Reflections of My Past Semester

I also must of forgot to make my second blog post, so I decided to reflect on what I have learned this semester in class and at my job.

Taking public relations writing has only furthered my understanding of the public relation field. With so much practice, I have become a better writer and am more confident in my public relations writing. Press releases, media advisories, pitch letters etc. can be difficult, however I feel like I am now more consistent. I also learned about things that I didn't know about before including how to write a fund raising letter, feature story, and social media releases. This class will help me prepare for next semester's PR campaigns course.

I also benefited from the abundance of guest speakers Gee had for us in class. Everything from Mr. Branigan's crisis management lecture to the search engine optimization speaker was very helpful and informative. I'm glad I had the opportunity to listen to such successful communication professionals.

As a public relations assistant for Marquette University Student Government(MUSG), I have had more real life experience than ever in public relations. It is one thing to do writing exercises in class, but I really felt like I got useful experience writing press releases, e-lists, newsbriefs, etc working for MUSG. I also enjoyed writing for our monthly publication, The Voice. It was nice to be able to put what I learned in class into action at my job. You can find my work at the MUSG website, http://www.marquette.edu/musg/communications.php.

Last Blog

After completing my PR project, I feel as though I better understand what public relations actually is. It is so much more than JUST writing. There are so many steps and other aspects that one must evaluate before completing any work. I found that a public relations writer must concentrate hard what the message of whatever one is writing to be constant throughout the entirety of the work.

Being a public relations writer also means that you must follow the AP style format with a close eye. It is important to be clear and precise in whatever you are writing. I will be exercising these tactics all winter break during my internship at Centegra Health System.

Better Late than Never!

Well, as our class comes to a close and we're getting our final projects in and blog posts, I realized that I never wrote my second blog! I was almost certain that I did, and searched all files on my computer for it, as well as the PR Writing Blog because it was not on my own. I guess it was never written and got forgotten around midterms. Since that seems to be the case, I'm adding my second blog now so hopefully all you PR bloggers will get to read it!

Since Christmas is right around the corner, I thought it would be interesting to look at x-mas advertising. I've seen the same 2 Target Christmas commercials just about every day multiple times a day and it's really starting to annoy me. But this got me thinking, are their ads even working? A recent article on Ad Age says they're not. According to the article, a survey found that half of consumers say they're not inspired to shop at the retailer who's holiday TV commercial or online promotion they liked best. That's bad news for these huge retailers like Walmart and Target who are spending millions on their holiday advertising.

The article goes on to say that because of this, retailers should spend more money and time focusing their advertising efforts to consumers who are their target markets rather than the general public. They should also spend more money on in-store promotions through direct mail.

I find this interesting. It seems like a huge waste of money for no benefit at all. These big companies should take a hint from smaller ones. Maybe they should spend more time on Google AdWords, figuring out what consumers are really looking for. They should think before they spend.