Outline: Crisis Management

Amal El Yahcoubi
Com 4310 Public Relations
Dr. Ibahrine

Chapter19: Crisis Management

I. Issues Management
The term issues management was coined in 1976 by public relations counsellor W.Howard Chase, who defined it this way:
Issues management is the capacity to understand, mobilize, coordinate, and direct all strategic and policy planning functions, and all public affairs/public relations skills, toward achievement of one objective: meaningful participation in creation of public policy that affects personal and institutional destiny.

Issues management is a five-step process that:
1. Identifies issues with which the organization must be concerned,
2. Analyzes and delimits each issue with respect to its impact on constituent publics,
3. Displays the various strategic options available to the organization,
4. Implements an action program to communicate the organization’s views and to influence perception on the issue,
5. Evaluates its program in terms of reaching organizational goals.

In specific terms, issues management encompasses the following elements:
 Anticipate emerging issues
 Identify issue selectively
 Deal with opportunities and vulnerabilities
 Plan from the outside in
 Bottom-line orientation
 Action timetable
 Dealing from the top

II. Emergence of Risk communication:
Risk communication began as a process of taking scientific data related to health and environmental hazards and presenting them to a lay audience in a manner that is both understandable and meaningful.
Seven steps are helpful in planning a risk communication program:
1. Recognize risk communication
2. Encourage management to join the “communication loop”
3. Develop credible outside experts
4. Approach the news media
5. Research perceptions
6. Understand your target audience

III. Managing in a Crisis
As any organization unfortunate enough to experience a crisis recognizes, when the crisis strikes, seven instant warning signs invariably appear:
1. Surprise
2. Insufficient information
3. Escalating events
4. Loss of control
5. Increases outside scrutiny
6. Siege mentality
7. Panic


IV. Planning in a Crisis
The key to crisis management is being prepared.
Heightened preparedness is always in order, with four planning issues paramount:
 First, for each potentially impacted audience, define the risk.
 Second, fro each risk defined, describe the actions that mitigate the risk.
 Third, identify that cause of the risk.
 Fourth, demonstrate responsible management action
Simple but appropriate watchwords for any crisis plan are the following:
 Be prepared
 Be available
 Be credible
 Act appropriately

V. Communicating in a Crisis
The key communications principle in dealing with a crisis is not to calm up
when disasters strikes. Lawyers traditionally have advised clients to either
(1)say nothing, (2)say as little as possible and release it as quietly as possible,
(3) say as little as possible, citing privacy laws, company, or sensitivity, (4)
deny guilt and act indignant that such categories could possibly have been
made, or (5) shift or, if necessary, share the blame with others.

VI. Engaging the Media
Handling the media is the most critical element in crisis. Dealing with the media in crisis demands certain “battle-field rules”; among them:
 Set up media headquarters
 Establish media rules
 Media live for the “box score”
 Don’t speculate
 Feed the beast
 Speed triumphs
 Cable Rules

Outline: Public Reltions and the Internet

Amal El Yahcoubi
Com 4310 Public Relations
Dr. Ibahrine

Chapter18: Public Relations and the Internet

I. Defining the Internet
The internet, technically, is a cooperatively run, globally distributed collection of computer networks that exchange information via common set of rules.
The Internet began as the ARPANET during the Cold War in 1969, developed by the department of Defense and consultants who were interested in creating communication network that could survive a nuclear attack.
The World Wide Web, the most exciting and revolutionary part of the Internet, was developed in 1989 by physicist Tim Berners-Lee to enlarge the Internet for multiple uses
By 2005, the Internet was used by 15 percent of the world’s people, more than 972 million.
The new Internet explosion has taken new forms: blogs, podcasts, wiki sites, RSS feeds, social networks, and others. This time, unlike the first time around, the Internet as a communications and commercial vehicle is here to stay.

II. The Internet as Communications Medium
The Internet has transformed the way that people communicate and make contact with each other, Virtually all organizations, from the largest corporation to the smallest non-profit today has a Web site.
Most of the time today, it is the Web site that serves as an organization’ “first face” to the public.
Journalists, meanwhile still the primary customers for most in public relations have also embraced the Internet as their primary source for research and reporting.

III. Public Relations Internet Challenge
Use of the Internet by public relations practitioners inevitably will grow as the century proceeds, for three reasons:
o The demand to be educated rather than sold
o The need for real-time performance
o The need for customization

Public relations has become prominent in several other areas:
o E-mail
o Web sites
o Blogs
o Online media relations
o Online monitoring
o Product promotion
o Investor relations
o Webcastes

IV. E-Mail: The Dominator
E-mail has become far and away the most pervasive organizational communications vehicle. In most organizations, e-mail is the internal medium of choice for newsletters, bulletins, and internal announcements.
E-mail has also unseated the traditional employee print newsletter. Online newsletters are both more immediate and more interactive than print counterparts.
E-mail newsletters for external use-to customers, investors, or the media-are equally popular and valuable. These differ from their print brethren in several important areas:
1. No more than one page
2. Link content
3. Regular dissemination
V. Developing a Winning Web Site
In many ways, the organization’s Web site is its most important interface with the public.
The aim of any Web site is to provide information that visitors are looking for. The more you achieve that objective, the more “sticky” your site becomes.
How should you create a winning Web site? By first asking and answering several strategic questions:
1. What is our goal?
2. What content will we include?
3. How often will we edit?
4. How will we enhance design?
5. How interactive will it be?
6. How will we track use?
7. Who will be responsible?
Blogs: The Latest Phenomenon
o Blogs, Weblogs that communicate personal views on any topic imaginable, are proliferating at the rate of 70,000 a day
o There are two categories of blogs. One is the traditional Weblog in which a web surfer shares his online discoveries. The second is the Web diary in which a person shares his or her thoughts of the day.
o In terms of public relations use of blogs, organizations can use them to deliver information-product uses, sales data, consumer tips, and so on- in a more personal way.
Blogs also can be useful as an internal communications vehicle. Among possibilities for internal blogs are the following:
o Projects
o Departments
o Brainstorming
o Customers
Dealing with the Media Online
The basics of online media relations include the following:
 Web site newsroom
 News release
 Executive speeches
 Annual/quarterly reports
 Annual meetings
 FAQs

VI. Monitor the Internet….or Else!
The internet is free, wide open, international, and anonymous-the perfect place to start a movement and ruin an organization’s reputation. Public relations people monitor the internet consideration of the following:
 Discussion groups and chat rooms
 Rogue Web sites
 Urban legends

VII. Product Promotion on the Internet
The Internet provides a virtual laboratory to mesh public relations, advertising, and marketing techniques to promote products.
On the positive side, buyers and potential buyers can access your information directly, without interface. On the negative side, you are competing with hundreds of thousands of other information providers for visitor’s attention.
One popular product promotion device is the adlink. The adlink is a small display advertisement that promotes another site or page.
Online discussion groups provide another potential source of product promotion.
Web-based integrated marketing can create a new relationship with customers.

VIII. Investor Relations on the Internet
The Internet also plays a significant role in investor relations, the public relations activity that deals with a company’s stockholders and the communities-brokers and analysts-serving them.
Public companies increasingly use the Internet as a more controlled communications mechanism to reach potential investors.
The government that watches over securities markets is less convinced that the Internet is such a blessing fro investors.

IX. Of Intranets/ Extranets, Wikis; Prodcasts, and RSS Feeds
Public relations practitioners should at least be conversant in the following Internet vehicles:
 Intranets
 Extranets
 Wikis
 Podcasting
 RSS

Outline: Integrated Marketing Communication

Amal El Yahcoubi
Com 4310 Public Relations
Dr. Ibahrine

Chapter 17:Integrated marketing communications

I. Public Relations vs. Marketing vs. Advertising
Marketing: literally defined, is the selling of a service or product through pricing, distribution, and promotion. Marketing ranges from concepts such as free samples in the hands of consumers to buzz campaigns
Advertising: literally defined, is a subset of marketing that involves paying to place your message in more traditional media formats, from newspapers and magazines to radio and television to the internet and outdoors.
Public Relations: literally defined, is the marketing of an organization and the use of unbiased, objective, third party endorsement to relay information about that organization’s products and practices.

II. Product Publicity:
Product publicity can be the most effective element in the marketing mix. For example:
- Introducing a revolutionary new product.
- Eliminating distribution problems with retail outlets
- Small budgets and strong competition
- Explaining a complicated product
- Generating new consumer excitement for an old product
- Tying the product to a unique representative.
- Creating an identity

III. Third-Party Endorsement:- Third-party endorsement refers to the tacit support given a product by a newspaper, magazine, or broadcaster who mentions the product as news.
- Publicity appears to be news and is more trustworthy than advertising that is paid for by a clearly nonobjective sponsor.
- Public relations counselors argue that discriminating against using product names does a disservice to readers or viewers, many of whom are influenced by what they read or see and many desires the particular products discussed.

IV. Building a Brand:
Branding: is creating a differentiable identity or position for a company or product
Using integrated marketing communications to establish a unique brand requires adherence to the following principles:
- Be early
- Be memorable
- Be aggressive
- Use heritage
- Create a personality

V. Integrating Marketing with Public Relations:
A. Article Reprints :
Marketing can be done through article reprints aimed at that part of a target audience that might not have seen the original article. It helps also to reinforce the reactions of those read the original article.
Use of reprints should be approached systematically with the following ground rules in mind
- Plan ahead.
- Select target publics and address the recipients by name and title
- Pinpoint the reprint’s significance
- Integrate the reprint with similar articles and information on the same or related subjects.
B. Trade Show Participation:
This feature enables an organization to display its products before important target audience. The decision to participate should be considered with the following factors in mind :
- Analyze the show carefully
- Select a common theme.
- Make sure the products displayed are the right ones
- Consider the trade books
- Emphasize what’s new
- Consider local promotion efforts
- Evaluate the worth
C. Use of Spokespersons
- The purpose of the spokespersons is to air their sponsor’s viewpoint
- They must be articulate, fast on their feed and thoroughly knowledgeable about the subject.
D. Cause-Related Marketing :
It brings together the fund-raising needs of nonprofit groups with the business objectives of sponsoring companies.

E. In-kind Promotions
When a service, product or other consideration in exchange for publicity exposure is offered, it is called an in0kind promotion.

VI. Public Relations Advertising :
This technique became known variously as institutional advertising, image advertising, public service advertising, issues advertising, and ultimately public relations-or nonproduct- advertising,
7. Purposes of Public Relations Advertising :
1. mergers and diversifications
2. personnel changes
3. organizational resources
4. manufacturing and service capabilities
5. growth history
6. financial strength and stability
7. company customers
8. organization name change
9. trademark protection
10. corporate emergencies

VII. Twenty First Century Integrated Marketing :
A. Television Brand Integration :
The latest phenomenon in television is to integrate products into the fabric of what is being presented on the screen.
B. Infomercials :
They were introduced as program-length commercials, shamelessly hawking products
C. Word-of-Mouth Marketing :
Also known as Buzz Marketing, word of mouth is another alternative to traditional advertising that enlists influencers or trend setters to spread the word about particular product.
D. Television and Movie Product Placements :
Product placements in films also are proliferating at a rapid rate.
They are also known as the embedded advertisements
E. You Name It :
1. Song placements
2. Sports teams
3. Blogs
4. Whaaa?

Outline: Public Relations Writing

Amal El Yahcoubi
Com 4310 Public Relations
Dr. Ibahrine

Chapter16: Public Relations Writing

I. Writing for the Eye and the Ear:
The sad facts is that PR people, by and large are horrible writers.
The chapter explores fundamentals of writing:
1) discussing PR writing in general and news releases in particular,
2) reviewing writing for reading,
3) discussing writing for listening

. writing for a reader is different than writing for a listener
. a listener has only one chance to hear the message once

II. Fundamentals of writing:
. There are four-part formulas for writers, from the novice to the novelist:
1. The idea must precede the expression: think before writing. The trick in coming up with clever ideas lies more in borrowing old ones than in creating new ones
2. Don't be afraid of the draft. an outline should precede the draft
3. Simplify, clarify: avoid jargon, complex words
4. Finally, writing must be aimed at a particular audience: avoid imprecision, ambiguity

III. Flesh Readability Formula:
Flesch gave seven suggestions for making, writing more readable.
1. Use contractions such as it's or doesn’t
2. Leave out the word that whenever possible
3. Use pronouns such as I, we, they and you
4. When referring back to a noun, repeat the noun or use a pronoun. Don't create eloquent substitutions
5. Use brief, clear sentences
6. Cover only one item per paragraph
7. Use anguage the reader undertsands

In writing fro the internet or ny other medium, should remember their A’s and B’s
. Avoid big words
. Avoid extra words
. Avoid clichés
. Avoid Latin
. Be specific
. Be active
. Be simple
. Be short
. Be organized
. Be convincing
. Be understandable

IV. The Beauty of the Inverted Pyramid
. The climax of a newspaper story comes at the begining
. The lead of a story is the first one or two paragraphs: inverted pyramid
. The lead is the most critical element, usually answering the questions concerning who, what, when, where and occasionally how.

V. The News Release
. Releases are poorly written (difficult to read)
. Releases are rarely localized (it is used when it is localized)
. Releases are not newsworthy. What determines its worthiness? Impact, oddity, conflict, known principal, proximity, also human interest stories

The Product announcement:
The Management change: newspapers interested in that
The Management Speech

VI. News Release Style
Typical Style rules:
Capitalization
Abbreviations
Numbers
Punctuation
Spelling

VII. News Release Essentials
Rationale
Focus
Facts
No Puffery
Nourishing quotes
Limit Jargon
Company Description
Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation
Brevity
Headlines
Clarity, conciseness, committment

VIII. Internet News Releases
One reporter per 'to' line
Limit subject line headers
Boldface 'For Immediate Release'
Hammer home to headline
Limit Lengthh
Observe 5W format
No attachement
Link to URL
Remember Readability

IX. The Media Kit:
A calling card to introduce the organization to the media
The biography
Fact Sheets
Etc…

X. The Pitch Letter:
A sales letter, pure and simple

XI) Other Print Vehicles:
The case History
The Byliner
The Op_Ed
The Roundup Article

XII. Writing for the ear:
Every spokesperson possesses five main characteristics:
it is designed to be heard, not read
it uses concrete language
it demands a positive response
it must have clear-cut ibjectives
it must be tailored to a specific audience

XIII. The importance of editing:
An editor must be judicious, get rid of passive verbs, must be gusty enough to use bold strokes

Chapter 15: International Relations

I presented this chapter in class: the power point presentation is posted in google group of PR Class. Thank you

Outline: Consumer Relations

Amal El YahcoubiCom
4310 Public Relations
Dr. Ibahrine

Chapter 14: Consumer Relations

I. Consumer Relations Objectives
Building sales is the primary consumers relations objective. A satisfied customer may return, an unhappy customer may not.
· Keeping old customers.
· Attracting new customers
· Marketing new items or services
· Expecting complaint handling
· Reducing costs

II. Consumer-Generated Media
· Consumer-generated media: encompasses the millions of consumers-generated comments,opinions and personal experiences posted in publicly available online sources on a wide range of issues, topics, product and brands.
· CGM is also reffered to as “online consumer word mouth” that originated from a variety of sources:
1. blogs
2. message board andforums
3. public disscussions
4. discussions and forums on large e-mail portals
5. Online opinion/review sites and services
6. online feedback/complaint sites

III. Office of the Ombudsperson
· Research indicates that only a handful of dissatisfied customers will ever complain.
· But there are many with the same complains that who never say anything.
· The term ombudsman originally described a government official appointed to investigate complaints about abuses commited by public officials.
· In most companies the office of the ombudsperson office investigates complaints made against the company an dits managers.
· The ombudperson office monitors the difficulties customers are having with products.

IV. The consumer Movement
· Kennedy proposed that consumers have their own bill of rights, containing four basic principles:
1. The right to safety
2. The right to be informed
3. The right to choose
4. The right to be heard.

V. Federal consumer Agencies
· Today a massive gov bureaucracy attempts to protect the consumer against abuse: more then 900 different programs administrated by more than 400 federal entities.
· Key aggencies include the :

1. Justice Departement
2. Fedearl Trade Commission
3. Securities and exchange Comission
4. Food and Drug Administration
5. consumer Product Safety Commission
6. Office of Consumer Affairs

VI. Consumer Activists on the internet
· The consumerist movement has attracted a host of activists in recent years.
· It most significant activity is to keep companies honnest has occured in the interner.
· The best known testing group is Cosumers Union that was founded in 1936 to test products across a wide spectrum of industries.

VII. Business Gets the Message:
· Few campanies can afford to shirk thier responsabilities to consumer.
· Consumer relations divisions have sprung up, either as separate entities or as part of public relations departement.
· In many companies, consumer relations began as a way to handle complaints, an area to which all unanswerable complaints were saints.

Outline:Government Relations

Amal El Yahcoubi
Com 4310 Public Relations
Dr. Ibahrine

Chapter13: Government Relations

I. Public Relations in Government:
. The growth of Public Relations work both with and in the government has exploded in recent years.
. American business spends more time caling on, talking with, and lobbying government representatives on such subjects as trade, interest rates, taxes, budget deficits, and all the other issues that concern individual industries and companies.
. PR functions have traditionally been something for a “poor relations” in the government.

Government Practitioners:
. Most practitioners in government communicate the activities of the various agencies, commissions, and bureaus to the public.
. It was not always essential to form informational links between government officials and the public.
. In 1990, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management reported nearly 15,000 public relations-related jobs in the federal government.

Two Prominent Departments:
. Before the was on terrorism, the most potent public relations voices in the federal government, exclusive of the president were:

The State Department
. Has an extensive public affairs staff, responsible for press briefings, maintaining secretary of state homepage content, operating foreign press centers in Washington, L.A, and maintaining Public Diplomacy
. United States Information Agency (USIA); federal government PR arms: build institutional foundations of democracy around the world, support war on drugs, environmental challenges, free and open com.
. The communication initiatives of the state Department to spread the “gospel of America” are far-reaching. Among them are the following:
§ Radio
§ Film and TV
§ Internet
§ Media
§ Publications
§ Exhibitions
§ Libraries and books
§ Education

The Defense Department
§ The importance of Department of Defence (DOD) communications has been intensified the wartime.
§ With the DOD consisting of more than 3 million active duty forces, reserves, and civilian employees, information is the strategic center of gravity.
§ Postwar public relations efforts of the Department of Defense have run the gamut from drawing universal praise to generating opprobrium.

Other Government Agencies
§ Beyond the State and Defense departments, other government departments also have stepped up their public relations efforts.
§ The Department of Health and Human Services has a public affairs staff of 700 people.

The President
§ The broadcast networks, daily newspapers, and national magazines follow his every move.
§ His press secretary provides the White House press corps with a constant flow of announcements supplemented by daily press briefings.
§ Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were perhaps the most masterful presidential communicators in the history.
§ Mr.Reagan and his communications advisors followed seven principles in helping to “manage the news” which are:
. Plan ahead
. Stay on the offensive
. Control the flow of information.
. Limit reporter's access to the president
. talk about the issues you want to talk about
. Speak in one voice.
. repeat the same Message many times

The President's Press Secretary:
§ Some have called the job of presidential press secretary the second difficult position in any administration.
§ The press secretary is the chief public relations spokesperson for the administration.
§ Overt time, the position of press secretary to the president has taken on increased responsibility and has attained a higher public profile.
§ Over the years, he number of reporters hounding the presidential press secretary dubbed by some “the imperial press corps” has grown from fewer than 300 reporters during the President Kennedy’s term to around 3,000 today.

II. Lobbying the Government:
. The business community, foundations and philanthropic organizations have a common problem: dealing with government, particularly the mammoth federal bureaucracy.
. The occupation of lobbyist is one of the nation’s greatest growth industries.
. The number of registered lobbyists in Washington has more than doubled since 2000 to more than 34,750 a 66 percent increase. Why? Three factors according to experts:
. Rapid growth in government
. Republican control of both White House and Congress
. Wide acceptance among corporations that they need to hire professional lobbyists to secure their share of the federal budget.

The representatives have several objectives
. To improve communication with government personnel and agencies
. To monitor legislators and regulatory agencies in areas affecting constituent operations
. To encourage constituent participation at all levels of government
. To influence legislation affecting the economy of the constituent’s area, as well as its operations
. To advance awareness and understanding among lawmakers of the activities and operations of constituent organizations.

What do Lobbyists do?
. Fact-finding
. Interpretation of government actions
. Interpretation of company actions
. Advocacy of a position
. Publicity springboard
. Support of Company sales

Do it yourself Lobbying:
. Know the subject and status of legislation
. Know the position of the legislator and the staff
. Represent a key constituency
. Be available and eager to please
. Have influential backup at the ready
. Keep your word
. know how the system functions

Emergence of e-lobbying
§ As it has in every other areas of society and public relations work, the internet has influenced the practice of lobbying as well.
§ The internet has become a pivotal tool, used by both parties, to inform voters about election issues.

III. Political Action Committees:
. The rise of political action committees has been among the most controversial political developments in recent years.
. Each political action can give a maximum of $5000 to federal candidate in a primary election and another $5000 for the general election.
. Critics of campaign finance reform argue that the First Amendment allows the freedom to speak out for or against any candidate.

IV. Dealing with Local Government:
. In 1980, Ronald Reagan rode to power on a platform of New Federalism, calling for a shift of political debate and policy decisions to state and local levels.
. Dealing with local entities, of course, differs considerably from dealing with the federal government.
. The public information function at state and local levels to keep constituents apprised of legislative and regulatory changes, various government procedures and notices is a font-line public relations responsibility on the local level.