Chapter 9: Community, Not-for-profit, and Interest Groups by Richard Stanton

Community, Not-for-profit, and Interest Groups, don’t they all sound the same? This is what makes the topic interesting as differentiating between the three will be covered. Albeit different in many ways, they have similarities as well. What are you waiting for, read on to find out more about their inherent similarities and differences!

These organizations are similar in various ways. For them, profit is not their main objective. In addition, they are similar in having an ideology, which is their reason for existence. These organizations exist outside corporate and government spheres, and they attempt to persuade and influence governments to accede to their requests.

A community ideology is shaped by the reality that is dominant in the society. Existing ideologies are reshaped to suit the community purpose, and for social justice. For community groups, supporting each other is important in relationship building, and this is an important strategy for the organization to succeed. For example, Pink Dot has successfully garnered support from the media and public by coming up with new ways to make these old concepts fresh, and support the freedom of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals to love.

A not-for-profit ideology is shaped based on the support and assistance from the masses. They are organizations who adopt either liberal or conservative ideologies, and they work closely with the government to achieve their goals. The ideology of not-for-profit organizations is thus based on that of support and maintenance of others over self. For example, the Salvation Army has volunteers to support their cause to help those in need, and the organization is also supported by the Singapore government, and thus has strong media relationships.

Interest group ideology is shaped by self, and self-interest and self-reliance is the underpinning of their ideology, which is based on the relationship between humans and nature. They form to take action either against an activity or to promote an activity. Special interest groups formed in Singapore includes groups to promote Cosplay and gaming through the internet.

In understanding the nature and ideology of the organization by analyzing its strategies and tactics implemented, PR practitioners are able to better understand their policies.

calcy (:

Grand strategy, strategy, and tactics in public relations.

Week 4 Reading

By Carl Botan and Vincent Hazelton, 2006

When I first saw the title of the chapter, I was immediately drawn to it as I was wondering to myself what is the difference between grand strategy and strategy. It made me wonder what this chapter was about as it sounded very magnificent and majestic from the words “Grand strategy.” Hence, I decided to do my reading on this chapter to feed my curiosity.

This chapter talks about the 3 levels of planning which are Grand strategy, strategy and tactics, how they are related to one another, and how different they are from each other. It especially highlights the meaning of grand strategy. I found this chapter interesting as it helps to decide which clients or employers are good to work for and which ones should be avoided.

Grand strategy is the policy-level decisions an organization makes about goals, alignments, ethics, and relationship with publics and other forces in its environment (Botan and Hazelton, 2006). This simply means lots of strategy put together to reach an ultimate goal.

Strategy is the campaign-level decision making involving maneuvering and arranging resources and arguments to carry out organizational grand strategies (Botan and Hazelton, 2006). Thus, strategy is always confined to grand strategy.

Therefore, the major difference between grand strategy and strategy is that they are both targeted at different levels of decision-making, where strategy acts as the base of creating a grand strategy. The similarity between both of them is that they both aim to achieve a specific goal of the organization.

Tactics are the specific activities and outputs through which strategies are implemented (Botan and Hazelton, 2006).  In other words, it is the small details that make up the big picture-strategy.

The 6 dimensions of grand strategies

There are 6 dimensions of grand strategies that affect PR practices in all organization. They are:

1.    Organizational goals
2.  Attitude towards change
3.  Attitude towards publics
4. Attitude towards issues
5. Attitude towards communication 
6. Attitude towards PR practitioners

There are also various forms of grand strategy used in organizations that addresses these dimensions. Examples of such grand strategies are Intransigent, Resistant, Cooperative and Integrative. It is important to note that companies nowadays are adopting Integrative strategy as they want to have a two-way communication with the public. 

In conclusion, PR practitioners should be aware of the different types of grand strategy used in various organizations before they choose to work for them. This not only gives them a precaution of the organization, but they will also be aware of how the company works and use strategies that are permissible with the company. It is also important for PR practitioners to know the difference between grand strategy, strategy and tactics as they form the basics of PR.

Public Relations Writing: Form & Style

Week 3 reading: Ch. 18 "Brochures"
by Doug Newsom & Jim Haynes

The 18th chapter of the book talks about brochures.
The chapter is interesting because design seems like the last thing that people will think of when the words "public relations" are thrown at them. It's most probably because people do no really understand public relation AND what exactly brochures are. This is what the chapter explains.

'Brochure' is a general term of booklets, fliers, circulars, leaflets, pamphlets, and even tracts. With distinct characteristic to each, they all have something in common: to publicize a message by an organization to the public. That is why, it is important that PR practitioners learn about brochures.

Producing a brochure is an art of integrating words and visuals so that 'the whole is a sum greater than its parts'. There are six important steps of making brochures for publication that were discussed in this chapter:

1. Define the purpose of making the brochure.
At first, decide whether your brochure is to persuade, or to inform and educate. Then be spesific. You should be able to reduce the purpose you're aiming, to a simple sentence.

2. Develop an organizing a concept for it.
A concept will help to make sure that the words, visuals, color and space in the brochure coordinated with each other well.

3. Write the content: Giving shape to the information.
Put the brochure into shape only when you are surely certain and certainly sure that the purpose and concept are clear. Avoid exaggeration and vague information. Watch the grammar and accuracy of information.

4. Design the presentation of information.
Be consistent in your style of writing (for example, if you choose to use British spelling, make sure that you do so for the entire brochure). Decide on your tone, whether you want to be cheerful or somber, slow or fast paced, etc.
Using images in a brochure is tricky; only use an image when it can convey a message.

There are many ways to fold a brochure -depends on where the brochure will be distributed- but the basics are the four-page fold, gate fold, accordion fold, and eight- to sixteen-fold.

5. Produce the brochure.
There are three ways to print your brochure: letterpress (traditional printing method), offset (to print large quantity), or gravure (produces highest quality printing).

6. Distribute the brochure.
It is necesarry to decide and know initially where to distribute your brochure. Should you distribute through mailing, make sure the size of the brochure fits the envelope. If you make the digital format of the brochure, make sure the sharpness of color, images, and texts is consisten.

Those are the essential steps of making a brochure in a glance. They are important for PR practitioners as it is one of the most effective ways to reach a wide target audience.