Fireworks, Fireworks and more Fireworks!

January was by far the busiest month I have experienced at my internship. I was fortunate enough to be involved in the developed and implementation of the communication plan for a new app, which was released for the Skyworks event in Perth.

 

After the Christmas break I was ready to get straight back into it all. January was full on, but in a great way. I got to experience first hand the process, development and implementation of a ‘quick’ communications plan, where we had little time – 18 days to be exact.  

The goal: To raise awareness about our company’s involvement in the development of a new and informative app developed for a major Skyworks event in Perth.

The app was developed to provide a smart and informative service, allowing users to tap and plan their day at the Skyworks event. The app allowed users to easily navigate around the mobile app, with features including public transport information, road closures, parking information, first aid locations, BYO zones, the best vantage points, radio simulcasts, event program information and specific event locations.

Thrown in the deep end, everything was go, go, go with various aspects of this plan needing to be done yesterday. I needed to draw on my knowledge from media relations in developing a comprehensive media contact list and media kit. The communication plan focused heavily on the development of media kits to be pushed out, content for social media channels and video production including script writing for an online video.

We had two and a half weeks to develop the content and implement these tactics across the various communication channels. I was excited to be involved with it all; however there was a lot of work to be done.  

By this point I had develop multiple media releases so I was feeling good about getting into developing this one. I was responsible for creating the media kit, a brief strategic social media plan, draft content for the social media channels, following up media outlets to ensure they had received our media kits and I also the development of a video script for a two-minute online video promoting the app. 

The media kit ended up getting picked up by the The Voice newspaper and I was so excited when I realised the video script I draft for the short two minute promotioanl video was used, please see the video added in below. 

It was challenging to get it all done in the short period of time we had, but we managed to bring it all together, resulting in a positive outcome. This was a great opportunity for me to see a communication plan developed and implemented in such a short period time. I was fortunate to play a key role in the development of the media kit, writing the video script and developing the social media plan. This was a great experience for me as an individual and I really valued the trust my supervisors placed in me to assist in seeing this communications plan through to fruition.

Until next time.

Brooke

Don't forget to evaluate...

From my three years at Curtin University, I’ve seen the ‘Don’t forget to evaluate’ tab appear in Blackboard every semester. There’s usually an incentive for an individual to complete the evaluation, but it’s just a great chance to help give feedback on the units you studied in that particular semester too.

I’ve been contributing to evaluate for the past three years. But it wasn’t until my experience at Skye Gilligan Consulting that I realised the significance of monitoring and evaluating how successful a unit is, or in my case, a strategy is to an organisation.

Throughout my 20-day placement, I was implementing strategic communications for one of Skye’s

major clients, a two-way radio organisation named The Orion Network. Some of these strategies included updates to the ‘News’, ‘Events’, ‘Case Studies’ and ‘Product’ tabs on the website as well as developing and sending out MailChimp campaigns. These strategies were to promote the organisation’s activities and engage with stakeholders.

But was the communication effective? This was the question in which clients expected to see results and whether their investment in public relations paid off.

Through Google analytics, I was able to select the dates and times, meta-data, specific media sources (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, etc.) and other ways in which consumers visited the Orion website.

From this information, I created tables of key statistics and summarised some of the changes, in comparison to the previous Google analytics report.

The results were incredible! I discovered that the increase in social media strategies had boosted traffic to the website and the duration of each visit to the site was longer.

This was a positive reinforcement of the work Skye and I had completed to increase stakeholder engagement with the organisation.

Although I’ve completed my placement at Skye Gilligan Consulting, I’ve learnt so many new things to which I can apply in the PR industry as well as everyday circumstances.

I’ve realised the significance of monitoring and evaluating a unit, a strategy, a placement, etc. and I’m sure there’s so much more to learn along my PR journey.

So here comes my evaluation…

PR 393 has provided me with a once in a lifetime opportunity to gain real-life experience in the PR industry. My time at Skye Gilligan Consulting was filled with excitement, learning and development and building strong relationships. I look forward to pursuing a career in public relations and I feel industry ready to take on whatever the world of PR has in store for me.