Week 10

Chapters 7 and 8 - Strategy, Planing and Scheduling/Tactics in Public Relations: theory and practice / edited by Jane Johnston and Clara Zawawi


I think the key points to remember from this week's reading are:

- strategy is a series of planned activities designed and integrated to achieve a stated organisational goal
- the first strategic move often needs to be made internally
- the public relations role must operate within the decision-maing dominant coalition of the organisation

Stages of the strategic process in PR are:
-the creation of organisational vision and mission statements
-creation of PR vision and mission statements
-establishment of performance indicators
-budgeting
-writing a strategic PR plan
-scheduling a PR plan activities

-The writer of an effective strategic communication plan must always remain conscious of the principles of effective communication, by beeing open, honest, two-way, responsive, receiver-oriented, timely, clear, consistent and comprehensive

- Tactics can be broken up into two major groups: controlled and uncontrolled
- Controlled tactics are those over which the PR practitioner maintains control of every aspect of the process, from message creation and crafting to final distribution (posters, brochures, direct mail, advertorial...)
- Uncontrolled tactics are those that can be altered or even blocked (media relations)

- Methods of delivery: mail, faxes, news distribution agencies, email, CD-ROM, couriers, videos, video-conferencing, personal delivery, websites.
--> each of these options has advantages and disadvantages that should be considered

- New Technologies largely evolving on the internet allow a platform for new tactics such as chat rooms, Q&A’s, video streaming and even podcasts to be available on an organisation’s website

The readings made me think more about PR theory/practice:

in the many varied tactics that can be involved in a PR campaign. It is therefore necessary to be well-considered before employing them. There is no guaranteed correct set of tactics that will ensure successful implementation of a public relations campaign. It can be seen that the strategy and tactics in PR campaigns must be selected with regard to target audiences, their appropriateness, advantages and disadvantages and the available budget.