PR Writing Final

Knovio

...adds video and audio to static PowerPoint presentations.

Keynote

...is Apple's answer to PowerPoint.

Body (Proposal)

A complete, detailed statement of what is proposed.

Table of Contents

A list of all items in the proposal.

Practice Q&As

After identifying the purpose of the interview, develop tough questions the reporter might ask and quiz the spokesperson on them. This will help executives, who aren't accustomed to being interrogated, not lose their cool if a journalist gets intense in questioning.

Targeted Audience

An appropriate mailing list is a key public relations tool. At the most basic level, a mailing list may be a compilation of an organization's members, past contributers, employees, or customers. Organixations compile mailing lists on all sorts of audiences. In public relations, for example, you may compile a list of civic leaders and community organizers.

Salutation

An email is somewhat informal, so it is unnecessary to include the sender's full name, title, organization, and address as you would in a business letter. You need to exercise some judgement when crafting your greeting.

Focus On the Benefit

Any speech must tell its audience what they will gain from the information.

Seating & Tables

Are there enough seats for the audience you are expecting? Are they arranged properly?

Audience & Speaker Aids

Are there programs or agendas? Will there be notepaper, pencils, and handout materials?

Projectors & Video Equipment

Are they hooked up and working? Whom do you contact at the facility if you have technical difficulties?

Screen Or Monitors

Are they large enough for the size of the audience?

How to Plan An Open House - Ceremony

Arrange a focal point for your open house, such as a ribbon cutting, awards ceremony, music or dance performance, or brief message from the company president.

How to Plan An Open House - Specialty Advertising

Arrange for giveaways that increase your organization's visibility, such as balloons, t shirts, and mugs.

Information Overload

As already mentioned, the average person recieves more than 800 pieces of direct mail annually. Although it is possible a person reads direct mail without distraction and pays more attention, there is still the problem of clutter and people not being able to process all of the mail they get. Consequently, it is important to know how to write and send a direct mail piece that is guaranteed to get opened, read, and acted upon.

Give a Directive

As with any persuasion, an online ad is best when it tells the audience to do something.

Call For Action

Ask for a decision.

Pretest the Campaign

Conduct a pilot campaign on a limited basis. Prepare two or three different appeals and send them to a sample of your target audience. By doing this, you can see what generates the most responses before making a mass mailing.

Email Etiquette

Consequently, it is important to know some techniques that can improve the readability of your email.

Use Round Numbers

Don't say 253,629,384 Americans. Say more than 250,000,000 Americans. And use numbers sparingly.

Format

Every memo should contain five elements, date, to, from, subject, and message.

Avoid Jargon

Every occulation and industry has its own collection of specialized words. Don't use words and acronyms that are unfamiliar to your audience. You may know what ROI means, but many in the audience may not.

Use a Round Table

Everyone has equal positional status and equal access to each other. The next best alternative is a square table.

Premium

Expensive, speciality paper and high end products made for distributing information about important organizations.

Avoid Large Files

Experts recommend that banner ads should not exceed 15 KB.

Social Networking

Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn.

Charging Stations

It's impractical to provide electrical outlets for everybody in a meeting room, but charging stations are often provided in the foyer of the room.

Readability

Legibility is affected by the typeface. Readability is affected by the legibility of the type and word spacing, line spacing, the length of the lines, the color of paper and ink, the kind of paper, and the total amount of reading matter involved. Accordingly, any print material should be planned with readability in mind.

Conciceness

Less is better. Conciceness means brevity. Your objective is to be as brief as possible, because people don't have the time or the patience to read through long messages. This means that you need to carefully select words that get the message across in a concise manner. If you can summarize a message in a 140 character tweet, why not transfer that skill to other media?

Pull Quotes

Lift out text both visually and by size to make a point. These items may or may not be actual quotes.

Enlist Sex Appeal

Like it or not, having good looking people in your ads will draw attention.

Colors & Choice

Peovide potential customers with a list of potential choices, whether it's product models or services. Research has shown that including colors in a brochure increases reader response.

Making a Budget For a Banquet - Office Expenses

Phones. Supplies. Complimentary tickets. Staff travel and expenses. Data processing.

Introduction

State the purpose of your proposal.

Popularity

The growth of digital media means that more people are using it. In 2013, $1,500,000,000 was spent on native advertising, compared to $8,600,000,000 spent on banner advertising. Experts predict native advertising will be a $3,100,000,000 industry by 2017.

Housekeeping & Attire

The premises should be as clean as possible. Attore should be clean and appropriate. A punch press operator doesn't need to wear a necktie, but his overalls need not be greasy.

Corporate Social Responsibility

The public now expects corporations to be good citizens and to contribute to the world.

Reporting to Different Publics

The readers of annual reports are of two sorts, the nonexpert individual and the sophisticated financial analyst. This difference in information needs provides a problem for the organization. A common solution is to design a report with financial information in easy to understand charts at the beginning and graphs throughout.

Introduction (Proposal)

The scope, the approach, how information was obtained and evaluated, and limitations and problems to help the reader guage the impact.

Before & After Pictures Are Very Persuasive

The technique is a great way to show the benefits of your product.

The Continuing Role of Traditional Media

There is a strong symbiotic relationship between traditional and social media in terms of providing mansions and creating traffic to the Web.

Use Emoticons

They increase comments by 33%.

More Emphasis On Marketing

Today, the annual report is also used as a marketing tool to gain customer support and show its strengths.

Include Quotes

Tweet with courtezan marks are 30% more likely to be re tweeted.

Making a Budget For a Banquet - Miscellaneous

VIP travel and expenses. Speaker fees. Security. Photographers and videographers.

Avoid Modifiers

Words such as very or most should be deleted.

Use Personal Pronouns

You and we make the speech more personal instead of just talking at them.

Offer Coupons

About 45% of fans like coupons and discounts.

Update On a Daily Basis

Although you should not post excessive tweets, it is a good idea to tweet about something once A-day. It keeps your name in front of your followers.

Tell a Story

An anecdote can set a tone and draw in a reader. An interesting story about a product is better than a pitch to buy the product. Coca-Cola got massive re tweets by just posting when you open a Coke, 12067 bubbles are born. Happy Birthday bubbles.

Sample Intranet Features

An especially appealing aspect of an intranet is its potential for collaboration and social networking. Many intranets offer some version of a collaboration feature like "Around the Campfire". Such sharing features of an intranet can connect employees in far flung branches to those in the organization's headquarters, providing an easy solution for global companies. Three quarters used blogs and about two thirds have wikis, discussion forums, and user comments.

Think Twice Before Posting

An inappropriate tweet can cause major problems for you or an employer. A senior corporate communications director for IAC got fired and generated considerable negative publicity on social network sites when she tweeted, going to Affrica. Hope I don't get aids. Just kidding. I am white.

How to Tips

Employees want information that can directly benefit them. Provode tips on how to select a health plan, how to apply for a training seminar that will help them get a promotion, or even a listing of HR services that will help with childcare or caring for an aging parent.

Edit Your Sharing Settings

Enable your photo to be shared instantly on other social platforms, such as Facebook and pinterest.

Use Hashtags

Tweet with one or more hashtags are 55% more likely to be read tweeted. A good #IsUniqueAndShortsCommaSuchAs #MyDunkinForDunkinDonutsPeriod.

Display Excitement

Tweet with!s get more re tweets per follower than those without ".

Use Fewer Characters

Tweets between 71 in a 100 characters get the highest number of we tweets.

Conventions

Conventions and conferences require planners who can handle multiple situations at once over the course of several days; a convention may include large meetings, cocktail parties, receptions, tours, and banquets. Event planners often work years in advance finding a desirable location, booking hotel space, and ensuring that facilities have sufficient bandwidth. Cost is a major concern for all event planners; budgets must be realistic for projected revenue from registered attendees. Speakers for a convention should be booked months in advance.

Global Approach

Corporations now have global operations, and the annual report functions as a capabilities brochure that advertises a company and it's many branches.

Basic

Flyers, simple business forms, and one color leaflets can be produced at supply stores or in office buildings.

Keep the Focus Narrow

Focus the messafe as tightly as possible. Online ads are not the place for complex messages.

Don't Reply All

If you are responding to an email that was sent to a group, respond only to the sender unless asked to do otherwise. He or she can forward it to the group if its percieved to be relevant.

Give a Response Timeframe

If you can't get a particular response back quickly, shoot back an email saying the timeframe in which you'll respond, a day, a week, a month...

It's Unwise to Send Angry Emails

If you have a bone to pick, do it in person or by phone. While writing an angry email may be therapeutic, it seldom does anything to solve a problem and may escalate it.

Use Numbers

If you have a series of questions or points to be made, break them out with numbers or bullets?

Types of Public Relations Advertising

Image building. Financial. Public service. Advocacy and issues. Announcements.

Four U Approach

Is the message useful to the target reader? Is the subject line ultra specific? Is the message unique? Is the message urgent; if so, does the subject line reflect that?

Ink & Color

Is your communication local or global? What is the culture of your audience? What are the meanings of colors and symbols? Are there positive or negative attitudes linked to certain colors? Are you taking into consideration the need of visually impaired audience members?

Making a Budget For a Banquet - Postage

Postage for invitations. Mailing house charges.

Making a Budget For a Banquet - Decorations

Table decorations. Direction signs.

Show a Need

Tailor the opening to your readers' needs.

Watch Your Facts

Be absolutely certain you are giving your listeners information that is reliable. Check and double check your information.

Meals

Club meetings and workshops often occur at a mealtime. In fact, many meetings include breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Larger Group Meetings

Club or association meetings, workshops, and seminars require you to consider such factors as time, location, seating, facilities, invitations, name tags, menu, speakers, registration, and costs.

Receptions & Cocktail Parties

Cocktail parties and receptions require restrictions on how much alcohol can be consumed. There are two types of cocktail parties; one is the hosted one often paid for by organizations; the second kind is the no host one where guests pay for their own drinks and the host only supplies the facility and finger foods.

Making a Budget For a Banquet - Entertainment

Fees for booked talent.

Reasons For Continuing Use of Paper

Financial analysts and stock brokers require printed copies before meeting with the company to discuss financial matters. A printed report has a beginning, middle, and end with a coherent story that lacks the disjointed style and links of an interactive version. A printed report often represents an item that shows the human part of an organization better than a digital version.

How to Introduce a Speaker

First, contact the speaker in advance and get a copy of his or her professional background. Ask the speaker about his or her objectives for the presentation, the value of the topic to the audience, and any other thoughts about the forthcoming talk. Like any speech, the introduction should have an opening, a body, and a conclusion. A good speech introduction doesn't summarize the speech and, even more important, it doesn't include every detail of the person's background. The biggest mistake is giving the speaker's background in agonizing detail. A final note from Friedman, "It is not typically an ocassion to make a joke at the expense of the speaker or to humiliate him or her."

The Police Line Up

Five or six people standing side by side because they are being tried for a crime with their hands at their sides or even worse, using them as a fig leaf to cover their crotch.

Making a Budget For a Banquet - Design & Printing

Invitations. Programs. Tickets. Name tags. Promotional flyers.

How to Plan An Open House - Media Relations

Invite the media personality by mail. Develop and distribute press releases about the event. Arrange for media coverage on the day of the open house. Arrange for a photographer to cover the event.

Lighting

Is it adequate? Can it be controlled? Where are the controls? Who will handle them?

Speaker's Podium

Is it positioned properly? What about a reading light? Is there a PA system? Is it working?

Meeting Identification

Is it posted on the bulletin board near the meeting entrance? Are directional signs needed?

Vcasmo

...allows uploading of slides to combine with audio or video presentation.

Empressr

...allows use of video and audio, collaboration, and sharing, and it provides analytics.

MyBrainShark

...allows you to add URLs, polls, and surveys to existing PowerPoint presentations.

SlideRocket

...allows you to embed interactive elements, such as tweets.

Slideshare

...allows you to share PowerPoints on sites like LinkedIn. It also provides analytics.

Coated

...for a smooth, high quality look on brochures, magazines, and posters. Coated, or glossy, paper is ideal for photographs and colors.

Bristol

...for a softer service than tag or index paper. Good for high speed folding, embossing, or stamping.

Cover

...for a stable, durable quality that promotes strength and keeps pages in place.

Text

...for a textured look on annual reports, announcements, books, and calenders.

Book

...for an antique and smooth finish on textbooks. Less expensive than text paper.

Tag

...for good bending and folding qualities. Good for pamphlets that have several folds.

Bond

...for lightweight directories, letters, business forms, newsletters, and quick printing.

SlideBoom

...includes audio, video, animations, and graphic annotations for slides. It provides analytics and allows group sharing.

TimeGlider

...is a timeline creator useful for time sensitive presentations.

Prezi

...is one of the most excuting tools in this roundup, according to Hurley Hall.

Google Presentations

...is part of Google Drive. This is similar to PowerPoint. It has more than 450 and has a set of images to add.

AuthorStream

...provides public, private, and social media sharing. It allows password protection of presentations. It includes live broadcast and analytics, among other features.

Sans Serif Types

...such as Helvetica or Arial, are popular. Some of the earlier types in this group were hard to read in bodies of text, but perfect for headlines. The newer designs seem to work for text copy, too.

Decorative Typefaces

...such as Script and Old English, should be used with great care. They look elegant on certificates and invitations, but they should not be used for large bodies of text.

Serif Types

...such as Times Roman, Caslon, or Century Schoolbook, are the most readable because serifs guide the eye along the type.

Zentation

...syncs slides and video for upload to YouTube.

Celebratory Speech

A celebratory speech is designed to honor some person or event. Such speeches are often trite and boring, but they don't have to be. If a person is being honored for lifetime personal achievement, why not start out with an anecdote that best exemplifies the actions being honored? This is much better than a chronological recap of the person's life as if you were reading an obituary.

Promotional Events

A celebrity at your promotional event may attract media attention and civilian attendees, but appearance costs can be costly. A promotional event may be a grand opening or a 5k charity fun run; it is important to consider such factors as city permits, security, and liability insurance.

Recommendation

A clear, concise statement of what is suggested and how it is to be implemented.

Summary

A condensation of the proposal, which gives the reader the general idea and tells them whether they want to proceed.

Too Many Extraneous Props Divert Attention

A curtain making company ran an ad with a cute teddy bear in it. The company got more calls about the bear than about its product.

How Much Will It Cost?

A description of the job. Print quality desired. Materials that will be furnished. Quantity. Page count, total numver of pages to be printed, including a cover. Paper stock, specify the weight and finish. Ink specifications, number of colors, four color, spot color, metallic ink? Type and quantity of photos and illustrations. Finishing, type of binding, number of folds, whether there are bleeds. Will there be die cuts or emblossing? Delivery and shipping.

Use Your Computer Monitor Or Tablet

A desktop, laptop, or tablet is ideal to show the presentation to a few individuals. The tablet presentation is popular on media tours when talking one on one with reporters or analysts.

Post On a Regular Basis

A good guideline is to 3 photos A-day.

Tables & Exhibits

A list of illustrative elements and where they can be found.

Content

A memo should be specific and to the point. The subject line, as in email messages, should state exactly what the memo is about. They should be specific about the coarse of action.

Q&A

A question and answer format is informal and easy to follow. Keep questions and answers short. Make sure they flow naturally and answer actual questions readers would have.

Reception

A representative of the organization should greet guests as they enter. If guests are important people, they should meet the top officials of the organization.

Greeting

A representative of the sponsoring organization should be at the entrance to the room. If the number attending is not too large, a personal welcome is in order. When hundreds of people are expected, this isn't possible, but the chairperson should greet the audience in his or her opening remarks.

Headlines & First Paragraphs

A sales pitch often opens with a headline that emphasizes a free gift or opportunity. Non profit groups and public action groups, however, often state the need in a headline. The National Resources Defense Counsil, for example, used a headline in red that said Stop Big Oil's Attack On the Arctic Refuge & Alaska's Imperiled Polar Bears. The headline on a letter for a breast cancer walk simply stated Please Help Me Raise Funds to Finish Breast Cancer.

Facilities

A small meeting may not need much in the way of facilities, wheras a larger one may require more seating and other facilities. You should check everything an hour or two before the meeting.

Working With An Ad Agency

A successful working relationship with an advertising agency requires frequent, clear, integrated communication. Other important pointers for getting along with ad agencies include clarifying responsibilities from the onset, seeking to complement each others' efforts, and considering the compatability of all team members when selecting a partner agency.

Seating

A variety of seating arrangements can be used, depending on the purpose of the meeting. A monthly club meeting, for example, often features a luncheon or dinner. In this case, attendees are usually seated at round tables of six or eight, where they first have a meal and then listen to a speaker.

Emergencies

Accidents or illnesses may occur. All employees should know what to do and how to request proper medical assistance.

The Basics of Public Relations Advertising

Advertising, the purchase of paid space and time in a timed medium, can be a useful tool in a public relations program. Public rations advertising does not sell items directly, but it can support a general environment of buying and selling by creating a positive reputation for the organization. The major advantages of advertising are ability to reach specified audiences, control of the message, frequency of the message, and control of the timing and context. Advertising has the disadvantages of high cost and lower credibility than publicity that appears in the news columns.

Making a Budget For a Banquet - Publicity

Advertising. News releases. Banners. Postage.

After the Event

After a speech is given, you must prepare a news release about what was said to be delivered to news publications.

Drafts of a Speech

After developing an outline, the next step is to write a rough draft for the speaker. Keep in mind the time constraints on the speech. The speaker should use this draft to add new thoughts, cross out copy that doesn't seem to fit, and rewrite sentences to reflect his or her speaking style. The give and take between speechwriter and speaker is an ideal relationship.

Outline

After gathering the material you need, you must prepare an outline. The outline for a speech has three main parts, the opening, the body, and the closing. The opening is the part of the speech that must get the audience's attention, establish empathy, and signpost to the conclusion. The body of the speech presents the evidence that leads to the conclusion. The conclusion summarizes the evidence, pointing out what it means to the audience.

Do a Postmortem

After the interview, review the outcome with the spokesperson becomes a learning opportunity for the spokesperson. Let the spokesperson see coverage of the interview, so he or she can identify points of success and points that need improving in future interviews.

Corporate Governance & Accountability

All corporations are under intense public scrutiny because of many financial scandals and higher ups taking millions for themselves. Consequently, many companies are being more transparent in their financial reports.

How to Manage Your Email

Allocate ten to fifteen minutes daily to organize your inbox. Create folders for email categories. After an email is two weeks old, it should go into an old email folder and eventually be discarded. Don't copy lots of people on your emails; the more copies you send out, the more replies you are inviting.

Share the Video

Also posted on Facebook, Twitter, and other networking sites.

Color Will Attract Attention

Although it may not be cost effective, consider using color when the product itself demands it.

Activating Speech

An activating speech is designed to get the listener to do something. Direct and specific action is suggested and urged. A basic principle of an activating speech is to give the audience something to do after listening to it. Write to a congressional representative, vote for a candidate, purchase a product, or take steps to improve your neighborhood park.

The Balancing Act of Editors

An editor must balance managent expectations, employee needs, and journalistic standards. A publication's format should represent and reflect the organization's goals, culture, and objectives. Today's employees want publications that discuss the health of the company and job security. Every publication should have an overall mission statement. An annual editorial plan allows for organizations to carry out this mission statement through their publications.

The Lead

An example of the first approach is "Susan Jones, President of XYZ Corporation, Spoke About Environmental Regulations". A better approach would be "Susan Jones, President of XYZ Corporation, Says Rigid Environmental Regulations Are Strangling the Economy".

Make Comparisons & Contrasts

An extra three cents in gas taxes would be enough to build 400 miles of highway next year.

Informative Speech

An informative speech is one that tells the audience something it does not know or understand. An informative speech might tell the audience about local zoning and building regulations, the results of the latest United Way campaign, the expansion plans of a local major corporation, or budget problems facing the state's education program.

Grab Attention

Animation and colors are great attention getters, as long as they're not overdone to the point of being gaudy.

Readability (Annual Report)

Annual reports are becoming more magazine like, with summary headlines, easy to understand charts and graphs, aimple question and answer sections, and more storytelling about employees, customers, and how the organization is making a contribution to better the world.

Annual Reports

Annual reports require considerable planning, resources, and design expertise. They are probably the single most important document an organization produces. Annual reports have to address the needs of casual and professional investors. Annual reports need to be delivered to shareholders via mail. Now most are distributed primarily electronically.

Location (Planning a Convention)

As real estate agents say, it's location, location, location. A national convention can be anywhere in the country, but one in Fairbanks, Alaska, would probably not be well attended. A convention in Las Vegas or New Orleans might be good because the beauty of the location could make up for the cost and time of travel. Many organizations rotate their conventions from one part of the state, region, or country to another to equalize travel burdens.

Give Specifics

As you outline the key points of a speech, you must make sure they hear things they can remember. Consequently, the audience wants the benefit of that person's thinking and analysis.

Close With a Brief Overview

At the end of the meeting, summarize what has been accomplished, what will be done, and who will do it. Remember that meetings are held to make decisions, not just to discuss things.

Visual Aids For Presentations (Summary)

Audiovisuals increase the chances of audience retention and understanding. PowerPoint can create attractive slides that can be used in a variety of formats, such as paper copies, computer displays, webpages, flash drives, and DVDs. Prezi is a scrolling rather than a slide based visual aid. The key to successful visual aids is brief copy and large type.

Use Humor Carefully

Avoid side comments and jokes that may offend any subgroups in your audience.

Making a Budget For a Banquet - Recognition Items

Awards, plaques, trophies. Engraving. Framing. Calligraphy.

Banquets

Banquets are elaborate affairs that require extensive planning; in addition to the factors necessary for a weekly or monthly club meeting, you have to consider decorations, entertainment, audiovisual facilities, speaker fees, and seating charts. Its often necessary to follow up on potential attendees because they don't typically respond to one RSVP registration.

Responsibility

Be prudent and think about how your communication will be perceived by the recipient. A letter, text message, tweet, or email is a highly visible record of what you say, so be careful about setting the right tone. Do you come across as flippant, arrogant, or defensive? Or do you come across as helpful, sympathetic, and concerned? You are representing your employer or client, so your statements must be in accordance with their guidelines.

Staff & Committee Meetings

Before scheduling a staff or committee meeting, ask if the meeting is really necessary. You can make meetings more effective if you distribute an agenda in advance, adhere to a schedule, and keep people from going off on tangents.

Other Speech Structures

Beginning, middle, end. Problem, complication, resolution. Inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, and final outcome.

Other Advertising Channels

Billboards. Transit panels. Buttons and bumper stickers. Posters. T shirts. Promotional items.

Putting It Together

Brochures vary so widely that no general guide is applicable. Each has a different audience, a different purpose, and a different format. It us imperative, however, to use words that your readers will understand. As you write and plan the layout of your brochure, remember to include visual variety in your pages. A practical compromise is to work with your rough draft and fix it as you go on.

Making a Budget For a Banquet - Transportation

Buses. Vans. Parking.

Traditional Letters

Business letters are personalized communications that should be professional, concise, well organized, and to the point; they can prevent misunderstandings and serve as a paper trail for communication. For mass mailings, templates and boilerplate text are often useful.

Wi Fi

Can the building's network support all the attendees who nay be tweeting, checking their messages, or downloading material from various websites?

Corporate Sponsorships Require Strategic Thinking

Can the company afford to fulfill this obligation; the sponsorship fee is just the starting point; count on doubling it to advertise your brand and your involvement. Is the event in question compatible with the company's values or mission statement? Does the event reach the organization's target audience? Are the event organizers experienced and professional? Will the field representatives be able to use this event to increase sales? Does the event give the organization opportunities to develop new contracts or business opportunities? Can you make a multiple year contract that guarantees pushing the company's values on a regular, consistent basis? Is there an opportunity to get employee involvement and raise morale? Is the event compatible with the organization's identity or products? Can you do a trade off of products to help reduce costs?

Basic Elements of a PowerPoint

Choose a font that is easy to see on a projector screen; a three inch letter is readable from thirty feet. Use sans serif typeface for text; arial, helvetica, or calibri are the easiest to read. To open hyperlinks without moving the cursor in front of the audience, press tab to your link, then enter. PowerPoint 2010 and later editions can make video files of your presentation; click file, save, and send, then create a video. Embed music by selecting your song, using insert on the slide, and then the fading tool to adjust the volume. Review your slides for consistency by viewing the thumbnail versions on the side. Print handouts of slides in print preview; select print, what, then select handout layout for three slides per page. For business presentations, stick to the minimal PowerPoint transitions; appear, fade, wipe, and zoom. Align your copy left or right for easier readability.

Candor & Frankness

Consequently, many corporations are more candid in their annual reports.

Putting Something Odd Into a Picture Will Attract Attention

David Oglivy's recent ad used a man with an eyepatch to show different things can be beautiful. That odd little detail made that campaign a classic.

How to Plan An Open House - Food & Beverages

Decide on the menu. Arrange for catering and volunteer services. Arrange for cleanup.

How to Plan An Open House - Equipment & Decorations

Determine what equipment is available from your organization. Arrange for necessary rentals, such as tables, chairs, or an outdoor tent. Arrange for table linens, plates, and silverware. Plan flowers in strategic locations.

How to Plan An Open House - Tours

Develop a floor plan for tours to ensure consistency. Arrange a regular tour schedule, such as every thirty minutes. Offer an incentive to those who complete the tour. Brief tour guides on how to give the tour and how to recieve questions. Arrange visuals such as a display or demonstration during the tour.

Websites

Digital versions of reports often focus more on comments and testimonials from employees and customers. One advantage of the digital version is that it saves on paper and shipping costs, but this doesn't mean that the print version is entirely out of fashion.

Cost

Direct mail, according to Media Distribution Services, is relatively inexpensive when compared to magazine ads or broadcast commercials. Typically, a rented list of consumers costs about $49 for 1,000 consumers, or $0.04 cents per name, according to DirectMail.com. You can get your names and addresses on labels or, more commonly, recieve a digital file that can be printed right onto envelopes.

Personalization

Direct mail, more than any other controlled or mass medium, is highly personalized. It comes in an envelope and often includes a personalized greeting such as Dear Jennifer. In addition, through computer software, the name of the person can be inserted into the letter. Specialized paragraphs can also be written about the recipent's past contributions. The technology, which will be discussed shortly, also can make handwritten signatures to make it more personalized.

The Basics of Direct Mail

Direct mail, used primarily in marketing to sell goods and services, also can be an effective public telations tool to inform, educate, and motivate individuals. The three major advantages of direct mail are ability to reach specific audiences, personalization of messages, and cost effectiveness. A major disasvantage of direct mail is that it is considered junk mail, which reduces its acceptance as a public tool of communication.

Announcement Ad Example

Doctors Without Borders announce they are sending doctors to Africa to treat ebola.

How to Create Great Publications - Layout

Don't cram the page with copy. Allow for plenty of white space. Organize information from left to right and top to bottom. Most people read in this sequence. Don't confuse them with another arrangement. Avoid large blocks of full type. It's difficult to read. Facing pages should be composed as two face spreads. That's how readers see them. Use graphics and photos to bakance out blocks of copy. Make photos and illustrations as large as possible. Whenever possible, use action oriented photos.

Avoid Empty Phrases

Don't say in spite of the fact when because works just as well. Another common one is saying in spite of the fact that when though or although would be better.

Use Simple Words

Don't say print media when you mean newspapers. Don't say possess when have means the same thing.

Be Trustworthy

Don't try to trick your audience into clicking on your ad.

Public Relations Advertising

Educate or inform the public regarding the company's standards, functions, facilities, objectives, ideals, and policies. Create a climate of favorable opinions about the company by praising the company's management, accumulated scientific knowledge, manufacturing skills, technological progress, and contribution to social and technological development. Build up the financial qualities of the company or give the company better finances. Sell the company as a good place in which to work, often in a way to get the attention of college graduates and liberals.

Email

Email bulge is overwhelming many organizations and individuals; use wikis, text messaging, RSS, and applications such as Twitter to reduce the flow. Email is rapid and cost efficient; it is not, however, a substitute for personal one on one communication. Email is less formal than a letter, but more formal than a telephone call. You can increase the effectiveness of your emails by addressing key information in the subject line, keeping them to 25 lines or less, and using proper grammer, spelling, and punctuation.

Online Invites Make It Easy to RSVP

Email invitations are used for any number of corporate events, including a college student's party celebrating their 21st birthday. Evite, for example, sends more than 700,000 invitations daily and has become a household name. Another firm, Paperless Post, offers a more formal invitation that requires one from a stationary shop.

The Challenge of Communication Overload

Email users send 204,000,000 messages, YouTube users upload 72 hours of new video, Facebook users share 2,460,000 pieces of content, Twitter users send 240,000 tweets.

Keep It Brief

Employees won't take time to read long stories and, even if they try, the nature of most workplaces is that they are full of interruptions.

Speaker Training & Placement

Executive and staff speech training is often the job of the public relations professional. Top executives of an organization must be exclusive about what speech invitations they accept; factors such as the sponsoring organization, the size of the audience, and whether the venue advances organizational objectives must be considered. A speech provides additional opportunity for publuc relations professionals to increase publicity by inviting the press to cover it, preparing news releases, distributing audio and visual clips, converting the speech to an op ed piece, reprinting it in a brochure, and posting excerpts on a webpage.

Using Facebook In a Campaign

Facebook is a particularly good program for public relations campaigns by national brands. Many organizations also have a Facebook page to provide basic information and to increase public awareness of it services.

10 Most Popular Apps In the United States

Facebook, YouTube, Google play, Google search, Pandora radio, Google maps, Gmail, Instagram, Apple maps, and Yahoo stocks.

Ten Tips For Tweeting At Conventions

Follw keynote speakers and presenters ahead of time. Tweet conference hashtags. Use an app like TweetCaster to monitor them. Attribute the speaker's social media and highlight his or her Twitter handle if possible. Create a Twitter list for the convention and add speakers and attendees. Save space and shorten URL links using tools like Bit.ly. Posting photos and infographics can increase exposure. Acknowledge tweets by others. Always engage with people who interact with you. Put a face to your handle and get together with your Twitter friends.

Convention Facilities

For every meeting or session of the convention, it is important to have everything you need for what is to occur in that room. The convention might start with a general meeting in a large ballroom, where seating is theatre style and the equipment includes a podium and speaking equipment with monitors.

Name Tags

For speakers? For all attendees?

Water & Glasses

For speakers? For audience?

What Seems Quick & Easy May Not Necessarily Be So

Ford reminds that while finished design may look simple, the design is often time consuming with brainstorming, sketches, drafts, and revisions before the final simple design is presented.

Focus On Your Communication Objective & Audience

Ford suggests that editors and writers need to consider colors, layout, and graphics when determing how to best get an idea out to the key public.

Frito Lay

Fredo lay took the contacts routes to regenerate interest in the brand. It sponsored I do us a flavor campaign in which a Facebook app enabled fans to create their own flavors. Videos with various pairings were used to inspire ideas. In a 10 month period, there were 3.8 million flavor submissions and more than 5 million consumers had engaged with lays on social media platforms.

Host a Photo Contest

Gain new followers and customers through a photo contest.

Message Control

Gatekeepers frequently alter or truncate the news they recieve. Sometimes the changes do little harm, but occasionally the ideas mess with your message or point. Your communication plan may involve telling your audience about subject A before they even know about subject B, but if a gatekeeper changes the order or eliminates one story, the sequence is destroyed. With advertising, however, you can be sure your message is delivered exactly as you intended.

Researching Brochure Content

Gathering information for a brochure can range from research to conducting a survey. Keeping in mind the proposed purpose of the brochure, start by talking to the people in the organization who know the most about the subject. A good way to decide what information to put in the brochure is to look at it from the perspective of a customer.

How to Plan An Open House - Activities & Entertainment

Health education displays or screenings. A road race. Games, a magician, or a storyteller for the children. A local band. A short questionare to evaluate community opinions on various issues.

Restrooms

If you are expecting a large crowd, arrange for portable toilets along with any toilets already there for the public. The American Restroom Association recomends at least one toilet for every 300 guests, but portable potty companies often recommend at least four toilets for every 500 people for a four hour event. More toilets are needed, however, if alcoholic beverages are served.

Harness Your Laptop to a Computer Projector

If you are reaching a larger audience, you can project a PowerPoint presentation on a large screen in a meeting hall.

How to Plan a Meeting - On the Meeting Day

Get a final count on reservations, and make an educated guess as to how many people will arrive at the door without a reservation. Check the speaker's travel plans and last minute requests or reservations. Give the catering manager a revised final count for meal services; in many instances, this might have to be done 24 to 72 hours before the meeting day. Check room arrangements one to two hours before the meeting; have enough tables been set up; are tables arranged correctly for the meeting; does the muscrophone system work? Prepare a timetable for the meeting's events; for example, cocktails may be scheduled from 6:15 to seven p.m., with registration going on at the same time; dinner may be from seven to eight p.m., followed by ten minutes of announcements; at 8:10 p.m., the speaker will have twenty minutes to talk, followed by an additional ten minutes for questions; your organizational leaders, as well as the serving staff, should be aware of this schedule; the program for the event may be an internal document for organizers, or it could also be distributed to the attendees. Set up a registration table just inside or outside the door; a typed list of reservations should be available, as well as name tags, meal tickets, and a cash box for making change; personnel at the registration table should be briefed and in place at least thirty minutes before the scheduled time. Decide on a seating place for the head table, organize place cards, and tell VIPs as they arrive where they will be sitting. Designate three or four members of the hospitality committee to greet guests.

First Sentence Or Opening Paragraph

Get to the bottom line right away, so the recipient immediately knows what the key message is and what you want him or her to do with it.

Convention Attendance

Getting people to attend a convention requires two things: an appealing program and a concerted effort to persuade members to attend. Announcements and plans should go out several months in advance to allow attendees preparation time for travel. A second or even a third email blast is done a few weeks before the convention. Reply forms should be provided, accompanied by online hotel reservation forms.

Identify Non Action Emails

Glei says in their office they use FYI in subject lines of emails that contain information but nothing urgent. The label provides a quick winnowing mechanism.

Brevity Matters

Glei writes that email authors should aim to keep their email to one sentence whenever possible. For example, when working out simple logistics, clarifying a point, seeking cinfirmation, or acknowledging retrieval of information.

Profile of An Event Planner

Go by many names: conference planner, meeting planner, or event specialist. Plan an average of five to nine meetings annually. Spend an average of two weeks on the road. Get an average of five or six hours of sleep during the planning stage of an event. Often work fifteen to twenty hour days. Worry a lot about technology problems such as having bandwidth problems at a convention or trade show. Consider cost as the most important factor in choosing a venue; the next most important are location and then food options at the venue. Select Canada as the top international location. Believe they need one or two meetings a week with an employer to plan an event. Consider the biggest challenge they face to be rising cost of food, hotels, and convention facilities.

Safety

Hazards should be conspicuously marked and well lit. Dangerous equipment should be barricaded.

Hospitality Suites

Hospitality suites are an adjunct to the exhibit booth. Organizations use them to entertain key prospects, give more in depth presentations, and talk about business deals.

YouTube Guidelines

Humor and parody are often used to attract viewers. However, not all YouTube videos have to be humorous and entertaining in order to be successful. On occasion, are you to re video posted by a 3rd party can do considerable damage to a corporate potation.

Planning & Writing Annual Reports

I fight, I thrive, I investigate, I collaborate, I bounce back, I own it, I contribute. Relentless forward motion. Milestones and momentum. Reasons to believe.

Reassure Spokespersons

Identify both positive and negative aspects of their performance. Let them know that you don't know, but you'll find out is an acceptable answer.

Location

If the meeting is to be held on the premises of the organization, the room can be reserved by contacting whoever is responsible for such arrangements. If the meeting is to be held at some outside location, you will have to talk to the person in charge. In a hotel or restaurant, that person is the catering manager. In a school, it may be the principal. In a church, the minister or priest.

Environmental Sensetivity

In an effort to portray themselves as environmentally concious, many organizations use recycled paper and soy based inks to conserve resources.

Vary Sentence Length

In general, short sentences are best. However, occasionally break up a series of short sentences with some longer ones.

Printers' Measurements

In other words, a 72 point headline is one inch height. A 36 point line is half an inch height. And, of course, copy set in 18 point type is a quarter of an inch high. There are six picas to an inch, so a 24 pica line is 4 inches high. Picas are also used to measure the depth of a block of copy. Thus, a story that is 42 picas deep will measure seven inches. Computer software has eliminated the need to be fluent in points and picas, but you should be familar with the terms and what they mean when talking to a printer.

How to Work With Graphic Designers

Include the designer at the beginning of the graphic design process, so there is an understanding of the entire production process and what story is being planned. Discuss the publication's purpose, strategy, and target audience so the designer has a framework with which to work. Write a creative and interesting copy. If the writer gives the designer something fun to read, it's a lot easier for the designer to make something fun to look at. Don't confuse effective design with creative design. A design kay be creative from an artistic standpoint, but won't be effective if readers can't find all the information or follow the design.

Writing An Advertising Headline

Include the interests of the audience. Use words such as introducing, announcing, new, or now to give the headline a newsworthy appeal. Avoid witty or cute headlines unless they appear newsy. Present the headline positively; don't say your competitors can't match your service when you can say your service matches that of your competitors.

The Challenge of Information Overload

Information overload is pervasive in our society; public relations professionals contribute to it and should be aware of the overload of messages from Facebook, email, Twitter, and other media.

Use Contractions

Instead of do not, say don't. Say won't instead of would not. It makes your speech more conversational.

Use Bold Verbs

Instead of saying profits went up, use a more descriptive word such as exploded or skyrocketed. However, don't use bold words and phrases that might be mistaken for hype.

Don't Dilute Expressions of Opinion

It blunts the crispness of your talk if you say things like "Of course, it's only my opinion" or "It seems to me..."

Preparing a Layout

It may be rough or comprehensive, but it must be accurate enough for designers to properly work with. A shortcut, of course, is to do just a computer generated layout. With the dummy in hand, you can now plan where everything is to go. The layout also indicates both type and illustration.

Know Robert's Rules of Order

It may be unnecessary in an informal, friendly meeting, but knowledge of parliamentary procedure is helpful with time as well as ending with a vote.

Have An Appealing Title

It should be short, engaging, and to the point.

Create Patterns of Thought

It's alright to restate a phrase to create a pattern of emphasis. Hilary Clinton once used this phrase in one of her speeches, "If women are healthy and educated, their families will flourish. If women are free from violence, their families will floirish. If women have a chance to work, their families will flourish. Repetition in triplets, as Clinton did, reinforces a theme and helps the audience retain information.

Exhibits & Bibliography

Items substantiating the proposal and assuring the reader that it is based on studies or facts.

Purpose

Like an email, a memo can serve almost any communication purpose. Many public relations firms require staff to write a memo whenever there is a meeting, or even a telephone concersation because it creates a paper trail of what was said and what decisions were made.

Communication Briefings

Kevin Donaldson and I recommend that we cancel the Carstairs account. Kevin Donaldson and I recommend that we cancel the Carstairs account for these reasons.

Define the Audience

Know exactly who you want to reach and why. The more you know about the demographics of your audience and their motivations, the better you can tailor a letter to them. Don't waste time writing a letter to those who won't or can't respond.

Talk the Talk

Knowing and understanding basic grsphic design terminology is helpful. Knowing a little about color systems, photo resolution, and typography will make the relation between writer and designer easier.

Know Your Objective

Knowing your objective is the most important requirement of all. In preparing a speech, the first step is determining what you want the audience to know or do.

Distribute the Agenda & Other Materials In Advance

Let people know what will be discussed or decided, so they can think about the issues before the meeting. Experts recommend that you prioritize the agenda and plan only two or three topics.

Avoiding Bad PowerPoint Presentations

Limit yourself to six words per slide. Avoid cheesy clipart; instead, use professional royalty free images. Don't use transitions such as spins or disolves. If you use sound effects, make it infrequently and use original, not PowerPoint, canned effects. Don't print and distribute your slides; they shouldn't work without one key component, you.

Print Newsletters & Magazines

Magazines are the most expensive publications and should be demanded by both internal and external parties. Desktop publishing is widely used for corporate newsletters, magazines, and brochures. Desktop publishing is an extensive process that requires the processing of copy, graphics, photos, headlines, and layout. Headlines should be written in active voice and few words.

Focus Your Placement

Make sure your ad is on a site that your audience visits.

Administration

Managing a convention is a strenuous job. The organization's staff is unlikely to see the fruit of their labors and instead just fixing problems and glitches that keep popping up.

Intranets

Many corporations are using intranets to communicate with their employees. Intranets are most effective when they are clear and lack clutter.

Briefing & Position Papers Summary

Many organizations offer briefing and position papers on some aspect of the company. Such papers can have several objectives; they can subconsciously promote a product or service and establish the organization as an opinion leader.

Create DVDs & Flash Drives

Many organizations put PowerPoint presentations on DVDs and flash drives so they can be sent to reporters, customers, and field personnel for viewing. A low tech version of this is to make copies of this in a journal, as a kind of extended fact sheet to tell reporters about your company.

Good

Materials that have strong colors, photos, infographics, and other design elements need exact alignment with each element.

A World Filled With Meetings & Events

Meetings are an important tool in public relations because they let people interact in real time, using all five senses, hearing, sight, touch, smell, and taste. Events and meetings don't just happen; they must be planned with attention to every detail; nothing can be left to chance.

Memorandums

Memos are generally used as internal methods of communication; they should be one page or less and convey the messafe immediately. A memo has five components; date, to, from, subject, and message.

Be Concise

Messages containing a 100 to 250 characters get 60% more interaction.

Public Service Advertising Example

Microsoft combined efforts with StopThinkConnect.org to provide tips about online security.

Run a Contest

More than a 3rd of friends like to participate in contests.

Deadlines Are Our Friends

Most busy people welcome deadlines as a way of forming their to do list.

Typeface & Length

Most direct mail letters are written on the organization's letter size stationary. There is no rule about length, but experts recommend a minimum of two to four pages. A typewriter style font for the text, such as Courier, makes the letter appear fancier than a typical typeface. Several tactics are used to make the letter easy to read. One is short sentences and paragraphs. Another is putting important words in bold face with a larger font size. Some organizations highlight key information with a yellow highlighter, red ink, or underlining.

Timing Your Speech

Murphy found employees who attend sixty minute seminars as opposed to three twenty minute seminars learn less. When making a longer presentation, try to work in a change every twenty minutes or so. This might be a three minute stretching break or exercise or an activity or showing a video. A break every twenty minutes might not make sense for something like an eight hour training session, but the chunking model might still be useful at some intervals. Despite Murphy's research, experts argue that there's nothing magical about twenty minutes, but there is ample evidence that shorter is better for learning and aptitude.

Name Tags (Meeting Registration)

Name tags are a good idea at almost any meeting. You should use advanced software to make name tags for everybody registered to attend. Names should be printed in bold, block letters so that they can be easily read from a distance of four feet. If the person's affiliation is used, this can be in smaller bold letters.

Native Advertising

Native advertising, also known as sponsored content, is organizational content that advertises something, primarily in digital media. Some PR professionals argue that native advertising is misleading or, worse, erodes the PR function.

The Basics of Giving a Speech

Nonverbal communication is important in a speech; speakers should be enthusiastic, make eye contact with the audience, and use gestures that support their words. The recommended length of a speech at a luncheon or dinner meeting is twenty minutes; such a soeech would be ten pages, double spaced. Speeches should have one to three key messages.

How to Plan An Open House - Open House Announcement

Notify employees and recruit their assistance. Invite staff and families, if appropriate. Develop your mailing list. Design and print invitations. Arrange advertising. Prepare and distribute press releases and posters. Create radio and TV spots.

Making a Budget For a Banquet - Food Service

Number of meals to be served. Cost per person. Gratuities. Refreshments for breaks. Bartenders for cocktail hours. Wine, beer, liquor, soft drinks.

Key Messages

Objectives provide the framework of a speech, but they must be supported by key messafes given throughout the speech. The major point is that people hear a speech and only remember two or three points.

How to Write a Position Or Briefing Paper

On a cover page, use a title that tells exactly what the paper is about. Keep it short; a position paper should be five pages or less; if the paper is ten pages or more, use a table of contents or an index. Include an executive summary at the beginning of the paper, which is a succint summary of the findings of the paper; it enables rapid readers to understand the crux of the position paper. Place any supporting materials in an appendix at thr end of the paper. Use subheads, boldface, or underlining throughout the paper to break up blocks of copy. Use simple graphs, bar charts, and pie charts to present key statistical information. Use pull quotes from higher ups and executives to persuade the public. Be concise; don't use excessive words; check for repetitious information. Check for clarity; is it clear what you want to say or communicate? Avoid overt marketing of the company's products or services. Give appropriate websites and other sources for those who want to know more about the topic. Post the position paper on your website and make it printer friendly.

#Happybeertime

One innovation use of Instagram was done by carlsberg beer in Denmark. It encouraged bar goers to upload photos to Instagram, tagging them #HappyBeerTimeAndTheNameOfTheBarWhereTheyWereDrinkingPeriodThePicturesWouldThenAppearOnATVScreenAtTheBarWithEachPhotoAddingAFewMoreMinutesToHappyHourPeriod.

Composing & Formatting PowerPoints

One key rule is to make sure your slides aren't cluttered with fancy clip arts or borders. Another common mistske is to include too much copy. Use no more than four bullets, and no more than four or five words for each bullet. Some experts advise there should be no more than ten lines of copy per slide. Others say no more than twenty words. Transitional slides, from one topic or major point to another, may only consist of one or two words or an image. A standard rule is a minimum 24 to 28 point size font. Also, be sure that you have at least a two inch margin between every copy. In other words, keep it simple. You should use clear, bold fonts with colors that contrast with the background.

Texting Everyone

One level is the broadcast text, which companies often used to send a brief message to all employees at the same time period the message may be as mundane as reminding people to sign up for the company picnic on more serious, such as when updating employees of our crisis situation.

Keep It Short

One or two word openings have punch.

Busy Layouts Often Pull Better Than Neat Ones

One split run test showed busy outlets pulled more than neat ones by 14%.

Engage Readers

One way to do this, the experts said, is to invite people to weigh in or join the conversation. The goal is to prompt discussion among customers and between employees and management.

Online Newsletters

Online newsletters should not simply be a carbon copy of any printed newsletters. Online newsletters sent out to employees through a company's intranet contains more color, graphics, and photos.

Limit Attendance

Only those who are directly involved should be invited.

Open Houses & Plant Tours

Open houses and plant tours require meticulous planning and routing, careful handling of visitors, and thorough training of all personnel who will be in contact with the visitors. There must be planning for parking, portable potties, and places for people to sit down.

Greater Transparency

Organization's must perform and behave in a more responsible manner because sub ciety expects greater transparency and accountability.

Issues With Native Advertising

PRWeek conducted a survey showing what the industry thought of native advertising. Despite an ongoing debate within the public relations, advertising, and journalism industries about the ethics of native advertising, people taking the PRWeek survey said they were fine with it. In fact, they thought it was helpful to the overall news consumption experience.

Make It Attractive

Package this content in an attractive, eye appealing form.

Cost (Disadvantages of Advertising)

Paid space is expensive. Ads in multiple media, which are necessary for message penetration, can cost thousands of dollars in the trade press and millions of dollars in the trade digital.

Being a Good Panelist

Panels follow the same basic principles as speeches; however, they also involve special preparation for dealing with opposition, interruptions, and hostile questions.

Vehicles

Parking must be available, and there should be a map on the invitation explaining how to get there and where to park.

Vary Shapes, Sizes, & Colors

People will get bored, and turn the page, if there is no variety.

Photographs Are More Convincing Than Drawn Illustrations

Photos can increase responses by more than 50%.

Stay Away From Boring Photos

Photos should show an exciting environment and some kind of person to person interaction.

Tease the Reader

Pique the reader's curiosity.

How to Do Media Relations At a Trade Show

Plan major product announcements to coincide with the show. Include the name of the trade show in your news releases, so journalists using databases can log on using the name of the trade show. Include your booth number in all releases and announcements. Make it easy for journalists to make contact by sharing phone numbers, Twitter hashtags, and email addresses in your materials. Have your spokesperson trained to answer the questions most likely to be asked. Consider a looped video to run in the booth, with copies available to the media. Provide photos that show the product in use, in production, or in development. Provide online corporate logos, product photos, executive profiles, media kits, and PowerPoint presentations for those with heavy suitcases or those who prefer everything in a digital format.

Interview the Interviewer

Preparation and research for the interview should include asking the reporter what the story is about and what topics they want covered. This way, the spokesperson can have command of pertinent information.

The Value of Print Publications

Printed materials, such as newsletters, magazines, and brochures, are still important communication channels in the digital age. Two strengths of print publications are that they can refkect the face of an organization and they can share more in depth stories. Other strengths include portability and distribution.

How to Write Effective Letters Efficiently

Produce courdeous and repetitive forms of communication for repetitive replies, such as requests for printed material or knowledge of inquiries. Develop standard replies for solicitations to seem business like. Develop standard formats for common messages so inexperienced writers can write more efficiently. Prepare a correspondence guide for vocabulary and how to keep the message concise. Place a brief heading on the letter after the salutation, indicating the letter's subject; the heading will give the reader an idea of the subject and cause effeicient filing. Use subheads if the letter is more than two pages long, thereby giving the reader a quick grasp of the major subjects and where they are located. To personalize printed material, attach your card with a brief, warm message. If a letter requires a brief response, it is acceptable to mail a letter and send it back to the repeat sender; retain a photocopy for your files.

Developing Expertise In Business Communication

Professional business correspondence should be written, formatted, and distributed with an eye for efficiency. There are five key points to writing effective emails, memos, and letters; completeness, conciseness, correctness, courtesy, and responsibility.

Humorous Headlines

Professor's death won't interrupt classes. Bullying session to be rescheduled. Elderly woman found using GPS. Man falls hard on first date but will recover. Girls' schools still offering something special, head. Harrisburg man killed when deer crashes his motorcycle. Police - Middletown man hides crack in his buttocks.

Proposals Summary

Proposals must follow a logical, well organized format; they are prepared to generate new business, convince management to approve a plan or give money for a plan, or request funding for a business or non profit.

Promote It

Provide a link or embed the video on and organizations blog or websites.

Comparative Tables

Provide a visual that provides benefits of your product, service, or issue compared to others.

Body

Provide background to the problem situation, criteria for a solution, the proposed solution, a schedule for implementation, personnel assignments, budget, and some background on the proposal's authors.

Briefing & Position Papers

Providing talking points and main ideas when executives or personnel are talking to the media. Advancing an organization's views on a trend or issue. Using the papers as tools to promote products or services. Establishing the organization as a thought leader in the industry.

Credibility

Public relations experts often say that advertising raises awareness, but publicity published as news stories increases credibility.

The Business of Direct Mail & Advertising

Public relations writers help write 360 degree tactics that incorporate public relations and advertising tactics. Companies spend much more on direct mail campaigns than any PR firms.

Tightening the Writing Focus

Public relations writing includes writing for public relations media, as well as advertising and marketing materials such as brochures and annual reports. Writing for these specialized materials requires knowing about the needs of specific stakeholders, such as employees, investors, donors, and current and prospective customers.

Use Questions

Questions often get the audience more involved. Does anyone know the average family income in the United States?

Get the Assignments Up Front

Rather than opening with a summary of a meeting or a conversation, get right to the action steps. What do you expect from the reader or readers?

Recreation

Recreation is a feature of practically all conventions. This may range from informal get togethers to formal dances, cocktail parties, golf tournaments, sightseeing tours, and shopping. Sometimes recreational events are planned to coincide with regular events. These are attended by spouses and by delegates who'd rather relax than listen to a speaker. Evening receptions and dinners at fancy locales are often anticipated to have spouses come.

Ways to Manage Speech Content

Remember the speech is usually part of a larger context; so don't feel obligated to force too much information into a single speech. Because a speech is a live interpersonal event, Bisenbach suggests focusing less on information and more on inspiration, less on lecture and more on conversation. Focus on the feel and the do in addition to the know; most speeches focus on data at the expense of emotion and interaction. How do you want your audience to feel; inspired; reassured; challenged; admonished? Know what action you want your audience to take and clarify it in your speech. Keep your primary objective in mind and don't let the subject stray from that objective. Identify the three most important things to impart on your audience and adress them.

Word Selection

Remember, a speaker talks to listeners, not at them.

Conclusion

Request approval or the signing of a contract.

Writing a Professional Email

Respond to relevant, work related email messages in a timely manner. Keep messages short; remember that many people now read email on their smartphone. Give details at the beginning of the message or even in the subject line. Use language that falls halfway between formal writing and spontaneous conversation. Blunt statements inform more importance in an email than a telephone conversation; temper your language. Use standard English and abbreviations; don't use a lot of cryptic symbols as shorthand; kids, not businesspeople, use acronyms like IMHO. Use spellcheck to proofread every outgoing email; poor spelling reflects poorly on yourself and the organization's credibility; but realize that spellcheckers are not foolproof; remember, they don't differentiate correct usage of there and their.

Making a Budget For a Banquet - Facilities

Retal of meeting or reception rooms. Setup of podiums, microphones, projectors, and screens. Wi fi and bandwidth capability.

Sample Uses of Flickr

Rotary International has a family of rotary Flickr feed. It allows rotarians Ward why to share photos of their local clubs activity. Photos are posted from rotary clubs as far flung as Canada, India, and South Africa. A story by rotary nanterre national news reported, using Flickr is a great way for rotarians to promote rotaries come at meant to action oriented service.

Routing

Routes should be well marked and logical. A map should be given to each guest if the route is long and complicated.

Say Please

Saying please we tweak it's 4 times more re tweets. If you want re tweets, asked for them.

How to Plan An Open House - Initial Planning

Select and research the date. Set up your committes or areas of responsibility. Determine your budget.

Planning An Exhibit Booth

Select the best trade shows that have the greatest odds of generating future interest and sales. Start developing and planning your exhibit six to twelve months in advance; exhibit designers and builders need time to build a booth. Make the display or booth visually attractive; use bright colors, large signs, and working models of products. Think about putting action in your display; have a video or slide presentation running all the time. Use involvement techniques; have a contest or raffle in which visitors can win a prize; an exhibitor at one show even offered free foot massages. Give people an opportunity to operate equipment or do something. Have knowledgable, personable representatives to answer any questions and get visitor business cards for follow ups. Offer useful souveniers, often called swag; a key chain, a shopping bag, a luggage tag, or even a copy of a popular newspaper or magazine will generate traffic. Promote your exhibit in advance; send newsletters to people and media kits to influencial bloggers four to six weeks before the trade show.

Use Email

Send a short description and link by email to employees, customers...

Sending a Professional Email

Send emails without attachments whenever possible; an attachment drastically decreases the likelihood of your messafe being read. Copy only necessary people when responding to a group message; avoid the reply to all syndrome. Double check who will recieve your message before sending it. Don't be an email junkie; don't clutter up inboxes with inane chitchat or forwarded jokes; it's irritating to receivers. Although email is a form of one on one communication, it is not a substitute for phone conversations and meetings; they are important for maintaining personal relationships. When emailing messages to the media, use blind carbon copy sending so recievers won't know its a mass mailing; use of blind carbon copy distribution is also best when sending to large groups of people who don't know each other; it protects their privacy. Always reread an email message before sending it; will the tone or choice of words offend the reciever; are you coming across as friendly and courteous,or brosque and pompous?

Budget Time

Set a time limit for discussion of a specific agenda item. Do not spend an excessive amount of time on items that shortchange other items on the agenda.

How to Plan An Open House - Reception

Set up a staffed reception table with a sign in book. Distribute information on your organization and giveaways. Have staff explain the activities to the guests.

How to Plan a Meeting - After the Meeting

Settle accounts with the restaurant, or indicate where an itamized bill should be mailed. Check the room to make sure no one forgot briefcases, handbags, eyeglasses, or other belongings. Send thank you notes to committee members and anybody who helped plan the meeting. Prepare a summary of the speaker's comments for the organization's newsletter.

Show Your Products

Share a photo of a newer lesser known product, or zoom in on a product and ask your followers to guess what it is.

Show What Your Product Will Do

Show consumers new or novel uses of a product.

Show How It's Made

Show follower is the basic stages of producing a product.

Share Inspiring Photos

Show unique photos and thoughts that are inspiring or uplifting.

Visual Aids For Presentations

Sight accounts for 83% of what we learn. When a visual is combined with a voice, retention increases by 50%. Color increases the viewer's tendency to act on the information by 26%. Use of video increases retention by 50% and buying incentive by 72%. The time required to introduce a concept goes down by 42% with visuals.

Closing

Sign off with a brief word such as regards, best, or even cheers.

Explanation

Signs, charts, and diagrams may be needed at any time to complement the words of the guides. The guides must be coached to say exactly what the public needs to hear. Many experts can't explain what they do, so a prepared explanation is necessary.

Creating Effective PowerPoints

Slides should only contain key points you want to share with the audience.

Engage the Viewer

Something as simple as a click to learn more information or something as complex as a game will get the audience's attention.

The Next Paragraph

Speaker quotes, additional facts or figures, and other relevant content that provides context for the speech.

Speakers

Speakers should be selected early, several months in advance, if possible. They should be chosen because of their expertise, their crowd drawing capacity, and their speaking ability. It is a good idea to listen to the speaker before anything is finalized, or at least discuss your intention with someone who has heard the speaker speak before. Many prominent people are not effective speakers.

Audience Selection

Specific audiences can be reached based on the standards of location, age, income, and lifestyle. This is done by closely studying the demographics of newspapers, magazines, websites, and broadcast programming. A luxury goods manufacturer, for example, might advertise in magazibes such as the New Yorker and National Geographic, which have highly educated and affluent readers. The neighborhood deli, however, might advertise only in the weekly set of ads from local newspapers. Online ads provide an additional means of reaching your audience, either nationally or locally.

The Basics of Speechwriting

Speechwriting requires clear objectives, effective organization of relevant key messages, knowledge of the audience, and a close working relationship with the person giving the speech. A speech is a powerful communication tool; it must be prepared for listeners, not readers; it must fit the auduence, be specific, get a reaction, have a definite objective, and be timely.

Be Prepared

Spokespersons should be aware of key organizational information before interview requests arrive.

Proposals By Public Relations Firms

Staff at public relations firms must constantly write proposals for new businesses. Organizations often pitch a proposal that calls for something specific from another business. The competition for business is intense among public relations firms; proposals must be thorough, be well written, and offer creative ideas to perspective clients.

Keep the Idea Clear & Pertinent

State the offer or request in the first two or three sentences. Tell what the advantages or benefits are and repeat them throughout the letter. At the end of the letter, summarize the message. You cannot be too clear.

Show Benefits

Stress how the event would improve employee morale, increase media coverage, or improve reputation among key figures.

What's Next?

Suggest a direction. Rather than running something by an executive, say what steps you would take. This limits the back and forth because preliminary next steps have been taken.

Satisfy the Need

Suggest how the event would be set up to meet the needs of the organization or the readers.

Transmittal

Summarize why the proposal is being made.

Photo Essays

Surveys show that visual aids help guide reader interest. Do a photo essay on a group of employees at an assembly line or employees running a 5k to help generate money for cancer research.

Experiment

Systematically change ads to see which type generates the most click thoroughs or discussions.

Customer Profiles

Tell how a company or an individual is benefiting from using your product or service. Use quotes from the customer and the employees from the department that helped develop the product or service.

Make It Easy For People to Respond

Tell the recipient exactly what to do and how to do it. Include a postage paid reply card and envelope. Design forms that require only a check mark to make a pledge or a donation.

Texting Key Points

Text messaging is in immediate, cost effective way for public relations professionals to communicate with a variety of publics. Texting should involve timely and actionable information. Tax recipients should have the ability to opt in or out. Otherwise, messages a little more than Spam.

Set a Time Limit

The agenda should clearly state the beginning and ending time of a meeting, so people can plan their day. A meeting should run a maximum of sixty to ninety minutes. The longer the meeting runs, the less effective it is.

Repurposing a Speech

The audience reach of a speech is multiplied when the key points are shared in a press release. A speech can also be edited and shortened in op eds published in news publications. If a speech is particularly important, it can be printed as a brochure and sent to selected opinion leaders.

Main Considerations When Writing Speeches

The author, the speaker, the goals and content of the speech, and your ultimate objective, or what effect you want the speech to have on the audience.

Proposals By Public Relations Forms

The background and capabilities of the firm. The client's situation. Goals and objectives of the proposed plan. Key messages. Basic strategies and tactics. General timeline of activities. Proposed budget. How success will be measured. A description of the team that will handle the account. A summary of why the firm should be selected to handle the program.

How to Create Great Publications - Type

The best type size is 10 or 11 points with 2 leading types. If the target audience is senior citizens, increase the type size to 12 or 14 point. Use serif type for text. It is easier to read. Headlines can be set in sans sarif type. Use a minimum number of fonts and type families. A three ring circus of types is poor design and just confuses people. Use boldface sparingly. Use for subheads and a few key words only. Don't use for an entire paragraph. Use italic type for emphasis sparingly, if at all. Avoid all caps in headlines. Caps and lowercase is more readable.

Distribute a Summary Memo

The chair or secretary should distribute a memo about the meeting a day after the meeting. This helps remind people what was decided.

Manage the Meeting

The chairperson must make sure the meeting stays on track. Do not allow an individual or group to go on tangents.

When Native Advertising Is Relevant

The content is relevant to the reader. The brand is relevant to the reader. The reader trusts the brand. The native advertising or sponsored content is relevant to the medium. The brand is percieved as knowledgable on the topic being reported.

Creating a Direct Mail Package

The direct mail package has five components: envelope, letter, brochure, reply card, and return envelope. Advances in technology allows peopke to get mailing lists with scientific precision. Non profit and advocacy groups often use human interest stories as headlines. The headline and first paragraph, as well as the postscript, get the most readership in a direct mail letter. Direct mail envelopes, experts say, attract more attention if they use commemorative stamps instead of metered postage.

The Second Sentence & Paragraph

The event where the speech was given, the location, the attendance, and the reason for the meeting.

Cover Page

The title of the project, date of submission, and either the department or individuals making the submission.

Story Packaging Tips

The first step is to conceive and communicate to the writer the purpose of the story. Sidebars, or short complementary stories or factoids, can bring depth to a subject. Photographs should be compelling and capture action. When numbers are involved, simplify and treat them graphically. Ylisela calls elements such as pull quotes, fact boxes, or summary paragraphs the finishing touches of a good story package.

Essence of Wikis

The invites all users to edit any page within the website, using a basic Web browser. They promote meaningful topic associations between different pages. They involve visitors and an ongoing process of creation and collaboration.

Exhibits

The makers and sellers of supplies attend conventions to sell their wares. This means the conference manager must provide them suitable space to show them off. Most large convention centers have space for anything from books to bulldozers. There is a charge for the use of these rooms, and the exhibitors pay for the space they use.

What to Tell Speakers Before Meeting

The meeting's sponsor and who us expected to attend. Meeting purpose and objectives. Presentation location, including meeting room, date, and hour. Topic and length of presentation. Anticipated size of the audience. Session format, including length of time allowed for audience questions. Names of those sharing the platform, if any, and their topics. Name of person who will make the introductions. Speaker fee or honorarium. Travel and housing arrangements. Meeting room setup and staging information. Audiovisual equipment needed. Dress code. Request to speaker for presentation outline, handout material. Signed release to record or videotape the remarks. Arrangements for spouse, if invited.

Postscript

The most effective direct mail letters end with a postscript, or P.S. Many experts say this is the second most read part of the letter, after the headline and beginning paragraph. It gives the writer one last opportunity to make a plea.

Flickr Advantages

The picnic editing tools and Flickr are easy to use. Photos can be tagged with a location where they were taken. A Flickr photo stream can be searched using keywords or location. Photos are saved that high resolution. Photos can be exported to snap fish, a photo printing website. Facebook limits access to friends, but Flickr does not. Statistics are available for each photo, allowing you to identify which was most viewed.

Day & Hour

The time must be convenient for both the organization and the guests.

Guides

Tours should be led that explain what can be done at the event and where everything is.

Layout Methods & Tools

The traditional method of layout, which is still helpful in this digital age, is to work with a blank template and sketch out where stories, headlines, and artwork will be placed. Desktop publishing is a term sometimes used for computer mediated design. The term layout is more accurate than publication because it rarely does any publishing. What they do is craft something as a PDF or other digital format and transfer it to an electronic printer. Publishing software allows you to manipulate text and pictures in a number of ways. Several levels of publishing software are available. Although desktop publishing has made it possible for PR writers to make electronic layouts and work with text and pictures in a creative format, experts caution that you need more than writing skills. Consequently, public relations writers often work with publishers who are responsible with putting the aspects of a layout together.

Necessary Credit Card Information

The type of credit card. The name of the person listed on the credit card. The card number. The expiration date.

Create Timely Content

The video should be currents and relevance to the season or trending topics and social and traditional media.

Get the Envelope Opened

There is so much junk mail that letters go into the trash without being opened. Put a teaser headline outside the envelope so the reader will want to know what's inside. The opposite approach, which also raises curiosity, is to use a sender's address but not say anything. Using stamps instead of your business number also increases likelihood of opening.

Defining the Audience

There will be 400 Latin American and Caribbean business executives, government leaders, and chamber of commerce representatives. Attendees will have divergent knowledge about information technology, so the speech will need to reflect middle of the road language and translations. English is the official language of the conference but the second language of the attendees. The speech must employ simple sentence structure and basic word choice. Colloquialisms, contractions, and US centric language should be avoided.

Communicate Specific Needs

There's a difference between creative freedom and lack of direction, according to Ford. Let the designer know colors you hate, types of photos to avoid, or fonts that you don't like. This will help the designer in a few small ways, which will result in less wasted time later.

Courtesy

These are personal communications. Personal names are used extensively, and both senders and recievers have considerable interest in the material. You might think it advisable to make the messages as personal as possible, but don't go overboard. The writing should be polite, but not effusive. Personal, but not overly familiar.

Publicity & Invitations

These materials should be distributed at least a month before the event.

Guests

These may be families of employees, customers, representatives of the community, suppliers and competitors, reporters, or others whose goodwill is desirable.

Body of Message

Think of an email as a memo, which is discussed in the next section. Most experts say the best emails are short. That is about twenty to 25 lines, single spaced. It is also recommended that there be no more than 65 characters per line. When appropriate, you can use boldfacing, underlining, and bullets to highlight key pieces of information as you would in a news release.

Strategy

This can be described as the setting and tone of the speech. The tone of a speech, or the speaker's viewpoint and attitude towards the topic, depends on the audience being addressed. From the standpoint of persuasion, you also have more control over your opposing viewpoint if you bring it up early instead of waiting for an audience member to bring it up. By bringing up an opposing viewpoint and acknowledging its validity, you can neutralize the audience's opposition to your perspective. Hostile or unfriendly audiences present the greatest challenge. This technique lets the audience know that the speaker understands or at least acknowledges their concerns.

The Award

This is the grip and grin of two people shaking hands, jointly holding a giant check, or holding a trophy or a plaque and smiling at the camera.

Subject Line

This is the opportunity to say succently what the email is about. The growing reliance on phones for emails only heightens the need for concise subject lines. Though the research showed that, overall, shorter subject lines often correlate with higher click and read rates, subject line word order, word choice, and brand and audience awareness are also key factors.

Before the Event

This often takes the form of a media advisory, which is essentially an alert of the time, place, and substance of the event. An advisory is simply a short note that gives the speaker's name and title, the speech title, and details about time and place. Make sure the editors and journalists know not to report on the speech until after it is given. This request to the media is called an embargo, and it is often delivered in the context of an important speech being delivered at a specific time. Reporters attending the speech should be seated near the podium, and accomodations should be made for attending photographers and camera technicians.

Timing

Timing must be convenient for the people who are expected to attend. Avoid peak work periods. Summer vacation is appropriate for educators, and after harvest is suitable for farmers. Preholiday periods are bad for retailers, and midwinter is probably a bad time for the middle United States but good in the south. Here, as in every area dealing with the public, it is imperative to know your audience and plan for their convenience. If timing is an important factor, advertising can guarantee that your message will be timely. Prompt response to a public issue, a fixed sequence of messages, continuity of communication, all can be mandated through advertising. To the gatekeeper, your message may be just as usable on tuesday as on friday, but for your purpose, tuesday may be a day too early and friday may be too late. You can't be sure about the timing unless you pay for it.

Proposals

To present a new public relations effort to management for approval, and to help the organization or client get fundings from other organizations or groups.

Trade Shows

Trade shows are the ultimate marketing events and recueve millions of attendees annually; exhibit booths may cost from $50,000 to $1,000,000. An essential part of any trade show is a newsroom where journalists have access to computers, telephones, and phones.

Placement

Traditional news outlets are not the only places to put native advertising spots. Sharethrough is a software company, and there are several, that provides software to insert native ads into social media feeds including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Tumblr.

Pretend Work

Two or more people looking intently at a computer or a screen, pretending they are actually using it as a part of their work assignment.

Formatting a Professional Email

Typing in all capital letters makes people feel like you're shouting at them; furthermore, it makes your email more difficult to read. Break out points or questions as numbered items; it helps recipients answer them in a sequence.

How to Write a Fundraising Letter

Use an attention getting headline. Follow the headline with a lead in explaining why a donation is necessary. Give a clear definition of who you will be helping. Humanize the cause by naming a child or family that will be helped. Include testimonials from credible individuals. Ask for specific action and provide an easy way for the recipient to respond; postage paid envelopes and pledge cards are often included. Close with a postscript that gives a strong reason for the reader to respond.

How to Create Great Publications - Photos

Use black ink for stories. If you use a second color, apply it as a highlight to frame a story, a quote, or an entire page. Headlines can use color, but the ink should be on the dark side. Avoid using extensive color on low quality paper. Reproduction and clarity of images suffer. Eliminate complex screens. A color or graphic that is too complex often makes the type difficult to read.

What's In It For Me?

Use lists of benefits highlighted by visuals like bullets or numbers.

How to Create Content For Pinterest

Use only high quality photos that a creative and interesting, because the site is all about eye candy. Bright colors and plenty of contrasts the most eye catching. Right about 20 word descriptions of the photo are info graphic because they are the most repayable. Data and survey statistic should be made readily visual through the use of colorful, well designed info graphics. Publisher pinterest activity on the organization space book time line. Tweet your pins to draw Twitter users to your profile. Add pinterest follow button sthe organizations blogs and websites. Begin with 6 boards with at least 10 pins each. Make sure each board contains at least 5 pins. So little to 12 to brood covers and include keywords and board titles. Ensure the pins are linked correctly. Add the pin it button to all images on your website. Include keywords and hashtags and pin descriptions. Constantly update and add new photos, info graphics, and videos. Like in re pin others as contents to create more traffic to your boards. That's days to pin our Sunday through Wednesday.

Recommendations Or Evidence

Use personal testimonies or experiences to strengthen your argument. These may be listed together or sprinkled throughout the brochure.

Texting Like a Professional

Use proper capitalization. Use proper punctuation. Tax than complete sentences. Avoid capitalizing all letters. Avoid multiple exclamation and?s.

Make News Vivid

Use strong verbs to provide information that matters.

Use Their Language

Use terms and expressions that are familiar. Similes, metaphors, and anecdotes are valuable only if they are pertinent.

Nonverbal Communication Speaks Volumes

Use vocal variation: speak faster, slower, louder, and softer. Use animated facial expressions to complement your animated voice.

Avoid Subtlety

Viewers shouldn't have to guess what the ad is trying to promote.

Wikis

We keys are a good app for groups of people to collaborate on the preparation of a documents or a campaign.

Using a Celebrity

What exactly do you want the celebrity to do? Whom do you want to appeal to by having a celebrity; is it the public, the media, or the sponsors? What do you want to accomplish by having a celebrity participate; sell tickets or add glamour? What are the demographics of your audience and the attendees? What is your budget? What is the maximum you're willing to spend for the right celebrity? Are you prepared to pay for first class expenses and possibly a staff person for the celebrity? Do you have access to any perks or gifts that will make the celebrity say yes?

How to Plan a Meeting - In Advance

What is the purpose of the meeting; business; social; continuing education; combination? What date and time are best for maximum attendance? What size audience do you realistically expect? Select the restaurant facility up to four or six weeks in advance. Confirm the following in writing: date, time, menu, cocktails, seating plan, number of guaranteed reservations, and projected costs. Enlist the speaker four to six weeks in advance; if the speaker is in high demand, make arrangements several months in advance; discuss the nature of the talk, its projected length, and whether audiovisual aids will be used that require special equipment. Publicize the meeting to the membership and other interested parties; this should be done a minimum of three weeks in advance; provide complete information on speaker, date, time, location, meal costs, and reservation procedure. Organize a phone meeting to call members 72 hours in advance if reservations are lacking; a reminder phone call is often helpful in snagging last minute reservations.

Purpose of Proposals

What is the purpose of the proposal? Who will read the proposal? What are the pertinent interests and values of the readers? What specific action can be taken on the basis of the proposal? What situation or problem does the proposal address? What is the history of the situation? How much and what kinds of information will make the proposal persuasive? What format is most effective for the proposal? How formal in format, tone, and style should the proposal be?

Thanks Are Unnecessary

When endeavoring to declutter inboxes, eliminate the one word thanks emails. Don't view it as rude ingratitude. Giel writes, "At this juncture, we're all probably grateful for one less email."

Completeness

Whether you are writing a ten line memo or a 32 page annual report, you must be sure it contains the information needed to serve its purpose.

Keep Copy Edits to a Minimum

While designers expect editors to make minor edits during the writing process, round after round of revision is inefficient.

Planning a Brochure

Who are you trying to influence and why? Be as specific as possible in describing who you must reach. What do you want the piece to do? Be clear about the desired effect. Do you want to impress, entertain, sell, inform, or educate? What kind of piece do you need to get your message across? Should it be a simple flier, a pocket sized brochure, a cheaply produced leaflet for widespread distribution, or a four color brochure for specific customers and employees?

Sample Screening Criteria

Will the speaking forum advance the goals or strategies of the company? Will it attract media coverage? Is the audience highly influential? Can we get extended reach through the host group's website or newsletter?

Impact

With advertising, you can make your messages as big, frequent, and powerful as you choose. Media gatekeepers, by definition, are looking for newsworthy, timely material. An organization, however, might want to send a message to people without it being particularly newsworthy. The editor may discard your story or dump it on page nine as a feature story. With advertising, however, you can have a much larger impact by simply buying the entire page.

Creating a Print Ad

Writing an effective ad requires skill and imagination; you must think about the headline, text, artwork, layout, and how they all relate to each other. Effective advertising copy is short and punchy; copy must be oriented to the self interest of the reader, viewer, or listener.

Brochures

Writing and designing a brochure requires you to know its purpose, the target audience, and the most cost effective format. A brochure requires simple sentence construction, informative headlines, liberal use of subheads, and short paragraphs. The most common mistake of novel writers is to write too much copy for the space above. A brochure page crammed with type is a turnoff. Factors such as cost, distribution, and estimated life span impact how much effort should be put into the brochure's design. It pays to make a dummy design or layout before you finish writing. A printer needs to know all the aspects of the brochure before giving you a cost estimate. There are various grades of paper, each designed for specific types of jobs. There are various type classes and families. Stick to fonts that are highly readable. Use decorative type and fonts sparingly. Black ink is the most popular and readable color. Use spot color to make your publication more attractive. Although you may be able to write and design a simple publication or brochure, experts recommend hiring a professional graphic designer for specific jobs.

The Challenge of Public Speaking Engagements

Writing and giving speeches gives an excellent opportunity for your organization to gain attention from the news.

Print Pages

You can distribute copies of your entire presentation to the audience. The software also allows you to open the presentation in a word document and create pages with thumbnails on the left and space for notes on the right.

Know Your Listeners

You can hardly know too much about your auduence. Age, gender, occupation, education, socioeconomic status, and any other facts, and especially why they are listening to this speech.

Post the PowerPoint Presentation On the Web

You can post an entire PowerPoint presentation to the company's website or intranet.

Use Direct Quotes

You can say "My colleague, Allen Knight, says..."

Correctness

You must be accurate in everything you write. If an item in the mass media contains an error, the blame maybe spread among many people. An error in a personalized communication, however, reflects solely on you and your abilities. Be sure that what you prepare is accurate, and you will get credit for being a professional.

Media Sharing

YouTube, Flickr, pinterest.

Texting Subscribers

A second level of texting is by subscription. Users sign up to receive text messages from groups or organizations, in much the same way that they sign up for RSS feeds are e-mail notifications. A reporter, for example, may sign up to receive text messages from a company that here she covers on a regular basis. A frequent flyer may elect to be notified of flight status, delays, and so a by keks color for every flight taken on a particular airline.

How to Create & Promote An App

Be clear about why view organization needs an app. Understand your target audience. What kind of mobile devices will they use? Make the app and to would have an easy to navigate. Create a colorful, I catching icon for the app. Make sure the app is optimized for the app store. Provide contents that empowers the user to interact with the app. Publicize the app through email lists, the organization's website, social networks, and main stream media. Its continued to promote the app on a regular basis.

Keep Dry Business Content to a Minimum

Because readers scan newsletter material, if theyre not drawn in by interesting and not boring and dry content, they will blast right past it.

Additional Examples

Bring on and women's hospital in Boston created an app that was a self guided through over the hospital's facilities. The tool was narrated through 17 stops. The trust for the national mall in Washington DC created an app that explored the history behind the World War II memorial, to be used by schools and other visitors. Crayola and legacy gamers developed a series of apps designed to engage children in the creative process. The 1st app, crayola color, draw and said, could bind to the process of coloring and drawing with music so that adding to the picture actually completes the song. Ketchum, a major public relations form Chama developed a crisis communication app that can be used by organizations for planning a response to a crisis. The idea was that a crisis manual in a thick binder was not very accessible.

Coors

Corps also has expanded its traditional advertising and product publicity to embrace social networking sites. One initiative on Facebook enabled visitors to send friends are cold blue alert inviting them to meet up for a corps lights. They could even use Facebook a maps to direct their bodies to the nearest bar. Erin, 1 of course is almost 2000 fans, gave the site 5 stars: This app is epic. I used it to set up my birthday party and it was so easy to invite everyone. Such apps are often promoted and offered on organizational Facebook pages.

What Can You Put On Flickr?

David rosen, director of the corporate financial communications practice at Burson-Marsteller, sites 44 ways he thinks Flickr can be useful and public relations. His focus is on business the business applications, but the ideas are transferable to any area of public relations practice. 5 of his 44 ideas include executive head shots, images of corporate artifacts or history, product shots, charts or diagrams, and photos that demonstrate company culture.

Avoid Bulletin Board Syndrome

Don't just post announcements and links. Instead, use Twitter to engage in a conversation with your followers.

Social Networks

Facebook is the largest social network in the world with more than one billion users. The posting of photos as a major activity by Facebook users. Most major organizations have a Facebook page to make friends and engage customers and informal, conversational manner. Google+ is googles answered Facebook. It also allows the posting of messages, photos, and videos and is highly integrated with other Google apps. Linked in is primarily a professional social network that hosts any number of discussion groups. It is also the number 1 source of job postings by multiple organizations as part of their business pages. Linked in is a good site for consultants and organizational executives to post articles that help establish their credentials as thought leaders in a particular industry.

Sample Uses of Pinterest

Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta live penned photographs about a bridal show, which was re penned by hundreds of fans. General Electric created boards with the theme of badd ass machines that creatively depicts the massive gas fired turbines and intricate jet engines the company builds. LL bean has boards that reinforce its reputation as a lifestyle brand. Some of its boards are brutes, camping, and Woodland creatures. In 2014, it was the most followed a brand on pinterest with 5.5 million followers. Whole Foods created several pinterest Boards with such topics as urban farming and do-it-yourself projects using household items. The grocery store chain has also posted recipes that has driven traffic to its website, Whole Foods Market. com. Beauty product line Elizabeth Arden supported at long time charity partner look good feel better through a campaign, pinot's to give its, in which each Repin generated one product donation to cancer patients. The National Wildlife Federation has more than 20 boards on pinterest, including its shop and WF Chama #SquirrelsForGoodCommaAndWildCraftsAndRecipesPeriodGreenpeaceHasANumberOfBoardsOnPinterestDealingWithTheEnvironmentsCommaGlobalWarmingCommaAndProtectionOfEndangeredSpeciesCommaSuchAsWhalesPeriod.

Add Photos & Videos

Photos, for example, get 39% more interaction.

Taco Bell

Taco Bell launch the much anticipated cool ranch to wredow's locos taco by posting a photo of it on its Facebook page, which generated a 125 million media impressions and a 135000 likes. Through video samplings, TV interviews, and YouTube views, the campaign helped sell one billion dollars and Doritos locos taco.

Short Interviews

Talk to a variety of employees about their opinions on certain issues that affect the whole company. Use short quotes under a photo of the employee, along with their name and title.

How to Generate Reader Attention

Keep articles relatively short for maximum interest. Use headlines that are active and give information, not just labels such as "Company Picnic" or "New Vice President".

Use Tags

Keywords how people look for specific contents to find the video. Search engines use keywords to rank and and acts the video.

How to Create Great Publications - Copy

Less is better. Write short, punchy sentences. Keep paragraphs short. Write in terms of reader benefits and what's in it for them. Use positive language and active voice. Summarize the message in two or three key points. Use bullets to list key points. Use headlines that convey key messages. Use informative subheads to break up copy blocks. Include facts and figures. Use testimonials and quotes from credible sources and customers.

Lessons In Good Intranet Design

Let business objectives and needs drive intranet design. Don't mistake an intranet for a website. Make sure elements on your intranet load and transfer quickly. Get design input from users, management and employees. Soft colors are better than dark, bold colors. Use photos, not clip art. Use white space. Don't fill up every bit of screen real estate. Keep links to a minimum.

Don't Be a Twammer

Limit the number of tweets that you post. Post only importance and relevance information.

Place Links Up Front

Links placed about 25% of the way through the tweet received the highest number of clicks.

Interactive Engagement

Listening and 2 way dialog are the basis of today's practus.

Employee Profiles

Look for interesting and unusual jobs that employees have in the organization, such as being in charge of recycling, running the employee cafeteria, or even monitoring mentions of the company on social media. In addition, look for interesting leisure activities of employees, such as skydiving or rock climbing.

Single Texts

The 3rd method, says Holtz, is the one off, were a cell phone user can send a text message to a source to get an answer to a question. Here she may text Google, for example, to get the address Ed food number of a restaurant. An employee may text her to get a short sensitive answer to a health benefits operation.

Go For One Sentence

Move the reader into the next paragraph for more information.

Be Consistent

Post a new video at regular intervals to keep viewers coming back.

Time Your Posts

Post on Thursday, Friday, or the weekend to get the most engagement.

Profile Daily Work

Post photos that show employees in their work setting, attending brainstorming meetings, going through the cafeteria line...

Ask a Question

Post with questions get 90% more interaction.

Background Features

Provide a 750 to 1000 word summary on an issue that affects the whole organization. This could be about the need to maintain an ethical supply line to obtain a certain product, the reasons why sustainability policies are being implemented, or even how an increase in homekess oeople is taxing a non profit's ability to help those in need.

Twitter Guidelines

Public relations riders have to keep their company's 140 character tweets meaningful to customers in order to maintain Twitter loyalty. Among the goals of tweet riders are to get their messages re tweeted.

Sample Uses of Twitter

Quest communications, a telecommunications company, uses that username at talk to quests a handle customer questions, concerns, and complaints. Clorox used the #IckesInACampaignToGenerateConversationsAmongParentsMightDailyMessesCommaOrEricCommaThatTheyHaveToDealWithPeriodAeroSystemsUsedTwitterToGiveEmployeesCommaThePublicCommaAndTheMediaStatusSupportsAfterATornadoCausedConsiderableDamageToItsCorporateHeadquartersPeriodThePhoenixSunsCommaAsWellAsOtherProfessionalSportsTeamsCommaUseTeamAndPlayerTweetsToUpdateFansAndBuildBrandLoyaltyPeriodVideoClipsFromGamesAreAlsoPostedUsingVineCommaATwitterAppPeriodCrazyGlueConductedAContestAskingUsersToSubmitPhotosAndVideosOfHowToUseTheProductRepairSomethingPeriodQuest communications, a telecommunications company, uses that username at talk to quests a handle customer questions, concerns, and complaints. Clorox used the #IckesInACampaignToGenerateConversationsAmongParentsMightDailyMessesCommaOrEricCommaThatTheyHaveToDealWithPeriodAeroSystemsUsedTwitterToGiveEmployeesCommaThePublicCommaAndTheMediaStatusSupportsAfterATornadoCausedConsiderableDamageToItsCorporateHeadquartersPeriodThePhoenixSunsCommaAsWellAsOtherProfessionalSportsTeamsCommaUseTeamAndPlayerTweetsToUpdateFansAndBuildBrandLoyaltyPeriodVideoClipsFromGamesAreAlsoPostedUsingVineCommaATwitterAppPeriodCrazyGlueConductedAContestAskingUsersToSubmitPhotosAndVideosOfHowToUseTheProductRepairSomethingPeriodTheLosAngelesFireDepartmentTweetsUpdatesByCaliforniaWildfires.

Ads In Traditional Media

Similar surveys also indicate that adds in traditional media tend to trigger additional Internet searches. Research conducted by Clark, mar tire, and bartolo Mayo and commissioned by Google, for example, found that 67% of consumers use the internets or research products and services after 1st seeing them advertised in traditional media such as newspapers. And 56% researched or purchased at least one product they all saw advertised in the newspaper in the previous month. Almost 50% responded to a newspaper ad by going directly online to Au RL they saw the advertisement.

The Rising Tide of Mobile Content

Smartphones and tablets have now replaced P c's as the most common device for Web access. Public relations practitioners must now ensure that websites and all other contents are optimized for mobile access. And organizational app, in order to be successful, must be designed to provide information that helps consumers in their daily lives. Creating an app is only part of the process, it must also be promoted and marketed to establish a user base. QR codes are a good way of providing rich consulate just a scan of a smartphone. Texting is still popular, and studies show that a text messages read more frequently than an email.

The Use of Social Media In Public Relations

Social media has transformed a public relations to be a process of more engagements, transparency, and total integration of traditional media and new media.

Total Integration

Social media is now fully integrated as a major tactic and almost every public relations program are campaign.

The Tsunami of Social Media

Social media represents a major revolution in communications. Social media has become the major activity on the Web. Mobile devices have made the Internet and the Web accessible to almost everyone in the world.

Time Your Post

The best time to post on Twitter is between 1 and 3:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Micro Blogging Sites & Apps

Twitter helps organizations have greater visibility on social networks. Almost every major corporation has one or more Twitter accounts. Twitter posts by organizations must be informative and not to sales orient said. Vine is a Twitter app that permits organizations the post 6 second videos. Instagram is a sensually a free photo sharing, video sharing, and social networking tool that is best use of the mobile device. Vine and Instagram are designed for easy use of a smartphone or tablet camera, so media can immediately be Uploaded to a social networking sites.

Build With Numbers

Twitter's numbers are digits get 17% more re tweets.

Micro Blogging

Twitter, Vine, Instagram.

Article Headline Rules

Use strong, active verbs. Readers want to know whats in it for them, so use that angle in the headline. Avoid acronyms. They slow down the readers and tax their brains. Use how to headlines to help readers remember the key points. When appropriate, speak to readers informally by using we and you.

Mention Others

Use via and at to get higher click through rates on their links. Make it a point to mention and credit people in your tweets.

Periodical Layout

Use white space. Vary paragraph length. Break up longer stories with boldface headings. Create bulleted lists. Use only two or three typefaces, to give consistency to your periodical. Inside pages should balance one another.

Sample Uses of YouTube

Use youtube to kick off a campaign. Response to a crisis by putting a face on and giving a personal touch to the response. Identify audiences through the social connections created by youtube reviewers. Get the attention of journalists and bloggers. Measure success by using YouTube tools that a time and how many views were generated from what regions of the globe. Customize YouTube profile pages to raise awareness of your organization.

Briefly Describe the Video

Write a 1 or 2 paragraph description to let people know what to expect from the video.

Yoplait

Yo play grew its Facebook likes by 800001 year by decreasing the number of product promotions and hiring a social media manager known to its Facebook fans as your place era. She became the personality of the brand by drawing on aspects of a personal and family life in Minnesota and weaving and your play references. For example, she talked about her latest garden project that, of course, included nurturing seedling plants and you'll play containers. You'll play also restructured its Facebook page by changing products centered tabs to more consumer friendly topics, such as feeling good, looking good, and photos.

Use Visuals

Your audience will remember much more if you show and tell as opposed to if you only tell. Tweet with images such as graphs, comics, photos, and video clips get a 150% more re tweets.

Media Sharing Sites

Youtube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world and terms of more than one billion active users. Most major corporations now have YouTube channels where they offer playlists of videos produced by the company. Corporate videos using humor and parody are good ways to attract YouTube reviewers. Flickr as the oldest photo sharing site and hosts about 6 billion photos. Flickr hosts photos by individuals but also serves as a site where organizations can distribute photos for use by bloggers and other social media. Pinterest is primarily a social bookmark king site focused on online images which is used by both individuals and in organizations. Images or reprint penned by individuals and also posted to their websites, blogs, and social media profiles. The vast majority of pinterest users are women who use the site for fashion, recipes, and decorator ideas.