From Beginning to End

To begin with,

I began my placement only a short while ago at the start of April with Sinclair Consulting - a Perth based and operated, boutique public relations firm.

The opportunity to work at Sinclair Consulting was certainly fortunate; I had already been participating in some work experience activities with the consultancy as they arose, and found them to be highly valuable in gaining an insight into how a public relations consultancy might run.

Before I had started my placement I was still contemplating what type and which, organisation I should apply to, and thought a small PR firm like Sinclair Consulting (that is expert consultant-based), would probably not would probably not have much use for an inexperienced undergraduate. As the deadline loomed to find a placement, I decided find the courage to ask Sinclair Consulting if they would take me on. And Lucky I did - as their answer was an unexpected yes!

The last twenty days or so at Sinclair Consulting have by far been the most valuable learning experience I have encountered yet. I have been lucky enough to work alongside the director, as well as four highly experienced consultants that complete the team at Sinclair Consulting. I feel I have gained much insight into understanding the fundamentals of how consultancies – (as well as a small business) are operated, in the arena of public relations.

Through this placement I have been able to take on a position that is at the forefront of real-world projects (not just behind the scenes), with an invitation to attend client meetings and see how a project is executed from start to finish. It really was inspiring seeing a proposal on paper, be pitched and brought to life!

Finally, I must express my gratitude towards Sinclair Consulting for taking me on as part of the team over the last two months. It really has been a valuable experience and positive ending to my degree.

Crisis management

Hi all,

This is my first post for the semester as I went overseas during the break and only just recently started my internship.

I'm doing my placement at Metro City, the biggest club venue in Perth. Although I'm not working with a "public relations department", I am taking on roles which would be expected of a PR graduate.

I had my first real collision with crisis management the other day when the "Wild West Comedy Festival" had to cancel their event with Metro City. They had failed to sell enough tickets to cover the cost of staffing the event and though the contract stated that they were to forfeit the deposit should such a thing occur, they came over to talk to our Venue Manager.

Kim Westwood (Venue Manager), Jacquie Kelly (Events Manager) and I entered into a meeting with the organizers to find another arrangement. They came to the conclusion that the deposit would be returned to the company and that the Wild West organisers would be responsible for finding a replacement venue. From there I was asked to create a release, detailing the event cancellation and to give details of the new venue once they were passed on. This was then to be posted on the Metro City website and to be distributed through all our social media platforms.

It made me think about how crisis management can differ between types of organizations and though it may not have seemed like a big crisis for the club it was pertinent to practice good public relations should they choose to hold an event in the future. It was interesting to have noted and reinforced in a real world situation that for businesses, making a profit and good PR don't always go hand in hand.

In the same sense, it made me appreciate that a "crisis" is relative, it really depends on what your business does and what kind of social responsibility it has. For example, this "crisis" cannot be compared to something like the Exxon Valdez spill, but it could in fact influence their reputation and possible business for the future.

Hope you are all enjoying your placements!

Nicole

Small Business PR

One of the most challenging aspects of my placement has been working on getting press coverage. We are a small business and most publications I have contacted regarding the possibility of getting an article done or a small piece of press in any way, shape or form, has been incredibly difficult.

While we have had a number of events or achievements over the duration of my placement, gaining media coverage has been difficult. We did receive a small write up in MacWorld regarding a range of products we had become the Australian Distributor for, however this really focused on the product and little was drawn back to the company.

We also had a retail store opening, that gained a moderate amount of attention from a radio station, however to get community paper coverage we needed to notify the paper 3-4 weeks in advance, and even then they could not guarantee someone would come to cover it.

There is also a software we have built that delivers incredible benefit to small business owners, however getting media coverage is incredibly difficult. The response I receive more often than not is something along the lines of "we don't generally give out feature article space or any kind of writeups without an investment in the magazine" ... reading between the lines, this means to get a feature article or mention in any credible way into the publications (both online and print) we were interested in for our target markets, we needed to buy advertising space along with it.

This also happened in radio to us also, where we wanted to run a competition through one of the commercial stations, however were told that without an investment of 4-5k in terms of advertising, the competition would not run.

The reasons given for this made sense on the surface, and were along the lines of "by combining an advertising package with your article/competition, we find this increases takeup and the impact of your news/item/service/event/competition and overall benefits your campaign and delivers better results". This I agree with on one level, but on another, being a small business, where large advertising budgets are more often slim to none, the opportunities pass us by.

Granted there are legitimate newsworthy events that happen for businesses of all sizes, where coverage is guaranteed without needing to buy advertising space along with it. However, for small businesses, this is sometimes just not feasible.

Was I going about things the wrong way? Or was this just the unspoken yet agreed upon relationship between advertising and PR? I started noticing things in magazines such as Marketing Magazine or B&T or Nett# where articles referencing the benefits of online CRM software or the benefits of the right promotional products, ended on page 31 and on page 32 what would there be? An advertisement for a certain CRM software or promotional product company. Coincidence? Or well structured ploy, honed over time to achieve the best results for advertiser and publication?

Perhaps my frustration merely stems from the fact that the company I work for is not overly in a position to buy our public relations coverage? Or am I being naive? Please someone tell me. I don't remember this being covered in PR 211 or 200 or any of the units, where more often than not our assignments were to 'create a PR campaign for such-and-such incredibly newsworthy event' ... where are the struggles? The coverage for events where you can't afford to buy advertising space to accompany your article? The real world adaptations for small business? Or again, am I being naive and just going about things the complete wrong way?

A number of sites for small businesses cite how important it is to gain PR for your business, and make out how simple it is - http://www.publicityship.com.au/ http://www.flyingsolo.com.au/marketing/public-relations-pr/5-ways-to-gain-small-business-pr-for-free http://www.smartcompany.com.au/advertising-and-marketing/20100421-public-relations-2.html etc etc ... however I remain 100% unconvinced. Or perhaps I am just demoralised?

Clearly, I do not mean to say that anything and everything that occurs in small businesses is newsworthy. In my placement I have learned that something merely existing or occurring, in itself is not newsworthy. It needs to be targeted based on the publication you are speaking to and their core demographic... it needs to have substance, a story to it, a benefit, a unique selling point. And again, I am speaking about small companies that do not naturally have large-scale news items or occurrences taking place.... please take this post in the context in which it is placed. I just wonder, even when our small businesses 'newsworthy' events come up... will we be able to afford the advertising space needed to cement a write up in a publication?

Any thoughts or opinions are gladly welcomed...