APR Tuesday Tip: Quota Sample

Many people confuse this for a random sample, but it's not. It may be representative of your total population, but it's not random and can't be projected onto the entire group.

Front: Quota Sample

Back: A nonprobability sample. Ex. In a school, find 10 elementary teachers, 10 middle school teachers, and 10 high school teachers. Any 10 of each kind.

APR Tuesday Tip: Convenience Sample

Hint: it's called a convenience sample for a reason.

Front: Convenience/Accidental Sample

Back: Informal selection process. Provides nonprobability sample. Ex. Drop by the company cafeteria and ask questions of whomever you find there.

APR Tuesday Tip: Probability Samples

Front: Probability Sample

Back: A scientific sample drawn in such a way that the probability of being chosen is equal or is known. A random sample is a good example.

With random samples, I find people struggle not with providing the definition, but with really understanding it. Random samples can be hard to create. If you stop every third person to walk through your door, that is not a random sample. Those people are preselected by entering that building on that day.

You have to think about the total population that interests you. Do every single one of them have the same chance to participate? 

APR Tuesday Tip: Census

I'm on a research roll with the APR tips. For the next few weeks, I'll highlight different kinds of samples.

Front: Census

Back: A 100 percent sample. Identify all the people in your universe and give each one an opportunity to respond. Especially useful with small well-defined populations. If your universe is under 300, consider a census.

I remember this one by thinking of the most notable census, the US Census. Its goal is to survey every single person in the US. 

APR Tuesday Tip: Formal vs. Informal Research

On the APR exam, there will be questions regarding a number of research methods we use in PR. You'll need to know the relative strengths and weaknesses of each and you'll need to know if it is an example of formal or informal research. Informal research is not bad, or inaccurate, or less valuable than formal research. It's just different.

Front: Formal vs. Informal Research

Back: Formal research uses the scientific method. The easiest way to distinguish is to ask does it have a random sample? And can it be reproduced?

APR Tuesday Tip: Research

From my visits with many APR candidates, I find that research tends to be the most feared topic on the exam. It is a large portion of the questions, but once you start digging into the material I think most PR pros will find this is all things you know. You just have to learn how to talk about them in the right way.

For starters...

Front: Research

Back: Research is the systematic gathering of information to describe and understand a situation; check assumptions about publics and perceptions, and check the public relations consequences. Research helps define the problem and publics.

APR Tuesday Tip: 4 Defenses of Libel

Hopefully, this topic won't give anyone bad "Media Law" flashbacks.

I tackled defamation and libel in previous flash card posts. Today's flash card covers the four legal defenses against accusations of libel.

Front: 4 Defenses of Libel

Back:
1. Truth: the burden of proof is with the plaintiff
2. Privilege: fair and accurate reports of public official proceedings
3. Fair Comment: on public figure
4. Retraction: a full and prompt apology 

APR Tuesday Tip: 5 Elements of Libel

Slander, defamation and libel are all terms we here people throw around a lot. If you are studying for the APR exam, or if you are a recent survivor of a media law course, you probably find yourself thinking "I do not think that word means what you think that word means."

Way back at the beginning of my little APR flash card experiment, I covered the definitions for defamation, slander and libel. Here's a belated follow up.

Front: 5 Elements of Libel

Back:
1. Defamation
2. Identification
3. Communication (Publication/Broadcast)
4. Fault (malice or negligence)
5. Damage (in absence of fault, provable damage or injury)

APR Tuesday Tip: Out puts, takes, growth and comes

If today's title left you head scratching, then you're not alone. I came across the evaluation concept of outputs, outtakes, outgrowth and outcomes while I was studying for my APR. I brought it up in a study session; no one knew what I was talking about. But, because I was a total OCD PR geek when I was prepping for the test, I added it to the study cards.

And you know what? It was on the test. It was on there in that sneaky if-you-don't-know-this-then-you-don't-even-know-they-are-asking-it kind of way a lot of things are on the test.

Front: Outputs

Back: Part of the evaluation concept of out-puts, takes, growths and comes

Short-term results of a piece. Focus is on how well org. presents itself and amount of exposure. Ex: placements or impressions.

Front: Outtakes

Back: Part of the evaluation concept of out-puts, takes, growths and comes

Measure of effectiveness focusing on audiences receiving, paying attention, understanding and then retaining and recalling.

Front: Outgrowths

Back: Part of the evaluation concept of out-puts, takes, growths and comes

Culminate effect of all pieces on positioning of org. in the minds of stakeholders.

Front: Outcomes

Back: Part of the evaluation concept of out-puts, takes, growths and comes

Long-term measure of effectiveness by focusing on changing opinions, attitudes and/or behavior as a result of a campaign.

APR Tuesday Tip: Steps in Crisis Management

Last week, my good friend Dustin Pyeatt came to speak to the OSU PRSSA. They asked him to talk about crisis communications and I couldn't have picked a better person to present on this topic.

Crisis comm is the kind of thing you learn by doing. Talking with Dustin over the years has really helped me put my limited crisis experience in context and figure out what I learned from those crises.

Dustin and I are on the same page about one key thing: Crisis communication plans are BS. I think they are a great exercise, and I recommend writing one at least once, especially if you've never worked a crisis. But when crisis hits, that plan goes out the window. What will come in handy is a toolkit of key information and resources saved in multiple formats that you can access remotely: contact lists for key personnel and media, release templates (not the fill in the blank type, but simple masthead and boilerplate style), remote web server access and SM account passwords.

You can't anticipate the details of a crisis, that's why it is a waste of time to develop a detailed crisis plan. Very little stays the same. Today's APR Flash Card covers that little bit.

Front: Steps in Crisis Management (5)

Back:

1. Determine type of crisis; response depends on type and duration.


2. Assign priorities based on urgency and likelihood.


3. Draft Q&A and resolutions for possible scenarios


4. Focus on what to do and what to say in the first hours.


5. Develop strategy to contain and counteract, not react and respond.

APR Flash Card: 5 Stages of Adoption

The second of three flash cards on Adoption Theory.

Category: Theory
Front: 5 Stages of Adoption

Back:

1. Awareness-general knowledge exists, but lacks details.
   (You've heard of the hoozeewhatsit, but you don't really know how it works or how it might fit into your life. )
   
2. Interest-information gathering.
   (You start seeing ads for the hoozeewhatsit, and some friends are talking about it. You get a better sense of its value.)
   
3. Evaluation-mental trial.
   (You begin thinking about how you might use it, what it might replace, how it could make things easier.)
   
4. Trial-experimental use.
   (You take a hoozeewhatsit for a test drive, maybe borrow one from a friend. You may even go ahead and get one of your own if it's free or not cost-prohibitive. But you're not completely sold just yet.)
   
5. Adoption-continued use.
   (The hoozeewhatsit has stood the test of time. You are fully on board and loving your newest innovation adoption.)

Try thinking back to when you first used Twitter. You had heard people talking about it. Maybe you were annoyed by all the buzz, or maybe you were intrigued. Either way you were in stage one awareness.

Stage 2, your friends on Twitter start to tell you more. They berate you over coffee, preaching the wonders of Twitter. You see Twitter feeds on a few sites, maybe on the news.

Your mental trial begins when you find yourself wondering what you might tweet about, or if the twitterverse could help with this question from work or maybe a dinner recommendation.

So you pull up the site and create an account. Why not, its free. You follow a few news outlets and the handful of friends you can find in the search. You're in the trial stage.

After a few weeks, you get over the initial fear of what to say, you have a small network in place and you can finally see the value. How did live without this? You've hit the adoption stage.

If you're not a Twitter user which stage did you reach before you decided it wasn't for you?

APR Flash Card: Characteristics Promoting Adoption

In grad school, I was fascinated with adoption theory. It's really interesting (no really!), and you can read more about it here. It also makes an appearance on the APR exam. Here's the first of three flash cards on adoption.

Category: Theory
Front: 5 Characteristics Promoting Adoption

Back:

• Relative Advantage-does this innovation do something better than what I am already using?
• Compatibility-does it fit in with my current activities/needs/life
• Trial-ability-is it easy to experiment with it? Can I try it out?
• Observability-can I see other people use it? How does it work for them?
• Complexity-how hard is it to understand/learn/implement?

Think about the latest gadget or activity you really bought into. Maybe it was a different cell phone or a fancy kitchen gizmo. Chances are, several of these characteristics had to come together before you really adopted whatever it was.

For me personally, I find relative advantage and trial-ability are often the most important. Does it work better than what I already have, and is it easy to test it out before I commit.

Which of these characteristics is most important to you?

APR Flash Card: 10 Components of a Plan

There are 10 key components to a comprehensive PR plan. I've found everyone nestles these in a slightly different order within the 4-step process. And, most of us combine/collapse a few because really there is quite a bit of overlap. But for the purposes of the exam you need to know all 10.

Category: Planning
Front: 10 Components of a Plan

Back:
1. Goals-desired end results
2. Audience-groups with whom you communicate
3. Objectives-phrased in terms of audience, outcome, attainment level, and time frame
4. Strategies-how in concept objectives will be achieved
5. Tactics-how to use resources to carryout strategies
6. Activities-specific actions to perform tactics
7. Evaluation-how you know if you achieved an objective
8. Budgeted Items-out-of-pocket expenses
9. Materials-what will be produced or purchased
10. Time Table & Task List-who does what when

If you're wondering about my choice of order, I list them this way because I use the phrase "Great Aunt Olga sometimes tells Alice 'Eat more buttered toast!'" Silly, yes. But 10 items is a lot to remember come test time.

APR Flash Card: Audience

We talk a lot about "audience" but your PR plan needs to define what exact you mean by that.

Category: Planning

Front: Audience

Back: Groups or sub-groups with whom you need to communicate

Consider

1. who need to know and/or understand
2. who needs to be involved
3. whose advice and/or support is needed
4. who will be impacted

APR Flash Card: Strategy vs. Tactic

Strategies and tactics are probably the two most often confused terms in PR. Many people use them interchangeably. While they are very similar, they aren't the same thing.

Front: Strategy

Back: How in concept an objective will be achieved; how you will approach a challenge; devices you will employ; core messages

Front: Tactics

Back: Specific activities that put strategies into operation; how you will use resources to carry out a strategy. There may be multiple tactics per strategy.

Example:

Strategy-Utilize outposts to drive traffic to the blog

Tactics-

1. Install RSS application on Facebook page
2. Post blog entries in Twitter update
3. Post blog entry in Facebook update
4. Post career, APR, giving, and PR posts in Linked in profile.
5. Link back to One Bonnie in comments on other blogs

APR Flash Card: Goals vs. Objectives

There is very little that I can say for sure will be on your APR exam. But I'm willing to go out on limb and say there will be questions asking you to identify a statement as a goal or an objective. There will also be questions asking you identify strategies versus tactics, but I'll get to that next week.

It can be difficult at first to write measurable objectives, I think if you understand the difference, it's quite easy to identify goals vs. objectives on the exam

Category: Planning

Front: Goals

Back: In general terms, what you hope to accomplish.

(Chris Brogan has a post here about setting SMART goals. Simple, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely)

Front: Objective

Back: Desired end results stated in terms of audience, outcomes, attainment level and time frame. There may be multiple objectives for each goal.

Example:

Goal

Increase reader interaction on There's Only Ever One Bonnie

Objectives

1. I will post at least three entries per week in 2010.
2. I will utilize at least two outposts for each entry in 2010.
3. I will comment on at least 2 other blog each week in 2010.
4. Readers will visit the to the blog 10% more in 2010.
5. Readers will comment on the blog 25% more in 2010.
6. I will respond to all comments within 24 hours of posting.

Be bold in your goal setting. I think too often we hold back out of fear of failure.

APR Flash Card: 4 Steps of the Planning Process

This flash card is really the basis of everything we do in PR. It all comes down to the 4 steps. I've heard many students try to smush these into some awkward acronyms, that really just end up confusing what the steps actually mean. There's only 4 of them. Even though I'm a huge fan of the memory tricks, I'd recommend just remembering these as is.

Category: Planning

Front:

4 Steps in a Planning Process

Back:

1. Research-what's the problem, how do we know, do we need more facts
2. Planning-who is the audience, what do we want to accomplish
3. Execution-the "to do"
4. Evaluation- did it work, why or why not, how well, what would we change

APR Flash Card: "Mutual Adjustment" Era

This is the final flash card on the eras of PR (for now). The "Mutual Adjustment" era is what most people agree to be the era the industry is in currently.

Category: Trends
Front: "Mutual Adjustment" Era

Back: ~1950 on

• Post-war era, 1945-65: We moved from a war-oriented economy to a postindustrial service-orientated economy. PR became an accepted and professional organization.
• Global Information Society, 1965 on: Multiple technology communication channels are developed. We shift from a national economy to a world economy. PR focuses on mediating conflict and building mutual adjustment.

APR Flash Card: "Mutual Understanding" Era

Our industry trends began with the "Public Be Damned" era and the "Public Be Informed" era. As we enter the "Mutual Understanding" era, we start to see a shift to a two-way communication model.

Category: Trends
Front: "Mutual Understanding" Era

Back: post-WWI

• WWI period, 1917-19: focused on promoting patriotism
• Booming 20s, 1919-29: shift to promoting products, change, politics and charities
• Roosevelt and WWII, 1930-45: dominated by Roosevelt and his counselor Louis McHenry House

Bonus: Louis McHenry Howe is an important figure in the history of PR. He was Roosevelt's adviser until 1936. He realized that mutually beneficial public relationships could be built only by coupling responsible performance with persuasive publicity.

APR Flash Card: "Public Be Informed" Era

The APR Flash Cards continue with more history of the industry. I don't have a lot of explanation or commentary on this one. It was a relatively brief time frame in the history of PR, but the industry turned a corner here and began morphing into the more information-based industry we have today.

Category: Trends
Front: "Public Be Informed" Era

Back: a.k.a. "Seedbed Era"
1900-1917

This era is characterized by muckraking journalism countered by defensive publicity.