Hey blog readers, welcome back to another P.P. update! Last week was such a stressful week for me, and all of a sudden I remember what it was like to be a freshman and four-week grades were coming out. This was the final week before those were due, and the majority of my classes had some sort of draft, project, or exam due. I thrive from grinding out my work, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t stressful! If you are a freshman reading this, I want to take the time to let you know you’re doing great! If you have any doubts about what you’re in speak up! You still have plenty of time to get things changed to better yourself. Talk to your advisor, your parents – heck email me! I was originally an education major with a specialty in elementary. I changed my major to public relations. There is never a dull moment here, and I fell in love with it. I fell in love with it so much that I added advertising communication as another major and two minors! You are near the end of your first year as a college student, and it can be stressful!
Now that I’m done giving my Freshmeat pep talk, I want to switch topics and enter headfirst into the book I’ve been reading. This book is “Straight Talk About Public Relations” by Robert Wynne. Let me start off by saying I love how conversational this book is. Wynne does a great job of communicating the information he wants his readers to know in a way that feels relatable. He has something to teach, but he does it in a way that we as readers can understand. For a couple of weeks, I will be talking about this book chapter by chapter and what it has taught me! Hopefully, if you are in between major, undecided, or just plain old interested in what the world of PR is all about, this will influence you to acquaint yourself with the industry. I purchased this book because my dream job is to be the head of communications for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Specific, yes, I know, but my point is that the current person in my dream job is to be Burt Lauten. I don’t know him personally, but I look up to him. If he’s reading this right now, hey Burt 😉 I want your job. He was actually the main reason I got the book. He said this book is “An essential book for anyone who wants to understand and learn how to practice public relations.”
In the introduction, it was discussed that advertising is sexy. This is true in my opinion! There is a sort of sexiness connected to the PR industry, at least in the entertainment industry’s portrayal. My favorite reference made in the book was ‘Samatha’ from Sex and the City. If I’m honest, I loved her ability to be a powerful woman who is independent and happy with herself! That is why I fell I love with the communication side of promotion. It talked about using a more subtle approach to getting the message across. In class, I was always taught that PR was to be viewed as “how nice of that company.” It was told to me as a goodwill tactic. In society, PR people are known as flacks or people faking it to make it. This book talks about public relations as persuasion. I love that because I never really thought of it like that. As PR practitioners, we are given the opportunity to make consumers see what we want them to see. The book talks about separating “reality from fantasy.” There are only five chapters but they are broken down into “Public Relations,” “Social Media,” “Content Marketing,” “Measurement,” and “Top Five PR Campaigns.”
I have learned so much from this book already, and I can’t wait to dive deeper! Hopefully, you’re up for the journey of this book and want to hear more! Check me out next, where I will be digging deeper into the first chapter! The title is “Public Relations,” and I’m excited to see what Wynne defines it as!
– Publicity Prodigy