Throughout my internship at
Linc Integrated (a marketing and communications consultancy) I have learnt so
much more about PR and its application in the real world. As this is my third
blog I thought I’d give a bit of a run down on some of the more exciting things
that have happened and the new concepts which I have learnt along the way.
One of the most exciting things
that happened has resulted from some work I have been doing for Linc’s client,
AMP Capital (who own Karrinyup Shopping Centre and Garden City Shopping Centre
in Perth). I got asked by one of my supervisors to develop concepts for a
competition the client want to hold in order to promote tickets to watch a screening
of the AFL Grand Final. I ended up coming up with a few different ideas in order to
target children to enter the competition and got quite creative trying to
incorporate sport and Facebook in order to help create awareness.
It so happened that my idea for
the competition ended up being the one that the client wanted to run with! How
Exciting!
Ever since then the team at my
internship got me more involved in brainstorming for clients and coming up with
concepts that address briefs that Linc have been given. Each of the briefs I
have been given usually involve a very specific outcome for the client. For
example, I was given one where I had to come up with an idea that would
increase Facebook “likes” on the client’s website by 5000, within two months.
As I got given more creative work,
I then became known as the “idea woman” around the office and got to be
involved in more team brainstorms and even developing ways to promote events,
such as the spring/summer fashion launch for the shopping centres. I have also
been invited to attend meetings with clients such as Pro Subi to join in on
developing ideas for rebranding Subiaco, and I later got to follow up this
progress a few weeks later. It was really interesting getting to meet and work
with clients and then seeing the progress of the initial ideas develop into
stronger concepts.
I’ve also learnt a lot more about
everyday PR work. In all our units we have to apply the theoretical concepts we
have learnt into our assignments and even pick out in case studies the
application of PR theory. We all get told to make objectives that are
S.M.A.R.T, media releases that must follow an inverted pyramid, frameworks of
communication and how a crisis should be dealt with. But are we actually going
to use this when we enter the real world of public relations?
I’ve found that during my time at
Linc, particularly working in a consultancy, that there really aren’t any
stringent policies inferring that I have to follow the methods of application I
have learnt throughout my degree. The main focus is always on achieving what
the client wants, and this really varies according to the work they require.
I’m not quite sure if it’s the same case with in-house public relations, but I
am sure there would be a strong focus on following the organisations internal
goals and values, ensuring that all work done through the public relations
department really aligns with the organisation itself.
One concept that has really stood
out to me throughout my internship is “PR Values”. And I am very thankful that
my supervisor took the time to explain to me the importance of
valuing public relations work and why it is really important once you are a PR practitioner.
PR Values are essentially the
monetary value attributed to a piece of coverage that has been attained by the
PR team for the client. It is used as a measurement tool for coverage by considering
the dimensions, size and advertising rates. Basically if I gain a column in a
newspaper then PR Values help to explain to the client how much the coverage is
worth, which ultimately helps to determine the effectiveness of PR activities.
I’ve been working quite a bit
with PR Values and have ensured that I regularly media monitor and then
up-date the value of the coverage into the appropriate monthly report. This
also involves making sure I get the circulation rates for the particular medium
so that I am able to determine its advertising value. The PR Value is then
calculated as three times the worth of the coverage if it had of been a paid advertisement.
Check out this article here which helps to explain the difference in value between
advertising and PR.
I do remember hearing something
about PR being worth more than advertising in one of my lectures, but I never
knew there was an actual formula for this!
My supervisor did note to me that
although they use PR Values the formula is more just a way of demonstrating the
worth to clients and that it’s actual accuracy and how it came out is not
exactly certain (kind of fitting I thought considering PR itself is hard to
define by many). But I have done a little more digging into these “PR Values”
and found that it is quite a criticised method as discussed in this article here,
released by the PRIA.
Throughout my internship I have continued to make sure
all coverage gets valued, including online and ensure it is listed by its date,
source and the topic it promoted. This ultimately helps the client to see what
has been achieved and I guess it’s a really good evaluation method as well, particularly to
determine the most effective media for the client and particular story angles, as
well as how effective the consultant has been in attaining coverage. Linc
itself is very much focused on demonstrating results to their clients,
particularly as clients themselves are very orientated towards monetary
achievements. Overall I do think that PR Values are a good method of
demonstrating results in a way that is easily understandable to the client. I’m just a little
unsure as to how accurate the actual method itself is.
In addition to becoming the “idea
woman” and learning about PR Valuing I have also been given a lot more tasks at
my internship, including the opportunity to work on developing more media
releases for a range of clients. This has been really enjoyable, as I love
writing and I’ve got to mark a lot of my work for approval by the client, with
some pieces even getting published! This was very exciting and one of my first
published pieces was a release for Amana Living, a not-for-profit providing
aged care in WA. It was such a great feeling knowing that my work had actually resulted in coverage and that it turns out to be quite a valuable achievement (according to its PR Value).
Well, that’s a few of the more
exciting tasks that I have been given and really enjoyed. Developing ideas is
such a great opportunity to be creative and I’ve learnt that working in a
consultancy definitely provides you with the chance to think of ideas for a
range of different types of work and clients.
Until next time!
Laura x
