I'm now a qualified Database Diva

In my third week at PPR I did a lot of first point research to make different data-bases on which PR plans can be based. The first was for one of the PPR Manager’s, Nicole, who asked me to research all the different charity events that were going to/had happened in the  Perth metropolitan area over 2014. 

This list involved events such as:

• Movember
•  Relay for Life
• The World’s Greatest Shave
• Earth Hour
• HBF City to Surf... and so on 

This list was going towards helping a pro-bono PR plan for Breast Cancer Care WA, who last year raised over $420 000 on Purple Bra Day. The stages of research the PR consultants, assistants and account managers go through for every single PR plan really demonstrates how much time and effort and most importantly ACCURACY is needed in the research and planning stages of a strategy.

I also helped create a database for a potential new client of PPR’s, a biotechnology company. As the first client of its kind for PPR a database for all the journalists, editors and media outlets, which published stories on biotechnology, had to be collected. First off I did some basic Internet research to see what I could manually find, and then used a special website, Medianet, which had special search functions, where one could find all the biotechnological journalists across Australia. This website has a membership fee, but it would be a huge advantage when building up a media database for a new type of client for any PR consultant.

The last database type work I did in week three was to create a public reference group for an art piece that was to be resurrected by a property development group, following a controversial development plan being approved by the state government. The development company wants to keep all its stakeholders on side by involving them in the decision making process. I had to identify potential stakeholders, such as local historians, local politicians, local artists and local academics and find the best person in the community to satisfy each category of stakeholder. This was actually a really interesting job to do, I read about some local history, looked into community newspapers, local school newsletters and so on until I found a potential number of people to form this reference group. I included in reasons why I chose each person and that document ended up being passed over to the development company for consideration.

I really found my feet in week three, I cant believe my time at PPR is almost over! Its been such a learning experience and a confidence boost. I feel like I’ve learnt more in the last three weeks, than the last three years at uni!

Until next time,

Casey