Direct Mail: Disadvantages and Advantages for the Public Relations Professionals

Direct mail is used to sell ideas, goods, and even services and it is often referred to as junk mail. Direct mail is used mainly to market things and products to people and organizations. It is also used  to notify consumers about a product recall, inform investors about a merger or acquisition, or make an apology about a poor service or shoddy goods.

However, there are pros and cons to using direct mail.

Some advantages to using direct mail are:

1. You can target directly to specific individuals- you can use a mailing list that way the information is only sent to the people who need to see it.

2. Personalization-you have the option to have personalized envelopes addressed to specific people

3. Cost-effectivness-it’s inexpensive

Some disadvantages to using direct mail are:

1.Listed as junk mail-most of the direct mail ends up in the garbage because people think it’s junk mail

2. Information overload-people receive so much direct mail on average that it would be hard to remember everything that was read.

 

Public Relations Practitioners… modern communication tools Vs. traditional communication tools

Technology is being incorporated now more than ever with companies and organizations. More so by the way of social media. For example Twitter and Facebook.

Public relations practitioners can use websites as a way to get products out there faster and also receive quicker feedback from consumers.

Traditional communication tools like phones and letters take more time.

The main difference with modern communication tools is the immediacy of it. Instead of sending a traditional letter, you can send an email and get immediate feedback. Also, your not limited to sending out information to one individual and you can actually send to thousands at once.

I believe nowadays PR practitioners have incorporated social media a lot in their everyday work use and students wanting to be PR practitioners are learning just how to do so. I think social media use had made PR practitioners jobs a little bit more easy than with the traditional communication tools.

The area of public relations that is the most exciting to me is…

The good thing about Public Relations is that it is a job that doesn’t allow a person to get pigeon-holed into a specific field forever. There are so many branches in PR that would keep a person busy for a long time. After looking over some of the different jobs PR practitioners can have, I believe the most exciting area of PR to me is Event Planning.

There is so much that goes into an event that is more than just meets the eye. It allows the PR practitioner to let out their creative side. I like when I can be creative but not limited to just one aspect of my creativeness. I think it will be fun to draw up a plan, plan it out, and basically watch it come to life. Since no to events are the same, it gives you ample opportunity to be more and more creative. You probably can outdo yourself with your own creativity.

This is suitable for me because I like to be hands-on with projects and other things and I like to use my creativity whenever possible. This is why I believe this particular area of Public Relations is the most exciting, and I would love to work in this area after I graduate.

Why is the relationship with the media so important to Public Relations Professionals?

This relationship is very important for a number of reasons.

For one its good to maintain a healthy relationship with the media people as a PR professional because they are the ones that ultimately control what articles will be released to the public. If a PR professional pitches a story idea and the media people don’t accept it it’s okay, and they should not use that opportunity to say bad things. Your reputation goes pretty far and once it’s tarnished it’s hard to get it back right and most people wont work with you.

PR professionals jobs are to communicate things out to the public and the media is the vehicle that is used to do so.

The media and PR professionals jobs go hand-in-hand. The media look to PR professionals to supply them with material, and the PR professionals look to the media to get their information out as efficiently as possible.

You kind of need one with the other. Once the  relationship is tarnished then the PR professionals struggle to find other ways to get their information out.

These are just a few reasons why this relationship between PR professionals and the media are important.

Why is Public Relations a Rapidly Growing Field?

I believe many people looked at the television show, Sex in the City and saw the character of Samantha Jones as a PR person and how glamorous the life she lived was everyday. This is a common misrepresentation of the field of PR. Of course, one day maybe a person can strive to reach goals like that character, but when you first get into this field you won’t be starting at the top, as one should expect.

PR people get a chance to represent clients and organizations all around the world. They are normally the face that delivers messages to the public. They normally work close with the media.

This is the type of field for people who are great communicators and have the ability to understand many diverse people. I believe it’s steady growing because they intertwine social media with campaigns and things. You would have to be living under a rock nowadays if you don’t use social media or know what it is. This is one of those rare fields where people are allowed to be as creative as they want to.

The fact that people are able to work closely with others, be creative, and utilize their writing skills are the reasons I believe Public Relations is a rapidly growing field. There will always be a need for PR people and this career is very flexible to where a person will not get bored with the same 9-5 as with other career fields.

“Communication is Power”

Communication is Power.

This sentence is very true and powerful at the same time. Communication is what people use  to keep in contact with others around the world. There are many different forms of communication as well. There is word of mouth communication, which is what people used back in the early times to spread stories down to others. There is communication by telephone, and all it takes is ten digits to contact someone. With the help of modern technology and social media, there is emailing, text messaging, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, and etc. There is even sign-language as a way for deaf people to communicate.

Communication has been around forever. It’s just enhanced itself overtime to adapt to the needs of people. Communication is powerful because it allows people all over the world, that speak many different languages, to speak to one another. With the help of translators this has become easier over time.

When a person has an issue or problem the best way to discuss it is to communicate in the best way possible. It’s important to remember that communication is a two way street. Meaning that part of communication is acting and reacting.

How people managed to learn to communicate via writing or talking is a wonderful thing. It was able to transform and adapt to the needs of people as people were adapting to their environments as well. A good thing about communication is it doesn’t take  a top degree or a rocket scientist to do it. Babies communicate with other babies and people that might be illiterate so as well, but they still manage to find a way to communicate that might not be up to par with societies standards.

Communication is Power. It will always be around and continue to adapt and change as people need it. Without it the world would be a quiet place. Communication is Power.

PR Practicioners and The Media

PR Practitioners and The Media go together like a car needs gas. PR Practitioners metaphorically being the car, and The Media being the gas.

PR Practitioners want to place their stories in the news and other publications and programs. Without being able to do this, PR would lose one of its main ways for communication with the public. The Media on the other hand is becoming more dependent on PR to supply them with content to fill their air times or columns. PR people control access to the content that media/journalists want to have. Also, in the same aspect the Media will ultimately control what content will or will not be shown to their particular audiences.

This is why it is very IMPORTANT to maintain a good relationship with the media and organizations. It’s a great idea for media people to become accustomed to their particular areas of interests or “beats”. Communication between the two groups is vital, and it’s important to remember that the lines of communication is a two-way street.

What Makes Information “Newsworthy”?

Have you ever watched the news or read a paper and thought to yourself,”Why did this story make it to the front page? or I wonder why that story is top news?” Well there is reasoning behind that. Gatekeepers, the people responsible for choosing which stories appear first, second, etc look at eight key factors when deciding.
The eight characteristics that makes information newsworthy are:

1.  Timeliness
2. Prominence
3. Proximity
4. Significance
5. Unusualness
6. Human Interest
7. Conflict
8. Newness

Timeliness is very important with information because news needs to be current and up to date. Plain and simple old news isn’t “new”.

Prominence is news that is covered on a famous person or important organizations.

Proximity is news that affects your personal communities or hometown. It’s closely related to you and affects you versus having news about some town in China.

Significance is when news or an event can affect a large amount of people. For example the issues related to Global Warming.

Unusualness is when news is very uncommon and out of the ordinary.

Human Interest is when news stories are about people and that is not limited to just celebrities. For example, a story about a single mother that lost her job and still managed to give her children a great Christmas.

Conflict is news about war, or stories about controversy.

Newsness is news about new information about a product or company. For example, information about the new Iphone 5 release.

News doesn’t have to have all of these characteristics at the same time, but it should have at least two. So whenever you watch the news or read a paper and you see the stories that are introduced think to yourself do they have any of the eight characteristics of news.

Do Journalistic Publications need a Uniform System of Citation?

Just as citizens follow rules and laws to guide their everyday life, journalists need a uniform system of citation when it comes to writing the news. Whether a person is reading a newspaper, reading a news story online, or even watching the news on television there is a purpose behind every abbreviation, underline, or capitalization that they will see. No two journalists or reporters that write for newspapers or other media are the same. With the help of revisions and editors that overlook the writing before it’s printed or posted online, there has to be a way for all journalists across the board to “sound” the same.

The AP style book was created to do just that. The purpose of the book is to have a set model for publications to use for correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, and language usage. There are four main principles behind the AP style book:
1. Consistency
2. Clarity
3. Accuracy
4. Brevity

These are important because audiences rely on reporters for the truth in all stories. The more precise reporters are on these four things the more credible they become. These guidelines also set apart reporters from regular people. It also helps to avoid stereotypes and offensive language, which is very important when writing news stories. This book will ultimately help reporters become better writers as well.

Why am I Studying PR?

Public Relations, or PR, can be described as managing the flow of information between and individual or an organization and the public.

I chose to minor in this in college because it will be very beneficial to me in future jobs. Even though my major is multimedia communications, public relations can tie into that in a great way.

Every organization has a face that represents them. This “face” is responsible for upholding an individual’s or organizations image within the public. There are many tactics PR practitioners use to help and they include: responding to a crisis, gaining publicity, communicate within the company or business, and communicating business strategies.

I believe this will be a great field for someone like myself who is an extrovert, likes to help others, and is a people person.