PR budgeting & writing

1. PR budgeting & writing • BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE • Human relations in business communication: the absence of non-verbal cues and the lack of immediate feedback make a letter a ‘cold’ form of communication. With written communication you have to take into consideration the receiver very carefully. • Style in Business correspondence • Effective letter style is interesting, inconspicuous, and clear to read. The following points must be considered: • Choice of words

2. Emphasis • Clarity • Avoiding clichés • Conciseness • Voice • Tone • Layout and format • Salutation and ending • Reference line Refer to sample letter in guide

3. The memorandum (Memo): is as a reminder and is the counterpart of which is a telephone message. This has become very popular over the years which generally provide information. This could be referred to as letters that is circulated within a company. A hand written memo needs no signature but a typewritten one benefits from some form of authentication such as the author‘s initials. All correspondence reflects the overall PR image of the sender. Before you send out or evaluate an incoming letter you should check on the following: • Justification: why exactly are you sending or receiving this message. • Goodwill: are the elements in the message giving the company a value beyond what it sells or offers? • Relevance: does the letter satisfy the needs of both the sender and the receiver (or the companies of the sender and the receiver)? • Accuracy: is the information correct? • Clarity: Is the message unambiguous? • Presentation: does it reflect a good corporate image of the company? Refer to sample memo in guide

4. Budgeting • Budgeting is important in every area of life and in PR it is important to ensure a proper budget is drawn up to ensure that the project will enjoy the best possible expertise. This will enhance the PR practitioner and the company/ client. The PR programme should be scrupulously budgeted so that both client and consultant know what is going to be done and what it will cost.

5. Reasons for budgeting: The following is imperative: • To learn what it costs to carry out a Public Relation programme. • Alternatively, to learn what sort of programme can be carried out for a given sum of money. • Having agreed upon a programme and its expenditure and over-expenditure, it is necessary to spend as planned as it is to control excessive expenditure. • The budget sets a discipline for both expenditure and over-expenditure, for it is as necessary to spend as planned as it is to control excessive expenditure. • After completion of the campaign, results can be measured against the budget (as well as against the programme itself) to consider whether too little or too much was spent and whether individual allocations for particular activities were correct.

6. PR Department and Consultancy Budgets The only difference between budgets for Public Relation departments and Public Relation consultancies is that the latter must include a profit. There are five elements of a Public Relation budget: • Labour • Office overheads • Materials • Expenses • Computing charges Refer to sample budgets in guide