Year: 2012

My First 30 Days at a Raleigh PR Agency: Day 19

Margot HorganBlog, Entry-Level PR Job, Public Relations, Raleigh PR Agency, , , , , , 1 Comment on My First 30 Days at a Raleigh PR Agency: Day 19

A lot of my work at Clairemont thus far has been centered around doing social media and blogging for clients, but every once in a while, I’m doing what we now consider “traditional PR,” as well. My most recent task has involved pitching the Charlotte and nearby Lancaster, S.C. media regarding our client Walnut Creek’sannouncement that three new builders are set to begin construction in the housing development.
Pitching media is still a new experience for me, and it is probably one of the most nerve-wracking assignments that I have worked on yet at a PR agency. Reporters are busy and can receive hundreds of pitches a day. Sometimes they are just not interested in hearing another pitch, and sometimes your story just really isn’t what that reporter needs.

My best advice? Don’t take the rejection personally. Pitching the media can be hard, but it gets much better with practice (so I’ve heard). Instead, make the pitch into a game. What can you do, what angle can you approach it from to make your story sound the most interesting to the reporter? What can you do to make the reporter’s job easy? If you can give the journalist as much information as they need as soon as they need it, you are making his or her job easier, which means you are in a much better position to get placement for your story.

This is just my initial reaction on how to make pitching the most interesting and effective, but for those of you who have had way more experience than me, do you have any tips and tricks to share?

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NCPRSA vs. RPRS

Josephine ButlerAPR, Blog, Professional Development, Public Relations, Raleigh PR Agency, , , , , , , ,

Are you a public relations or communications professional? Then you probably realize the importance of getting out and networking! If you’re located here at a Raleigh PR agency or somewhere else in the Triangle, there are two great organizations you should consider joining: the North Carolina Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (NCPRSA) or the Raleigh Public Relations Society (RPRS). While I personally recommend becoming a member of both, if you had to pick just one, here are a few tips that will help you decide which group is right for you.

For starters, let’s take a look at what is offered by both groups:

  • Luncheons are held each month, where local PR professionals and industry leaders will share ideas and case studies.
  • Each group hosts an annual awards ceremony – NCPRSA hosts the InSpire Awards and RPRS hosts the Sir Walter Raleigh Awards – recognizing successful communications campaigns and tactics.
  • Members receive discounted rates on monthly luncheons and other events.

Now, let’s hone in on what NCPRSA has to offer:

  • This group is comprised of PR professionals with a broad range of experiences and leadership positions at every level. From CEOs to entry-level employees, there’s a lot of variety.
  • Each year, the organization hosts a PR & Marketing Seminar, playing host to both local and national communications experts.
  • On the website, members have access to the NCPRSA Job Bank, where local employers frequently post new job openings and leadership opportunities.
  • The North Carolina chapter of PRSA is part of the world’s largest network of PR professionals.
  • Within PRSA, you have the option to join one of 16 professional interest sections, putting you in touch with other members who share your expertise.
  • The organization offers the industries only accreditation program, Accredited in Public Relations (APR) program.
  • When you become a member, you’ll receive periodicals, daily news updates and access to research, articles, white papers and case studies.
  • Because of the larger network, dues are pricier than other local groups. National dues are $255 annually, plus a $65 initiation fee and the local chapter fee.

Now let’s take a look at what RPRS has to offer:

  • This group also features PR professionals at every career level, but has an especially strong presence of entry-level to account supervisor-level members.
  • In addition to monthly luncheons, this group will occasionally arrange tours at local media outlets.
  • Twice a year, the organization will host free networking socials at popular Raleigh restaurants.
  • An attractive economic option for members with a smaller budget, individual dues are only $75 annually.

Now that you’ve had a chance to learn more about these wonderful organizations, feel free to ask questions. Dana and Tracy both sit on the board for NCPRSA, while I (Josie) serve as publicity chair for RPRS. We’d love to help you decide which group (or if both groups) is right for you!

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My First 30 Days at a Raleigh PR Agency: Day 18

Margot HorganBlog, Entry-Level PR Job, Raleigh PR Agency, , , , , ,

If you’re working on a team, it can be difficult staying up-to-date on what everyone is doing, what you need to be doing, when something is due, when something is completed, etc. Clairemont’s solution to this problem? A free online task manager program called Asana.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiLCmstyDdM&feature=player_embedded

Asana is a digital workspace where you and your team can share task lists, plan, organize, prioritize and stay in sync with all of your different projects. On Asana, you can create new workspaces for each client or project, create different tasks and to-dos for each workplace, assign tasks to different team members, set due dates and check items off the list upon their completion. Each team member can see exactly what she and other team members need to do. Projects can be prioritized so you always know which is the most pressing and important at that time.

With people in and out of the Clairemont office and often on different schedules, Asana has helped us communicate what needs to be done and when. Instead of clogging up email inboxes with messages reminding someone to edit a blog or send a document, the task can be added to Asana, assigned to a specific team member and flagged with a due date. This may sound like an elementary idea, but in a public relations office where you are working on a number of different assignments and clients at any given time, the ability to streamline everyone’s schedules is necessary for productivity and efficiency

Intrigued? You should be! Asana is easy, effective and, most importantly, free! It’s a great tool for a public relations agency to use, and we highly suggest it. Take a look at this “Intro to Asana” video to learn more!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liO5VbbIqIs&list=UU2BoogM0AqwOJyoSp1S4ClQ&index=7&feature=plcp

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What We’ve Learned About Healthy School Lunches from Martha Payne and the Chef Challenge

Josephine ButlerBlog, In Our Community, Public Relations, Raleigh PR Agency, Sustainability, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Chef Greg Hamm of the Natural Chef Culinary Program at Central Carolina Community College shares his creations with the public at Briar Chapel’s Earth Day celebration.

We recently read an article from the News & Observer about 9-year-old Martha Payne, who posted images of “uninspiring school meals” on her blog, Never Seconds. The blog has gotten more than 2 million hits and gained attention of school officials and cafeteria staff. The story has drawn national and international media coverage, and we can’t help think of our client Briar Chapel and partner nonprofit, The Abundance Foundation, and their own stroke of genius: the Chatham County Chef Challenge.

In case you missed it, the Chef Challenge is an annual event that invites local celebrity chefs from well-known area restaurants (this year, we enjoyed working with the Fearrington House Restaurant, Crossroads at Carolina Inn and Central Carolina Community College) to create healthy and delicious school lunches. Each of the chef’s dishes competed head to head with traditional school lunch favorites – think chicken nuggets, pizza and nachos. And believe it or not, the chef’s dishes won! An overwhelming 85 percent of students agreed that the chef’s culinary creations were much tastier than the same-old, less healthy options.

To give you an idea of a dish the kids love, take Chef Colin Bedford of the Fearrington for example. He cooked up a tasty chocolate cake that was actually good for you. Healthy chocolate cake!? While this may sound a little oxymoronic, trust us when we say that Chef Colin snuck in hearty ingredients like spinach and carrots – the kids had no idea!

The goal behind each of the chef’s recipes was that cafeteria staff could easily duplicate it. The chefs held several training days through the school year to teaching team members how to use equipment found in their own kitchens, as well as locally grown ingredients, to recreate each of the dishes. Not only did the kids love the new menu items, but staff members also enjoyed learning something new!

And that’s why we love the story about this 9-year-old making a stand for better school lunches. She’s shedding light on a hot topic that our client Briar Chapel has also embraced. Together, parents and students can become more educated on making healthy school lunch choices, while keeping costs down!

In the meantime, we’re busy gearing up for the Chef Challenge in 2013 and can’t wait to see what the chefs will come up with this year!

P.S. Did you catch Tami Schwerin, executive director of the Abundance Foundation, and Kristy Yule, marketing director of Briar Chapel, on ABC 11? They give a big shout-out to the Chef Challenge!

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My First 30 Days at a Raleigh PR Agency: Day 17

Margot HorganBlog, Entry-Level PR Job, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , , , ,

This month, the North Carolina Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (NCPRSA) hosted a monthly professional development luncheon featuring a presentation by guest speaker Natalia Flores on the topic, Social Media Engagement Begins Offline: A Corporate Case Study in Building Successful Relationships in Latin America.

Flores, who has spent nearly a decade as a public relations marketing professional developing communications strategies for the U.S., U.S. Hispanic and Latin American markets, currently serves as a director at a public relations agency in Charlotte. Throughout her career, her clients have included VMware, Samsung, MasterCard Worldwide, SAP, Office Depot, Latin GRAMMYs and Batanga.

For the luncheon, Flores presented a case study about her client, Samsung, and the launch of its new product, the Samsung Galaxy Note, last year in Peru. Focusing on the fact that many businesses forget about offline interaction when using social media, Flores shared this video of the product launch and how her client used both offline and online interaction to promote the product:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOuVJhJO6Q0

Promoted online but acted out offline, the Samsung launch proved that the offline and online engagement are very much interrelated and should be used together. Instead of writing on the Samsung Facebook Page, “Buy the new Samsung Galaxy Note,” “Click here to see a video of the Samsung Galaxy Note,” or “Have you seen our new product the Samsung Galaxy Note?” Samsung promoted its product by encouraging fans to attend an offline event at a popular mall, where fans could use, interact and play with the new product.

Wanting to highlight the product’s easy-to-use stylist, Samsung hired local artists to create caricature drawings of participating fans and mall-goers. Fans could turn these pictures into buttons, t-shirts, etc., and in addition, photos were uploaded to the Facebook page, where fans could then tag, share and like their pictures.

In conjunction with this event, product sales increased, the fan base on Facebook grew and across social media platforms, fans tweeted, shared, posted and liked their drawings. Media coverage was high, and similar campaigns took place across Latin America and the Caribbean. Overall, it was a success!

So, what message did Flores want us to get out of this case study? Building relationships online starts offline. Just because you are on Facebook or Twitter doesn’t mean that you cannot engage with fans and followers offline. Use social media to become a resource for your fans, reward them for their loyalty and be more than just a computer or machine constantly pushing sales and promotions. Add human appeal to your postings and don’t be afraid to engage with fans offline. Having that face-to-face interaction offline is just as valuable to your social media strategy as writing Facebook posts or tweets.

Interested in learning more about this case study? Contact Natalia Flores at natalia@fusioncomminc.com or @curlygnat for a copy of her presentation, or come to the 2012 NCPRSA PR & Marketing Seminar November 15, where Flores will be guest-speaking.

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