Learning about the Public Relations industry over the course of the semester taught me a lot that I didn’t know about public relations. From the start of the semester I wrote a blog called “First dip into Public Relations”, in this blog I discussed what I knew about the field prior to the start of the semester. To evaluate if I have gained a better grasp about the Public Relations industry I decided to look back on the blog I wrote discussing my prior knowledge of the industry to what I have learned throughout the semester.

In my first blog, “First dip into Public Relations”, I talked about what I knew about the industry prior to the semester. In the first blog I talked about how the world of Public relations focuses on communicating with the public by using specific information to target different audiences. What I learned over the semester after finishing my own personnel campaign was that to target audiences in public relations you have to start with coming up with objectives. In the Public Relations industry professionals come up with objectives for each campaign that they come up with, each of these objectives have strategies and tactics that are used to execute ideas to fulfill the objective. In my own campaign I had to go back to my secondary and primary research to come up with the objectives, strategies, and tactics that I used. I learned that ideas are backed up with information that you learn through research about the specific campaign that you create.

After looking at my first blog and what I know now about the PR industry it is evident that the information I learned over the course of the semester has given me personally a better grasp about public relations as a whole. One factor that helped my own growth and knowledge was completing our own individual campaigns. This semester was the first where I saw all parts to campaigns and doing them hands on taught me that I could create my own campaign. The timeline and budget for my campaign were two parts that I had never done, and it was cool scheduling when I would plan, execute, and evaluate the objectives, strategies, and tactics I used specifically. After putting my plan book together it was cool to look at my table of contents to see all the parts that I worked on all semester that came together to create my final plan book. The plan book was the reflection of the information that I learned through the course of the semester that allowed me to gain a better grasp about the Public Relations industry.

From looking back at what I knew about the Public Relations industry prior to the start of the semester to now I could see my own growth learning about the field. To reflect on what I learned I made a plan book which consisted of my introduction, secondary research, primary research, objectives, strategies, tactics, timeline, budget, and appendix. All these assignments that were given to me this semester were focused on the same campaign for the Grand Valley DSR throughout the course of the semester, and pieced together a lot of information that helped me understand what really goes on in the Public Relations industry.

The ways we communicate in public relations has begun to change over the last decade. Tactics that help  drive this communication to the public vary in advertisements ranging from television, billboard, radio, and the list goes on. One important aspect of these tactics that should be considered is how much it will cost the company. What also ties in to this aspect is evaluating if the tactic used by a company for advertising is effective enough to increase profits. In advertising and public relations return on investment is a way for the investors of a company to measure the effectiveness of an advertisement tactic.

Return on investment is important when it comes to the money spent on an advertising campaign. An article from the entrepreneur website discusses no matter what a company’s budget is you have to consider your investment and the return after the money is made back to evaluate if your campaign was effective or not (Resnick, 2009). An example of this would be if a company sent out 100 coupons for five dollars off. The investment would be five hundred dollars and a company would need to make five hundred than to break even or a thousand if they want to double the money. This is how investors for companies can do an evaluation of a campaign.

With increasing popularity of smartphones and tablets, app marketing is another way that advertisers reach their audiences. When evaluating this campaign tactic with ROI, companies measure two matters, cost per action and install to action. Ad weekly says both of those measurements will help maximize the value of the dollar amount that a company spends on app marketing campaigns (Guest, 2015) Being profitable is important for every advertising campaign, that’s why companies use ROI evaluations to ensure the success of every campaign. 

After learning about how return on investment works and the way companies evaluate the success of a campaign based on the ROI, the question arises that is profit the focus of ad campaigns or are there other factors that should be considered to evaluate effectiveness. An article from Forbes website brings up five measurements for public relations ROI that don’t focus on just profits for companies to also use to measure effectiveness (Pozin, 2014). 

1)Are you keeping your competition out of the media

2)Powerful relationship with pr team

3)Is your team help building the brand

4)Reaching target market

5)Rights endorsements

All five of these tactics from the article from Forbes are important for measuring ROI in public relations because aside from profits this is the way a company can build a reputation and a larger audience. 

When it comes to communicating in public relations we have learned  risk on investment from the entrepreneur website article and the example explaining how ROI works. Next the article from Ad-weekly focused on app marketing and how a company would measure this tactic in advertising and public relations by looking at the cost per action and the install to action. The Forbes article discusses five measurements to use when you consider public relations ROI. These measurements are important for companies to take into consideration aside from just evaluating based on  profits from the campaigns. Now it can be understood the risks that are taken with every advertising and public relations campaign for a company and the investors.

References

Guest. (2015, June 19). How to Measure and Drive ROI in App Marketing Campaigns. Retrieved from https://www.adweek.com/digital/how-to-measure-and-drive-roi-in-app-marketing-campaigns/.

Pozin, I. (2014, June 6). 5 Measurements for PR ROI. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/ilyapozin/2014/05/29/5-measurements-for-pr-roi/#164aef577d16.

Resnick, R. (2009, August 14). Which Ad Strategy Works for You? Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/203050.

Social media has changed the way our world interacts with one another on a day to day basis.  Every day I routinely look at my social media accounts to stay updated with the world of people and accounts that I follow. Social media allows for people to engage with one another at the touch of their fingers easily from phone or any electronic device.  The popularity of social media has grown rapidly over the last decade, their our billions of people around the whole world that use all forms of social media every day so it isn’t a surprise how big of an impact it social media is in the lives of people in our world today. In the world of public relations social media can be used as a powerful tool to reach large audiences from a wide variety of different demographics.

How Social Media Impacts PR

In the  Forbes article published in February 2019, “How Social Media Is Changing The Face Of  PR”, it talks about how social media has changed the world of public relations. In public relations you can use social media to create your own buzz, to have a reach on virtually anyone you want, and to have your own platform that can build its own audience. The article also discusses how traditional PR in the past had limits to proving value, but today social media has had a positive influence on public relations because a big social media hit today is as impact as good TV hits. (Mekky, M, 2019). The article highlights the ways that social media has changed practices in the world of public relations and the impact it has made connecting with the public. 

Strategy of Social Media in PR

When it comes to using social media in public relations it is important to use some type of strategy to reach the audience that you are targeting. From an article written in PR Daily by Ted Kitterman, he talks about the importance of using video on social media because it is a crucial way to reach your audience. The article talks about a report from Talk walker which shows statistics that YouTube is the most popular among all platforms. (Kitterman, T, 2019)  Since statistics show that YouTube is the most popular social media platform over, I would predict that the trend will keep heading in the same direction. What this means is in public relations it will be important to use videos in social media as a strategy to reach audiences because that is what the statistics show people engage with the most.

Future Trends for PR

As of recent PR Daily released an article that talks about the seven social media trends that you should watch out for before 2020. One of the trends that the article talks about was a new app called TikTok. TikTok is an app where users can watch or post short videos to interact with one another. From the article it states, “ the average user now spends around 45 minutes per day on TikTok”, according to Fast Company. (Yonchev, O, 2019) For someone working in public relations, TikTok is a new platform of social media that’s popularity is shown by the large numbers of time users spend on the platform. TikTok is one of many new social media trends that public relations specialist should adapt to using before going into the new year to build a greater relationship with a new audience of users.

Conclusion

Social media has changed the way that people interact with each other, making it a powerful tool for the field of public relations. The Forbes article discussed ways that you can use social media to create your own buzz and reach endless variety of audiences. Looking back at the article from PR Daily, it discussed how important the use of video is to reach your audience. It discussed different strategies you can use to improve your reach in public relations. The last article from PR Daily talks about future strategies from recent trends such as Tik Tok. These new trends can be used as powerful tools to reach audiences that will be seen in the future in the public relations field. All of these social media trends and strategies can be used as a helpful resource so that you can make sure your public relations campaign is a success!

References

Kitterman, T. (2019, October 17). Report: Video is crucial for reaching social media audiences. Retrieved from https://www.prdaily.com/report-video-is-crucial-for-reaching-social-media-audiences/.

Mekky, M. (2019, February 21). How Social Media Is Changing The Face Of PR. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2019/02/21/how-social-media-is-changing-the-face-of-pr/#5f16f73f724f.

Yonchev, O. (2019, October 15). 7 social media trends to watch out for before 2020 hits. Retrieved from https://www.prdaily.com/7-social-media-trends-to-watch-out-for-before-2020-hits/.

Public relations helps bring brand awareness and creates a reputation for a brand. Marketing and the PR process use creative thinking and writing because it is crucial to the success of the brand. Specialist in marketing and PR use media pitches so they can pitch ideas to the press to increase interest. They way this is done is typically through contacting editors via email, and a successful pitch is the best way to ensure the best results for your client or brand.

In marketing and PR the media pitch is crucial to ensuring the greatest success for your brand or client. The Power Digital Marketing website offers tips you can use  to make sure your media pitch is a success. The first tip they offer when it comes to making a media pitch is to include only the important information and not to make the pitch very long. The reason behind keeping it short and filled with important information is because editors see many pitches in their inbox, if they like yours they will ask for more information. The second tip the website offers is coming up with a clever subject line that can catch the eye because it helps grab the attention of the editor.  The third way tip they offer to help make your media pitch successful is to include an offer of some sort to entice them. This can be an interview, product, or meeting and is important when it comes to building relationships with helps your chances of getting your brand or client to be noticed.(Windsor, A, 2018)

The Small Business website covers how to make a media pitch. Making sure your media pitch is newsworthy is what marketers and PR should consider to ensure they have a successful media pitch. It is important to consider doing media pitches in a timely manner because journalist work on tight deadlines.  Last you should have a structure for your media pitch. You want to ask who, what, where, when, why, and how. The structure of your media pitch with ensure key points stand out and that journalist can easily understand the story you are telling them. All of these practices will help make your media pitch successful to satisfy your client or brand. (Linton, I)

An article from Ad Weekly talked about the best pitches that worked published from JB communications. It begins to talk about the negative feedback journalist typically have with pitches. What they have done is take listened to the negative complaints with what they are doing right to see if there is some sort of balance. This lead to JB communications project to develop a website called “bestpitchevergot.com”. This website talks about pitches that have and have not worked and helps give the knowledge to writing your own successful pitch. (Coffee, P, 2015)

References 

Coffee, P. (2015, April 30). Journalists Talk About Pitches That Worked for ‘Best Pitch I Ever Got’. Retrieved from https://www.adweek.com/digital/best-pitch-i-ever-got-journalists-talk-about-pitches-that-worked/.

Linton, I. (2017, November 21). How to Make a Media Pitch. Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/make-media-pitch-54785.html.

Windsor, A., Windsor, A., Amanda, Windsor, A., Devin, M., Connolly, B., … Power Digital Marketing. (2018, November 13). Top 4 Best Media Pitch Examples. Retrieved from https://powerdigitalmarketing.com/blog/top-4-best-media-pitch-examples/#gref.

In the world of Public Relations we ask a lot of questions to help solve problems. The problems public relations has involve issues like demographics, what trends are popular, the engagement of the public etc. In public relations we ask a lot of questions on many different topics to help understand the public and to help communicate with them using the best practices and campaign strategies. We live in a world that is fast changing, so public relations strategists have to create strategies and do a lot of research to keep up with the public’s behavior and engagement. As a student who majors in the field of Advertising and Public Relations I have also learned the importance of research so that you can be able to identify your audience and communicate effectively with them using the best strategies and to create successful campaigns. I learned this hands on when given the task of presenting, writing papers, and creating campaigns, which taught me as a student why research is so darn important in the world of public relations.

Research is the first step to creating an effective campaign in the world of public relations, without knowing who your audience is it will be difficult to answer questions such as what your audience likes/dislikes, the demographics on who you will target, and what strategy will be the most effective. If you work in the field of public relations and your boss asks you to create a campaign and you don’t do research, you will be unsuccessful, hurt the companies reputation, and lose your job. Research is the essential tool in public relations that allow strategists to make assumptions on their audience and to help ensure they use the best practices to build a strong relationship with the public.

Digital research

The EY brand marketing research (2018) talks about how they help businesses and companies decide the best campaign practices to fit a digital world. The EY marketing brand specializes in digital transformation keeping business practice up to date in this growing world of technology. Since we live in a world that is forever changing, technology is one big competent that can give a business an advantage when communicating with the public. If a company can satisfy the public using a campaign strategy that best fits the digital world it will give them an upper hand by using the most recent strategies and technology to communicate with the public. Brands like EY use marketing research to help businesses with the research to show public relation specialist why they need to use certain digital practices and show them how their research in this field will help build successful campaigns to ensure a business public relations can be successful.

Research helps campaigns

Publish in the oxford university press, Frank lang discusses the importance of a good campaign for a business. The first steps to being successful is starting with the cooperation of the employees, the engagement from the customers, and most importantly the confidence from the stockholders (Lang, 1). The importance of doing research will help a business and its public relations by learning what problems they face, what ways they can be solved, and develop a plan so they can explain to bosses or stock holders how their ideas or campaign can benefit the business. Research will also help target specific groups of people to help the effectiveness of a campaign.

Good Research strategy

Caroline Northfield wrote in pr week about an important strategy that are popular among public relations specialists when it comes to research. Northfield talks about how mobile surveys have brought a wider audience and allows public relation specialist to reach peoples smartphones which allows studies to be performed in large numbers (Northfield,1). The process of getting feedback from these surveys have been faster than ever before thanks to this process which helps public relations with their research by allowing them to get feedback in a timely manner.

References

Lang, F. (1951). The Role of Research in Public Relations. The Public Opinion Quarterly,15(1), 54-64. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2745751

Northfield, C. by C. N. (2017, March 22). Public relations and market research – go on, you know you want to… Retrieved from https://www.prweek.com/article/1428241/public-relations-market-research-go-on-know-want-to

(2018). EY Brand Marketing Research – Finding the audience for the digitisation debate. Retrieved from https://www.warc.com/content/article/sabre-awards/ey_brand_marketing_research_finding_the_audience_for_the_digitisation_debate/121723

Before the first day of my CAP 220 fundamentals of public relations class we were asked to give a prelim definition of public relations posted to our discussion board to share with the class. My preconception of public relations that I posted prior to the first day of class was defining public relations as “the communication a business or company used to reach out to the public and managing what information they will use. Public relations also helps people connect to other people and helps solve problems through communicating.”

Why is Public Relations Useful

Public relations is special because it allows a company to reach out to the public with information that could be useful to everyone. What is useful about public relations for a company is not only that it helps communicate with the public better but it also helps people come together to solve problems. Public relations is a good way for a company to reach the public and work with people to problem solve and benefit everyone in the process.

About Public Relations
From the PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) dates public relations back to the 20th century. Since the beginning, many role changes and technological advances have caused the definition to change over the last century. Agency and publicity were two early goals of explaining public relations, in today’s world most companies incorporate concepts like building relationships and having engagement from the public.

Text Book Takeaways

From the Public relations tactics and strategies textbook for our CAP 220 class,  I learned about an important strategy which companies use for their public relations. It’s a six step process to help improve and develop essential elements in a public relations projects ( Pearson figure 1.3).

Step 1- Research and analysis

-This step consists of problems or opportunities in public relations using feedback from the public, media reporting, and trends in data 

Step 2- Policy Formulation 

-This step of recommendations on policy and what actions an organization needs to go by.

Step 3- Programming 

-This step consists of setting objectives, figuring out an audience, and deciding what strategies to use based on what policy is agreed upon.

Step 4- Communication 

-This step uses news, media advertising, newsletters, social media, and other programs to communicate with the public 

Step 5- Feedback 

-This steps shows the effect of all the effort through feedback from the public to let a company know what they are doing right and what they can make improvements on and change. 

Step 6- Assessment-This step is where the cycle repeats itself, the success of the policy is either successful or a failure to assess whether the efforts need improvement.

Importance of Public Relations
Why is public relations important for a business/ company? Al Lautenslager, a guest writer from entrepreneur.com wrote about the importance of public relations for a company. He highlights that the public likes to hear a good story, so basically the better acceptance a company has with the public will lead to better public relations. American marketing strategists also argue that public relations is the most effective way to build your brand, and highlights big brands like The Body Shop, PlayStation, and Harry Potter spend little on brand name advertising.

References

Lautenslager, A. (2003, November 17). Why You Need PR. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/65672

(n.d.). PRSA. Retrieved from https://www.prsa.org/

Wilcox, D. L., Cameron, G. T., & Reber, B. H. (2016). Public relations: strategies and tactics. Boston: Pearson.

Gig Economy

When I first heard the term gig economy it sounded like it could be the economy for performers or a band. “Gig” gave me the sense that it would be a job such as a band performing live music at a bar for a night or whatever the case. Once I learned what the gig economy was I realized my original thought wasn’t too far off. The gig economy is defined as a free market system in which temporary positions are common and organizations contract with independent workers for short-term engagements. So contractors and freelancers get hired for short term engagements to do whatever it is that the company is hiring them for.

How to Thrive in the gig economy

Before researching to learn how to be successful in the gig economy, I brainstormed what I thought was important for people in the gig economy.

1. Be good at what you do
2. offer a service others can’t
3. be consistent with the quality of work being done

I figured if you offered a service that you could provide well another business will want you back or will refer you to others that need work done. Having a strong skill set that others don’t is also an advantage for a business when hiring short time because it can help benefit a company positively. The Harvard business review is the site i looked at after my own idea. The four most important connections it says to have to thrive in the gig economy is

1. People

2. purpose

3. place

4. Routine

Platforms for Gig Economy

After learning what the Gig economy was and what is important about it I decided to research a little more to find out exactly where you would go for jobs in the gig economy. Looking at the small business trends website, it listed over twenty platforms that you could use when it comes to looking for work in the gig economy. These platforms are also useful if you are a business looking to use a platform to hire people in the gig economy.

The Gig economy present and future

According to Forbes, the gig economy currently makes up 34% of the workforce and by the year 2020 which isn’t too far away is expected to make up 43% of the workforce. This number is almost half of the people that are in the workforce currently. This shows how important the gig economy really is as you can tell by the large number of people currently working in it, and the even higher number predicted to be working in the gig economy in the future. Today we are seeing more people working in the Gig economy than ever before, and it continues to keep on growing into the future.

Jobs In Gig Economy

After learning about what the gig economy is, discovering platforms to find jobs in the gig economy, and learning where it stands in the present and future, I decided to look a little closer at jobs. On the entrepreneur site, it shows ten of the top paying jobs in the gig economy. Seeing how high paying certain skills are in the gig economy really shows the opportunity people have.

Wrap-Up

Today we talked about the gig economy and what it is and the people who work in it. Next I discussed tips to thrive in the gig economy along with tips from the Harvard business insider. After discussing tips I moved on to talk about platforms in the gig economy and what sites to use for more information. To finish up I discussed the present and future of the gig economy and the jobs that are available that pay the best.

Social Media Recognition

Social Media is important tool for businesses to have to allow anyone to connect online with them. According to Forbes, it is import for a business to increase its visibility because it is valuable to spread brand recognition. This allows for new and already existing customers to connect and be familiar with your business a the click of a button. The presence of a business on social media can draw in customers on different platforms so the can begin to get familiar with your business when looking at multiple social media sites. Lyfe Marketing also talks about the importance of a strong online presence and the benefits it has for a business. Lyfe Marketing talks about the importance of an online presence for businesses both big and small. Small businesses get an advantage using social media because with a big enough presence, they can stand right night to top competitors in the industry.

Brand Loyalty

Brand loyalty plays a big role for businesses when it comes getting new customers to come back, and keep existing customers to keep coming back. Prism global marketing solutions defines brand loyalty as “the partiality of a consumer towards one business or product over another, and it can truly make or break a company”. The continue to say that using social media is no longer an option for businesses, but a requirement. Businesses that can learn to develop a strong social media presence and following and the brand loyalty.

High Conversion Rates

For businesses looking to increase conversion rates, sprout social gives a few tips.

1. Make landing pages seamless
2. Promotion videos
3. Call to action

The landing page makes it easy for customers to find your business on social media. The easy it is for them to find you online and be able to navigate smoothly through your companies website or social media.

Promotion videos help to get more customers looking at your product. Using such videos will help increase the number of people who are interested in your business and allow new customers to also become interested.

A call to action is also very important for a business when using social media and when trying to increase conversion rates. A call to action is telling people why they need something and exactly how simple and easy it is to do. This gives customers interested a simple and easy way to connect with a business.

Conclusion

Today we talked about important ways you can help your business grow by using social media effectively . We started by talking about brand recognition and how it can increase the number of people following your business. Next I discussed how brand loyalty is important and how it can help your business grow. The last topic discussed was about conversion rates, and included tips to help your businesses presence grow on social media. The last tip of advice from Marketing insider group says “It doesn’t matter if you run a small local shop or a big national company. Social media is an essential piece of your business marketing strategy.” Obviously social media is important in the business world today and with the tips and strategies discussed above will help improve your business starting today.

After many hours of watching videos, going through demos, and taking test I finished the google analytics certification course. To begin learning about what google analytics was I went through the beginners course. Once I completed the beginners course I got a certificate and moved on to the advanced analytics course. After passing the advanced analytics course I received a second certificate. At this point I reviewed the study guide and took the google analytics individual qualification and scored very well. I received the certificate to be google analytics certified and am happy all the hard work paid off.

Today I took an online certification using Hub Spot Academy for content marketing. From watching the videos and taking the practices quizzes I learned a lot of new information that helped me understand content marketing. On the exam for content marketing I scored a 60/60 and was rewarded with my content marketing certification.

I also took a business writing course on Hub Spot today. It was relatively short and consisted of information I have learned previously and helped refresh my writing skills that I don’t always think about when writing. I learned valuable skills from the business writing course and am glad I took the time to complete it.