In looking back over the course of the semester, CAP 220 (Fundamentals of Public Relations) has taught me a slew of information that I had little knowledge on prior to joining this course. Reflecting on different thoughts I had about Public Relations, I had gained some information from one hundred level courses during my freshman year at Grand Valley. These courses gave me a touch of what the field would entail, but there will still a lot of unanswered questions that I hoped to gain when entering this course. Defining PR now, I would still use a similar definition that was asked of us in the beginning of the semester. The difference now is knowing the background and all the smaller details that are behind the actual process. As it was a lot more complex than expected, all these pieces throughout the semester helped to build a strong understanding.
In reference to my first blog post of the semester, “this allows for intensive research to piece together a puzzle that you work to solve” (Asoklis, 2019, para 1). This statement consists of so much more than what I expected despite my thoughts of research. As research is a key component in PR, there are so many more pieces in addition to just research. Understanding your client and creating different solutions for them that is feasible, along with guiding them for the best success in their business is a huge part as well. Learning how to create strategic solutions that have evidence and background to support them will set the client up for success. PR professionals strive daily to get the best outcome for their client, but understanding and measuring the success is another key factor.
The evaluation process of PR sets the client up to implement all the different pieces of the plan from research and measure the objectives to determine the success. This semester I gained a strong understanding that not all of your outcomes need to be 100% to determine success. Success can be found from follow up in the evaluation, but knowing what was gained and how future studies can improve is a key component. As all professionals strive to give their client the best possible plan, knowing how to interpret and measure is a crucial piece. Understanding that measuring success is not just by the numbers, but the gain in development throughout the business and with their partners is important.
Overall, the different pieces taught in this course has changed my perspective on the overall view of PR. As one striving to be in the industry in the future, using the tools provided in the course will help guide me in the rest of my college career and my potential career. Using these tools provided to create conduct intense research, create first hand statistics, budgets, and plans for execution will help me thrive as individuals in the field. As so much more is part of the process than I expected from the beginning, this class was able to immerse me in a whole new world of knowledge. I have gained strong appreciation for the field, as it has allowed me to understand how PR professionals think as one aims to create the best outcome for the client.
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