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Preparing Brochures

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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

  1. Speaking and speechmaking is as fundamental to PR as writing. In two-way symmetric model it is unavoidable, because it presupposes direct communication.

  1. 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.

  1. PR speaking goes through all the usual stages: research, planning, organizing and evaluation. Not a single one should be overlooked.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. The print feedback in form of releases, newsletters, etc are very useful.

  1. Don’t ever forget that several reporters are much riskier an audience, but in the end they cost more than a thousand people audience.