It's my second week at working as an intern at the Web Design Firm and so far, i am having a ball!
I have already had a lot of PR experience either writing there company newsletter, media releases regarding products being launched and updating their company blog.
I don't know about anyone else, but when it comes to IT, i am in way over my head! The IT language is harder than learning Italian or Chinese and although for most of the time i sweetly smile and nod when they ask me to write copy for them, i suddenly realised i had to learn... and fast.
I have recovered from the disaster Email which almost saw me gone, and when the Boss came in on Monday and asked me to write the website content for a well known Japanese restaurant in Melbourne, i was delighted! And then i was confused about who the restaurant were, and then i was panicked!
Quickly looking up the restaurant and reading their famous reviews from critics who have come far and wide to eat at the prominent restaurant, i began to write.
I began with the ABOUT US section and it was then that i realised that i had never even visited the restaurant, i knew nothing about the dishes they served, nothing about the chefs who worked there and absolutely Zilch about how to even write copy for a website.
After searching other Japanese restaurant websites in and around Perth, i started to get an idea about how i thought this client would like to be portrayed. It took about an hour or two, but once i had completed the content, the client was happy with what i had written, which in turn made the boss thrilled and i was chuffed!
So although at first i was anxious and clueless about copywriting, i ended up relying on my writing and PR skills to promote the restaurant. It was a success- thankfully.
Until next time...
Holly
4 comments:
Hi Holly,
I was really sorry to read about your disaster email few days back. Im glad you have recovered from it and you are having a ball at your internship. Its good to see you did not take the mistake to heart, but learnt from it and gained back your confidence after writing a successful piece on this restaurant.
You have brought up an interesting topic, writing for the unknown, and I believe how you tackled it was the best way. Ofcourse, it is always easy when we are asked to write about familiar stuff, but often we are asked to tread on unknwon territory. When this happens, it is always good to see if you have any way you could get first hand experience, like maybe visiting the restaurant in your case. But I dont think it is an easy task right? U being based in perth, the restaurant in Melbourne. You did the next best thing... which tells us the most important aspect of PR writing (or any writing) for that matter - RESEARCH.
Research is the prelude to writing. If you don't have first hand experience in what you are writing about, you can telephone, email experts in the field to know more about your subject matter, or else if you have time, try interviewing people on getting their opinion, in this case, like what you did with famous reviews and critics about the restaurant, and also make use of our most friendly source of research www or the internet. As PR students who are doing internship module, I dont think I have to stress the importance of this and how this could be done:D...
I too once had such a problem, the unknown territory. However, I too overcame the problem doing exactly what you did... researching about what others said about the matter and looking into what others have written on similar matters to get the idea. As a person who loves writing, my motto is there is no such thing as writing about what you know, but its all about knowing what you write. hehe.
Congrats again on your successful copywriting. Good luck and have fun at your internship.
Tc and best rgds
Imaan
Hi Holly, wow you certainly have had an interesting time!! Having now started my PR internship as well, I know exactly how you must have felt with the whole email fiasco. It is definitely hard to know when to get things checked off with supervisors and when you need to take the initiative and get on with it. I have noticed that I am becoming increasingly independent as I am finding that before I was asking questions that really I could have answered myself. But I was doing it because I was so worried about doing something wrong!!
I found your blog about the restaurant writing really interesting. As I am working for an NGO, I know about my organisation, who they want to reach and what they want to say. I can imagine that it takes a lot of creativity and research to come up with what you have. It sounds like you are really benefiting from being thrown into the deep end as well.
Good luck and I look forward to reading more!!
Elise
Hi Holly,
When i read your post, it reminded me of when i first started, it was the second day of work and my manager ask me to call a list of media to see whether the journalist received the media release for the new Nike sports line. My manager quickly briefed me on it and i confidently began to call the media. The first few calls went smoothly, however, a journalist soon began to ask me more questions about the new Nike line and how it looked like and i panicked, because i didn't know. I sounded confused and i felt that was very unprofessional of me.
In this case, i had to think fast and inform the journalist that i will call them back to confirm they're questions later. In order to avoid making the same mistake, i now read the media release we send to the media and i make notes in case questions are asked about it.
Writing about the unknown is difficult, making calls about the unknown is even worse, so it's always important to go just research about everything and be prepared,like what you did Holly, it's crucial to find out the unknown to ensure that the information is always accurate!
Jess B.
Post a Comment