Public Relations

Course Description
Upon successful completion of this course, students will have a basic understanding of the purpose, principles, and practice of Public Relations (PR) both as an independent discipline and as an integrated part of the complete marketing mix. A contemporary overview of Public Relations concepts as well as local and international business environments will be assessed using practical case studies. It will be emphasized that each student has and will come into contact with Public Relations techniques throughout his or her life and that understanding this field will be to one’s benefit even though he or she may not use it directly in his or her field of work. Student will create a real PR Campaign proposal for an existing organization to further enhance their knowledge of this field. A wide variety of public relations techniques and operating areas are examined including Media Relations, International PR, the PR practitioner’s role, Content Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), for example.

Course Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to :
–Demonstrate understanding of how and where Public Relations fits within the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) concept to understand and to be able to use PR terms and concepts;
–Explain how PR practices are used by various organizations to adapt to change, manage competition and conflict, and forge mutually beneficial relations with diverse organizational stakeholder publics;
–Practice specific PR writing skills including writing a Press Release and creating an Advertorial;
–Understand the role of ethics within PR based on specific case studies;
–Practice presentation skills and the ability to explain the studied topic to peers;
–Apply various theories of how active Publics form and how Stakeholder Publics can be identified and worked with to achieve goals; –Explain and demonstrate creativity and understanding of the concepts in an in-depth Public Relations Campaign Plan;
–Demonstrate understanding of the new trends in PR utilized on the Internet, social media and how they have affected traditional marketing and advertising trends;
–Comprehend how PR is practiced in reality due to shared experiences from an invited guest speaker;
–Apply the so-called circular four-step public relations process to create a campaign plan for a specific problem. This includes: identifying the key public targeted; properly writing campaign objectives; creating the essential campaign message and executions; creating a media plan to carry the campaign;
–Understand and discuss the implications of what is now being called a major paradigm shift
—the impact of new media/social media—in public relations and marketing, including Content marketing.