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.

“Make us famous: P.S. there’s no budget”

How to become a nationally recognised organisation: with absolutely no budget

The first question I asked my supervisor was where they want to be in five years time?

Answer: We want to be recognised by the industry, government, members and community as the leader in this industry in Western Australia and we want our training business to be recognised nationally as the leader in hospitality training. 

My second question asked what our marketing and public relations budget is, in order for us to reach these goals. 

Answer: There is no budget. 

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I began my internship with Clubs WA in September 2013, after I was mid-application for a vacation program with a Western AUstralian mining company. During filling out my application I realised that I had no real-world experience working in the public relations industry and apart from the marks that I had earned from writing essays and participating in speeches, the recruiters would have no idea whether I would actually be any good at the role I was applying for. 

The next day I scrolled through the internet looking for internships and found a small advertisement on Gumtree looking for 'Marketing and Event interns' at a small not-for-profit based in Cockburn Central. 

Here begins my entry-level position within the public relations and marketing sector. 

Clubs WA is one of the largest membership based not-for-profit organisations in Western Australia and is the governing body of licensed sporting and community clubs in WA. It represent the interests of licensed clubs to relevant WA ministers and governing bodies and its goal is to be the 'voice of the club community'. 

Each state has a sister organisation in each state and its parent body is Clubs Australia. Western Australian clubs have extremely restrictive legislation placed on them compared to other states and the purpose of Clubs WA is to give member clubs advice and information on how to work with these restrictions to ensure their clubs remain successful and viable. 

www.clubswa.com.au

From September 2013 - June 2014 I worked at Clubs WA writing copy for the monthly magazine and website, sent out media release about events, and helped the Marketing and Events Coordinator with two big upcoming events, the Annual Awards of Excellence and the Annual General Meeting and Trade Expo. 

Both events were hectic to work on and all I had to do was the simple tasks that my supervisor asked me to do, including putting together PowerPoint presentations, hundreds of invitations and the promotion of the event through our various communication tools. 

At the end of May 2014, my supervisor left for a six-month African adventure and asked me to step in for her for whilst she is gone. I am now the Marketing and Events Officer and love every single minute of it. While my title is marketing, the role is much more PR-orientated. 

So I have given myself a six month timeframe to do all I can to achieve the goal my supervisor gave me, on my very first day - to make Clubs WA famous (in a great way). 

However, like most not-for-profits we don't have a lot of money to play around with. 90 per cent of my budget goes towards our events and what is left over goes towards marketing and PR efforts. Everyday is a challenge and it's great. 

The majority of our funding comes from the hospitality training courses that we provide through our training portal, Hospitality Alliance Training (HAT). HAT is a nationally recognised leader in training courses throughout Australia and has successfully trained more than 50,000 individuals. 

The rest of our funding comes from membership fees, sponsors and some government grants. 

www.hospitalityalliancetraining.edu.au

So I am two-and-a-bit months into my new role and while it's insanely challenging, especially whilst still enrolled in a full course-load, I love every minute of it. 

I look forward to sharing more of my adventure with you over the next few weeks, and good luck to each of you in your own internships! 

Holly Hazel