In doing this week’s Topic of the Week blog, it got me thinking about marketing for some reason. Marketing is a very powerful machine in the world and is probably really the only way that one would be most likely to get their name out there. I googled great marketing tips and found this interesting website, and they were all inspired from a 6-year-old’s lemonade stand. Check it out.
On October 5, 2011 the world lost one of the greatest innovators they have ever had. The founder of Apple, Inc. Steve Jobs passed away.
Apple’s Board of Directors released this message:
“We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.
Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.
His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.”
After Jobs death, the New Yorker released a cover that depicted Steve Jobs at the gates of heaven. Even though this was probably meant with good intentions, the fact that Steve Jobs was a Buddhist stirred up controversy. Some people found the cover disrespectful to the late Steve Jobs.
-cw
Measuring the effectiveness of a public relations campaign is one of the most important things a PR professional can do. This is important because it can enhance the future performance of that professional and establish whether the goals of management by objective have been met. Without effective public relations campaigns, companies or organizations may be at risk of losing their target audience. These campaigns keep the public happy and help to keep sales up; and not to mention keep a good reputation with the public. The effectiveness of every public relations campaign should not have any goal less than perfect.
There are many ways to measure the effectiveness of Public Relations programs. The most basic ways of measuring them is to measure message distribution and media placements, and audience awareness, comprehension and retention. The most advanced level is the measurement of changes in attitude, opinions, and behaviors.
The criteria used in measuring the effectiveness of a campaign include “the compilation of press clippings and radio/television mentions; media impression, or the potential audience reached; number of hits on a website; advertising equivalency; systematic tracking by use of computer databases; requests for additional information; and audience attendance at special events.” If any of these areas are high, then it would be safe to assume that the public relation campaign was pretty successful.
PR campaigns are ultimately evaluated based on how they can help organizations achieve its objectives through changing the audiences behavior and attitudes, fund-raising, or the election of a candidate.
*Information from Think! Public Relations.
-cw
This is my first story I have ever written for a newspaper. It is a little short, but I like it.
New campus club to change the community of Lakeland
by Corey West
“A new community service connections club has been started right here on campus. “Community Called” serves two purposes: it can connect students with different non-profit organization for them to receive their community service hours or students can opt to join the club and participate in the community service project teams that club’s Project Managers will assemble. The plus for joining the club? Community Called will keep track of all community service hours for every member.
Adam Williams, president of Community Called and SEU junior, is thrilled to see his vision finally unfolding.
“Last year, I wanted to get involved in the community, but I didn’t know how,” Williams says. “I decided to change that. I decided to start a club that will allow students an easy door to be a blessing to the community.”
Williams’ goal is for this club to make a lasting impact on the community, even long after he’s graduated from Southeastern.
Williams invites everyone to come join Community Called and to be a part of a club that is going to change the city of Lakeland. To find out more information about Community called, e-mail President Adam Williams at acwilliams1@seu.edu or search “Community Called” on Facebook and like the fan page.”
-cw
When new Public Relations practitioners are looking for a job, they have two places in which they can choose from; a PR firm or a corporation.
Jobs at corporations at times are more difficult to find, especially if one doesn’t have any experience. Growth is limited and this job can be slow paced at times. Corporate, though, do tend to have a lower employee turnover rate and salaries tend to be a be higher. Benefits are usually good and there are many more opportunities available when working at a corporation.
When working at a PR firm, experience is gained very quickly. The workplace is very fast-paced and exciting, plus there is more variety in the types of projects that can be done. Even though the salary can be low at entry level and medical benefits can be minimal, networking with other PR professional can lead to bigger and better job opportunities.
If I was a newbie entering the PR work force for the first time, I would probably go for a job in a PR firm. I think that I would pick a firm because it is a great place for new public relations practitioners to start working. Yes, the pay may be a bit low and the turnover rate higher than normal, but in a firm one can gain experience quickly, find mentors they can learn from, and network with other professionals. These things can help to lead to higher paying jobs in the firm or even jobs at a corporation. I think a firm is a better newbie choice also because they can work on many different projects at once. When they find a project they like, they can look for a corporation that does work related to that project.
Corporation do pay the big bucks, but it does not hurt to gain a little experience first. One might even end up with a salary much higher than they would have recieved without experience.
-cw
*Information found in Think! Public Relations.
Sparrow Records and Reunion Records. My two favorite records labels, because they hold the majority of my favorite artists. And I just recently found that they both offer internships. I’ve been searching for somewhere to put my Public Relations degree that I’ll be earning to good use, and these records labels are perfect. The basic tasks that I found on the Reunion Records Internship Website stated that I will be:
- “Participating in staff meetings and learning the inner workings of a label
- Taking personal initiative and using online outlets to continue communicating with consumers about our artists
- Assembling press mailings and helping with daily mailing
- Maintaining stock levels of all PLG product
- Creating reports using SoundScan and radio data
- Helping with event planning and implementation; this internship will allow a student to see and assist with some label promotional events (mainly during GMA Week) and several staff (internal) events from start to finish.”
This is now my goal. To Intern at Reunion Records would be a dream come true. And now that I have a specific goal, I’m going to do all I can to reach it.
-cw
History. Not really a fan of it. It’s one of those subjects that i don’t necessarily excel in. but if i had to choose an era from public relations history in which i would have liked to work it would definitely be during the time of World War I, where public relations kind of really began. i would have loved to have been there when public relations into being and made it what it is today, and maybe even one of the people to help begin public relations. Public relations is such a vital part of a company. It does consist, in some parts, or journalism, marketing, and advertising, so without public relations w
e would kind of be at a lost.
There’s a book titled “The Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays and the Birth of PR” that tells about this exact era that I’m writing about. In a review of the book, it says that “Bernays regarded Uncle Sigmund Freud as a mentor, and used Freud’s insights into the human psyche and motivation to design his PR campaigns, while also trading on his famous uncle’s name to inflate his own stature.” (See full book review here). Bernays was known as the father of public relations. He created it. And it says that he used insights to human motivation to design it. I feel like Bernays had to be a creative man in order to achieve this. Even though others may have changed public relations a little since then, he still laid the foundation to one of the most pivotal careers in the nation today.
The thing that really intrigues me most about this era of public relations is that it is the beginning. Beginnings are always amazing. It’s like giving life to things that, without you, probably would not exist. Creation; it’s something beautiful.
-cw
1. “I’ll Never Grow Up” by Jessi Ellerbe
September 24, 2011 at 1:41 am
Hey now! I love me some JIF! I never was too big on Peter Pan peanut butter (maybe because I’m not really a fan of Peter Pan), but i do remember when this happened. And the little kid in me took it upon myself to destroy every Peter Pan peanut butter jar I saw.
One time I went over to my aunts house and she had a jar of Peter Pan. I trashed it and with excitement I went to go tell my aunt that I had just saved her life. To my surprise she yelled at me and pulled it out of the garbage can and I just stood their confused. I really don’t know if she ever ate peanut butter from that jar, and if she did, it must have been fine. I don’t remember her getting sick. I just remember that what I thought was a good deed really was a bad idea.
Moral of the story: never touch a girl’s peanut butter.
2. ‘World Wide Web in ’96 compared to Today”by Sarah Allen
coreywest says:
September 24, 2011 at 2:33 AM
I think technology has changed so much since then that it’s actually attracting more people. Back in 1996 Facebook and Twitter were the last thing on everyone’s mind and now it’s like we can’t live without it. Sadly, most of us are wasting our lives sitting in front of a computer screen for most of the day. The internet has found ways to make sitting in front of a computer screen look more satisfying than doing anything else.
3. “EMI Music” by Jessi Ellerbe
October 11, 2011 at 11:00 am Hey! if you work for EMI and I work for Sparrow Records, then our jobs will be somewhat similar! Haha, Sparrow Records is a division of EMI. But this does sound like a winner. I mean anything with EMI and NYC sound good to me. I say you go for it. I’m on this new thing where I’m fed up with letting people discourage me from what I want to do, for any reason. So if you feel this is where God has called you, don’t hesitate!
You’re great Jessi!
4. “Nuh-Uh! McD’s Would Never Deceive Me! What!?!” by Isa Ramos
coreywest on October 15, 2011 at 10:39 PM said:
Haha this is hilarious! But at the same time it is so true. I never really realized it until I read this blog post. I’m pretty sure that the restaurant sales would go down if they advertised their food the way it actually appeared. Most of us judge food by their appearance first. I know that I am guilty of this. But I never really paid attention to it as I ate it. I was always more focused on my hunger. But I’m pretty sure that now I will start paying more attention. Good job!
5. “Enough Already With the Bad PowerPoints!” by relationsofthepublic
coreywest on October 16, 2011 at 5:49 pm said:
Before I knew anything about presenting and making a PowerPoint presentation, i would just put all my information that I wanted to say on the slide. Then when I went to make my presentation, I would read directly from the slide. When I saw others do this I realized how boring it was and then thought that my presentations probably were the same. Now, I would like to believe that I know how to give an effective presentation, but there is always room for improvement. Thanks for the great tips!
6. “Despite economic woes, PR job market continues to grow” by Kevin Allen
coreywest
As a PR major, this is great news for me to hear. I sat in a business class this semester and it seems like the only thing I heard my professor say is “if you are not a business major, you won’t be making a lot of money.” I’m not going to lie, it scared me a little at first; but now knowing that the PR job market is still growing gives me a bit of relief. I love the idea of having a career that is still growing and provides an exciting work environment.
7. “7 essential tips for PR newbies” by Petya N. Georgieva
coreywest
These tips are really helpful and inspiring. Just reading them made me more anxious to graduate from university and to start my career. Just knowing that I would be able to actually put these into practice is more exciting than studying them from a textbook. Thanks for the great advice!
8. “The master guide to retweet success” by Janet Fouts
9. “The rule stands: One space after a period. Period.” by Eileen Burmeister
coreywest
I actually found this post a little humorous; especially the part about sailing a boat through the double spaces. I have never used two spaces after a period, but I had instructors, even recently tell me that I should. Every time I tried it, it looked ridiculous and i couldn’t never bring myself to turn it an assignment that way (I’m a bit of a perfectionist I might add). It’s good to know that my single spaced ways are right and I don’t have to switch to the dreaded double space. Thanks, and this way a really great article!
10. “20 clever and amusing Twitter bios” by Mark Schaefer
coreywest
These bio’s were great! My favorite one was from @Rhymetime24. And from @TylerLClark. And this post just earned both of them one new follower on twitter. Good job!
11. “Ice Cream Leaving a Bad Taste” by seravirginia
coreywest on November 22, 2011 at 4:08 pm said:
I already know that I’m a picky eater, so there is no way that i will let ice cream with the name of “Schweddy Balls” enter my mouth; even though it would be interesting just to find out what it actually tasted like. I think that the name is a little inappropriate but there are other things in store that are much worst that this.
12. “You know you work in PR when…” by Christina Miller
coreywest on November 22, 2011 at 4:40 pm said:
These are pretty funny! I find it interesting that twitter is like taking over the world. There were a couple of the signs that referred to twitter, and weirdly enough, I’m pretty sure i think in 140 characters or less. Good job!
13. “Tips to land a job after graduation” by seallen1
coreywest says on December 3, 2011 at 11:06 PM
Even though I still have two more years in university, i’m still a little nervous about finding a job after graduation, mainly because i have no idea what exactly it is that i want to do. Even though this won’t help me to come up with a job field i would like to enter, it does give me tips on finding a job.
Thanks Sarah!
14. “Glee” Tactics? by Jenn Browning
coreywest says
So I have to admit, I’m a gleek myself, and as soon as i saw the picture it caught my eye.
Interesting read and video. Thanks for posting!
Toyota
, one of the world most recognized and respected automobile companies probably lost a great deal of respect on august 28, 2009. A California highway patrol officer was driving his 2009 Lexus ES350 accompanied by three family members. His car suddenly starts to excel out of control down the highway and as they reached speeds of over 100 mph, one of the family members called 911 and stated that the car had “no brakes”. Everyone in the vehicle died when the car crashed.
On December 26, 2009 a Toyota Avalon crashed into a lake in Texas after it accelerated out of control. Four people also died in this crash.
What is the best thing to do when your company is known as one of the best automobile makers but all of a sudden you have to recall over 7.5 million vehicles? And not recall them for a minor reason. They had to be recalled because they could potentially cause lives to be lost. During this time, Toyota companies didn’t really have a lot to say; and i really don’t blame them. Beside many apologies, what is there to say when your malfunctioned vehicles have claimed the lives of eight of your customers?
Instead, Toyota took action. They recalled as many vehicles as possible. They told drivers of the cars ways to prevent the same tragedy from happening, and ways to stop it if it did start to happen. Toyota knew that they had a problem, and they tried their best to come up with a solution that was quick and safe.
I’m not sure if i would have done anything differently in this situation. Maybe i would have assured the public more frequently that we were trying our best to fix the problem as quickly as possible. But i felt like Toyota handled it pretty well, because they fixed the problem and Toyotas are still selling today. I’m sure Toyota did their absolute best to turn their “deadly Toyotas” back into safe vehicles for the whole family!
To read the timeline of the Toyota recall crisis, click here.
-cw
Corey West 