Coffee and Communications

Well, we have come to the end of another term of grad school at TROY, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that these posts will stop. I plan on taking a short break to focus on work, but then I will be back! I have learned so much from this blog over the past few weeks, I have always enjoyed writing but this was a little different than what I am used to. Instead of having to be incredibly formal in every post, I am allowed to write conversationally. It makes talking about what I have learned so much more fun! Speaking of what I have learned, this class has taught me a lot about media strategies! I have learned about the importance of companies and organizations communicating directly with consumers; transparency is very important today! It is also vital that companies have a solid plan in place in case of crises. Even if there is a one-in-a-million chance that this will happen, it still can and it is important for everyone to be prepared! With crisis communication is it importa...

My reading this week talked a lot about tracking ROI, or Return on Investment. Was this campaign worth the money? This can sometimes be hard to track, how can you really tell if something is worth the money unless you make a profit from it? I think it is much more plausible to base success on ROO, or Return on Objectives. These can be a little easier to track the successes, as most will have very specific objectives, For example, a company will not say they want to “increase sales.” Instead, they will say they want to “increase online sales by 15% by December 1, 2019.” These objectives can be incredibly specific, that way an organization always knows when goals have been met and when they have not. Being able to measure the success of PR campaign is extremely important, but it is also difficult. While studying for my undergraduate degree, I had to implement a campaign for a Tuscaloosa thrift store and the hardest part was figuring out how to measure the results. While most compan...

John F. Kennedy once famously said , “When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.” They say natural disasters and other national crises are good for the government. Even though wildfires and hurricanes can cause so much devastation, they boost the economy and, some think, cause people to put more trust in the government. When public officials have strong, prompt responses to crises, the public notices and ratings go up . For example, the former Governor of Missouri, Jay Nixon increased his approval significantly after a tornado struck in 2011, and President George W. Bush’s approval shot up after the attacks on 9/11. But, when the public sees the response as lacking, public approval can drop. In 2006 after Hurricane Katrina, President Bush dropped a significant amount of points because many in the public blamed him for response not being fast enough. Can companies and organizations use c...