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Mastery Journal Final Entry

As I reflect on the final days of my journey to mastery, words cannot describe the feeling of these next three words, I’ve done it. In this last course I expected to put everything together and present my work over the past year. I am happy to say that although I was right, this class challenged me in ways that effectively polished my communications skills. From elevating my writing style, to learning how to structure a proper presentation, everything I learned this month has helped to bring my journey to mastery come full circle. Under the guidance of Dr. Dobry, I have been able to properly give a keynote presentation that will engage with my audience and present a master level thesis.

            In addition to those key points, I believe one of the most valuable lessons from this course was on the elevation of resume, cover letters, and elevator pitches. It’s very easy to overdo it when creating these essential documents, and it’s even easier to underdo it. Knowing how to find the balance between formality, tone, and personal expression is a key factor in being a top candidate in professional endeavors. I especially loved the video about Elevator Pitches from Chris Westfall. Whether I’m applying at a potential employer or trying to gain a potential client, having a strong resume, cover letter, and including a personalized elevator pitch will help me to stand out from other candidates.

            I plan to continually sharpen my public relations skills and utilize everything I learned in this course and the rest of the entire program throughout my professional endeavors. I will always present myself in the most professional way that I can and will strive to provide top quality services. I will be sure to evaluate my writing as often as I can and stay current with new writing formats when they change. I appreciate all the challenges that I endured throughout this Public Relations Master program, and especially the critiques made by Dr. Dobry to enhance my writing skills and deliver master level work. I send a huge thank you to all of my professors for helping me become a master in public relations.

Reference:

Westfall, C. (2011, December 1). Elevator pitch examples with Chris Westfall. YouTube. Retrieved April 25, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98WlZJqscVk

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Mastery Journal - ORM

The second-to-last course in my master’s program, Online Media Room, has really opened my eyes to what it is to be a top tier Public Relations specialist. I originally thought that this class was designed to give information about different digital press kits and news. After journeying through this course, I was surprised at how in depth and analytical it was. I wasn't expecting to analyze different organization's newsrooms and online media rooms. Additionally, I didn't expect to draft those best practices into my own website. I didn't expect to produce anything that I produced for my client during this class and I'm glad that I was challenged. This was by far the toughest, most satisfying class that I endured throughout my master’s program.

One of the most important things that I learned in this class is the integration of my capstone client page. Building the page and having it flow in a professional way has already garnered more attention and engagement to my site. Furthermore, the creation of the capstone snapshot was a good feat. Scripting and presenting a keynote were something that I didn't prepare for initially when I first started a year ago, but I'm glad that I can add that to my repertoire. The Online Media Room by David Meerman Scott is another staple from this class. I have the 9 pages taped to my wall as a constant reminder. Content is everything when promoting and campaigning and using it in the best ways that target specific audiences is the recipe for success.

Overall, Online Media Room has given me a great foundation and I will utilize all the best practices that I learned. I have already updated parts of my website, adding additional SEO, Keywords, and page breaks by mixing in different content. My campaigning for my capstone client is getting more successful by the day and becoming Creative Director at Legacy Music Co. is a success that I wear proudly. I will continue to grow and provide the best services available throughout my career as a Public Relations professional.

Reference:

Scott, D. M. (2005). Online media room best practices. davidmeermanscott.com. Retrieved March 23, 2023, from https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/hubfs/documents/online_media_room_best_practices.pdf

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Reputation Management Strategies Mastery Journal Entry

I originally thought that Reputation Management Strategies was going to provide information on what and what not to do regarding business management practices. I also thought that this course would be more lectures driven and direct. RMS to me, was going to be about maintaining a positive outlook on your business and how to utilize a good reputation to attract future clients. I am happy that I had these thoughts going into RMS because I was immediately surprised by how different this course was. This month's class touched on information I have never thought about, and I have gained an immense amount of knowledge through researching and doing the provided assignments.

One of the most important things I have learned from RMS would have to be implementing what experts define as good reputation practices. It’s amazing to see how different results can be when following best practices and defining a reputation by experts’ analysis. According to Elliot Schreiber Ph.D "Companies with better reputations tend to do better financially, recruit and keep the best people, and lower their cost of capital." (Schrieber, 2011). Learning that reputation can't be controlled, but your branding can, has shifted my thought process on reputation management altogether. Proper business etiquette will go a long way for a company's reputation. As branding and marketing becomes more important due to competition, it is imperative to have a strong foundation and let that drive reputation.

Utilizing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is beneficial to a company’s Online Reputation Management strategy in many ways. Not only can it be used for monitoring and analyzing, but it can be used in conjunction with the building of a dark site in case of a crisis. Although shorter keywords aren’t ideal for a saturated market, they can be paired with longer tail keywords to be given a broader range close within the desired results. This strategy is most effect for my Capstone Client, Legacy Music Co., because they are a smaller, growing company, in a competitive market. Also, utilizing some “trending” keywords has already made progress for LMC’s site. Like the examples given by Ramona Sukhraj in, “The 3 Types of Keywords That Can Get Your Content Found Faster”, “Another simple strategy to get your content ranked on Google quickly is to target trending topics or current events (what our friend David Meerman Scott would call "Newsjacking.")”. (Sukhraj, 2022). Only after taking this class, I realized how many companies do this and how if used in a proper strategy, “Newsjacking”, can yield effective results.

The Crisis Communication Plan is the most important topic I learned this month. It was very challenging and made me not only audit my own business, but it led me to bring awareness to my Capstone Client who doesn’t have one of these. It also makes me wonder how many companies are missing this vital part of their business structure. Being preemptive and proactive by having a Crisis Communication Plan in place will lessen the load of Crisis Management if an event were to occur. The better part of this whole experience is that I have a successful document to present to Legacy Music Co. at our next meeting. The continued value I am adding to LMC is both fulfilling and humbling. In the case of a crisis for my capstone client, we now have a chance to have a better outcome than before. Utilizing Gerard Braud’s recommendation of the 5 Key Steps in a Crisis Communication Plan is also a plus that I have implemented for my Capstone Client. Using these will grant much success, especially step number 2: “Every organization should have a living crisis communications plan. It must be detailed enough and specific enough to tell the crisis communications team each step they must take, who specifically does each task, how fast the task must be completed, and it must have directions so simple and clear that anyone who can read would be able to execute the plan. "Living" means that it is updated on a regular basis. No plan should be static.” (Venafro, 2022)

Overall, these three concepts were what I found most valuable during this course. I plan to continue to use these practices to enhance my business and every collaborative effort I am a part of. I am pleased to advance through RMS and add these new skills to my repertoire. This journey to Mastery has been one of growth and professional development, and I am thankful for the experience.

Reference:

Schrieber, E. (2011, April 7). Defining reputation management and why it's important. YouTube. Retrieved February 25, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YT47XdKfjM&t=1s

Sukhraj, R. (2022, July 18). The 3 types of keywords that can get your content found faster. IMPACT Inbound Marketing Agency. Retrieved February 25, 2023, from https://www.impactplus.com/blog/get-content-found-faster-in-search-engines

Venafro, E. (2022, August 24). Crisis communications: An interview with Gerard Braud. Omnilert. Retrieved February 25, 2023, from https://www.omnilert.com/blog/crisis-communications-an-interview-with-gerard-braud