For example, companies such as Home Depot use the materials from their own stores to help build homes for organizations like Habitat for Humanity. This is a carefully executed tactic that benefits Home Depot’s reputation and Habitat for Humanity organization with little cost to Home Depot. Home Depot receives a charitable partner that helps build their reputation for being a caring organization. The greatest advantage for Home Depot is that the wood and building materials that are donated can also be used for tax deduction. This tactic is very ethical because both parties benefit tremendously. Home Depot offers its own supplies at little to no cost for an organization who needs them.

Some companies use their appearance to help aid their reputation, sometimes that may appear like a far stretch but depending on the charitable cause, this can become a great tactic. Exxon Mobile donates large sums of its profit to help protect tigers and their natural environment. The reason behind this is their mascot is a Tiger. The company aligns itself with a notable cause because their public image is related. This strategy is not as ethical as Home Depot’s though. Home Depot has a product they can offer towards a cause, Exxon Mobile does not. Exxon Mobile goes out of its way, on a far stretch, to align itself up with an endangered species cause due to its image.

TOMS Shoes’ is a company that is particularly noted for contributing to the humanitarian cause. The company is based on a simple premise, with every pair of TOMS shoes that are purchased, TOMS will donate a pair of new shoes to a child in need. This is great because children around the world get shoes for every person that purchases a pair, but there is a problem with this. Each pair of shoes ranges between $40 to $80, but the cost for production of the shoe is roughly a tenth of the price. This strategy is great because the primary focus is on the charitable act the company revolves around but the motif for is completely different. Celebrity endorsements have been seen to promote TOMS Shoe’s cause and celebrities are making TOMS Shoes an enormous trend; this allows TOMS to inflate prices due to high demand but production value stays the same.

Here is a video by TOMS Shoes that illustrates their primary focus.

Also, for more strategies on effective charitable giving, please visit the following:

• Values Added Strategy: Give to Charity
• Make Giving a Part of Your Business Strategy
• Why Charity Should Begin in PR

Creative Commons is a non-profit organization who’s mission is to help expand the availability of creative works for others to build on and share legally. With their own development of Creative Commons licenses, Creative Commons allows creators to communicate the rights they reserve for their work to other creators. The goal is to counter what organizations consider to be a dominant and restrictive “permission culture” in regards to copyrights. The Creative Commons organization attempts to provide alternatives to these restrictions by providing different license conditions. Attribution, Share Alike, Noncommercial, and No Derivative Works are the four major conditions that apply to these licenses.

Public relations practitioners need to protect their intellectual property which are typically their most valuable assets. The most common forms of intellectual property are trademarks and copyrights.

Business names, logos, taglines and any identifying symbols that identify a business are considered to be trademarks and service marks. When a PR professional helps create any of the following, their work is unique for that organization’s cause. Replication or alteration of any trademark can lead to misrepresentation of an organization by another interested party, possibly resulting in reputation management or even a crisis. By using a creative commons license as a great preventive measure, PR professionals can monitor their works and resulting work by adjusting the rights.

Original works of ownership such as PR plans, writings and images are all copyrights. When a PR professional creates these materials, it is important to claim rights to these works. When distributing any of the following content, it is crucial to identify that the work is for noncommercial use and the creator of the work. If the work were to be used in a commercial setting for profit without permission, an opportunity is lost to gain “publicity” and even money. This is great for independent PR professionals who choose to publish great strategies under Creative Commons licenses, they can gain publicity by being credited for their work and even sell their work for commercial use which could possibly result in other numerous opportunities.

A PR professionals work when placed under a Creative Commons license gives encouragement for influencers and professionals to use material. For example, PR professionals are constant bloggers. With the blogging world rapidly expanding, rules and regulations begin to evolve making blogging a formal publishing arena. With a Creative Commons license on a published blog, PR professionals are making it clear that it is okay to reuse content from their organizations blog, as long as it is attributed properly. This attribution gains more attention and a wider audience for your cause, thus giving publicity and bigger circulation.

Creative Common’s licenses can be amazing tools that can exponentially develop a great campaign for a PR professional. It allows others to reuse material, change or remix material with proper attribution allowing a PR professionals work to spread quickly.

Search Engines and Search Engine Optimization

It is important to search through the Internet effectively. Not all search bars generate the same results, therefore always leaving some junk to sort through. PR professionals constantly follow other users blogs for latest social trends, now “Social Mention” and “BlogPulse” allow users to search through user-generated content such as blogs, comments, bookmarks, events, news, videos and even micro blogging services. This can lead to new ideas or help address any negative press quickly and directly.

Social Media Networks

The audiences a company is trying to reach or influence are spending time on and being influenced by social media. Using online services such as Twitter and Facebook can allow PR professionals to gain insight into interest of particular communities, build brand and influence or promote their cause. Companies can also set up free alerts using Google Alerts and Social Mention to watch for mentions of their brand name and competitors.

Digital Media

As a PR professional, providing more than just standard text for news content creates additional opportunities to other news content and can improve an organizations search based discovery. Simply put, use digital media for proper channels. Use YouTube.com when posting videos about your cause, Flickr.com when posting pictures, proper meta-tags to get discovered by Google, iTunes for proper podcasts. By optimizing and promoting through multiple digital media, this significantly increases the chances of being discovered.

Blogging

An organizations blog can be a powerful tool and valuable asset. It is an opportunity for an organization to establish either a brand or cause to a relevant audience. If a blog is well organized and effectively associated, a blog can easily rank highly in numerous search engines. Powerful blogging tools such as WordPress have made it easier than ever to create and manage a blog.

Pitch Promotion

PR professionals constantly build and share digital, social media releases. Essentially for someone to bite, each PR professional needs to have a great pitch and pitch method. A PR professional should always have a clear and effective pitch for their cause. Using “YourPitchSucks” can help a PR professional tidy up their best pitch. This site uses public relations professionals and pitch professionals to seriously review your pitch. This is great for freelance PR professionals who need a second review of their work. Sites such as “PitchEngine” also allow you to pitch or share social media releases with major social media networks including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

The three most important things a PR practitioner can do during a crisis is:

• Have an effective operation plan.
   
  • This is pre-planned strategy of what to do when a crisis occurs. This means figuring out quickly what you as a PR practitioner know and do not know about the problem at hand. Also, identify the key audiences that need to be communicated with. This all leads to an immediate response to the situation; ignored or delayed problems can easily lead to a crisis.

• Have a communication plan.
   
  • When establishing a communication plan, a PR practitioner needs to decide what are the most important updates and should effectively deliver them to necessary key audiences. Communicating with key audiences ensures credibility as well as prevents false rumors from spreading through various media outlets. One of the most important things to communicate to the audience is the corrective action taken to prevent the crisis in the future.

• Have an organization recovery plan.
   
  • When a crisis occurs within an organization, the problem needs to be fixed immediately; meanwhile, a PR practitioner needs address key audiences of the progress being made. This also establishes credibility, a great way to salvage the reputation of the organization at hand during its weak point. The most important factor on the road to recovery is staying in touch with key audiences AFTER the crisis has taken place, further providing trust and credibility for an organization.

A PR practitioner’s role during a crisis is typically to be an advocate or positive representation of the organization. It is their duty to find out as much as the problem at hand and to determine what messages needs to be carried out to the key audiences.

The practitioner does not solve the problem at hand but provides relief during the crisis. Constantly representing the organization in a positive light and keeping all necessary publics constantly up to date with honest and accurate updates. This takes pressure off the organization during the crisis; the PR advocate allows the organization to handle the problem rather then its current image during the crisis.

Typically, a crisis is never a good thing that happens to an organization. Reputations crumble and credibility for an organization vanishes when a crisis is poorly handled. On the contrary, when a crisis is handled superbly, an organization can benefit from the crisis. Demonstrating effective countermeasures to the problem and quickly informing its key audiences can certainly boost an organizations credibility and trust among its various key publics. If audiences feel like they are “being taken care of,” then an organization is handling the situation well. If the audiences feel ignored, an organizations reputation is surely doomed.

In the Agenda-Setting Hypothesis, the media is not tied to the role of telling audiences what to think, but rather gives audiences something to think about. Under this notion, the massive news media industry has a large influence on a variety of audiences. For example, popular news channels often have the same top stories. The news-media job is to pick which stories are news worthy. Since most media outlets decide to report relatively the same news, people prioritize the same issues as important.

In the Uses and Gratification Theory, audiences can actively choose which media to engage with in order to satisfy their specific individual. The media has less power to influence these audiences because they are making an active choice to engage. The audience influences the media and the media changes its message to fit the audience because the audience actively chooses which messages have precedence and will be acted upon. An example of this theory is a person who changes the channel on a commercial because they are uninterested in the commercials message.

The two theories have a relationship that revolves around the association of a message to an audience. The Agenda-Setting Hypothesis is primarily focused on the media’s influence on the people by which messages are being presented. The Uses of Gratification Theory supports its audiences with the choice to engage with particular messages or to neglect them.

Public relations practitioners are heavily involved with both communication theories.  Within the Agenda-Setting Hypothesis, a public relations practitioner’s role is to be behind the media. The Uses and Gratification Theory uses public practitioners to feed information and particular messages to the media and through the desired audience.

This being said, as the icon for the public relations profession, the Public Relations Society of America intends to establish a communications plan to reinstall credibility back to the public relations profession. This plan will restore credibility among many organizations and practitioners by relaying the strong foundations of clear communication and ethics that the public relations profession is based off.

In order to obtain the goal of restoring credibility to the PR profession, the PSRA proposes two objectives. The first objective is to increase the number of accreditations per year by 30 percent amongst PR practitioners by October of 2010. This objective can be accomplished by demonstrating the desideratum for higher demand of APR accreditation and the values of relationship management. These objectives will primarily concern CEOs, organization leaders and account executives.

In order to communicate this message, a public speaker will be established as a tactic at business and public relations seminars. Providing a testimony that exemplifies the benefits and ethics of being APR accredited will establish a higher demand for accreditation amongst organizations. Enforcing that long-term planning and relationship management will result in higher benefits to organizations will also help give credibility to the PR profession. This plan is effective because it reaches a variety of organizations that attend business seminars. Another tactic to reach our key public is to send newsletters to leaders and executives within trade associations and organizations; these newsletters will stress the benefits of having of APR accredited PR practitioners.

The second objective is to increase general awareness of the importance of pubic relations values by 20 percent amongst various media outlets by October of 2010. This objective will use the tactics of, PRSA representative becoming a public speaker at PR events, obtaining coverage in business, PR blogs, and most importantly establishing the PRSA as an “expert” in the ethics and values of the public relations profession. These tactics are prone to work because it is important to be media friendly. This requires an interaction between the PRSA and the media, meaning being responsive, listening and answering questions and simply establishing availability to the media for further contact. Positioning the PRSA organization as a resource and an “expert” means free publicity; this publicity can lead towards helping build trust with the media. Being established as an “expert” in these media outlets, by commenting on newsworthy PR issues, will keep the audience abreast. In a sense, the media follows other media. Talking to “professionals” on blog interviews and radio shows is a valuable medium to establish credibility in the public relations profession.

These goals are easily obtainable by carefully positioning objectives and executing effective tactics. The media exposure, through a variety of outlets such as print or digital media, will gain tremendous exposure giving credibility towards our cause. Providing a strong foundation and need for the public relations by interacting with variety of publics will exhibit “expertise” and credibility within our profession.

“… A voluntary certification program for industry professionals, and is considered the mark of distinction for those who demonstrate commitment to the profession and to its ethical practice. Those who earn the APR demonstrate a broad knowledge, strategic perspective, and sound professional judgment of modern public relations.”

Accreditation is the hallmark of the public relations profession and signifies necessary knowledge, work ethic, talent and experience that is required to perform a job with favorable outcomes. Since the professional APR accredited, they have committed to enhancing the profession as well as demonstrated their desire to succeed.

Having a PR accreditation is valuable for employers, organizations and PR practitioner in many ways. For the practitioner, being accredited means a higher and more through understanding and dedication towards the field of public relations due to the challenging review and examination process required to obtain an APR accreditation.

A PR specialists work is of great value to any organization or employer because as part of the APR fraternity, a PR practitioner will “rub shoulders” with a wide array of public relations professionals. Working alongside other PR professionals will strengthen an individuals ability to partake in collaborated projects as well as work in teams. As an APR accredited professional, an organization gains a proven communications strategist who can use leverage by knowing other accredited members. This is extremely beneficial to any organization because this offers intellectual insight of several APR members in varying areas such as reputation management and employee communications. These professionals recognize not only when to fortify their own methods and knowledge with other public relations but also how to manage and collaborate effectively with them.

An APR specialist is comfortable taking on a role as a leader, being able to transfer experience, and be able to strengthen and amplify an organizations voice and relationship with other organizations.  An APR accredited public relations practitioner is a positive reflection of the organization they serve and the profession they represent.

In the PR profession the highest level that one can obtain is called accreditation. It is signified with an ‘APR’ designation by one’s name. Fewer than 25 percent of PR practitioners are accredited. The PSRA could change this by making the APR accreditation more known to employers as well as practitioners.

Reaching out to senior-level executives directly and informing them of the accreditation could change a companies standards for qualification could make APR accreditation more visible. Having harder standards to meet would encourage many practitioners to qualify for an accreditation to separate themselves from the majority. This would raise the number of members and in return raise farther awareness of the program to other smaller businesses.

The PSRA could also promote accreditation to business leaders by releasing publications through media partnerships. Publishing blogs, newsletters, and other media releases on various PR related media outlets about APR the importance of accreditation. Displaying the requirements and challenges of an APR accreditation could prove beneficial to business leaders because it would demonstrate what drive and enthusiasm is required to obtain the voluntary accreditation.

In a joined collaboration, the PSRA could invite APR accredited company representatives to speak at PR seminars about the benefits and importance of having accredited practitioners. This would make the accreditation more known and sought after by young business leaders who attend business seminars.

Public Relations Jobs:

Job 1: VP of Sage Communications (Sage Communications Public-Media Relations Company)

Job 2: Communications Lead – Public Affairs (The Mitre Corporation)

Job 3: Publicist ( Sundance Film Festival )

Essential Skills:

• Developing Strategies
• Ability to Write and Edit Effectively
• Effective Communication/Consulting/Pitching Skills
• Multitasking (Project Management Skills)
• Ability to Adapt Quickly to a Work-Environment (Physical environment and staff)

Developing effective strategies is the most difficult job when working in a PR role. There is a direct correlation between salary pay and an individual’s ability to problem solve or “strategize.” Developing strategies for a company means having to think on your own and to be resourceful. Because these two examples are not learned skills, but rather an intuitive or natural, it takes many years of experience to develop these skills. This is important because a strategy essentially is a business model for current operations. The better the strategy, the better business will thrive. If a weak strategy is implemented then business will not be efficient.

For example, a publicist’s success is based on their ability to generate interest or attention for a client, in this case the Sundance Film Festival. Without an effective strategy of ad placement, which people to call, or what is to be said about a client, a publicist’s campaign falls through. With a successful strategy, proper demographics will be targeted for your client, positive information will be presented, and then desired audiences will be interested.

The ability to write and edit is an essential skill in Public Relations. This is an important skill set because many roles within Public Relations require newsletters, corporate news releases or media press kits to be published. Therefore it is mandatory to write effectively and most importantly, to write clearly. Good editing helps you shape your work and desired writing style for different audiences.  This is useful when having to appeal to multiple publics within a company, whether it is amongst employees, managers or investors.

A communications lead for the Mitre Corporation is required to manage media relations and other public affairs activities. This includes responding to press inquires, general public inquires, and managing/publishing press releases. Since public opinion is molded this way, it is crucial that good writing is practiced.

Effective communication and pitching skills are the most important portion of Public Relations. After a strategy is set and materials are developed, the next step is to step out into the world and connect to spread the desired message. This involves making a pitch. If you get an opportunity to pitch an idea to an outlet, clear communication that is effective and to-the-point is absolutely mandatory. Here is an example of a great pitching technique:

Multitasking is a valuable skill when it comes to Public Relations. PR specialists have to appeal to multiple publics at one time which means working with a range of people, including clients and sales people. Varying publics means multiple projects are needed to accomplish company goals. The skills of multitasking and project management is demonstrated here by being able to organize time and manage the overall progress for each project.

The Vice President of Sage Communications for example is responsible for managing client’s media buying and planning needs. Shortly after establishing and developing a media strategy, the Vice President takes time to manage the company image of the client at hand with the media. Overall, managing multiple publics, multiple relations on top of developing effective strategies is an example of a PR role using effective multitasking.

Having an ability to adapt quickly to work environment changes is a standard skill set that all public relations practitioners use. It is a requirement to be able to adapt to various characteristics of people including varying publics for companies. Since multiple publics are constantly being addressed, it is very important to be able to adapt to each one particularly. This guarantees success.

Source: Deron Bauman from Clusterflock

Public relations is the careful distribution of various bits of information and establishment healthy relationships with particular publics and the generation of favorable images for organizations. A deep understanding for a key public’s needs, interests, and concerns is needed to obtain such goals. These key publics are matched and assessed with information that is most relevant to them. A public through the eyes of a public relations specialist can be thought of as anyone who may formulate an opinion about the organization and the organization’s image or product. This may include members, investors, voters, students, families, even members of media.

Public relations specialists or firms use a variety of communication tools to make this flow of information effective and establish a healthy or positive image for a client. Online media, broadcasting media outlets, personal contacts and even event coordinators are used to accomplish organizations many goals. Unlike advertising and marketing organizations that primarily target consumers, public relations tend to appeal to multiple publics at one time. With this ability, a public relations firm can further establish a favorable image for an organization to a broader audience.

Typical ad agency clients or key publics are consumers within businesses, corporations, non-profit organizations and government agencies. Public relations departments, on the other hand, may handle all of these key publics along with other smaller subordinate groups. In addition to advertising agencies appealing to relatively the same groups, their main priority is to generate the biggest turnover for its client, even it means slightly jeopardizing it’s public image.

Marketing agencies are very similar to ad agencies. A marketing agency’s key publics are based on a hierarchy of importance that will deliver the greatest sales.  Marketing agencies research and plan carefully the wants of consumers. This is accomplished by understanding the needs and wants of the agency’s clients and consumers. This is done to find out the best possible technique to target these clients.

Within an organization, public relations should be the umbrella and marketing and advertising should be held below it. Public relations in the long run benefit an organization much more because it establishes a positive image and broadens the organization’s publics to include future opportunities. Public relations goals are similar to an ad agency and a marketing agency in a sense that all are attempting to obtain the attention of a wide audience that will benefit the client. Public relations strays away from the pack because it attempts to reach publics that will establish the best relationship with all of its publics. The primary goal is not to obtain sales goals such as advertising and marketing disciplines. In addition to consumers, publics such as investors, media outlets, and other possible business partners are targeted to overall expand and broaden the organization’s image and reputation.

An ad agency will primarily target consumers when it is hired to raise revenue and sales. A marketing agency will determine how to reach particularly desired publics when an organization needs to broaden its consumer base. Sales goals can be obtained through various sale strategies and techniques, but public relations as the top priority, the most important publics will be reached first. This naturally allows sales to flow in.

Overall, with the guidance of a public relations specialist a firm can find the appropriate audiences that are involved with the organizations goal. Hiring a marketing agency to strategically appeal to the already selected publics would carry out the organization’s goal of obtaining numerous consumers. An advertising agency would finally carry out the final step by just appealing to the taste of the selected public via ads.