10. RUNNING HEAD: THE EXCHANGE’S EFFECTIVENESS RESEARCH REPORT
The Exchange
Public Relations Research Report
Lauren Wire
COMM 451
Public Relations Issues & Cases
Dr. Jennifer F. Wood
Millersville University of Pennsylvania
May 26, 2009
Summer Session 1 2009
11. Executive Summary
Client: University Communication and Marketing Department
Description:
In Millersville University there are a multiple departments with experienced professionals dedicated to
the advancement of the institution. Among the departments, the University Communications and
Marketing is a team of experienced professionals contributing to the social and fiscal health of
Millersville. They are devoted to strengthening the University’s image of their people, programs and
issues by providing communication and marketing solutions that are informative to the internal and
external publics of Millersville. The University Communication and Marketing Department staff provides
communications and marketing services to Millersville University’s academic and administrative offices
by supporting its reputation and identity. Among their many tasks is the distribution of the Exchange,
Millersville’s internal newsletter.
Situational Analysis:
Since 1967 The Exchange has been keeping the faculty, staff and retirees updated with the activities,
accomplishments and issues of Millersville University. Until now there have been no Public Relations
efforts to find out if the newsletter is effective for its readership. We now have the challenge of
discovering if the readers of the Exchange are satisfied with the newsletter’s content, style and
accessibility. Readers of the Exchange are to be faculty, staff and retired employees but the 613 staff
and administration employees have been often neglected. When first established the Public Relations
office required each department to make regular contributions as well as inform the public relations
officer if there was no news Today it is not meeting the original goals of “The Faculty Exchange” and has
resorted to having the staff of the exchange search for stories or receives the information via email.
Beginning in July all of the publications of the newsletter will be available online only and will no longer
be made into hard copies. This will affect the readership for the current employees as well as the
retirees. We need to make sure that all readers know that The Exchange is going to be obtainable only
through the internet and how to find it.
The Researcher has summarized the situation facing the University Communication and Marketing
Department with 11 key points:
Summary Point 1: The Exchange is published for employees of Millersville University and is distributed
every first and third Thursday of each month.
Summary Point 2: Its purpose is to help by “providing personal and family news as well as official
announcements and new about campus events and professional accomplishments
Summary Point 3: When first published the Exchange required each office to make regular contributions
to the newsletter and now there is no requirement
Summary Point 4: The Exchange is to serve faculty, staff and administration and retired employees but
has trouble getting participation from people
Summary Point5: The Exchange focuses more on the faculty than the other publics
Summary Point 6:The collection process for the information for the newsletter is unorganized and puts
too much depends on Janet Kasckos, the public relations director.
Summary Point 7: Janet Kasckos, the public relations director, has too much to be other responsibilities
Summary Point 8:Today the Exchange is not meeting the original goals of when it was established
Summary Point 9: With the budget cut and the plan to “go green” the Exchange will only be available
online starting in July 2009.
Summary Point 10: UC&M needs to make the public aware that the Exchange is going green and
12. Executive Summary—2 of 3
educate them on how to find the newsletter.
Summary Point 11: There needs to be a distinct link and easy access to find the Exchange on the
Millersville website
Problem/Opportunity Statement
The situational analysis shows that the University Communications and Marketing Department has an
opportunity to increase the effectiveness of its readership. The opportunity may be summarized as:
The University Communications and Marketing Department has an opportunity to increase
the effectiveness of their readership by discovering what content is desired and the best way to receive
it. Furthermore it has the opportunity to teach their publics that do not have computers or are not savvy
the easiest way to access the Exchange. Through this change they will be able to establish better
relationships with the readers while pushing the campaign for “go green”.
Literature Review
Next, the student researcher studied secondary research sources to identify past research relevance to
the current UC&M situation. There were 12 significant relevancy points:
Relevancy Point 1: For effective readership of any newsletter, internal or external, it is necessary to be
knowledgeable on the target publics, content and goals of producing the publication (Zappala,2008).
Relevancy Point 2:These newsletters may be an important opportunity to get immediate feedback from
publics, maintain a relationship, increase awareness of issues, or even just create dialogue between the
organization and its publics (Smith, 2008).
Relevancy Point 3: There are ideas and guidelines to follow when aiming to provide an effective
newsletter.
Relevancy Point 4:Being cost-effective, targetable to one’s publics, consistent and timely are only some
reasons why newsletters are often the medium of choice for in internal communication such as large
companies and higher education campuses.
Relevancy Point 5:In the past newsletters have not looked at employee needs but now employees are
central priority (Pavlick)
Relevancy Point 6:A study was conducted to see who was more likely to read their newsletter based on
factors such as status and desire to read about co-workers (Pavlick,).
Relevancy Point 7: Monroe Mendelsohn Research soon developed the Publication Readership
Satisfaction Survey to help measure attributes that readers enjoyed in magazines. Surveys were
distributed with questions inquiring about frequency of reading, magazine memoriablizty and content
enjoyment (Smith, 2006).
Relevancy Point 8: A researcher used interviews to explore the relationship of church involvement and
readership interest for a church publication By using this multi-methodogical procedure the researcher
was able to convey answers for many of their questions they posed (Cannon, 2007).
Relevancy Point 9: Linda Blair addressed the issue of communication in higher education by looking at
communication-across-the-campus efforts and how they can be bettered through teaching material, e-
mails and response to students (Blair,).
Relevancy Point 10: An internal newsletter is to communicate different parts of the organization to each
other especially if it is a growing institute. Getting the information across to the readers is the most
difficult task at hand
Relevancy Point 11: The idea of an internal newsletter is to communicate different parts of t the
organization to each other especially if it is a growing institute.
13. Executive Summary—3 of 3
Relevancy Point 12: The internal newsletters should focus on how the news will affect the employees
and focus on how they fit into the organization.
Research Questions:
Three research questions guided this study: (1) Is the Exchange effective for its readership? (2) Will the
Exchange being available via only the internet starting in July 2009 affect the readership of the
publication? (3) Does anything need to be changed to increase the effectiveness of the Exchange?
Method:
Telephone Surveys were the chosen method used to answer the questions. Specifically, 16 student
researchers conducted a four-day telephone survey on Millersville University Campus. Surveys were
conducted individually by each student, 8 people performing their surveys each evening. A total of 400
people will be surveyed and each student researcher will conduct 25 interviews.
14. Table of Contents
Introduction:
This section introduces the organization; its staff; its mission, values and immediate goals and is past public
relations efforts. It also introduces the purpose and rationale for the project and its limitations.
Background:
This section provides a background of the organization including history, services and its publics. A Publics Wheel is
included in the appendix section.
Situational Analysis:
This section is the situational analysis and is a report on OUR analysis of the situation. It contains a compelling
argument for taking action. It discusses problems, weaknesses and mistakes without blame. It also includes a
SWOT analysis which is also in the appendix section. The analysis does not include any suggestions or solutions for
dealing with the situation. The section concludes with a specific problem/opportunity statement.
Literature Review:
This section presents previous research conducted that address similar problems/opportunites, publics, theories
and methods. This section also introduces the research questions.
Methodology:
This section provides a summary of the research on the chosen methods. It provides insight into the school of
thought behind the chosen method(s) which will be used for the research project.
Method(s):
This section reintroduces the research questions for the study and a description of the method and procedures
used in the data collection stage. It details things such as sample, instrument design, IRB approval and detailed
procedures. Additional information such as the Instrument and IRB will be available in the appendixes,
15. From: Kim Campeau On Behalf Of From the desk of Ronn Torossian
Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2011 3:23 PM
To: SummerInterns
Cc: Kimberly Friedman; Bobbie Lyons
Subject: Thank you to our Summer Interns!
Thank you for all the hard work you have each done during the course of the semester.
You are an eager and talented group of young professionals and we are happy to have had you on our
team at 5W. I have received phenomenal feedback from the staff, and heard that the presentations today
were fantastic.
After much consideration and deliberation we have decided on the group with the best plan execution.
rd
Congratulations 3 group- Molly Kadish, Lauren Wire, Stephanie Tan, Hannah Kwagh, Lauren
Livak
Thank you again for all your help and I wish you continued success in all your future endeavors.
Ronn D. Torossian
President & CEO
5W Public Relations (www.5wpr.com)
888 7th Avenue - 12th Floor
New York, NY 10106
Phone: 212-999-5585
Email: rtorossian@5wpr.com
BLOG: www.ronntorossian.com
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