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The Millersville Exchange

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Millersville University Theme Campaign

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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

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

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.

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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.

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,

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. Congratulations 3

rd 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

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