21st Century Options...

Who would've thought it'd be possible to provide a means for direct communication between a business and customer, and increase lead generation and selling, all whilst the business is improving their relationship with the customer via email and the internet? It seems e-newsletters are quickly becoming one of the most necessary and compulsory tools for distributing information to clients and customers in todays society.

As part of my internship at The Hub Marketing Communications, I was allocated the task of researching into the various e-newsletter choices available online. I used two different e-newsletter developer websites to compare options; mailchimp.com.au and campaignmonitor.com.au. After conducting research into both of these developers' offerings, I was amazed at the hundreds of different options that were available to help an organisation transform the way it delivered information to a client.

To help you better understand the degree of creativity that goes into creating an e-newsletter, here are a few examples of what e-newsletter developers can offer clients today:

• Mobile ready templates - or more simply, any template you design on a monitor will be automatically optimised for both desktop and mobile clients (i.e. how you see it on the desktop is how you see it on the mobile)
•  Segment your email list based on any category of difference to ensure clients and customers are only receiving information necessary to them (and customise the content)
• Free reports - after you have distributed an email/e-newsletter, you will have access to a variety of charts, graphs and calculation tools that will show exactly who has opened the e-newsletters, what they have been looking at, any links they have selected to open and how many times they have re-opened your e-newsletter.
• 'World view' feature - shows you exactly who has opened your email and from what exact location in the world from the view of a fullscreen world map that you can then share
• Give clients access to your reports
• Personalise everything! From the template, to the customised information included to the signup/subscriber forms and confirmation emails
• Have 'time zone' control - ensure e-newlsetters are sent out at exactly the right time using the time zone controller tool
• 'Subscriber snapshot' - a function that allows you to see a single page showing every interaction you've ever had with each of your subscribers (e.g. see which email client they view their emails on

These are just a few of the hundreds of differing options available to organisations who chose to go through a e-newsletter developer when constructing their very own e-newsletter.

This research certaintly gave me an insight into the world of the internet and how it's possible to customise everything right down to the core!

Now, more than ever, public relations firms have the option of going above and beyond competitors by utilising the various techniques for differentiating yourself apart from a client organisation. And whats even more exciting, being creative has never been easier with the ease and simplicity of using websites to develop email campaigns... What's not to love about 21st century technology?!

As time has gone by...

Since my first post I have accomplished a lot at my internship!

Bowls WA had their Annual Awards Night a few weeks ago, and I was given many tasks to help out with. I had exciting tasks such as creating the Award Night Program Guides, VIP Table name cards and even the award winner envelopes. Unfortunately due to my own part-time job commitments, I was unable to make the actual event – Looking through all the photos, it was definitely a big night for all who went to the Burswood Entertainment Complex!

Bowls WA have also given me full responsibility for writing their monthly e-newsletters. Their e-newsletters normally consist of 2 A4 pages of information, and are not only emailed to their e-mailing list, but these are also archived on their website for all clubs to view. So far my e-newsletters have consisted of information on competition news, game rule changes, correct shoes for play, charity cake bakes, government grant offers and plenty more. The diversity of each newsletter is great, and really gets me working on my writing skills. It is definitely one of the better tasks I have been given at my internship!

Bowls WA currently do not have a strong social media policy in place; as they do not currently utilise social media as much as they would like. So, my supervisor gave me the task of collaborating with Bowls Australia and writing Bowls WA a social media policy. After researching fellow sporting organisations and their current policies, and using Bowls Australia’s social media policy as a guide, the process was actually quite easy. I finished writing the policy, and this has been sent off to my supervisor and Bowls Australia for approval – once this has been approved, Bowls WA can then start utilising social media to is maximum potential!

Until my next blog.. have fun at your internships!

Lauren

Engaging your audience online

As has been taught not only through out my university studies but is also evident through any work experience, social media is the growing area in which businesses are connecting with their stakeholders.

The West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO) has of course their own website, and like most companies also a Facebook, Twitter, and because they are a performance organisation- event listings on Perth websites such as ShowMePerth. What many people may not know however is WASO also live streams various concerts throughout the year to the Northbridge Piazza through its partnership with iiNet which is a great way to make classical music more accessible to the wider public.

This week in PR International the discussion focused on social media and the rule of 80% engaging posts to 20% informational whenever you are posting anything online to your followers.

I feel this is a valid rule and I applied it to WASO’s online media presence. For example, recently WASO performed a concert titled Symphonic ABBA and instead of just promoting the concert itself on Facebook, there was uploads of ABBA songs via YouTube, a picture was shared on Twitter and Facebook of the disco ball concertgoers could expect on the night at the Perth Concert Hall and later reviews were posted too so people had a chance to have their say on how they found the performance.

My personal contribution recently to the online communication of WASO was to put together the monthly e-newsletter which is received by around 5,000 people. According to WASO's Digital Marketing Coordinator the email involves writing a blurb for various upcoming concerts in a more casual manner, which I found surprisingly harder than writing from a sales focused point of view! Part of this task involved getting in touch with a musician from the orchestra and approaching them for the introduction of the email as well as liaising with the WA Ballet for a ticket giveaway to Pinocchio, their new performances which WASO provides music talent for. 

Seeing all of what WASO displays online, triggered by this week’s conversation in PR International made me consider further the different approach that should be taken on social media as I see followers of a company page on Twitter and Facebook as generally being there because they already love the brand (particularly in the case of a music organisation). Therefore they shouldn’t be advertised at quite so much as engaged and made to feel included with the company, something I think WASO does well.

it's just not the same without Gravy... Part 3

Introducing to you… Gravy client number 3: The McComb Foundation.
The McComb Foundation is a burns research foundation founded by Professor Fiona Wood and operates as a not-for-profit. Gravy's main involvement in the foundation is organizing and managing every aspect of their annual charity ball – The Burns Challenge Ball. Other undertakings by Gravy include basic communication throughout the year via e-Newsletters, social media and website updates. However, most communication happens around ball time with relevant information regarding the event.
The Burns Challenge Ball 2012 will be held on Saturday, October 13. I have been with Gravy for about 9 months now, so have seen the last ball through and can’t wait to get this one on its way also. This year’s ball is particularly special because it marks the 10 year anniversary of the Bali bombings; where Fiona Wood travelled to and assisted in the emergency medical response for burns victims.

This week, Ivana set out a few tasks for me regarding our McComb contract. Firstly, there were ball related jobs to get done. This included updating the mail-outs (both by email and post) of the following documents:

·        Request for prize donations – this will be sent to both previous prize donors and potential sponsors and;

·        Request for volunteers – this will be sent to our volunteer database as well as selected university Marketing Schools calling for work experience students (including our very own PRSC, you may have remembered the email regarding the ball last year!)

As these documents had already been created for last year’s ball, they only needed a simple update of information.
Secondly, I was asked to find a multimedia expert or film maker to create a promotional video for our 2012 ball, using the footage filemd from last year’s ball. This film is intended to be used for promotional purposes via the McComb website and social media channels. As The McComb Foundation is a not-for-profit, the budget for this video is extremely small. Although Fiona hadn’t given us a particular budget to work with, I was set out to gather various quotes at the best price they could do for the foundation and thus work out the best solution from there. I contacted about 5 multimedia organisations, explaining to them The McComb Foundation and whether they could offer a discount and consequently be credited a McComb sponsor. I also took the initiative to contact various university multimedia departments and see if this is a project that could be offered to students as a work experience venture – surely it isn’t just us PR students that seek work experience! And apparently, it isn’t! Responses thus far are positive and will be discussed in a meeting with Fiona the possible path to go down.

My next task wasn’t ball related, but demonstrates how Gravy helps McComb in additional promotional ways to gain awareness and, most importantly, increased funding. McComb has recently had the opportunity to be affiliated with the wonderful initiative “Plates for Mates.” “Plates for Mates” is an initiative set up in support of the McComb Foundation and Matt Golinski, an Australian celebrity chef who, on Boxing Day, was in a horrific house fire which left him severely burned and his wife and three daughters dead. The foundation was set up by friends of Matt’s who aspired to support their mate through his recovery, whilst helping other burns victims – leading them to decide to partner with McComb. “Plates for Mates” has already received a huge media response (especially because one of the founders is MasterChef judge, Manu Feildel) which, in turn, also creates awareness for McComb. It seems as though most of my job has been done for me, right?! However, we wanted to push this as much as we could on our part also. This lead to my tasks of:

·        Creating a short newspaper style article which will appear on the McComb website;

·        Creating an email-out which was sent to our somewhat 600 person database (including sponsors, donors, supporters and previous ball attendees) and;

·        Telling the Facebook and Twitter world of the initiative via the McComb accounts.

Take a look below at the article I created for the website (alternatively, check it out on the website: www.mcomb.org.au)

 

And that is a very humble introduction of The McComb Foundation! However, there will be many more posts from me regarding McComb, especially as it creeps up to ball time in October!

Until next time…
--Sarah