Week 11

Chapter 6 of Johnston & Zawawi
Ch. 6 – Research & Evaluation
Phases of Research
Input – “information gathered during the initial phases of research provides input into the planning of a communication program” (Pg 137)
Output – “Research during the development and implementation stages of a strategy contributes to more effective outputs” (138)
Outcome – “research at the end of a communication program provides insight into the outcomes of the entire effort” (138)

“Research is an essential task within public relations, used to identify the requirement for a communication program, to assist in establishing that program, to check progress and to evaluate the effectiveness.” (138)

Research Techniques
Surveys Focus Groups
Mail Ethnographic studies
Telephone Case Studies
Face-to-face Analysis of Existing Data
Internet Content Analysis
In-depth interviews Feedback Analysis

Week 10

Chapters 7 & 8 of Johnston & Zawawi

Ch. 7 – Strategy, Planning, & Scheduling
The stages of the PR Strategic Process (pg 170)
Organisational Strategy – a series of planned activities designed and integrated to achieve a stated organizational goal. (pg. 170); the underlying rationale that guides the selection of campaign tactics or stages.
Public Relations Strategy – “From a public relations perspective, strategies must be designed for communication with all target groups, such as employees, government, pressure groups, and local community” (172)
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – “developed to gauge operational performance between one period and the next, measuring the most important performance results, such as the number of product items manufactured and revenue” (177)
Budgeting – “about the direction, monitoring and control of organizational resources” (180)
Writing for Strategic PR Plan
Scheduling – “no plan – no matter how carefully researched and prepared – can be implemented effectively without thorough scheduling” (183)


Ch. 8 – Tactics
The difference between “Tactics” and “Strategy”
“Strategy is the overarching plan that allows a public relations practitioner to help ensure that organizational goals and objectives are achieved. This strategy will determine the campaigns that may be necessary and the choice of tactics can then be made. Every tactic must relate directly back to its defined purpose: achieving the strategic outcome.” (198)

Week 9

Chapter 13 of Johnston & Zawawi
Ch. 13 – Sponsorship and Event Management
I think the key phrases and definitions to remember from this week’s reading’s are:
“Sponsorship is one of the most expensive tactics which can be chosen by an organization, but the goodwill delivered by a well-chosen and managed sponsorship can be commensurately large.” (Pg. 346
Philanthropic sponsorship – “as close to a donation as sponsorship can get; generally community based; generates goodwill
Corporate sponsorship – “entered into in order to link the sponsoring organization to a popular or high-profile event or activity, and thus to reap the benefits of this positive connection in the minds of the organisation’s publics.”
Marketing sponsorship – most popular form; “offers cash and goods in return for tangible revenue-oriented results”

Week 7

Ch 10 - Media Relations

"The term media relations is often used synonymously with publicity...But the role of media relations today is far broader and more complex than that of publicist or press agent." (Johnston & Zawawi pg 259-260)

As media relations is the topic of my debate, I found this chapter to be very interesting and useful. Basically, the most important thing to take away from this chapter is that the power of the media is not to be underestimated. In many ways, the media is the link between PR and the publics they are trying to reach. There are also many ways that PR reaches the media, such as press-kits, and backgrounders.
Another great quote from the text,
"dealing with the media is an integral part of much public relations activity, and its impact and power should never be under-estimated" (Johnston & Zawawi pg 260)