#2

I think the two key points to remember from this week's readings were:

1. Mission and Vision statements
2. The execution of public relations strategic planning

The mission and vision statements represent the foundations of public relations strategies and the concrete execution of public relations strategic planning builds upon the foundations which were laid upon right from the start.

The readings made me think more about public relations theory/practice in that in order for any Public Relations initiative to be successful, the basic foundations should be well-set, paving the framework for future strategic planning developments. As such, I believe that the mission and vision statements, or what I’d like to call as the “objective setting”, is the cornerstone of any PR planning.

With that, the objective setting process should be taken seriously, and not with a pinch of salt. Also, specific aims and goals should be set. Setting general objectives will only make the aims vague and unclear. By setting clear, realistic goals, it gives the PR personnel/company a distinct direction to work towards.

It could be said that the objective setting process (setting of the mission and vision statements) determines the success of the entire strategic planning. The importance of objective setting is crucial, but the actual PR strategic planning should not be neglected. Substantial amount of effort and hard work is also needed in the arena of Lester Potter’s (1997) “ten-step strategic communication plan”, which involves “executive summary, communication process, background, situation analysis, main message statement, stakeholders, messages for key stakeholders, implementation, budget and monitoring and evaluation.” Only if the strategy planning builds upon the foundations which were set prior to the developmental process, then the initiative can be considered successful.

It is widely believed that the recognition of a company depends on its profits, and their potential to generate profits. Personally, I feel that it is the interpersonal relationships and human elements/ extra services that a company is able to provide which creates its reputation. It is not how much money a company can make which people can remember, rather, it is the genuine and sincere relationships they have with the company. And these memories of people build the reputation of a company. This becomes increasingly critical in the Public Relations aspect, as much emphasis is based on interpersonal relationships.