This week, the most important thing I learnt that is essential to remember is the vital difference between what a strategy and a tactic is.
Being a keen athlete during my schooling years, I always thought of a strategy as being a plan that would allow me to win. I knew that subconciously this stragegy thus guided what small steps I made to allow me to achieve my goal, yet I did not know that these were tactics.
Thus, this week i was made aware of this, as Allert and Zawawi (2004), state that "a strategy is not a series of campaign steps of tactics, but the underlying rationale that guides the selection of tactics." (p.171).
The reading this week stresses the importance of public relations practitioners to think and practice strategically and explains that the key to doing this is good planning, budgeting and scheduling.
I found the Johnston and Zawawi strategic public relations plan which is described within this chapter changed my understanding of public relations practice, as it effectively identified the need to carefully plan every step of your campaign in order to ensure it is successful. This plan consists of ten steps. These are:
executive study
vision and mission
background and situation analysis
define strategy
define publics
define main message
select tactics
implementation and scheduling
monitoring and evaluation
budget. (Johnston and Zawawi, 2004).
Personally, I believe that any public relations strategy must revolve around the vision and mission of the organisation/event, because according to Allert and Zawawi (2004), "These are essential components in defining what you are doing and where you are going." (p.174).
Thus, this week both readings allowed me to come to the conclusion that in order to have a successful campaign, PR practitioners must ensure that they know exactly what they want to achieve in the future and how to go about achieving this. They also need to do regular evaluations to ensure the tactics they are using are successful in achieving the desired outcome.
This really opened my eyes, as there is alot more work in PR than I ever imagined and quite frankly, this reading gave me reassurance, as I like plans. They give me a sense of control. So therefore, I feel that if you know what you want to achieve out of a campaign, it is possible to get it.
This week I commented Laurie Alexander's blog and replied to a comment Michelle Hogan gave me.
Allert, J., & Zawawi, C. (2004). Strategy, planning and scheduling. In Johnston, J., & Zawawi, C. Public relations: theory and practice. (2nd ed). (pp. 169-196). Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin.
Tymson, C., Lazar, P., and Lazar, R. (2006). A typical public relations program. The New Australian and New Zealand Public Relations Manual. (5th ed.) (pp. 74-117). Manly: Tymson Communications
3 comments:
I like what you said about PR involving more work than you imagined - I got the same impression from the reading. Interestingly you found reassurance in this reading because it highlighted to you the basis of PR as planning, and the consequential outworking of those plans. Funnily enough, the impression I got was "oh my god how am I ever going to remember to do all of this stuff" :-)
Still, in some aspects I also found reassurance in that exhaustive checklists are regularly employed when organising a PR event/campaign. As a mum, student, employee and homemaker, I personally rely on lists a great deal - my philosophy - if it's not written down I probably won't remember.
But thanks! Great blog incidentally by the way, and I found the points you raised from the reading really helpful.
hi emma,
you seem to have really enjoyed this weeks reading. i agree with you about planning and goal objectives, it gives me a focus and goal. so i felt reassured as well about P.R.
even though this weeks readings showed us how in depth stratgic planning is, i was like you in seeing this planing as a good thing. it really outlined the job of a practitioner.
well done
Glad you like plans and lists Emma, because PR definitely loves them!
I was involved in marketing last year and grasped a good understanding of whats involved in planning events. One thing we were always trained in was "evaluation is key to your next big success," just thought you might find that interesting.
I really found your example of sports to tactics and strategies, which has definitely helped me understand the terms more! Thanks.
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