quickly and creatively analyzing potential angles or aspects of a given message topic. But that is just the first step. Just as important is learning how to focus, out of all the possible angles, on the one aspect of the topic that best matches the audience's needs and the communication objectives. As with all skills practice, open-mindedness, and curiosity will serve you well as you develop these skill sets.

Endnotes

Barringer, F. (1999, October 21). Appeals Court Rejects Damages Against ABC in Food Lion Case. New York Times.

Murray, D. (1992) Writing for Your Readers: Notes on the Writer's Craft from the Boston Globe. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 2 ed.

Stern, A. (1991, April 29). Ad Agency Seeks Small-town Guide to Consumer Taste. Star Tribune, 3D.

Question Analysis: Who Contributes Information?

Overview

Continuing with the archery analogy from, when you are deciding the best way to hit your target, you need to choose the appropriate type of arrow. Good archers understand that some arrows are made of carbon and are very light but shatter easily; aluminum arrows break less easily and are stiffer; wooden arrows use feathers rather than plastic for the vanes at the back end and should not be used with high-power bows. Each arrow type is chosen for its characteristics and the type of target the archer is trying to hit. Similarly, there are many different possible contributors to an information search for a message task. One of the key analysis tasks at the start of your information strategy process is to brainstorm the possible contributors that might meet your information needs. This lesson will outline the types of contributors that are useful for communications professionals, how and why they create the information they create, and some of the types of message tasks they can help you accomplish.

Where Information Comes From: An Overview of Contributors

Whether you are seeking a specific fact, a good anecdote to illustrate your story, background information about the product or service you are advertising, or promotional or persuasive publications to understand different points of view, you will need to know how to find, and use, the information provided by public-sector and private-sector institutional sources, scholarly sources, journalistic sources, and informal sources.

Understanding how, and why,  each of these types of sources creates information is one of the most important skills you will need as you start your information strategy.

Institutional Sources

An institution, broadly defined, is “an organization, establishment, foundation, society, or the like, devoted to the promotion of a particular cause, product, or program.[footnote]http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/organization[/footnote]” You can see that this is a catchall term that can cover all kinds of contributors. Therefore, it helps to break this large category into two very different kinds of institutions: Public and Private. The corner drug store is in the private sector, while the police precinct station next door is in the public sector. The elementary school maintained with tax revenues is part of the public sector, while the church-affiliated school is in the private sector.

These lines are hardly neat, however. Almost all private colleges, for instance, enroll students whose financial support comes partly from state and federal sources. Most corporations are in the private sector, but some operate with charters from the federal government, such as Amtrak (rail service) or the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Institutions in both the public sector (governments at all levels) and the private sector (businesses, political organizations, trade and industry associations, foundations, religious organizations, unions and professional associations, etc.) generate information for a number of purposes. You must recognize that institutions develop information for their own internal purposes and may be disclosed to you selectively and with a specific purpose in mind. Organizations as different from one another as the U.S. Department of Defense and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom share this characteristic. Let’s discuss the distinctions between the types of institutional sources and describe how and why they create and contribute information of use to researchers.

Public Sector Institutions

[caption id="attachment_1729" align="alignleft" width="300"] Capitol Building Architecture Usa by Jens Junge. Source: pixabay. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] Public institutions are, essentially, all of the agencies, offices, and other entities that constitute local, state and federal governments. These organizations are funded by tax dollars and operate in the service of the citizens that pay those taxes. The information they generate comes from the work they are charged with performing. The output of agencies that regulate particular industries might include databases of licenses issued, rules and regulations for the operation of an organization, analyses of business conditions, censuses of operations. The output of agencies that monitor the environment, or transportation, for example, would be reports and studies and statistics that track current conditions or make projections.

Organization of Public-Sector Institutions

One way to picture the complex organization of public-sector institutions that generate information is to visualize the information as it is presented below.

Table of Public-Sector Institutions

Branch	Local	State	National
Legislative	City Council	Legislature	Congress
Judicial	Municipal Courts	State Courts	Federal Courts
Executive	Mayor	Governor	President

Private Sector Institutions

Each level and each branch of government generates information. The information sources are so voluminous that it would require a book for each of the branches to discuss comprehensively the material available at each level and in each branch, and the tools to locate that material. The important thing for you as a communications professional is to understand that each level of government generates information that is likely to be important for most messages you will work on and that there are efficient and effective ways to locate that information if you know how and where it is generated. Private-sector institutions are funded by revenues made from the sale of products or services, through investment by stockholders, or through donations. There are two types of private-sector institutions: for-profit and non-profit. Under for-profit institutions, there are two types: Publicly-held and privately-held. The distinction is important because different types require different kinds of reporting of information.

For-profit private-sector institutions:

[caption id="attachment_965" align="alignleft" width="300"] McDonald's Corporation is one of the most... by Astros4477. Source: Wikipedia"-CC BY 2.0[/caption] By definition, a for-profit institution “is a corporation that is intended to operate a business which will return a profit to the owners.[footnote]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation[/footnote]” There can be two types of for-profit private-sector institutions: publicly-held and privately-held. The distinction between the two is that the publicly-held corporation sells stock in the company - the public, therefore, can essentially be “co-owners.” Privately-held corporations do not sell stock; all of the company’s assets are in private hands. For-profit private-sector institutions generate multiple types of information in support of the running of the business, to promote their products, or as required by the government. The required documentation for government differs from publicly-held corporations requiring more reporting than privately-held corporations (this is due to the government’s interest in protecting citizen’s investment in companies.) Unlike public-sector institutions where some neutrality of position is expected, private-sector institutions may be more agenda-driven since their information is generated to support their product, organizational goals or policy line. Much of what private-sector institutions produce is for their internal use only, but some are created for use both inside and outside of the institution. Non-profit private-sector institutions   [caption id="attachment_966" align="alignright" width="300"] United Way of Dane County, Madison by Channel 3000 Communities. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] Non-profit private-sector institutions differ from the for-profit in their ultimate objective. The for-profit’s goal is to generate revenue through the sales of goods and services. The non-profit’s goal is to influence, persuade, or receive support for a cause. They generate donations that support the efforts of the organization but that funding is invested back into the organization, not as revenue that delivers income to “owners.” Non-profits are organizations like associations, churches, fraternal organizations, and other groups that have a focused set of activities that support the interests or concerns of the organization. In both for- and non-profit private-sector institutions, information is generated and used for different purposes: some because law requires they make the information available, some to promote the organization, some to satisfy the organizational mission to inform the public or stakeholders about an issue or topic, some to support the network of members of the organization. The information may be available in databases of statistics, on institutional websites, as part of media kits prepared by the public relations department, in directories or annual reports, and in many other formats. Private-sector institutions generate both public and private records about their own activities. Private information created by both for-profit and non-profit private-sector institutions is intended for use by the company or organization and can be difficult to obtain by someone outside the institution. These can include:

• internal correspondence
• proprietary product recipes or unique manufacturing processes (for profit)
• marketing research about their customers or constituencies
• business plans for product line expansions (for-profit) or service expansions (non-profit)

But other records generated by private-sector institutions are public and more easily obtained. These can include:

• Public financial disclosure documents if they sell stock to shareholders or operate as a non-profit institution with tax exemption
• Compliance documents if they operate in an environment that requires licenses or regulatory oversight
• Information verifying compliance with tax laws, social security contributions, worker’s compensation payments for employees
• Evidence they are complying with federal and international trade and commerce laws and regulations if they operate overseas

You have legal and legitimate access to much more information from private-sector institutions and through public records than you would likely ever think to request. In fact, the potential problems involved in seeking information about for-profit and non-profit institutions is not the chance that your requests might be denied but, rather, that you will be overwhelmed by the quantity and complexity of it all. You can reasonably expect for-profit and non-profit institutions to be reliable, accurate and complete in their information-producing and -disseminating functions. But you should not expect the information to be neutral in respect to social values and social structures. Nor should you expect that institutions will remain static as laws change and as social values and structure evolve. Rather, you should recognize that when you use information from these institutional sources, you have to decode the biases, assumptions and vested interests inherent in the information.

Scholarly Sources

Another major category of information sources is scholarly information produced by subject experts working in academic institutions, research centers, and scholarly organizations. Scholars generate information that advances our knowledge and understanding of the world. The research they do creates new opportunities for inventions, practical applications, and new approaches to solving problems or understand issues. [caption id="attachment_969" align="alignleft" width="434"] Google Scholar by AJC1. Source: Flickr. CC BY-SA 2.0[/caption] Scholars introduce their discoveries to the world in a formal system of information dissemination that has developed over centuries. Because scholarly research undergoes a process of “peer review” before being published (meaning that other experts review the work and pass judgment about whether it is worthy of publication), you can be assured that the information you find from scholarly sources has met the standards for accuracy, credibility, and validity in that field. Academics, researchers, and students at universities make their contributions to scholarly knowledge available in many forms:

• masters’ theses
• doctoral dissertations
• conference papers
• academic reports
• scholarly journals
• books
• individual scholars’ web pages
• web pages developed by the scholars’ home institution

All serve the purpose of publishing and distributing the new knowledge gleaned from the research efforts of these scholars. Journals that publish scholarly contributions are different than the journals that might be published by an institution such as a think tank or by a media organization. Scholarly journals have a board of editors and a panel of peer reviewers who will determine whether the submitted material has sufficient merit to be published. Materials from scholarly sources are usually found most readily in libraries with large collections of scholarly journals and books. Some scholarly materials can be located in the sponsoring institution’s library. For example, a dissertation written by a University of Texas student would be available at the University of Texas library. There are now “digital only” scholarly publications that uphold the same rigorous peer review and high academic standards as their printed predecessors. An example is the Journal of Interactive Advertising. Research projects and papers of professors, doctoral students and researchers can be found on university websites. In some cases, institutional sources – such as associations – will make compilations of scholarly papers available, like the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s database of AEJMC conference papers. The supporting datasets used to analyze the research are rarely available online, but the clever communicator will know that the database must exist and that the scholar will be the source they need to contact to find out about it. Since one of the tenets of scholarly research is replicability, scholars have an interest in making their data available. Making distinctions between types of disciplines may help you determine the types of scholarly information sources that are most useful for your purposes. The clearest distinction is between the sciences and the humanities. The scientist and the humanist use different sorts of research methods and study different phenomena. They publish their findings in forms that are characteristic of their disciplines and make these documents available through a variety of tools. Scientists seek experimental validity by studying the natural world and examining the regularities or irregularities that seem to govern natural phenomena. Their methods must be open to scrutiny and, in the best of circumstances, must be reproducible by others following the same procedures. Experimental validity, rather than an individual interpretation of events or phenomena, is paramount. Immediacy in sharing results is very important for professionals in the scientific fields, so scientists rely on the research report and journal article. The humanist’s method is shaped for interpretive validity; that is, the humanist tries to interpret a poem, a painting, a novel or a musical score by presenting an interpretation that will be considered valid. Humanists study the products of human imagination and combine a personal, unique perspective with the framework of accepted concepts and knowledge that their discipline provides. Humanists rely on books as the primary method of expressing their knowledge of a field because the book allows the in-depth exploration of context that characterizes humanistic investigation. Social and policy scientists rely on a combination of experimental and interpretive methods. They have adopted the scientific method for much of their work and exhibit the same concern for openness and validity exhibited by scientists. However, because the subject of much of their study is a human social activity, social scientists work interpretively as well. For the most part, they are concerned with the present and with the implications of their work in social organizations and in public decision making. Social and policy scientists publish their findings in a number of forms. Journals are important, but research reviews, yearbooks and handbooks are also valuable. While it is easy to understand why it is important for scholars to share their work among themselves, why would scholars want to share their information with you as a communications professional? For one thing, scholars are as eager as anyone else to have their work recognized and appreciated. Taking a call from a reporter or public relations specialist seeking the most reliable “expert” on a particular subject is an ego-boost for the scholar who is used to toiling in relative anonymity in the quiet of the academic or research center environment. Another motivation for scholars to talk to you is that they might be conducting their work with the help of a grant or financial backing from a foundation or research organization that would appreciate the wider distribution of the findings and a larger public audience for the organization’s work. In fact, it is your job as a communications professional to ask scholars who is supporting their work financially. It is not unusual for scholars to have grants from large companies (pharmaceutical companies, for instance) or government agencies (the U.S. Defense Department, for instance), and the work they do may reflect the interests or priorities of the funding source. Scholars typically must reveal their funding sources in manuscripts they submit to journals for peer review so the experts reviewing the work know who “paid the piper” and who may be “calling the tune.” This is not to disparage the independence of scholars who work with grant funding but rather to alert you, the information seeker, to ask for full disclosure about the nature of the funding of the scholarly work you intend to use in your research. Bias comes in many different forms and even if a funding source is a reputable governmental organization such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), you should acknowledge that the agenda and interests of this organization are important for understanding the perspective of that research. Much of the work you do as a communications professional requires you to range across many disciplines of knowledge and skim across many fields of expertise. That usually means that you will not, as the media professional, become an “expert” in any one subject area. You must rely on scholars to help you accurately interpret information for your audience. You seek the help of scholarly sources to identify emerging social or scientific trends, to decipher specialist information or jargon that you cannot understand, to comment on the work of other scholars, to critique institutional policies or procedures, and for a wide variety of other purposes. The main use of scholarly sources in mass communication messages is as a source of expertise and knowledge about audiences, subject matter, or effects of messages. As you move through the information strategy process, you will begin to identify the individual scholars and/or the scholarly publications or resources that are most appropriate for your message task. For instance, if you are working on the advertising account for a new type of low-fat snack food, your initial discussions about the product with the client may direct you to several researchers whose work documents the dietary effects of the new food. If you are writing a news story about the possible effects of a new government-imposed tariff on imported steel, you are likely to want to discuss the policy with economics scholars who study trade policy whose names you find in the transcripts of testimony before Congress about the policy. If you are preparing the news release about the introduction of curtain airbags in next year’s models, your supervisor may ask you to seek the expertise of a scholar studying the effects of the new devices on the injury rate in auto accidents. In every case, the scholarly source is intended to provide credibility, depth, balance and/or expertise to your message. Rather than asking your audience to trust that you, the communicator, just happened to get it right, you seek the help of scholarly sources to ensure that audiences are receiving complete, accurate, and fair information in their news stories, advertisements and public relations messages. If you choose your scholarly sources carefully and with attention to their credentials, expertise and relevance for your topic, you are likely to produce a much more reliable and credible message for your audience. We will go into more detail about locating and using scholarly sources in later lessons.

Journalistic Sources

Another major category of information sources is journalistic materials produced for a general audience and distributed through popular media (newspapers, magazines, radio, television, Web sites, etc.). Journalistic sources also include industry-specific news sources such as PRWeek, Advertising Age, or Editor & Publisher magazine—we will commonly refer to these specialized business-oriented sources as trade publications. Much of the work that media professionals do relies on the previous journalistic work in that area. The basic rule to “check the clips” before starting on any information task applies to newsrooms of all types. Advertising libraries maintain “tear sheet” files of ad examples from magazines and newspapers in a myriad of product and service categories so ad professionals have some idea about how a particular item has been advertised before launching off on a new campaign. Public relations professionals are judged, in part, by the coverage their clients receive in the popular media and therefore use a variety of means to document where their news releases were published in media outlets. [caption id="attachment_972" align="alignleft" width="425"] Press Conference - Sunita Lyn Williams by Biswarup Ganguly. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 3.0 Unported[/caption] News media moved to the digital production of their newsprint products more than thirty-five years ago. News organizations, with rare exceptions, now have a digital version of their print, television or radio counterpart available on the Web. And in the last decade, many digital-only news publications have been created. What this means for the communicator is unprecedented access to the news coverage from journalistic organizations around the world. Many news sites will give access not only to current stories but to the archive of previously published stories. Sometimes free, sometimes for a fee, these archives will be important resources to communicators needing background on a topic or event. Often, news sites will make the databases of statistics they have used to report a story available. The “computability” of the digital space allows the user of a news database to find the crime statistics, or school test scores, for example, for the specific area they are interested in. Many journalistic organizations are making interactive, digital versions of their publications available in addition to their print versions, so you can see all the articles and ads as they appeared in the print publication. This is of particular interest to strategic communicators who need to track the placement and play of stories and ads. As potential contributors to your information search, journalistic sources might be helpful in generating ideas for your news message (how have others written about this and what could we choose as a new “angle”), identifying possible problems or crises you might need to address with your PR messages (a news report identifies falling public confidence in your client organization) or suggesting an opportunity for a new ad approach (a news report might document that more women are doing home repairs so your client home improvement store should target women). Depending on the context of the information request you present them, you will get different kinds of information from journalists as interviewees. If the media organization itself is the focus of the research, the information you will get is likely to be the “party line” of the organization.  If you are tapping one of the employees of a media organization about a story they have written, you are likely to get more of a personal view of what went on in the crafting of that message. If you are seen as any kind of competitor, you are unlikely to get any information at all. The products of journalistic organizations are messages and if the journalist believes you are going after the same sort of message, that reporter won’t be a very willing contributor.

Informal Sources

[caption id="attachment_982" align="alignleft" width="448"] Just a face in the crowd by Scott Cresswell. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] Getting started on a new subject and grounding the information in “reality” are just two challenges you’ll face early in the information strategy. The best route to meet both of these challenges can be consulting people informally and observing the world around you. When describing how informal sources might be helpful, we are talking about what people know, feel, and believe in their life experiences. A person you might consult as an informal source might also be an institutional, scholarly, or journalistic source in another context – one in which the information you are trying to get from them is related to their work. [caption id="attachment_983" align="alignright" width="457"] Social listening for innovation by Laura Dinneen - Source: Flickr - CC BY-NC 2.0[/caption] Monitoring online forums, chat rooms and social networking sites has become a routine part of a communicator’s daily work routine. These sites allow individuals to share what is sometimes a disconcerting amount of personal information about their lives, interests, activities, acquaintances and future plans. Social networking sites as sources of information from informal contributors provide the communicator with a rich vein of material that was once non-existent or nearly impossible to tap. The ability to find information sources and "listen in" on what they are talking about has been greatly enhanced with the rise of social networks and microblogging services like Twitter. A challenge, though, is identifying those messages truly contributed by unaffiliated people and messages that look like they are from "informal" sources but which are actually marketing-sponsored messages. Even at their best, informal sources provide just a portion of the information that is needed for a message. Informal sources may be incomplete, outdated, self-serving or contain errors of fact or interpretation. They are most likely to provide you with a “slice of life” perspective rather than an informed, credible perspective that other types of sources might provide.

Disciplines of Knowledge

Another major aspect of identifying possible contributors involves drawing the boundaries for the information strategy. It is never possible to examine an idea in its entirety. You have to carve out a manageable portion of an idea if you are going to make your deadline and do a credible job with the message. When drawing these boundaries for the strategy, it helps to think about how and where information is produced. For this, you need to identify the disciplines of knowledge production in a subject area. The information does not exist in the environment like some kind of raw material. It is produced by individuals who work within a particular field of knowledge [caption id="attachment_986" align="alignright" width="300"] By geralt. Source: pixabay. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] and who use specific methods for generating new information. Disciplines are knowledge-producing and -disseminating systems. Looking through a college course catalog gives clues to discipline structure. Fields such as political science, biology, history and mathematics are unique disciplines with their own logic for how and where new knowledge is introduced and made accessible. You must become comfortable with identifying the disciplines that might contribute information to any strategy. You must learn how to:

• move seamlessly from one discipline to another during your strategy
• compare and evaluate information that comes from a variety of perspectives and knowledge systems
• decode the way people talk about a topic within a discipline

For example, think about the disciplines that might contribute information to a search on the topic of the role of sports in society. Try to anticipate the type of perspective each discipline might have on the topic. Consider the following types of questions as you examine what different disciplines might contribute:

• What is important about the topic to the people in that discipline?
• What is most likely to be the focus of their study about the topic?
• What perspective would they be likely to have on the topic?

We might identify three disciplines that have something to say about the role of sports in society: medicine, sociology, and economics. What would each of these disciplines raise as key questions or issues related to that topic?

• Medical scientists
  • how sports affect individuals' health and well-being
  • sports injuries
  • physical conditioning for those who take part in sports
  • life-expectancy for those who regularly exercise

• Sociologists
  • how sports affect social relationships
  • how society treats its sports heroes
  • how young people are socialized into the idea of team cooperation
  • differences between boys and girls and their participation in organized sports

• Economists
  • financial aspects of sports
  • the kinds of economic contribution a major-league sports franchise makes to a city
  • public financing for building new sports facilities when a team threatens to leave
  • management-labor relations represented by negotiations in major league sports contracts

So we see that a single topic can be approached from many different perspectives depending on how the disciplinary boundaries are drawn and how the topic is framed. This step of the information strategy process requires you to make some decisions early on in order to focus the topic on a manageable and appropriate scope for the rest of the strategy.

The Library as a Contributor

[caption id="attachment_989" align="alignleft" width="300"] P1000583 by Mike Linksvayer. Source: Flickr: CC0 Public Domain 1.0.[/caption] For all that it offers in the information gathering process, the most essential resource for information from all types of contributors is the library. Libraries can be affiliated with a particular contributor type or they can be totally independent entities that contain information from different kinds of contributors. Libraries are storehouses of recorded knowledge in print, digital, and other formats. But with all of the digitally stored and accessible information available from any computer with access to the Internet, it may not be easy to see why you would need to use the resources of a library at all. The main reason why libraries continue to be major contributors to the communicator’s information process is that library material has been organized, indexed, and coherently arranged for ease of use. Despite the best attempts of the creators of some of the best digital services, most still lack even the more rudimentary organization schemes and retrieval systems that have been in use in libraries for centuries. Quality control is an even worse problem for some digital services. Libraries continue to be among the few information repositories that clearly organize their collections and allow for evaluation of the relative quality and usefulness of almost everything retrieved. Libraries are set up to preserve, collect, and make accessible recorded intellectual products. Most libraries have

• a catalog that lists the contents of their collections
• both book collections and periodical / magazine collections
• the tools (indexes, abstracts, bibliographies) to help searchers find what they need in the collections
• access to the Internet
• access to electronic databases of information
• the most important resource of all - the librarian or archivist - the person who knows the most about the collection and about how best to use it

It is especially important when you are working under a deadline and need accurate, appropriate, and verifiable information to understand how libraries differ from one another and how those differences affect the information strategy. Especially for freelance communicators and for those working in organizations without an in-house library, it is useful to know about the kinds of libraries that may be available in the community. There are five types of libraries that are important for communicators: public libraries, academic libraries, special libraries, archives, and media-organization libraries.

Types of Libraries: Public

Public libraries exist to serve a very special function. The need for an informed electorate is considered so important that residents are willing to tax themselves to make libraries available to the entire community. [caption id="attachment_992" align="alignright" width="300"] Madison Public Library interior by John Benson. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.0[/caption] Many public library collections reflect the history and makeup of the neighborhoods in which they are situated. They may include materials in the languages of the most dominant ethnic groups of that section of the city. The materials you will find in the public library reflect this community mission. The collection reflects the library’s attempt to meet the recreational and day-to-day informational needs of the general public. Most public libraries are not equipped to handle in-depth or technical research projects or questions but it might well be the best source for in-depth and retrospective information about the community: telephone books and city directories, electoral-district maps, photographs of city landmarks over the years, and other community-related material. At the start of your information strategy process, you might determine that it is crucial for you to have locally-relevant information about your topic, your community or your audience. In that case, some of the resources available from a public library might be good contributors to your process.

Types of Libraries: Academic

[caption id="attachment_995" align="alignleft" width="300"] Library by TaraRoss7 Source: Flickr. CC0 Public Domain 1.0[/caption] Academic libraries serve a very different function from the other types of libraries. These collections exist to support the teaching and research needs of the scholars, students, and researchers of the institution with which they are affiliated. Large academic libraries collect scholarly materials published in many languages and from all over the world. Even small academic libraries reflect the teaching mission of the institution. Specialized, technical, detailed materials are the norm in most academic collections of any size. Unlike the use of public libraries, the use of academic library collections may be restricted to some extent. You may have to apply for a special privilege card or pay a fee in order to gain access to the online catalog and check out materials, or you may only be able to use materials if you go in-person to the library. In extreme instances, unauthorized users may not even be able to enter the building. However, if the topic you are researching is of a national or international nature, if it involves specialized or technical subject areas, or if it is likely to cover controversial ideas, then an academic library collection is probably one of the best places to look. In addition, if you have been a student at a university and are an alumni society member, it is likely that you have free access to that library system and to a network of materials from other academic libraries as well.

Types of Libraries: Special

The term special refers to a broad category of various kinds of libraries. The collection, the clientele, or both may be special. For instance, most companies have some kind of library or information center that houses books, journals, documents, and materials relevant to that industry. Historical societies usually have libraries. Museums have libraries geared toward the subject matter of the museum collection. The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. is a special library in the sense that it collects books and materials by and about Shakespeare. Insurance companies, law firms, churches, hospitals, oil companies, and banking institutions are other kinds of places where a special library might be located. The Special Libraries Association has 26 different divisions of special librarians in its membership. You may want to use these special libraries for the kinds of unique materials they make available. For instance, if you are involved with an advertising campaign for a brand of beer, you may wish to use the library collection at the brewery in order to get an understanding of the history of the company and the nature of past campaigns. If the information is not proprietary (that is, held by the company to be private because it involves trade secrets or financial information), you may want to look for clues about the unique brewing process or chemistry that sets that brand of beer apart from its competitors. Special library collections may or may not be open to the public because corporate secrets are often housed alongside the usual industry or company information. The best rule of thumb is to check the website and call ahead as the hours and visiting policies are likely to differ from collection to collection.

Types of Libraries: Archives

Archives differ from libraries in mission and operation. Whereas libraries have a selective collection development policy, archives attempt to be a comprehensive collection of a business, organization or social movement. An archive is responsible for keeping a permanent record of the history, transactions, and operations of whatever it is that is being archived and thus, the materials in an archive usually do not circulate. There are governmental archives responsible for keeping the permanent record of that organization or branch. The National Archives in Washington, D.C., for example, maintains treaties, maps, photographs, motion pictures, sound recordings, correspondence files, and other documentation of the operations of the administrative branch of the federal government. Corporations and businesses house archives that serve both a public relations function and provide historically accurate information about the company and clients. For instance, the Coca-Cola archive includes such materials as original Coke bottles, print and broadcast ads, drugstore signs, decal-covered serving trays, and other Coke-related paraphernalia. The manager of the archive is called upon regularly by the legal department to produce documentation to protect the Coca-Cola trademark. At the start of your information strategy process, you may determine that it is crucial for you to gather information about the history or operation of the organization or business you are reporting on or for whom you are preparing a strategic communications message. That organization’s archive is the place to start.

Types of Libraries: Media

The libraries supported by media organizations are types of special libraries. Both the materials and the clientele are unusual. As the likely first stop for the communicator during the early stage of the information search, media libraries are crucially important. Many media organizations – whether in the business of producing a newspaper, a national magazine, a local television news broadcast, advertising campaigns, or public relations materials – have some sort of library collection or research function. The in-house library of a newspaper office may have a small, current collection of major reference tools (dictionaries, directories, almanacs), may subscribe to a handful of magazines and journals, may have access to online database services, and most likely is staffed by a professional librarian. But by far the most important resource, in the opinion of the newspaper staff, is the backfiles of the newspaper itself. Today, every large-circulation newspaper has its content stored and searchable through a digital library system. With the growth of online news publications, the challenge of reconciling the archive of the print edition of the newspaper and the digital version of the newspaper has grown and often news organizations will have two separate and not entirely equal database representations of news products they create. Broadcast news libraries may not have as many of the print and digital reference tools found in a newspaper or magazine library, but they do have a major resource for their employees – the archive of tapes or digital files of previous broadcasts. When you see file footage flashed on the screen during a television news report, you are seeing one use of this archive of materials. Broadcast news organizations keep archives of their own broadcasts, but journalists also have access to Web-based archives of streaming audio/video files through services such as those provided by the Vanderbilt Television News Archive. Current clips can sometimes be found using YouTube, Google News or Yahoo! News. Strategic communications agency libraries are designed to meet the information needs of communicators creating the ads or news releases, preparing the media kits, conducting market research, studying audiences or clients, and developing “new business pitches.” The library for an advertising agency or department, for instance, may include tear sheets, pages ripped out of magazines and newspapers that serve as examples of ads for particular products or services. The library may have files of pictures and photos so artists have examples if they need to draw a cheetah or a cricket bat. The library has industry and trade information so communicators can do background research on potential and current clients and their products and services. And these libraries have all of the specialized market and audience research tools that help determine the message context. A public relations agency library will subscribe to the important media tracking services and provide access to the databases and digital services that help the PR professionals follow news about their clients. Media organization libraries, then, serve a special function. Those creating messages must have at their fingertips examples of the own organizations’ output; materials produced by other communicators around the country or the world; information about the industries, products and audiences for whom messages are produced; and general fact-finding sources for quick reference.

The Library in the Process

As we’ve indicated, the library houses information from all contributors – public-sector institutional, private-sector institutional, scholarly, journalistic and informal. No matter what you are looking for, a library is likely to have at least a portion of what you need. As such, the library is an integral part of your information-gathering routine. Libraries make accessible the materials you need for your initial message analysis work, for your topic-specific information-gathering needs, for your in-depth information evaluation requirements, and for your synthesis work as you create the message. In other words, libraries contribute to every step of the information strategy, not just at this early step of the process.

Planning Your Strategy

Identifying a number of the possible contributors to your information strategy at this early step of the process will help focus your efforts and narrow the range of information you need to locate and evaluate. It is an important time-saver and a key aspect of your work as an efficient and effective communications professional.

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In the 1960s, researchers Johan Galtung and Mari Holmboe Ruge examined news stories worldwide to determine their similarities (Galtung & Ruge, 1965). Their seminal study created the first news value list, which is still referred to today by journalists and strategic communication professionals. (See the University of Oxford’s paper on Galtung and Ruge’s research for more information.) News values have evolved over time, and there is much debate over whether journalists should consider other criteria to select newsworthy content. (See Dr. Meredith Clark’s article on considering a new set of news values.) Currently, eight values are used to determine a story’s newsworthiness (Kraft, 2015). Some of the values’ names may differ slightly in other sources, but their meaning is the same.

Immediacy/Timeliness

Events or stories that have recently taken place or will happen in the immediate future have immediacy or timeliness. Breaking news stories or stories about unexpected events that are developing are good examples. Media gatekeepers deem these stories so important that they often interrupt regular television schedules to immediately give audiences the information. Recent happenings typically carry more news value than less timely events.

Timeliness also takes into consideration factors such as seasonal events, commemorations, and holidays. A strategic communication professional may pitch an activity that connects with this type of timeliness—for example, a fundraiser that distributes toys to low-income children during the holiday season.

Proximity

Proximity considers the location of the event in relation to the target audience of the media outlet. Audiences are more likely to pay attention to stories that take place in their local communities. For example, a news station in Ohio usually wouldn’t cover day-to-day events at the Indiana State Fair. However, happenings at the annual Ohio State Fair always get daily coverage in central Ohio news outlets.

Human interest

Stories that are emotionally compelling capture the audience’s attention and appeal to their attitudes and beliefs. Feature articles often are good examples of human interest stories when they depict a person, organization, or community in a way that triggers an emotional connection between the audience and the characters. Other examples are a behind-the-scenes look at the life of an athlete or the story of a person struggling to overcome an obstacle.

An example of a human interest story that contains strong emotional elements is that of Leah Still, daughter of National Football League player Devon Still. Leah captured the hearts of many when news outlets began to cover her battle with cancer in 2015 when she was four years old. Many people admired Leah’s positive attitude and determination to beat her illness. Now cancer-free, Leah continues to be an inspiration to thousands of people. For more information about this story and its human interest elements, take a look at this video:

Leah and Devon Still’s story (Source: ABC’s Good Morning America)

Currency

Topics that are trending in news media and other media, such as Twitter and Facebook, are considered newsworthy. “Hot topics of the day” or stories that are in the general public discourse are other examples. In 2015, many media outlets covered a story about a meme featuring a dress that appeared blue and black to some people and white and gold to others. The phenomenon was dubbed “dressgate” and went viral on social media. Since many people discussed and debated the color of the dress, some news outlets decided to cover the story. However, topics that have currency value generally have a short life span in the news cycle because they are discussed only briefly by the public. Click here for more information on the “dressgate” discussion.

News value types (Part 2)

Prominence

Stories that feature well-known individuals or public figures such as politicians and entertainers carry news value. News outlets covered the story when model Tyra Banks completed a management program at Harvard’s School of Business in 2012. Banks' celebrity profile raised the news value of a story that would have received little or no attention had it involved just about anyone else.

Impact

The United Kingdom’s vote to exit the European Union in June 2016 had global implications, and many media outlets in the U.S. and abroad reported the story. However, British news stations such as BBC News and Sky News covered the event more extensively than American media did because the decision impacts Britain’s economy and citizens much more so than Americans. Generally, people are more likely to care about stories that directly affect their lives; therefore, media gatekeepers often devote more time and resources to stories that have implications for their respective audiences.

Novelty

Stories that are odd, unusual, shocking, or surprising have novelty value. An example would be a story about an unusual animal friendship, such as that between a dog and a deer. Because such a friendship is not a normal occurrence, it sparks the curiosity of audiences. In 2015, CNN covered a story about a weatherman who was able to correctly pronounce the extremely long name of a Welsh village. Take a look at this clip of the story:

Weatherman pronounces long village name (Source: CNN)

Conflict

Strife or power struggles between individuals or ethnic groups or organizations contain a conflicting value and often grab the attention of audiences. For example, stories about war, crime, and social discord are newsworthy because their conflict narrative spurs interest. The continuous coverage by U.S. media outlets of worldwide terrorism is another example. Stories about major sports competitions, such as the National Basketball Association finals or the Super Bowl, also contain a conflict element because teams are vying for a prestigious title.

In general, news stories are organized using the inverted pyramid style, in which information is presented in descending order of importance. This allows the audience to read the most crucial details quickly so they can decide whether to continue or stop reading the story. From an editing perspective, using the inverted pyramid style makes it easier to cut a story from the bottom, if necessary. Invented more than a century ago, the inverted pyramid style remains the basic formula for news writing (Scanlan, 2003).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="452"] Inverted pyramid in comprehensive form by Christopher Schwartz Source: Wikimedia CC BY-SA[/caption]

Long Description

The Lead: The most important info

• Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
• Approximately 30 words (1-2 think paragraphs)
• May include a "hook" (provocative quote of question)

The Body: The crucial info

• Argument, controversy, story, issue
• Evidence, background, details, logic, etc.
• Quotes, photos, video and audio that support, disputes or expands the topic

The Tail: Extra info

• Interesting/Related items
• May include extra context in blogs, columns and other editorials: the assessment of the journalist

It is important to note that some news stories do not strictly follow the inverted pyramid style, although the lead for a hard news piece always does. Furthermore, not everyone in the journalism field embraces the style; some detractors believe it is an unnatural way to engage in storytelling and present news to the public. Yet, proponents believe it is an efficient way to organize and share information in a fast-paced society (Scanlan, 2003). Therefore, it’s important for students to learn the style; one good way to do so is to regularly read hard news stories and pay attention to how the leads are structured. The lead (also known as the summary lead) and the body of the inverted pyramid style are discussed in the next sections.

A summary lead concisely tells the reader the main idea of the story or conveys its news value. Most journalists and editors believe that the lead should come in the first sentence or first few sentences of a hard news article. Reporters use the term “burying the lead” or “delayed lead” to describe one placed later in an article. A buried lead may give the impression that the writer wasn’t able to determine what the real newsworthy material was, and can, therefore, reflect poorly on his or her journalistic judgment. In features or other soft news stories that use more dramatic storytelling techniques, the lead sometimes is buried in order to increase suspense or add an element of surprise.

A summary lead should address the following questions:

• Who is the story about? or Who is involved?
• What is the story about? or What happened?
• When did the event take place?
• Where did the event take place?
• Why did the event take place?
• How did the event happen?

Keeping the 5Ws and H in mind when writing a news story will help you organize the content and find a focus for the article. News judgment consists of figuring out the organization of these aspects of the content and prioritizing them in terms of their importance. It’s not necessary to cram the 5Ws and H into one sentence for the lead; however, the lead usually should contain information about the Who and What.

Take a look at the lead in this article from the Washington Post.

Now, let’s answer the 5Ws and H for the lead:

• Who? Female undergrads
• What? Claims of unwanted sexual advances
• When? 2015
• Where? Universities
• Why?
• How? Large study

In this case, the Why of the story is not addressed in the summary lead, perhaps because of the complexity of the issue. Still, the reader can easily understand the main idea of the article. When you’re practicing writing summary leads, remember to keep the sentence(s) relatively concise, with no more than 30 words.

Once you’ve created the lead, give the reader more information in the body of the article. This is your opportunity to elaborate on what else you know about the story. In keeping with the inverted pyramid style, present the information in decreasing order of importance, not necessarily in chronological order. The least important details should appear at the end of the article, where they could be omitted by an editor if necessary.

Use direct and indirect quotes from sources to tell the reader the origin of the information (there is more about this below), and remember to maintain an objective tone. Use the third person; avoid pronouns such as I, me, you, or us that are more suited to opinion pieces. Use short, simple sentences and organize them into paragraphs of no more than three or four sentences.

Indicate the source(s) of the information presented in the article through attribution, which typically takes the form of paraphrases as well as direct and indirect quotes. Attribution is very important in media writing, as it helps to establish an objective tone and adds credibility to an article (Harrower, 2012). Attribution also explains how the writer retrieved the information and why a particular source was quoted. Most of a story’s major information should be attributed, through phrases such as “she said” or “according to a recent report.”

Attribution can be placed at the beginning of a sentence to introduce information or added after a statement. Pay close attention to verb tense and choice when attributing sources. For example, the most common verbs used for attributing human sources are “said,” “stated,” and “asked.” For records or documents, use “reported,” “claimed,” and “stated.” Direct quotes should be surrounded by quotation marks and include the source’s exact words. Paraphrased statements and indirect quotes should not be placed in quotation marks.

Here are examples of attributed statements:

• “The libraries are usually crowded and filled with students around this time in the semester,” said Laura Skyler, a sophomore at The Ohio State University.
• A heavy cloud of smog hung over the city Wednesday, National Weather Service officials said.
• According to a statement from the White House, the president will announce his pick for the vacant Supreme Court seat on Monday.

When initially referencing a human source, include the person’s full name. Use only the last name for subsequent references. Use this CNN article as an example.

Include important qualifiers with the first reference to demonstrate that the source has expertise on the topic. For example:

• “Using Twitter in the classroom actually enhances student engagement,” Jasmine Roberts, strategic communication lecturer at The Ohio State University, said.

Notice that the direct quote with attribution uses the qualifier “strategic communication lecturer at The Ohio State University” to indicate the source’s credibility.

Qualifiers are also used to explain a source’s relevance to the topic. The following example might be used in a news article reporting on crime.

• “It was just complete chaos in the store. The police were trying very hard to catch the shoplifter,” eyewitness Angela Nelson said.

The qualifier “eyewitness” helps to establish Nelson’s relevance to the narrative.

Finally, attribution should flow well within the story. Avoid using long qualifiers or awkward phrases.

A headline concisely states the main idea of the story and is further elaborated on in the lead. It should clearly convey a complete thought. Headlines have become increasingly important in today’s society; people tend to look only at headlines rather than reading complete stories, especially online. An effective headline encourages the reader to take the time to read the article.

Print versus web headlines

Print headlines tend to be concise (using fewer than six or seven words) and straightforward. Online headlines tend to be longer and use catchy language. Images, captions, and subheadlines are more common with print headlines than web headlines (Davis & Davis, 2009).

Web headlines usually appear as links that lead the reader to the actual article. Given the acceleration of media consumption, many readers simply want to know the basic information about an event. The headlines used with web publications give readers enough information to understand what is happening without reading the story.

How to create a headline

Writing headlines takes practice. You need to select words carefully and use strong writing in order to entice the audience to read the article.

Create the headline after you finish writing the article so that you have a complete understanding of the story. Focus on how you can communicate the main idea in a manner that will capture the reader’s attention. Also, focus on keywords and do not include articles such as a, an, and the. Use present-tense verbs for headlines about events in the past or present. For events in the future, use the infinitive form of the verb: for example, “Local store to open a new location.”

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="428"] This print news headline includes a subheadline and an image that provides context and uses an attention-grabbing phrase. “The Globe and Mail, Toronto, ON Canada” by Cliff. Source: Flikcr. CC BY 2.0[/caption]

Unlike the traditional summary lead, feature leads can be several sentences long, and the writer may not immediately reveal the story’s main idea. The most common types used in feature articles are anecdotal leads and descriptive leads. An anecdotal lead unfolds slowly. It lures the reader in with a descriptive narrative that focuses on a specific minor aspect of the story that leads to the overall topic. The following is an example of an anecdotal lead:

Sharon Jackson was sitting at the table reading an old magazine when the phone rang. It was a reporter asking to set up an interview to discuss a social media controversy involving Jackson and another young woman.“Sorry,” she said. “I’ve already spoken to several reporters about the incident and do not wish to make any further comments.”

Notice that the lead unfolds more slowly than a traditional lead and centers on a particular aspect of the larger story. The nut graph, or a paragraph that reveals the importance of the minor story and how it fits into the broader story, would come after the lead. There will be more on the nut graph later in this chapter.

Descriptive leads begin the article by describing a person, place, or event in vivid detail. They focus on setting the scene for the piece and use language that taps into the five senses in order to paint a picture for the reader. This type of lead can be used for both traditional news and feature stories. The following is an example of a descriptive lead:

Thousands dressed in scarlet and gray T-shirts eagerly shuffled into the football stadium as the university fight song blared.

For each article below, identify whether it uses a descriptive or anecdotal lead:

• A thin line of defense
• Pediatric patient
• Inside Jay Z’s Roc Nation

The content in a feature article isn’t necessarily presented as an inverted pyramid; instead, the organization may depend on the writer’s style and the story angle. Nevertheless, all of the information in a feature article should be presented in a logical and coherent fashion that allows the reader to easily follow the narrative.

As previously stated, the nut graph follows the lead. This paragraph connects the lead to the overall story and conveys the story’s significance to the readers (Scanlan, 2003).

The nut graph comes from a commonly used formula for writing features, known as the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) formula (International Center for Journalists, 2016). The formula was named after the well-known and respected publication, which created the term “nut graph” and mastered feature news writing (Rich, 2016).

The formula consists of beginning the story with feature-style leads to grabbing the reader’s attention, followed by the nut graph (Scanlan, 2003). After this comes to a longer body of the story that provides the usual background, facts, quotes, and so on. The formula then specifies a return to the opening focus at the end of the story using another descriptive passage or anecdote, also known as the “circle kicker” (Rich, 2016). This could be, for example, an update on what eventually happened to the main character or how the event or issue turned out. This blog post provides a detailed example of the WSJ formula.

Literary Devices

Feature writers use a particular style of writing to convey the story’s message. The use of literary devices helps in this task. These devices include similes and metaphors, onomatopoeia (use of words that mimic a sound), imagery (figurative language), climax, and more. Here are a few examples of onomatopoeia and imagery:

Onomatopoeia: The tires screeched against the concrete as she hit the pedal.

Imagery (example modified from Butte College, 2016): The apartment smelled of old cooking odors, cabbage, and mildew; . . . a haze of dusty sunlight peeked from the one cobwebbed, gritty window.

Click here for more information on literary devices, including specific examples.

Descriptive Writing

A good feature writer uses plot devices and dialogues that help move the story forward while focusing on the central theme and providing supporting information through descriptive language and specific examples. You want to show readers what’s happening, not simply tell them. They should be able to visualize the characters, places, and events highlighted in the feature piece.

Show Versus Tell

Tell: Friends describe Amariah as a generous and vibrant person who was involved in several nonprofit organizations.

Show: Tracey proudly recalls her friend’s generosity. “Amariah is usually the first person to arrive at a volunteer event and the last to leave. She spends four hours every Saturday morning volunteering at the mentoring center. It’s rare to not catch her laughing, flashing her perfect smile. She’s just a burst of positive energy.”

It’s often tempting to end a feature piece with a summary conclusion. Instead, use an anecdote, passage, or compelling quote that will leave a lasting impression on your readers.

As with any professional relationship, there are do’s and don’ts to be aware of when developing relationships with journalists. Take the time to research reporters or bloggers to identify those who will help you achieve your organization’s publicity goals. Once you’ve found an appropriate journalist or blogger, think carefully about how you plan to pitch your story to the individual. Avoid gimmicky or hyped-up press releases; they may catch the reporter’s attention, but for the wrong reason. Also avoid jarring language such as “urgent,” “must read,” or “extremely important,” even if you need to secure media coverage quickly.

In general, developing a rapport with journalists takes time, strategy, skill, and practice. For more information on what you can do to develop a good working relationship with the media, take a look at this video with Alissa Widman Neese, a journalist at the Columbus Dispatch. She discusses her experiences working with public relations professionals and some of the factors that made them positive.

A Journalist’s Perspective on Pitching with Alissa Widman Neese

Simply contacting the media will not guarantee coverage for your client. You have to persuade the journalist that your story idea is newsworthy. Public relations professionals typically pitch to reporters, editors, bloggers, and social media influencers. Pitches can take place via email, phone calls, and increasingly through Twitter. The channel you choose for your pitch depends upon the intended individual’s preference.

Pitching is a skill that requires creative thinking, persuasive communication skills, and knowing how your story idea benefits the reporter and the audience. Your pitching skills can improve with time and practice. You will feel more confident reaching out to reporters if you write pitches regularly.

Before Pitching

Before you send an email pitch or call a reporter, it is important to have a solid understanding of your key audience. Carefully examine the interests, preferences, media consumption behaviors, and key demographic information associated with that group. Then you can more accurately select which media outlet will help reach the target audience.

Go where your audience is located. For example, as you conduct research about your target audience, you might learn that members read blog posts more than news articles. Therefore, reaching out to bloggers could be more beneficial than targeting news reporters. Place your message or story in media outlets that your intended audience frequently visits or reads.

One of the most common complaints from journalists about public relations pitches involves the use of mass emails. Generic pitches sent out to anyone and everyone come across to reporters and bloggers as careless and can compromise your credibility among media professionals. Remember, reporters are going to look at how your story will appeal to their specific readers; therefore, your pitch needs to be strategic. Failure to keep this in mind may result in a rejected pitch or no response at all.

Before you pitch to a particular media outlet, be sure to research which specific writer within the organization can help you target your audience. Each reporter covers a different topic, or “beat.” Reading some of a reporter’s previous stories will give you an indication of whether he or she is the right person to cover your story. Let’s say your client is a restaurant that wants to publicize the opening of a new location. A reporter who covers food topics and brands, lifestyle topics, or the restaurant industry would be the most logical choice to write your story.

Writing the Pitch

Now that you’ve done your homework on the audience, media outlet, and specific writer, pay close attention to how you craft your pitch message.

The subject line is especially important if you’re using email. It needs to be creative enough to catch the attention of the writer; however, avoid exaggerated phrases or visual gimmicks such as all capital letters. Do not use generic headlines such as “Story Idea” or “Cool Upcoming Event.” Try to create a headline similar to one the journalist might use in writing the story.

Next, address the reporter or blogger by name and begin the body of the pitch. State why you’re writing, and provide some information about yourself and the company or client you represent. Next, summarize the lead of the story. Writing in this manner resonates with some reporters, as it is the style they are accustomed to. You also can start the email with a catchy line that will hook the journalist, but be careful not to overdo this. Reporters and editors do not like flowery or gimmicky language because it sounds more like a hard sales pitch than a public relations pitch. Continue with the pitch by providing important details about the story and talking about why it would be interesting to the media outlet’s audience. Doing this indicates that the story has news value, which is very important in pitching. Toward the end of the email pitch, state when you would like a response, indicate when you plan to follow up if necessary, and offer specific help. Be sure to thank the reporter or blogger for his or her time.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="852"] “How to Bootstrap Your PR Like a Boss” by Kate Finley. Source: slideshare . CC BY-NC-SA 4.0[/caption]

Don’t feel discouraged if the person does not respond immediately. Journalists are extremely busy, and sometimes they simply overlook emails. If necessary, send a reminder email by the follow-up date you mentioned in the first communication. This date depends on when the story should hit the press. If you pitched a story that needs to be published relatively quickly, you may want to follow up no later than two days after sending the initial pitch. If there’s more flexibility in the desired publication date, you may indicate that you will follow up within a week. If the person still does not respond to your pitch, move on to another outlet, reporter, or blogger who can help you accomplish your publicity goals. It is important to also consider timing; for example, do not make a follow-up call at 4:55 P.M. on a Friday when the journalist may be getting ready to head home for the weekend.

Grammar, punctuation, tone, and spelling are important when writing email pitches. Some journalists have admitted to not responding to a pitch that contains grammatical and spelling errors. Reread your message several times to check for errors. Here are more articles that discuss media relations, proper etiquette, and tips on gaining media exposure:

• Surprising tips to get the media’s attention
• 9 pitch tips from PR News Online
• How not to pitch

The press release or news release is one of the most common communication materials written by public relations professionals. Press releases are sent to outlets such as newspapers, broadcast stations, and magazines to deliver a strategic message from an organization that the media ideally will publish or broadcast. The primary audience for the press release is reporters and editors, although some organizations publish press releases on their own websites for audiences to view. This may be done due to shrinking newsroom staffs and insufficient resources to develop original content.

Journalists use press releases as a reporting tool, relying on them to provide essential information and therefore make it easier for them to cover a variety of events. With the increase in media channels and demand for social content, some view press releases as an uninteresting way to distribute information and connect with audiences (Galant, 2014). Others see them as a concise and straightforward way to communicate to key publics.

Although the emergence of digital media has challenged public relations professionals to think of nontraditional ways to garner publicity, the use of press releases is still widespread in the profession. Therefore, public relations practitioners should know how to write an effective press release.

Traditionally, press releases use the inverted pyramid style, which makes it easy for journalists and editors to receive the most essential information first. This means the news hook should be revealed in the headline and lead of the release. Journalists will not take your press release seriously if the content is not newsworthy and it is not written in an accepted style, such as AP style. Make sure that the press release contains attributed information with proper sources and is error-free.

Before writing the release, ask yourself the following questions:

• Is the announcement or event newsworthy? Does it appeal to the media outlet’s audience? Some announcements do not warrant a press release and can simply be posted on the company website.
• What is the key message? What should the reader take away?
• Who is the target audience for the release? Although you’re writing the release for the media, you need to keep in mind the kind of readers or listeners you hope to attract.

In this video, Gina Bericchia, senior media strategist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, discusses proper press release writing.

Discussion on Press Release Writing with Gina Bericchia

This article from Ragan Communications discusses when to send a press release to the media.

Press Release Structure and Format

The release should be written on the company letterhead, with the words “Press Release” or “News Release” at the top left corner of the page. Below this, indicate when the information is available for publication. The term “immediate release” means the information is ready to publish and can be used by journalists as soon as they receive it. Occasionally, you might want more time to gather other information, or would prefer that the journalist publish the announcement at a later date. In this case, use the term “under embargo until” followed by the embargo date, which is when you will allow the journalist to publish the information. Put the press release date below the “immediate release” or “under embargo until” statement. Always include contact information for the journalist’s reference, preferably at the top right corner.

Write the body of the press release using news writing techniques and style. Be sure to include a headline; you also may include a subheadline. Provide a dateline, followed by the summary lead. Here’s an example:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="412"] Image from the Pressbook "Writing for Strategic Communication". Industries Student example of a press release for a school assignment. Danika Wellington is not affiliated with The City of Columbus Recreation and Parks Department. CC BY-NC 4.0[/caption]

Long Description

NEWS RELEASE Contact: Danika Wellington FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Nov. 12,2015 Media Liaison 614-555-5678 wellington.41 @columbus.gov

Empty Bowls to feed the hungry. COLUMBUS, Ohio - The City of Columbus Recreation and Parks Department will host its 18th annual Empty Bowls event to raise much needed funds for the Mid-Ohio Foodbank. There will be 17 Empty Bowls events starting Saturday until Dec. 10 throughout the Columbus area, which will feature unique pottery and handmade soup for a $10 donation. Wendy Frantz, Empty Bowls coordinator at Columbus Recreation and Parks, said it is a great way to give back to the community. “For every dollar that is raised through the Empty Bowls Project for the Mid-Ohio Foodbank, $10 worth of groceries can be given to families in need,” Frantz said. The ceramic bowls are donated by people of all ages and skill levels, varying from professional potters and artisans to children. Marcy’s Clay ground also contributes about 200 bowls annually for the event. The project is a collaborative effort between Columbus Recreation and Parks, several churches, businesses and program sponsors to help combat hunger. Volunteers make homemade soup and many local businesses donate goods including bread and water. Yolanda Owens, communications and digital media manager at Mid-Ohio Foodbank, said Columbus Recreation and Parks have been a great partner over the last 17 years, raising over $193,000. “These much needed funds help to ensure that all of our neighbors have access to nourishing foods to put on their tables for the holidays,” Owens said. The Mid-Ohio Foodbank is a non-profit organization that partners with more than 650 community partners across Ohio to provide food to half a million hungry citizens. This year, Empty Bowls events extended to three productions of “Oliver!” in late October at the Westgate Recreation Center, in conjunction with the Westgate Theater Co. and Carriage Place Players. During the intermission of the performances, a silent auction for the locally made bowls was held to maximize funds raised, which overall totaled $3600.

 

Be sure to use the inverted pyramid to organize the information throughout the press release. Include at least two quotes, one from the company or organization and another from a third party (example: customer, volunteer, a current or former attendee at the event). After you’ve finished with the body, put the boilerplate at the end of the document. The boilerplate provides information about the company or organization, similar to the “About Us” section that you might find on a company website.

The press release should be as concise as possible and ideally no longer than one page. If it exceeds one page, do not split paragraphs. Instead, put the word “more” at the bottom center of the first page to indicate to the reader that there is more content on a second page. Include three pound signs (###) or “-30-” at the bottom of the press release to indicate the end.

These sample press releases contain some of the basic elements:

• The Ohio State University
• Forever 21
• St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Further Reading

This article from Ragan’s PR Daily provides suggestions to improve your public relations writing. An additional article from Ragan’s PR Daily explains common press release mistakes.

Press kits or media kits are packages or website pages that contain promotional materials and resources for editors and reporters. The purpose is to provide detailed information about a company in one location. Although a press kit delivers more information than a press release, the overall goal is similar: to secure publicity for a company or client.

Major events or stories that require more information than is typically included in a press release warrant a press kit. Examples include a company merger, the launch of a new product, a rebranding campaign, or a major change in organizational leadership. Press kits can be hard copy or digital. Hard-copy press kits use folders with the company logo, whereas digital press kits use a website page or are sent in a zip file via email.

The following materials are found in a press kit:

• Backgrounder
• Press release
• Fact sheet
• Publicity photos or list of photo opportunities
• Media alerts

Click here for information on how to assemble a press kit.

Backgrounder

A backgrounder contains the history of a company and the biographies of key executives. The purpose is to supplement the press release and explain the company’s story or event, products, services, and milestones. It is in paragraph format and relatively brief (one to two pages). Click here for a sample corporate backgrounder from GainSpan, a semiconductor company (creator: Javed Mohammed).

Fact Sheet

A fact sheet provides a summary of an event, product, service, or person by focusing only on essential information or key characteristics. It is more concise than a backgrounder and serves as a quick reference for reporters. However, the fact sheet is not meant for publication. The headings of a fact sheet vary; the creator of the document chooses how to categorize major information. The most common type of fact sheet is the organizational profile, which gives basic information about an organization. This includes descriptions of products or services, annual revenues, markets served, and the number of employees.

The standard fact sheet contains a company letterhead and contact information. The body is single-spaced, with an extra space between paragraphs and subheadings. Although the fact sheet is typically one page, put the word “-more-” at the bottom of the first page to indicate additional pages. Similar to the press release format, include three number signs or “-30-” at the bottom of the document to indicate the end. To make it easy to read, group similar information together and include bulleted items if appropriate.

Click here or an example of a fact sheet. Keep in mind that the subheadings/categories used in this example may not be used in another one. Writers have some flexibility in the categories they choose in a fact sheet.

Media Alert

There are times when announcements do not require the distribution of a press release, but rather a concise notice to the media. This is called a media alert or advisory. Media alerts are memos to reporters about an interview opportunity, press conference, or upcoming event. They use the 5Ws and H format to quickly deliver information.

The illustration below explains the key differences between a press release and a media advisory:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="428"] “News Release vs. Media Advisory” by Alyson Moses and Mary Sterenberg. Source: Ohio State University. CC BY 2.0[/caption]

Long Description

News Release: Purpose: to share the news of the organization. It offers a story the media can use alone or as a background to write a story. Quotes, facts, inverted pyramid. Written like a story; while Media Advisory's purpose is to alert the media about an upcoming event to cover or propose or pitch another coverage opportunity. It offers basic information. Not meant to be published verbatim. Brief and to the point - answers five W's in bullets.

Here are some examples of media alerts:

• Economic Policy Institute
• Institute for Women’s Policy Research

Before they begin the design process, advertising professionals work on explaining and outlining the advertising plan in a creative brief. This is a document for the creative team, the advertising director, and the client that gives a clear objective for the copied material and explains the overall concept of the campaign. The creative brief is like a game plan—without it, the advertisement may not be successful. You do not have to use a particular writing style, such as AP style when completing the creative brief. However, grammar, spelling, punctuation, and concise writing are still important. Here are several broad categories to consider when completing the creative brief.

Key Consumer Insight

The key consumer insight demonstrates a clear understanding of the consumer’s general behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes as they relate to the message topic. It also considers general opinions and thoughts about the subject matter. Let’s say you’re developing a creative brief for a cookie brand. Market research and careful audience analysis can reveal key insights into consumer behaviors, such as the fact that many consumers believe that so-called healthy cookies do not taste as good as their high-calorie, sugar-filled counterparts. This knowledge will help you as you design your advertisement.

Advertising Problem

The phrase “advertising problem” does not refer to addressing a problem within the advertisement itself, or challenges in advertising to the key audience. The term refers to the product’s biggest consumer-related stumbling block. In the cookie example above, the advertising problem is that consumers face a choice between buying great-tasting cookies that are loaded with calories and sugar and buying ones that are low in sugar and calories but don’t taste as good. The consumer insight can inform or help you to come up with the advertising problem. The advertising strategy should address a consumer need or consumer-related problem. Without this, the advertisement will appear pointless.

Advertising Objective

The advertising objective explains the intended effects of the promotion on the target audience and clearly articulates the overall goal. The goal is not simply to persuade the audience. Think about how you want the audience to feel or believe about the featured product or service. Or, what do you want them to do in response to seeing the advertisement? An example of the objective for the cookie advertisement might be to convince cookie lovers that the featured product is a healthy option that doesn’t compromise rich, fulfilling taste.

Target Consumer

The target consumers are people you specifically want to communicate the message to. In order to fully understand the audience, consider their psychographics, or the analysis of their lifestyles and interests. Also include information about demographics, as this factor influences the audience’s day-to-day experiences. Clarify why you’ve chosen this particular audience. Why would these people be attracted to the featured product or service? How would it help the organization achieve its goals? What are the benefits of targeting this particular group? Answering these questions will help justify the selection of the target audience.

Competition

In this section of the creative brief, perform a complete assessment of the competition that considers strengths and weaknesses. Specifically, examine the competitor’s history, products, services, brand, and target audiences. Analyzing key competitors will help you articulate your company’s or product’s marketplace niche, which is very important. You need to establish how your product or company stand out from similar products or companies.

Key Consumer Benefit

The key consumer benefit describes what the consumer would gain from using the advertised product or service. This section also discusses how the product or service solves the advertising problem laid out earlier in the creative brief. Narratives, testimonials, and sometimes research findings can be used as support in the actual advertisement, which helps enhance its persuasiveness.

Support

The support section explains the validity of the proposed advertising plan. It makes a case for why the campaign will motivate the audience or make them believe that the claims are true. This is particularly important because, in order to secure the advertising account, you need to convince your client or high-level executives that the plan will work. Include evidence from third-party sources such as external research studies or polls. Also, include feedback from focus groups to persuade the client that the advertising plan is effective.

Other Categories to Consider

Some creative briefs might include a section called tonality. This explains the desired feel or attitude of the advertising campaign, such as “hip,” “classy,” “fun,” “flashy,” or “modern.” You could also include a description of the advertisement’s visual elements, or the creative mandatories. This section should provide a detailed explanation of the images, slogan, logo, and other visual factors so that the client can imagine how the advertisement will look. The creative team usually presents a sample advertisement to the client in the pitch presentation.

After completing the creative brief and receiving approval from the client, it is now time to develop the advertisement. A large part of this process involves copywriting. Copywriting puts together the headlines, subheadlines, and images included in the advertisement. It uses persuasive communication to influence the target audience. It also helps to create the advertisement’s call to action, logo, and slogan.

The AIDA model is a popular framework used in designing advertising copy. The acronym stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. Good advertising copy should effectively grab the audience’s attention through words and/or imagery. This can be challenging. Because consumers may see thousands of advertisements daily, capturing their attention needs to be informed by strategy.

After getting the audience’s attention, the copy should maintain the focus of the consumer by generating interest. This involves creating messages that are relevant to the target audience (Altstiel and Grow, 2016). The AIDA model states that the copy should provoke a desire for the advertised product or service. When the desire is instilled, the copy should then motivate the audience to act or perform the call to action in the advertisement. This could be buying the product, visiting the organization’s social media page, volunteering, or attending an event. The call to action should be memorable. For further information on the AIDA model, click on this article.

Over the course of the semester, we’ve examined the steps a communications professional must take when trying to tackle a new information task or message assignment.

[caption id="attachment_164" align="aligncenter" width="551"] Flow chart of the Information Strategy Model.  Image from the Pressbook "Information Strategies for Communicators" -CC BY 4.0[/caption]

Long Description

Step 1: Message Analysis: arrows point to Context (Who is my audience? Message purpose. Message time and space. Message format and channel.) and Content (What is the topic? Topic Terminology. Questions to be answered. Narrowing the focus.). Step 2: Potential Contributors: 4 arrows point to: #1 Institutional Sources (monitor, search, interview), #2 Scholarly Sources (monitor, search, interview) #3 Journalistic Sources (monitor, search, interview) #4 Informal Sources (monitor, search, interview). Each of these 4 has 2-way arrows pointing to Evaluate and Select which has a 2-way arrow pointing to Synthesize which then has an arrow pointing to Craft the Message.

These steps, by way of review, are:

• clarify the parameters of the message assignment.
• identify potential audiences.
• generate ideas and bring focus to the topic.
• understand the variety of potential contributors of information.
• appreciate the ethical and legal considerations required.

These first steps of the process will help you generate a set of questions or information “tasks” that you will need to perform in order to create the required communication message. Thinking about the potential contributors that could provide information to complete those tasks or answer the questions will get you started on the information strategy process. Knowing the ethical expectations and how to craft a message that meets legal standards will help guide you as you find and select information to use. We’ve also discussed the key skills researchers must hone to be efficient and strategic in their information strategy tasks. These skills are:

• Searching: understanding how and where to locate both traditional repositories and databases of material and more esoteric or specialized resources, and constructing an effective search “equation” with appropriate keywords and utilizing search fields.
• Interviewing: finding and “vetting” people from a variety of contributor types who might have information, insights, or perspectives on whatever you are searching and developing the techniques to best engage and elicit helpful responses from them.
• Evaluating: knowing how to detect bias, misinformation, or unsubstantiated information you might find through searching or interviewing.
• Managing and Synthesizing: developing techniques for keeping track of the information you locate, methods for synthesizing key points or ideas to generate new insights and criteria for selecting (or discarding) the information you find.

Finally, we’ve discussed the forms in which information appears. We’ve looked at the tools, techniques and special requirements for understanding and using information from:

• data and statistics
• polls and surveys
• public records
• periodical publications

Now it is time to apply all of these skills and use the suite of resources for specific kinds of information requirements. Here’s how to apply all of these skills and resources. The following scenarios will step through the thinking process and track the information-seeking path. An information strategy is used throughout the message generation process. Here are the various stages at which communication researchers will need to locate information to complete the required tasks:

• Initial idea generation or project focusing
• Understanding the intended audience / who they are, what they do, where they are, how to reach them
• Understanding an unfamiliar topic
• Finding information from various types of contributors using different information gathering skills
• Understanding what the information means and how to organize and synthesize it for your message task

In this lesson we will work through several specific communication task scenarios and detail the thought processes and research strategy used when:

• analyzing the message needs
• clarifying the audience to address
• generating ideas and focusing on angles of a topic
• finding information on the topic / angle from a variety of types of contributors
• synthesizing and selecting material that was found

[caption]The Atlantic magazine[/caption] Freelance Magazine Scenario: You are a freelance reporter and you’ve been interested in the use of drones, particularly as the market is growing for non-combat use of “unmanned aerial vehicles.” You have a good contact at the Atlantic Monthly magazine and think you might be able to pitch a story to them. Your task: what should you pitch, and how would you research the topic?

You’ve identified the Atlantic as the magazine you want to target.

Questions to ask:

• How long are Atlantic articles?
• How much are freelancers paid?
• How do I submit a proposal?
• To whom should I submit a proposal?

Your questions are all about what a writer needs to know to sell their article. The Writer’s Market is a reference work that all freelance writers should have. There is a fee but it is well worth having the “bible” for freelance writers.

You need to learn about both the “gatekeeper” audience (the editor to whom you want to pitch your story) and the magazine’s target audience (the main concern of the editor.) Answering these questions will help clarify the orientation of the article you will pitch. Questions to clarify audience:

• Which editor would actually read the pitch and decide? What can I learn about them?

Sometimes it is hard to know when the submission just goes to a general “pitch” box. But you can find the names by going to the magazine website. Find on the homepage where the key personnel is listed (hint: in this case, it is referred to as the Masthead.) Links are provided to the editors' pages; in some cases, they have a little biographical information. If they don’t, it is worth checking on LinkedIn or Facebook to get a sense of their interests through posting (and it’s a good strategy to “like” or “connect” with them - people like to help out people who like them.)

• Who is the audience for the magazine? What would they be interested in? Are they highly educated?

A magazine’s media kit is compiled to provide advertisers and media buyer information about the audience it would reach if they placed an ad in that magazine. Every magazine site will have a button called “media kit” or “advertise” that will give valuable demographic and psychographic information about the audience for that publication. Here is The Atlantic’s media kit. Your broad topic of interest is “drones” - but what angle on this should you take? Given your knowledge of the Atlantic’s audience, how do you start to zero in on potential ways to focus the topic? Questions to clarify topic focus:

• What, if anything, has the Atlantic already written about drones?

Search the Atlantic’s website. Scanning through the articles retrieved (what is a good search strategy?) will give you some ideas of things they have covered - and help you find some different angles.

• What are some of the angles on the topic of drones that others are writing about?

Do a quick check on Google News - scanning the headlines might give you insights on a new angle. And you’d want to stay up to speed on the topic, so set several Google Alerts on different aspects of the topic (drones and legislation, drones and public safety, drones and shopping)

• What are people saying about drones? What are their issues or concerns?

Social media sites are a great way to see new and emerging topics of discussion or concern. Go to Facebook and see if there is an interest group - and who is talking about it. Follow a Twitter hashtag (like #drone or #dronesforgood) After brainstorming angles and understanding the interests of the Atlantic audience, you decide the use of drones for delivery services would be an interesting focus. As commercial firms from Amazon to local breweries and drug stores explore drone delivery, the regulatory or safety concerns this raises would be a great topic for Atlantic readers. [caption id="attachment_164" align="alignleft" width="300"] Package copter microdrones by Frankhöffner - Source: Wikipedia CC BY-SA[/caption] Now you need information. You develop a set of questions that could be answered with information from a variety of potential contributors. There are many ways to do this kind of brainstorming and if you have a very specific question, thinking through what kind of agency or organization would be likely to have information or data or expertise on that specific question is the logical first step. For example, if you want to know what the outlook is for the drone industry, you might want to find a public sector agency that generates industry outlooks and see what they have published. Check the government search engine USA.gov for drone manufacturing and you get a report published by the Congressional Research Service on UAS manufacturing trends. But if your specific question is “how many accidents have there been from the use of drones?” it would be logical to think about which agency is likely to track that sort of information. At the national level, it would be the Federal Aviation Administration. You do a search on drone accidents at faa.gov and the second item looks perfect: A Summary of Unmanned Aircraft Accident / Incident Data. Sadly, on further examination, you see that it doesn’t pass the recency or relevance tests of evidence. But you have identified the likely agency for this kind of information - so it might be time to pick up the phone and make a call to see if you can locate someone who knows about those types of records and ask for the most recent version of the report. At the beginning stages of the information strategy, sometimes you are better off with imagining the kinds of information that different contributors could offer - and the sort of questions they can answer. Here’s how that brainstorming might look for this particular topic: Public Sector Institutions: government agencies could provide answers to questions about drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) related to:

• Economy: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Commerce: census of business and manufacturing, specific financial information about companies in the drone business, the employment outlook for the industry
• Safety: Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Transportation, Homeland Security: concerns about usage, creative uses of drones (for traffic regulation or monitoring road conditions)
• Regulation: Department of Justice, State Legislatures: laws regulating use can be handed down at different levels of government
• Technology: National Technical Information Service: technical reports

A good strategy for finding public sector sources that might have information to gather or experts to interview is to look through the directory of government agencies. Private-Sector Institutions: You’ve decided your angle is the regulation of drones for commercial use. Clearly, you would want to identify some commercial enterprises that would be affected. Researching the background of this angle provides stories about a drug store in San Francisco, a brewery in Minnesota, and the mega-online store Amazon as having used, or want to use, drones to deliver products. Going to the corporate sites for QuiQui, Lakemaid Beer, and Amazon would provide answers to questions about their use of drones - and more importantly, the names of people you might want to interview. On the non-profit side, talking to people in advocacy groups or organizations with concerns about the use of commercial drones can help fill in questions about the different perspectives on the issue that should be considered. These are often good places to check for backgrounders or “white papers” on the topics of most interest to those associations. Do a search in Google for drones and association - look at their websites to see issues they cover. For a more authoritative source on associations, check the Associations Unlimited database (found on the UMN library website.) Scholarly: Conducting a search for scholarly articles in the Business Source Premier database using the search equation ("drone aircraft" OR "unmanned aerial vehicles") NOT war, you locate a number of relevant articles. One that appeared in Computer Law and Security Review is titled “Drones: Regulatory challenges to an incipient industry,” and the abstract of the article sounds like it is a good fit for your needs. A challenge with using scholarly sources can be deciphering the specialist language they use in their writings. For journalists, it can be better to find sources to interview - scholars will speak more conversationally than they will write. In the Lesson on Interviewing we talked about sources for locating scholars to interview. In this case, you would read the article and then contact the author, David Wright, for an interview. Journalistic: News articles are essential sources for other journalists - not only to find out what has been covered but also to see the types of sources that have been used. You’ll want to search one of the news archives services such as Google News (if you only want recent stories) or LexisNexis for broader coverage. In this case, however, you also find that journalists themselves are interesting sources of information because many of them want to use drones in their news work. So, journalistic sources are not only fodder for background and places to cull for good sources to find, but they are also sources themselves. You might want to contact the Professional Society of Drone Journalists. Informal Sources: If you are writing about how drones for commercial or non-military use are being regulated, you’d want to find some “just folks” to represent the impact of regulation. You’ll need to brainstorm the kinds of people you would want to hear from: people who use drones for fun, those concerned about drones flying over their neighborhood, people who have been injured by a drone, people who can’t wait to have their latest purchase from Amazon dropped on their doorstep. Locating informal sources might mean finding specific people who have posted on social media sites (look for tweets or pages related to drones) or it might be posting a “call” for comment on these sites and seeing what kinds of response you get. Reading the comments on articles you found through journalistic sources might lead you to interesting informal sources to interview. Search Tip: A term like “drone” has multiple related terms and different ways different disciplines will refer to the term. Take care when searching to try different versions (drone, UAV, UAS, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle…) As you can see from this scenario, there are many steps and hundreds of information sources that could help with this message task. We are just scratching the surface of what you would actually need to do to prepare this type of story pitch to the editors of The Atlantic. You work as a Communications Manager for the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the trade group that represents the country’s wind energy industry. An article appears in the Journal of Raptor Research that reports on the results of a study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The study found that wind energy facilities have killed at least 85 golden and bald eagles between 1997 and 2012—and those eagle fatalities possibly may be much higher. The study also indicated that eagle deaths have increased dramatically in recent years as the nation has turned increasingly to wind farms as a source of renewable, low-pollution energy, with nearly 80 percent of the fatalities occurring between 2008 and 2012 alone. [caption id="attachment_164" align="alignleft" width="300"] Wind Turbines by stevebidmead. Source: pixabay. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] Your Executive Director (ED) asks you to prepare the Association’s response to the questions and requests for comments that are certainly going to be pouring in as the results of the study start to gain public awareness. You need to get up to speed quickly on the topic of bird mortality due to wind energy facilities. Let’s look at how you would prepare to respond to this “crisis.”

Your discussion with the Executive Director would include seeking the answers to these questions:

• Does the ED want to issue a statement to the media on behalf of the AWEA?
• If yes, should that be in the form of a news release, a news conference, a streaming web conference, something else?
• Does the ED want to consider posting something on the AWEA’s website as part of the response?
• If yes, you need to determine “best practices” for how to do this effectively.
• Does the ED want to provide “talking points” to the industry members of the AWEA so they know how to respond if they get questions? How should those “talking points” be distributed most effectively?
• Similarly, should the AWEA communicate with other stakeholders with an interest in the work of the AWEA? What form would that take?

Once you clarify the types of messages and the communications strategy your ED wants you to pursue, you need to determine the audiences who will be targeted. This leads to another set of questions:

• Which media outlets should we target with our news releases/news conference/web conference messages? Are we trying to reach media organizations that produce news and information for the general public or for specialist audiences? Who are those specialist audiences?
• What will our industry members need to have in the “talking points” material we create for them? We need to anticipate their information needs since our mission is to help association members be effective advocates for the wind power industry as well as succeed in their individual business endeavors.
• Who are the other stakeholders we might target with our response? Our partner organizations and associations at the state and national level? Regulators at the state and national level who govern our industry? Bird enthusiasts, who oppose wind turbines? Environmentalists, who care about both renewable energy AND wildlife protection? Researchers inside and outside the government who study bird mortality and wind power?
• Once we know which stakeholder audiences we want to address, how can we best reach them with our messages?

Based on your discussions with the ED, you start to brainstorm some of the ways you might address the message task. Again, you identify some questions that can help you focus on the right angle.

• Aside from this one study, what do we know about bird mortality caused by wind energy facilities and who has studied the issue?
• What else kills birds and how does that compare with avian deaths from wind turbines?
• What are our member industries doing right now, if anything, to reduce bird mortality?
• How does energy production using other methods affect wildlife and how does that compare with wind energy production?
• What regulations are in place that our industry members must follow to protect birds? How are we doing with compliance?

Here is just a tiny sample of the information contributors you could tap and the information they might provide to help you focus your messages. Public-sector Institutions The Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wind Energy Guidelines provide detailed specifications for the way wind energy facilities must operate, including ways to reduce bird and other animal mortality. You might suggest posting a link to these guidelines on the AWEA’s website and include some narrative about the ways your members are complying with the regulations. You might also include this document and some of the data about compliance with your association members as part of their “talking points” material. This document could also be shared as part of a news conference or in any statement, your ED might issue to the media. Private-sector Institutions The National Academy of Sciences, a widely-respected, private-sector, non-profit organization, conducted a study about other causes of bird mortality in addition to those caused by the wind power industry. It appears from this study that bird mortality from other causes is much greater than bird deaths from wind power facilities. You might, once again, consider posting a link to this study on the AWEA’s website, compose some narrative that summarizes the findings of the study and make sure any public statements or “talking points” include the results. At the same time, you need to be sure that you don’t minimize the concern for bird mortality rates caused by wind power. The National Wind Coordinating Collaborative is a private-sector, non-profit organization with partners from the wind industry, science and environmental organizations, and wildlife management agencies. They did a study of wind-wildlife interactions that summarized a huge amount of scientific and scholarly data and produced a fact sheet that outlines how the wind power industry and environmentalists are responding to the issue. This document would clearly be part of your information package. Scholarly Sources Conducting a search in Google Scholar using the search statement “bird mortality from wind energy” uncovers hundreds of scholarly studies done in the U.S. and around the world. The general consensus appears to say that there is a clear link between wind turbines and bird mortality, but there are lots of caveats in the findings. One article in the scholarly journal Biological Conservation shows that bird mortality is greater with a type of wind turbine that is being phased out (lattice vs. monopole); that taller monopole turbines may pose more risk of raptor bird mortality than shorter monopole turbines because raptors fly at a higher elevation than songbirds (the usual victims of wind turbines), but that the blades on taller monopole turbines turn at a slower rate than the blades on shorter turbines so those risks may offset one another. Again, the data from studies such as this one would need to be summarized and included in any messages you generate. Journalistic Sources A search for journalistic coverage of this issue turns up thousands of news stories, including recent reports about offshore wind farms that pose fewer risks to birds than land-based turbines. Many news stories have been written about opposition to wind farms because of concerns about wildlife mortality, and there are state and local-level opposition as well as national-level concern. At the same time, editorials supporting wind energy as an alternative to the more harmful effects of other types of energy production have appeared in a number of newspapers in communities where the issue is of particular concern. This might suggest a list of news organizations you would want to target for your news releases since you know they have written about the issue and are open to a nuanced approach to the problem. You could also create a Google Alert on the topic so you would be notified whenever a new news story appears. Informal Sources You would want to monitor social media chatter about the most recent raptor mortality/wind power study and pay attention to those individuals and groups who seem to be most influential or have the largest followings. You could create a set of alerts on the most popular social media sites to be notified whenever there are new postings. You could then decide whether or not to respond based on the type of information in the postings or the likely impact of the messages. Additionally, you might suggest that the AWEA reach out to the most vocal individual opponents of wind energy (you would be able to generate a list of their names from the news stories you found) and incorporate their perspectives and concerns into your responses where appropriate. The information you locate from a variety of contributors appears to show that there is definitely a problem with bird mortality and wind energy. At the same time, the wind power industry, private-sector institutions, public-sector institutions and scholars are working on ways to lessen the impact. Also, the potential danger to animal life from wind-power appears to pale in comparison to the danger posed to ALL life from other forms of energy generation (climate change due to rising CO2 levels, strip coal mining, fracking, oil pipeline construction through wildlife habitat, deepwater oil drilling, etc.). You would want to be sure that your message strategy does not minimize the harm to birds, but also points out the efforts being taken by the industry to address the problems with newer technologies, additional precautions, changes in turbine sitings (offshore rather than on land), compliance with existing and emerging regulations and related initiatives. The message strategy you might propose to your Executive Director would include recommendations to include these types of arguments, with plenty of links and references to the information and evidence you have located, in any public comments, website content, news releases, “talking points” documents, and related messages to address the immediate “crisis” and to address longer-term communication needs for the association. Let’s say that you are working on a new business pitch for a possible advertising client. A new business pitch is the presentation and supporting documentation that an agency prepares to show to a prospective client in an effort to win that advertiser’s business. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="332"] United Airlines image provided by the website Logo. -CC BY-NC[/caption] The company whose advertising account you would like to win is United Airlines. The airline currently works with McGarryBowen advertising agency but since the merger with Continental Airlines, the company is considering other options for their advertising business. The agency for which you work has not had a commercial airline account in the past so the first task in your preparation of the new business pitch is to get up to speed quickly on the passenger airline industry. Questions to Pose:

• What is the overall economic health of the passenger/commercial airline industry?
• Who are the main players -- the airline companies, the aircraft manufacturers, the regulators, the workers’ unions, the customers, the other stakeholders? What perspective or position does each player take on the industry?
• What does airline advertising look like? Who is advertising, where do the ads appear, what do the ads say, how effective are the ads?
• What restrictions and regulations, if any, govern advertising for this industry?
• Who comprises the largest and most lucrative group of airline travelers? In other words, who are airlines trying to reach with their ads?

Depending on the questions you need to answer, there is a vast array of potential sources of information. Following is a sampling of the contributors that would have relevant information and the kinds of information you could find. Private-sector Institutional Sources:

• associations that are important for that industry (Airlines for America, Airline Passenger Experience Association, etc.)
• trade journals that discuss the most recent news and trends for that field (Aviation Week, etc.)
• financial records that detail the industry’s economic health from the company itself and from financial analysts who monitor the industry
• unions that represent the workers in that field (Airline Pilots Association, Association of Professional Flight Attendants, Transport Workers Union, etc.)
• demographic data that describe the customers for that industry's products/services and the audiences for its ads
• syndicated research service reports about airline advertising

Public-sector Institutional Sources:

• court records that document the interactions the company and competitors in the industry have had with the U.S. justice system
• government records that document regulation of the industry (Federal Aviation Administration reports, Occupational Safety and Health Administration reports, etc.)
• government records that provide insight into the financial health of the industry (Bureau of Transportation Statistics reports)
• government records about consumer complaints about the industry (Aviation Consumer Protection agency reports which are housed in the U.S. Department of Transportation)

Scholarly Sources:

• experts who can speak authoritatively about the commercial airline industry
• experts who can speak about the effectiveness of advertising in that industry

Journalistic Sources:

• news operations that write about the industry or are published in towns where key companies in that industry operate

Informal Sources:

• social media pages where people talk about that industry and its products/services

Once you have a good understanding of the industry overall and the types of advertising that are typical for companies in that sector, you can start to search for specific information about United Airlines, the company for which you are preparing the new business pitch. Again, you would identify a number of important questions to answer:

• How does United stack up against its competitors?
• Is the company financially sound?
• Does the company have a “unique selling proposition”?
• Who are United’s current customers and what do customers think about United?
• What do relevant workers’ groups think about United? (pilots, flight attendants, baggage handlers, air traffic controllers, aircraft manufacturers, etc.)
• What have United’s ads looked like in the past? To whom were they targeted? Where did the ads appear? Were they effective?
• How much has United spent on advertising in the past?
• Who should we propose that the airline target with their advertising? Business travelers, families, retirees, customers currently flying with other airlines or those who are traveling by other means, etc.?

A tiny sample of what you could find: Private-sector Institutional Sources

• United’s own demographic data about customers
• United’s corporate information
• McGarryBowen’s advertising work for United
• Google Finance’s compilation of public-sector and private-sector data about the company
• Customer ratings for United produced by other organizations
• Syndicated research services reports about ad spending for United; this would tell you where United ads are currently appearing and would help you identify the audiences that are currently being targeted with the advertising

Public-sector Institutional Sources

• Securities and Exchange Commission annual reports for United
• Air Travel Consumer Reports from the U.S. Department of Transportation

Scholarly Sources

• scholars who have studied the company specifically
• scholarly studies about airline customer satisfaction that include United’s rankings

Journalistic Sources

• news stories about United in general
• business journalism reports about United as a company and an investment
• journalistic reports about United’s advertising

Informal Sources

• United’s social media accounts
• Other social media accounts that discuss United
• FlyerTalk and related blog posts about United

After reviewing the information you have found, you have learned that United is doing well financially but their customer satisfaction ratings are at the bottom of the heap and their current advertising campaign, which resurrected the 30-year-old slogan “Fly the Friendly Skies,” has been widely ridiculed as ineffective and downright misleading. Especially after the airline's horrendous treatment of a passenger forcibly removed from a United flight in spring 2017, the company has a major PR problem. The company has simmering labor problems with its workforce (dissatisfied pilots, flight attendants, airplane mechanics, etc.) and a public image problem as a large, impersonal corporate behemoth after its merger with Continental.

Synthesizing all of this information, you would want to focus your brainstorming on a possible new advertising direction on a recommendation that the company repositions itself away from the claim about customer satisfaction because it cannot live up to that promise, especially after the fiascos of customer mistreatment in 2017. You and your advertising colleagues would want to identify other possible unique selling propositions on which the company could actually deliver (more non-stop routes to popular destinations, newer aircraft, more hubs, etc.) and be sure that any advertising claims could be clearly demonstrated and backed-up by the reality of the company’s performance.

Furthermore, you would want to examine in more detail the specifics of different audiences for the advertising -- what appeals would work better with business customers vs. leisure travelers, etc.? If you find that the airline could have better results by targeting a subset of its customers with its new advertising rather than producing a general audience ad campaign, that is where you would focus your news business pitch.

The new business pitch to United’s decision-makers presents an opportunity for you and your advertising agency colleagues to demonstrate your command of the facts about the airline industry overall and the relative position of United Airlines within that industry. It also provides an opportunity for you to generate creative and effective suggestions for ways the company could improve its advertising and its public image.

All of the scenarios and examples we’ve provided here are intended to give you concrete insights into the way the information strategy process works for real-life communications message tasks. Internalizing the process will prepare you for the work you will do in the rest of your coursework and your career in journalism or strategic communication.

News Value and the Strategic Communication Professional

While watching or listening to a major media network, you may occasionally find yourself thinking, “Why is this story considered news?” Audiences assume that the role of the media is to provide them with the most important information about issues and events happening locally, nationally, and worldwide. Therefore, media outlets send an indirect message to audiences about a story’s perceived importance through the selection and how much time and exposure they give the story.

A story’s newsworthiness is largely determined by its news value, a standard that determines whether an event or situation is worth media attention. News value is referred to as “criteria used by media outlets to determine whether or not to cover a story and how much resources it should receive” (Kraft, 2015). Journalists and reporters are likely to spend their limited time and resources on a story that has many news values.

Strategic communication professionals who understand what constitutes newsworthy content will increase their chances of gaining media coverage for their brand or organization. In fact, there is a saying that “the most successful public relations professionals are those who think and act like reporters” (Caruso, 2011, para. 1). Because journalists are more interested in stories that will appeal to their readers or listeners, understanding the news value of your messages will help to enhance your company’s media relations and general coverage.

The Role of Writing in Public Relations

Public relations professionals at all levels need to have solid writing skills. White (2016) says, “To succeed as a PR pro, it’s vital to have a passion for writing and communication and to be committed to excelling in both. You’re bound to fail if you don’t” (para. 9). Public relations professionals are responsible for developing communication materials intended to influence the attitudes and/or behaviors of key publics. Many employers require candidates for public relations positions to complete a writing test and provide a writing sample to demonstrate proficiency in this skill. Therefore, it is critical to understand how to craft effective messages through written communication.

Here are some of the many materials and messages that public relations professionals have to write:

• Press/News releases
• Fact sheets
• Feature articles
• Social media messages
• Blog posts
• Speeches
• PowerPoint presentations
• Brochures
• Media pitches
• Statements
• Website messages

News Writing Versus Public Relations Writing

Effective public relations writing draws from news writing principles because the news media is one of the preferred channels for promoting products and services. However, news writing and public relations writing differ in terms of audience, tone, and media channels. News writing should be objective in tone, with the purpose of presenting information to educate an audience about newsworthy events. On the other hand, public relations writing advocates for the client. It is informative, but it should also influence key publics’ perception of the organization. Some would also argue that public relations writing is even more concise than new writing.

Reporters usually write for one audience: readers or listeners of the respective media outlet. Public relations professionals may have to write for a variety of audiences, including internal audiences (such as employees, shareholders, and distributors) and external audiences (such as the media, customers, volunteers, and bloggers). News writing uses one primary communication channel, the news outlet (which can be a newspaper or a television or radio broadcast). Although journalists are increasingly using Twitter to post their articles, this usually entails posting a link that directs the audience to the news outlet’s primary website. Public relations professionals use a variety of channels to distribute their messages, including news media, social media, advertisements, blogs, press kits, and many more.

]]> 215 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=217 Mon, 17 Jun 2019 18:43:09 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/chapter-10-establishing-a-professional-portfolio-2/ When considering what to include in your writing portfolio, look at relevant class assignments or work produced in a previous or current communications role. The Forbes Communications council has listed the ten things they think every communicator's portfolio should include (read article for more detail on each):1. Lead-Generating Content 2. Pitch Deck 3. Interesting Bio 4. Informative Blog Post 5. Personal Blog Post 6. Sample Of Research And Synthesis 7. Demonstration Of Versatility 8. Bylined Article 9. News Release 10. Inspirational Work The first page of a hard-copy portfolio is usually a resume. Online portfolios include a description or summary of your professional background. From there, create clear sections and headings and arrange the content by article or document type.

Tailor the portfolio to jobs or industries you’re interested in and by chronological order, with the most recent work first or at the top of the online portfolio. For example, if you’re applying for a job that requires proficiency in CP style writing, include writing samples that use this style, such as news releases or feature articles. If you’re applying for a job that requires social media writing skills, make sure to include social media posts that you’ve created for an organization. Here’s a list of some other materials you could include in the portfolio:

• Website copy
• Media pitches
• Social media posts that you created for an organization
• A communications plan or PR campaign proposal in response to an RFP
• Examples of media coverage you secured from pitches (it helps if you provide the original pitch that led to the media coverage)

Include brief contextual information for each piece of writing, such as the name of the organization it was created for and the date. Be ready to discuss your writing samples during a job interview. You may explain why you created the material and the results that came from it, such as increased website traffic and Twitter followers from a news article publication. Here are some resources and examples for creating online writing portfolios:

• How to make an impressive writing portfolio. Lovering, C. (2016) Houston Chronicle
• Gari Cruze, copywriter
• Brandi Uyemura, features writer
• Caitlin Reid, freelance copywriter and journalist

Other important points about the writing portfolio As you work on more projects and articles, remember to include them in your portfolio. Constantly update the portfolio so that employers and professional contacts can see your most recent work (having an online writing portfolio as part of a personal website or blog can make this process quite seamless). Include a minimum of two to three writing samples, although the quality of the portfolio materials matters more than the quantity (Lovering, 2016).Here are just a few of the virtually hundreds (if not thousands) of online platforms you can use to create an online writing portfolio:

• clippings.me
• Google Docs
• WordPress
• Wix
• Squarespace

]]> 217 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=219 Fri, 31 Jan 2020 19:53:50 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/part-2-references-2/ Ariely, D. & Melamede, Y. (2015). (Dis)Honesty [motion picture]. United States: Salty Features. BusinessDictionary.(2016).Definitionofconflictofinterest. Retrievedfrom: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/conflict-of-interest.html Chow, E.K. (2014). Why Courtney Love’s ‘Twibel’ lawsuit is good for the Internet. Huffington Post. Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eugene-k-chow/why-courtney-love-twibel_b_4688426.html DoubletheDonation.(2016).50+companiesthatdonatetononprofits. Retrieved from: https://doublethedonation.com/companies-that-donate-to-nonprofits/ DoubletheDonation.(2016).Matchinggiftandcorporategivingstatistics. Retrieved from: https://doublethedonation.com/matching-grant-resources/matching-gift-statistics/ Federal Trade Commission. (2016). Division of Advertising Practices. Retrieved from: https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/bureaus-offices/bureau-consumer-protection/our-divisions/division-advertising-practices Geben Communication. (2016). Two Caterers: Local PR. Retrieved from: http://gebencommunication.com/portfolio/two-caterers-local-pr/ Harrower, T. (2012). Inside Reporting. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education. Horowitz, J. (2016). Behind Melania Trump’s cribbed lines, an ex-ballerina who loved writing. The New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/us/politics/melania-trump-speech-meredith-mciver.html Memmott, M. (2011). Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter apologizes for plagiarizing. NPR. Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/03/17/134620598/pulitzer-prize-winning-reporter-apologizes-for-plagiarizing Finley, K. (2014). How to bootstrap your PR like a BOSS. Retrieved from: http://www.thinkbelle.com/resources/ AdvertisingEducationalFoundation.(2016).Advertisingcareerpossibilities. Retrieved from: http://www.aef.com/industry/careers/9000 Altstiel, T. & Grow, J. (2016). Advertising creative: Strategy, copy, and design. Washington, DC: Sage Publications. Atkin, C.K. & Rice, R.E. (2012). Theory and principles of public communication campaigns. In R.E. Rice and C.K. Atkin (eds.), Public communication campaigns (pp. 3-19). Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage. eMarketer. (2016). US spending on paid media expected to climb 5.1% in 2016. Retrieved from: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/US-Spending-on-Paid-Media-Expected-Climb-51-2016/1013739 Felton, G. (2013). Advertising: Concept and copy. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company. Newspaper Association of America. (2014). Public policy: Advertising. Retrieved from: http://www.naa.org/Public-Policy/Government-Affairs/Advertising.aspx Perloff, R.M. (2010). The dynamics of persuasion: Communication and attitudes in the 21st century. New York, NY: Routledge. Thierer, A. (2012). We all hate advertising, but we can’t live without it. Forbes. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamthierer/2012/05/13/we-all-hate-advertising-but-we-cant-live-without-it/#3bc70705e1c7 ]]> 219 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=221 Tue, 11 Jun 2019 22:52:01 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/chapter-6-the-role-of-writing-in-public-relations/

Previously, we touched on using the news media as an informational tool to achieve your organization’s communication goals. One useful writing material is a feature article. Features are more in-depth than traditional news stories and go beyond providing the most important facts. The purpose of these stories is to provide a detailed description of a place, person, idea, or organization.

Although reporters and editors classify features as news stories, they are not necessarily structured using the inverted pyramid style. Instead, features use storytelling devices to help the reader connect with the overall narrative and its central characters. Features are particularly common in magazine writing, although they frequently appear in other mediums.

Profiles or personality features that give insight into a person’s role, experience, or background are one type of feature. Among the most common subjects of profiles are celebrities, athletes, individuals who overcome challenges, and high-profile executives.

Click here for more information on the different types of features.

It is important to understand the circumstances that warrant a feature piece from a strategic communication perspective. Communication professionals write feature articles to provide in-depth exposure for their client or organization. A feature can increase a client or company’s visibility and even help find new key audiences.

If you need to quickly get information about your client or organization to the media, a feature article may not be the best tool because it typically is longer than a traditional news story. However, you could write a feature article on, for example, your company’s new CEO to provide more background information to key audiences. Feature stories are also used in an organization’s internal communications, such as newsletters and magazines.

Overall, feature articles use an informative tone while incorporating creative and descriptive devices in order to increase audience appeal. Here is an example of a feature article from the New York Times.

Unlike the traditional summary lead, feature leads can be several sentences long, and the writer may not immediately reveal the story’s main idea. The most common types used in feature articles are anecdotal leads and descriptive leads. An anecdotal lead unfolds slowly. It lures the reader in with a descriptive narrative that focuses on a specific minor aspect of the story that leads to the overall topic. The following is an example of an anecdotal lead:

Sharon Jackson was sitting at the table reading an old magazine when the phone rang. It was a reporter asking to set up an interview to discuss a social media controversy involving Jackson and another young woman.“Sorry,” she said. “I’ve already spoken to several reporters about the incident and do not wish to make any further comments.”

Notice that the lead unfolds more slowly than a traditional lead and centers on a particular aspect of the larger story. The nut graph, or a paragraph that reveals the importance of the minor story and how it fits into the broader story, would come after the lead. There will be more on the nut graph later in this chapter.

Descriptive leads begin the article by describing a person, place, or event in vivid detail. They focus on setting the scene for the piece and use language that taps into the five senses in order to paint a picture for the reader. This type of lead can be used for both traditional news and feature stories. The following is an example of a descriptive lead:

Thousands dressed in scarlet and gray T-shirts eagerly shuffled into the football stadium as the university fight song blared.

For each article below, identify whether it uses a descriptive or anecdotal lead:

• A thin line of defense
• Pediatric patient
• Inside Jay Z’s Roc Nation

The content in a feature article isn’t necessarily presented as an inverted pyramid; instead, the organization may depend on the writer’s style and the story angle. Nevertheless, all of the information in a feature article should be presented in a logical and coherent fashion that allows the reader to easily follow the narrative.

As previously stated, the nut graph follows the lead. This paragraph connects the lead to the overall story and conveys the story’s significance to the readers (Scanlan, 2003).

The nut graph comes from a commonly used formula for writing features, known as the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) formula (International Center for Journalists, 2016). The formula was named after the well-known and respected publication, which created the term “nut graph” and mastered feature news writing (Rich, 2016).

The formula consists of beginning the story with feature-style leads to grab the reader’s attention, followed by the nut graph (Scanlan, 2003). After this comes a longer body of the story that provides the usual background, facts, quotes, and so on. The formula then specifies a return to the opening focus at the end of the story using another descriptive passage or anecdote, also known as the “circle kicker” (Rich, 2016). This could be, for example, an update on what eventually happened to the main character or how the event or issue turned out. This blog post provides a detailed example of the WSJ formula.

Literary Devices

Feature writers use a particular style of writing to convey the story’s message. The use of literary devices helps in this task. These devices include similes and metaphors, onomatopoeia (use of words that mimic a sound), imagery (figurative language), climax, and more. Here are a few examples of onomatopoeia and imagery:

Onomatopoeia: The tires screeched against the concrete as she hit the pedal.

Imagery (example modified from Butte College, 2016): The apartment smelled of old cooking odors, cabbage, and mildew; . . . a haze of dusty sunlight peeked from the one cobwebbed, gritty window.

Click here for more information on literary devices, including specific examples.

Descriptive Writing

A good feature writer uses plot devices and dialogues that help move the story forward, while focusing on the central theme and providing supporting information through descriptive language and specific examples. You want to show readers what’s happening, not simply tell them. They should be able to visualize the characters, places, and events highlighted in the feature piece.

Show versus tell

Tell: Friends describe Amariah as a generous and vibrant person who was involved in several nonprofit organizations.

Show: Tracey proudly recalls her friend’s generosity. “Amariah is usually the first person to arrive at a volunteer event, and the last to leave. She spends four hours every Saturday morning volunteering at the mentoring center. It’s rare to not catch her laughing, flashing her perfect smile. She’s just a burst of positive energy.”

It’s often tempting to end a feature piece with a summary conclusion. Instead, use an anecdote, passage, or compelling quote that will leave a lasting impression on your readers.

]]> 221 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=264 Tue, 11 Jun 2019 23:36:45 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/chapter-7-public-relations-writing-basics-lessons/

Information Strategy Process and the Needs of Communicators

Information for Messages

Communicators perform two basic tasks: they gather and evaluate information, and they create messages. This course focuses on the information strategy skills communicators must hone to find the information they need to form effective messages. Media messages take myriad forms and serve different functions.  In this lesson, we will discuss the variety of media message types. To get started, answer this - which of the following is not a media message?

• Editorial about mass transit needs
• Branded content (advertorial) about nursing home services
• News release announcing a company’s merger with another company
• TV commercial for dog food
• Breaking news story about a tornado
• Profile of a performance artist
• Billboard for a mobile phone company
• Five-part series on climate change
• Pop-up ad on your mobile device for cheap car insurance
• Reporter's Twitter post linking to a new investigative report

The answer, of course, is that they all are media messages. The differences in these messages, though, are readily apparent. Where you find them, what purpose they serve, and what the message creator hopes you will do with the information contained in the message are all different. So are the information requirements in creating these different messages. The pop-up ad just needs the facts about the insurance company and a link, whereas the series on global warming needs extensive information from reports and experts to effectively create the message. Whether you are a reporter, a public relations specialist, or someone who works in advertising, the main output of your work will be a media message. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="218"] Ceramic Pot by OpenClipart-Vectors. Source: Pixabay. CC0 Public Domain.[/caption] According to Wikipedia,

“A message in its most general meaning is an object of communication. It is a vessel which provides information.”   

Just as it takes clay to make pottery, it takes information to craft a message. At all stages in the process of crafting a message, information is the essential material. Just as pottery can come in many shapes and forms and serve various purposes, so, too, do the information “vessels” communicators create.

The Information Strategy Process

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="698"] Information Strategies for Communicators by Kathleen A. Hansen and Nora Paul. Source: University of Minnesota Libraries. CC BY 4.0[/caption]

Long Description

Step 1: Message Analysis: arrows point to Context (Who is my audience? Message purpose. Message time and space. Message format and channel.) and Content (What is the topic? Topic Terminology. Questions to be answered. Narrowing the focus.). Step 2: Potential Contributors: 4 arrows point to: #1 Institutional Sources (monitor, search, interview), #2 Scholarly Sources (monitor, search, interview) #3 Journalistic Sources (monitor, search, interview) #4 Informal Sources (monitor, search, interview). Each of these 4 has 2-way arrows pointing to Evaluate and Select which has a 2-way arrow pointing to Synthesize which then has an arrow pointing to Craft the Message.

These steps, by way of review, are:

• clarify the parameters of the message assignment.
• identify potential audiences.
• generate ideas and bring focus to the topic.
• understand the variety of potential contributors of information.
• appreciate the ethical and legal considerations required.

Models can be useful ways to illustrate often complicated processes.  The Information Strategy Process model below recognizes that in an information-rich environment, it is impossible to remember thousands of specific information-finding tools and resources for answering specific questions. Instead, the model suggests a systematic course to follow when developing a strategy for determining, and seeking, the information needed for any message type or topic. The model identifies the steps in the information strategy process and indicates the paths between the steps. As the two-way arrows indicate, the process may include some backtracking in the course of verifying information or raising additional questions. As a graphic representation of both the steps to take in the process and the sources that might meet a particular information need, the model serves as the outline of your entire information-gathering process. The model also identifies the contributors to an information strategy. Information is created by many different types of sources and is intended to meet a wide variety of needs for both the information creator and for anyone who might gather and use that information.  The model points out the major contributors or sources of information: institutional sources (which include both public-sector and private- sector institutions), scholarly sources, journalistic sources, and informal sources. The information strategy model for mass communicators applies to any type of message task and any topic that you may be working on. The process applies to an information search for news, advertising, public relations or even for an academic paper. The information strategy process can facilitate the search for information on any topic and for any audience. For mass communicators, the information strategy process will help you:

• think through the message’s purpose, context, audience, and key topics
• identify and select a manageable portion of the topic which needs to be examined
• develop a method for an in-depth examination of a segment of the topic selected
• identify appropriate potential sources of information
• select effective techniques for researching the topic
• determine a vocabulary for discussing your message analysis, information gathering and selection process with others (colleagues, supervisors, critics, audience members. etc.)
• save time by helping you avoid wading through masses of information that may be interesting, but in the end, not very useful for the message task

We will use this conceptual map as a way to think about how to accomplish each of the information tasks that communication professionals might face.

Information Tasks of Communication Professionals

[caption id="attachment_91" align="alignleft" width="202"] News Globe by geralt. Source: Pixabay. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] Each of the mass communication professions - journalism, advertising, public relations – serve different information objectives for their organizations.

• Journalistic organizations want to inform and engage the readers / viewers / listeners of their messages through publishing stories about current events, people, ideas, or useful tips. By providing compelling and interesting information they hope to draw an audience to the publications in which their messages appear.
• Advertising firms create messages for their clients that inform or persuade potential customers to purchase a product or service or adopt an idea or perspective. Ads generally include a “call to action” that identifies the intended outcome of the message. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="270"] Advertising vs PR by Mark Smiciklas. Source: Flickr. CC BY-NC 1.0.[/caption]
• Public relations firms help their clients influence legislators, stakeholders (ie: regulators, business partners, media organizations and the general public) to think positively about the company or organization and manage the organization’s information environment.

They serve these key objectives using a variety of message types. Let’s look at the different forms of media messages in news organizations, advertising agencies, and public relations firms and the information tasks of the professionals creating those messages.

News Messages

[caption id="attachment_1145" align="alignleft" width="235"] Newspaper by geralt. Source: Pixabay. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] News messages are often broken into three categories: “hard” news, “soft” news or features, and opinion. “Hard” news comprises reports of important issues, current events, and other topics that inform citizens about what is going on in the world and their communities while “soft” news covers those things that are not necessarily important and are handled with a lighter approach. Opinion pieces, unlike the other two which value “objectivity,” are subjective and will have a specific point of view.

Hard News

• Breaking news – Sometimes referred to as “the first take on history” breaking news stories provide as clear and accurate an accounting of some kind of event as possible while it is happening. In reporting about wildfires raging in the west, the breaking news story requires a timely accounting of what’s happening, with a tight focus on the "who, what, when, where, why" and it requires well-honed observation and interviewing skills. For the breaking news story, the information tasks for the reporters are to show up, assess the situation, use their senses to cover the event and learn more information through first-person interviews. Breaking news provides the “need to know” information as an event unfolds.
• Depth report – The depth report is the story after the breaking news report. The goals for journalists preparing a depth report are to try to help people understand how the event happened, who was affected, what is being done about it, how people are reacting. For instance, in the aftermath of a story about wildfires in the West, the reporter’s information tasks would include gathering background information about the firefighting efforts, the economic impact of the fires, the reactions of home and business owners, the potential impact that the weather might have on future similar events. As with the breaking news story, the journalist is transmitting information, not opinion and they must be able to identify the most knowledgeable sources.

• Analysis or interpretive report – The focus here is on an issue, problem or controversy. The substance of the report is still a verifiable fact, not opinion. But instead of presenting facts as with breaking news or a depth report and hoping the facts speak for themselves, the reporter writing an interpretive piece clarifies, explains, analyzes. The report usually focuses on WHY something has (or has not) happened. The information tasks are greater for this type of report, due to the need to clarify and explain rather than simply narrate. An analysis of the wildfires might look into how environmental policy or urban sprawl factored into the event. Analyses generally require learning about different perspectives or ranges of opinion from a variety of experts and more “digging” into causes.

• Investigative report – Unlike the analysis which follows up on a news event, the information tasks for an investigative report require journalists to uncover information that will not be handed to them, these stories are reported by opening closed doors and closed mouths. These are the stories that expose problems or controversies authorities may not want to see covered. This requires unearthing hidden or previously unorganized information in order to clarify, explain and analyze something. A key technique used in investigative reports is data analysis. In the aftermath of the wildfires, a news organization might investigate the insurance claims process or how a charitable organization that received relief funds for fire victims actually allocated the money. The investigative report requires the communicator to have a high level of information sophistication, and the ability to convey complex information in a straightforward way for the audience.

Soft News

• Feature – The feature differs from the other types of news reports in intent. The previous examples seek to inform the audience about something of importance or concern. Features, on the other hand, are designed to capture audience interest and are more about providing entertainment than critical information. The feature story depends on the style, great writing, and humor as much as on the information it contains. There are several types of features:

News – A story about a man who used cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to revive a pet dog rescued from the bottom of a pool might be reported as a news feature. It is based on an event, but covered as a feature, but the information tasks require gathering material to put more emphasis on the drama of the event than on the information about how to do CPR on a dog.

Personality sketch or profile – A story about the accomplishments, attitudes and characteristics of an individual seeks to capture the essence of a person. This requires both thorough backgrounding of the subject and skills in interviewing as information tasks. The communicator has to have a well-honed ability for noticing details that bring to life what is interesting or unique about the person.

Informative – A sidebar to accompany a main news story might be written as an informative feature. For example, an informative feature that describes the various methods firefighters use to combat wildfires might accompany a breaking news story. The information tasks for the reporter include a good command of sometimes-technical information to convey the story to the audience.

Historical – Holidays are often the inspiration for this type of piece, with focus on the history of the Christmas tree, the first Thanksgiving dinner, etc. The curious communicator could also create features about the anniversary of the founding of an important local business or the celebration of statehood using background archival documents. The information tasks for these types of reports obviously require locating and interpreting extensive historical information.

Descriptive – Many features are about places people can visit, or events they can attend. Tourist spots, historical sites, recreational areas, and festivals all generate reams of feature story copy, pictures and video. Public relations specialists often have a significant hand in generating much of the background information in these types of features and promoting these events or places to the news media. The information tasks include finding a fresh and engaging angle for the content.

How-to – Some features are created to provide information about how to improve your golf game, become a power-shopper, install your own shower tile. The communicator has to have a solid grasp of the subject matter to do a respectable job with this type of piece. The information tasks for how-to features include the need for material that is descriptive, specific, and very clearly communicated.

Opinion:

• These types of reports include editorials, columns, and reviews. They are characterized by the presentation of facts and opinion to entertain and influence the audience. Nonetheless, they still require correlation and analysis of information. Because their purpose is persuasion, they must contain clear, detailed information and make logical and understandable arguments in support of the point of view being presented.

[caption id="attachment_91" align="alignright" width="558"] Inside Journalism by The Washington Post Source: Washington Post Newspapers[/caption]

Editorials – The editorial is a reflection of management's attitude rather than a reporter's or editor's personal view. Most are unsigned and run on a specific page of the newspaper or website or during a particular time of the broadcast. Editorials usually seek to do one of three things: commend or condemn some action; persuade the audience to some point of view; or entertain and amuse the audience. The information tasks for an editorial include locating and using credible information as evidence for whatever position is being taken.

Columns – A column includes the personal opinions of the writer on the state of the community and the world. Many columns are written by syndicated, national writers, but local commentators and columnists also have a following in their communities. Columnists use information selectively, based on their point of view and the argument they are making. Columnists’ information tasks include maintaining a consistent “voice” and approach to each topic.

Reviews – Reviewers make informed judgments about the content and quality of something presented to the public--books, films, theater, television programs, concerts, recorded music, art exhibits, restaurants. The responsibility of reviewers is to report and evaluate on behalf of the audience. The information must be descriptive as well as evaluative. The reviewer describes the concert and then makes an evaluation of the quality of the performance. Reviewers’ information tasks require them to be deeply knowledgeable about the type of content or activity they are reviewing, as well as having an opinion about it.

Advertising Messages

Advertising is defined as a paid form of communication from an identified sponsor using mass media to persuade or influence an audience. Because there are so many diverse advertisers attempting to reach so many different types of audiences with persuasive messages, many forms of advertising have developed. We will discuss nine types of advertising and the information tasks they require of the communicator. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="242"] 1922 Coca-Cola ad by Coca-Cola. Source:Wikimedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] 1) Brand or national consumer advertising – This type of advertising emphasizes brand identity and image. Advertising campaigns for Coca-Cola, Nike, or American Express are examples. Brand advertising seeks to generate demand for a product or service, and then convince the audience that a specific brand is the one they want. For example, Nike ads seek to generate demand for expensive athletic shoes and to convince purchasers that they want Nikes rather than Reeboks. The information tasks for these types of campaigns are extensive but much of the information that is gathered usually does not actually appear in the content of the ads themselves. Rather, the information informs the development of the advertising campaign strategy and the choice of media in which to place the ads. 2) Retail – Advertising that is local and that focuses on the store where products and services can be purchased is called retail advertising. The message emphasizes price, availability, location and hours of operation. Nike, for example, might generate a brand ad about their shoes, but the local department store would generate a retail ad telling about the great sale they are having on Nikes and other shoes. The department store managers don’t care which brand of shoe you buy as long as you shop in their store rather than their competitor’s store. The information tasks for these types of ads include gathering a lot of highly specific information about the retailer, given the purpose of the advertisements. 3) Directory – Ads that help you learn where to buy a product or service are directory ads. The telephone yellow pages are the most common form of directory ads, but many other directories perform the same function. The ads that appear as "sponsored links" next to your results from a search in a search engine are a form of directory ads. They are classified and served to you according to the terms in your search. These types of ads are almost purely information-based and meet an already-expressed need for information on the part of the audience member. The information tasks connected to directory ads include analysis of vast data sets of information about consumers, much of which is done by computer algorithms. But the ad creators need to understand how and why a particular consumer was targeted for a particular ad in order to be effective. [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="167"] Nixon_handout_1950 by Nixon for U.S. Senate campaign. Source: Wikipedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] 4) Political – Ads designed to persuade people to vote for a politician are familiar fixtures on the media landscape every political season. We can all recall candidate ads we've seen during each election cycle. Information tasks for this type of ad include gathering background research about the opposition candidate as well as material about the candidate sponsoring the ad, the latest polls of likely voters, public attitudes about the issues, and other facts that inform the strategy for the copy and placement of the ad. Communicators also must know the relevant legal and regulatory restrictions for political advertising in each market where the ads may run. 5) Direct-response – These types of ads can appear in any medium. A direct-response ad tries to stimulate a sale directly. The consumer can respond by phone, mail, or electronically, and the product is delivered directly to the consumer by mail or to a mobile device (a coupon for the pizza parlor you just passed on the street). On television, the infomercials for hair-care products, exercise equipment, or kitchen gear are examples of direct-response ads. Flyers you get in the mail to “Buy this Product” are also examples. These ads have a high information component and the communicators’ information tasks reflect the need to be well-informed. The message-makers assume the audience is already interested in or curious about the goods or services since they are watching the infomercial, reading the catalog, or have gone to the website. The direct-response piece includes lots of information about the products, and the goal is to make the sale. Mobile versions of direct response ads have to have a good “hook” to get the receiver to pay attention and act.  

6) Business-to-business – Messages directed at retailers, wholesalers, distributors, industrial purchasers, and professionals such as lawyers and physicians comprise business-to-business advertising. These ads are concentrated in business and professional publications. For example, banks advertise to small business owners; or equipment manufacturers advertise to factory managers, hospital administrators, restaurant owners, and others who might purchase their equipment. Unless you do the type of work that makes you an audience member for these kinds of messages, you aren't likely to see very many business-to-business ads. Because these types of ads require that they are directed toward a specialist audience with specific needs for products or services tailored for a particular industry, the information tasks required to produce these ads are highly detailed. 7) Institutional – This form of advertising is sometimes called corporate advertising. The focus of the message is on establishing a corporate identity or winning the public over to the organization's point of view. Rather than outlining the product or service offered by the institution, the ad attempts to create an image or reinforce an attitude about the company as a whole. Also, the ad may attempt to influence policymaking by advocating a particular position on some national issue that affects the interests of the sponsoring institution. The information component of this type of ad usually consists of extensive background research about the attitudes and psychologies of the intended audience, and the information tasks include gathering in-depth knowledge about the sponsoring institution and its goals for the message. [caption id="attachment_93" align="alignleft" width="300"] Pinder's Optometrists Advertorial by Nigel Lamb. Source: Flickr. CC BY 1.0[/caption] 8) Advertising features – Also referred to as an advertorial, branded content or native ads, this form is becoming more common. Many magazines carry inserts that look like a feature piece but are actually generated by an advertiser or a public relations firm, not by a journalist. For example, you might find an insert in a newsweekly magazine about living a healthy lifestyle, with articles and photographs that are sponsored by a pharmaceutical company. The communicator must have solid background information about the product, service or topic AND must know how to write like a journalist. Hence, the information tasks for this type of content include both content and stylistic aspects. 9) Public service – This type of ad communicates a message on behalf of some good cause, such as stopping drunk driving or preventing AIDS. Unlike the other types of advertising, media professionals create these ads for free, and time or space to run the ads are donated by media outlets. The ads typically include some information that emphasizes the nature of the problem or the cause so as to induce the audience to take the problem seriously. Information tasks for public service ads or PSAs usually includes identifying an emotional or psychological “hook” for the audience to get engaged with the ad content.  Take a look at this video from UNEP World Environment Day PSA. Much of the information that is used in the creation of advertising never actually appears in the copy of the ad or in the visuals that are produced. Instead, extensive information is uncovered to help the advertising professionals understand the background of the audience and message. For instance, communicators need to understand the product or service they will be pitching, the interests and needs of the intended audience, the competitors' product advantages and disadvantages, all of which help them decide how much money should be spent on the campaign and where the ads should appear.

Public Relations Messages

Public relations messages are sometimes referred to as "earned media" (as opposed to “paid media” like advertising.) This means that the PR professional has “earned” the attention of the journalist who decides to use the information the PR professional supplied as the germ of a news story. The messages created by public relations professionals get a major portion of their exposure through journalism organizations - output from public relations professionals is a major source of news. A significant routine for news professionals is the monitoring and use of news releases generated by public relations specialists, attendance at news conferences organized by PR professionals, coverage of events sponsored by PR strategists, and use of material from the media kits that PR firms create for their clients. Generally speaking, the policy of news organizations is that PR-generated messages are checked, edited, and supplemented by information independently generated by news professionals before running. In fact, much PR appears in mass media, but most of it is produced for specialized media such as trade, association, and employee publications. Public relations messages are also a part of what is referred to as “strategic communications” along with advertising in that there is a strategic objective in the crafting of the message to influence people’s opinions or purchasing decisions. Just as there are various forms of news and advertising messages, there are a number of forms of public relations messages, and a set of information tasks for communicators. 1) Internal PR – These include corporate newsletters, crisis management plans, corporate intelligence reports, and other forms of communication that are intended for the internal audience of employees and officers of a company. Also included here are the annual reports prepared for stockholders in publicly-held firms. These types of public relations media are information-rich and the information tasks include having an extensive understanding of the company, the issues and problems the company faces, the finances of the firm and any other factors that employees and stockholders would have an interest in knowing about. [caption id="attachment_93" align="alignright" width="300"] US Bureau of Statistics[/caption] 2) News releases – News releases are sent to media outlets by PR specialists who want to generate interest for their client or company. A news release might be prepared:

• as a simple announcement story (IBM's 3rd quarter profits rose)
• as an advance story (The circus will be unloading animals for the 3-day stay in town at such-and-such a place and time)
• as a follow-up after an event (Ground was broken for a new nursing home)
• in response to a trend, current event or unfolding crisis (Interest rates are at an all-time low, so ABC Mortgage is offering the following tips to consumers about refinancing).

The best news releases are produced to have the look and feel of a news story that might have been produced by news professionals. They, therefore, share many of the same information characteristics as news reports. The one big difference, as we have already stated, is that PR specialists are not obligated to tell all sides of the story. The information tasks for news release producers are very similar to those for feature story journalists.

3) Broadcast (video) news releases – A video news release (VNR) is simply a news release in the form of a broadcast news story. The video and voice-over are designed to look like a piece that you would see on any television news program. B-roll footage, or video images sent to the media, is closely related to a VNR. The difference is that b-roll does not include a narrated voice-over, and is not edited as a ready-to-go news package. Reporters use b-roll footage from companies to enhance their own stories. For example, for a new movie release, the promotion company might send out b-roll footage of the filming to be used in a story or review.

An audio news release (ANR) is designed to be played on the radio. The audio clip might be a "voicer," a news story recorded by a PR professional in the style of a radio announcer; or the clip might be an "actuality," the actual voice of a newsmaker or news source speaking. These types of messages are usually accompanied by a print news release or an announcement to alert news professionals that the VNR or ANR is available.   ANRs EXPLAINED Once again, these announcements are produced to have the look and sound of reports produced by news professionals, but with a different standard for completeness of the information. PR news releases rarely include information representing all sides of the issue. For that reason, it is generally considered an ethical breach to use information from a VNR or ANR without attributing it to the source so the news audience isn’t confused about where the information originated. But the information tasks are again similar to those for feature journalists. 4) Media kits – Media kits consist of a fact sheet about the client or event, biographic sketches of major people involved, a straight news story, news-column material, a news feature, a brochure, photographs, and for those kits delivered digitally, audio and video segments. Often, media professionals package these materials in a folder or other unique format that is professionally designed and printed or post the materials on a website specifically created for the distribution of the media kit content. Public relations organizations create media kits with the intent of providing story ideas for news professionals, as well as to generate interest and attention for the client. For example, the Salvation Army might update its “Kettle Bell Ringing” media kit before the holiday season each year. Magazine publishers create media kits to attract advertisers by highlighting the size and quality of their audiences, the effectiveness of their editorial content and the prices for placing an ad. With all the different components that go into a media kit, you can understand that the information tasks for communicators producing these types of messages are large in number and detailed requirements. [caption id="attachment_93" align="alignleft" width="300"] Pentagon Press Secretary George E. Little briefs... by Glenn Fawcett. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain.[/caption] 5) Backgrounder or briefing session – PR specialists provide in-depth information about an issue or event for reporters in backgrounders or briefing sessions. The PR people offer handouts (information sheets or reports) and the principal news source about the issue or event makes a presentation. Unlike news conferences, there is little give and take between reporters and the moderator of these sessions. They are used to explain a policy or situation rather than to announce something. The National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB), for example, might hold a briefing session following an airplane crash. The handouts prepared for these sessions are sometimes quite extensive, requiring solid information preparation among the PR specialists working on the handouts. The information tasks for the PR specialists include the need to anticipate the types of questions journalists will ask and the depth of follow-up material they need to provide. 6) News conferences – There are two categories of news conferences: information or personality. The information news conference usually has a single motive – someone wants media attention for an announcement, for an update on a breaking event, for a follow-up about an investigation, or some other specific item of interest to news professionals. There is give and take as reporters ask questions of the person at the podium. [caption id="attachment_93" align="alignright" width="300"] NYFF 2010 "Hereafter" Press Conference by aphrodite-in-nyc. Source: Wikimedia . CC BY 2.0[/caption] The personality news conference is designed to provide news professionals with access to someone famous, about-to-be-famous, or otherwise in the public spotlight. Whenever a professional sports team signs a major college star, for example, there is usually a personality news conference where the individual Information tasks for a news conference include preparing an opening statement, a briefing paper for the person which anticipates reporters' questions, and social media content that can be shared during and after the news conference. There may also be a handout outlining the major points made in the announcement. Again, PR specialists must understand what makes news and prepare their news conference information to meet those requirements. [caption id="attachment_93" align="alignleft" width="300"] Media Tour by Petty by Dustin Knight . Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain.[/caption] 7) Media tour – Like a briefing or background session, the purpose of a media tour is to provide in-depth information to reporters. However, the format of the meetings that take place on the media tour is often highly interactive, with one-on-one between a reporter and company official (and public relations specialist). The nature of the information provided as part of a media tour is generally slightly less timely than what would be discussed as part of a news backgrounder or briefing. A media tour might be arranged so that reporters can “demo” a new high-tech product while a company representative walks them through the features. PR specialists’ information tasks include knowing what will be most interesting to the journalists on the tour and what can and can’t be shared as part of the event. [caption id="attachment_93" align="alignright" width="300"] Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III completes crosses the finish line... by U.S. Navy. Source: Wikimedia Common. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] 8) Special events – PR specialists may plan special events (sometimes disparagingly-labeled "pseudo-events") for clients who want media attention for a cause or issue. There may be a jump-rope-a-thon for cancer research, or a grain company may sponsor a food lift for famine victims. These events must be planned to have news value, and the information that is generated to announce and entice coverage by news professionals must have all of the same characteristics that we have already mentioned. Coverage of these types of events is usually framed as a feature, with similar information tasks for PR practitioners. 9) Responses to media inquiries – There are cases when a company may not proactively send out a news release or hold a press conference but may receive requests from the media for comment. Public relations employees are there to respond to reporters' requests for quotes, examples or explanations. In these cases, the public relations practitioner needs to act quickly to help meet the journalist’s deadline, and the information tasks involve gathering additional background information about the situation and arranging a meeting or conference call with company management to discuss how best to respond. Getting back to a reporter in a timely manner is key to maintaining good relationships with the media, even if the response is that your company will not be able to provide the requested statement or information at that particular time. Keeping the reporter informed is always a better approach than “stonewalling.” 10) PR features – As is the case for advertising message types, many PR firms and corporate communications professionals are creating branded content or native ads. This is sometimes referred to as “owned media” when it is created by the sponsoring company itself. Companies may create entire websites, magazines or video channels specifically for this type of “owned media” content. The communicator must have solid background information about the product, service or topic AND must know how to write like a journalist as part of the information tasks necessary to be successful.

Storytelling and the Information Strategy

The way information is crafted into the final media message depends on two key factors:

• how the message is being delivered (a story in a newspaper versus on a mobile device, a TV brand ad or one in an interactive magazine)
• the audience for whom the message is intended

The storytelling techniques you use must take into account the media format in which the information is delivered and the audience's expectations for the message. [caption id="attachment_1603" align="alignleft" width="420"] Storytelling by Beth Kanter. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] While this course does not delve into the actual construction of the messages themselves – you will get those skills in your reporting or strategic writing classes - it is worthwhile to acknowledge some of the considerations that message creators must keep in mind – and the information requirements there might be for different storytelling conventions. Goals of Storytelling Storytelling can serve different kinds of goals. Determining the intention or purpose of the story or message is an important first step in crafting the message. As you have learned, messages can inform or enlighten people about current events or issues or about the availability of products or services. They can provide background and context to a discussion of ideas. Stories can be written to persuade people to make certain purchases or hold certain views. News, advertising and public relations messages perform some or all of these functions while employing different storytelling techniques and formats to communicate with audiences in the most effective way. There are a number of different storytelling decisions to make as a producer of media content. Regardless of which type of media you are working within, it is important that you, the communicator, are aware of the fundamental storytelling devices you might want to use to tell your story in a way that is direct, efficient, and appropriate for the story’s objective. Therefore, you will want to have a full and accessible set of tools that you are ready to employ for any kind of message, depending on the type of media you are creating, your chosen channel of communication, as well as the specific style, tone, and needs of your story subject. Characteristics of Good Storytelling Usually the word “story” implies something fictional. But in the case of media messages, "story" refers to fact-based information about products, or events, or the actions taken by a company. The distinction between fiction and non-fiction stories is an absolutely critical one for you to grasp. It affects every decision that you make about the selection and evaluation of information for messages. Good storytelling consists of knowing your audience. Is the audience going to be reading the story, hearing it, experiencing it in a non-linear fashion online? What kind of background information does the audience for the story already have about the topic? Good storytelling also begins with a foundation in the subject matter. The storyteller must have a firm grasp of the subject matter in order to effectively communicate the story to someone else. Good storytelling demands that the storyteller have command of the mechanics of writing. Good storytelling understands how different media elements play into the effective telling of the story. Good storytelling demonstrates ethical standards for accuracy, truth, verifiability, sufficient evidence, and information reliability. Non-fiction stories, especially, require a solid grounding in factual information that can withstand scrutiny by the most skeptical audience members. Storytellers must deliver within the parameters and requirements of the story assignment. They must:

• meet the deadline
• follow directions on the expected length and focus for the story
• meet the expectation for clean, distribution-ready copy
• use proper grammar, word choice, and style
• apply the appropriate story characteristics for the channel of message delivery

The information strategy skills you will learn in this course will provide you with the tools you need to meet these storytelling requirements. Moving confidently through the information strategy process will help you identify your audience, locate the relevant content for your message, ensure the accuracy of your information and provide the details that will make your message stand out.

ADVERTISING

• Examples of Advertising Techniques: http://www.sales-and-marketing-for-you.com/advertising-techniques.html
• How to Develop your Brand's Story: http://www.bulldogreporter.com/dailydog/article/pr-storytelling-how-develop-your-brands-story

JOURNALISM

• The Transition to Digital Journalism: a guide to resources about storytelling online: http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/
• Journalists as Storytellers: http://niemanreports.org/articles/journalists-as-storytellers/

PUBLIC RELATIONS

• Storytelling and PR: http://aboutpublicrelations.net/aa061001a.htm
• The Art of Storytelling in PR: http://prinyourpajamas.com/the-art-of-storytelling-pr/

Question Analysis: From Assignment to Message

As students, you’ve all dealt with frustratingly ambiguous assignments. Knowing how many pages you are required to write, how the document should be formatted, whether and how to cite the information used - all of these are specifics of the assignment that you hope your instructors spell out for you. If those specifics aren’t clear, you ask your teachers to give you more detail on the parameters of the assignment and on the “metrics” that will be used to judge the quality of the work you turn in. When on the job, the assignments you get will usually not have this level of detail. In fact, “deals well with ambiguity” is often a line on job descriptions about the ideal candidate. Clarifying the task will be one of the first steps the communicator must take when a supervisor throws out an assignment like, “One of our clients is interested in exploring e-wallets. What do we know about them?” or “We have to do a better job of getting legislators to understand our company. Do an analysis.” or “There have been lots of motorcycle accidents in the past month - we ought to do an in-depth story.” Determining as completely as possible the “context” for the message will help you begin to put parameters around the task. In this lesson, we will discuss the aspects of a message assignment that you should clarify with the “gatekeeper.” The more you know about what the “gatekeeper” in a communications organization looks for and values, the more you will be able to pursue a strategy that leads you to successfully fulfilling the message mission.

Understanding the Gatekeeper Audience

As we will discuss in Lesson 4, determining and researching the key audience for the message you will be creating is one of the most important parts of message development. But there is another, perhaps even more, the important initial audience for your work, and that is the person in the organization who will approve, support, or squash your ideas. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="350"] Gatekeeper by Luca Sartoni. Source: Wikipedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0[/caption] Referred to as “gatekeepers” these are the people within the organization who not only hand out the assignments, they are also the ones with the power to decide:

• which messages are produced
• who produces the messages
• where the messages will appear
• what the messages will contain

Examples of "gatekeepers" in communications or business organizations include:

• a newspaper's assistant managing editors who assign stories to appropriate reporters
• a television station's producers and assignment editors
• advertising agency account executives
• public relations firm client services managers
• a corporation’s chief communications officer who decides whether the new communications plan is ready to present to the CEO

An important function of gatekeepers is to maintain the standards and the "voice" that define the specific organization for which they are "keeping the gates." Within a newspaper organization, the assistant managing editor who assigns stories to various reporters on a beat has the responsibility to decide whether the reporters' stories are acceptable before the stories are sent along to the next step in the process of getting printed in the newspaper and posted online. Reporters learn to anticipate the kinds of stories that their editors (the gatekeeper audience members) want. One editor may respond positively every time a reporter writes a story that includes a quote from a particular source. That reporter will try to include that source in her stories as often as possible. In a television news operation, the newscast producer might respond well every time a reporter/photographer team does a story that is accompanied by particular types of images. Again, that reporter/photographer team will try as often as possible to select that type of video to please the producer and thus assure a spot on the newscast. In an advertising agency, the account management professionals perform a similar gatekeeper function. Client services managers in a PR firm perform the same function. They are responsible for contact with the client who is paying to have the ads created or the public relations work done. If the account manager is unhappy with the advertising or PR campaign that the other professionals have created, it may not get passed along for client approval. Communicators learn to adjust their efforts and create ads or PR work that account managers or client services managers are most likely to define as acceptable and ready for client review. In a business, non-profit organization, government agency or similar type of institution, the communications manager for the organization plays the gatekeeper role. Any content that appears on the organization’s website, the social media content that is produced, the promotions sent to mobile devices and any other messages directed at the public go through a review process. Communicators inside an organization have to conform to the rules, processes and expectations of the communications manager if their work is going to be delivered to audiences. At the initial stage in the message, process gatekeepers are the ones who will be issuing assignments. They are the ones who will determine if you delivered what was requested and they are the ones you will need to work with to clarify the assignment so you have the best chance of successfully delivering what is needed. Gatekeepers will have in mind the needs of the ultimate “client” for whatever work you produce. The editor of a publication will understand who the readers are and what they look for in the articles that run. The PR client manager will understand the objectives of the client for the campaign. The advertising account manager will know the advertiser’s sales goals. The corporate communications manager will know what image the company is trying to project. Your job is to interpret the work assignment given to you and know how the work you produce will ultimately help everyone’s objectives be met.

Journalist Checklist for Public Relations

The “5 Ws and H” (Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How) checklist that journalists use in covering a story or that strategic communicators would need to consider when developing a campaign can be used with a slightly different orientation for communicators who need to clarify an assignment. Let’s imagine that in the strategic communications context your boss sends the following text: “Our client is interested in exploring bitcoin. See what you can find out.” Or in the newsroom, your editor drops by and says, “The Times had a big story about bitcoin. Should we cover this?” How do you even start? In upcoming lessons we will delve into the kinds of questions you’ll ask and answer when developing a research agenda (who is the audience, what are the angles of the topic, where might you find information.) But before you can begin to understand the specifics of the research task itself you need further clarification about the gatekeeper’s expectations. Following are some of the kinds of questions you might ask to clarify the assignment. [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="180"] Question Mark by Marco Belluci. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption]

WHO? Who will be seeing the report you produce? This will give you clues as to the nature of the language to use, the formality or informality of the report you deliver. Previous experience with this person or team will inform you about their expectations.

WHAT? What form should the information take? Learn if this is just an informal backgrounder, information needed to justify a whole new campaign or series idea, or a competitive intelligence report. Knowing what type of report or document is expected will help you set a framework for the task.

WHEN? When is the work to be delivered? Knowing the deadline or desired delivery date for your work will help you gauge what level of work can be done (and help you manage your boss's expectations.)

WHERE? Where will the report be delivered? Do they want a written report, a briefing at a meeting, a document shared on the office cloud?

WHY? Why is the information needed? Is a campaign / series already planned and they need concrete information to move the plan forward? Is this just exploratory to see if there is justification for a particular direction?

Once these questions are answered, the HOW to begin researching will be much easier to answer. Most of the assignments you are given are intended to ultimately lead to a communications message of some type. Whether it will result in a news release, or a new advertising campaign, or a news story, knowing as much as possible about the intended outcome of the research work you do will help you understand the amount and type of information you’ll need to research. Although the answers to these questions might be revealed later in the process, it is important to understand that the answers will help form your information strategy.

Message Purpose

Another important consideration when clarifying a message task is to determine the ultimate purpose of the message. Messages fulfill seven functions:

1. they provide information about the availability of products and services: advertising and publicity
2. they entertain: special features, advertising
3. they inform: basic news, advertising, publicity
4. they provide a forum for ideas: editorials, interpretive stories, documentaries, commentaries
5. they educate: depth stories, self-help stories and columns, informative pieces, advertising with product features and characteristics
6. they serve as a watchdog on government: investigative pieces and straight coverage of trials and other public events
7. they persuade: advertising, publicity, editorials and commentaries

Communicators pay attention to these expectations as they seek information for messages. In order for a message to have audience appeal, it must meet the audience's expectations in purpose and form. Analyzing the context for a message includes the task of clearly understanding the purpose of the message. All of the subsequent information-gathering steps are affected by this basic requirement.

Time / Space

[caption id="attachment_99" align="alignleft" width="300"] Clock Alarm Clock Question Mark by geralt. Source: pixabay. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] Messages must be tailored to meet the time and space constraints imposed by the context within which the message is being created. You cannot explore all the information available for every message on every occasion. Deadlines and costs involved in collecting some information forces you to make choices about particular angles and information sources. A long, interpretive news story on which a reporter might work for days must use many information sources. That stands in contrast to a breaking news story about a fire that must be posted immediately to the news website or sent out as a 140-character tweet. The brand advertising campaign that will run over many months and include ads in several media is likely to rest on a large information base. But one retail ad placed in a local newspaper by the neighborhood shoe store does not require such an extensive information search. You make choices about the management of both time and money based on the time and space constraints of your message task. Time factors in broadcast news, for example, may be the major information constraints. If you have just 1 minute and 20 seconds to tell a story with words and pictures, you must tailor the information strategy to help in identifying the most efficient sources for telling that story. Space factors may be the major information constraints for a message that will be delivered on a mobile device. The efficient information search is essential to the audience’s expectation of effective storytelling and the media organization’s requirement for the economy in producing a message.

Formats / Channels

[caption id="attachment_1161" align="alignright" width="300"] The Blaze Dallas Studios... by LibertarianGuy. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0[/caption] An important consideration when developing a research plan is the ultimate delivery method for whatever will be produced. You will learn a great deal in your reporting or strategic writing classes about how the format and channel(s) used for your message affect the actual creation of the message. For the purposes of clarifying your information task, consideration of format and channels can help define the scope of information needed. For example, if you are assigned to cover a trial and expected to simply tweet ongoing developments, the information you need will be gleaned from your eye-witness account of the proceedings. But if you are expected to develop an in-depth story to run online and in the newspaper that will comprehensively explain the case, you will need deeper background, sources that can help you describe and explain facets of the cases from different perspectives, advice or insight from experts. Producing the story for a video news report will require finding sources you can get on camera or researching locations that can give visual appeal to the story. [caption id="attachment_1162" align="alignleft" width="300"] Eats Flies, Dates a Pig by Jan Tik. Source: FLickr. CC BY 2.5.[/caption] If you understand from your assignment that the ultimate output of your work will be recommendations on a key message to display on a billboard it will make the scope of your information seeking different than if you are creating a multi-channel campaign. All of these message context issues must be analyzed at the start of an information search. In upcoming lessons, we will begin to develop techniques for asking, and answering, questions about the audience for the message, the facet or angles of the topic or product being researched, and who are the likely sources of information on the topic. But it is only after asking and answering the basic questions about the initial task assignment that you can begin to delve into the creative work of developing a more clearly outlined information process. The rest of the information strategy is highly dependent on the parameters of the information task.

Resources

• How to Get Clear Direction from your Boss, by Alexandra Levit, posted 3/18/13. https://blog.alexandralevit.com/wcw/2013/06/how-to-get-clear-direction-from-your-boss.html

• Resolving Ambiguity and Uncertainty, posted 9/22/12. http://leadingstrategicinitiatives.com/2011/09/22/resolving-ambiguity-and-uncertainty-strategic-thinking-part-4/

Question Analysis: Who’s the Audience?

Types of Audiences

[caption id="attachment_1164" align="alignleft" width="300"] Audience Clapping by honey74129. Source: Photobucket. CC0 Public Domain[/caption]As we begin the process of analyzing the message assignment archery might be a good metaphor to use. If the arrow is your message, the audience is the target you are shooting for. Without the audience “target” your soaring arrow will just fly through the air and land uselessly. Scoping out the target helps you adjust the way you deploy the arrow to most effectively hit the bullseye. Whether you are working in a newsroom or in an advertising or public relations context, your ultimate goal as a communicator is to create messages / stories / advertisements / public relations materials that effectively engage the audience with whom you most want to connect. It is your ability to connect the message content with the valued audience that will determine how successful your communications effort has been.Advertisers want to expand their products’ market reach. The advertising communicator’s job, then, is to determine the story to tell about the product that will most effectively appeal to the audience that has been targeted for that expanded reach. They need to understand who the current audience is for the product. Questions advertisers will ask about audience include:

• Who is the product not currently effectively marketed to?
• What do the people who use the product like, or dislike about the product?
• Who are the people who use a competitor’s product and what do the competitors in the marketplace offer?
• What would an ideal customer for the product look like?
• Who buys similar products and who might find this product attractive?

Public relations professionals want to ensure positive opinions about their organization. The public relations professional’s task, then, is to create messages that will influence the important stakeholders. Questions public relations professionals will ask about audience include:

• Who are the people or groups we need to influence?
• What concerns might different stakeholders have?
• What impact would negative opinion by certain stakeholders have on the company?

Journalists' communications work is intended to inform, entertain, persuade, mobilize and/or engage the readers or viewers of the publications for which they work. Questions journalists will include about audience: 

• Who is reading/listening/viewing the news message?
• What is it that that audience already knows?
• What does the audience need to know?

As these examples indicate, each type of communicator has different types of people that they need to keep in mind and they need to understand different things about that audience they will be targeting. Before we discuss how to analyze these audience needs, we should point out two other audiences that communicators must consider as they develop their message.

Gatekeepers

We’ve already introduced the concept of the “gatekeepers” and their importance in the message creation process.  At the start of an information task, the most important audience might be the organizational gatekeeper who will give you an assignment and who you must please with your work. Journalists will want to keep the editor in mind as they set out to define the parameters of the assignment and strategic communicators will need to be sure they understand what their boss needs. Researching these “audiences” will be an on-the-job task and can require a clear conversation to clarify the assignment as discussed in Lesson 3. The gatekeepers’ concern is that the message is constructed in such a way that the goal of communication is accomplished.

Colleagues and Professionals

Communicators also keep in mind their colleagues or professional audiences when they consider how best to accomplish a message task. These are the people you work with and others in the same profession who you want to influence or impress. For example, public relations professionals quickly learn to produce news releases that fit the formula sought by the media organizations they are trying to influence. The only way to be effective with a news release is to have a news organization "pick it up" or run a story based on it (this is why PR is referred to as “earned media.”) Effective PR specialists are those who can mimic the news style of their colleagues in the local media market and tailor their news releases so that they get the maximum exposure. In this case, the colleagues in the news organization are both part of the colleague AND the gatekeeper audience. Similarly, reporters might be tempted to write their stories in a way that they know (consciously or unconsciously) will avoid offending their most important sources (the professionals from whom they have to seek information on a regular basis). Some advertising copywriters and art directors create ads with the hope that they will get nominated for the advertising awards that help boost careers and increase salaries. The awards are almost always judged by fellow advertising professionals. These colleagues or professional audience members exert an enormous influence on the way communicators in all media industries do their work. Communicators rely heavily on each other for ideas, and the rewards in most areas of communication work are measured by professional reputation and recognition rather than by high salaries. It is not surprising that communicators seek to create messages that will garner attention and recognition from peers in the industry. Also, many communicators, especially those who work in news, are heavily reliant on information provided by others (government officials, industry sources, etc.). Therefore, communicators might be reluctant to do anything objectionable that will cause someone to "turn off" the information flow. That is one of the reasons news organizations may rotate journalists off a specific beat – they don’t want reporters to get too close to their sources. And all communicators understand that if the communications they create are seen as unethical or irresponsible it harms not only their own professional careers but the credibility of the entire professional. As important as it is to recognize the gatekeeper and colleague audiences when constructing a message, it is ultimately the target audience for the message that requires creative and careful consideration. Understanding to whom the message will be directed and doing the research to ensure you have identified and understand that “end-user” is a critical, and complicated, skill.

Target Audience

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="299"] Amazon Web Service logo by Amazon. Source: Amazon Web Service. CC BY-SA 3.0.[/caption] This is the audience that most people think of when they hear the word. But all audience members are not identical. Therefore, communication researchers have devised many ways to categorize the target audience. Let’s look at the the various ways target audiences might be understood. Target Audience Segments One way to distinguish different types of audience members is to identify the audience segment(s) into which someone might fall. Communications professionals, and especially advertisers, use a number of categories to more precisely identify who they should target with messages. Audience members can be segmented according to demographic, geographic or psychographic characteristics, or some combination of those categories. There are a number of sophisticated research tools and sources that provide detailed information about these types of categories for audience analysis.

Audience Segments: Demographics

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="149"] USA Missouri age pyramid by Mulat. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.5[/caption] There are social and economic characteristics that can influence how someone behaves as an individual. Standard demographic variables include a person's age, gender, family status, education, occupation, income, race and ethnicity. Each of these variables or characteristics can provide clues about how a person might respond to a message. Advertisers are clearly interested in knowing, for instance, how age influences a person's need for goods and services. Think about the kinds of items teenagers purchase, the programs they watch on TV and online, and the magazines they read. Advertisers then compare those to the products that their parents purchase, the programs they watch, and the magazines they read. The influence of an audience member's age is also a factor in the types of news messages that appeal to one group versus another. Younger people (teens, young adults) generally do not watch the national evening news on television or read a daily newspaper, for example. The news stories on those programs or in the newspaper reflect the knowledge that the audience is more mature, settled, and concerned about different topics and issues than are the younger members of the household. Each of the other demographic variables mentioned can be examined for their influence on messages and how they are tailored to meet specific audience characteristics.

Audience Segments: Geographics

We all understand geographically-defined political jurisdictions such as cities, counties, and states. These are important geographic audience categories for politicians and for news stories or ads about politics and elections. Also, local retail advertisers want to reach audiences who are in the reading or listening range of the local newspaper or radio station and within traveling distance of their stores. The audience for a newspaper is generally defined as those within a specific metropolitan area--stories and ads are written to appeal to the residents of a well-defined locality. Local television stations tailor their messages to the audience reached by their broadcast signal. Larger, more abstract geographic definitions help define the audience for national advertisers and those creating news or public relations messages for a regional or national audience. Washington Post reporter Joel Garreau (1989) argued that regional differences in North America (Canada, the U.S., and Mexico) are important markers for understanding differences in populations that span a continent. He invented nine "nations" or non-political regions whose boundaries don't correspond to any current political jurisdictions. They are New England, The Foundry, Dixie, The Islands, MexAmerica, Breadbasket, Ecotopia, The Empty Quarter, and Quebec. [caption id="attachment_154" align="aligncenter" width="520"] Ninenations by A Max J. Source: Wikipedia. CC BY 3.0[/caption] For one example of how Garreau determined the boundaries for each “nation,” we can look at his examination of three major cities in Texas. By political considerations, the three are all part of one jurisdiction: the state of Texas. But to Garreau, Fort Worth is actually part of the Breadbasket because of its strong cattle-town heritage; San Antonio, with its large, urban Spanish-speaking community fits into MexAmerica; and Dallas is part of Dixie, with dramatic social change and economic growth. These distinctions may be irrelevant to those who draw political boundaries, but the cultural implications are crucial for those who create messages. Audience members for some types of messages in San Antonio cannot be characterized as "Texans" or even "Southerners" if one of their main cultural and regional identifiers is their close affiliation with other inhabitants of "MexAmerica." Garreau's characterizations have been widely accepted by media professionals, businesses and social scientists around the country. Another geographic definition segments audiences into rural, urban, suburban, and edge communities (the office parks that have sprung up on the outskirts of many urban communities). These geographic categories help define rifts between regions on issues such as transportation, education, taxes, housing and land use. Politicians have long understood that voters can be defined using these types of categories. Those who create media messages pay attention to these categories as well. Newspaper publishers in major metropolitan areas, for example, have long struggled with how to maintain their focus on the central city that defines the newspaper, while also attracting and keeping readers who live in the suburbs and work in an edge community high-rise office building. Demographic and geographic audience characteristics are gathered from many sources. These include the U.S. Census as well as thousands of individual studies and research services conducted by media industry professionals.

Audience Segments: Psychographics

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="378"] Different Ways to Use Psychographic Data in Online Marketing by Karlhain. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0[/caption] Psychographics refers to all of the psychological variables that combine to form a person's inner self. Even if two people share the same demographic or geographic characteristics, they may still hold entirely different ideas and values that define them personally and socially. Some of these differences are explained by looking at the psychographic characteristics that define them.  Psychographic variables include:

Motives – an internal force that stimulates someone to behave in a particular manner. A person has media consumption motives and buying motives. A motive for watching television may be to escape; a motive for choosing to watch a situation comedy rather than a police drama may be the audience member’s need to laugh rather than feel suspense and anxiety.

Attitudes - a learned predisposition, a feeling held toward an object, person or idea that leads to a particular behavior. Attitudes are enduring; they are positive or negative, affecting likes and dislikes. A strong positive attitude can make someone very loyal to a brand (one person is committed to the Mazda brand so she will only consider Mazda models when it is time to buy a new car). A strong negative attitude can turn an audience member away from a message or product (someone disagrees with the political slant of Fox News and decides to watch MSNBC instead).

Personalities - a collection of traits that make a person distinctive. Personalities influence how people look at the world, how they perceive and interpret what is happening around them, how they respond intellectually and emotionally, how they form opinions and attitudes.

Lifestyles – these factors form the mainstay of psychographic research. Lifestyle research studies the way people allocate time, energy and money. One of the most well-known lifestyle models is the Values and Lifestyles System (VALS™) devised by research firm Strategic Business Insights. The model categorizes people according to their psychological characteristics and their resources. Advertisers use it to determine what kind of products and advertising appeals will best work with an anonymous audience member who falls into one of the eight categories, or mindsets, in the VALS™ model.

For example, someone who falls into the "Striver" category is said to be seeking self-definition, motivation and approval, and is low on economic, social and psychological resources. The "Innovator" group is comprised of successful people with high self-esteem and high income, with a wide range of interests and a taste for finer things. These categories are most useful for advertisers in helping determine a “unique selling proposition” that would be most appealing to one type of person or another, but they also help other message creators understand WHY advertisers support the types of media they do and why some types of messages are created while others are not.

Combining Segment Data

As audience segmentation techniques become more sophisticated, we see new ways of organizing and clustering individuals according to a combination of characteristics. For instance, the Jefferson Institute has created a project called “Patchwork Nation.” [caption id="attachment_106" align="alignright" width="200"] US Gas Price Temperature Map by pushandplay. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] According to their website, Patchwork Nation “aims to explore what is happening in the United States by examining different kinds of communities over time. The effort uses demographic, voting and cultural data to cluster and organize communities into ‘types of place.’ Patchwork divides America's 3,141 counties into 12 community types based on characteristics such as income level, racial composition, employment and religion. It also breaks the nation’s 435 congressional districts into nine categories, using the same data points and clustering techniques.” The characteristics of Patchwork Nation locations incorporate demographic, psychographic and political data to generate a map of the country that might be used to define an advertising audience, explain voter behavior for a news story, or target a community for a PR campaign.  Examining the elements of regional characteristics can give you ideas about the diversity of audiences and an appreciation for the challenge of understanding how best to reach specific segments.

News

Journalists produce their work with the readers, listeners or viewers of the publication for which they work in mind. A journalist who works for the daily news organization in a town needs to understand the characteristics of subscribers. And if they work for a particular beat, for example, the business section, they need to understand what it is that readers of that section are looking for and how they would use the information they get. Why does this matter? If journalists don’t create stories that inform and engage their audience those people will find other outlets to satisfy their information needs. Journalism serves not only a public need, but it is also a business and a business without customers won’t be in business for long. News organizations conduct user surveys and track audience behavior just as other kinds of companies do.  The better journalists are able to understand their readership the better they will be able to anticipate and address their audience's needs. For those journalists who work as freelancers (defined by Merriam-Webster as “a person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any one employer”), it is essential that they learn about the target audience for the publication to which they want to pitch a story. If they don’t understand the characteristics of the audience who reads Sports Illustrated versus The Atlantic, they will not be able to effectively position (or "pitch") their story idea. In the case of pitching a story idea, they need to understand that the publication’s editor is the ultimate decider on whether they get the assignment or not, and the editor’s ultimate concern is to keep the publication’s audience satisfied. In order for the freelancer to get the “gatekeeper’s” go-ahead on a story idea, they must demonstrate they understand who the target audience is for the publication and what will appeal to them.

Advertising

In an age of increasing competition and consumer choice, advertisers must have a highly developed understanding of the audience (customers or consumers) they want to reach. Audience research is, perhaps, the biggest information gathering task for advertisers. Information about potential or desired audiences is required at every stage of developing an advertising campaign. The kinds of questions an advertiser will want to answer about their potential audience include:

• Who are our current customers? You need to know who you are already reaching, and how to keep them as satisfied customers.
• Who are our competitors’ customers? Understanding who uses the competitors' products or services is key to figuring out how to create a campaign that could convince them to try your company's products.
• What do our desired audience members watch / read? Knowing where to find the kinds of customers you want to attract is an essential part of media buying work. The dollars spent placing advertisements will be thrown away if the message doesn’t reach the audience you desire.
• How happy are our customers with our products? Keeping a pulse on consumer attitude and opinion of your product will help to refine the story you want to tell.

Until you have a set of questions to ask about the target audience, you won’t know how to go about finding answers.

Public Relations

[caption id="attachment_1010" align="alignleft" width="421"] Stakeholder by Grochim. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0[/caption] In public relations work, the target audience is often referred to as the “stakeholder.” Defined by Merriam-Webster as “one who is involved in or affected by a course of action” the stakeholders are those groups of people that an organization must positively influence. Just as the advertising message is intended to influence customers to regard your product positively, the public relations message is intended to influence stakeholders to regard your organization positively. Stakeholders whose opinions or actions can positively or negatively affect an organization include:

• Customers: people who don’t feel good about a company won’t buy their products
• Investors: bankers, stockholders, financial analysts and others who have committed (or advise others to commit) funding to an organization won’t maintain their support if they don’t believe in what the company is doing
• Legislators / government regulators: lawmakers who feel a company or industry is doing harm, or who get complaints from their constituents, will be likely to propose restrictions or regulations
• Employees: the people who work within an organization must have high regard for their employer or they won’t be good representatives of the organization
• Activists / philanthropic groups: organizations that have an interest in the area in which the organization operates can exert economic or policy pressure if they don’t support the organization’s work
• Business partners: most organizations work with a network of suppliers, vendors, and other types of business partners who help them maintain their position in their industry or field; partners are an important stakeholder audience for PR professionals

[caption id="attachment_1702" align="alignright" width="300"] reading-man-reading-magazine by Luis Wilker Perelo WilkerNet. Source: pixabay. CC0 Public Domain[/caption]

Who’s the Audience for News?

In some ways, the audience for journalistic messages is the most concrete and pre-determined of the three communications professions’ work. Journalists write for publications or produce reports for media outlets that have a great deal of information about their subscribers or viewers. With the ability to track digital readership, journalists know what articles people read. At the start of the message analysis process, journalists must ask a set of questions about their target audience that will help them identify the treatment of the topic about which they will be writing and make decisions about the kind of reporting they must do. Understanding the audience that uses the publication or media outlet for which they are producing a news report will help clarify some of the following questions:

• WHO: Who reads / views the publication? Who would be interested in this topic? Who needs to know about this topic? Who is the media organization interested in attracting with its offerings?
• WHAT: What would the potential audience member want to know about the topic? What kind of report would be most informative or helpful for the audience? What kind of information will be useful? What does the audience already know about this?
• WHERE: Where else do people interested in the topic find information? (For freelancers) Where should I pitch my story idea?
• WHEN: When does the audience need to get this information (is this fast-breaking news, or something that will be used as analysis after the event?)
• WHY: Why does the audience need to know this? Why does the audience care? Sometimes the audience member just wants to fill empty minutes with a news message (reading news briefs on a mobile device while standing in a line or eating alone at a restaurant). Sometimes the audience member needs to answer a specific question (who won the baseball game this afternoon? when does the movie start?). Each of these “why” questions suggests a different strategy for the communicator.
• HOW: How can we best communicate to the audience? How much background do they need to understand what we are writing about? How technical can we be? How might the audience react to this report?

Who’s the Audience for Advertising?

Advertising professionals have also developed a standard set of questions that they ask at the start of a message task, many of which specifically address audience considerations. These questions also address elements of the subject matter of the ads, the best approaches for creating the ad copy and placing the ads in the most appropriate vehicles. We will come back to many of these questions in subsequent lessons.

• What should our advertising accomplish? Again, sometimes the audience member just needs to find a nearby place to buy a specific product, or the hours and phone number of a business. Filling that immediate information need for the audience member requires a different strategy than trying to encourage the audience member to change their brand loyalty, think positively about your service, purchase your product. You want to know if the ad is intended to fill an immediate information need or to include a “call to action” on the part of the audience member. [caption id="attachment_1017" align="alignleft" width="250"] Montaña Rusa Hopi Hari by Arturo de Albornoz. Source: Flickr. CC BY-SA 2.0.[/caption]
• To whom should we advertise? Who was the target audience in previous campaigns and who has not been targeted yet that should be? Who are the competitors’ customers?
• What should we say that will most effectively convince the audience to respond to our call to action? What have our client's ads said to similar audiences in the past? What do our client's competitors' ads say?
• How should we frame our message for this specific audience? How will our proposed creative strategies work for this client's messages? How do our competitors position their creative strategies?
• Where should we place or message to reach this audience most effectively? Which media will best reach our target audience?
• How much should we spend in order to reach this audience in a cost-effective way? What has our client spent in the past? How much do our competitors spend?

Who’s the Audience for Public Relations?

Public relations professionals ask a similar set of questions when they are doing their strategic planning research. Again, these questions apply not just to the audience aspects of the message task but also to the other parts of the information strategy process.

• Defining the problem: Monitor audience knowledge, opinions, attitudes, and behaviors to answer the question, “What is happening now?” among our stakeholder audiences? In our industry or area of activity? Sometimes your goal is to help your client provide good customer service to the audience. Sometimes the goal is to positively affect audience members’ opinions. You need to understand what you are trying to accomplish in order to be successful in reaching the audience with your PR message(s).
• Identifying the stakeholder audiences: Who has an interest in or to whom might the public relations message be addressed? Sometimes you are focusing on a single stakeholder and sometimes you need information for an entire campaign that would address a variety of stakeholder concerns.
• Planning and programming: Use the information gathered to determine what should be done to most effectively reach your stakeholder audiences. What type of message(s) will best address your goals and engage the audience?
• Taking action and communicating: Design a message or program to meet specific objectives by answering the questions: “How do we do it and say it to reach our audiences?” If your goal is to create content that encourages audience members to share (in other words, for them to become your “advocates” through word-of mouth-endorsement), you have to ensure that the content is useful and easy to share.

Summary / Resources

It should be clear that for every type of communication message that this step of generating the questions you need to ask about the audience is very important. The number and variety of questions that might be asked about the audience also indicate the many different ways a communications professional can approach an information and message task. Brainstorming with colleagues and gatekeepers about the nature of the target audience at the start of the information strategy process is an essential step to ensure that you will be able to conduct an efficient and effective search for appropriate information.

Steps To Decoding Your Target Audience, by Jayson DeMers, Forbes, 8/27/13: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/%202013/08/27/6-steps-to-decoding-your-target-audience/ Garreau, J. (1989) The Nine Nations of North America. New York: Avon Books.

Question Analysis: What’s the Topic?

Overview

If you would like to see steam coming out of a research librarian’s ears, just go up and ask a question like, “Do you have anything on the environment?” A trained research librarian will quickly begin a “reference interview” designed to help the person asking that incredibly broad question to narrow and clarify his/her actual information need.

• What part of the environment? Air? Water? Soil? Weather? Plants? Animals?
• Is there a particular issue? Global warming? Pollution? Renewable energy?
• Is there a certain geographic area of interest? North America? Antarctic? Minnesota?
• Why are you seeking the information? Writing a term paper? Checking a specific fact? Just interested in keeping up on the topic?

In this lesson, we will discuss the importance of having that “research interview” with yourself.

What’s the Angle?

[caption id="attachment_110" align="alignleft" width="300"] Black and White Lines and Angles by Lyn Greyling. Source: PublicDomainPictures.net CC0 Public Domain 1.0[/caption] You arrive in your newsroom and the editor stops by to say, “ There’s going to be a decision about the expansion of the light rail line. We need something for the local section.” At the morning strategy meeting for the railroad company client, your strategic communications firm represents the account manager says, “Our client is concerned that people aren’t thinking positively about traveling by train. We need some ideas.” For each of these scenarios, the topic is transportation by rail. But depending on the audience that might be identified as the target for the message, the angle of that broad topic could be very different. Let’s play through scenarios for news and strategic communications.

News Angle

For a local news story, the people that read the section are interested in or concerned about things going on in their community. There could be a number of angles about the light rail line and different questions that could be asked: [caption id="" align="alignright" width="276"] Tramway Strasbourg Broglie by Pontauxchats. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC SA 3.0 Unported. GNU Free Documentation License[/caption]

• Economic: What will be the cost of the line and impact on taxpayers?
• Housing: Will light rail affect property values for nearby homeowners and if so, how?
• Quality of Life: Will construction disrupt current neighborhoods or businesses?
• Public Safety: What has the existing light rail line done to public safety, accidents or crime?

If the story was being written for a business news segment there would be a different set of questions based on the interests and needs of the audience for business news:

• How will construction affect the local economy or employment?
• What businesses might prosper (or be hurt) if the proposal goes through?
• What has happened to businesses on the current line?
• How will the construction contractors be selected?

Depending on the audience's needs, the questions that might be explored about a broad topic like light rail transportation can quickly get quite specific. This specificity helps to narrow the focus of the information you will need to find.

Strategic Communication Angle

In the case of advertising and public relations messages, the target audience and the message's goals will be critical to figuring out the appropriate topic angle. If, for example, the railroad’s communication concern is how to expand the appeal of train travel to people not currently using trains, the questions you might want to ask (and answer) include:

• What methods of transportation are travelers currently choosing other than trains?
• What are the demographics of current train travelers (and what demographics might be ones to be targeted?)
• What reasons do travelers give for their choosing particular traveling modes?

If, on the other hand, the communications' goal is to gain support in the legislature for an expanded train system, key questions that maybe need answers include:

• What are the environmental advantages of train travel over other transportation modes?
• How might an expanded rail system benefit local economies (jobs, commuter travel, health of rural communities?)

Once again, the topic is broadly train travel, but the possible angles to the topic and the questions that must be examined become increasingly specific (and manageable) with some brainstorming.

Key Questions to Answer

Here are some key questions to be answered in this step of the message analysis process: [caption id="attachment_110" align="alignleft" width="300"] Storefront(2012-03-22%2012.29.39) by Mike Linksvayer. Source: Flickr. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] Why has this topic or the need for this message come up? What is the broad topic of interest? What product, service, event or issue at the center? What are the possible “angles” of the topic that could be considered? What must we know about the topic before beginning the information search? Who would know about or have a perspective on the topic? If you can clearly answer these questions, you'll have a solid foundation for building your information strategy. The communications objectives are different for journalists, advertising professionals, and public relations practitioners. So, too, is the information needed for each media professional to accomplish their message goals. Where a journalist may need to become an “instant expert” on a topic they will be covering, for the PR professional it may be more important to understand the prevailing opinions about the topic, and for the advertiser finding information that helps him understand the audience’s interests in the topic to determine the most appropriate “selling proposition” would be key.

Idea Generation

[caption id="attachment_1706" align="alignright" width="300"] Mind-mapping vector 2 by Greg Williams. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] Every message begins with an idea. While it is true that many tasks are assigned by others, the actual creative work of crafting a message still rests on the skill and imagination of the individual doing the information searching and writing (that's you!) One important skill that good communicators develop early in their careers is the ability to understand what it is possible to ask about. Any idea is fair game. Because solid information strategy skills allow you to find answers to just about anything, you are not limited to those questions that can be answered easily and quickly. Advanced methods for finding these answers free you up to ask unusual, different, and perhaps difficult questions. A variety of techniques help you generate ideas for messages. Brainstorming, making idea maps and point-of-view diagrams, keeping a journal or daybook for scribbling notes, and reading everything you can get your hands on are all methods you can use to provide grist for the idea mill. A well-developed sense of curiosity will open you to new ways of looking at the world around you. Common sense and healthy skepticism (not cynicism) keep you grounded. Donald Murray, in Writing for Your Readers (1992), describes the idea-generation techniques of idea mapping and creating point-of-view diagrams for communication professionals. Idea mapping, he explains, is a more creative way of exploring a subject than using traditional subject outlines. The central, broad subject or topic is drawn in a circle in the middle of a page. All of the related ideas that occur to the “mapper” are drawn out along lines that emerge from the center circle. The new lines stemming from the central idea are like branches on a tree, each of which may have more related, narrower ideas that branch out from the ideas derived from the center. In idea development, this technique is not intended to serve as a definitive method of topic outlining, but as a quick and intuitive first step in thinking about possible angles of the topic. You may need to spend no more than five minutes making a map. A point-of-view diagram uses a similar technique. A subject or topic is again drawn in a circle in the middle of a page. Draw as many “arrows” pointing inward—toward the central topic—as you can imagine. The arrows represent the different people or organizations whose points of view on the subject or topic can be tapped. By diagramming the topic in this way, you can generate a variety of perspectives on that idea and even begin to identify possible audiences or interviewees for the message. It is easy in the idea generation stage to fall into the overuse of clichés and stereotypes. It is a challenge finding a fresh, unique perspective for the message on which you are working. One of the best ways of ensuring that you’ll avoid clichés and maintain a fresh perspective is to truly understand all angles or perspectives from which a message topic might be seen. As a journalist dealing with the issue of the U.S. government drilling for oil in the Alaskan wildlife refuge, for instance, you would probably expect widely varying perspectives from an environmentalist, a major oil company executive, the governor of Alaska, from a political science professor at the University of Minnesota, and from a park ranger in Alaska. As an advertising professional for the National Park Service, you might use many of these same sources to understand the topic even though your intent for the information will be quite different than the journalists. For any type of media, however, getting these collective, diverse perspectives will help you to find a fresh approach for addressing this issue.  This will also help you narrow a broad topic to an interesting and manageable sub-topics.

Observation for Idea Generation

You should also consider yourself and your personal observation about what is going on around you as a key source of ideas. Having a “nose for news” generally means that you are tuned in to your surroundings and can gauge when something is “off” or different and worth checking into. For example:

• Noticing the long lines in front of the automatic teller machines, for example, may be the start of a PR effort for your bank client to improve customer service
• Observing that a waterfront is eroding from the massive number of people who jog by the lake shore can lead to a series of news articles on conflicts between the goals of recreation and preservation in park systems.
• Seeing “teachers wanted” classified ads may signal the education reporter that a decade of teacher layoffs is ending.
• Standing in the grocery checkout line behind teenage shoppers can alert the advertising researcher to do further study on which family members purchase the groceries.

Keeping your eyes open, being curious about what is going on around you, listening in to what people are talking about - all of these are ways that you can generate new ideas or develop fresh angles on a topic. Bus stop posters, bumper stickers, bulletin board copy, T-shirt messages, and other informal messages visible in every community (and in digital sites like Pinterest) can also trigger ideas or perspectives for the more formal part of the information strategy. If you are in charge of an advertising account for a shoe manufacturer, being attuned to what people are wearing in different situations might give you an idea for an interesting approach to take in an ad campaign. If you are writing about light rail issues, attending meetings where community members express their concerns will give you tips on aspects of the topic that you need to research more deeply. Communicators need to keep their eyes open to these informal information sources. They can provide clues about changing public opinion, lifestyles and attitudes in an area – and can signal emerging trends.

Types of Observation: Routine

Routine observation is the most frequently used type of observation. It is “routine” in that it involves simply going to the scene of the action and observing. Professionals in all fields of mass communication perform these routine observations. The things that you might see and hear can spur new ideas.

Quick Brainstorming:

You are walking through campus one evening and see that every third street light is out. If you were a reporter for the Daily, what kind of questions might you ask as a result of this observation? If you worked for the University’s public relations office, what kind of questions might you ask? If you were developing an advertising campaign for the “Campus Escort” service, what ideas might this trigger?

Types of Observation: Participant

Participant observation involves joining or living with a group and becoming a part of the action. Members of the group being observed -- for instance, prison inmates -- may or may not know the observer's true identity, but he or she is seen as being part of the group. This method of observation is common in sociological and anthropological research, as well as in communication research. It allows the information gatherer to get direct experience and to reduce reliance on the expertise or testimony of others. In becoming part of the "scene," the observer begins to understand it as an insider and come up with ideas that might need to be explored. [caption id="attachment_1057" align="alignleft" width="206"] Nellie Bly bids fairwell by Library of Congress. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] Nellie Bly was an early proponent of participant observation as a way to get an enterprising news report.  She arranged to have herself declared mentally incompetent in order to be committed to a mental hospital so that she could see, first-hand, the conditions in which mental patients lived. Participant observation is an expensive technique, requiring a substantial amount of time in the field. It is also fraught with ethical and legal issues. Members of ABC News' Prime Time Live got jobs in several Food Lion supermarkets in order to place hidden cameras and capture video of employees re-dating the expiration labels on old meat and, in some cases, repackaging the meat to be sold as fresh. The report resulted in a lawsuit against ABC and in a jury verdict that awarded Food Lion $5.5 million in damages. The television network eventually prevailed in having the verdict overturned, but not until it had spent millions in legal fees. (Barringer) This is why it is important to consider the ethical and legal implications of the techniques you employ in researching as we will discuss in Lesson 7.

Types of Observation: Unobtrusive

[caption id="attachment_1060" align="alignright" width="240"] Spy Cam Surveillance... by Mike Mozart. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] In some circumstances, unobtrusive observation may be more effective than participant observation, especially if the observer's presence will change the situation under observation. Hidden camera investigations have traditionally been one of the most obvious types of unobtrusive observation examples. After careful deliberation within the news organization about the ethical and legal ramifications of using a hidden camera, a journalist may use unobtrusive observation techniques that capture activities or conversations. Investigative reports may rely on such observation techniques as a way to document improper behavior or malfeasance. Unobtrusive observation techniques also are used by advertising professionals. A very large Chicago agency had an ongoing research project in a town of 8,000 to 12,000 about 150 miles from Chicago. Advertising researchers visited the town on a regular basis and politely listened in on conversations in coffee shops and churches, hairdressers' shops, and taverns. The agency professionals were trying to learn what is important to average folks, what occupies their hearts and minds. In the process, they thought they would gain clues as to why people don't always follow cooking directions for frozen pizzas, or what they really think about prunes. The advertising professionals learned to prepare themselves well for their visits. One agency employee's too-hip hairdo marked her as an outsider in her observer role, while another employee learned that driving a pickup truck rather than his Audi to town would help him blend into his observation environment. (Stern) A more recent version of this type of observation involves ad agency personnel asking consumers to take video cameras into their homes to record their every-day activities in the kitchen, while cleaning the house, and other typical household behavior. The idea is to learn more about how consumers use products in their day-to-day lives rather than in the artificial environment of a focus group room or a mock living room set up in a research lab. Viewing videos posted by consumers on YouTube as they talk about how they use various products, along with their opinions about them, would be another way of conducting an unobtrusive observation.

Types of Observation: Social Listening

[caption id="attachment_1064" align="alignleft" width="300"] Social Media apps by Jason Howie. Source: Flickr:CC BY 2.0[/caption] The rise in social media has provided communicators with another excellent technique for using unobtrusive observation for idea generation. Reading over the comments on a Facebook page for a group of fans, or the user comments on a news story on a topic might give you an idea for a fresh approach to covering a story or an issue that you had not even considered. For public relations professionals, social listening can lead to important insights on issues that might be brewing.  "Sentiment analysis" (also referred to as "opinion mining") is one of the emerging skills required for savvy PR practitioners.  It requires consistent attention to the online opinions and reactions in different social media platforms.  While there are sophisticated tools to analyze large numbers of postings, even routine scanning can give you ideas for themes or trends that might require attention. Advertising professionals can use the comments in social spaces to learn more about positive, or negative, opinions there might be about a product (or about the competition.)  These comments can provide fodder for ad copy or inspire a new direction for a campaign.

Narrowing the Focus

These techniques of idea mapping and observation can help you think expansively about the potential aspects of a topic but no one, especially not a busy reporter or strategic communicator juggling multiple clients’ demands, can address all of those aspects. What is needed now is a way to narrow the focus. The following set of questions can help you identify and define a more specific aspect of a topic on which to focus.

• What disciplines of knowledge might deal with this topic - and what would their focus be? To understand “disciplines of knowledge,” think about the departments that offer majors on a university campus -- economics, political science, biology, etc.
• What parts of the city / state / country / world are dealing with this - or how are they dealing with it differently?
• Is this a new topic? How has it evolved over time? Where might it be going in the future?
• What kind of groups have a stake in this topic and what are their positions?

Once all of these questions have been posted, you are in a position to focus selectively on some aspects of the larger question and develop an exacting standard for raising questions and seeking information to address your information needs. Going through this routine frequently allows you to revise or refine the question, making your information-seeking tasks much more manageable. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="419"] Focus by Mark Hunter. Source: Flickr:CC BY 2.0[/caption] For example, if the broad topic is, “homelessness” the formula for focusing the topic might work this way: Disciplines: Economics, sociology, urban planning, and psychology are a few of the disciplines that might provide insight - each would have a specific aspect on which they focus - and their disciplinary focus might inform your own. Geographic limits: Although homelessness exists throughout the U.S., how the condition is understood and approached varies from community to community and from state to state. In one area concerns about immigration policy might be big while in another it might be how to help the homeless during cold winter weather. Time period limits: Much of mass communication work emphasizes recency. Therefore, the newest information is likely to be stressed. However, trends in homelessness over time (particularly the last decade or so) will surely help put the problem into a historical context. And some types of messages would benefit from an overview of how homelessness has been handled throughout many decades since this is a problem that has been with us for a very long time. Stakeholders: Academics, politicians, social workers, activists and advocates for the homeless have entirely different ways of approaching the issue and defining the problem. The homeless themselves are certainly another stakeholder and one that isn’t often featured in messages about the problem.

Conventional Wisdom

[caption id="attachment_1069" align="alignleft" width="384"] Intelligence and Questioning... by Digital Ralph. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] For reasons of time savings, you often concentrate on obvious or simple approaches to a message. But this may lead to a message that does nothing more than conveying the conventional wisdom in an area, failing to provide the audience with a more creative, original, or, perhaps, accurate approach. The information strategy process provides you with a method for identifying fresh angles or new twists on a topic. One of the advantages of using idea-mapping and point-of-view diagrams is that they help you identify what we think we know about a topic and to challenge yourself to come up with a fresh approach to the topic. The media are often accused of being trapped by conventional wisdom. In order to get beyond the conventional wisdom, it is first necessary to understand what it is. Conventional wisdom usually contains a grain of truth. It is different than faith, blind prejudice, or stereotypes. The essential elements of conventional wisdom about any topic can usually be demonstrated in some sense. For example: conventional wisdom says that cats are difficult to train, Midwestern universities have good hockey teams, and women are good listeners. Each of these is based on some socially-arrived-at assumptions about reality. Conventional wisdom abounds in every field and for every topic. Advertisers and marketers operated under the assumption that women generally were not big purchasers and users of technology until a study done for a women's magazine showed that 65 percent of the women surveyed had purchased a personal computer for home use in the previous two years. And 53 percent of those surveyed said that advertising for computer-related products did not appeal to them because it was aimed at men. Advertisers trapped by the conventional wisdom about who purchases products and services lose opportunities to create messages with a fresh, new and effective appeal.

Conclusion/Endnotes

One of the most important skills communicators can develop is a method for quickly and creatively analyzing potential angles or aspects of a given message topic. But that is just the first step. Just as important is learning how to focus, out of all the possible angles, on the one aspect of the topic that best matches the audience's needs and the communication objectives. As with all skills practice, open-mindedness, and curiosity will serve you well as you develop these skill sets.

Endnotes

Barringer, F. (1999, October 21). Appeals Court Rejects Damages Against ABC in Food Lion Case. New York Times.

Murray, D. (1992) Writing for Your Readers: Notes on the Writer's Craft from the Boston Globe. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 2 ed.

Stern, A. (1991, April 29). Ad Agency Seeks Small-town Guide to Consumer Taste. Star Tribune, 3D.

Question Analysis: Who Contributes Information?

Overview

Continuing with the archery analogy from, when you are deciding the best way to hit your target, you need to choose the appropriate type of arrow. Good archers understand that some arrows are made of carbon and are very light but shatter easily; aluminum arrows break less easily and are stiffer; wooden arrows use feathers rather than plastic for the vanes at the back end and should not be used with high-power bows. Each arrow type is chosen for its characteristics and the type of target the archer is trying to hit. Similarly, there are many different possible contributors to an information search for a message task. One of the key analysis tasks at the start of your information strategy process is to brainstorm the possible contributors that might meet your information needs. This lesson will outline the types of contributors that are useful for communications professionals, how and why they create the information they create, and some of the types of message tasks they can help you accomplish.

Where Information Comes From: An Overview of Contributors

Whether you are seeking a specific fact, a good anecdote to illustrate your story, background information about the product or service you are advertising, or promotional or persuasive publications to understand different points of view, you will need to know how to find, and use, the information provided by public-sector and private-sector institutional sources, scholarly sources, journalistic sources, and informal sources.

Understanding how, and why,  each of these types of sources creates information is one of the most important skills you will need as you start your information strategy.

Institutional Sources

An institution, broadly defined, is “an organization, establishment, foundation, society, or the like, devoted to the promotion of a particular cause, product, or program.[footnote]http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/organization[/footnote]” You can see that this is a catchall term that can cover all kinds of contributors. Therefore, it helps to break this large category into two very different kinds of institutions: Public and Private. The corner drug store is in the private sector, while the police precinct station next door is in the public sector. The elementary school maintained with tax revenues is part of the public sector, while the church-affiliated school is in the private sector.

These lines are hardly neat, however. Almost all private colleges, for instance, enroll students whose financial support comes partly from state and federal sources. Most corporations are in the private sector, but some operate with charters from the federal government, such as Amtrak (rail service) or the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Institutions in both the public sector (governments at all levels) and the private sector (businesses, political organizations, trade and industry associations, foundations, religious organizations, unions and professional associations, etc.) generate information for a number of purposes. You must recognize that institutions develop information for their own internal purposes and may be disclosed to you selectively and with a specific purpose in mind. Organizations as different from one another as the U.S. Department of Defense and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom share this characteristic. Let’s discuss the distinctions between the types of institutional sources and describe how and why they create and contribute information of use to researchers.

Public Sector Institutions

[caption id="attachment_1729" align="alignleft" width="300"] Capitol Building Architecture Usa by Jens Junge. Source: pixabay. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] Public institutions are, essentially, all of the agencies, offices, and other entities that constitute local, state and federal governments. These organizations are funded by tax dollars and operate in the service of the citizens that pay those taxes. The information they generate comes from the work they are charged with performing. The output of agencies that regulate particular industries might include databases of licenses issued, rules and regulations for the operation of an organization, analyses of business conditions, censuses of operations. The output of agencies that monitor the environment, or transportation, for example, would be reports and studies and statistics that track current conditions or make projections.

Organization of Public-Sector Institutions

One way to picture the complex organization of public-sector institutions that generate information is to visualize the information as it is presented below.

Table of Public-Sector Institutions

Branch	Local	State	National
Legislative	City Council	Legislature	Congress
Judicial	Municipal Courts	State Courts	Federal Courts
Executive	Mayor	Governor	President

Private Sector Institutions

Each level and each branch of government generates information. The information sources are so voluminous that it would require a book for each of the branches to discuss comprehensively the material available at each level and in each branch, and the tools to locate that material. The important thing for you as a communications professional is to understand that each level of government generates information that is likely to be important for most messages you will work on and that there are efficient and effective ways to locate that information if you know how and where it is generated. Private-sector institutions are funded by revenues made from the sale of products or services, through investment by stockholders, or through donations. There are two types of private-sector institutions: for-profit and non-profit. Under for-profit institutions, there are two types: Publicly-held and privately-held. The distinction is important because different types require different kinds of reporting of information.

For-profit private-sector institutions:

[caption id="attachment_965" align="alignleft" width="300"] McDonald's Corporation is one of the most... by Astros4477. Source: Wikipedia"-CC BY 2.0[/caption] By definition, a for-profit institution “is a corporation that is intended to operate a business which will return a profit to the owners.[footnote]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation[/footnote]” There can be two types of for-profit private-sector institutions: publicly-held and privately-held. The distinction between the two is that the publicly-held corporation sells stock in the company - the public, therefore, can essentially be “co-owners.” Privately-held corporations do not sell stock; all of the company’s assets are in private hands. For-profit private-sector institutions generate multiple types of information in support of the running of the business, to promote their products, or as required by the government. The required documentation for government differs from publicly-held corporations requiring more reporting than privately-held corporations (this is due to the government’s interest in protecting citizen’s investment in companies.) Unlike public-sector institutions where some neutrality of position is expected, private-sector institutions may be more agenda-driven since their information is generated to support their product, organizational goals or policy line. Much of what private-sector institutions produce is for their internal use only, but some are created for use both inside and outside of the institution. Non-profit private-sector institutions   [caption id="attachment_966" align="alignright" width="300"] United Way of Dane County, Madison by Channel 3000 Communities. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] Non-profit private-sector institutions differ from the for-profit in their ultimate objective. The for-profit’s goal is to generate revenue through the sales of goods and services. The non-profit’s goal is to influence, persuade, or receive support for a cause. They generate donations that support the efforts of the organization but that funding is invested back into the organization, not as revenue that delivers income to “owners.” Non-profits are organizations like associations, churches, fraternal organizations, and other groups that have a focused set of activities that support the interests or concerns of the organization. In both for- and non-profit private-sector institutions, information is generated and used for different purposes: some because law requires they make the information available, some to promote the organization, some to satisfy the organizational mission to inform the public or stakeholders about an issue or topic, some to support the network of members of the organization. The information may be available in databases of statistics, on institutional websites, as part of media kits prepared by the public relations department, in directories or annual reports, and in many other formats. Private-sector institutions generate both public and private records about their own activities. Private information created by both for-profit and non-profit private-sector institutions is intended for use by the company or organization and can be difficult to obtain by someone outside the institution. These can include:

• internal correspondence
• proprietary product recipes or unique manufacturing processes (for profit)
• marketing research about their customers or constituencies
• business plans for product line expansions (for-profit) or service expansions (non-profit)

But other records generated by private-sector institutions are public and more easily obtained. These can include:

• Public financial disclosure documents if they sell stock to shareholders or operate as a non-profit institution with tax exemption
• Compliance documents if they operate in an environment that requires licenses or regulatory oversight
• Information verifying compliance with tax laws, social security contributions, worker’s compensation payments for employees
• Evidence they are complying with federal and international trade and commerce laws and regulations if they operate overseas

You have legal and legitimate access to much more information from private-sector institutions and through public records than you would likely ever think to request. In fact, the potential problems involved in seeking information about for-profit and non-profit institutions is not the chance that your requests might be denied but, rather, that you will be overwhelmed by the quantity and complexity of it all. You can reasonably expect for-profit and non-profit institutions to be reliable, accurate and complete in their information-producing and -disseminating functions. But you should not expect the information to be neutral in respect to social values and social structures. Nor should you expect that institutions will remain static as laws change and as social values and structure evolve. Rather, you should recognize that when you use information from these institutional sources, you have to decode the biases, assumptions and vested interests inherent in the information.

Scholarly Sources

Another major category of information sources is scholarly information produced by subject experts working in academic institutions, research centers, and scholarly organizations. Scholars generate information that advances our knowledge and understanding of the world. The research they do creates new opportunities for inventions, practical applications, and new approaches to solving problems or understand issues. [caption id="attachment_969" align="alignleft" width="434"] Google Scholar by AJC1. Source: Flickr. CC BY-SA 2.0[/caption] Scholars introduce their discoveries to the world in a formal system of information dissemination that has developed over centuries. Because scholarly research undergoes a process of “peer review” before being published (meaning that other experts review the work and pass judgment about whether it is worthy of publication), you can be assured that the information you find from scholarly sources has met the standards for accuracy, credibility, and validity in that field. Academics, researchers, and students at universities make their contributions to scholarly knowledge available in many forms:

• masters’ theses
• doctoral dissertations
• conference papers
• academic reports
• scholarly journals
• books
• individual scholars’ web pages
• web pages developed by the scholars’ home institution

All serve the purpose of publishing and distributing the new knowledge gleaned from the research efforts of these scholars. Journals that publish scholarly contributions are different than the journals that might be published by an institution such as a think tank or by a media organization. Scholarly journals have a board of editors and a panel of peer reviewers who will determine whether the submitted material has sufficient merit to be published. Materials from scholarly sources are usually found most readily in libraries with large collections of scholarly journals and books. Some scholarly materials can be located in the sponsoring institution’s library. For example, a dissertation written by a University of Texas student would be available at the University of Texas library. There are now “digital only” scholarly publications that uphold the same rigorous peer review and high academic standards as their printed predecessors. An example is the Journal of Interactive Advertising. Research projects and papers of professors, doctoral students and researchers can be found on university websites. In some cases, institutional sources – such as associations – will make compilations of scholarly papers available, like the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s database of AEJMC conference papers. The supporting datasets used to analyze the research are rarely available online, but the clever communicator will know that the database must exist and that the scholar will be the source they need to contact to find out about it. Since one of the tenets of scholarly research is replicability, scholars have an interest in making their data available. Making distinctions between types of disciplines may help you determine the types of scholarly information sources that are most useful for your purposes. The clearest distinction is between the sciences and the humanities. The scientist and the humanist use different sorts of research methods and study different phenomena. They publish their findings in forms that are characteristic of their disciplines and make these documents available through a variety of tools. Scientists seek experimental validity by studying the natural world and examining the regularities or irregularities that seem to govern natural phenomena. Their methods must be open to scrutiny and, in the best of circumstances, must be reproducible by others following the same procedures. Experimental validity, rather than an individual interpretation of events or phenomena, is paramount. Immediacy in sharing results is very important for professionals in the scientific fields, so scientists rely on the research report and journal article. The humanist’s method is shaped for interpretive validity; that is, the humanist tries to interpret a poem, a painting, a novel or a musical score by presenting an interpretation that will be considered valid. Humanists study the products of human imagination and combine a personal, unique perspective with the framework of accepted concepts and knowledge that their discipline provides. Humanists rely on books as the primary method of expressing their knowledge of a field because the book allows the in-depth exploration of context that characterizes humanistic investigation. Social and policy scientists rely on a combination of experimental and interpretive methods. They have adopted the scientific method for much of their work and exhibit the same concern for openness and validity exhibited by scientists. However, because the subject of much of their study is a human social activity, social scientists work interpretively as well. For the most part, they are concerned with the present and with the implications of their work in social organizations and in public decision making. Social and policy scientists publish their findings in a number of forms. Journals are important, but research reviews, yearbooks and handbooks are also valuable. While it is easy to understand why it is important for scholars to share their work among themselves, why would scholars want to share their information with you as a communications professional? For one thing, scholars are as eager as anyone else to have their work recognized and appreciated. Taking a call from a reporter or public relations specialist seeking the most reliable “expert” on a particular subject is an ego-boost for the scholar who is used to toiling in relative anonymity in the quiet of the academic or research center environment. Another motivation for scholars to talk to you is that they might be conducting their work with the help of a grant or financial backing from a foundation or research organization that would appreciate the wider distribution of the findings and a larger public audience for the organization’s work. In fact, it is your job as a communications professional to ask scholars who is supporting their work financially. It is not unusual for scholars to have grants from large companies (pharmaceutical companies, for instance) or government agencies (the U.S. Defense Department, for instance), and the work they do may reflect the interests or priorities of the funding source. Scholars typically must reveal their funding sources in manuscripts they submit to journals for peer review so the experts reviewing the work know who “paid the piper” and who may be “calling the tune.” This is not to disparage the independence of scholars who work with grant funding but rather to alert you, the information seeker, to ask for full disclosure about the nature of the funding of the scholarly work you intend to use in your research. Bias comes in many different forms and even if a funding source is a reputable governmental organization such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), you should acknowledge that the agenda and interests of this organization are important for understanding the perspective of that research. Much of the work you do as a communications professional requires you to range across many disciplines of knowledge and skim across many fields of expertise. That usually means that you will not, as the media professional, become an “expert” in any one subject area. You must rely on scholars to help you accurately interpret information for your audience. You seek the help of scholarly sources to identify emerging social or scientific trends, to decipher specialist information or jargon that you cannot understand, to comment on the work of other scholars, to critique institutional policies or procedures, and for a wide variety of other purposes. The main use of scholarly sources in mass communication messages is as a source of expertise and knowledge about audiences, subject matter, or effects of messages. As you move through the information strategy process, you will begin to identify the individual scholars and/or the scholarly publications or resources that are most appropriate for your message task. For instance, if you are working on the advertising account for a new type of low-fat snack food, your initial discussions about the product with the client may direct you to several researchers whose work documents the dietary effects of the new food. If you are writing a news story about the possible effects of a new government-imposed tariff on imported steel, you are likely to want to discuss the policy with economics scholars who study trade policy whose names you find in the transcripts of testimony before Congress about the policy. If you are preparing the news release about the introduction of curtain airbags in next year’s models, your supervisor may ask you to seek the expertise of a scholar studying the effects of the new devices on the injury rate in auto accidents. In every case, the scholarly source is intended to provide credibility, depth, balance and/or expertise to your message. Rather than asking your audience to trust that you, the communicator, just happened to get it right, you seek the help of scholarly sources to ensure that audiences are receiving complete, accurate, and fair information in their news stories, advertisements and public relations messages. If you choose your scholarly sources carefully and with attention to their credentials, expertise and relevance for your topic, you are likely to produce a much more reliable and credible message for your audience. We will go into more detail about locating and using scholarly sources in later lessons.

Journalistic Sources

Another major category of information sources is journalistic materials produced for a general audience and distributed through popular media (newspapers, magazines, radio, television, Web sites, etc.). Journalistic sources also include industry-specific news sources such as PRWeek, Advertising Age, or Editor & Publisher magazine—we will commonly refer to these specialized business-oriented sources as trade publications. Much of the work that media professionals do relies on the previous journalistic work in that area. The basic rule to “check the clips” before starting on any information task applies to newsrooms of all types. Advertising libraries maintain “tear sheet” files of ad examples from magazines and newspapers in a myriad of product and service categories so ad professionals have some idea about how a particular item has been advertised before launching off on a new campaign. Public relations professionals are judged, in part, by the coverage their clients receive in the popular media and therefore use a variety of means to document where their news releases were published in media outlets. [caption id="attachment_972" align="alignleft" width="425"] Press Conference - Sunita Lyn Williams by Biswarup Ganguly. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 3.0 Unported[/caption] News media moved to the digital production of their newsprint products more than thirty-five years ago. News organizations, with rare exceptions, now have a digital version of their print, television or radio counterpart available on the Web. And in the last decade, many digital-only news publications have been created. What this means for the communicator is unprecedented access to the news coverage from journalistic organizations around the world. Many news sites will give access not only to current stories but to the archive of previously published stories. Sometimes free, sometimes for a fee, these archives will be important resources to communicators needing background on a topic or event. Often, news sites will make the databases of statistics they have used to report a story available. The “computability” of the digital space allows the user of a news database to find the crime statistics, or school test scores, for example, for the specific area they are interested in. Many journalistic organizations are making interactive, digital versions of their publications available in addition to their print versions, so you can see all the articles and ads as they appeared in the print publication. This is of particular interest to strategic communicators who need to track the placement and play of stories and ads. As potential contributors to your information search, journalistic sources might be helpful in generating ideas for your news message (how have others written about this and what could we choose as a new “angle”), identifying possible problems or crises you might need to address with your PR messages (a news report identifies falling public confidence in your client organization) or suggesting an opportunity for a new ad approach (a news report might document that more women are doing home repairs so your client home improvement store should target women). Depending on the context of the information request you present them, you will get different kinds of information from journalists as interviewees. If the media organization itself is the focus of the research, the information you will get is likely to be the “party line” of the organization.  If you are tapping one of the employees of a media organization about a story they have written, you are likely to get more of a personal view of what went on in the crafting of that message. If you are seen as any kind of competitor, you are unlikely to get any information at all. The products of journalistic organizations are messages and if the journalist believes you are going after the same sort of message, that reporter won’t be a very willing contributor.

Informal Sources

[caption id="attachment_982" align="alignleft" width="448"] Just a face in the crowd by Scott Cresswell. Source: Flickr. CC BY 2.0[/caption] Getting started on a new subject and grounding the information in “reality” are just two challenges you’ll face early in the information strategy. The best route to meet both of these challenges can be consulting people informally and observing the world around you. When describing how informal sources might be helpful, we are talking about what people know, feel, and believe in their life experiences. A person you might consult as an informal source might also be an institutional, scholarly, or journalistic source in another context – one in which the information you are trying to get from them is related to their work. [caption id="attachment_983" align="alignright" width="457"] Social listening for innovation by Laura Dinneen - Source: Flickr - CC BY-NC 2.0[/caption] Monitoring online forums, chat rooms and social networking sites has become a routine part of a communicator’s daily work routine. These sites allow individuals to share what is sometimes a disconcerting amount of personal information about their lives, interests, activities, acquaintances and future plans. Social networking sites as sources of information from informal contributors provide the communicator with a rich vein of material that was once non-existent or nearly impossible to tap. The ability to find information sources and "listen in" on what they are talking about has been greatly enhanced with the rise of social networks and microblogging services like Twitter. A challenge, though, is identifying those messages truly contributed by unaffiliated people and messages that look like they are from "informal" sources but which are actually marketing-sponsored messages. Even at their best, informal sources provide just a portion of the information that is needed for a message. Informal sources may be incomplete, outdated, self-serving or contain errors of fact or interpretation. They are most likely to provide you with a “slice of life” perspective rather than an informed, credible perspective that other types of sources might provide.

Disciplines of Knowledge

Another major aspect of identifying possible contributors involves drawing the boundaries for the information strategy. It is never possible to examine an idea in its entirety. You have to carve out a manageable portion of an idea if you are going to make your deadline and do a credible job with the message. When drawing these boundaries for the strategy, it helps to think about how and where information is produced. For this, you need to identify the disciplines of knowledge production in a subject area. The information does not exist in the environment like some kind of raw material. It is produced by individuals who work within a particular field of knowledge [caption id="attachment_986" align="alignright" width="300"] By geralt. Source: pixabay. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] and who use specific methods for generating new information. Disciplines are knowledge-producing and -disseminating systems. Looking through a college course catalog gives clues to discipline structure. Fields such as political science, biology, history and mathematics are unique disciplines with their own logic for how and where new knowledge is introduced and made accessible. You must become comfortable with identifying the disciplines that might contribute information to any strategy. You must learn how to:

• move seamlessly from one discipline to another during your strategy
• compare and evaluate information that comes from a variety of perspectives and knowledge systems
• decode the way people talk about a topic within a discipline

For example, think about the disciplines that might contribute information to a search on the topic of the role of sports in society. Try to anticipate the type of perspective each discipline might have on the topic. Consider the following types of questions as you examine what different disciplines might contribute:

• What is important about the topic to the people in that discipline?
• What is most likely to be the focus of their study about the topic?
• What perspective would they be likely to have on the topic?

We might identify three disciplines that have something to say about the role of sports in society: medicine, sociology, and economics. What would each of these disciplines raise as key questions or issues related to that topic?

• Medical scientists
  • how sports affect individuals' health and well-being
  • sports injuries
  • physical conditioning for those who take part in sports
  • life-expectancy for those who regularly exercise

• Sociologists
  • how sports affect social relationships
  • how society treats its sports heroes
  • how young people are socialized into the idea of team cooperation
  • differences between boys and girls and their participation in organized sports

• Economists
  • financial aspects of sports
  • the kinds of economic contribution a major-league sports franchise makes to a city
  • public financing for building new sports facilities when a team threatens to leave
  • management-labor relations represented by negotiations in major league sports contracts

So we see that a single topic can be approached from many different perspectives depending on how the disciplinary boundaries are drawn and how the topic is framed. This step of the information strategy process requires you to make some decisions early on in order to focus the topic on a manageable and appropriate scope for the rest of the strategy.

The Library as a Contributor

[caption id="attachment_989" align="alignleft" width="300"] P1000583 by Mike Linksvayer. Source: Flickr: CC0 Public Domain 1.0.[/caption] For all that it offers in the information gathering process, the most essential resource for information from all types of contributors is the library. Libraries can be affiliated with a particular contributor type or they can be totally independent entities that contain information from different kinds of contributors. Libraries are storehouses of recorded knowledge in print, digital, and other formats. But with all of the digitally stored and accessible information available from any computer with access to the Internet, it may not be easy to see why you would need to use the resources of a library at all. The main reason why libraries continue to be major contributors to the communicator’s information process is that library material has been organized, indexed, and coherently arranged for ease of use. Despite the best attempts of the creators of some of the best digital services, most still lack even the more rudimentary organization schemes and retrieval systems that have been in use in libraries for centuries. Quality control is an even worse problem for some digital services. Libraries continue to be among the few information repositories that clearly organize their collections and allow for evaluation of the relative quality and usefulness of almost everything retrieved. Libraries are set up to preserve, collect, and make accessible recorded intellectual products. Most libraries have

• a catalog that lists the contents of their collections
• both book collections and periodical / magazine collections
• the tools (indexes, abstracts, bibliographies) to help searchers find what they need in the collections
• access to the Internet
• access to electronic databases of information
• the most important resource of all - the librarian or archivist - the person who knows the most about the collection and about how best to use it

It is especially important when you are working under a deadline and need accurate, appropriate, and verifiable information to understand how libraries differ from one another and how those differences affect the information strategy. Especially for freelance communicators and for those working in organizations without an in-house library, it is useful to know about the kinds of libraries that may be available in the community. There are five types of libraries that are important for communicators: public libraries, academic libraries, special libraries, archives, and media-organization libraries.

Types of Libraries: Public

Public libraries exist to serve a very special function. The need for an informed electorate is considered so important that residents are willing to tax themselves to make libraries available to the entire community. [caption id="attachment_992" align="alignright" width="300"] Madison Public Library interior by John Benson. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.0[/caption] Many public library collections reflect the history and makeup of the neighborhoods in which they are situated. They may include materials in the languages of the most dominant ethnic groups of that section of the city. The materials you will find in the public library reflect this community mission. The collection reflects the library’s attempt to meet the recreational and day-to-day informational needs of the general public. Most public libraries are not equipped to handle in-depth or technical research projects or questions but it might well be the best source for in-depth and retrospective information about the community: telephone books and city directories, electoral-district maps, photographs of city landmarks over the years, and other community-related material. At the start of your information strategy process, you might determine that it is crucial for you to have locally-relevant information about your topic, your community or your audience. In that case, some of the resources available from a public library might be good contributors to your process.

Types of Libraries: Academic

[caption id="attachment_995" align="alignleft" width="300"] Library by TaraRoss7 Source: Flickr. CC0 Public Domain 1.0[/caption] Academic libraries serve a very different function from the other types of libraries. These collections exist to support the teaching and research needs of the scholars, students, and researchers of the institution with which they are affiliated. Large academic libraries collect scholarly materials published in many languages and from all over the world. Even small academic libraries reflect the teaching mission of the institution. Specialized, technical, detailed materials are the norm in most academic collections of any size. Unlike the use of public libraries, the use of academic library collections may be restricted to some extent. You may have to apply for a special privilege card or pay a fee in order to gain access to the online catalog and check out materials, or you may only be able to use materials if you go in-person to the library. In extreme instances, unauthorized users may not even be able to enter the building. However, if the topic you are researching is of a national or international nature, if it involves specialized or technical subject areas, or if it is likely to cover controversial ideas, then an academic library collection is probably one of the best places to look. In addition, if you have been a student at a university and are an alumni society member, it is likely that you have free access to that library system and to a network of materials from other academic libraries as well.

Types of Libraries: Special

The term special refers to a broad category of various kinds of libraries. The collection, the clientele, or both may be special. For instance, most companies have some kind of library or information center that houses books, journals, documents, and materials relevant to that industry. Historical societies usually have libraries. Museums have libraries geared toward the subject matter of the museum collection. The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. is a special library in the sense that it collects books and materials by and about Shakespeare. Insurance companies, law firms, churches, hospitals, oil companies, and banking institutions are other kinds of places where a special library might be located. The Special Libraries Association has 26 different divisions of special librarians in its membership. You may want to use these special libraries for the kinds of unique materials they make available. For instance, if you are involved with an advertising campaign for a brand of beer, you may wish to use the library collection at the brewery in order to get an understanding of the history of the company and the nature of past campaigns. If the information is not proprietary (that is, held by the company to be private because it involves trade secrets or financial information), you may want to look for clues about the unique brewing process or chemistry that sets that brand of beer apart from its competitors. Special library collections may or may not be open to the public because corporate secrets are often housed alongside the usual industry or company information. The best rule of thumb is to check the website and call ahead as the hours and visiting policies are likely to differ from collection to collection.

Types of Libraries: Archives

Archives differ from libraries in mission and operation. Whereas libraries have a selective collection development policy, archives attempt to be a comprehensive collection of a business, organization or social movement. An archive is responsible for keeping a permanent record of the history, transactions, and operations of whatever it is that is being archived and thus, the materials in an archive usually do not circulate. There are governmental archives responsible for keeping the permanent record of that organization or branch. The National Archives in Washington, D.C., for example, maintains treaties, maps, photographs, motion pictures, sound recordings, correspondence files, and other documentation of the operations of the administrative branch of the federal government. Corporations and businesses house archives that serve both a public relations function and provide historically accurate information about the company and clients. For instance, the Coca-Cola archive includes such materials as original Coke bottles, print and broadcast ads, drugstore signs, decal-covered serving trays, and other Coke-related paraphernalia. The manager of the archive is called upon regularly by the legal department to produce documentation to protect the Coca-Cola trademark. At the start of your information strategy process, you may determine that it is crucial for you to gather information about the history or operation of the organization or business you are reporting on or for whom you are preparing a strategic communications message. That organization’s archive is the place to start.

Types of Libraries: Media

The libraries supported by media organizations are types of special libraries. Both the materials and the clientele are unusual. As the likely first stop for the communicator during the early stage of the information search, media libraries are crucially important. Many media organizations – whether in the business of producing a newspaper, a national magazine, a local television news broadcast, advertising campaigns, or public relations materials – have some sort of library collection or research function. The in-house library of a newspaper office may have a small, current collection of major reference tools (dictionaries, directories, almanacs), may subscribe to a handful of magazines and journals, may have access to online database services, and most likely is staffed by a professional librarian. But by far the most important resource, in the opinion of the newspaper staff, is the backfiles of the newspaper itself. Today, every large-circulation newspaper has its content stored and searchable through a digital library system. With the growth of online news publications, the challenge of reconciling the archive of the print edition of the newspaper and the digital version of the newspaper has grown and often news organizations will have two separate and not entirely equal database representations of news products they create. Broadcast news libraries may not have as many of the print and digital reference tools found in a newspaper or magazine library, but they do have a major resource for their employees – the archive of tapes or digital files of previous broadcasts. When you see file footage flashed on the screen during a television news report, you are seeing one use of this archive of materials. Broadcast news organizations keep archives of their own broadcasts, but journalists also have access to Web-based archives of streaming audio/video files through services such as those provided by the Vanderbilt Television News Archive. Current clips can sometimes be found using YouTube, Google News or Yahoo! News. Strategic communications agency libraries are designed to meet the information needs of communicators creating the ads or news releases, preparing the media kits, conducting market research, studying audiences or clients, and developing “new business pitches.” The library for an advertising agency or department, for instance, may include tear sheets, pages ripped out of magazines and newspapers that serve as examples of ads for particular products or services. The library may have files of pictures and photos so artists have examples if they need to draw a cheetah or a cricket bat. The library has industry and trade information so communicators can do background research on potential and current clients and their products and services. And these libraries have all of the specialized market and audience research tools that help determine the message context. A public relations agency library will subscribe to the important media tracking services and provide access to the databases and digital services that help the PR professionals follow news about their clients. Media organization libraries, then, serve a special function. Those creating messages must have at their fingertips examples of the own organizations’ output; materials produced by other communicators around the country or the world; information about the industries, products and audiences for whom messages are produced; and general fact-finding sources for quick reference.

The Library in the Process

As we’ve indicated, the library houses information from all contributors – public-sector institutional, private-sector institutional, scholarly, journalistic and informal. No matter what you are looking for, a library is likely to have at least a portion of what you need. As such, the library is an integral part of your information-gathering routine. Libraries make accessible the materials you need for your initial message analysis work, for your topic-specific information-gathering needs, for your in-depth information evaluation requirements, and for your synthesis work as you create the message. In other words, libraries contribute to every step of the information strategy, not just at this early step of the process.

Planning Your Strategy

Identifying a number of the possible contributors to your information strategy at this early step of the process will help focus your efforts and narrow the range of information you need to locate and evaluate. It is an important time-saver and a key aspect of your work as an efficient and effective communications professional.

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In the 1960s, researchers Johan Galtung and Mari Holmboe Ruge examined news stories worldwide to determine their similarities (Galtung & Ruge, 1965). Their seminal study created the first news value list, which is still referred to today by journalists and strategic communication professionals. (See the University of Oxford’s paper on Galtung and Ruge’s research for more information.) News values have evolved over time, and there is much debate over whether journalists should consider other criteria to select newsworthy content. (See Dr. Meredith Clark’s article on considering a new set of news values.) Currently, eight values are used to determine a story’s newsworthiness (Kraft, 2015). Some of the values’ names may differ slightly in other sources, but their meaning is the same.

Immediacy/Timeliness

Events or stories that have recently taken place or will happen in the immediate future have immediacy or timeliness. Breaking news stories or stories about unexpected events that are developing are good examples. Media gatekeepers deem these stories so important that they often interrupt regular television schedules to immediately give audiences the information. Recent happenings typically carry more news value than less timely events.

Timeliness also takes into consideration factors such as seasonal events, commemorations, and holidays. A strategic communication professional may pitch an activity that connects with this type of timeliness—for example, a fundraiser that distributes toys to low-income children during the holiday season.

Proximity

Proximity considers the location of the event in relation to the target audience of the media outlet. Audiences are more likely to pay attention to stories that take place in their local communities. For example, a news station in Ohio usually wouldn’t cover day-to-day events at the Indiana State Fair. However, happenings at the annual Ohio State Fair always get daily coverage in central Ohio news outlets.

Human interest

Stories that are emotionally compelling capture the audience’s attention and appeal to their attitudes and beliefs. Feature articles often are good examples of human interest stories when they depict a person, organization, or community in a way that triggers an emotional connection between the audience and the characters. Other examples are a behind-the-scenes look at the life of an athlete or the story of a person struggling to overcome an obstacle.

An example of a human interest story that contains strong emotional elements is that of Leah Still, daughter of National Football League player Devon Still. Leah captured the hearts of many when news outlets began to cover her battle with cancer in 2015 when she was four years old. Many people admired Leah’s positive attitude and determination to beat her illness. Now cancer-free, Leah continues to be an inspiration to thousands of people. For more information about this story and its human interest elements, take a look at this video:

Leah and Devon Still’s story (Source: ABC’s Good Morning America)

Currency

Topics that are trending in news media and other media, such as Twitter and Facebook, are considered newsworthy. “Hot topics of the day” or stories that are in the general public discourse are other examples. In 2015, many media outlets covered a story about a meme featuring a dress that appeared blue and black to some people and white and gold to others. The phenomenon was dubbed “dressgate” and went viral on social media. Since many people discussed and debated the color of the dress, some news outlets decided to cover the story. However, topics that have currency value generally have a short life span in the news cycle because they are discussed only briefly by the public. Click here for more information on the “dressgate” discussion.

News value types (Part 2)

Prominence

Stories that feature well-known individuals or public figures such as politicians and entertainers carry news value. News outlets covered the story when model Tyra Banks completed a management program at Harvard’s School of Business in 2012. Banks' celebrity profile raised the news value of a story that would have received little or no attention had it involved just about anyone else.

Impact

The United Kingdom’s vote to exit the European Union in June 2016 had global implications, and many media outlets in the U.S. and abroad reported the story. However, British news stations such as BBC News and Sky News covered the event more extensively than American media did because the decision impacts Britain’s economy and citizens much more so than Americans. Generally, people are more likely to care about stories that directly affect their lives; therefore, media gatekeepers often devote more time and resources to stories that have implications for their respective audiences.

Novelty

Stories that are odd, unusual, shocking, or surprising have novelty value. An example would be a story about an unusual animal friendship, such as that between a dog and a deer. Because such a friendship is not a normal occurrence, it sparks the curiosity of audiences. In 2015, CNN covered a story about a weatherman who was able to correctly pronounce the extremely long name of a Welsh village. Take a look at this clip of the story:

Weatherman pronounces long village name (Source: CNN)

Conflict

Strife or power struggles between individuals or ethnic groups or organizations contain a conflicting value and often grab the attention of audiences. For example, stories about war, crime, and social discord are newsworthy because their conflict narrative spurs interest. The continuous coverage by U.S. media outlets of worldwide terrorism is another example. Stories about major sports competitions, such as the National Basketball Association finals or the Super Bowl, also contain a conflict element because teams are vying for a prestigious title.

In general, news stories are organized using the inverted pyramid style, in which information is presented in descending order of importance. This allows the audience to read the most crucial details quickly so they can decide whether to continue or stop reading the story. From an editing perspective, using the inverted pyramid style makes it easier to cut a story from the bottom, if necessary. Invented more than a century ago, the inverted pyramid style remains the basic formula for news writing (Scanlan, 2003).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="452"] Inverted pyramid in comprehensive form by Christopher Schwartz Source: Wikimedia CC BY-SA[/caption]

Long Description

The Lead: The most important info

• Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
• Approximately 30 words (1-2 think paragraphs)
• May include a "hook" (provocative quote of question)

The Body: The crucial info

• Argument, controversy, story, issue
• Evidence, background, details, logic, etc.
• Quotes, photos, video and audio that support, disputes or expands the topic

The Tail: Extra info

• Interesting/Related items
• May include extra context in blogs, columns and other editorials: the assessment of the journalist

It is important to note that some news stories do not strictly follow the inverted pyramid style, although the lead for a hard news piece always does. Furthermore, not everyone in the journalism field embraces the style; some detractors believe it is an unnatural way to engage in storytelling and present news to the public. Yet, proponents believe it is an efficient way to organize and share information in a fast-paced society (Scanlan, 2003). Therefore, it’s important for students to learn the style; one good way to do so is to regularly read hard news stories and pay attention to how the leads are structured. The lead (also known as the summary lead) and the body of the inverted pyramid style are discussed in the next sections.

A summary lead concisely tells the reader the main idea of the story or conveys its news value. Most journalists and editors believe that the lead should come in the first sentence or first few sentences of a hard news article. Reporters use the term “burying the lead” or “delayed lead” to describe one placed later in an article. A buried lead may give the impression that the writer wasn’t able to determine what the real newsworthy material was, and can, therefore, reflect poorly on his or her journalistic judgment. In features or other soft news stories that use more dramatic storytelling techniques, the lead sometimes is buried in order to increase suspense or add an element of surprise.

A summary lead should address the following questions:

• Who is the story about? or Who is involved?
• What is the story about? or What happened?
• When did the event take place?
• Where did the event take place?
• Why did the event take place?
• How did the event happen?

Keeping the 5Ws and H in mind when writing a news story will help you organize the content and find a focus for the article. News judgment consists of figuring out the organization of these aspects of the content and prioritizing them in terms of their importance. It’s not necessary to cram the 5Ws and H into one sentence for the lead; however, the lead usually should contain information about the Who and What.

Take a look at the lead in this article from the Washington Post.

Now, let’s answer the 5Ws and H for the lead:

• Who? Female undergrads
• What? Claims of unwanted sexual advances
• When? 2015
• Where? Universities
• Why?
• How? Large study

In this case, the Why of the story is not addressed in the summary lead, perhaps because of the complexity of the issue. Still, the reader can easily understand the main idea of the article. When you’re practicing writing summary leads, remember to keep the sentence(s) relatively concise, with no more than 30 words.

Once you’ve created the lead, give the reader more information in the body of the article. This is your opportunity to elaborate on what else you know about the story. In keeping with the inverted pyramid style, present the information in decreasing order of importance, not necessarily in chronological order. The least important details should appear at the end of the article, where they could be omitted by an editor if necessary.

Use direct and indirect quotes from sources to tell the reader the origin of the information (there is more about this below), and remember to maintain an objective tone. Use the third person; avoid pronouns such as I, me, you, or us that are more suited to opinion pieces. Use short, simple sentences and organize them into paragraphs of no more than three or four sentences.

Indicate the source(s) of the information presented in the article through attribution, which typically takes the form of paraphrases as well as direct and indirect quotes. Attribution is very important in media writing, as it helps to establish an objective tone and adds credibility to an article (Harrower, 2012). Attribution also explains how the writer retrieved the information and why a particular source was quoted. Most of a story’s major information should be attributed, through phrases such as “she said” or “according to a recent report.”

Attribution can be placed at the beginning of a sentence to introduce information or added after a statement. Pay close attention to verb tense and choice when attributing sources. For example, the most common verbs used for attributing human sources are “said,” “stated,” and “asked.” For records or documents, use “reported,” “claimed,” and “stated.” Direct quotes should be surrounded by quotation marks and include the source’s exact words. Paraphrased statements and indirect quotes should not be placed in quotation marks.

Here are examples of attributed statements:

• “The libraries are usually crowded and filled with students around this time in the semester,” said Laura Skyler, a sophomore at The Ohio State University.
• A heavy cloud of smog hung over the city Wednesday, National Weather Service officials said.
• According to a statement from the White House, the president will announce his pick for the vacant Supreme Court seat on Monday.

When initially referencing a human source, include the person’s full name. Use only the last name for subsequent references. Use this CNN article as an example.

Include important qualifiers with the first reference to demonstrate that the source has expertise on the topic. For example:

• “Using Twitter in the classroom actually enhances student engagement,” Jasmine Roberts, strategic communication lecturer at The Ohio State University, said.

Notice that the direct quote with attribution uses the qualifier “strategic communication lecturer at The Ohio State University” to indicate the source’s credibility.

Qualifiers are also used to explain a source’s relevance to the topic. The following example might be used in a news article reporting on crime.

• “It was just complete chaos in the store. The police were trying very hard to catch the shoplifter,” eyewitness Angela Nelson said.

The qualifier “eyewitness” helps to establish Nelson’s relevance to the narrative.

Finally, attribution should flow well within the story. Avoid using long qualifiers or awkward phrases.

A headline concisely states the main idea of the story and is further elaborated on in the lead. It should clearly convey a complete thought. Headlines have become increasingly important in today’s society; people tend to look only at headlines rather than reading complete stories, especially online. An effective headline encourages the reader to take the time to read the article.

Print versus web headlines

Print headlines tend to be concise (using fewer than six or seven words) and straightforward. Online headlines tend to be longer and use catchy language. Images, captions, and subheadlines are more common with print headlines than web headlines (Davis & Davis, 2009).

Web headlines usually appear as links that lead the reader to the actual article. Given the acceleration of media consumption, many readers simply want to know the basic information about an event. The headlines used with web publications give readers enough information to understand what is happening without reading the story.

How to create a headline

Writing headlines takes practice. You need to select words carefully and use strong writing in order to entice the audience to read the article.

Create the headline after you finish writing the article so that you have a complete understanding of the story. Focus on how you can communicate the main idea in a manner that will capture the reader’s attention. Also, focus on keywords and do not include articles such as a, an, and the. Use present-tense verbs for headlines about events in the past or present. For events in the future, use the infinitive form of the verb: for example, “Local store to open a new location.”

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="428"] This print news headline includes a subheadline and an image that provides context and uses an attention-grabbing phrase. “The Globe and Mail, Toronto, ON Canada” by Cliff. Source: Flikcr. CC BY 2.0[/caption]

Unlike the traditional summary lead, feature leads can be several sentences long, and the writer may not immediately reveal the story’s main idea. The most common types used in feature articles are anecdotal leads and descriptive leads. An anecdotal lead unfolds slowly. It lures the reader in with a descriptive narrative that focuses on a specific minor aspect of the story that leads to the overall topic. The following is an example of an anecdotal lead:

Sharon Jackson was sitting at the table reading an old magazine when the phone rang. It was a reporter asking to set up an interview to discuss a social media controversy involving Jackson and another young woman.“Sorry,” she said. “I’ve already spoken to several reporters about the incident and do not wish to make any further comments.”

Notice that the lead unfolds more slowly than a traditional lead and centers on a particular aspect of the larger story. The nut graph, or a paragraph that reveals the importance of the minor story and how it fits into the broader story, would come after the lead. There will be more on the nut graph later in this chapter.

Descriptive leads begin the article by describing a person, place, or event in vivid detail. They focus on setting the scene for the piece and use language that taps into the five senses in order to paint a picture for the reader. This type of lead can be used for both traditional news and feature stories. The following is an example of a descriptive lead:

Thousands dressed in scarlet and gray T-shirts eagerly shuffled into the football stadium as the university fight song blared.

For each article below, identify whether it uses a descriptive or anecdotal lead:

• A thin line of defense
• Pediatric patient
• Inside Jay Z’s Roc Nation

The content in a feature article isn’t necessarily presented as an inverted pyramid; instead, the organization may depend on the writer’s style and the story angle. Nevertheless, all of the information in a feature article should be presented in a logical and coherent fashion that allows the reader to easily follow the narrative.

As previously stated, the nut graph follows the lead. This paragraph connects the lead to the overall story and conveys the story’s significance to the readers (Scanlan, 2003).

The nut graph comes from a commonly used formula for writing features, known as the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) formula (International Center for Journalists, 2016). The formula was named after the well-known and respected publication, which created the term “nut graph” and mastered feature news writing (Rich, 2016).

The formula consists of beginning the story with feature-style leads to grabbing the reader’s attention, followed by the nut graph (Scanlan, 2003). After this comes to a longer body of the story that provides the usual background, facts, quotes, and so on. The formula then specifies a return to the opening focus at the end of the story using another descriptive passage or anecdote, also known as the “circle kicker” (Rich, 2016). This could be, for example, an update on what eventually happened to the main character or how the event or issue turned out. This blog post provides a detailed example of the WSJ formula.

Literary Devices

Feature writers use a particular style of writing to convey the story’s message. The use of literary devices helps in this task. These devices include similes and metaphors, onomatopoeia (use of words that mimic a sound), imagery (figurative language), climax, and more. Here are a few examples of onomatopoeia and imagery:

Onomatopoeia: The tires screeched against the concrete as she hit the pedal.

Imagery (example modified from Butte College, 2016): The apartment smelled of old cooking odors, cabbage, and mildew; . . . a haze of dusty sunlight peeked from the one cobwebbed, gritty window.

Click here for more information on literary devices, including specific examples.

Descriptive Writing

A good feature writer uses plot devices and dialogues that help move the story forward while focusing on the central theme and providing supporting information through descriptive language and specific examples. You want to show readers what’s happening, not simply tell them. They should be able to visualize the characters, places, and events highlighted in the feature piece.

Show Versus Tell

Tell: Friends describe Amariah as a generous and vibrant person who was involved in several nonprofit organizations.

Show: Tracey proudly recalls her friend’s generosity. “Amariah is usually the first person to arrive at a volunteer event and the last to leave. She spends four hours every Saturday morning volunteering at the mentoring center. It’s rare to not catch her laughing, flashing her perfect smile. She’s just a burst of positive energy.”

It’s often tempting to end a feature piece with a summary conclusion. Instead, use an anecdote, passage, or compelling quote that will leave a lasting impression on your readers.

As with any professional relationship, there are do’s and don’ts to be aware of when developing relationships with journalists. Take the time to research reporters or bloggers to identify those who will help you achieve your organization’s publicity goals. Once you’ve found an appropriate journalist or blogger, think carefully about how you plan to pitch your story to the individual. Avoid gimmicky or hyped-up press releases; they may catch the reporter’s attention, but for the wrong reason. Also avoid jarring language such as “urgent,” “must read,” or “extremely important,” even if you need to secure media coverage quickly.

In general, developing a rapport with journalists takes time, strategy, skill, and practice. For more information on what you can do to develop a good working relationship with the media, take a look at this video with Alissa Widman Neese, a journalist at the Columbus Dispatch. She discusses her experiences working with public relations professionals and some of the factors that made them positive.

A Journalist’s Perspective on Pitching with Alissa Widman Neese

Simply contacting the media will not guarantee coverage for your client. You have to persuade the journalist that your story idea is newsworthy. Public relations professionals typically pitch to reporters, editors, bloggers, and social media influencers. Pitches can take place via email, phone calls, and increasingly through Twitter. The channel you choose for your pitch depends upon the intended individual’s preference.

Pitching is a skill that requires creative thinking, persuasive communication skills, and knowing how your story idea benefits the reporter and the audience. Your pitching skills can improve with time and practice. You will feel more confident reaching out to reporters if you write pitches regularly.

Before Pitching

Before you send an email pitch or call a reporter, it is important to have a solid understanding of your key audience. Carefully examine the interests, preferences, media consumption behaviors, and key demographic information associated with that group. Then you can more accurately select which media outlet will help reach the target audience.

Go where your audience is located. For example, as you conduct research about your target audience, you might learn that members read blog posts more than news articles. Therefore, reaching out to bloggers could be more beneficial than targeting news reporters. Place your message or story in media outlets that your intended audience frequently visits or reads.

One of the most common complaints from journalists about public relations pitches involves the use of mass emails. Generic pitches sent out to anyone and everyone come across to reporters and bloggers as careless and can compromise your credibility among media professionals. Remember, reporters are going to look at how your story will appeal to their specific readers; therefore, your pitch needs to be strategic. Failure to keep this in mind may result in a rejected pitch or no response at all.

Before you pitch to a particular media outlet, be sure to research which specific writer within the organization can help you target your audience. Each reporter covers a different topic, or “beat.” Reading some of a reporter’s previous stories will give you an indication of whether he or she is the right person to cover your story. Let’s say your client is a restaurant that wants to publicize the opening of a new location. A reporter who covers food topics and brands, lifestyle topics, or the restaurant industry would be the most logical choice to write your story.

Writing the Pitch

Now that you’ve done your homework on the audience, media outlet, and specific writer, pay close attention to how you craft your pitch message.

The subject line is especially important if you’re using email. It needs to be creative enough to catch the attention of the writer; however, avoid exaggerated phrases or visual gimmicks such as all capital letters. Do not use generic headlines such as “Story Idea” or “Cool Upcoming Event.” Try to create a headline similar to one the journalist might use in writing the story.

Next, address the reporter or blogger by name and begin the body of the pitch. State why you’re writing, and provide some information about yourself and the company or client you represent. Next, summarize the lead of the story. Writing in this manner resonates with some reporters, as it is the style they are accustomed to. You also can start the email with a catchy line that will hook the journalist, but be careful not to overdo this. Reporters and editors do not like flowery or gimmicky language because it sounds more like a hard sales pitch than a public relations pitch. Continue with the pitch by providing important details about the story and talking about why it would be interesting to the media outlet’s audience. Doing this indicates that the story has news value, which is very important in pitching. Toward the end of the email pitch, state when you would like a response, indicate when you plan to follow up if necessary, and offer specific help. Be sure to thank the reporter or blogger for his or her time.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="852"] “How to Bootstrap Your PR Like a Boss” by Kate Finley. Source: slideshare . CC BY-NC-SA 4.0[/caption]

Don’t feel discouraged if the person does not respond immediately. Journalists are extremely busy, and sometimes they simply overlook emails. If necessary, send a reminder email by the follow-up date you mentioned in the first communication. This date depends on when the story should hit the press. If you pitched a story that needs to be published relatively quickly, you may want to follow up no later than two days after sending the initial pitch. If there’s more flexibility in the desired publication date, you may indicate that you will follow up within a week. If the person still does not respond to your pitch, move on to another outlet, reporter, or blogger who can help you accomplish your publicity goals. It is important to also consider timing; for example, do not make a follow-up call at 4:55 P.M. on a Friday when the journalist may be getting ready to head home for the weekend.

Grammar, punctuation, tone, and spelling are important when writing email pitches. Some journalists have admitted to not responding to a pitch that contains grammatical and spelling errors. Reread your message several times to check for errors. Here are more articles that discuss media relations, proper etiquette, and tips on gaining media exposure:

• Surprising tips to get the media’s attention
• 9 pitch tips from PR News Online
• How not to pitch

The press release or news release is one of the most common communication materials written by public relations professionals. Press releases are sent to outlets such as newspapers, broadcast stations, and magazines to deliver a strategic message from an organization that the media ideally will publish or broadcast. The primary audience for the press release is reporters and editors, although some organizations publish press releases on their own websites for audiences to view. This may be done due to shrinking newsroom staffs and insufficient resources to develop original content.

Journalists use press releases as a reporting tool, relying on them to provide essential information and therefore make it easier for them to cover a variety of events. With the increase in media channels and demand for social content, some view press releases as an uninteresting way to distribute information and connect with audiences (Galant, 2014). Others see them as a concise and straightforward way to communicate to key publics.

Although the emergence of digital media has challenged public relations professionals to think of nontraditional ways to garner publicity, the use of press releases is still widespread in the profession. Therefore, public relations practitioners should know how to write an effective press release.

Traditionally, press releases use the inverted pyramid style, which makes it easy for journalists and editors to receive the most essential information first. This means the news hook should be revealed in the headline and lead of the release. Journalists will not take your press release seriously if the content is not newsworthy and it is not written in an accepted style, such as AP style. Make sure that the press release contains attributed information with proper sources and is error-free.

Before writing the release, ask yourself the following questions:

• Is the announcement or event newsworthy? Does it appeal to the media outlet’s audience? Some announcements do not warrant a press release and can simply be posted on the company website.
• What is the key message? What should the reader take away?
• Who is the target audience for the release? Although you’re writing the release for the media, you need to keep in mind the kind of readers or listeners you hope to attract.

In this video, Gina Bericchia, senior media strategist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, discusses proper press release writing.

Discussion on Press Release Writing with Gina Bericchia

This article from Ragan Communications discusses when to send a press release to the media.

Press Release Structure and Format

The release should be written on the company letterhead, with the words “Press Release” or “News Release” at the top left corner of the page. Below this, indicate when the information is available for publication. The term “immediate release” means the information is ready to publish and can be used by journalists as soon as they receive it. Occasionally, you might want more time to gather other information, or would prefer that the journalist publish the announcement at a later date. In this case, use the term “under embargo until” followed by the embargo date, which is when you will allow the journalist to publish the information. Put the press release date below the “immediate release” or “under embargo until” statement. Always include contact information for the journalist’s reference, preferably at the top right corner.

Write the body of the press release using news writing techniques and style. Be sure to include a headline; you also may include a subheadline. Provide a dateline, followed by the summary lead. Here’s an example:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="412"] Image from the Pressbook "Writing for Strategic Communication". Industries Student example of a press release for a school assignment. Danika Wellington is not affiliated with The City of Columbus Recreation and Parks Department. CC BY-NC 4.0[/caption]

Long Description

NEWS RELEASE Contact: Danika Wellington FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Nov. 12,2015 Media Liaison 614-555-5678 wellington.41 @columbus.gov

Empty Bowls to feed the hungry. COLUMBUS, Ohio - The City of Columbus Recreation and Parks Department will host its 18th annual Empty Bowls event to raise much needed funds for the Mid-Ohio Foodbank. There will be 17 Empty Bowls events starting Saturday until Dec. 10 throughout the Columbus area, which will feature unique pottery and handmade soup for a $10 donation. Wendy Frantz, Empty Bowls coordinator at Columbus Recreation and Parks, said it is a great way to give back to the community. “For every dollar that is raised through the Empty Bowls Project for the Mid-Ohio Foodbank, $10 worth of groceries can be given to families in need,” Frantz said. The ceramic bowls are donated by people of all ages and skill levels, varying from professional potters and artisans to children. Marcy’s Clay ground also contributes about 200 bowls annually for the event. The project is a collaborative effort between Columbus Recreation and Parks, several churches, businesses and program sponsors to help combat hunger. Volunteers make homemade soup and many local businesses donate goods including bread and water. Yolanda Owens, communications and digital media manager at Mid-Ohio Foodbank, said Columbus Recreation and Parks have been a great partner over the last 17 years, raising over $193,000. “These much needed funds help to ensure that all of our neighbors have access to nourishing foods to put on their tables for the holidays,” Owens said. The Mid-Ohio Foodbank is a non-profit organization that partners with more than 650 community partners across Ohio to provide food to half a million hungry citizens. This year, Empty Bowls events extended to three productions of “Oliver!” in late October at the Westgate Recreation Center, in conjunction with the Westgate Theater Co. and Carriage Place Players. During the intermission of the performances, a silent auction for the locally made bowls was held to maximize funds raised, which overall totaled $3600.

 

Be sure to use the inverted pyramid to organize the information throughout the press release. Include at least two quotes, one from the company or organization and another from a third party (example: customer, volunteer, a current or former attendee at the event). After you’ve finished with the body, put the boilerplate at the end of the document. The boilerplate provides information about the company or organization, similar to the “About Us” section that you might find on a company website.

The press release should be as concise as possible and ideally no longer than one page. If it exceeds one page, do not split paragraphs. Instead, put the word “more” at the bottom center of the first page to indicate to the reader that there is more content on a second page. Include three pound signs (###) or “-30-” at the bottom of the press release to indicate the end.

These sample press releases contain some of the basic elements:

• The Ohio State University
• Forever 21
• St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Further Reading

This article from Ragan’s PR Daily provides suggestions to improve your public relations writing. An additional article from Ragan’s PR Daily explains common press release mistakes.

Press kits or media kits are packages or website pages that contain promotional materials and resources for editors and reporters. The purpose is to provide detailed information about a company in one location. Although a press kit delivers more information than a press release, the overall goal is similar: to secure publicity for a company or client.

Major events or stories that require more information than is typically included in a press release warrant a press kit. Examples include a company merger, the launch of a new product, a rebranding campaign, or a major change in organizational leadership. Press kits can be hard copy or digital. Hard-copy press kits use folders with the company logo, whereas digital press kits use a website page or are sent in a zip file via email.

The following materials are found in a press kit:

• Backgrounder
• Press release
• Fact sheet
• Publicity photos or list of photo opportunities
• Media alerts

Click here for information on how to assemble a press kit.

Backgrounder

A backgrounder contains the history of a company and the biographies of key executives. The purpose is to supplement the press release and explain the company’s story or event, products, services, and milestones. It is in paragraph format and relatively brief (one to two pages). Click here for a sample corporate backgrounder from GainSpan, a semiconductor company (creator: Javed Mohammed).

Fact Sheet

A fact sheet provides a summary of an event, product, service, or person by focusing only on essential information or key characteristics. It is more concise than a backgrounder and serves as a quick reference for reporters. However, the fact sheet is not meant for publication. The headings of a fact sheet vary; the creator of the document chooses how to categorize major information. The most common type of fact sheet is the organizational profile, which gives basic information about an organization. This includes descriptions of products or services, annual revenues, markets served, and the number of employees.

The standard fact sheet contains a company letterhead and contact information. The body is single-spaced, with an extra space between paragraphs and subheadings. Although the fact sheet is typically one page, put the word “-more-” at the bottom of the first page to indicate additional pages. Similar to the press release format, include three number signs or “-30-” at the bottom of the document to indicate the end. To make it easy to read, group similar information together and include bulleted items if appropriate.

Click here or an example of a fact sheet. Keep in mind that the subheadings/categories used in this example may not be used in another one. Writers have some flexibility in the categories they choose in a fact sheet.

Media Alert

There are times when announcements do not require the distribution of a press release, but rather a concise notice to the media. This is called a media alert or advisory. Media alerts are memos to reporters about an interview opportunity, press conference, or upcoming event. They use the 5Ws and H format to quickly deliver information.

The illustration below explains the key differences between a press release and a media advisory:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="428"] “News Release vs. Media Advisory” by Alyson Moses and Mary Sterenberg. Source: Ohio State University. CC BY 2.0[/caption]

Long Description

News Release: Purpose: to share the news of the organization. It offers a story the media can use alone or as a background to write a story. Quotes, facts, inverted pyramid. Written like a story; while Media Advisory's purpose is to alert the media about an upcoming event to cover or propose or pitch another coverage opportunity. It offers basic information. Not meant to be published verbatim. Brief and to the point - answers five W's in bullets.

Here are some examples of media alerts:

• Economic Policy Institute
• Institute for Women’s Policy Research

Before they begin the design process, advertising professionals work on explaining and outlining the advertising plan in a creative brief. This is a document for the creative team, the advertising director, and the client that gives a clear objective for the copied material and explains the overall concept of the campaign. The creative brief is like a game plan—without it, the advertisement may not be successful. You do not have to use a particular writing style, such as AP style when completing the creative brief. However, grammar, spelling, punctuation, and concise writing are still important. Here are several broad categories to consider when completing the creative brief.

Key Consumer Insight

The key consumer insight demonstrates a clear understanding of the consumer’s general behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes as they relate to the message topic. It also considers general opinions and thoughts about the subject matter. Let’s say you’re developing a creative brief for a cookie brand. Market research and careful audience analysis can reveal key insights into consumer behaviors, such as the fact that many consumers believe that so-called healthy cookies do not taste as good as their high-calorie, sugar-filled counterparts. This knowledge will help you as you design your advertisement.

Advertising Problem

The phrase “advertising problem” does not refer to addressing a problem within the advertisement itself, or challenges in advertising to the key audience. The term refers to the product’s biggest consumer-related stumbling block. In the cookie example above, the advertising problem is that consumers face a choice between buying great-tasting cookies that are loaded with calories and sugar and buying ones that are low in sugar and calories but don’t taste as good. The consumer insight can inform or help you to come up with the advertising problem. The advertising strategy should address a consumer need or consumer-related problem. Without this, the advertisement will appear pointless.

Advertising Objective

The advertising objective explains the intended effects of the promotion on the target audience and clearly articulates the overall goal. The goal is not simply to persuade the audience. Think about how you want the audience to feel or believe about the featured product or service. Or, what do you want them to do in response to seeing the advertisement? An example of the objective for the cookie advertisement might be to convince cookie lovers that the featured product is a healthy option that doesn’t compromise rich, fulfilling taste.

Target Consumer

The target consumers are people you specifically want to communicate the message to. In order to fully understand the audience, consider their psychographics, or the analysis of their lifestyles and interests. Also include information about demographics, as this factor influences the audience’s day-to-day experiences. Clarify why you’ve chosen this particular audience. Why would these people be attracted to the featured product or service? How would it help the organization achieve its goals? What are the benefits of targeting this particular group? Answering these questions will help justify the selection of the target audience.

Competition

In this section of the creative brief, perform a complete assessment of the competition that considers strengths and weaknesses. Specifically, examine the competitor’s history, products, services, brand, and target audiences. Analyzing key competitors will help you articulate your company’s or product’s marketplace niche, which is very important. You need to establish how your product or company stand out from similar products or companies.

Key Consumer Benefit

The key consumer benefit describes what the consumer would gain from using the advertised product or service. This section also discusses how the product or service solves the advertising problem laid out earlier in the creative brief. Narratives, testimonials, and sometimes research findings can be used as support in the actual advertisement, which helps enhance its persuasiveness.

Support

The support section explains the validity of the proposed advertising plan. It makes a case for why the campaign will motivate the audience or make them believe that the claims are true. This is particularly important because, in order to secure the advertising account, you need to convince your client or high-level executives that the plan will work. Include evidence from third-party sources such as external research studies or polls. Also, include feedback from focus groups to persuade the client that the advertising plan is effective.

Other Categories to Consider

Some creative briefs might include a section called tonality. This explains the desired feel or attitude of the advertising campaign, such as “hip,” “classy,” “fun,” “flashy,” or “modern.” You could also include a description of the advertisement’s visual elements, or the creative mandatories. This section should provide a detailed explanation of the images, slogan, logo, and other visual factors so that the client can imagine how the advertisement will look. The creative team usually presents a sample advertisement to the client in the pitch presentation.

After completing the creative brief and receiving approval from the client, it is now time to develop the advertisement. A large part of this process involves copywriting. Copywriting puts together the headlines, subheadlines, and images included in the advertisement. It uses persuasive communication to influence the target audience. It also helps to create the advertisement’s call to action, logo, and slogan.

The AIDA model is a popular framework used in designing advertising copy. The acronym stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. Good advertising copy should effectively grab the audience’s attention through words and/or imagery. This can be challenging. Because consumers may see thousands of advertisements daily, capturing their attention needs to be informed by strategy.

After getting the audience’s attention, the copy should maintain the focus of the consumer by generating interest. This involves creating messages that are relevant to the target audience (Altstiel and Grow, 2016). The AIDA model states that the copy should provoke a desire for the advertised product or service. When the desire is instilled, the copy should then motivate the audience to act or perform the call to action in the advertisement. This could be buying the product, visiting the organization’s social media page, volunteering, or attending an event. The call to action should be memorable. For further information on the AIDA model, click on this article.

Over the course of the semester, we’ve examined the steps a communications professional must take when trying to tackle a new information task or message assignment.

[caption id="attachment_88" align="aligncenter" width="551"] Flow chart of the Information Strategy Model.  Image from the Pressbook "Information Strategies for Communicators" -CC BY 4.0[/caption]

Long Description

Step 1: Message Analysis: arrows point to Context (Who is my audience? Message purpose. Message time and space. Message format and channel.) and Content (What is the topic? Topic Terminology. Questions to be answered. Narrowing the focus.). Step 2: Potential Contributors: 4 arrows point to: #1 Institutional Sources (monitor, search, interview), #2 Scholarly Sources (monitor, search, interview) #3 Journalistic Sources (monitor, search, interview) #4 Informal Sources (monitor, search, interview). Each of these 4 has 2-way arrows pointing to Evaluate and Select which has a 2-way arrow pointing to Synthesize which then has an arrow pointing to Craft the Message.

These steps, by way of review, are:

• clarify the parameters of the message assignment.
• identify potential audiences.
• generate ideas and bring focus to the topic.
• understand the variety of potential contributors of information.
• appreciate the ethical and legal considerations required.

These first steps of the process will help you generate a set of questions or information “tasks” that you will need to perform in order to create the required communication message. Thinking about the potential contributors that could provide information to complete those tasks or answer the questions will get you started on the information strategy process. Knowing the ethical expectations and how to craft a message that meets legal standards will help guide you as you find and select information to use. We’ve also discussed the key skills researchers must hone to be efficient and strategic in their information strategy tasks. These skills are:

• Searching: understanding how and where to locate both traditional repositories and databases of material and more esoteric or specialized resources, and constructing an effective search “equation” with appropriate keywords and utilizing search fields.
• Interviewing: finding and “vetting” people from a variety of contributor types who might have information, insights, or perspectives on whatever you are searching and developing the techniques to best engage and elicit helpful responses from them.
• Evaluating: knowing how to detect bias, misinformation, or unsubstantiated information you might find through searching or interviewing.
• Managing and Synthesizing: developing techniques for keeping track of the information you locate, methods for synthesizing key points or ideas to generate new insights and criteria for selecting (or discarding) the information you find.

Finally, we’ve discussed the forms in which information appears. We’ve looked at the tools, techniques and special requirements for understanding and using information from:

• data and statistics
• polls and surveys
• public records
• periodical publications

Now it is time to apply all of these skills and use the suite of resources for specific kinds of information requirements. Here’s how to apply all of these skills and resources. The following scenarios will step through the thinking process and track the information-seeking path. An information strategy is used throughout the message generation process. Here are the various stages at which communication researchers will need to locate information to complete the required tasks:

• Initial idea generation or project focusing
• Understanding the intended audience / who they are, what they do, where they are, how to reach them
• Understanding an unfamiliar topic
• Finding information from various types of contributors using different information gathering skills
• Understanding what the information means and how to organize and synthesize it for your message task

In this lesson we will work through several specific communication task scenarios and detail the thought processes and research strategy used when:

• analyzing the message needs
• clarifying the audience to address
• generating ideas and focusing on angles of a topic
• finding information on the topic / angle from a variety of types of contributors
• synthesizing and selecting material that was found

[caption]The Atlantic magazine[/caption] Freelance Magazine Scenario: You are a freelance reporter and you’ve been interested in the use of drones, particularly as the market is growing for non-combat use of “unmanned aerial vehicles.” You have a good contact at the Atlantic Monthly magazine and think you might be able to pitch a story to them. Your task: what should you pitch, and how would you research the topic?

You’ve identified the Atlantic as the magazine you want to target.

Questions to ask:

• How long are Atlantic articles?
• How much are freelancers paid?
• How do I submit a proposal?
• To whom should I submit a proposal?

Your questions are all about what a writer needs to know to sell their article. The Writer’s Market is a reference work that all freelance writers should have. There is a fee but it is well worth having the “bible” for freelance writers.

You need to learn about both the “gatekeeper” audience (the editor to whom you want to pitch your story) and the magazine’s target audience (the main concern of the editor.) Answering these questions will help clarify the orientation of the article you will pitch. Questions to clarify audience:

• Which editor would actually read the pitch and decide? What can I learn about them?

Sometimes it is hard to know when the submission just goes to a general “pitch” box. But you can find the names by going to the magazine website. Find on the homepage where the key personnel is listed (hint: in this case, it is referred to as the Masthead.) Links are provided to the editors' pages; in some cases, they have a little biographical information. If they don’t, it is worth checking on LinkedIn or Facebook to get a sense of their interests through posting (and it’s a good strategy to “like” or “connect” with them - people like to help out people who like them.)

• Who is the audience for the magazine? What would they be interested in? Are they highly educated?

A magazine’s media kit is compiled to provide advertisers and media buyer information about the audience it would reach if they placed an ad in that magazine. Every magazine site will have a button called “media kit” or “advertise” that will give valuable demographic and psychographic information about the audience for that publication. Here is The Atlantic’s media kit. Your broad topic of interest is “drones” - but what angle on this should you take? Given your knowledge of the Atlantic’s audience, how do you start to zero in on potential ways to focus the topic? Questions to clarify topic focus:

• What, if anything, has the Atlantic already written about drones?

Search the Atlantic’s website. Scanning through the articles retrieved (what is a good search strategy?) will give you some ideas of things they have covered - and help you find some different angles.

• What are some of the angles on the topic of drones that others are writing about?

Do a quick check on Google News - scanning the headlines might give you insights on a new angle. And you’d want to stay up to speed on the topic, so set several Google Alerts on different aspects of the topic (drones and legislation, drones and public safety, drones and shopping)

• What are people saying about drones? What are their issues or concerns?

Social media sites are a great way to see new and emerging topics of discussion or concern. Go to Facebook and see if there is an interest group - and who is talking about it. Follow a Twitter hashtag (like #drone or #dronesforgood) After brainstorming angles and understanding the interests of the Atlantic audience, you decide the use of drones for delivery services would be an interesting focus. As commercial firms from Amazon to local breweries and drug stores explore drone delivery, the regulatory or safety concerns this raises would be a great topic for Atlantic readers. [caption id="attachment_88" align="alignleft" width="300"] Package copter microdrones by Frankhöffner - Source: Wikipedia CC BY-SA[/caption] Now you need information. You develop a set of questions that could be answered with information from a variety of potential contributors. There are many ways to do this kind of brainstorming and if you have a very specific question, thinking through what kind of agency or organization would be likely to have information or data or expertise on that specific question is the logical first step. For example, if you want to know what the outlook is for the drone industry, you might want to find a public sector agency that generates industry outlooks and see what they have published. Check the government search engine USA.gov for drone manufacturing and you get a report published by the Congressional Research Service on UAS manufacturing trends. But if your specific question is “how many accidents have there been from the use of drones?” it would be logical to think about which agency is likely to track that sort of information. At the national level, it would be the Federal Aviation Administration. You do a search on drone accidents at faa.gov and the second item looks perfect: A Summary of Unmanned Aircraft Accident / Incident Data. Sadly, on further examination, you see that it doesn’t pass the recency or relevance tests of evidence. But you have identified the likely agency for this kind of information - so it might be time to pick up the phone and make a call to see if you can locate someone who knows about those types of records and ask for the most recent version of the report. At the beginning stages of the information strategy, sometimes you are better off with imagining the kinds of information that different contributors could offer - and the sort of questions they can answer. Here’s how that brainstorming might look for this particular topic: Public Sector Institutions: government agencies could provide answers to questions about drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) related to:

• Economy: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Commerce: census of business and manufacturing, specific financial information about companies in the drone business, the employment outlook for the industry
• Safety: Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Transportation, Homeland Security: concerns about usage, creative uses of drones (for traffic regulation or monitoring road conditions)
• Regulation: Department of Justice, State Legislatures: laws regulating use can be handed down at different levels of government
• Technology: National Technical Information Service: technical reports

A good strategy for finding public sector sources that might have information to gather or experts to interview is to look through the directory of government agencies. Private-Sector Institutions: You’ve decided your angle is the regulation of drones for commercial use. Clearly, you would want to identify some commercial enterprises that would be affected. Researching the background of this angle provides stories about a drug store in San Francisco, a brewery in Minnesota, and the mega-online store Amazon as having used, or want to use, drones to deliver products. Going to the corporate sites for QuiQui, Lakemaid Beer, and Amazon would provide answers to questions about their use of drones - and more importantly, the names of people you might want to interview. On the non-profit side, talking to people in advocacy groups or organizations with concerns about the use of commercial drones can help fill in questions about the different perspectives on the issue that should be considered. These are often good places to check for backgrounders or “white papers” on the topics of most interest to those associations. Do a search in Google for drones and association - look at their websites to see issues they cover. For a more authoritative source on associations, check the Associations Unlimited database (found on the UMN library website.) Scholarly: Conducting a search for scholarly articles in the Business Source Premier database using the search equation ("drone aircraft" OR "unmanned aerial vehicles") NOT war, you locate a number of relevant articles. One that appeared in Computer Law and Security Review is titled “Drones: Regulatory challenges to an incipient industry,” and the abstract of the article sounds like it is a good fit for your needs. A challenge with using scholarly sources can be deciphering the specialist language they use in their writings. For journalists, it can be better to find sources to interview - scholars will speak more conversationally than they will write. In the Lesson on Interviewing we talked about sources for locating scholars to interview. In this case, you would read the article and then contact the author, David Wright, for an interview. Journalistic: News articles are essential sources for other journalists - not only to find out what has been covered but also to see the types of sources that have been used. You’ll want to search one of the news archives services such as Google News (if you only want recent stories) or LexisNexis for broader coverage. In this case, however, you also find that journalists themselves are interesting sources of information because many of them want to use drones in their news work. So, journalistic sources are not only fodder for background and places to cull for good sources to find, but they are also sources themselves. You might want to contact the Professional Society of Drone Journalists. Informal Sources: If you are writing about how drones for commercial or non-military use are being regulated, you’d want to find some “just folks” to represent the impact of regulation. You’ll need to brainstorm the kinds of people you would want to hear from: people who use drones for fun, those concerned about drones flying over their neighborhood, people who have been injured by a drone, people who can’t wait to have their latest purchase from Amazon dropped on their doorstep. Locating informal sources might mean finding specific people who have posted on social media sites (look for tweets or pages related to drones) or it might be posting a “call” for comment on these sites and seeing what kinds of response you get. Reading the comments on articles you found through journalistic sources might lead you to interesting informal sources to interview. Search Tip: A term like “drone” has multiple related terms and different ways different disciplines will refer to the term. Take care when searching to try different versions (drone, UAV, UAS, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle…) As you can see from this scenario, there are many steps and hundreds of information sources that could help with this message task. We are just scratching the surface of what you would actually need to do to prepare this type of story pitch to the editors of The Atlantic. You work as a Communications Manager for the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the trade group that represents the country’s wind energy industry. An article appears in the Journal of Raptor Research that reports on the results of a study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The study found that wind energy facilities have killed at least 85 golden and bald eagles between 1997 and 2012—and those eagle fatalities possibly may be much higher. The study also indicated that eagle deaths have increased dramatically in recent years as the nation has turned increasingly to wind farms as a source of renewable, low-pollution energy, with nearly 80 percent of the fatalities occurring between 2008 and 2012 alone. [caption id="attachment_88" align="alignleft" width="300"] Wind Turbines by stevebidmead. Source: pixabay. CC0 Public Domain[/caption] Your Executive Director (ED) asks you to prepare the Association’s response to the questions and requests for comments that are certainly going to be pouring in as the results of the study start to gain public awareness. You need to get up to speed quickly on the topic of bird mortality due to wind energy facilities. Let’s look at how you would prepare to respond to this “crisis.”

Your discussion with the Executive Director would include seeking the answers to these questions:

• Does the ED want to issue a statement to the media on behalf of the AWEA?
• If yes, should that be in the form of a news release, a news conference, a streaming web conference, something else?
• Does the ED want to consider posting something on the AWEA’s website as part of the response?
• If yes, you need to determine “best practices” for how to do this effectively.
• Does the ED want to provide “talking points” to the industry members of the AWEA so they know how to respond if they get questions? How should those “talking points” be distributed most effectively?
• Similarly, should the AWEA communicate with other stakeholders with an interest in the work of the AWEA? What form would that take?

Once you clarify the types of messages and the communications strategy your ED wants you to pursue, you need to determine the audiences who will be targeted. This leads to another set of questions:

• Which media outlets should we target with our news releases/news conference/web conference messages? Are we trying to reach media organizations that produce news and information for the general public or for specialist audiences? Who are those specialist audiences?
• What will our industry members need to have in the “talking points” material we create for them? We need to anticipate their information needs since our mission is to help association members be effective advocates for the wind power industry as well as succeed in their individual business endeavors.
• Who are the other stakeholders we might target with our response? Our partner organizations and associations at the state and national level? Regulators at the state and national level who govern our industry? Bird enthusiasts, who oppose wind turbines? Environmentalists, who care about both renewable energy AND wildlife protection? Researchers inside and outside the government who study bird mortality and wind power?
• Once we know which stakeholder audiences we want to address, how can we best reach them with our messages?

Based on your discussions with the ED, you start to brainstorm some of the ways you might address the message task. Again, you identify some questions that can help you focus on the right angle.

• Aside from this one study, what do we know about bird mortality caused by wind energy facilities and who has studied the issue?
• What else kills birds and how does that compare with avian deaths from wind turbines?
• What are our member industries doing right now, if anything, to reduce bird mortality?
• How does energy production using other methods affect wildlife and how does that compare with wind energy production?
• What regulations are in place that our industry members must follow to protect birds? How are we doing with compliance?

Here is just a tiny sample of the information contributors you could tap and the information they might provide to help you focus your messages. Public-sector Institutions The Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wind Energy Guidelines provide detailed specifications for the way wind energy facilities must operate, including ways to reduce bird and other animal mortality. You might suggest posting a link to these guidelines on the AWEA’s website and include some narrative about the ways your members are complying with the regulations. You might also include this document and some of the data about compliance with your association members as part of their “talking points” material. This document could also be shared as part of a news conference or in any statement, your ED might issue to the media. Private-sector Institutions The National Academy of Sciences, a widely-respected, private-sector, non-profit organization, conducted a study about other causes of bird mortality in addition to those caused by the wind power industry. It appears from this study that bird mortality from other causes is much greater than bird deaths from wind power facilities. You might, once again, consider posting a link to this study on the AWEA’s website, compose some narrative that summarizes the findings of the study and make sure any public statements or “talking points” include the results. At the same time, you need to be sure that you don’t minimize the concern for bird mortality rates caused by wind power. The National Wind Coordinating Collaborative is a private-sector, non-profit organization with partners from the wind industry, science and environmental organizations, and wildlife management agencies. They did a study of wind-wildlife interactions that summarized a huge amount of scientific and scholarly data and produced a fact sheet that outlines how the wind power industry and environmentalists are responding to the issue. This document would clearly be part of your information package. Scholarly Sources Conducting a search in Google Scholar using the search statement “bird mortality from wind energy” uncovers hundreds of scholarly studies done in the U.S. and around the world. The general consensus appears to say that there is a clear link between wind turbines and bird mortality, but there are lots of caveats in the findings. One article in the scholarly journal Biological Conservation shows that bird mortality is greater with a type of wind turbine that is being phased out (lattice vs. monopole); that taller monopole turbines may pose more risk of raptor bird mortality than shorter monopole turbines because raptors fly at a higher elevation than songbirds (the usual victims of wind turbines), but that the blades on taller monopole turbines turn at a slower rate than the blades on shorter turbines so those risks may offset one another. Again, the data from studies such as this one would need to be summarized and included in any messages you generate. Journalistic Sources A search for journalistic coverage of this issue turns up thousands of news stories, including recent reports about offshore wind farms that pose fewer risks to birds than land-based turbines. Many news stories have been written about opposition to wind farms because of concerns about wildlife mortality, and there are state and local-level opposition as well as national-level concern. At the same time, editorials supporting wind energy as an alternative to the more harmful effects of other types of energy production have appeared in a number of newspapers in communities where the issue is of particular concern. This might suggest a list of news organizations you would want to target for your news releases since you know they have written about the issue and are open to a nuanced approach to the problem. You could also create a Google Alert on the topic so you would be notified whenever a new news story appears. Informal Sources You would want to monitor social media chatter about the most recent raptor mortality/wind power study and pay attention to those individuals and groups who seem to be most influential or have the largest followings. You could create a set of alerts on the most popular social media sites to be notified whenever there are new postings. You could then decide whether or not to respond based on the type of information in the postings or the likely impact of the messages. Additionally, you might suggest that the AWEA reach out to the most vocal individual opponents of wind energy (you would be able to generate a list of their names from the news stories you found) and incorporate their perspectives and concerns into your responses where appropriate. The information you locate from a variety of contributors appears to show that there is definitely a problem with bird mortality and wind energy. At the same time, the wind power industry, private-sector institutions, public-sector institutions and scholars are working on ways to lessen the impact. Also, the potential danger to animal life from wind-power appears to pale in comparison to the danger posed to ALL life from other forms of energy generation (climate change due to rising CO2 levels, strip coal mining, fracking, oil pipeline construction through wildlife habitat, deepwater oil drilling, etc.). You would want to be sure that your message strategy does not minimize the harm to birds, but also points out the efforts being taken by the industry to address the problems with newer technologies, additional precautions, changes in turbine sitings (offshore rather than on land), compliance with existing and emerging regulations and related initiatives. The message strategy you might propose to your Executive Director would include recommendations to include these types of arguments, with plenty of links and references to the information and evidence you have located, in any public comments, website content, news releases, “talking points” documents, and related messages to address the immediate “crisis” and to address longer-term communication needs for the association. Let’s say that you are working on a new business pitch for a possible advertising client. A new business pitch is the presentation and supporting documentation that an agency prepares to show to a prospective client in an effort to win that advertiser’s business. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="332"] United Airlines image provided by the website Logo. -CC BY-NC[/caption] The company whose advertising account you would like to win is United Airlines. The airline currently works with McGarryBowen advertising agency but since the merger with Continental Airlines, the company is considering other options for their advertising business. The agency for which you work has not had a commercial airline account in the past so the first task in your preparation of the new business pitch is to get up to speed quickly on the passenger airline industry. Questions to Pose:

• What is the overall economic health of the passenger/commercial airline industry?
• Who are the main players -- the airline companies, the aircraft manufacturers, the regulators, the workers’ unions, the customers, the other stakeholders? What perspective or position does each player take on the industry?
• What does airline advertising look like? Who is advertising, where do the ads appear, what do the ads say, how effective are the ads?
• What restrictions and regulations, if any, govern advertising for this industry?
• Who comprises the largest and most lucrative group of airline travelers? In other words, who are airlines trying to reach with their ads?

Depending on the questions you need to answer, there is a vast array of potential sources of information. Following is a sampling of the contributors that would have relevant information and the kinds of information you could find. Private-sector Institutional Sources:

• associations that are important for that industry (Airlines for America, Airline Passenger Experience Association, etc.)
• trade journals that discuss the most recent news and trends for that field (Aviation Week, etc.)
• financial records that detail the industry’s economic health from the company itself and from financial analysts who monitor the industry
• unions that represent the workers in that field (Airline Pilots Association, Association of Professional Flight Attendants, Transport Workers Union, etc.)
• demographic data that describe the customers for that industry's products/services and the audiences for its ads
• syndicated research service reports about airline advertising

Public-sector Institutional Sources:

• court records that document the interactions the company and competitors in the industry have had with the U.S. justice system
• government records that document regulation of the industry (Federal Aviation Administration reports, Occupational Safety and Health Administration reports, etc.)
• government records that provide insight into the financial health of the industry (Bureau of Transportation Statistics reports)
• government records about consumer complaints about the industry (Aviation Consumer Protection agency reports which are housed in the U.S. Department of Transportation)

Scholarly Sources:

• experts who can speak authoritatively about the commercial airline industry
• experts who can speak about the effectiveness of advertising in that industry

Journalistic Sources:

• news operations that write about the industry or are published in towns where key companies in that industry operate

Informal Sources:

• social media pages where people talk about that industry and its products/services

Once you have a good understanding of the industry overall and the types of advertising that are typical for companies in that sector, you can start to search for specific information about United Airlines, the company for which you are preparing the new business pitch. Again, you would identify a number of important questions to answer:

• How does United stack up against its competitors?
• Is the company financially sound?
• Does the company have a “unique selling proposition”?
• Who are United’s current customers and what do customers think about United?
• What do relevant workers’ groups think about United? (pilots, flight attendants, baggage handlers, air traffic controllers, aircraft manufacturers, etc.)
• What have United’s ads looked like in the past? To whom were they targeted? Where did the ads appear? Were they effective?
• How much has United spent on advertising in the past?
• Who should we propose that the airline target with their advertising? Business travelers, families, retirees, customers currently flying with other airlines or those who are traveling by other means, etc.?

A tiny sample of what you could find: Private-sector Institutional Sources

• United’s own demographic data about customers
• United’s corporate information
• McGarryBowen’s advertising work for United
• Google Finance’s compilation of public-sector and private-sector data about the company
• Customer ratings for United produced by other organizations
• Syndicated research services reports about ad spending for United; this would tell you where United ads are currently appearing and would help you identify the audiences that are currently being targeted with the advertising

Public-sector Institutional Sources

• Securities and Exchange Commission annual reports for United
• Air Travel Consumer Reports from the U.S. Department of Transportation

Scholarly Sources

• scholars who have studied the company specifically
• scholarly studies about airline customer satisfaction that include United’s rankings

Journalistic Sources

• news stories about United in general
• business journalism reports about United as a company and an investment
• journalistic reports about United’s advertising

Informal Sources

• United’s social media accounts
• Other social media accounts that discuss United
• FlyerTalk and related blog posts about United

After reviewing the information you have found, you have learned that United is doing well financially but their customer satisfaction ratings are at the bottom of the heap and their current advertising campaign, which resurrected the 30-year-old slogan “Fly the Friendly Skies,” has been widely ridiculed as ineffective and downright misleading. Especially after the airline's horrendous treatment of a passenger forcibly removed from a United flight in spring 2017, the company has a major PR problem. The company has simmering labor problems with its workforce (dissatisfied pilots, flight attendants, airplane mechanics, etc.) and a public image problem as a large, impersonal corporate behemoth after its merger with Continental.

Synthesizing all of this information, you would want to focus your brainstorming on a possible new advertising direction on a recommendation that the company repositions itself away from the claim about customer satisfaction because it cannot live up to that promise, especially after the fiascos of customer mistreatment in 2017. You and your advertising colleagues would want to identify other possible unique selling propositions on which the company could actually deliver (more non-stop routes to popular destinations, newer aircraft, more hubs, etc.) and be sure that any advertising claims could be clearly demonstrated and backed-up by the reality of the company’s performance.

Furthermore, you would want to examine in more detail the specifics of different audiences for the advertising -- what appeals would work better with business customers vs. leisure travelers, etc.? If you find that the airline could have better results by targeting a subset of its customers with its new advertising rather than producing a general audience ad campaign, that is where you would focus your news business pitch.

The new business pitch to United’s decision-makers presents an opportunity for you and your advertising agency colleagues to demonstrate your command of the facts about the airline industry overall and the relative position of United Airlines within that industry. It also provides an opportunity for you to generate creative and effective suggestions for ways the company could improve its advertising and its public image.

All of the scenarios and examples we’ve provided here are intended to give you concrete insights into the way the information strategy process works for real-life communications message tasks. Internalizing the process will prepare you for the work you will do in the rest of your coursework and your career in journalism or strategic communication.

News Value and the Strategic Communication Professional

While watching or listening to a major media network, you may occasionally find yourself thinking, “Why is this story considered news?” Audiences assume that the role of the media is to provide them with the most important information about issues and events happening locally, nationally, and worldwide. Therefore, media outlets send an indirect message to audiences about a story’s perceived importance through the selection and how much time and exposure they give the story.

A story’s newsworthiness is largely determined by its news value, a standard that determines whether an event or situation is worth media attention. News value is referred to as “criteria used by media outlets to determine whether or not to cover a story and how much resources it should receive” (Kraft, 2015). Journalists and reporters are likely to spend their limited time and resources on a story that has many news values.

Strategic communication professionals who understand what constitutes newsworthy content will increase their chances of gaining media coverage for their brand or organization. In fact, there is a saying that “the most successful public relations professionals are those who think and act like reporters” (Caruso, 2011, para. 1). Because journalists are more interested in stories that will appeal to their readers or listeners, understanding the news value of your messages will help to enhance your company’s media relations and general coverage.

The Role of Writing in Public Relations

Public relations professionals at all levels need to have solid writing skills. White (2016) says, “To succeed as a PR pro, it’s vital to have a passion for writing and communication and to be committed to excelling in both. You’re bound to fail if you don’t” (para. 9). Public relations professionals are responsible for developing communication materials intended to influence the attitudes and/or behaviors of key publics. Many employers require candidates for public relations positions to complete a writing test and provide a writing sample to demonstrate proficiency in this skill. Therefore, it is critical to understand how to craft effective messages through written communication.

Here are some of the many materials and messages that public relations professionals have to write:

• Press/News releases
• Fact sheets
• Feature articles
• Social media messages
• Blog posts
• Speeches
• PowerPoint presentations
• Brochures
• Media pitches
• Statements
• Website messages

News Writing Versus Public Relations Writing

Effective public relations writing draws from news writing principles because the news media is one of the preferred channels for promoting products and services. However, news writing and public relations writing differ in terms of audience, tone, and media channels. News writing should be objective in tone, with the purpose of presenting information to educate an audience about newsworthy events. On the other hand, public relations writing advocates for the client. It is informative, but it should also influence key publics’ perception of the organization. Some would also argue that public relations writing is even more concise than new writing.

Reporters usually write for one audience: readers or listeners of the respective media outlet. Public relations professionals may have to write for a variety of audiences, including internal audiences (such as employees, shareholders, and distributors) and external audiences (such as the media, customers, volunteers, and bloggers). News writing uses one primary communication channel, the news outlet (which can be a newspaper or a television or radio broadcast). Although journalists are increasingly using Twitter to post their articles, this usually entails posting a link that directs the audience to the news outlet’s primary website. Public relations professionals use a variety of channels to distribute their messages, including news media, social media, advertisements, blogs, press kits, and many more.

]]> 275 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=277 Mon, 17 Jun 2019 18:43:09 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/chapter-10-establishing-a-professional-portfolio/ When considering what to include in your writing portfolio, look at relevant class assignments or work produced in a previous or current communications role. The Forbes Communications council has listed the ten things they think every communicator's portfolio should include (read article for more detail on each):1. Lead-Generating Content 2. Pitch Deck 3. Interesting Bio 4. Informative Blog Post 5. Personal Blog Post 6. Sample Of Research And Synthesis 7. Demonstration Of Versatility 8. Bylined Article 9. News Release 10. Inspirational Work The first page of a hard-copy portfolio is usually a resume. Online portfolios include a description or summary of your professional background. From there, create clear sections and headings and arrange the content by article or document type.

Tailor the portfolio to jobs or industries you’re interested in and by chronological order, with the most recent work first or at the top of the online portfolio. For example, if you’re applying for a job that requires proficiency in CP style writing, include writing samples that use this style, such as news releases or feature articles. If you’re applying for a job that requires social media writing skills, make sure to include social media posts that you’ve created for an organization. Here’s a list of some other materials you could include in the portfolio:

• Website copy
• Media pitches
• Social media posts that you created for an organization
• A communications plan or PR campaign proposal in response to an RFP
• Examples of media coverage you secured from pitches (it helps if you provide the original pitch that led to the media coverage)

Include brief contextual information for each piece of writing, such as the name of the organization it was created for and the date. Be ready to discuss your writing samples during a job interview. You may explain why you created the material and the results that came from it, such as increased website traffic and Twitter followers from a news article publication. Here are some resources and examples for creating online writing portfolios:

• How to make an impressive writing portfolio. Lovering, C. (2016) Houston Chronicle
• Gari Cruze, copywriter
• Brandi Uyemura, features writer
• Caitlin Reid, freelance copywriter and journalist

Other important points about the writing portfolio As you work on more projects and articles, remember to include them in your portfolio. Constantly update the portfolio so that employers and professional contacts can see your most recent work (having an online writing portfolio as part of a personal website or blog can make this process quite seamless). Include a minimum of two to three writing samples, although the quality of the portfolio materials matters more than the quantity (Lovering, 2016).Here are just a few of the virtually hundreds (if not thousands) of online platforms you can use to create an online writing portfolio:

• clippings.me
• Google Docs
• WordPress
• Wix
• Squarespace

]]> 277 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=279 Fri, 31 Jan 2020 19:53:50 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/part-2-references/ Ariely, D. & Melamede, Y. (2015). (Dis)Honesty [motion picture]. United States: Salty Features. BusinessDictionary.(2016).Definitionofconflictofinterest. Retrievedfrom: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/conflict-of-interest.html Chow, E.K. (2014). Why Courtney Love’s ‘Twibel’ lawsuit is good for the Internet. Huffington Post. Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eugene-k-chow/why-courtney-love-twibel_b_4688426.html DoubletheDonation.(2016).50+companiesthatdonatetononprofits. Retrieved from: https://doublethedonation.com/companies-that-donate-to-nonprofits/ DoubletheDonation.(2016).Matchinggiftandcorporategivingstatistics. Retrieved from: https://doublethedonation.com/matching-grant-resources/matching-gift-statistics/ Federal Trade Commission. (2016). Division of Advertising Practices. Retrieved from: https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/bureaus-offices/bureau-consumer-protection/our-divisions/division-advertising-practices Geben Communication. (2016). Two Caterers: Local PR. Retrieved from: http://gebencommunication.com/portfolio/two-caterers-local-pr/ Harrower, T. (2012). Inside Reporting. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education. Horowitz, J. (2016). Behind Melania Trump’s cribbed lines, an ex-ballerina who loved writing. The New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/us/politics/melania-trump-speech-meredith-mciver.html Memmott, M. (2011). Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter apologizes for plagiarizing. NPR. Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/03/17/134620598/pulitzer-prize-winning-reporter-apologizes-for-plagiarizing Finley, K. (2014). How to bootstrap your PR like a BOSS. Retrieved from: http://www.thinkbelle.com/resources/ AdvertisingEducationalFoundation.(2016).Advertisingcareerpossibilities. Retrieved from: http://www.aef.com/industry/careers/9000 Altstiel, T. & Grow, J. (2016). Advertising creative: Strategy, copy, and design. Washington, DC: Sage Publications. Atkin, C.K. & Rice, R.E. (2012). Theory and principles of public communication campaigns. In R.E. Rice and C.K. Atkin (eds.), Public communication campaigns (pp. 3-19). Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage. eMarketer. (2016). US spending on paid media expected to climb 5.1% in 2016. Retrieved from: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/US-Spending-on-Paid-Media-Expected-Climb-51-2016/1013739 Felton, G. (2013). Advertising: Concept and copy. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company. Newspaper Association of America. (2014). Public policy: Advertising. Retrieved from: http://www.naa.org/Public-Policy/Government-Affairs/Advertising.aspx Perloff, R.M. (2010). The dynamics of persuasion: Communication and attitudes in the 21st century. New York, NY: Routledge. Thierer, A. (2012). We all hate advertising, but we can’t live without it. Forbes. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamthierer/2012/05/13/we-all-hate-advertising-but-we-cant-live-without-it/#3bc70705e1c7 ]]> 279 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=667 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:47:22 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/defining-strategic-insights/

Photo by Fotografierende from Pexels

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The goal of conducting research for a non-profit organization is to arrive at actionable insights that may be used to better allocate its resources. The research data alone will not answer the questions “What” or “Why” something is happening (Reichelt, 2018), thus it is up to the manager or the marketing team to interpret the collected data.

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Gaining Strategic Insights

Here is a quick guide on how to process data into valuable information:

• Prepare: Identify the problem your organization needs to solve and collect data from primary and secondary research.  For example, if your problem is low brand awareness then data to collect could include consumer surveys, focus group interviews, and industry statistics.
• Analyze: Look for the relationship between all the data you are gathering. Finding connections and asking questions. For example, what pieces of the data are most important to your organization? Organize this in order of priority and interpret it. Identify the areas that align with your objectives for further improvement. Apply technology and human resources in this step.
• Brainstorm: Think about the questions you’ve developed as a group and share your conclusions with each other. Discussing with a team will help your organization identify important insights. Such as what resources are available to solve your problem statement? Here it will help to have a variety of department members to discuss what your organization is capable of.
• Communicate: Explain the situation to the company and provide further detail in order to spread the information and gain more insights. Communication is key throughout any organization aiming to achieve their business goals. The more you communicate the need for insight gathering the easier it will be to fully understand potential solutions for the problem you are aiming to solve.
• Re-evaluation: Once you’ve identified key strategic insights, the next step is to build your strategy (your action plan) in order to solve your problem statement (covered later in the book) and once completed, testing and evaluating will be a vital part of continuous insight gathering. Consider adding a CRM system for efficient data management.

  Click the information icons for more details.

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Attribution This page contains material taken from: Stokes, R. (2013). EMarketing: The essential guide to marketing in a digital world. Cape Town: Quirk eMarketing. Retrieved from: https://www.redandyellow.co.za/content/uploads/2018/06/RedYellow_eMarketing_Textbook_6thEdition.pdf

]]> 667 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=670 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:47:23 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/example-of-insights/

Photo by My Life Journal from Unsplash

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The data obtained from conducting primary and secondary research is only valuable when turned into something that can be interpreted. In order to develop a successful IMC plan, an NPO must convert the information into compelling and unique insights that will help determine the appropriate strategy to pursue.

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Translating Marketing Information into Action

The interpretation of the data collected from the research may vary from person to person or from team to team. To keep in-sync, it may be useful to review the original problem the research is trying to solve. The person, or the team, developing the insights should be reminded that the goal of using marketing information is to gain strategic insights that will help make the organization more effective. The managers, or the marketing team, should think about how the research results can help better understand the intended audience and translate this understanding into adjustments to the marketing mix better to address the audience or the organization’s needs. By framing research results around a more in-depth or broader knowledge of the focus of the research – like customer behaviour, audience preferences, etc., it can help the organization feel more informed and empowered to make the right marketing decisions.

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IMC Planning: Analyzing the Results

The following is a list of the types of questions the organization can explore, as they brainstorm about how marketing information and research results can help adjust the marketing strategy and improve the marketing mix. These questions are a useful jumping-off point for deeper conversations about new insights and how to put them into action.   [h5p id="6"] [h5p id="7"]

Attribution This page contains material taken from: NSCC & Lumen Learning. (n.d.). Reading: Using Marketing Information. Retrieved from https://pressbooks.nscc.ca/nsccprinciplesofmarketing/chapter/reading-using-marketing-information/

]]> 670 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/front-matter/learning-objectives/ Thu, 16 Apr 2020 18:14:29 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/front-matter/learning-objectives/

Apply the RACE formula (Research, Analysis, Communication and Evaluation) to structure public relations writing

Use correct grammar and sentence structure

Demonstrate effective writing and storytelling techniques including attention-getting leads, smooth paragraph transitions, short sentences and paragraphs, active voice, effective endings and integrating common search terms (SEO) to help boost the search ranking of content in the digital space

Recognize and distinguish between different public relations writing styles, including informative and persuasive writing

Use principles of rhetoric to frame a persuasive argument including audience analysis, source credibility, timing, and context

Effectively analyze audience in order to create content that resonates, uses appropriate voice, language and jargon, and utilizes appropriate channels

Identify and integrate credible primary and secondary research sources using recognized citation formats and fact checking

Synthesize complex information into clear and concise written content

Analyze and summarize data for short copy applications and content platforms that emphasize brevity

Demonstrate the ethical boundaries of persuasion and differentiate between propaganda, misinformation, fake news, and harmful speech

Describe and/or apply strategies to establish and maintain positive and professional client relationships that lead to client loyalty

Develop content, plans and strategies that are diverse, equitable, inclusive and are respectful of a diverse range of thoughts, perspectives, experiences and identities (including Indigenous communities, race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, ability etc.)

]]> 23 0 1 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=315 Thu, 24 Jun 2021 20:41:02 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=315

Learning to write

You may think that some people are simply born as better writers than others, but in fact writing is a reflection of experience and effort. If you think about your successes as a writer, you may come up with a couple of favourite books, authors, or teachers that inspired you to express yourself. You may also recall a sense of frustration with your earlier writing experiences. It is normal and natural to experience a sense of frustration at the perceived inability to express oneself. The emphasis here is on your perception of yourself as a writer as one aspect of how you communicate.

Looking back

Before you can learn to write in a new context, it’s helpful to explore how you got to this point. Every one of us arrives in the workplace (and the classroom) with our own beliefs and assumptions about communication. Sometimes, these beliefs are helpful. Sometimes, however, our beliefs can hold us back. So, before we dive in, let’s take a moment to reflect. Read the following questions and think them over. It may be helpful for you to write some notes in a journal.

Questions for reflection

1. How did you learn to read and write? Who influenced you?
2. What do people in your culture and/or your family believe about reading, writing, and telling stories?
3. What are some of your most positive reading and writing memories?
4. Describe some moments when you struggled with reading or writing. How did you react?
5. Have you ever changed a belief around reading and writing?
6. Do you believe that you are a good writer? Why or why not?
7. What is the most frustrating part of reading or writing for you?

Now, reflect on your answers. Do you notice any patterns? Can you identify any beliefs that might hold you back? Let’s take a look at how other students answered.

Simran’s story

Simran’s earliest memories of reading involve being snuggled up with her grandma, siblings and cousins. She loved being read to. Before she was old enough to go to school, she often sat with her older siblings as they did their homework and pretended to write. Unfortunately, when Simran was in Grade 4, she had a teacher who criticized her writing. She began to believe that she was a bad writer. By the time she reached Grade 12, English was Simran’s worst subject. Today, Simran likes to read for fun, but hates to read for school. When she gets a writing assignment, she often starts and stops and procrastinates. She writes a sentence then gets caught up in grammar details, deletes it, starts over, then checks social media. In the end, she pulls an all-nighter and hands in her assignment with just minutes to spare. Simran likes to write fan fiction based on her favourite T.V. show, and she doesn’t understand why the words come so easily when she’s writing for fun, but so painfully when she’s writing for school. She isn’t looking forward to taking a business communication course because she thinks completing the assignments will be stressful.

Jian Yi’s story

Jian Yi began his education in China. He was an excellent student and enjoyed writing. His teachers often praised his beautiful cursive. When Jian Yi was 12, his family moved to Canada. He was placed for a short time in an EAL class, but quickly was integrated into a Grade 7 classroom. He understood very little and felt embarrassed whenever he was asked to speak in class. Though Jian Yi’s English skills improved dramatically, he never again enjoyed school. Jian Yi doesn’t enjoy reading or writing. He majored in Accounting because he believed there wouldn’t be much reading and writing, and he’s disappointed that he has to take a communications class. He is taking a full course load and he wants to get through this course as quickly as possible.

Both Simran and Jian Yi are good writers; Simran can write short stories and Jian Yi can write in multiple languages. Neither, however, expects to do well in this course. That’s the power of unhelpful beliefs. They can set us up for failure before we’ve even started. By talking about our reading and writing beliefs and figuring our where they came from, we can challenge unhelpful beliefs and be more successful. Thinking about our reading and writing beliefs is also a great way to celebrate the communication strengths you already have. For example, if you’ve learned Traditional Stories from elders in your community, you already know a story can be used as a powerful teaching tool when tailored to the right audience at the right time. Your ability to play music or sing will help you write sentences that people will enjoy reading. If you can shift between multiple languages or dialects, you can adapt to a new workplace environment. Our goal is not to erase what’s unique about your writing voice to make it “appropriate” for the workplace, but to build on your existing skills so that you can be successful in whatever workplace you enter.

What do experts say about reading and writing beliefs?

The question of how to become a better writer has been studied extensively for decades. We actually know a lot about how people learn to read and write, and how to help students improve. Here are just a few writing beliefs that researchers, writing teachers and scholars believe to be true (Fink, 2015). How many of these points do you agree with?

1. Everyone can become a better writer.
2. People learn to write by writing.
3. Writing is a process.
4. Writing helps us think and figure out what we have to say.
5. There is no one way to write well. Different writers have different processes and may even change their process depending on what type of writing they’re doing.
6. Editing, revising and rethinking are important to help writers reach their potential.
7. Writing and reading are related. Reading will improve your writing. It doesn’t even matter what genre you read. Read what you enjoy.
8. Talking about your writing with your peers and your teacher can make you a better writer.

In short, you can become a better writer. In fact, some studies have found that students who believe that they can become good writers improve faster than those who don’t (Baaijen, Galbraith, and de Glopper, 2014). I believe that you are a good writer. I believe that you can become a better writer. I believe that you use your writing skills every day. It’s hard to change a belief overnight, so perhaps you don’t yet agree with me. That’s okay. Over the course of the semester, we’ll build on what you already know and apply it to the workplace. We’ll figure out a writing process that works for you. And hopefully, by the end of the semester, you’ll have created writing that you’re proud of.

Looking forward

You are your own best ally when it comes to your writing. Keeping a positive frame of mind about your journey as a writer is not a cliché or simple, hollow advice. Your attitude toward writing can and does influence your written products.

Reading is one step many writers point to as an integral step in learning to write effectively. You may like Harry Potter books or be a Twilight fan, but if you want to write effectively in business, you need to read business-related documents. These can include letters, reports, business proposals, and business plans. You may find these where you work or in your school’s writing centre, business department, or library; there are also many websites that provide sample business documents of all kinds. Your reading should also include publications in the industry where you work or plan to work. You can also gain an advantage by reading publications in fields other than your chosen one; often reading outside your niche can enhance your versatility and help you learn how other people express similar concepts. Finally, don’t neglect popular or general media like newspapers and magazines. Reading is one of the most useful lifelong habits you can practice to boost your business communication skills.

In the “real world” when you are under a deadline and production is paramount, you’ll be rushed and may lack the time to do adequate background reading for a particular assignment. For now, take advantage of your business communications course by exploring common business documents you may be called on to write, contribute to, or play a role in drafting in your future career. Some documents have a degree of formula to them, and your familiarity with them will reduce your preparation and production time while increasing your effectiveness.

When given a writing assignment, it is important to make sure you understand what you are being asked to do. You may read the directions and try to put them in your own words to make sense of the assignment. Be careful, however, to differentiate between what the directions say and what you think they say. Just as an audience’s expectations should be part of your consideration of how, what, and why to write, the instructions given by your instructor, or in a work situation by your supervisor, establish expectations. Just as you might ask a mentor more about a business writing assignment at work, you need to use the resources available to you to maximize your learning opportunity. Ask the professor to clarify any points you find confusing, or perceive more than one way to interpret, in order to better meet the expectations.

Learning to write effectively involves reading, writing, critical thinking, and self-reflection. At times, it may seem like it’s an incredibly messy process. Other times, it may feel tedious. Ultimately, writing is a process that takes time, effort, and practice. In the long-term, your skillful ability to craft messages will make a significant difference in your career.

References

Baaijen, V., Galbraith, D., and de Glopper, K. (2014). Effects of writing beliefs and planning on writing performance. Retrieved from https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Effects-of-writing-beliefs-and-planning-on-writing-Baaijen-Galbraith/03701e3c57c3bca04881b7f7716f111250d6ce39. Fink, L. (2015). Beliefs about the teaching of writing. Retrieved from http://www2.ncte.org/blog/2015/05/beliefs-about-the-teaching-of-writing/.

Attributions

This chapter contains material taken from Chapter 4.2 “How is writing learned” in Business Communication for Success (used under a CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 International license) and Chapter 1 “Exploring your reading and writing beliefs” and Chapter 2 “The writing process” in Business Writing for Everyone (used under a CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license).

]]> 315 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=673 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:47:25 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/managing-insights/

Photo by William Iven from Unsplash

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Managing and Storing Data

Upon conducting the research and compiling the findings, it is essential to keep track and format the information so that it may be easily accessible. A [pb_glossary id="87"]CRM system[/pb_glossary], or similar robust record-keeping programs, are useful tools that can be used to manage varied amounts of data which can then be configured to produce the insights the organization intends to develop.

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Example:  Survey Data Management

A Vancouver non-profit organization wants to find out how their organization can become more representative of BIPOC. The NPO decides to conduct a series of online questionnaires determining how their clients perceive their current services using a rating system of 1-5. At the beginning of the survey, qualifying questions were asked including their name, preferred gender, age, marital status, education, and association with black, indigenous, and minority communities. The data from the survey is then inputted into a CRM system where the answers are compiled into categories that provide an overview of the information surveyed. The CRM system cross tabulates the data based on gender, age, and culture with the results that show whether the company is fully inclusive or have areas where they can improve.

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The CRM system is especially effective at helping to surface a marketing problem, and it can provide the internal data needed for an analysis, which in turn is used to solve the problem. An effective CRM system should be designed and used to capture data across all of the organization’s touchpoints. The information in the system should also be updated regularly in order to produce accurate results. In addition to bringing together disparate customer data, CRM systems can recommend an analytical approach and provide research tools to complete the analysis. Many CRM systems have mechanisms for reporting results, orchestrating plans for taking action on the results, and even evaluating the effectiveness of those actions.

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Resources: Free CRM Tools

Below is a list of free CRM tools to help manage data and consolidate it into useful information for management: Hubspot.com - HubSpot is an industry known company that provides digital marketing services for all organization sizes and allows you to monitor and analyze data effectively. Products include CRM plans for sales teams, marketers, small businesses, and more. Zoho.com - Zoho provides a full CRM platform and has been awarded for their services. It is free to sign up and allows up to 10 users for their initial start-up plan. Monday.com - Monday.com includes a self-serve knowledge base with 24-hour customer support. It allows for a free account for as long as needed with up to four users at a time.

 

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Attribution This page contains material taken from: Palacios, Ricardo Colomo, Berbís, Juan Miguel Gómez, & Crespo, Ángel García. (2007). An integrated methodology for customer relationship management customization. JISTEM - Journal of Information Systems and Technology Management, 4(3), 287-300. https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1807-17752007000300002

]]> 673 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=679 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:47:27 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/the-engagement-ladder-theory/

Photo by Luis Vidal on Unsplash

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Defining the Engagement Ladder

The Ladder of Engagement is a tool that can be used to build relationships with your audience over time in order to deepen their commitment to your organization. Barefoot, Tsazo, and Lamb (2014) stated that “the Engagement Ladder Theory is based on the concept that all organizations have audiences connected to them with different levels of awareness, passion, and commitment”. This theory suggests that people are likely to become supporters of your organization by taking easy actions, but can be consciously led up the ladder to take harder and harder actions.

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How would you move people from, signing a petition, to donating money and then to organize the building of a playground? These shifts are fundamental to more meaningful involvement that leads to consensus building and the types of solutions that can transform communities.

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Using the Engagement Ladder to Gain Support

The Engagement Ladder Theory suggests that the audiences of any organization can have different levels of connection to them. Because of this, audiences have different levels of engagement and require interactions and communications that are tailored to their needs. The engagement ladder concept provides an understanding of how charities gain support, financially and otherwise. There are six steps to building effective, long-term, community support.   [h5p id="8"]

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Attribution This page contains material taken from: Barefoot, D., Szabo, J., & Lamb, T. (2014). The Noble Arsonist [EPub]. Retrieved from https://www.capulet.com/noble-arsonist Engel, E. C. W. (2018, September 5). Membership 101: Ladder of Engagement. Retrieved June 1, 2020, from https://www.getmespark.com/membership-101-ladder-of-engagement/ Thorman, D. (n.d.). Digital Citizenship. Retrieved May 30, 2020, from https://www.knightfoundation.org/digitalcitizenship/ Next in Nonprofits. (2015, December 31). Engagement Ladder. Retrieved May 30, 2020, from https://www.nextinnonprofits.com/2015/12/engagement-ladder-2016/

]]> 679 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=683 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:47:26 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/applying-the-engagement-ladder-theory/

Photo by Simon Migaj on Unsplash

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CASE STUDY | Grist.org

Grist.org is a Seattle-based nonprofit news website for environmental news, reports, and opinion. Grist.org has succeeded in connecting with a younger audience that not only reads its content but is also inspired to take action. Their mission is to communicate what is going on in the movement around climate and sustainability to a broader audience of people who may not consider themselves environmentalists, help them understand how those issues relate to their everyday lives, and move those people to action. Grist.org is a data-informed organization that uses a ladder of engagement not only to guide its content and social media integration strategy but uses measurement at each rung of the ladder to ensure that they are getting results. They engage users around content that shows how being green can reshape our world and inspire personal behaviour change, ultimately impacting society at large. Grist.org’s ladder of engagement is simple and shows how their audience makes the journey from passive consumers of information to sustainable living champions. The steps include reading, commenting, and sharing stories of personal behaviour change. Grist.org uses page views as an indicator of success at the bottom rung of the ladder.  

Grist.org's Key Results

Footprint: The reach of their activities, both online and offline. Engagement: Readers engage with their content. Individual Behaviour Change: Impact on user's behaviours, purchase decisions, and daily lives that are in line with sustainability. Societal Change: Impact on society, policy discussions, and conversations that advance sustainable practices.

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Grist.org uses its social media channels as a fun on-ramp to their ladder of engagement. They have learned from their survey research, real-time monitoring, and content analysis of comments on their posts that a lot of people care deeply about environmental issues, but don’t self-identify as “environmentalists.” Grist.org has been experimenting with Twitter Chats and fun hashtags to attract people to their content, but also empower them to advocate for on-the-ground change. For example, they launched a series of Twitter Chats called “Bikenomics: Make Cities More Bike Friendly” using the hashtag #bikenomics. The idea is that biking to work is not only good for the environment but can also help local economies. Among other changes, it requires encouraging employers to have more bike-friendly policies. Not only did the Twitter chats help grist.org connect with new readers who were passionate about this idea, but the series helped inspire action from readers who reported on surveys that they encouraged employers to establish bike-friendly policies like “bike to work days” or install bike racks. They have regular surveys on the site as well as an in-depth annual reader survey that includes questions such as “How has our work impacted your daily life?” The questions are about behaviour change to sustainable practices – have they switched from buying bottled water or are they buying more locally sourced produce. grist.org also asks about whether a story has inspired them to pursue an issue by contacting a company or local official. The data informs their editorial decisions and choices for social media tactics so they are on track for moving people up the rungs of the ladder – from passive readers to green consumers and ultimately to a more sustainable planet.  

CONTINUED LEARNING

Learn more about Grist.org measures along the Ladder of Engagement Watch: Measuring Along the Ladder of Engagement Grist

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Attribution This page contains material taken from: Kanter, B. (2011, September 15). grist.org: Measuring Along the Ladder of Engagement. Retrieved May 30, 2020, from http://www.bethkanter.org/tweet-huggers/ Video by Hidayat from the Noun Project

]]> 683 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=686 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:47:29 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/implementing-the-engagement-ladder/

Photo by Jessica Alves on Unsplash

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Before you begin planning how to lead your supporters to the top of the ladder, it is a good idea to discover where they currently are. This is known as a Ladder of Engagement Snapshot. It is essentially a report that breaks down how many supporters you have on each "rung" of your ladder. The Ladder of Engagement Snapshot is useful because you can use it to inform the actions you proceed with in the future, and can refer to it frequently to see if you’ve successfully moved your supporters up the ladder.

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Defining Your Ladder

The first step in creating a Ladder of Engagement Snapshot is defining your ladder. Make a list of the types of call-to-actions your organization has desired, then place them in order from the easiest action your audience can take, to the most difficult. You may decide that several easier actions can earn someone a higher place on the ladder. You also may want to label the different levels on the ladder. For example, your ladder could start with easy actions, then build up to more difficult ones and look something similar to this: Inactives: Subscribed to your email list but haven’t taken action in the last three months. Supporters: Have signed 1-2 petitions in the last three months. Activists: Have signed 3-4 petitions in the last three months, but have not taken any other actions. Super Activists: Have signed more than 4 petitions in the last three months, and/or have written a letter to the editor.

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Find Out How Many Supporters are on Each Rung

The next step is to query your database to find out how many supporters fall onto each level of the ladder. Exactly how you go about doing this depends on your action-taking tool. You may find it helpful to go back and refine your ladder based on the information that’s available in your particular tool. This is also a good opportunity to identify how many supporters you would like to have in each. Not only does this allow a reasonable goal, but it allows you to see how well you have done so far. Once you’ve got your Ladder of Engagement Snapshot, be sure to share your findings throughout your organization so others can benefit from knowing and recognizing the different levels of your organization’s supporters. Also, run the report regularly to measure change over time. Twice a year is recommended to compare results.

CONTINUED LEARNING

• Follow Salsa Labs practical steps on moving supporters up the ladder of engagement: Click the link.
• Take inspiration from Big Duck for adding compelling steps to your NPO's ladder of engagement: Click the link.
• Read about how New Media Guide turned casual supporters into fierce advocates using the engagement ladder theory: Clink the link.

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Attribution This page contains material taken from: Foley, M. (2013, September 17). Netroots Foundation | Where are your supporters on the Ladder of Engagement? | Winning the Internet. Retrieved June 1, 2020, from https://www.netrootsfoundation.org/2013/09/where-are-your-supporters-on-the-ladder-of-engagement/

]]> 686 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=691 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:47:29 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/the-spectrum-of-allies/

Photo by Joshua Kahn Russel from Beautiful Trouble.

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Defining the Spectrum of Allies

The Spectrum of Allies is a tool that enables organizations to categorize their support groups, their opposition, and the general public. According to Joshua Kahn Russel, an organizer, and strategist for the Ruckus activist society, "movements seldom win by overpowering the opposition; they win by shifting the support out from under them." Therefore, this tool allows an organization to categorize all social blocs at play on a given issue and to convert the given parties towards their point of view.

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Categorizing the Spectrum of Allies

The Spectrum of Allies is categorized into five different slices:

1. 1. Active Allies: the active allies work in alignment with your organization
   2. Passive Allies: the passive allies agree with your position but do not act
   3. Neutrals: the neutrals don't have a clear position and therefore avoid action
   4. Passive Opposition: the passive opposition disagrees with your position but does not act
   5. Active Opposition: the active opposition actively works to hinder your organization's progress

Many activist groups tend to focus on one slice of the spectrum of allies; the Active Allies segment since they already have support from these groups. However, as stated previously, a movement is not won by overpowering the opposition, but rather by getting people to agree with your organization's points or position. When implementing the Spectrum of Allies, it is important to first categorize all supporting groups, neutral groups, and opposing parties. Doing this allows your organization to break down the amount of support and opposition, as well as look for ways to shift support towards your organization.

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Attribution This page contains material taken from: Russell, J. (n.d). Beautiful Trouble. Retrieved June 10, 2020, from https://beautifultrouble.org/principle/shift-the-spectrum-of-allies/

]]> 691 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=694 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:47:30 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/applying-the-spectrum-of-allies/

Photo by Shane Rounce from Unsplash

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In order to apply the Spectrum of Allies, you must first familiarize yourself with the current situation. Put yourselves in the #Blacklivesmatter organizers' shoes during May 2020. In this given situation, the goal of the activists is not to receive monetary compensation but rather to uphold a movement against the unjust systemic racism and race-based prejudice in general.  

There were different types of allies that participated in this movement:

  Active Allies A group of active allies is those who are actively at peaceful rallies demonstrating their support. Passive Allies Those who donate money or just agree with active supporters (this group may be afraid to take action due to conflict-avoidance or they just might not be sure what actions to take). Neutrals Those who are neither for or against this movement (this group may not be fully aware of the situation, they could be more worried about their finances given the COVID-19 Pandemic or they may not know the reach and implications of the given situation). Passive Opposition Could be against the rallies or the movement in general (this group may disapprove of the actions taken by the movement or could be influenced by their peers). Active Opposition Those who show up at rallies to actively go against protesters.

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Developing the Message

With the movement #Blacklivesmatter, there are many Passive Allies that agree that society needs to change but struggle to take action for a variety of reasons. Once the activists decide which segment they want to target, they can decide a path to take based on the opinions and motivations of the given segment.

Passive allies

Since this group already agrees with your point of view, your goal is to get them to take action. Asking them to show up to the rallies to help out is a great call to action if they are unsure of what action to take. If they are afraid of conflict, asking them to help by calling to protest or sharing their point of view through social media or with family and friends is another action they could take.

Neutrals

Getting them to visit a website or social media to see your viewpoint and encourage them to have an active voice, is a great way to get them thinking about the situation. Another way would be to get them to sign your petitions or sign up for your newsletters, allowing them to take a step towards being a passive ally.

continued learning

Learn more about the #BlackLivesMatter movement.  Click here to visit the website.

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Photo by Jason Hargrove from Flickr.com

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CASE STUDY | Wet'suwet'en

What is happening in Wet'suwet'en Nation?

TransCanada Energy (TC Energy) is pushing to place a gas pipeline through the Wet'suwet'en territory in northern British Columbia. To build a pipeline through this Indigenous-owned land, under local, federal, and international law, the clans of that area must give consent to the company to build. TC Energy, the RCMP, and the federal and provincial governments are openly violating this law. The Unist'ot'en (people of Wet'suwet'en land), other Indigenous groups, and local environmentalists are rightfully angry and lobbying officials to reconsider this decision.

Active allies: The many groups that have banded together with the Indigenous people who opposed the building on their ancestral lands and active protestors in cities across Canada. These are the people who created blockades, preventing the pipelines from being built. Passive allies: The people who sign petitions online against building the pipeline, talking with friends, and sharing posts. Neutrals: The general public, they may not understand the laws being broken, or the impact that pipelines have on the environment. Passive opposition: The RCMP who are arresting people participating in blockades and protests, as well as Chiefs in the Wet'suwet'en nation who believe the pipeline will benefit the community. Active opposition: The government and TC Energy who refuses to listen to The Unist'ot'en.

The chances of succeeding in swaying the active opposition are usually too low to be worth the time, effort, or money it would take. Active Allies should usually focus on the Neutrals or the Passive Allies in order to apply pressure. From there they can group in larger numbers to possibly gain more control of the passive opposition.  

CONTINUED LEARNING

1. Read "How to build a base using one on ones" and learn how to categorize your current spectrum of allies as well as increase your knowledge of your allies and what drives them. Click the link.
2. Read "How Campaigns are really created"  to get a generalized view of how to create a campaign. Utilizing the spectrum of allies throughout the campaign process allows for greater connection and understanding resulting in a greater likelihood for success. Click the link.

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Attribution This page contains material taken from: Gitman, L., McDaniel, C., Shah, A., Reece, M., Koffel, L., Talsma, B., & Hyatt, J. (2018). Introduction to Business. Pressbooks, Rice University. Retrieved June 8, 2020, from https://opentextbc.ca/businessopenstax/chapter/market-segmentation/#fs-idm501098176 Office of the Wet'suwet'en. (2019, January 16). Hereditary Leaders from Across BC Stand Behind Wet’suwet’en and the Assertion of Their Traditional Laws [Press release]. Retrieved from http://www.wetsuweten.com/files/Media_Release_-_January_16,_2019.pdfWet'suwet'en Supporter Toolkit 2020. (n.d.). Retrieved July 13, 2020, from https://unistoten.camp/supportertoolkit2020/

]]> 697 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=702 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:47:32 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/audience-analysis/

Photo by Paige Leidig From Netbase

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In order to do an audience analysis, you have to determine your call to action. A call to action refers to what actions you would like your audience to partake in. This can include converting, donating, volunteering, and sponsorships. Once you know what issues you are attempting to solve and what ways people can help, you need to figure out who is the best fit to put these actions to use. [pb_glossary id="89"]Audience Analysis[/pb_glossary] is the process of gathering information about the people in your audience so that you can understand their wants, needs, desires, expectations, beliefs, values, attitudes, and opinions. When you understand your audience, you are better able to cater to their interests and needs.

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Why conduct an audience analysis?

[pb_glossary id="99"]Audience Analysis [/pb_glossary] is one of the key components of customer discovery. The business model of an NPO will evolve as they explore their customer's needs. Identifying your initial target market will help you more clearly define the scope of your project and plan for the first several years of operations. Identifying your initial target market will also help you figure out how to allocate your scarce resources even as an NPO that lacks resources, capabilities, and capital. Audience analysis can be conducted for a low cost as there are a number of different demographic resources available online. There are also a number of market research reports to help entrepreneurs refine segmentation, consumer preferences, as well as compile demographic profiles that can help them discover motivations and buying patterns. [pb_glossary id="86"]Audience Research[/pb_glossary] is undertaken at the initial stages of a communication campaign to understand the intended audience’s needs, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours, and barriers to a recommended basket of options. At the audience analysis stage, information is also obtained on audience preferences for communication channels and the frequency of usage on these communication channels. Audience analysis enables the communication planner to determine the types of incentives and barriers that the audience perceive to exist, their most preferred channels or formats, the most credible sources, segment an audience into groups with similar information needs and preferences, select the objectives most appropriate for an audience, select the best media channels to reach an audience, develop concepts or messages to achieve the communications objectives and plan for communication impact assessment. Diversity is a key dimension of audience membership and audience analysis. While the term “diversity” is often used to refer to racial and ethnic minorities, it is important to realize that audiences can be diverse in a number of different ways. Being mindful of diversity means being respectful of all people and striving to avoid racism, ethnocentrism, sexism, ageism, elitism, and other assumptions.

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Attribution This page contains material taken from： Audience analysis. (n.d.). Retrieved July 28, 2020,  from https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_stand-up-speak-out-the-practice-and-ethics-of-public-speaking/s08-audience-analysis.html Devcompage. (2018, January 25). Audience analysis. Retrieved July 28, 2020, from https://devcompage.wordpress.com/tag/audience-analysis/ Pressbook. (2017, August 23). Customer discovery for content and tech startups – Media innovation and entrepreneurship. Open Library Publishing Platform – Pressbooks for Ontario's Postsecondary Educators. Retrieved May 23, 2020, from https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/mediainnovationandentrepreneurship/chapter/customer-discovery/

]]> 702 319 8 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=706 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:47:35 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/audience-segmentation/ [caption id="attachment_180" align="alignnone" width="1024"]

Photo by Jonas Jacobsson from Unsplash

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[pb_glossary id="98"]Audience Segmentation[/pb_glossary] is the process of sorting people into homogeneous subgroups based on demographic, geographic, behavioural, and psychographic categories. The following four categories help NPO's analyze and segment their target audiences and choose the right communication channel to create connections and interactions with them. Audience segmentation acts as a general way that businesses give people what they want and make the right offer based on the information and insight collected through analysis. Therefore, NPO's are able to deliver more tailored messaging and make marketing and promotion more relatable and relevant.

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Benefits of Audience Segmentation

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[caption id="attachment_705" align="alignnone" width="1024"]

Photo by Omar Lopez on Unsplash

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Different Audience Elements

As most organizations don’t have the resources or the budget to reach every market out there, instead, through the study of buyer behaviour and audience analysis they are able to break up the market into different sub-markets. From there, you can gear a campaign to target the smaller group a lot based on their shared interests, attitudes, values, and opinions. These audience elements can be used within audience analysis as topics to better understand your audience. You can also use these elements in segmentation as different ways to break up this audience. Some basic audience elements that you can define your target audience are demographic, geographic, psychographic, behavioural, occasional, benefit, and volume.   [h5p id="10"]

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Demographic

Demographic elements use categories such as age, gender, ethnicity, education, social class, household income, household size, marital status, employment status, family status, language, religion, and political affiliation to differentiate among markets. Demographic elements are valuable because they provide the person with important information and insight while being easy and cheap to collect. The U.S. Census Bureau provides a great deal of demographic data, especially about metropolitan areas which can be useful for NPO's that are lacking resources and capabilities.

Example:  Using Demographics

Marketing researchers can use census demographic data to find areas within cities that contain high concentrations of a specific audience that are relevant and reachable to your NPO. Demographic data is easier to obtain over other forms of data collecting, however, demographic research is limited to only fact-based information on your audience. This is why it's recommended to use more than one form of research for a better understanding of your audience.

Geographic

Geographic elements mean segmenting markets by region of the country, city or county size, market density, or climate. Market density is the number of people or businesses within a certain area. Many companies segment their markets geographically to meet regional preferences and buying habits.

Example: Geographic Segmenting

This form of research is great for finding volunteers or creating events. Specifying a location in your NPO or Campaign name, using geographical hashtags, and/or adding a location to your online pages and posts will help attract an audience from that location.

Psychographic

Demographics provide basic data on individuals, but psychographics provides vital information that is often much more useful in crafting the marketing message. Psychographic elements are defined by personality or lifestyle. People with common activities, interests, and opinions are grouped together and given a “lifestyle name.”

Example: Determining the Psychographics

Imagine if two different people were to be described by demographics as male, managers, 35 years old, with $80,000 per year income. An NPO who just saw the demographics could create a call for support that reached both persons. However, if the NPO knew that one of the two was captain of a rugby league team and the other was a holder of opera season tickets, the messaging could be designed very differently, drawing more interest from these specified individuals and creating a more intimate relationship with them.

A good way of going about finding specific psychographic characteristics is by looking at adjectives to describe your audience. Below is a list of possible adjectives to choose from, this exercise could even help you develop your own organization's identity.

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Audience Adjectives Exercise

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Behavioural

Behavioural segments groups according to their knowledge of, attitude toward, use of, or response to a product.  This provides a deeper look into how a consumer acts towards a certain topic, which could be a product, advertisement, or campaign. 

Example: Behavioural Segmentation

Segmentation and the associated mindset (while acknowledging the multi-dimensional differences between people) allows service providers, implementers, policymakers, and government officials to target initiatives and lead to a greater likelihood of lasting behavioural change. Most NPOs with a Sustainable Development Goal, need behavioural efforts to occur for change to happen with their social cause.

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Additional Points to Consider

Occasion

Companies can analyze and segment the market according to the occasions of use, such as whether the product or service will be used alone or in a group, or whether it is being purchased as a present or for personal use. This insight can help marketers know how to work their advertisements and campaigns, by knowing how the product or service is bought and used. There are three main types; universal occasions, regular personal occasions, rare personal occasions.

Example: Marketing for the Occasion

Movember is a trending occasion where people are encouraged to grow out their facial hair for the month of November to raise awareness for men's health. With a specific focus on mental health and suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer, Movember has funded more than 1,250 men’s health projects around the world, challenging the status quo, shaking up men’s health research, and transforming the way health services reach and support men. Since its launch in 2003, they've had over 5 million participants, all through the month of November.

Benefit

Benefit analysis and segmentation are based on what a product or service will do rather than on consumer characteristics.

Example: The Benefit Factor

4Ocean is an established business that collects plastic from the ocean and turns them into bracelets. 4Ocean is not a nonprofit organization as they don't accept donations, but the money they make from selling bracelets directly funds their continued efforts to clean the oceans.

"We believe business can be a force for good and hope our model encourages others to pursue creative solutions to this global crisis."

– 4Ocean | About

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Volume

Volume analysis and segmentation are based on the amount of interaction your nonprofit would receive. Just about every product, service, or organization has heavy, moderate, and light users, as well as nonusers. Heavy users often account for a very large portion of the overall interaction. Thus, an organization might want to target its marketing mix to the heavy-user segment. This can be measured in donations, awareness, and/or engagement.

Example: Volume Analysis

An NPO might notice a large portion of their annual volunteers are graduating high school students looking to fill their resumes and portfolios with charitable work. The NPO would do well to find a marketing mix that focused on this segment and those surrounding teens and young adults, such as schools and parents.

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Now it's your turn

Test your knowledge below, try to match the type of segment to its definition. [h5p id="12"]

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CONTINUED LEARNING

To obtain a better understanding of your target audience, below we have provided a questionnaire for you to answer: Click here to take the Target Audience Questionnaire. Answer the questions in the four sections: demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioural, about your desired target audience. This will provide you with insight on how to procure a better understanding of your audience, at no cost!

   

Attribution This page contains materials from: About. (n.d.). Retrieved August 3, 2020 from https://www.4ocean.com/pages/about Amazonaws. (n.d.). Understanding and approaching the market. Retrieved June 10, 2020 from https://s3.amazonaws.com/saylordotorg-resources/wwwresources/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/BUS203-2.1.1_The-segmented-market.pdf Customer Segmentation. (2009, December 3). What Is Customer Segmentation? Retrieved June 10, 2020 from http://customersegmentation201.wikidot.com/printer--friendly//what-is-customer-segmentation#toc27 Gitman, L., McDaniel, C., Shah, A., Reece, M., Koffel, L., Talsma, B., & Hyatt, J. (2018). Introduction to Business. Pressbooks, Rice University. Retrieved June 8, 2020 from https://opentextbc.ca/businessopenstax/chapter/market-segmentation/#fs-idm501098176 Gomez, A., Loar, R., & Kramer, A. (2018, December 11). The impact of market segmentation and social marketing on uptake of preventive programmes: The example of voluntary medical male circumcision. A literature review. Retrieved July 23, 2020, from https://gatesopenresearch.org/articles/2-68/v1 Our Story. (n.d.). Retrieved August 3, 2020 from https://ca.movember.com/about/history Pressbook. (n.d.). Market Segmentation. Retrieved May 26, 2020 from https://opentextbc.ca/businessopenstax/chapter/market-segmentation/ Saylor. (2015, July 21). Boundless: Marketing: "Chapter 4, Section 4: Developing a Market Segmentation". Retrieved May 26, 2020 from https://learn.saylor.org/mod/page/view.php?id=6063 Understanding Occasion Segmentation and Benefit Segmentation. (2020). Retrieved 10 June 2020, from https://radhikachittoor.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/understanding-occasion-segmentation-and-benefit-segmentation/

]]> 706 319 8 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=709 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:47:35 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/stepsforaudiencesegmentation/

Photo by Coffee Geek on Unsplash

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[pb_glossary id="98"]Audience segmentation[/pb_glossary] is a process of identifying groups of people within a larger population with similar beliefs, behaviours, political ideology that are most relevant to the objectives of the campaign. Audience segmentation research – if conducted insightfully – provides organizations with an important strategic planning asset: information about how best to focus the organization's limited resources, both human and financial, to advance its objectives. For example, a smaller audience segment whose members are willing to behave in ways sought by the organization may be a more productive target than a larger, less predisposed audience segment. Audience segmentation is a key aspect of achieving the objectives of the campaign or the organization as a whole. Knowing whom to target and how to target them helps create the reach you need to create a proactive response when applying it to a SDG.

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7 Basic Steps to Segmenting Audience

To create your audience segmentation, consult the 7 basic steps to segment your target audience in your business.

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The following steps are recommended for developing an audience segmentation (Compass, n.d.):

1. 1. 1. Collect the information on the primary audiences from situation analysis and audience analysis.
      2. Identify the audience characteristics to determine whether segmentation is necessary.
      3. Decide what criteria to use to segment your audience by demographics, geography, behavioral, and psychographic.
      4. Segment the audience to highlights potential audience segments.
      5. Target the audience from many segments are identified.
      6. Evaluate whether each segment meets the criteria for effective segmentation.
      7. Develop comprehensive Audience Profiles and write the creative brief.

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Attribution This page contains material taken from: Compass. (n.d.). How to do audience segmentation. Retrieved June 1, 2020 from https://www.thecompassforsbc.org/how-to-guides/how-do-audience-segmentation Devcompage. (2018, January 25). Audience analysis. Retrieved from https://devcompage.wordpress.com/tag/audience-analysis/

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Photo By Julia Joppien from UNSPLASH

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An integral part of strategic planning for a public engagement campaign involves selecting the target audiences that are the best fit for the organization's public engagement goals and resources. Depending on their goals and resources, some organizations might be well served to focus their entire effort on a single target audience. Other organizations might be best served by targeting several audiences. Regardless, campaigns that target specific audiences and tailor their materials accordingly are more likely to achieve their public engagement objectives than campaigns that do not. For any given organization, the optimal target audiences are those that are likely to maximize the return on investment in campaign planning and execution. The three most relevant considerations in making that determination are the size of the audience segment, the likelihood that members of the segment will respond in an intended manner, and the organization's ability to reach that segment with its current resources. Below is an example of developing an Audience Segmentation based around an SDG (Sustainable Development Goal). In this case, the example is SDG #13: Climate Action.

Example: Developing an Audience Segmentation for SDG #13: Climate Action

The principal aim of this research was to identify audience segments within the American adult population that could be considered as potential targets for global warming public engagement campaigns. The nature of the global warming public engagement challenge – e.g., the need to build public understanding and support for appropriate public policies, and to change the behaviour of large numbers of people – necessitated that we adapt and extend previously used segmentation methods. Specifically, there is a strong precedent in the research literature for segmenting audiences based on what people are doing (behaviours) and why (motivations). That method is well suited to population behaviour change campaigns (e.g., smoking cessation campaigns), but it largely ignores a second potential focus for global warming public engagement campaigns: building public understanding of and support for appropriate public policies. They conducted a nationally representative survey of adults and used three major categories of variables as inputs into a segmentation analysis: global warming motivations, behaviours, and policy preferences. The global warming motivations category included two distinct sub-categories: beliefs about global warming and the degree of involvement in the issue. They measured a total of 36 variables across these four categories. Find more details on the survey method below:   [h5p id="14"]

To view and analyze each aspect of the variables researched to great the segmentation.  Click here to see the full journal, including the tables. Additional profiling information about the audience segments – i.e., how the six segments differ with regard to a range of additional relevant beliefs, behaviours (including media use), values, and demographics – is available at link 2 in the continued learning section. The six identified segments – each of which was given a concise name to summarize its essential qualities – differ dramatically with regard to what they believe about global warming, how engaged they are with the issue, what they are doing about it, and what they would like to see American government officials, businesses, and citizens do about it. The six segments also differ with regard to size: the largest represents 33% of the U.S. adult population, and the smallest only 7% (Figure 1). These six audience segments represent a spectrum of concern and action about global warming, ranging from the Alarmed (18% of the population), to the Concerned (33%), Cautious (19%), Disengaged (12%), Doubtful (11%) and Dismissive (7%).

The proportion of the U.S. Adult Population in the Six Americas

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Continued learning

Please refer to the links below if you would like to continue your learning on these topics. Click here for the full list of all 17 SDGs, and information about them. Click here for additional profiling information about the audience segments.

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Attribution This page contains materials taken from: Maibach, E., Leiserowitz, A., Roser-Renouf, C., & Mertz, C. (2011, March 10). Identifying Like-Minded Audiences for Global Warming Public Engagement Campaigns: An Audience Segmentation Analysis and Tool Development. Retrieved July 23, 2020, from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0017571

]]> 713 319 8 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=718 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:47:38 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/definition/

Photo by LinkedIn Sales Navigator from Unsplash 

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Definition

A persona is a fictional person who represents your target consumer, including their needs, thoughts, and goals. It helps prevent organizations from generalizing all users into one bucket and assuming everyone has the same needs and goals. For non-profit organizations, your target audience is made up of donors, activists, non-profits, cause organizations, foundations, NGOs, social enterprises, businesses, marketers, web publishers, and video producers.

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Why is it important?

Developing a persona allows marketers to make more personalized content that helps their audience relate better with the marketing campaign (League, 2019). This includes making more effective call-to-actions, social media content, landing pages, and email messages (Haydon, 2013).

Usability.gov, a leading resource for guidelines and best practices in user experience online, says the purpose of personas is to “create reliable and realistic representations of your key audience segments for reference” (Usability, n.d).

To be successful in marketing, it is crucial to have a better understanding of your customers and see your business through their eyes. “Being able to think and behave like your customers is the key to being able to communicate with them effectively (Parsons, 2020).” Understanding your customers helps solve problems and gaps the business may be seeing. Personas give you valuable insights that can help you improve your strategies and content (Linde, 2019). Ultimately, having personas will help you make decisions about the way you run your business! From the way you design your website to choosing what platforms to market your business on.

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Attribution This page was created with material taken from: Fischer, J. (n.d.). Buyer persona: Identifying your hypothetical player. Retrieved from Breaking The Wheel: https://www.breakingthewheel.com/buyer-persona-identifying-hypothetical-players/ Haydon, J. (2013, March 14). Free download: The Nonprofit Marketing Personas Workbook. Retrieved from Social Brite: https://www.socialbrite.org/2013/03/14/free-download-nonprofit-marketing-personas-workbook/

]]> 718 319 8 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=720 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:47:38 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/how-to-guide/ The following steps should be emphasized when non-profit organizations develop a persona:

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1. Conduct Research to Collect Persona Data 

If your budget for persona development and research is zero, you can get many of the formal research benefits with a little bit of informal online investigating. All data sources have pros and cons, depending on how the data is collected. Good research reduces bias by combining data from multiple sources. For more information on the types of research, review Major Techniques for Primary Research. The Pros and Cons of Research  can help you make the best decision.

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2. Segment your Target Audience 

Segmenting target audiences helps non-profits to build up customized strategies for different target audiences and better reach target audiences. You can segment your audience by demographic, psychographic, or user type.

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3. Conduct Psychographic Profiling

Analyzing the stakeholder’s attitudes, activities, interests, and options will help you understand how they think, their media consumption habits, and how/where they spend time online. This is key information as it communicates us how to best reach them and when. The persona template for persona development from key stakeholders group includes:

• • • Name
    • Age
    • Preferred method of communication/ media consumption habits
    • Life Goals
    • Values: Understand what they are seeking for, their lifestyle in order to reach them effectively
    • How will this benefit them?
    • How will they be involved or impacted?
    • What do they think/feel about the campaign/issue?
    • Where did they obtain the information about the campaign/issue?

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Additional Information Needed

Persona characteristics should be anonymous, yet specific. Additional information needed for personas development when it comes to non-profits includes:

• • Prioritize roles, motivations, and needs over occupation titles or group affiliations, and strip back demographic detail to a minimum. Think creatively about how to present the characteristics.
  • Think creatively about titles that describe roles (not just occupation). A title should convey what you want to compare across the open data industry.
  • Include capabilities
  • Include incentives
  • Include personal anecdotes
  • Include a picture
  • Once you have a title and some characteristics for each persona, think about their network and their position in the open data economy
  • Look at models of existing templates
  • Five or six is a good number of personas. Two is probably too little, ten is more than plenty.

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Additional Tools

Available templates for persona development include:

• • Xtensio has created a User Persona Generator that can be used online free of charge. This is a great tool to use for creating personas including numerous templates.
  • Christof Zürn published a persona template under a creative commons license.
  • Adele Revella's buyer persona template is more focused on the marketing side, but can also be useful for user experience purposes.
  • Marketing company XPLANE has created the Empathy Map, a tool that can help to create a user-focused profile. XPLANE’s worksheet focuses on getting at what’s most important for your customers—defining their goals and aspirations as well as their preoccupations. It also asks about their environment and influences as well as their behaviour toward others.

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Attribution This page contains material taken from: Buyer Persona Institute. (n.d). Influence every aspect of the decision-making process. Retrieved from https://info.buyerpersona.com/buyer-persona-templates-free-download Rohles Bjorn. (2018, March 3). Personas in the user experience design. Retrieved from https://rohles.net/en/articles/personas-ux-design Shapino, D. (2019, January 8). Tips for creating user personas. Sunlight Foundation. Retrieved from https://sunlightfoundation.com/2019/01/08/tips-for-creating-user-personas/ Sunlight Foundation. (n.d). Creating user personas for open data. Retrieved from https://communities.sunlightfoundation.com/discovery/creating-user-personas/#step-3-persona-generation Wilson, M. C. (2018, October 18 ). Using Personas in Open-Source Projects. Simply Secure. Retrieved from https://simplysecure.org/blog/personas Xtensio. (n.d). User persona templates and examples. Retrieved from https://xtensio.com/user-persona/ Zambonini, D. (2011). A practical guide to web app success. Retrieved from http://webappsuccess.com/analysing-users-with-personas.html Zurn, C. (2011, May 5). The persona core poster. Creative companion. Retrieved from https://creativecompanion.wordpress.com/2011/05/05/the-persona-core-poster/

]]> 720 319 8 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=726 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:47:40 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/persona-examples/ Examples of Personas

Examples of online personas to target, found on Socialbrite.com, are key influencers, engagers, multichannel consumers, and standard consumers. Key influencers are those that are actively listening and want to help spread the message of nonprofit organizations. Engagers are those that will share their opinion and views on the marketer’s cause. Multichannel consumers can be reached online and offline to help marketers cause. Lastly, the standard consumer will help the marketer’s cause if they have a personal connection or feel strongly about it. The marketer’s goal should be to reach the key influencers.

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Photo by John Haydon from Socialbrite

 

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Photo by John Haydon from Socialbrite

 

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Photo by John Haydon from Socialbrite

 

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Photo by John Haydon from Socialbrite

 

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Attribution This page contains material taken from: Haydon, J., & Says, S. (2012, September 14). 4 kinds of online personas your nonprofit needs to deal with. Retrieved from https://www.socialbrite.org/2012/07/16/4-kinds-of-online-personas-your-nonprofit-needs-to-deal-with/

]]> 726 319 8 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=732 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:50:17 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/creative-brief-development/ * Effective briefs are: [h5p id="16"]

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A creative brief should be brief, inspire those that read it, and be visually engaging. The following creative briefs created by Abby for Townsite Brewing Co displays all the characteristics of an effective creative brief.

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Make sure your creative brief is complete, descriptive and thorough with convincing information. It should also include:

• A compelling offer for the creative team to work on or provides them with guidelines so they can develop a solution to your problem
• A focus on your audiences' needs instead of your own

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Depending on the project, your creative brief may include:

• Executive Summary
• Marketing Communication Goals
• Marketing Objectives
• Target Audience Profile
• Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
• User Value Proposition (UVP)
• Brand Personality
• Marketing Strategy
• Marketing Materials

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Example

 

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Templates

The one-page creative template linked below provides an overview of the elements that make up an effective creative brief and an area you can fill with information to meet the needs of your campaign:

• One-Page Creative Brief Template

A creative brief can also be presented in a more visual format, through a PowerPoint presentation. The link below provides a sample template that you can download and edit for your campaign:

• Creative Brief Presentation Template

   

Continued Learning

1. The Paypal Creative Brief is a great example of a creative brief that allows the creative team more freedom. Note how this creative brief clearly states the problem Paypal is attempting to resolve as well as their end goal. This creative brief also includes a summary of Paypal's target market as well as key insights while remaining succinct and visually engaging. Having a clearly defined problem and desired end goal will help guide the creative team to create a unique solution that can connect with the identified target audience.
2. The "Quaker Oats Creative Brief " is a great example of a creative brief with a specific desired outcome. Note that while this creative brief appears to start the same as PayPal's creative brief, Quaker Oats adds a clear set guideline regarding the problems they want to be addressed as well as potential ways to resolve these problems. This creative brief is also data-backed and provides key insights about their target market to maintain engagement and inspire the creative team. The creative brief is engaging in this way, because Quaker Oats knows exactly the type of campaign they are looking to execute, to resolve their problem and connect with their audience.

 

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Attributions: This page contains material taken from:

Grigg, T. (2008, April 27). The 7 Essentials of the Direct Marketing Creative Brief. Retrieved from https://www.dmcgresults.com/blog/the-seven-essentials-of-the-creative-brief

Lim, A. (2019, January 31). Townsite Brewing Creative Brief. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/in/abbymlim/

Roberts, J. (2016). Writing for Strategic Communication Industries. Ohio State University.

UCLA Library. (n.d.). SMART Goals. Retrieved from https://guides.library.ucla.edu/assessment/smartgoals

 

]]> 732 319 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=735 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:52:59 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/chapter-1/ Photo by Mark Fletcher-Brown

What are the campaign objectives?

First off, we must define what a marketing plan is and the purpose of the plan. A marketing plan is a written document that details the necessary actions to achieve one or more marketing objectives. It can be created to expand on an organization's manifest. Marketing plans usually cover between one and five years. A marketing plan may be part of an organization's overhead plan. Within a marketing plan, organizations will highlight key marketing objectives that must be achieved in order to capture a larger customer group, satisfy customer needs, and identify opportunities to spread brand awareness or reinforce its reputation. A campaign objective is a defined goal that acts as a subordinate to a marketing initiative and provides direction to the team so that they can reach their marketing objectives.

Examples

Marketing Objectives

• To increase the number of participants by 40% in the Black Lives Matter movement by the end of the year.
• To increase donations by 75% by the end of fiscal.

Campaign Objectives

• To attract 1,000 people to march on June 20, 2020, Black Lives Matter movement.
• To increase social media traffic by 75% during a one-week educational workshop.
• To generate at least 30 new brand ambassadors by the end of the month.

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In essence, marketing objectives focus on broader achievements and act as a guide to achieve organizational success by outlining a plan for their achievement, a budget to support the plan, and the management of assets and resources to achieve the objectives. Campaign objectives are more granular and focus on the short term or the duration of the marketing campaign that will contribute to the success of its marketing objectives.

Creating a Campaign Objective

So how does an organization set desirable but achievable objectives for its marketing campaigns? You may have heard of the SMART principle for setting objectives. It stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound. Let’s explain what it means, along with some variations and considerations.

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To summarize, a useful methodology when setting successful objectives is to make them S.M.A.R.T (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound). These S.M.A.R.T objectives should be aligned with the organization’s values and overall goals. When objectives are S.M.A.R.T, it'll set your organization up for success by providing direction, organization, and ensuring the business is always adapting to market changes.

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Attribution

This page contains material taken from: Effective Marketer. (2010, November 29). Marketing by Objectives. Retrieved from The Effective Marketer: https://effective-marketer.com/tag/marketing-plan/ Lumen Learning. (n.d.). Behavior Change and Goal Setting. Retrieved May 28, 2020, from Lumen Learning: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-monroecc-hed110/chapter/three-levels-of-health-promotiondisease-prevention/ Resourcily. (n.d.). How to set SMART Objectives. Retrieved May 28, 2020, from Resourcily: https://www.resourcily.com/resources/performance-management/how-to-set-smart-objectives Wikibooks. (n.d.). Business Strategy/Marketing Plans and Strategies. Retrieved May 28, 2020, from Wikibooks: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Business_Strategy/Marketing_Plans_and_Strategies

]]> 735 319 6 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=738 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:52:59 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/imc-plan/

Photo modified on Canva

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Defining Strategy

A strategy is defined as a plan of action intended to accomplish a specific goal. Strategies within any organization have different levels of marketing in which all should be connected including the strategy for the organization, Marketing strategy, Integrated strategy, and IMC strategy. The strategic management process consists of four steps, which are strategic objectives and analysis, strategic formulation, strategic implementation, and strategic evaluation and control. The primary idea behind an IMC strategy is to create a seamless experience for consumers across different aspects of the marketing mix. The brand's core image and messaging are reinforced as each marketing communication channel works together as parts of a unified whole.

Tools Used to Implement Strategy

The IMC process generally begins with an IMC plan that describes the different types of marketing, advertising, and sales tools that will be used during campaigns. These are largely promotional tools, which include everything from traditional communication elements and modern communication elements. For example, search engine optimization (SEO) tactics and banner advertisements to webinars, blogs, newspapers, billboards, and magazines are used to inform and persuade consumers. Marketers must strategically decide on the appropriate combination of traditional and digital communications for their target audience to build a strong brand-consumer relationship. Regardless of the brand's promotional mix, it is important that marketers ensure their messaging is consistent and credible across all communication channels.

Promotional Strategies

Two main strategies that are commonly used in IMC planning include push and pull strategies. A push strategy is used to ensure the consumer is aware of the existence of the product. A pull strategy motivates customers to seek out a product or service. See below for examples.   [h5p id="20"]  

Beyond Push and Pull Strategies

Going beyond push and pull strategies, engagement strategies can further develop an IMC plan. By creating engagement opportunities focused on making a desired impact in the mind–and behavior–of the customer, marketers can better pinpoint not only a winning strategy for their campaign but also incorporate tactics to execute their desired results. For example, if a marketer has a campaign strategy to focus on interacting with their customer base, then a tactic of leveraging social media or hosting an event will be best suited. If for example, a marketer is looking to educate their audience of the work their organization does then a tactic could be to use advertising and content marketing to their advantage. The following page will further delve into push and pull strategies while incorporating tactics.

NPO Perspective: Consideration of Marketing Strategy Constraints

A marketing strategy can allow an organization to concentrate its resources on optimal opportunities with the goals of increasing sales and achieving sustainable competitive advantage. Marketing strategies are designed to fill market needs and reach marketing objectives. Also, plans and objectives are generally tested for measurable results. However, the major goal of a Nonprofit Organization (NPO) is to further its non-financial objectives, and NPOs are not necessarily competing with others. Aside from these financial, quantifiable methods such as donations collected or new donors invested, the veracity of an NPO's ability to measure the success of its marketing plan is limited because their measurements are based on subjective factors. It can be difficult for an organization whose goal is to provide social services or disaster relief to quantify its success.

Defining Tactics

A marketing strategy focuses on strategic planning and capitalizing on new opportunities while exercising the organization's strengths. A marketing tactic is a technique or tool that the organization can utilize to achieve its marketing strategy. Tactical planning is a part of the nonprofit marketing plan. After understanding your goals, key messages, and audience, you can determine your marketing tactics - What channel you are going to use. Examples of NPO tactics including flyers, email marketing, events, and social media. To develop a better understanding of the key differences between strategies and tactics, two marketing examples will be discussed below - Push vs Pull.

Examples

Push Strategy vs Tactic When an organization wants to implement a push strategy, it's aiming to place the product, service, or idea in front of the customer and ensure the consumer is aware of its existence. For example, an NPO's push strategy could suggest that they are looking at new opportunities to expand their market reach by operating in new distribution channels. An opportunity would be to spread awareness about a social movement to a different demographic. The push tactic could be an NPO handing out flyers and actively engaging in conversation with bypassers at a local park. Although push tactics are commonly used by for-profit organizations, nonprofit such as Girl Scouts, activist groups,  PTO (Parent Teacher Organization), and PTA's (Parent Teacher Association) frequently implement push tactics to inform the public and fundraise for charity or causes. Pull Strategy vs Tactic When an organization wants to implement a pull strategy, it's trying to stimulate demand and motivate people to actively seek out a specific product, service, or idea. It is aimed primarily at the end-users, rather than retailers or other middle players in the value chain. For example, an NPO's pull strategy could suggest that they are looking at opportunities to spread its brand awareness to a new market segment. An opportunity would be to conduct primary and secondary research to develop a better understanding of popular trends, consumer needs, or important social movements. The pull tactic could be a mass-media advertising and promotional campaign in partnership with a popular influencer that can help promote the organization's purpose. Alternatively, they could utilize referrals and word-of-mouth recommendations from existing followers to build awareness and demand. Customers: Segment them differently Consider TalkingPoints, a nonprofit with a mission to increase student achievement by meaningfully connecting teachers and families through mobile technology. Other companies provide parent engagement tools, but they are largely designed for higher-income customers. Founder Heejae Lim wanted to focus on the needs of low-income families of color. While a for-profit would face investor pressure to pursue the most profitable market segment, TalkingPoints focuses on under-resourced teachers, leading to a product strategy that prioritizes translation in 20 languages and doesn’t require a smartphone. TalkingPoints’ focus on underserved customers positions the organization to dramatically increase parental engagement in high-needs schools, cultivate a loyal user base, and acquire partners who share these priorities. Marketing: Forge aligned partnerships The College Board, the nonprofit that administers the SAT test, faced criticism that admissions tests favored students from wealthier families, who are able to pay for costly prep classes and materials. Given this criticism, the College Board was averse to forging partnerships with for-profits that would exacerbate the situation, despite years of persistent inquiries from test-prep leaders like Kaplan and Princeton Review. Eventually, the College Board partnered with Khan Academy, the nonprofit committed to providing free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere. Together they launched Official SAT Practice, a set of free, personalized tools that allow any student to prepare for the SAT and college-level courses. Khan Academy’s nonprofit mission catalyzed the partnership. Today more than half of SAT test-takers in the United States, across income levels and backgrounds, use Official SAT Practice to prepare for the exam, giving Khan Academy access to students that might otherwise be hard to reach.

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In conclusion, an organization must develop a solid foundation for its marketing strategy to ensure the team is guided in the correct direction and has a strong understanding of its target market needs. If the strategy is poorly developed, it doesn't matter how innovative and dynamic the tactic is. The incorrect tactic will target the wrong audience, and result in underwhelming campaign performance and wasted resources. A marketing strategy is a plan before an organization leverages its resources to convince a consumer to engage with them. In comparison, a marketing tactic can only be effectively implemented when the organization understands which audience to target, increase awareness, and generate demand.

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Attribution This page contains material taken from: Barenblat, K. (2018, August 09). What the Best Nonprofits Know About Strategy. Retrieved July 08, 2020, from https://hbr.org/2018/08/what-the-best-nonprofits-know-about-strategy Boundless. (n.d.). Strategy. Retrieved from http://oer2go.org/mods/en-boundless/www.boundless.com/marketing/definition/strategy/index.html Boundless. (n.d.). Push and Pull Strategies. Retrieved from http://oer2go.org/mods/en-boundless/www.boundless.com/marketing/textbooks/boundless-marketing-textbook/integrated-marketing-communications-12/selecting-the-promotion-mix-for-a-particular-product-84/push-and-pull-strategies-425-4128/index.html Boundless. (n.d.). Unique Issues in Nonprofit Marketing Strategies. Retrieved from http://oer2go.org/mods/en-boundless/www.boundless.com/marketing/textbooks/boundless-marketing-textbook/introduction-to-nonprofit-marketing-17/nonprofit-marketing-105/unique-issues-in-nonprofit-marketing-strategies-511-5730/index.html Boundless. (n.d.). Introduction to Integrated Marketing Communications. Retrieved from http://oer2go.org/mods/en-boundless/www.boundless.com/marketing/textbooks/boundless-marketing-textbook/integrated-marketing-communications-12/introduction-to-integrated-marketing-communications-81/introduction-to-integrated-marketing-communications-403-4061/index.html Lumen Learning. (2016). Determining IMC Objectives and Approach. Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/marketing-spring2016/chapter/reading-determining-imc-objectives-and-approach/ Lumen Learning. (2016). Principles of Marketing. Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/marketing-spring2016/chapter/reading-determining-imc-objectives-and-approach/ Lumen Learning. (2016). Stages and Types of Strategy. Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-principlesofmanagement/chapter/stages-and-types-of-strategy/

]]> 738 319 6 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=chapter&p=745 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:53:01 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/chapter/target-audience/ Persona Chapter, we discussed personas and the importance of defining your target audience. A marketing plan may include one or more campaigns focused on one or more target segments. Some campaigns may focus on achieving specific goals for a single segment. Other campaigns may focus on a common set of goals using a variety of IMC activities targeting different segments.

Recall that there are four approaches to segment your market: demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioral segmentation. With your defined market and the inclusion of your primary and secondary research done, the next step is to incorporate it throughout the IMC plan.

Photo by Mark Cortney Cook from Unsplash

Personas Clearly defining the audience for IMC activities is an essential input. This is because different market segments use different types of media, and they may have other distinctive characteristics that impact the effectiveness of a communication method. Your decision about whether what tool to use in an IMC campaign should depend, in part, on what proportion of the target audience you can reach with this tool. Understanding your target segment(s) and their communication and media habits will make a huge difference in your ability to design IMC plans to reach the people you want to reach. See below for an example of a persona called 'Responsible Rebecca'.

Demographics Photo by nithinan tatah- NOUN project	Geographics Photo by Turkkub - NOUN project	Psychographics Photo by vectors point - NOUN project	Behavioral Photo by eucalyp - NOUN project
26 years old Female Service sector/white collar University education $40,000 average household income Part of the millennial demographic that represents 27% of the Canadian population overall.	Rents a one-room apartment near her old university campus in Metro Vancouver Walking Distance to her job as a Manager of Apple Retail at Pacific Center Easily located near organic grocery stores, natural health product stores, and vegan restaurants.	Her favorite activity is participating in outdoor activities, such as hiking, biking, traveling, etc Sees herself as belonging to the Global Village (the phenomenon that describes a more connected world due in part to the advancement of technology) Believes the internet helps her connect with other like-minded people She is ESFJ type of people, extraordinarily caring, social, and popular. She is always eager to help.	Prefers organic products and grocery stores that offer sustainable, locally- sourced products. Shops at natural health product stores Willing to spend more time buying products that align with her progressive values and lifestyle.

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Attribution This page contains material taken from: Heisz, A., & Richards, E. (2019, April 18). This article in the Economic Insights series examines the economic well-being of millennials by comparing their household balance sheets to those of previous generations of young Canadians. Retrieved from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-626-x/11-626-x2019006-eng.htm Lumen Learning. (2016). Determining IMC Objectives and Approach. Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/marketing-spring2016/chapter/reading-determining-imc-objectives-and-approach/ Marshall McLuhan Predicts The Global Village. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://livinginternet.com/i/ii_mcluhan.htm

]]> 745 319 6 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/front-matter/adaptationstatement/ Mon, 04 Jan 2021 18:30:10 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/2021/01/04/introduction/ Writing for Public Relations is by Andrew Frank, and is a mix of newly written content, as well as adapted and remixed chapters from other open textbooks, as noted below. Writing for Public Relations (c) 2021 by Andrew Frank is licensed under a Creative Commons-Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. In Writing for Public Relations, content has been adapted for a Canadian public relations context. While general ideas and content may remain unchanged from the sources on which this adapted version is based, word choice, phrasing, and organization may have changed to reflect the author’s preferences.This book was written and edited on the unceded territory of the Kwantlen and Musqueam nations.—Open textbooks this textbook is based on:  Writing Like a PR Pro Writing for Success About Writing: A Guide Writing for Strategic Communication Industries The Evolving World of Public Relations: Beyond the Press Release Introduction to Professional Communications ]]> 4 0 1 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/authors/ Mon, 04 Jan 2021 18:30:10 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/authors/ ]]> 7 0 0 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/ Mon, 04 Jan 2021 18:30:10 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/cover/ ]]> 8 0 0 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/table-of-contents/ Mon, 04 Jan 2021 18:30:10 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/table-of-contents/ ]]> 9 0 0 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/about/ Mon, 04 Jan 2021 18:30:10 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/about/ ]]> 10 0 0 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/buy/ Mon, 04 Jan 2021 18:30:10 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/buy/ ]]> 11 0 0 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/access-denied/ Mon, 04 Jan 2021 18:30:10 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/access-denied/ ]]> 12 0 0 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?metadata=book-information Mon, 04 Jan 2021 18:30:10 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/2021/01/04/book-information/ 16 0 0 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/h5p-listing/ Mon, 04 Jan 2021 18:30:14 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/h5p-listing/ ]]> 20 0 1 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/part-1-the-role-of-writing-in-public-relations/ Sun, 10 Jan 2021 16:10:13 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=part&p=319 319 0 1 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/part-2-learning-to-write/ Sun, 10 Jan 2021 16:20:46 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=part&p=330 330 0 4 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/writing-basics-what-makes-a-good-sentence/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 03:37:49 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/chapter-2-writing-basics-what-makes-a-good-sentence/ 352 0 2 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/chapter-3-punctuation/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 04:55:34 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/chapter-3-punctuation/ 378 0 3 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/chapter-5-news-values-and-news-writing-basics/ Thu, 11 Aug 2016 23:13:51 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/chapter-4-news-value/ 513 0 5 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/chapter-10-media-relations/ Sat, 11 Jun 2016 21:52:49 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/chapter-10-media-relations/ 544 0 11 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/chapter-11-public-relations-writing/ Sat, 11 Jun 2016 21:53:13 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/chapter-11-public-relations-writing/ 556 0 6 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/part-2-the-research-process/ Wed, 08 May 2019 17:59:29 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/part-2-the-research-process/ 761 0 7 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/social-media-uses-and-messaging/ Sat, 11 Jun 2016 21:54:56 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/social-media-uses-and-messaging/ 799 0 8 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/chapter-8-feature-writing/ Sat, 11 Jun 2016 21:51:47 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/chapter-8-feature-writing/ 848 0 9 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/chapter-12-creating-a-writing-portfolio/ Mon, 01 Aug 2016 17:22:08 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/chapter-12-creating-a-writing-portfolio/ 883 0 10 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=part&p=3 Mon, 04 Jan 2021 18:30:10 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/2021/01/04/main-body/ 3 0 13 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=part&p=664 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:47:21 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/strategic-insights/

Section Breakdown

This section defines how non-profit organizations can apply primary and secondary research to develop key strategic insights regarding audience behaviour and preferences.

The topics that this section will go over include:

• The definition of "Strategic Insights" and why it is important to NPO
• How to transform research and resource into key insights
• How to effectively manage insights

]]> 664 0 12 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=part&p=675 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:47:25 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/the-engagement-ladder-theory/

Section Breakdown

In this section, you will learn what an Engagement Ladder is and how this tool can be used by NPOs to turn passive audience members into involved supporters.

The topics that this section will go over include:

• Definition of an Engagement Ladder
• How to create an engagement snapshot
• How to implement the Engagement Ladder Theory to grow support
• Case study example of how this theory has been used

]]> 675 0 12 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=part&p=688 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:47:29 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/spectrum-of-allies/

Section Breakdown

In this section, you will learn about the Spectrum of Allies and how this tool can be applied to categorize and improve the understanding of key players in a given situation. It will also demonstrate the potential actions an NPO can take in order to garner support against the opposition.

The topics that this section will go over include:

• Defining and categorizing key players in a given situation
• Utilizing the Spectrum of Allies to make decisions
• Case study examples of how the Spectrum of Allies can be applied and implemented

]]> 688 0 12 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=part&p=699 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:47:31 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/audience-analysis-and-segmentation/

Section Breakdown

The following section covers Audience Analysis and Segmentation and how these can help your campaigns target specific groups of individuals efficiently and effectively. After reading this section you will be able to complete the following objectives.

The topics that this section will go over include:

• Know the difference between Audience Analysis and Audience Segmentation.
• Define the meaning of "Audience Analysis" and why it is important.
• Learn how to analyze an audience through research and list the examples.
• Define each segmentation type listed within this section.
• Know different forms of marketing research.

]]> 699 0 12 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=part&p=715 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:47:36 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/personas/

Section Breakdown

In this section, we will learn about personas and their importance to businesses; but more specifically to nonprofit organizations. We will learn how an organization can improve its content and overall marketing campaign once they identify personas.

The topics that this section will go over include:

• Definition of a persona
• Identify how to research and create a persona
• Importance of creating personas
• Discover helpful tools

]]> 715 0 12 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=part&p=729 Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:50:15 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/creative-brief/

Photo by Halacious on Unsplash

Section Breakdown

In this section, you'll learn what a creative brief is and how it can be used to generate ideas as well as connect with your target audience.

The topics that this section will go over include:

• Define the creative brief and why it's important.
• Learn how to create a brief through research and what is essential in the creative brief.
• Understand site accessibility and user value.
• Compare the designs of the creative brief personas.
• Utilize your personas to customize design decisions.

Introduction

The design portion of any IMC campaign is critically important. It's the visual representation of the extensive background work and research done to put together a cohesive and complete campaign. The most important sections can be broken down into the creative brief, branding, and marketing. Each of these sections also contains several sub-sections that go into further detail. The creative brief is the first step towards determining what your goals for the campaign are and what you hope to achieve overall. These goals should explain the intended impact you hope to have on your target audience but also your own internal objectives that you hope to accomplish. Once you’re satisfied with the overall structure of the creative brief the next stage is the branding portion of the IMC. Before you can market your campaign, you need to establish your organization’s brand. This is accomplished by establishing a brand vision, logo, brand personality, tagline, brand colours, typography, and other supporting brand assets. Branding is important for an organization because it helps with recognition from the audience. After the branding has been taken care of the next step is marketing. As an organization, it’s good to know about the different tools for content creation, development of a website as well as tips for online marketing. Effective marketing tools are helpful as they will allow your organization to reach the most amount of people possible. Several tactics are available including social media or email marketing. All put together, a strong creative brief, great branding, and effective marketing will help lead to a successful IMC campaign.]]> 729 0 12 0 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/part/explanatory-writing/ Thu, 24 Jun 2021 20:28:09 +0000 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/writingforpublicrelations/?post_type=part&p=925 925 0 12 0