Friday, November 30, 2007

Internal vs. External PR

Anyone involved in public relations realizes the two main audiences - internal and external - are both very important for very different reasons. But which is more important? As a pr practitioner, is it more beneficial to provide up-to-date information immediately to the external public, or to make sure the internal public is the very first to know new information?

This question becomes somewhat tricky, as the information each public receives is different. The general, external public is given info that the internal public should already know, however in the case of a crisis neither internal nor external publics are fully aware of the current situation.

In times of crisis, I believe the internal public - the people working inside the company - become the most important. As a representative of the company, everyone suddenly becomes a spokesperson in times of crisis. Because of this, it is imperative that workers; the internal public, know and understand the situation at hand.

Both publics must fully understand what a company or organization stands for, as well as its capabilities. By fully educating the internal public of an organization, the external public may also become fully educated.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Curse Technology!

The great debate for many newspaper companies, is whether or not the
standard, tangible newspaper will die. Why continue wasting precious
time and money on paper that has a short shelf-life, and can't easily
be updated?

WELL! I'll tell you why. After a very VERY painful weekend/week of computer-less, phone-less existence, I feel completely unconnected from the rest of the world. Viruses apparently attacked my poor computer, leaving it helpless and unable to start. Which means..... NO Internet.

Now, after not being able to constantly check the web for the latest
updates, a hard copy of news - one that doesn't require ANY outside
source of power - is extremely appealing. Yes, it may be inconvenient at times, and may not always provide the most up-to-date news, but you never have to worry about a newspaper not working. For this very reason, I honestly do not believe we will ever completely do away with the newspaper. Plus - that just provides one more media outlet for pr representatives to pitch a story. No...the newspaper will never completely die........unlike my stupid computer.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Good Job, McDonald's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eN9KP6lOZs

This has become my new favorite commercial. I LOVE love this ad... it's funny, catchy, and easily gets the point across without once having the actors speak, or say McDonald's. As far as impact goes, the ad did a good job... I myself felt like making a trip to Micky D's!

If more tactics like this were used to reach audiences - using humor that people feel like they can relate to, without being over-bearing in the message - advertising and public relations would have a much greater impact on people. The idea is to make the audience have a positive connection to the commercial/publicity they see, and make them feel as if the commercial is speaking directly to them.

Although I realize not all situations are suited for humor or a "feel good" shot of publicity, making the audience connect and develop a self-interest in the product can always be achieved. McDonald's found a way to connect to at least one audience member - enough to make her write about it in a blog. :D