What is an SEO news release?Search Engine Optimization Public Relations. The SEO news release is the innovative spin 100 years in the making. Press releases and news releases have been floating around the public stage for one whole century and the times have caught up to it. Technology and fast paced information has forced this innovative change in the world of public relations and news medias. If you want the information to a source within the hour, the Internet is the place to look and the new way of setting up the details is in SEO PR. SEO PR is a new way of integrating a company's information across the Internet by way of media websites. The secret to SEO PR is in the keyword. The least confusing material a search engine produces with their keywords the more attention that search engine will feel. A company can definitely benefit from SEO PR if they can successfully link the new tactics in with the old tactics they have come to understand and logically function within their company. By placing the right material to the right search engine the information can soar through the Internet and be almost instantly visible to the public. The one thing to remember with SEO PR is the press release is still important even if it is 100 years old, which means light, simple and easy to read.
Starbucks on EthicsStarbucks is a large company in the corporate world today and any way they handle a situation of massive importance can affect the structure of their business. They way they handled the 9/11 tragedy in New York was outstanding and a great example of their social responsibilities as a large corporation. Social responsibility is one of the most effective ethical decisions a company can make. When citizens realize a name such as Starbucks or MacDonald's as a massive corporation they believe no amount of economic deficiency can stop them because of some kind of control they posses within the world. Therefore, no matter what decisions they make their company can never falter, according to the public's state of mind. During 9/11, Starbucks employees were told to donate water, coffee and other available products to the injured and those helping (paramedics, firefighters, police, etc.). When the corporation heard one of their employees had sold a bottle of water to a paramedic they immediately told the employee to reimburse them. If they had not done this, the company could have been seen as scandalous and tormented under media scrutiny. Starbucks has a great grasp on their social responsibilities because they reacted instantly by apologizing and reimbursing the paramedic.
Fact Sheet: Pandemic Influenza Company Meeting: November 27, 2006 at 2:30pm Conference Hall 3rd floor. Snacks and drinks provided.
Goals: All Swentry Energy employees aware of risks concerning Pandemic flu. Employees of our company must know how to handle procedures during an epidemic. No employee of Swentry Energy will go unnoticed during an epidemic.
Employee handbooks: New handbooks were written out during planning of Pandemic flu. Some changes have been made concerning the new policies. These will be read and signed by December 1, 2006.
New Policies: All full-time employees must have direct deposit. Those without banking accommodations will use Swentry Energy Inc.’s personal accounts based on contract.
Health Insurance: Full-time employees need to contact Jean Favens at 817.890.6554 to make sure all current information is correct on insurance forms by December 1, 2006.
Vacation/Sick Days: Full-time employees have a “bank” of paid vacation/sick days depending on start date. Vacation days can be counted as sick days. Other employees may trade days.
OSHA Quick Cards: These will be handed out at the meeting. The cards include information of the Pandemic flu, such as symptoms and simple procedures.
Isolation vs. QuarantineThe literal meanings of these two words have a drastic measure of feeling. Isolation is simply the splitting of two groups. You can isolate many things, but the feeling behind the word is alone. Quarantine has a much more harsh meaning; enforced isolation to prevent the spread of something. Usually a public hears animals being quarantined to observe potentially dangerous behavior, and the feeling behind this might feel less severe even if its meaning is much more. To communicate well with anyone in a delicate situation the choice of words is critical. Using the word quarantine could potentially be much more beneficial for a company than isolation simply because of the feeling behind the word and not necessarily its technical definition.
Business ContinuityAT&T recently surveyed businesses about there contingency planning and found that 28% are not prepared for an epidemic, such as a hurricane. AT&T is a company that has constant media kits being thrown around. You are able to find most of them on their web page. Hopefully the information is communicated to the employees considering their expertise on the subject of communication. Their survey was very enlightening on how the rest of the worlds business takes care of their own communicating. The survey found that companies who did not have some sort of contingency plan have incurred damages costing them $500,000 a day and almost $2.5 million a week. Planning out solutions to damaging situations can be beneficial for the company, surrounding communities, investors, and many more. The information has to be communicated to employees of any level and the AT&T survey shows that only 70-80% of the employees have a concept of certain said "plans". To me, the most important company that should have their business continuity in check is my bank. Bank of America is who I have been banking with since I collected my first $25 dollars as a kid. They are always bringing out some new kit of information geared towards their employees and the general public. These kits are fabulous tools filled with promotional value and information. To me this proves Bank of America is has kept up-to-date information on their surrounding cities, states, countries, etc. Last year they became the first bank to eliminate transfer fees to Mexico. The Hispanic community is growing rapidly in the United States. This development is a fantastic idea financially, ethically, and could possibly help many in a disastrous situation; if there is a natural disaster in Mexico families will be able to send money quicker, easier, and cheaper. These kits are also displayed at every Bank of America so everyone including the janitors of the store have easy access to all the concerning information. My favorite part about Bank of America is the fact they have information displayed in Spanish as large as it is in English. America is dying for a taste of culture and I love when companies accept and appreciate that fact.
Homeland Security: Fear itself.9/11 is such a tragic date to be written or discussed in the nature of America today. Americans have been feeding on fear of everyone and everything for as long as fear could be recognized. It seems to be very ironic there is a current war on terror amongst the publics existing today. What is the terror we are fighting? People who fight the media can definitely argue the terror is towards the government, or terror against others, or terror against more terror. The mass media and its main sources need to be very careful how they report the latest developments. Homeland Security have different ways to keep the public minimally informed or give them a sense of security within their domain. A certain approach they tried with the war on terror is a color-coded system of potential threat levels. This system can prepare a massive public panic by forewarning or even "faux"-warning to help inform a large amount of the public to prepare for a threat that might effect the country as a whole. As with any system that seems useless until it actually comes into use for citizens, it gets a particular job done. If that job is just scaring the crap out of the public so it will pay better attention to breaking news, so be it, as long as it grabs focus for the better good. It's just hard to realize that in the back of so many heads people are saying that there just has to be a better way.
Discussion Questions (ch. 6)2. The Ethical and Unethical
RTI/ Community Management Association Inc. was awarded the American Business Ethics Award for 2006. They are a real estate management company which began in Texas, 1983. The company deals mainly with various community housing and company associations.
Venita Benitez, a local (Dallas) contractor, said she witnessed a meeting between Comer Cottrell and Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill in May 2006 where Cottrell was offered a bribe by Hill of $250,000 to support a low-income housing project. James R. "Bill" Fisher, Kevin Dean and contractor Ron Ferguson were also a part of the conversation. Fisher of Odyssey Residential Holdings was wearing a wire from the FBI and recorded the conversation. Many of the parties will not comment on the activities of the meeting, including Fisher. There will be a trial held over the agency's investigations.
5. Companies and CSR
A companies social responsibility is a main factor of the business world. Taking the time to plan out a course of action in how the company is and could be responsible is a great promotion tactic. Every company should be well known for its moral efforts to society, but only a few must shine through to provide safety and comfort in its publics. Many pharmaceutical companies need their customers to understand its responsibilities as a company to provide them with safe and reliable services. CVS/Pharmacy had a line of advertising out trying to cater to the emotional respect of its customers promising that they would be there for every persons individual needs 24/7. This was a way for CVS to show its social responsibility in a better and more efficient type of service. For a lot of companies, like LG Electronics and Starbuck's coffee, use their responsibility to reach out to the public in its time of need. This is the most common use of social responsibility tactics. These companies donate whatever they can afford to help out the communities surrounding its public. These tactics, either through community projects or simple emotional advertising, get the company noticed and will most likely bring in more empathetic users.
History of PRLooking into the history of public relations gives a better sense to the meaning behind public relations as a career and a stable part of the world today. The history of public relations was more like a new type of advertising through communication to the public. American public relations started with the beginning of our government. It was the need our founding fathers had to express new views into the minds of the developing American public. Certain ideas like the
Federalist Papers, the First Amendment, and Thomas Paine's
Common Sense pamphlet. These ideas were very critical to the American government because it told the public how important the constitutional amendments and ratifications were to them.
One of my favorite historical events of the beginning of public relations was the idea that Edward L. Bernays (father of public relations) carried out into the public. This certain event even shows the beginning of propaganda and trust issues dealing with public relations. In 1929, Bernays was working with the tabacco company trying new ways to sell cigarettes to the public even though he knew cigarettes had health issues surrounding the use of them. On Easter Sunday 10 ladies walked down Fifth Ave. in New York carrying and smoking cigarettes showing people, especially women, that smoking in public was acceptable behavior. This historical event is significant because no matter how normal smoking can be to the public it has never really been accepted in whole by society. His decision to place cigarettes in hands of those 10 ladies is a regretable one for Bernays and he never made a public statement about his discourse. The tabacco company has been fighting the selling of cigarettes for decades and has now admitted they are addictive and harmful. They have also began research, with funds, concerning the health effects surrounding the use of cigarettes in society.
When a company or person has made a mistake towards the public to help themselves suceed it is shown in history that the next best thing to do is apologize publicly acknowledging the mistake doing what they can to fix it. There is no reason to hide behind closed doors and move along as if nothing has happened. Take the Red Cross for example. In 2001, after the attack on America, they collected too many donations from the public and ignored warnings from officials, which ended in wasting a lot of donated blood. At first, they hid behind excuses trying to save the face of the company finally turning around and admitting to the mistake publicly. By admitting to mistakes the public has to regain a certain trust of policies but will still trust the views and expressions of the company.
Public relations has helped build the country of America from the beginning and is still doing so. As in every profession it has made mistakes, but it has always seemed to follow through and stretch its wings just a little further. History can help us better understand public relations by realizing the mistakes and rewards that make this profession important and functional in the world today and tomorrow.
PR defined.Public relations is a way to bring the public and companys together with the right amount of communication. The public must be marketed and managed to ensure the correct amount of information was communicated.
What does the public really think?Every person seems to have a different answer to what public relations is and how it is used in the business world. Some people have the right idea but it seems they only have the right understanding when they have actually used or seen it used throughout the business world. I asked three people to define public relations and actually name someone in a high profile job.
First, I asked Nancy who works as a business analyst for Greyhound Lines in Dallas Texas. She believes that public relations has two sides. One side is protecting the policies and speaking to the public without misconstruing the company's policies. The other side is promoting the company to the public. She couldn't name an exact person in a public relations position, but she said it was whoever holds the position of the press secretary of the White House. Nancy agreed with my definition and believed we were trying to say the same thing.
Second, I asked Kaytie who is a server and a lover of words. Her definition definitly shows off that love: "the formation/mutation of facts to conform with ones public image". She named Karl Rove as someone in a high public relations position. She understood my definition and did agree that public relations deals a lot with communication but believes there is always some kind of twist/spin on words within the position.
Third, I asked Jonathan who is a bartender hoping to become a minister one day. His definition had to be broken down a bit. Basically, he said it's what he does everyday he's at work, he gets to know his public and tells them what they want to hear. He couldn't name a particular person who holds a public relations position, but he figured it was whoever writes the president's speeches. We talked about my definition for a while and decided that communication was the best way to keep in contact with your public and sometimes you don't even notice when you are being told what to think.
I'm glad that I talked with these people about the definition of public relations it helped me realize that it's more than just my major, it is a constant within our media and world. Even if the people holding the positions cannot be named by many people in society it does not mean that their words go unheard. I would like public relations to not seem like such a conspiracy and I think people would like to not believe that any more.
