Are You a Sales Person?

“PR is just like sales, are you a sales person?” This is the question my placement boss asked me last week. For all intents and purposes, yes I am. I have worked in high-end retail management for years now. I could probably persuade you give me your bag and then make you buy it back for twice what you originally paid for it. What she was getting at was that a PR practitioner has to sell their pitches to clients and their ideas to management. To do so they have to be confident, knowledgeable, efficient and authentic; just like a good sales person.

Though years of customer interaction at work, I have fine-tuned the art of selling. But what I’ve realised, after studying communications, is the reason I sell well is not because I can manipulate customers into buying things they don’t need. It’s because I do the exact opposite. I help them realise what they do need and then present only options to fill that need. And I do that by asking open-ended questions. In other words, I do my research. 

I ask customers questions such as, “are you shopping for yourself? Are you buying a gift? Is the gift for a special occasion? What is their personal style?” By finding out what they need, I also find out what they don't need and from there I can make appropriate suggestions on products. 

Alike to sales, we have to ask the open-ended questions in PR too, although, we answer them ourselves by conducting in-depth research into our client’s business. Why does the client need PR? What is already working for them? What isn’t? Are they sending the correct messages to the correct people? In public relations, and not just writing a PR plan, research should be the starting point for any initiative. Without research we cannot define objectives because we do not know what we need to achieve. Research is the difference between an idea and an effective solution. In retail, it makes me a sale. In PR, it wins me the client.

Each day is it's own Adventure

Hi everyone, I've finished my internship now but I am using the experiences from the last couple of weeks at The Brand Hierarchy and reflecting back on what I did during that time.

After my experience with the Health and Wellness expo with Jetts Carousel,  I was able to gain a lot more experience in helping organise events and get a better understanding of my role in the big scheme. The week after, I was tasked with researching and approaching local sporting clubs to look for opportunities for partnerships with our client, Jetts. In these encounters, I was responsible for the client's image, as I was the face for the client being the first contact point with their potential customers - which is why it was very important for me to represent them in a positive light. This reflects back on the importance of good internal communications - which I believe was established quite well, having been given an email brief of the morning's activities which I was to complete.

I approached local clubs in the Carousel area - including Lynwood Ferndale Football club, Riverton Football club, and Canning International Football Club. At first, I was slightly nervous about what I would say, and how to act - as I would be going alone - however, I realised that the most important part of approaching potential customers is just to be yourself, and be confident. I believe that I had successfully shown both of those attributes, which allowed me to be more comfortable when working in the field.

Another task that I have been continually responsible for is the sourcing of social media content for our clients (i.e., Sweetlips, Vitacare and Funworks), which I have been doing over the last couple of weeks. This task is slowly becoming second nature to me, as I am quickly able to differentiate content that is not suitable, from content that is suitable and appropriate for the client's target audience. This has proven to be quite an interesting task - and I am thoroughly fascinated by what consumers want, and how that relates back to how our client can use those wants to their advantage via 'touch points' in PR and marketing.

To sum it up - it's been a busy few weeks. I am looking forward to seeing what The Brand Hierarchy has for me next.

Wendy
16159260

Its all over!

Hey guys,

So the Dine for Life experience is finally over! Or so I thought... As many of you probably know the thing with events is it needs a bit of work even after the event is over! But first let me tell you about how the event went down. The week leading up to the event was one of the craziest experiences I've ever had. I hd to take time out of work, university and my entire life was focused on Dine for Life.

Suddenly there was so much to do and organise at the last minute, and if I didn't do it no one would. The two founders Andjelka and Natasha had to fly over to Melbourne during that week as they needed someone over there to ensure that all ran smoothly. This meant it was down to just us interns, many of whom could not get work off before the event. I was in everyday on the phone, emailing, driving, literally running around the city trying sort things out at the venue and coordinate with twenty restaurants and dozens of sponsors. It was stressful to say the least.

The day of the event I thought would go smoothly as I'd be so frantic the days leading up to it, but no there was still so many last minute attacks I was not aware of. The founders were constantly calling asking if I'd done this and that and communication became an issue. Why hadn't i known all this before? How on earth did this run event last year? Anyway, the night came and I was an usher at the door checking off names on a checklist whilst assisting with managing the event. I was constantly on my phone calling restaurants who were unaware of this and that which was evidently my fault.

Overall the night was a success and speeches were made, people were enjoying themselves and most importantly a great deal of money was raised for the fantastic cause. I did enjoy the whole experience, however I often felt overwhelmed and insufficient, due to the lack of experienced staff mentoring me.

My internship last eight months long and it was an grueling yet amazing process. I hope everyone else got a little something out of theres!

Peace and Love,
Siobhan Herne xoxo

An invaluable experience

Before I started my internship, I was positive I wanted to work in-house PR. However, after my time at Go Communications in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia I have learned some important lessons about effective public relations, and I will definitely consider working in a consultancy when I graduate. 

Some things I learned from my internship in Kuala Lumpur;

1. Team work - Throughout my degree, almost every unit has included some kind of group work. I saw first hand the benefits this could have when at the Go Communications office, where my team often brainstormed ideas at lunch or called a team meeting to discuss ideas for a client or upcoming event. The reason this worked so well, was because in these meetings everyone was given an equal say, and everyone’s ideas were considered. PR is often about engaging with a large audience, so interacting with your team - who all have different views - will help you achieve this.

Image - Fradley Croft

2 - Thinking outside the box - One event required my team to get creative for a Halloween-theme launch. This taught me how to bring a little fun into public relations work.

Image - Growing Up With A Disability

3 - Don’t get overprotective of your work - I had more than one idea knocked back during my internship, and this helped me view my work impartially, and edit it without restraint. I think we all get a bit overprotective of our ideas and work, especially when we put a lot of time and effort into it. But to be an effective PR practitioner, I understood sometimes it’s better to step away and try something new sometimes.

Image - Libelty SEO

4 - Think about how your message could be received by a range of people - I think growing up in Australia I have a relatively good idea about how people might interpret a message. For example, when watching the news, I can see a headline and predict how a number of people will respond to it. I now know I definitely took this knowledge for granted, because interning in a different country, I understand you must thoroughly research the cultural values of an audience.

5 - Take advantage of your seniors - As I learned writing my first press release, even though you've done it countless times at university, doesn't mean you know everything. Ask your supervisors any questions you have (It's better to ask too much than make the mistake). They know so much more than you do, and they can help guide you in the right direction. 

Image - Muhsin budiono

6. Don't take tasks for granted - Not everything you're given is glamorous or a hard-hitting press release. That doesn't mean it's not equally as important, you can still take important lessons away from it. And if you do it well, it proves your commitment to the job. 

 Image - The Office, NBC

Image - Smshamma

 

7. Good Attitude - I can't stress enough how important it is to have a positive attitude to everything you do. This relates somewhat to the 6th point, but if you have a good attitude it will not only make the task easier, but it shows in the quality of your work. 

Image - Positively Present

And now I'm back in Perth, and it's almost time to start looking for jobs. I worked with some fantastic people at Go Communications, and I have a wide range of work to add to my portfolio. My internship has not only further honed my writing and communication skills, but it has allowed me to broaden my understanding of PR and how it relates to different countries and cultures. I would highly recommend future students to consider interning overseas. 

Whitney Slater

Curtin Bentley 

It's your values that stand out

Interning in a consultancy, I have had the opportunity to work on a range of projects with different clients. 

One client was a cosmetic surgery company, where I was asked to come up with an idea similar to the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. This was a campaign to challenge 'beauty stereotypes' and give women more confidence and self esteem. Women are one of Dove's key stakeholders, so they have positioned themselves as an advocate for women and women's issues - with a genuine interest in customers' and stakeholders' wellbeing. 

Photo - Kendra McGowan - Dove Real Beauty, PR in Practice 

Building community relationships should be a priority for any organisation, but it can be more complicated when the organisation deals in sensitive issues - such as the cosmetic surgery company. The basis behind this is to put your name behind a solid idea or conversation, which firstly benefits the community, and benefits for the organisation come later. This comes under the category of Corporate Social Responsibility - a topic I have come across countless times in my studies. Paul Portney defines it as:

"A consistent pattern, at the very least, of private firms doing more than they are required to do under applicable laws and regulations governing the environment, worker safety and health, and investments in the communities in which they operate," - The Not So New Corporate Social Responsibility: An Empirical Perspective. 2008. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 2008, Vol. 2(2), pp.261-275). 

My objective for this task was to;

• Define key stakeholders
• Work out what issues these stakeholders are facing
• Work out how to address these issues

I came up with two campaign ideas for the client - both centred around improving life for women in Malaysia. The actions called for in the [proposed] campaigns did not immediately benefit the client in any way - the only benefits they would get was from putting their name behind the cause. I also recommended using local celebrities and well known advocates on the issues to lend authority and publicity to the campaigns. 

Photo - Essential Kids

I based this approach on the BHP Billiton Iron Ore & West Coast Eagles partnership, where BHP funded a number of campaigns including 'Kicking Goals,' and 'Eagles Rock My School.' These engagements show BHP's commitment to supporting the communities they operate in (Giving West, WA Corporate Giving Index. December 2013). By engaging West Coast - who have a strong public profile and community ties - the campaign was better received and had more impact. And the benefits for BHP were that they built stronger ties with key stakeholders, allowing them to operate more efficiently and effectively. 

Photo - Giving West 2013

While I am not sure if either of these campaign ideas will go ahead, it gave me an invaluable opportunity to understand how to implement effective community relations. This brings me to an important point about CSR. Did you know a study by Reputation Institute shows your, "...willingness to buy, recommend, work for, and invest in a company is driven 60% by your perceptions of the company - or it's reputation, and only 40% by your perceptions of the products or services it sells," (Forbes). 

However I think it is important to note good CSR and PR strategies don't cover up bad business ethics. Freeman, Velamuri and Moriarty point out:

"Corporate social responsibility is often about seeming to “do good works.” And, while there is certainly nothing wrong with doing more good, there can be an implication that companies need 

to do good works because the underlying structure of business is not good, or morally neutral. This is a destructive idea—it fails to recognize the central role business plays globally in improving the 

well-being and prosperity of hundreds  of millions of people. And, it can cause companies to act in bad faith and get involved in matters where they have little expertise," Company Stakeholder Responsibility. 

Until next time, 

Whitney Slater

Curtin Bentley 

Building a brand blueprint

During my internship I had the good fortune to sit in on a meeting that was to decide the blueprint of one of the company's brand. My company is a cosmetics and jewellery company and is undergoing some big changes to its branding.

Our Vice President of Jewellery, Perfumes And Cosmetics was leading these changes and had experience leading brand blueprint workshops, so she facilitated the process as the PR, communications and creative people contributed. The objective was to make a comprehensive brand blueprint document that would inform PR activities, but also marketing, creative design, product design, even how it would be sold.

We started with more standard business terms such as what the vision, values and positioning of the product were. But then we started knuckling down to discuss the belief behind the product, or what it's essence or promise was. 

 

It all sounds a little silly, thinking about how a brand sounds, what it says, what its soul is. 

 

What surprised me was how useful such a process was. I had a much better idea of how to write and communicate the brand once I had a better understanding of what it was. 

 

But this was high level stuff. Planning a brand and how to communicate is something I likely wouldn't touch until much later in my career. Strategic PR as opposed to the technical daily grind of media releases and social media writing. 

It was also a shared process, with key people involved in the communication of the product working together. I think part of the problem with promoting a business or a product is that people have very different ideas about what it is and how it should be done. Sitting down from day one and planning this out will likely help lots with this problem.

 

Ultimately, walking out from that meeting I had a much better understanding of what the new spa range was and what it meant for the business. This would let me communicate the product to people better in future and plan PR activities around the product. I think this will result in a much stronger communications strategy overall.

My top three social media tips

I’ve spent a lot of time on social media throughout my internship. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter… you name it, I probably did it! Here’s some tips I picked up that might help you execute a social media strategy. 

 

Be a consistent poster

Social media is not a static tool, it’s something you need to update regularly. I updated each platform once every two days to keep content fresh and different each time a person sees it. I also started a post series called “Pearl Tip Tuesday” and each Tuesday a new tip about pearls and their care is posted. I thought this would be a good way to get a sense of regularity and get people looking back through older posts. It’s been a good strategy so far, and will likely become a great tactic to keep in mind. 

 

A picture says a thousand words

Did you know that including a picture in a Facebook post increases engagement (likes, comments, shares) by 39 per cent*? I was lucky at my company to have a big bank of beautiful photos to use in social media. Almost all of my posts had a picture attached as well, which makes the social media profile much more interesting and varied. If a posts pops up in someone’s newsfeed as well they’re much more likely to look at it if there’s an interesting picture as well. 

 

Prepare in advance

Although social media has an advantage in being current and great for news updates, it’s really time consuming to post every day and it will often get pushed by the wayside when there’s other more pressing tasks. As such, I used Hootsuite to schedule posts to the company’s Twitter profile and Facebook’s scheduling feature to save time down the track. I ended up scheduling three months of posts in one sitting, which was a much more efficient way of doing things. We also posted more recent content from events and media as they happened, to make sure the page also had a sense of currency. It was a good strategy overall.

Do you have any social media secrets? Please feel free to share in the comments.

*7 Powerful Facebook Statistics You Should Know About: http://www.fastcompany.com/3022301/work-smart/7-powerful-facebook-statistics-you-should-know-about

Getting the job & my first week.

Hello! 

This is me, blogging about my first week of internship, which also happens to be my first ever official job. It's all still very new to me, and so is blogging in an academic manner - so please forgive me if I sound too casual. 

First off, since the beginning of the semester, for three consecutive weeks I have been so anxious about getting a placement. I made at least 30 over calls to all kinds of organisations, in hopes they would get back to me before Week 4 comes - which is the deadline for placement approvals as according to the unit outline. 

During the first three weeks, I had never hated the weekend so much in my entire life because that is when companies are not working, which means I cannot make any contact with them at all. Every week I made full use of the weekdays from 8am to 5pm, just making calls, and on the weekends I would mope about not getting a call back. 

I communicated with Lydia, our course coordinator, during the entire time and she was just the kindest soul to help me out with all of my incessant queries - which I am extremely grateful for. I eventually managed to get a few calls back, and finally chose the organisation of my choice - Identitywa. 

The Communications Officer in Identitywa provided me a space right outside her office where she regularly visits and asks how I am coping with the work I've been given. She's nice enough to make sure I am not overloaded with stress, but at the same time makes sure I have been given enough work. She's also very keen with the idea of brainstorming together, and this makes me feel comfortable that I can ask her for help whenever I struggle with a task - whether minor or major.  

My first task at work was to design three flyers in Microsoft Publisher, where one of it needed to be printed out in the next half an hour. It was manageable as I can still recall the in-class practices with the software during PR Techniques, and managed to also apply my experience with digital design from the other units I have taken. 

Besides that, I was also given the task to write several articles. One article was for the in-house newsletter called Identikite, and another for Emmanuel Catholic College's newsletter - regarding a recent event that took place. I also had to write an article on the NDIS and WA NDIS My Way in relation to their latest media release of the Fourth Quarterly Report. I applied my understanding and experience of writing media releases and articles from all the Public Relations units that I have taken in the past semesters. I also applied my knowledge of writing to cater to specific audiences, which is something that the previous PR units and my current Magazine Feature Writing unit taught me. 

I've also been given minor tasks like calling up the house seniors of Identitywa houses (where people with disability under the care of Identitywa are taken care of) to take note of any interesting things the residents are doing, so that I could write an article about it to be included in the monthly in-house newsletter. Those are the things that I have been taught in the previous PR units that I have taken and I am extremely glad that I didn't find any of the tasks a problem. 

And since next week is a tuition free week, I have decided to let my Communications Officer know that I will be coming in on Monday to Friday for work! Hoping everyone is enjoying their internship as well! ☻

Denissa Goh 
15652315

How to make a good impression

Uni teaches you all about the technical skills involved in a PR role, but making a great impression is something you just have to learn from experience. Luckily, I had the ideal opportunity to learn all about it during my internship. 

I think making a good impression is a combination of being a helpful and friendly person, and following standard industry expectations (or exceeding them if you really want to make an impact). As being a good PR practitioner is dependent on building positive relationships, an excellent first impression saves a lot of hassle down the line. It establishes trust and rapport from the get go, and you’re more likely to achieve your organisation’s goals if you can find common professional ground.

As an intern, I’ve learnt several strategies for making a great impression, and I’ll share a few tips with you. 

Media Release Followup

Sending out a media release is always a gamble, but developing a good relationship with a journalist and making a good first impression certainly boosts success. After my supervisor distributed media releases to several newspapers and magazines I was asked to follow up with a phone call to make sure they had received it, and offer an interview with a senior staff member. I thought it was a great way to add value to the relationship between journalist and PR practitioner, as well as getting that media coverage.

Gift Bags

My company as a luxury cosmetics and jewellery brand often sponsors fashion and corporate events. This usually meant providing a goodie bag of samples and marketing material. Packaging took a surprisingly long time, but it was a great way to get in people’s homes and heads. Generous gift bags reflects well on the business, and ultimately sales.

Know your staff

Remembering little facts about everyone’s lives, especially staff can contribute to good relationships. It’s important to greet everyone in a room, no matter how important and to make an effort to get to know them. Having a good relationship with your fellow workers makes a great employee culture which will make an organisation more productive and make workers feel more invested.

Asking the Right Questions

I always felt like marketing was quite a fluff, but PR was something that I liked, the more i ventured in it. The more lessons I took in PR the more i enjoied it. On the contrary, the more marketing classes I took, the more I hated it. Well, when I first joined the organisation, my first task was a huge one. It was to design a communications strategy for the company so that there would be a clear direction as to how to build up brand name, ultimately, how to get more people do dance AND keep dancing.

I recalled what I had learnt in classes and decided to conduct a client brief, where I would question my manager and milk out as much information as I could. What was interesting was that, like many of the other client briefs I have conducted, it was never a one way communication. I feel like many a times, business owners almost never have a clear idea as to why they exist and what they do. Sure they had an idea, if not the company would not have started. But nothing of these sort was written down, carefully thought out and strategically considered. One really important skill to have, I felt, was the ability to ask the right questions.

There were two types of questions I found myself asking. One was the real question, the other would be the confirmation question. Here are some examples from the QnA session that would help us better understand what I mean:

Q: Why is it that the community in Singapore is plateauing?
A: Well, I think it's not as fun as it used to be anymore.
Q: What was it like last time?
A: It was more carefree and it was really all about the dance. We would go out for supper after dancing, and it would be really nice.
Q: Does that mean that if there were suppers, that the problem would be solved?
A: I don't think so. mmm... I think it's the people.
Q: What about the people that makes it no longer as fun?
A: Some people are really competitive and it affects the community a lot.
Q: Does that mean that if these people were isolated, that the problem would be solved?
A: Not necessarily. I think there needs to be lots of fun stuff to take away the focus off the competition. After all, we dance because it's fun. I think it's really all about the fun.
Q: Does that mean that if these people remain, and there are lots of fun events, that the problem will be solved?
A: mmm... I think competitive people will always be competitive. But maybe if we emphasize the fun factor, that it might dilute the effect their competitiveness has on the community?
Q: Does that mean that if we keep telling people that it's all about the fun and not about winning, that the problem will be solved?
A: I think that would help a lot.
Q: Okay so let's say the community has a lot of fun fill events, which can also be in the form of suppers, and there's a conscious effort to emphasize the fun, that the community will start to grow out of it's plateau?
A: Possibly.
Q: Imagine that you're a new person who comes into the community and there are lots of fun events and suppers. Would you stay?
A: Yea why not.
Q: Second scenario. There are lots awesome dancers that are really good (assuming that competitive dancers are good because they compete), would you stay?
A: Yea why not.
Q: Third scenario. There are lots of awesome fun events but not many good dancers. Would you stay?
A: Yea, I don't mind.
Q: Ok last one. There are lots of awesome dancers, but there's not fun events. Would you stay?
A: hmm... feels rather dull, but I might consider staying around for a bit more.
Q: So would I be right that the key factor that is chasing people away is the lack of fun within the community? Not necessarily whether or not people are competitive, but that there has to be a consistent element of fun within the community for it to grow?
A: Yea you're right. That's awesome, we just nailed down something important here.

What I did within this QnA session was to try to isolate the root of the problem by asking questions. I also realized that it was important to isolate oneself from the problem. When I first heard the background of the problem, a part of me assumed that the problem was the competitive dancers. But it was only after unbiased questioning and digging that I realized that it wasn't necessarily the case. This experience has taught me and reaffirmed the way I look at and solve problems. It's been a good time so far!

I hope this experience helps all of us! Thanks! Signing off!

Eugene Wong