Cluetrain Manifesto

Important points:

• Markets are conversations.
• The Internet has made it possible for people to speak their minds and be heard.
• We are not just consumers, we have minds and things to say.
• When PR practitioners start making connections with people instead of constantly “pitching” is when contacts and relationships are made.

Chapter 9: The Tactics of Public Relations

Important Points

• Tactics are actions that should accomplish the goals from the written PR plan.
• The tactics should try to create a win-win situation, where both the organization and the publics benefit.
• Communication begins when the tactics are executed.

Chapter 8: Planning: The Strategies of Public Relations

Important points:

• There are three main types of PR plans: ad hoc, standing plans, and contingency plans.
• Public relations plans MUST reflect the organization’s goals and mission statement.
• A PR plan incorporates goals, objectives, and tactics. 
• A good PR plan is goal-oriented, values-based, flexible, realistic, and helps the organization fulfill its values. 

Chapter 7:Research and Evaluation

Important points:

• PR practitioners must be able to measure the effectiveness of the decision they make and actions they take.
• Research and evaluation are critical tools for PR practitioners.
• PR practitioners must always ask themselves: What do we think I know and what do we not know
• 5 main types of PR research are: secondary research, feedback research, communication audits, focus groups and surveys.

Chapter 4: The Publics in Public Relations

Important points:

• A public is not a stakeholder, but a stakeholder can be a public.  A stakeholder has an actual interest in the organization.  A public is a group of people who share a common interest.
• We can use the resource dependency theory to answer the question of why we need relationships with these publics and which public should receive the most attention.
• Publics are constantly changing.  However, publics are always categorized into 3 groups: latent, aware, and active.

Chapter 2: Jobs in Public Relations

Key points from reading:

• All public relations practitioners share one goal: to help create and sustain relationships between an organization and its publics.
• Most PR jobs fall into 5 main categories: corporations, nonprofit organizations and trade associations, governments, public relations agencies and independent public relations consultants.
• Public relations practitioners have a wide variety of activities and duties.  However, they can usually be grouped into two types of tasks: managerial tasks and technician tasks.
• The salaries of public practitioners vary depending on their position, but for most in the field salary is not the most important thing.  PR practitioners love their jobs!

Chapter 13: Public Relations and Marketing

Important points:

• New marketing strategies are becoming more similar to public relations.  Both focus on the individual and seek to build long term relationships with that individual.
• Consumer-Focused Marketing focuses on the individual and acknowledges the individuals wants and needs.
• The use of databases and various forms of media that the individual prefer help marketing organizations send clear and consistent messages.
• Although CFM and Public relations share commonalities, all public relations is not a part of marketing.

Chapter 1: What is Public Relations?

Major points in Chapter 1:

• Many people have no clue what public relations really is and use it to describe things that it is not.
• This confusion gains help from the media.
• It is hard to pinpoint one definition for public relations.
• All definitions seem to agree that public relations involves  two way communication, that it is a planned activity, that it is based on research, and that it has a social responsibility.
• Also, it is agreed upon that public relations is performed in a 4 step process: research, planning, communication and evaluation. 
• However, public relations occurs in a dynamic setting, meaning that these processes do not occur in a linear fashion.
• Also, when public relations takes into account the values of the society and the organization it is called the values-driven approach to public relations.
• Public relations is a very important job, and often the work of public relations practitioners is not accredited to them by the public.