Research and Writing: Two Pillars of PR

Friday, July 10^th 2015

I am back on the blog after 7 days of interning at Clarity and I am really enjoying it!  The first few days I was busy researching various opportunities for the firm, including a ‘reverse brief’ to be delivered to a property client who was looking to repurpose their CBD office building. For those who are unaware of what this is, as I was until it was explained to me, a reverse brief is when external agencies are asked to provide the client with an indication of their understanding and interpretation of the brief.  One of Clarity’s campaign strategists had suggested the prospect of co-working space, so my research involved compiling a document detailing the opportunities for co-working spaces in Perth, existing spaces and creative ideas to be given to the client.

My other tasks involved assisting members of the strategy team in researching topics such as niche foodie publications for a food truck event, the battery industry for an energy firm entering the Australian market and Scottish social media communities and publications in Perth for a potential event job. I was also invited to provide my own creative ideas for some client work, such as putting together itinerary suggestions for Celebrate WA’s WA Girl Abroad trip in which a girl from Perth had won a trip to London to represent the state as part of their #WADay campaign earlier this year. You can see what Celebrate WA’s WA Girl Abroad got up to on her trip here.

Through interning at Clarity I have developed a greater appreciation for research, as I have seen first hand how vital it is to the work of a communications consultancy. Research provides consultants with a strong understanding of each client’s business, competitors, customers, opportunities and threats, thus ensuring the services delivered are of value and relevance to the client.  So, although some may find research a little dull, I felt that my work was providing valuable insight to the strategy team and provided information that could be used in the development of strategies and pitches to clients.

I also got the chance to do some writing, an area that is of particular interest to me. I was asked to shadow the writing of two media releases for Kentz, an international engineering solutions firm. This was an exciting task for me, as I was able to compare my writing to that of an experienced public relations advisor. The subject of both briefs was technical, but I enjoyed the challenge and the feedback provided to me upon completing the two media releases was invaluable.

To top it all off I got invited to write a blog post about a topic of my choosing to be published on the Clarity blog, A Moment of Clarity. This was a fantastic chance for me to showcase my writing style and creativity to my supervisor. I also knew that my blog post would not only be reflecting upon myself, but also the firm, so I put a lot of effort into writing a piece that I was proud of. Hopefully I will be able to share the link to my post on this blog before the end of semester!

And that was the end of a busy first week at Clarity! I can’t wait to see what the next week brings. How was your first week of interning? Tell me about it in the comments below.

Candice

It's true... technology changes everything!

We have always been taught about the advancement of technology and how it has changed the world and all communications, including how it has impacted the PR industry. I felt and noticed the change first-hand while working for an online-based company. 

1. Press Releases

In the good old days, press releases were printed out and mailed to the media. However, with the advent of technology, the media releases that I have sent out are rarely in hard copies, but all through email. The exceptions that I have encountered are when a creative press kit is utilised to capture the attention of the targeted journalists, or when the press releases are distributed personally at press conferences. 

There are obvious pros and cons to this, as a digital release would reach the journalists so quickly, but may not be noticed as their mailbox are usually bursting at its seams. But with the attention span of our audiences (and us!) getting shortened and the need for instant news growing, it becomes essential for hot news to be delivered as quickly as possible. 

Press releases can also now be uploaded online onto portals such as Mynewsdesk (www.mynewsdesk.com). This increases the exposure of your press release exponentially, as journalists or individuals can search for news and updates in real time automatically anywhere in the world. Someone from Austria could pick up your press release that was written in Singapore just by browsing through these platforms. I find that so cool and exciting, and it really brings the point across - technology makes the world so so so much smaller. 

2. Newsletters

Likewise, in a corporate communications setting especially, corporate newsletters are rarely printed out for every employee in the company, but simply sent to their inboxes. So easy and environmentally-friendly! 

3. E-invites/eDM/e-Cards

I'm sure everyone is familiar with these, but it really wasn't too long ago (maybe 10 years ago?), when I was still receiving birthday and Christmas cards from my friends. In the same vein, companies who used to send physical cards, invites to the media, and direct mailers have gradually stopped doing so, and started relying on communicating electronically. 

My company is totally paperless. I create eDMs twice a week, and send out e-invites to the media to our events. Maybe it is just because I'm an old soul by heart, but I do miss the personal touch of snail mail and actual hard copies of things. 

With technology developing so rapidly (even more so within these past few years), I'm really excited to see what changes it would bring to the PR industry, and how our working styles and habits would evolve in time to come. Maybe we will all check back on this blog in a couple of years, and laugh at how old-fashioned or "predictable" a blog or a written press release is! 

That's it, friends. Hope you enjoyed my final post, and see you in space! 

A little peek behind the scenes of a PR girl in a fashion start-up

The fashion industry is always seen as a glamourous elusive world from the outside, but let me assure you, as Shakespeare once famously wrote in The Merchant of Venice - all that glitters is not gold. 

There are many stakeholders that one has to deal with when working in a fashion e-commerce start-up. Here are some of the important ones that I have to manage with on a daily basis:

1. My boss and colleagues

2. The labels that my company is currently stocking

3. The labels that want to be stocked by my company

4. The media

5. My customers

6. Existing and potential partners of my company

Due to my company's positioning as an online retailer that stocks only the best and top Asian designers, there are many brands who wish to be stocked with us. Meetings are arranged for potential brands to showcase their collections, and I would have to join in the meeting along with my colleague who works as a retail executive, to evaluate and give my opinion on the media friendliness of the pieces and if there are any key pieces that we can highlight to the media. The following picture shows a meeting we had with a high-end Chinese shoe label. 

As a multi-label retailer, I would also have to deal with the copious amount of press material from the labels that we are stocking, and the working corporate partners of the company. Press materials such as lookbooks and media gifts have to be sorted, along with the existing promotions that my company has with our partners. These are then distributed to the media (along with any press releases), and our VIP customers. 

Events are commonplace in the fashion industry. It is particularly important as editors, fashion writers, fashion bloggers, and customers are spoilt for choice when it comes to fashion. There are thousands of brands all vying for the same pie. 

This is how an event may look like.

We chose to hold this event in an art gallery, to emphasis that luxurious fashion pieces are just like art - things worth splurging for because of their beauty and refinement. The event was a success, with the attendance of fashion editors and stylists, as well as noteworthy influential customers. 

However, what the publics and media do not see is this:

This is how our showroom/pressroom looks like before and after an event. One. Big. Unglamourous. Mess. The image above does not even show the messiest state that my showroom has been in. It is just horrible and so tiring to deal with the packing, setting up, tearing down, and unpacking. I remember having to pack musky, funky smelling press clothes (smelly from being worn by many different models for various photo-shoots and fashion shows around Asia) into those large black transport cases after a fashion season is over. I still shudder when I think it. 

Anyway, this reminds me of something that is not taught about in school, but is so obvious when you think about it. The press room, or showroom, or press rack room (fashion industry specific), or whatever term a company decides to use, is under the sole responsibility of the PR/corporate communications people. So, yes. That mess above is mine, and mine alone to bear. I had probably half a day to turn that disaster zone into this:

Why the time crunch? I had to entertain some writers and stylists coming over that day for fittings, and to pick up items for fashion editorials and spreads. 

I hope this has been a small but interesting glimpse into the busy world of fashion communications, where it isn't all just fun and air kisses!

To go social, or not to go social?

Ever since the rapid adoption of social media in a personal scope, businesses have been in a frenzy trying to jump onto the social media bandwagon. My personal opinion is to only establish a social media presence if the company has sufficient manpower, content, and a strong enough reason to even be on social media.

At Type A/shopthemag, I used to manage all the social media platforms - Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter. I found it really time-consuming and tough juggling social media management and monitoring, with the other PR work that needs to be done.

I used to follow a strict daily posting schedule with different days of the week dedicated to certain themes. That proved pretty successful at first, and brought in more than couple of likes and shares per post everyday. I also conducted contests that were in collaboration with various publications, for example ELLE Singapore. The contests kept many eyeballs not only on our Facebook page, but the actual retail site, and was well-received.

Cutting through the noise, grabbing and retaining your target audience's attention everyday proved really challenging. Gradually, due to various projects that needed my attention, I found it difficult to post interesting content on all the social media platforms everyday. This resulted with a really stagnant page on Facebook with a drastic drop of views (you can view the statistics on a business account). I have since passed the management of social media platforms to a colleague, so that I can focus on other work.

The lesson? Consistency and content are key to building and retaining a social media platform. Do not be too hasty to leap into the scene without a long-term sustainable plan.

Practising PR the fashionable way

Hello to whoever is reading this, I'm Dorcas and am a double major final semester student of Marketing and Public Relations.

As you could perhaps infer from the title, I am currently in the fashion industry and am doing corporate communications for my internship. Here is a little bit about myself - before I was a Curtin student, I studied Fashion Merchandising and Marketing and worked for a couple of years in the fashion and education industries. I am now in a small start-up company called Type A Projects, and am solely in charge of all the communications for one of their outfits - an online retailer called shopthemag.com that was launched only two years ago.  

shopthemag is a luxury e-commerce website that specialises in retailing the best designer labels in Asia. It was conceived by my boss with the vision of educating fashion-conscious consumers of the excellent quality and superior designs of Asia-based designers - that Asian luxury brands are certainly competitive with the well-established western labels. 

It has been a blast thus far, connecting with the editors of various fashion magazines and stylists of high calibre, as well as nurturing relationships with the retailer's customers. With the advancement of technology and the world's escalating interest in fashion, it is indeed a challenge to manage PR in a fashion industry as fashion editors and writers are bombarded with an increasing number of fashion news daily. It is hard to stand out from the crowd; to ensure that not only the brands we are carrying get media attention, but more importantly, the retailer obtains media coverage as well. I am still trying to find the right balance of promoting the brands, and building a reputation for the website. 

It has been an interesting journey, and I will keep you updated on the various PR activities I will be embarking on. 

Wishing whoever is still reading this a marvellous new year ahead!

 

Life is a journey

Standing out from the CROWD

Warmest greetings to all my friends over at Bentley and in Singapore!

I am Faizah, taking a double major degree of Marketing and PR here in sunny Singapore! As it's my last semester here as a student, I was required to undergo a very exciting phase in my education - internship. It's where we get thrown into the real world and experience what we've learnt first-hand. 

In the early November, I joined a public relations and marketing agency called CROWD. It was my first step into the industry and boy, was I excited! CROWD had just moved into a new building when they welcomed me. I was greeted by the agency directors and remembered clearly that "What you see, is what you get" and I was very contented with that.

As the name suggests, the whole personality of the agency was to stand out from the rest, having our own identity in the corporate world and injecting a little bit of fun and creativity while we do our jobs. I knew from the very first day I stepped it, as I saw snippets of the client's profiles and what I was surrounded with (soccer boots, lifestyle sneakers and sports jerseys) - this feels like home.

My second home for the next three months is cosy and just enough to accommodate the CROWD family of 10. I was allocated my own area and I knew I had to quickly get myself comfortable as work does not pause and wait for you to adjust to the surroundings. True enough, I was already tasked with sourcing out for agents for an event that we had to prepare for. 

I have hit past the 10 days mark now. 

Things have their own pace in my office. I love that we are flexible and that I could easily secure my rapport with the rest of my colleagues, even my superiors, and I also love how we all appreciate every little bit of help that was given. I believe the littlest things count - especially in an industry where minor details could make or break you. 

I will return to share more of my moments during this exciting phase! Looking forward to face more challenges and watch myself overcome them!

Till the next time, dear readers (: 

Merry Christmas and have a great celebration!

Faizah
16430457
Curtin Singapore

Second Shift; First project to tackle

On the second day of my internship I was assigned a new task, Research (which I had never expected to be so time consuming and difficult). For several shifts at my internship, a majority of my day would be spent on research for a upcoming project Linc had planned to action.The project was to create an online portal or magazine, that offers services, products and content that would be related to the over 50’s and who we also call the “Baby Boomers”.

The project was solely targeted at baby boomers, which are not only the wealthiest and most willing to spend generation but baby boomers also make up for  majority of the Australian society. Another reason to invest time on baby boomers was that from previous research, it was shown that although it is known that this market segment are willing to pay and invest for goods not much marketing and advertising is targeted at them although they are becoming more internet savvy and increasing the usage of the world wide web.

The research I had to conduct was based solely on researching Australian bloggers preferably from Western Australia that had blogs with information that would attract the attention to these over 50's. The topics could range from current affairs, sports, finance , travel , health and wellbeing, life and style and events. The key focus was to ensure the content on the blogs are information that the over 50's would find beneficial and would want to have access and use on a regular basis.

Whilst researching, I had to ensure that my target market could relate to the content. For instance, I wouldn't suggest a blogger who focuses on the nightlife scene of Perth such as clubbing or the latest bars to my target market. Instead I would suggest bloggers that would discuss topics such as the latest or the types of fine wines in Perth wine industry. These kind of topics would be more relevant to my target market and would be of interest to them.

Through my research, I was briefed alot on how to understand clients and to always think from the clients perspective. In other words to always think outside the box especially when it comes to researching for the target. I also learnt the essentials of keyword searching when using the world wide web. With this project I learnt alot especially the copious amount of research needed for each project and how it wasnt just a one day type of task. It could take up to days, weeks and maybe even months. I also learnt how valuable time is for a Public Relation consultant, considering how they are paid by time.

BLOGGING IS THE NEW BLACK

If you have a computer, a phone, a tablet or any devise that connects to the Internet, I can almost guarantee that you have stumbled across some form of blogging. It is even rumoured that there is no longer a count for how many blogs exist in cyber space these days as the number is so great and increases so rapidly it would be too hard to keep track.

We need to remember that Blogging has expanded past the traditional forms and has expanded into Micro Blogging such as twitter and Video Blog just for a few examples.

I know that I personally have been aware of the existence of blog for a while now and do even read and follow a few myself. However, I have never truly realised the true potential and value that a blog can hold.

During the time I have spent at my Internship I have come to realise how much of an asset a Blog can be, but even more so, a relationship with a Blogger. It may not be the case in all industries but for the Industry I have been involved in Bloggers are the new Media power player. They have taken such a large role in influencing certain publics and can have very strong and loyal followings.

A large aspect of my Internship is Media Relations, so in the beginning I started to build a media guide of the outlets I felt were important the company builds relationships with. I followed the traditional paths of newspapers, magazines, journalists, reporters but it was the blogging world that really attracted my interest the most. With page upon page of Blogs that focused on my industry not to mention located locally in Perth, this became a large aspect of my research.

I have found that Bloggers are actually a key media for this industry and any company within my industry. The particular target market that we aim to reach really values the opinion of bloggers within the industry so to have this segment on side became of key importance in the companies media relations planning.

Blogging really has become an outlet to watch, and one to make sure you do not forget when it comes to whom you want to build your media relationships with. Considering current trends and the amount of people moving from paper to the Internet, I can only see their presence getting stronger.

Just because individually they may each be just a little fish in the big sea of the Internet, combine them all and that is a great amount of power you are not harnessing or that could be ultimately working against you.

Find out if people blog about your industry today, you will be surprised about what you find.

Happy Blogging!

Formal Training vs On The Job Skills

Throughout my learning at university, I have often been advised that many public relations professionals have often not undergone university degrees, and have instead simply undertaken on-the-job training. Within my placement I have witnessed this first hand as all of my colleagues have been thrown into careers of promotions and events management, and have no university education in the area.

Now that I have been working for a few weeks, it is obvious to see how this is possible. My co-workers have all had to learn the importance of documents such as media releases, media kits, and event run sheets. When you are placed in a situation, where you learn through practice rather than theory, it becomes a necessity to learn quickly through practice. This is an area in which I feel I have been able to assist in my placement. Both Metric Promotions and Pilerats are relatively young businesses and I have been able to suggest the most appropriate and professional use of these documents for different aspects of the business.

In addition to this, I now fully understand the importance of writing at a professional level. On my first day, I was asked to write a blog post for the Pilerats blog. This was something I found somewhat challenging, even though I believe that I am a competent writer, I was now required to write in a less formal, more relaxed manner. I found this a contrast to the usual professional, formal manner in which I have experience in writing for university. I hope to be able to inject more personality into my blog posts I write in the future, and I think this will be a great chance to get more practice in writing.

Here is a link to my blog post if anyone would like to have a read!

http://pilerats.com/fashion/as-bad-as-i-guana-be

I have some exciting opportunities lately, which i will share with everyone in the next few posts.

The lazy (?) blogger

Hey bloggers,

Into the final stages of my placement, and I am surprised to see I haven’t blogged anywhere a much as I intended to!

I think there are a few reasons – I’ve been working long hours in front of a computer most days, so when I get home the last thing I want is to do it all over again. At uni I am on facebook a few times a day. Since starting my internship, I have been on maybe five times in total - and never during the week. Even my friends have noticed, which I think shows the lifestyle change!

I also haven't had too much to write about the work. I have learnt more about my writing style, and how systems work within large companies, but it is a quiet time of year, so there hasn't been a lot to write about.

Mostly, I have also gone to blog, or make comments on other people’s posts, and then stopped myself.

It sounds funny, but I am very hesitant to write about the company, because I am worried I might say something that is misinterpreted or confidential. And those thoughts have made blogging really challenging for me. I scrutinise everything I write at least ten times!!

Communications and External Relations is strategic communications. Especially in a time where the company is receiving so much media attention, I would rather say very little than say the wrong thing.

I guess, from that point of view, my time here is reinforcing the importance of professionalism and confidentiality.

Many people within the company see Communications and External Relations as the people who might know what is going on in times of uncertainty. We were warned to be careful of speaking in the lifts or in cafes around the building, because gossip can soon become gospel if it appears to be from a credible source.

While I am just a student, being the most inexperienced one here has made my fear of being the ignorant one to stuff up more real. I think it has really prevented me from sharing a lot in this forum. I am not lying when I say I have posted what I thought to be completely innocent material with the faint thought of “what if?” What if it ends up in The West? What if I thought what I said was innocent but unknowingly have said something I shouldn’t have?

It is irrational - I am only a student, and not that important, but I figured I would throw my thoughts into the blog to find out your thoughts. I guess it also touches on the issue of ethics within PR. How much information is public property, how much do you retain?

I find it really interesting how I have been feeling, and wondered if anyone else was in the same boat. I am quite happy to share my thoughts and experiences about my time here verbally with people I meet, but hesitate when it comes to a written record.

I guess in hindsight, I should have consulted more with my manager as to what I was posting – but she never brought it up, and she is so busy that has only just occurred to me as I typed this. Another solution would have been to not name the company in the first place… but one lesson I have definitely learnt from the company during my stay is retrospect doesn’t count for a lot in the real world!!

Let me know your thoughts!

Good luck to those beginning and finishing their placements as we head back to class.

:-)