Public Relaions within Finance...

Hi All,

It has been a CRAZY past few months, hence why I have not been able to get on here. But I have taken notes and am still currently in the middle of a lot of the work I am undertaking for my internship. And the bosses are currently in Singapore so I get my nights back!

I am currently doing my prac at Burgess Trading Technologies. (BTT) Not my first choice. My first choice was actually at a fashion agency but that fell through. So here I am doing PR within finance! A hedge fund at that! For those of you who are not overly familiar with a hedge fund, it is basically an alternative investment fund that concentrates on neutral/statistical arbitrage. They aim to “achieve superior absolute returns, whilst minimizing identifiable risks” The director is ridiculously smart, with a very high IQ who designed the software they use that scans the international trading market within seconds. And these guys don’t just dabble with a few thousand dollars! They trade with millions! It’s crazy!

So, BTT is a relatively new organisation with no ‘set’ pr department. The thing with hedge funds is that marketing and advertising is actually prohibited unless it is to do with the client/s. But public relations is not. In fact public relations is pretty crucial at this stage for a hedge fund. I get to work very closely alongside the directors who are the main people who guide me with what they want done.

So far, I have been asked to establish Public relation aims, objectives and goals and to basically identify avenues within the fund that will further benefit from pr. So I have been undertaking copious amounts of research. I must say I was completely overwhelmed when I first started. I wasn’t sure what exactly I was getting myself into… with them not having a set pr department and all. And I wasn’t sure what they would expect from me.. but its turned out to be really educational! My previous pr books (that was i going to sell) have helped me immensely

I am also currently preparing a list of databases for BTT to join in order to create awareness amongst the intended target market, as well as trying to organise the application process for government funding programs. This is proving to be rather difficult as hedge funds are not traditional.

As well as this, I am preparing a client brief as BTT are quickly evolving and are considering whether they should hire a consultancy. Preparing the client brief is really helping me to get a better understanding of the company and is also helping me clearly identify public relation activities that I can assist with.

I am nearing the end of my placement but still have a lot to report so will keep you all more regularly updated.

Thanks
Naomi