Trust me, 100 calls is a lot.
A while ago, Student Edge asked me to compile a list of the top 100 high-schools in WA based on student numbers. I needed to work on a spread sheet- good old excel- and find all the phone numbers and other relevant information needed to contact each and every school to get the email address of the year 12 student coordinators.
The reason being was we needed to book school presentations during assembly to speak to the students about both Student Edge and the RAC free 2 go program. Student Edge aims to be very closely affiliated with students so the majority of their promotional work needs to put them in direct contact with their publics. In this case: students, teachers and parents.
I basically sat in the peace and quiet of the empty board room for a couple of days just making calls the entire day. It took me ages considering how long it takes some schools to take you off hold so you can speak to a receptionist. Most people were really nice and gave me emails and full names right away. I had a couple of issues with a few private schools but we got there in the end!
After the list was completed, the member services coordinator sent off a bunch of emails to all the coordinators explaining who we were exactly and what the presentation would be about.
Apparantly Student Edge does this every year but many schools need a refresher in remembering the organisation.
Making the trip to present to schools isn't usually my job as the PR and marketing intern. There are a few promo people who get paid for this exact purpose. I tagged along for the first presentation we booked anyway, just to see what its all about. It didn't turn out too bad but as it was everyone's first presentation it was a little awkward.
This was back in the day when RAC was quite happy with Student Edge...but I now hear that the relationship has turned a little sour. I'm pretty certain this is because RAC had unrealistic expectations from us from the get-go. For example, during uni O-days the promo crew from Student Edge were representing RAC free 2 go. They needed to sign up a bunch of new members but could never reach the benchmark that RAC expected. This went on for a while and had a few people from the office who were managing the relationship really stressed out. Eventually RAC stopped the Student Edge/Free 2 go promo strategy.
I'm not too sure how this was handled from the CEO's perspective, but I think that clearer communication was needed here to ensure both organisations understood each others goals and expectations.
Hope everyone is enjoying there internships. 4 more weeks of semester left, I cant believe how fast it's gone this time round!
A while ago, Student Edge asked me to compile a list of the top 100 high-schools in WA based on student numbers. I needed to work on a spread sheet- good old excel- and find all the phone numbers and other relevant information needed to contact each and every school to get the email address of the year 12 student coordinators.
The reason being was we needed to book school presentations during assembly to speak to the students about both Student Edge and the RAC free 2 go program. Student Edge aims to be very closely affiliated with students so the majority of their promotional work needs to put them in direct contact with their publics. In this case: students, teachers and parents.
I basically sat in the peace and quiet of the empty board room for a couple of days just making calls the entire day. It took me ages considering how long it takes some schools to take you off hold so you can speak to a receptionist. Most people were really nice and gave me emails and full names right away. I had a couple of issues with a few private schools but we got there in the end!
After the list was completed, the member services coordinator sent off a bunch of emails to all the coordinators explaining who we were exactly and what the presentation would be about.
Apparantly Student Edge does this every year but many schools need a refresher in remembering the organisation.
Making the trip to present to schools isn't usually my job as the PR and marketing intern. There are a few promo people who get paid for this exact purpose. I tagged along for the first presentation we booked anyway, just to see what its all about. It didn't turn out too bad but as it was everyone's first presentation it was a little awkward.
This was back in the day when RAC was quite happy with Student Edge...but I now hear that the relationship has turned a little sour. I'm pretty certain this is because RAC had unrealistic expectations from us from the get-go. For example, during uni O-days the promo crew from Student Edge were representing RAC free 2 go. They needed to sign up a bunch of new members but could never reach the benchmark that RAC expected. This went on for a while and had a few people from the office who were managing the relationship really stressed out. Eventually RAC stopped the Student Edge/Free 2 go promo strategy.
I'm not too sure how this was handled from the CEO's perspective, but I think that clearer communication was needed here to ensure both organisations understood each others goals and expectations.
Hope everyone is enjoying there internships. 4 more weeks of semester left, I cant believe how fast it's gone this time round!
1 comment:
100 phone calls, that’s a lot of dialling! What a great opportunity for you to work on your phone manor. I think being able to engage people via phone is an essential tool for PR and now you must be a pro! I’m lucky to be doing a double degree in journalism so I’ve done my fair share of dealing with people who don’t want to give your call the time of day. I think it comes down to how you word the idea you are presenting e.g I’m not a student journalist, I’m a reporter from the Western Independent (that little cherry saved me hours of being hung up on!). I’ve also learnt from my internship at Magenta is that the office phone never stops ringing. The agency run national campaigns from Perth so communicating and pitching ideas particularly to the media is a big part of their business, most of which happens via phone. Yesterday my boss made a call and within 2 minutes had managed to score a segment on Weekend Sunrise for a client; that’s amazing brand exposure and all from her office chair the day before the show! So after all your wheeling and dealing on the line, just think of how great you’re going to be at hooking people to call you back :)
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