Media relations in not for profits

The theme of today’s post is about media relations at Clubs WA – what is being done now, what could be done, how and why.

When I started this unit I told myself I was going to write a blog post at least every second week so I could keep a good record of what I was  getting up to at Clubs WA. But here I am just doing my fourth one - I really underestimated how busy this semester was going to be! Which I am sure all of you understand.

On top of my internship which is 30 hours a week, I am still doing a full course load, which included the mammoth unit to cap off my journalism major, Print Production.

This unit is insane, but I have definitely learnt more from this class than any other journalism unit, so for any of you doing journalism as a second major or degree definitely enroll in this unit!

This unit involves subbing every single journalism article submitted for assessment from second and third year students, at least six times, and then designing and producing the Curtin University newspaper, the Western Independent.

All the units I have done throughout my journalism and public relations degree have improved my attentions to detail, time management, and writing skills and I’ve come away with a whole new appreciation for the written word. I am a massive advocate for gaining real-world experience throughout my university degree, and PR393 and Print Production have done this more than any other units.

The Western Independent finally went to print today so make sure you keep an eye out for it around campus tomorrow to read the great news articles written by the Curtin journalism students. Now that this unit is over, I can finally make a decent dent in my PR report! I have had ideas and information floating around in my head for the past three months, and as soon as I have submitted this post I am going to start writing it all down.

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Media relations at Clubs WA

Communicating with the media is such an important part of corporate communications, and helps to generate publicity and could eventually influence investors, employees, customers and consumers. Clubs WA needs to increase its involvement with the media, in order to amplify its reputation amongst the West Australian community.

Media releases

I have been at Clubs WA for about 14 months now, and in that time media releases have only been sent out on four occasions.

1. January - to announce the launch of Clubs WA's Fair Go For Clubs Campaign
2. May - to announce Clubs WA meeting with south-west clubs in Bunbury to discuss the big issues facing regional clubs
3. April - to announce finalists, and then the winner of the 2014 Clubs WA Awards for Excellence
4. June - to announce the retirement of Clubs WA's Executive Director Peter Seaman, and to congratulate Karen Giles on taking up the position 

Looking at the above releases that have been sent out, you can see so far media releases have only been sent out to announce Clubs WA events.

Media outlets

Clubs WA’s media list hasn’t been updated for more than a year, and this was evident when media releases were sent out and the majority of them bounced back.

The goal of sending out media releases should be to promote Clubs WA as THE voice, and expert on the WA club industry. It should be made clear that if a story is published on a sport or social club, whether positive or negative, the journalist should automatically seek out comment from Clubs WA. Skimming over WA’s most popular regional and city print newspapers, there is at least one story written on a WA club in every issue. If Clubs WA were to become known enough that they were sought out for comment on even half of these articles, Clubs WA could increase their brand awareness so much!

I think if Clubs WA were to write releases with the angle being on a particular club, and just a small comment from Clubs WA within the article, they would have more of chance of getting an article published.

Journalism and public relations 

Journalism students are taught throughout their degrees that public relations consultants are media hungry, propaganda-spouting people who are only on this planet to send out agenda-setting media releases, and to be the annoying middle person between journalists and the truth. This is why public relations officers need to build strong relationships with journalists and media outlets.

Keeping good relationship with media brings prosperity to our PR plans.

Hi to all,

So my internship at Imagine Communication is still being conducted under good conditions. I am learning more and more which will help me building my future career and has knowledge of how it will be working in this field.

For my third blog post, I have chosen to write about the importance of building and creating media contact list and relationship in the PR field.

Other tasks which were entrusted to me are:

Building and categorising the media contacts list

Proceeding with this task of creating and categorising the media contacts was a bit uninteresting for me because I did not understand the importance of doing it. However, after a while, my supervisor explained to me its importance and I started taking pleasure doing it. In the Public Relations department, it is essential to always have an updated media contact list as when we need to send press release, it is easier and safer to send it directly to the concerned person within the media. Otherwise, it may not be taken into account and this can lead to no media coverage from this media outlet.

 After having creating and categorising this list, I knew about its importance. And I really think that even if it is a bit boring to do it; it facilitates our job afterwards and we can operate in more secure conditions too.

Importance of maintaining good relationship with the media.

I have also learnt the importance of maintaining a good relationship and communication with media; as they are essential for media coverage. The role of public relations practitioners is to maximise media coverage; this is why we should always keep a good relationship with them.

During my internship at Imagine Communication, several times, I had to telephone to the media and journalists after sending press releases. This have given me the opportunity to learn how we should talk and communicate with them and at what time of the day we should contact them as they are being very busy persons. I think that it is also an integral and essential part of our job; to keep a good relationship with media outlets and journalists as they are the key determinant of our job tasks.

Therefore, the importance of building media contact list and relationships with the media is crucial in the PR field as it determines collaboration as well as media coverage with is essential in PR activities.

Thank you for taking time to read,

And the last blog post will come soon.

Natacha Rosalie

From Classroom to the Real Working World

Hi everyone!

I am Delvina and currently on my final lap in completing my undergraduate degree at Curtin Singapore. My internship officially started on 2 August 2012, and I am really glad that I was able to find a placement. This would be my first post and I would like to start off by introducing the PR agency that I am interning with and my role.

 

MAX PR is a fast-growing independent PR agency based in Singapore. The agency specialises in healthcare, consumer, crisis and corporate communications. It comprises well-established and veteran practitioners in the Asia Pacific regional marketing communications landscape and has presence through its own staff/offices or affiliate partners in 14 markets throughout the region. 

The PR agency consists of only six people including myself. My main role in the agency is media monitoring/ media clippings, materials development, social media updates (Facebook), media list updates, event help, desk research and reports, and other ad-hoc tasks.

Media Monitoring/ Media Clippings

There are various newspapers which I have to go through every morning. My role is mainly to look for news in print media that has references to a specific client and the agency’s designated topics of interest, to record them down and to clip the client’s coverage. Other than from the print media, I would also need to monitor and clip news articles from the Internet, and from various business e-newsletters that my colleagues had assigned to me.

Materials Development

Till now, I have helped to do up part of the wrap-up report for the agency’s two clients. I am tasked to collate all the media coverage of the clients into the PowerPoint slides as well as to research for the circulation numbers that each publications and websites have.

Social Media updates (Facebook)

I am tasked to update the Facebook statutes for a client thrice a week. These updates include post-event comments and other health related news (as the client is from a healthcare industry).

Media List updates

The update of media list is quite a taxing job as I had to go through many different publications and Internet websites from both Singapore and international. But I feel this job is an important one as there are frequent changes within the various media themselves, where some journalists either resigned or transferred to another department. As such, it is important for us to keep our media list updated, and thus able to pitch the stories of our clients to the right media, with the right contacts.

 

I am happy to be spending these two months at MAX PR, to learn and to gain a lot of invaluable PR experiences. I will be sharing more on my internship soon. Till then, hope everyone has great experience in their respective companies!

 

Cheers,
Delvina Chiang
15006527
Curtin Singapore

All the Little Details in Creating Relationships

Ever wondered how people become friends? The process of that lifelong bond between two people stems from the very first impressions and moments that are shared. In PR, relationship building is the essence of our job. Without relationships, there can be no communication and inevitably, no PR.

Businesses are built on relationships and recently, my time with Exa has re-established the importance of communicating the value one places in each relationship. By effectively and genuinely communicating appreciation, relationships can grow stronger as arguably, people care for those who care about them.

6 Building Blocks for Relationships

Make the Other Person Feel Important & Do It Sincerely

Dale Carnegies’ book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People” outlines the following six ways to make people like you.

            

      1. Become genuinely interested in other people.

2. Smile.

3. Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in  any language.

4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.

5. Talk in terms of the other person's interests.

6. Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.

At Exa, I have been creating a media list and entering client details into our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. CRM is a concept we learn in both PR and Marketing units. CRM enhances goodwill, credibility and profitability of the organisation where both the organisational goals and customer satisfaction are achieved.

Entering the details of media contacts onto the excel spreadsheet

Christina placed importance on inserting the correct details of contacts into the system. I was given a pile of our clients’ business cards and meticulously entered and checked the name, job titles and contact details of each client. The process ensures that with the correct details, we can easily write a letter, email or give a call to our client. CRM is a system that allows our client’s details and features to become easily accessible to staff members so Exa can be consistent in communicating with clients. Furthermore, we can show that we value them in remembering their names and details.

If someone was important to you, every detail of them becomes more vivid. Value is transferable. When Exa expresses how they value a client through remembering the little details about them, our clients value us and trusts us because they feel respected and important.

Strong relationships in PR can enhance success and lessen the impact of crisis. Exa in Perth has over 50 clients and that number continually rises. Exa teaches me that every relationship is valuable and that I should always remember the little details of clients/stakeholders because Maya Angelou once said that, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Until next time,

Evelyn