Public Relations & Corporate Communication

Introduction

Nowadays, public relations professionals are employed in a wide variety of settings in business, government, and nonprofit organizations. The goal of this course is to develop the creative skills to manage strategies of communication and public relations. This course will help you firmly establish the place of public relations in the company, the Public Relations and Corporate Communications. This course looks at the contribution that can be measured. Participants will put together the entire training course content into an action plan that can be discussed with senior management.

Course Objectives

• Understand and analyze public relations and other forms of business communication.
• Design and manage the image, publicity, and every other aspect of business communication.
• Design and employ public relations and media programs and/or campaigns.
• Be familiar with the global trends and the international standards that govern the industries of both public relations and media.
• Manage the image, publicity, and every other aspect of business communication.

Course Outlines

Day 1: The nature of public relations and how it intersects with media and journalism

• An overview of business communication and public relations.
• The six points model of public relations planning.
• How media and journalism fit into public relations.
• Managing traditional media and electronic media relations.
• Understanding the importance of the audience.
• Establishing objective communication efforts.
• Budget - staff, time, material, and money.
• Evaluating the communication program's success.

Day 2: Press release and news release, international standards

• Media handling.
• Press release vs. news release.
• The art of writing a press release using the 6 C's of communication.
• The journalism code of truth.
• Public relations society in America and its norms.
• PRSA code of ethics and public relations industry ethics.
• Trading between PR international norms and own interests.
• Society of Professional Journalism (SPJ) international standards.
• Public opinion and how to measure it.
• Propaganda models of communication.
• Media handling during the process of crisis management.

Day 3: Business communication and public relations as a part of it

• Corporate communication and public relations.
• Marketing communication vs. public relations.
• The internal audience and employee relations.
• Consumer relations and effective customer relations management.
• Multicultural community relations.
• Government relations.
• International relations.

Day 4: Globalization and its effect on public relations

• The environment's complexity, globalization, and the effect of technology.
• Social media platforms, and how to handle them effectively.
• Multimedia age of business communication.
• Events as part of your public relations.
• The importance of events, types, venues, and purposes.
• Employing events to serve the overall organizational message.
• Corporate social responsibility and how it serves the message.
• Building a supportive community for your core message.

Day 5: Designing a united campaign theme, bringing it all together

• Understanding the core message(s).
• Assessing the need for PR efforts and researching your audience.
• Planning the campaign/program with standards of quality and theme.
• Choosing the best strategy to deliver your message.
• Implementing the campaign/program.
• Evaluating the campaign/program's effect on the audience.
• Keeping the core message in each stage.
• Virtual campaign design based on trainee capacities and professional background.

Day 6: Business development: overview and best practices

• Business development: definition and scope.
• Account analysis and qualification: an overview.
• The new landscape of account management and BD.
• Understanding the buy-sell ladder model.
• Client classification: building an ideal client profile.
• Understanding and working the customer loyalty ladder.

Day 7: The business planning process

• Using the STAR business planning process:
• Strategic analysis.
• Targets and goals.
• Activities.
• Reality check
  • Conducting customer surveys to identify important service criteria.
  • Preparing an account development plan.
  • Building client chemistry with F.O.R.M.

Day 8: Creativity and problem-solving

• The need for thinking skills.
• Mental structures of college students.
• Stages in problem-solving and decision-making.
• The human brain.
• Understanding the two hemispheres of the brain.
• Critical thinking.
• Lateral thinking.
• Mental blocks to creative thinking.
• Brainstorming.
• The six thinking hats.

Day 9: Effective negotiation skills

• The definition of negotiation.
• Some negotiation philosophies.
• The difference between persuading and negotiating.
• The five stages of the negotiation process.
• The critical rules of negotiation.
• The phases of the purchasing decision.
• Establishing the relative importance of differentiators.
• Influencing decision criteria.
• Vulnerability analysis.
• Workshop: completing your negotiation plan.

Day 10: Building and leading the business development team

• Stages in team formation.
• Building a high-performance team.
• Defining team roles.
• The team motivation mix.
• Management versus leadership.
• Practices of exemplary leaders (industry practices).

Writing business proposals that sell

• Writing a typical business proposal.
• Formatting tips and tricks for winning proposals.
• The process of developing successful project proposals.
• Workshop: creating your own project proposal.