This morning, over my porridge, I watched some of the coverage of the Winter Olympics and was told time and again that events have been delayed due to rain, which as far as snow based sports go, is a bad thing.
This afternoon, as I write this, my view of Sileby is largely obscured by falling snow, which as far as getting home goes, is a bad thing.
Which, sort of, leads me to PR.
Bad things do happen, on a Village and a Global scale and good PR can be the key to weathering the storm. Crisis management strategies are an important part of any companies PR plan, a little bit of ‘insurance’ that you hope you will never need.
So, lets all try and remember that my journey home will be glistening and magical despite all the evidence of it being cold and soggy.
Friday, 19 February 2010
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
Public Relations - Is It Fully Understood?
I am a Public Relations MA Student completing four weeks of work experience. Fortunately, my work placement at the Phoenix Partners, a marketing communications agency, has given me the opportunity to get an inside look at how Marketing and Public Relations can work together.
Marketing and public relations are both used to "promote" a person or a business, and I have learned that they can go hand-in-hand. The marketing department handles the financial aspect of communication through advertisement while the public relations department keeps in touch with the public and handles the company’s public image.
Together, the marketing team and public relations department work together to promote and publicise your business through a well-structured communications campaign.
However, Marketing and Advertising enjoy full professional recognition while Public Relations still is not recognised as a profession.
Nevertheless, this has not prevented the growth and expansion of public relations practice: with thousands of established public relations agencies and practitioners existing in the UK alone.
But why is public relations seen in this way? Is the practice of public relations fully understood?
Do you know how many of the stories in the newspaper are taken from well-written press releases issued from public relations officers? Do you know how many times your way of thinking has been influenced by the hard work of a public relations practitioner? It is an indefinable number, so lets follow a campaign that we all know.
Think about the concept of recycling and its recent history. Vast amounts of people now recycle and the overall importance of recycling or being eco-friendly is well-known, but how do you think those ideas were made reality? A well-prepared public relations campaign that stretched over a number of years!
Someone had an idea, and through good communications management, those ideas were filtered to the press, posters were made, flyers were distributed, press releases written, announcements were made... and the list goes on!
However, the general public is unaware of the behind-the scenes activity needed to distribute this information. They simply receive the message. All of that is PR!
There are so many public relations practitioners out there who genuinely get excited and are passionate about their work, and I have been privileged to come into contact with a few of them, and this has sparked not only an interest but an eagerness to fully immerse myself in the field.
I am personally excited about the field of public relations, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a challenging and exciting career choice.
Gemma Holder
Marketing and public relations are both used to "promote" a person or a business, and I have learned that they can go hand-in-hand. The marketing department handles the financial aspect of communication through advertisement while the public relations department keeps in touch with the public and handles the company’s public image.
Together, the marketing team and public relations department work together to promote and publicise your business through a well-structured communications campaign.
However, Marketing and Advertising enjoy full professional recognition while Public Relations still is not recognised as a profession.
Nevertheless, this has not prevented the growth and expansion of public relations practice: with thousands of established public relations agencies and practitioners existing in the UK alone.
But why is public relations seen in this way? Is the practice of public relations fully understood?
Do you know how many of the stories in the newspaper are taken from well-written press releases issued from public relations officers? Do you know how many times your way of thinking has been influenced by the hard work of a public relations practitioner? It is an indefinable number, so lets follow a campaign that we all know.
Think about the concept of recycling and its recent history. Vast amounts of people now recycle and the overall importance of recycling or being eco-friendly is well-known, but how do you think those ideas were made reality? A well-prepared public relations campaign that stretched over a number of years!
Someone had an idea, and through good communications management, those ideas were filtered to the press, posters were made, flyers were distributed, press releases written, announcements were made... and the list goes on!
However, the general public is unaware of the behind-the scenes activity needed to distribute this information. They simply receive the message. All of that is PR!
There are so many public relations practitioners out there who genuinely get excited and are passionate about their work, and I have been privileged to come into contact with a few of them, and this has sparked not only an interest but an eagerness to fully immerse myself in the field.
I am personally excited about the field of public relations, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a challenging and exciting career choice.
Gemma Holder
Things Are So Much Better When They're Free
Over the Christmas period we saw the power that social media has over businesses and people. ‘Rage Against The Machine’ shocked the nation when it was announced that they were Christmas number one. This was all down to a Facebook group that started called ‘Rage Against The Machine For Christmas No.1’, the group attracted widespread attention and attracted more than 500,000 members - many of whom previously bought the single when it was released back in 1992.
The Eurostar crisis was another headline grabbing story that occurred around the same time. Twitter played a massive part in getting the passengers views and experiences out to the media.
The use of social media is a relatively new PR tool and many traditional businesses are still falling short when trying to keep up with the new ways of communicating on the web. It is a perfect opportunity for young ‘internet savvy’ entrepreneurs to take advantage of their youthful knowledge and do what their competitors are not doing. Whether it’s just something simple as ‘tweeting’ to inform customers of new products or blogging about your latest news, the possibilities are endless and with the use of digital and social media set to only grow further, it’s time to not get left behind!
Raj Bedi
The Eurostar crisis was another headline grabbing story that occurred around the same time. Twitter played a massive part in getting the passengers views and experiences out to the media.
The use of social media is a relatively new PR tool and many traditional businesses are still falling short when trying to keep up with the new ways of communicating on the web. It is a perfect opportunity for young ‘internet savvy’ entrepreneurs to take advantage of their youthful knowledge and do what their competitors are not doing. Whether it’s just something simple as ‘tweeting’ to inform customers of new products or blogging about your latest news, the possibilities are endless and with the use of digital and social media set to only grow further, it’s time to not get left behind!
Raj Bedi
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