Week 5 Readings - Strategic Planning

I think the key points to remember from this week's readings were that undertaking careful strategic planning is of paramount importance when putting together a public relations program.

The Johnston & Zawawi reading highlighted the importance of strategic thinking to PR practitioners when planning a PR program and outlined the steps to be taken when formulating strategy. These included mission statements, which they say should run parallel with the overall vision of the organisation that the plan is being formulated for. Key performance indicators, or KPI's for short, where suggested as being valuable in evaluating PR performance, although in some instances results in this field can be difficult to quantify. The reading also mentioned the importance of budgeting, scheduling, checklists and calenders to strategic planning.

The Tymson & Lazar reading went along somewhat similar lines although I found it to be a lot clearer and easier to understand, and also a lot more interesting. It provided a basic model of a PR program which it breaks up into four main stages, those being:

Set objectives -> Plan & Budget -> Implement program -> Evaluate

These four stages can be fleshed out significantly by listing the specific functions and tasks of each section of the model in order to provide a more detailed plan. It also noted that in some instances the evaluate stage would then lead back to the setting of objectives. This being in the case of a similar program being planned or in the instance of a long term program which may play out over a long period of time and which would require constant evaluation & evolution of every part of the model.

The reading made me aware of the ways in which practitioners define target audiences, establish current opinions through research, the different methods of research that can be undertaken, and the ways you can ensure you are setting sound objectives when planning a public relations program. It also outlined the different types of campaigns that can be undertaken within a PR program, the different types of media that can be utilised, ways to prepare budgets, the pro's and con's of in-house and consultancy PR work, and important things to do when implementing a program.

Overall I found this comprehensive reading to be extremely helpful in making me aware of what goes into the planning of a public relations program. The reading made me think more about public relations practice in that it broke down the process of planning and implementing a PR program into specific sections and provided a case study (AMP Olympic torch relay sponsorship) which enabled me to gain a better understanding of said processes.

I commented on Taegan Reid's blog:

http://taeganreidcmns1290.blogspot.com/