Preparing Brochures
In the past decade, direct mail—sometimes called direct advertising—has risen to become the third largest marketing medium, right behind newspapers and television. Brochures and fact sheets are designed to go into greater detail about the issue. They provide information that can be saved, stored, referred to, and acted upon.
The format you decide on depends upon the needs of the occasion, the creativity of the PR department, and, of course, the size of the budget. It can be unfolded, single-fold, two-fold by norm. The latest gives more place for information and is easy to send.
Organizing the text presents another challenge. Depending on how many appeals or how many examples you want to provide in one publication, you may decide to use several small pieces of art—line drawings or photos—or you may feel that the impact of a single picture will carry the entire message. The management consultant Howard Upton warns that three common mistakes can negate the value of a costly brochure: Built-in obsolescence. • Ostentation. • Awkward format.
It is a waste of both your time and the printer's if you have not sufficiently thought out what it is you want printed. It helps greatly if you have in hand rough layouts or samples of jobs similar to what you are looking for. On the other hand, the worst approach you can take, unless you have an unlimited budget, is to come to a printer with the job so firmly worked out in your mind that you are totally inflexible.
Preparing to Speak
Speaking and speechmaking is as fundamental to PR as writing. In two-way symmetric model it is unavoidable, because it presupposes direct communication.
PR speaking is on the one hand similar to PR writing, since it must be well prepared, which mean clear, concise, correct and complete. But on the other hand it differs from PR writing, because it is personal, it is delivered by a person and carries all his emotions.
PR speaking goes through all the usual stages: research, planning, organizing and evaluation. Not a single one should be overlooked.
Since the speech is first written, it has the same with any written piece composition: introduction, body and conclusion. Besides the whole piece must be devoted to one main idea – to be complete, so one should never forget the actual purpose of delivering the speech.
Since it is still a speech, it must contain all the features of an oral piece. It must be lively, a little more impersonal, carrying the charm of the speaker. Besides the speaker must be prepared to all possible alterations: questions, interruptions, etc.
The work with the speaker should be conducted at all the stages! The speech should live in harmony with the speaker: the choice of words, the manner, the pauses, etc. Then for better success it must be rehearsed, possible questions asked and answered. Then the speaker must undergo a prep session: wear the proper attire, learn how to hold the audience’s attention, learn to deal with unexpected situations, to smile, be cordial and never rude. In case he or she has a stage fright it takes some more work on it.
Besides sometimes the speech requires some visual aids, that are always good for understanding. The conditions must be thought over beforehand: Darkening the room, coaching the speaker, preparing all the necessary equipment, etc.
The print feedback in form of releases, newsletters, etc are very useful.
Don’t ever forget that several reporters are much riskier an audience, but in the end they cost more than a thousand people audience.
- Why Organizations Need Public Relations
- Defining Public Relations
- Confusion with Other Organizational Communication Functions
- Directions and history General pr Directions As you have probably understood pr is a very broad field of activity, it includes not only advertisement, as you might think, but many other spheres.
- History
- Attitudes and Opinions
- Building Public Opinion
- Receiver
- Men’s perception of information
- Public Relations and Public Responsibility
- Models of Public Relations
- Warner-lambert creed
- Planning and executing a public relations campaign
- Surveys
- Focus Group Interviews
- Analysis of Data
- Audience Message
- Audience Message
- Strategic management
- The Stakeholder Stage
- The Issues Stage
- The Objectives Stage
- The Planning Stage
- The Implementation Stage
- The Evaluation Stage
- Outlining
- Sentences and Paragraphs
- Word Length
- Word choice
- Errors to avoid
- Spelling
- Gobbledygook and Jargon
- Poor Sentence Structure
- Wrong Words
- "Sound-alike" Words
- Redundancies
- Too Many Words
- Too Many Numbers
- Too Many Capitals
- Politically Incorrect Language
- Persuasive Writing
- Audience Analysis
- Source Credibility
- Appeal to Self-interest
- Clarity of the Message
- Timing and Context
- Symbols, Slogans, and Acronyms
- Semantics
- Suggestions for Action
- Content and Structure
- Preparing News Releases
- Editors Depend on Releases
- Flyers Aren't Releases
- Paper and Typeface
- "News" Flag
- Release Date
- Contact Person
- Serial Number
- Headline
- Wheeling Steel Appoints Jones To Head Pittsville Foundries
- Health Fairs to Explain Benefits
- Slugline, Continuations, and End Sign
- The Summary Lead
- Handling Quotes
- Feature Style
- Sidebars
- Varied Names
- Research
- What's the "Big Idea"?
- Organizing and Outlining
- How Much to Say?
- Working with the Speaker
- Provide Coaching
- Polish During Rehearsal
- Misuse of Visual Aids
- Evaluation
- Dealing with Brushfire Topics
- Checklist • Ten Tips for Surviving a Media Interview
- Exhibits and Special Events
- Visual Impression
- Traffic Pattern and Lighting
- Furniture and Floor Covering
- Audiovisual Equipment
- Maintaining the Display
- Hospitality Suites
- Catering to the Press. Press Conferences
- Avoid Embarrassing Silences
- How to Issue the Invitation
- Dealing with Journalistic Ethics
- Check the Facilities Representatives of the pr department should make at least one on-site inspection, accompanied by a sales representative of the facility, to check for items such as:
- Offer Helpful Handouts
- Pr Staff Relations with the Press
- Using Radio
- Paid Advertisements
- Public Service Announcements
- Talk Shows
- Getting It Timed Right
- The spot lacks a local angle
- Live Announcer or Taped Spot?
- Psa: 30 seconds
- Psa: 30 seconds
- Television and Cable
- Target vnRs Carefully
- The Story Conference
- Preparing the Script and Storyboard
- Getting on the Talk Shows
- Cnn Provides Placement Opportunities
- Approaching Your Local Cable Operator
- Internet in Public Relations
- International Public Relations
- Culture
- Examples of Legal Problem
- Libel and Slander
- Invasion of Privacy
- Releases for Advertising and Promotion
- Regulations of Government agencies
- Copyright Law
- Fair Use and Infringement
- Guidelines for Using Copyrighted Materials
- Trademark Law
- Contract Considerations
- Client Contracts
- Freelancer Contracts
- Facilities Contracts
- Working with Lawyers
- Ethics and Professionalism
- What is public relations. Definitions ans aims
- Public relations (pr) – Паблик рилэйшнс, связи с общественностью
- Field of study – наука, поле деятельности
- Pr scholars – основатели науки, исследователи pr
- Strategic planning
- Planning and executing a public relations campaign
- Preparing News Releases
- Preparing Brochures
- Meeting – встреча
- Exhibits and Special Events
- Catering to the Press. Press Conferences
- Using Radio
- Television and Cable
- Internet in Public Relations
- Legal Requirements
- Puffery – навязчивая, дутая реклама
- Appendix b what is public relations. Definitions and aims
- Directions and history
- Strategic planning
- Planning and executing a public relations campaign
- Preparing News Releases
- Preparing Brochures
- Exhibits and Special Events
- Catering to the Press. Press Conferences
- Using Radio
- Television and Cable
- Internet in Public Relations
- International Public Relations
- Legal Requirements
- Appendix c public relations’ websites Public Relations Society of America – www.Prsa.Org
- International Public Relations Association – www.Ipranet.Org
- Pr in Press Through Internet pr Week (London) – www.Prweek.Com
- News and Inquiries Sources