The Implementation Stage

Communication technicians take over from managers. Managers may change hats and take on the technician role. Or they may supervise tech­nicians who specialize in executing the program. In all cases, however, technical work must be guided by management strategy and objectives.

 

The Evaluation Stage

A public relations program that is managed strategically should not end when technicians have executed the program. Instead, the objectives of the program should be measured before and after the program to determine if a change has occurred. Practitioners often use "seat-of-the-pants" or informal research methods to evaluate programs, such as using one's previous experience to judge whether a program is going well or listening to a few people - who have participated in a communication program. Ideally, however, public relations should be evaluated formally, and each program should be evaluated as though it were a scientific test of a communication theory.

SUMMARY

Public relations practitioners play two roles in the organizations that employ them, either in part or exclusively. Communication managers plan, direct, and evaluate public relations programs. Communication technicians write, edit, make media contacts, produce publications, or use similar techniques of communication.

Organizations need public relations to build relationships with publics that enhance or constrain their ability to pursue a mission and goals. Public relations helps an organization achieve its mission and goals managing communication with these strategic publics. Public relations differs from marketing, which communicates only with the markets—that use the organization's products or services. Public relations communicates with all of the publics that affect or are affected by the organization. Public relations technicians, however, often work in support of marketing objectives as well as public relations objectives

Public relations should be practiced according to the principles of the two-way symmetrical model of public relations or of that model in combination with the two-way asymmetrical model. The press agentry and public information models are ineffective, in large part because they limit public relations to the technical rather than the managerial role Public relations practiced according to the symmetrical model make the organization more responsible to its publics at the same time it makes the organization more effective in achieving its mission. To meet these dual purposes of public relations, however, communication programs must be managed strategically. Strategic management of public relations passes through seven stages and steps: the stakeholder, public, and issues stages and the objectives, planning, implementation and the evaluation stage.

With this overview of public relations theory in mind, we now step down one level of abstraction to specific techniques. First of all we’ll look at general PR activities, those are PR writing, PR speaking and organizing of special events. Under these we’ll discuss how to write press releases, how to give speeches, how to stage a press conference or an exhibition, as well as how to work with mass media.

 

PR Writing

What does PR Writing include? Press releases, articles, speeches, radio announcements (kits), scripts, brochures.

Good writing is clear, concise, correct, and complete, - the 4C rule.

Clear writing presents ideas logically and explains terms that may be unfamiliar to the reader.

Concise writing takes the shortest path to understanding, using words and sentences that are economical—but not at the expense of style and grace.

Correct writing follows the rules of spelling, grammar, and syntax. It is accurate and does not obscure or bend the truth.

Complete writing does not leave readers unsatisfied or uncertain whether they know all they need to know about the subject.

The style and form of public relations writing differs according to the needs, interests, and capabilities of the target audience.

Writing Guidelines

Before beginning any writing assignment, take the time to ask yourself some key questions.

— What is the desired communication outcome? In other words, what do we want our audience to do or not to do?

— Who is our target audience? (The more specific the segment, the better.) What are our target audience's needs, concerns, and interests? What is our message?

— What communication channel is most effective? Who is our most believable spokesperson?

Answering these questions goes a long way toward helping you determine the content and structure of your message. You should also keep in mind the following techniques and concepts of effective writing.

 

Outlining

Before you start writing anything, make an outline of what you are going to include in your message. It may be brief (as for a short press release) or comprehensive (as for a large booklet). You will probably modify it as you gather information, but an outline will help to keep your thinking in order.

In the simplest terms, an outline is a list of topics to be written about in the order in which they will be presented. Usually an outline has major topics, and within each major topic there are minor topics.

 

Sentences and Paragraphs

Sentences should be clear and concise. Longer sentences may often be necessary, but a good test is to go back over the material and see how many sentences can be cut down. Mixing long and short sentences improves the rhythm.

The typical paragraph should normally include only one idea. As a general prac­tice, it ought to be no longer than six or eight lines. If necessary, a longer paragraph may be used, but brevity is preferable. Writing that goes on and on without a pause is hard on the reader.

 

Word Length

Word length is a good gauge of readability, and every writer should aim to be read. In readable writing, most words are short. A message containing an average of 1,5 syllables per word is considered to be very readable.

Don't try to show off your knowledge by using long, complicated words. Remem­ber that Lincoln's Gettysburg Adress consisted of 267 words, 202 of which had only one syllable.

 

Word choice

Writers who are college-educated often forget that words common to their vocab­ulary are not readily understood by large segments of the general public.

If your target audience is the general public, remember that a short Anglo-Saxon word is more understandable than a longer one derived from French, Greek, or Latin. The words on the left are better than the words on the right:

buy        purchase

home      residence

hire       employ

try         endeavor

total         aggregate

improve     ameliorate

building     edifice

duty, task   responsibility

gather, collect accumulate

save        economize

enough      sufficient

test         experiment

able        efficient

More complex words, of course, can be used if the target audience is well educated. Most readers of the Wall Street Journal, for example, are college graduates, so the writing is more complex than that found in a small-town daily.

Also, if the target audience is professionals in a field such as law, education, sci­ence, or engineering, the standard for word choice is different. Educators, for example, often seem to like elaborate expressions.

Scientific writing, too, is loaded with esoteric words. Newspaper editors often com­plain that they receive news releases from high-technology companies that are so full of jargon that neither they nor their readers can grasp what is being said.

If your audience is engineers, of course, you can use specialized words and phrases.

 

Errors to avoid

Errors in your writing will brand you as careless, unprofessional, and inconsiderate of your audience. Errors also call into question the credibility of the entire message. Professional writing requires attention to detail and repeated review of your draft to catch all potential errors.

 

Spelling

Credibility is sacrificed when spelling errors appear in public relations materials. For example, one news release for a company that manufactured a spell-checking pro­gram for a word processor included the non-words "tradmark" and "publishere".