The Gift that keeps on giving!

Well, exciting news since my last entry. My first media release did end up getting used for the West Australian. The original journalist I sent my release to didn’t use it but another one did, they ended up just taking my quotes I did for the housing director of MBA.

Why is this the gift that keeps on giving????

This 1 media release got coverage in the online WA Business News

Was also listed on the daily editor’s recommendations e-mail sent to subscribers to the online version of the WA Business News

The article in the WA Business News was almost word for word my release so my objective to get Master Builders plugged and show they have a presence in the construction industry was achieved

West Australian used quotes from my release and also plugged Master Builders

The West Australian issue that my release was used for was the Thursday’s City to Surf edition, which is one of the higher selling issues

This was all FREE!!!! Yay!!! Gold star for me!!!


While this was all good and free, I was told that we (PR people) in an organisation like Master Builders need to still come up with numbers to prove that it was worthwhile, otherwise the ‘upper powers’ (God......no not really, just the board who oversee what is worthwhile and what isn’t) will see that these PR attempts are useless.



I still need to get in touch with WA Business news to find out the number of hits the release received. I tried last week and failed to get in touch with the appropriate person.

I got in touch with West Australian and strangely enough I was told that they can’t tell me the circulation numbers for a single day (not sure if it was because they don’t keep record or they don’t like me ; ) ) I was only able to find out the circulation numbers for that week, Monday-Friday, it was 195,033.



One last issue I would like to cover is the lack of confidence thing, Joanna touched on it in her post titled ‘Inadequate.’

I agree with her, and used it as one of my excuses for not getting a placement earlier because I didn’t want to apply for jobs which I didn’t think I could manage. This was an issue I brought up frequently with Katharina when I was given a disapproving look for not having a placement yet.

This fear of not being confident enough with my abilities was fuelled by the average grades I received in all my PR units, because quite frankly if you have decent writing skills, some common sense and can b/s a bit, you can manage to pass PR. Well, I’ve managed it!

Not that I’m saying PR is easy, because being able to write, having some common sense and b/s is a skill in itself, only a select few (such as myself) have. What doesn’t help the confidence is having smart friends who always seem to score better than you in all the PR assignments.


What forced me to overcome this lack of confidence????

Being threatened with not graduating if I did not complete this unit helped a bit.
Also speaking to Katharina (Unit Co-ordinator of everything PR), I was given a very inspiring Dr Phil/Oprah like speech about how I am worth something, I’m not useless, PR isn’t rubbish, I should stop making excuses and start doing something about it, I am champion of the world kind of thing.

This gets you fuelled with adrenaline and makes you feel good about yourself and I recommend you apply for jobs within the next few hours of that speech before it disappears and your left with a sense of hopelessness….. Only kidding.

The point is, in a rounded kind of way is the lack of confidence is something we all feel (except if your extremely arrogant and in that case I think someone needs to cut you back down to size) but it is also something you shouldn’t dwell on. Just apply for jobs and remember your doing the company a favour, ‘FREE LABOUR!’ If your still in doubt go speak to Katharina.

I was also fortunate with a very kind boss. Always willing to help me and give me some guidance when I’m lost. What helps is we’re also not a consultancy so it’s a little more relaxed and I’m doubtful everyone in the company even knows what PR is. So they are just as clueless as me :)

Cheers
Dan