Hi all,
The White Butterfly Gala Event that I have been working on for the Global Good Foundation was held on the 22nd of August and was a great success. Whilst most of my work on the event was concerned with media relations, publicity and sponsorship, I was able to look around the room and identify different areas of the event's management and how everything came together on the night.
One of the first successes that became apparent as I arrived was the attendance of photographers for The West, The Western Suburbs Weekly and The Sunday Times. The event was consequently covered in the social pages of all three publications which is a great achievement for our PR team. The was the result of a process we undertook to attract them to the event and motivate them to attend. Initially establishing direct contact with them was difficult as there are often not direct lines to call and emails tend to go unanswered. The photographer from the Community News was a good example. My emails went unanswered, however an email from the PR Manager was responded outlining conditions for attendance. The PR Manager was quite firm about what we could offer and reminded him this was a charity event and we could not afford to hand out freebies. This made me realise that regardless of whether you require something of the photographer, you can't let them make impractical demands. Furthermore, whilst we required his services, he also requires events to cover and generally the larger and more interesting the event, the better it is for the social pages. Despite the fact we turned down his requests, he still attended and covered the event.
I guess the real underlying lesson I learned from this that sometimes, especially in PR, you have to know what you're offering and what it's worth to the party you're offering it to. In having this knowledge, you're able to judge whether what you're offering is worth what you hope to receive in return. This is perhaps even more important or significant when working for a not-for-profit. If what you're offering isn't worth what you hope to receive, you may need to consider what further value you can add. Similarly, if what you're offering is worth more than you're hoping to receive, then perhaps you are spending unneccessary resources.
I'll continue to post my reflections on my placement as I write my final report.
Thanks,
Lyndsay
3 comments:
Hi Lyndsay,
This is really interesting, as I came across the same problem when contacting reporters and photographers too.
What did you find as the most effective way to deal with them?
Amanda
Hi Lindsay,
Thanks for your interesting post! I found I could relate to your post on a number of different levels, particularly the comments you made regarding media relations and contacting members of the press.
The work I’m doing with the Perth International Arts Festival consists largely of media relations. Although the festival does undertake some advertising and produces a large amount of marketing collateral, they rely heavily on the local media for publicity of their shows and to build a sense of excitement among Perth arts audiences. To make this happen, trustworthy and ongoing relationships with key media contacts are crucial.
The Festival goes to great efforts to develop and maintain these mutually beneficial relationships, ensuring they staying in regular contact, provide free tickets where possible and create opportunities to thank the media for their support. For example, this Friday night the media relations team have organised drinks at the Brisbane to thank journalists from contemporary culture publications including Drum Media, Xpress Magazines and RTR FM.
It can be difficult trying to contact journalists that you haven’t already built a rapport with. From my experience calling has a better success rate than emailing, and it is best identify yourself, be polite and get straight to the point. Once media personnel have had a positive experience with your organisation and were well looked after, such as attending the Global Good Foundation Butterfly Ball, it will be much easier to liaise with them in the future.
Best Wishes, Ros.
Hey Amanda & Ros,
In regards to effectiveness t, I think it's really just a matter of persistence and politeness. We followed up with each photographer to initially invite them, offer them what we could (given its a charity we couldn't offer free three-course meals etc.) and call again to touch base and confirm their attendance.
Thanks for the feedback Ros, I completely agree about the importance of establishing and building a relationship with media contacts. It sounds like the Perth International Arts Festival have the right idea with their efforts to show gratitude to the journalists.
Thanks,
Lyndsay
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