Category: Entry-Level PR Job

The Beauty of Raleigh PR: Day 10 – Case Studies

Jasmin SessomsBlog, Case Studies, Entry-Level PR Job,

PR 101: How to Write a Case Study

On my first day at Clairemont, I was introduced to writing case studies. One of my first assignments was to read and analyze previous case studies written by my Clairemont colleagues and complete three on my own.

When Mrs. Hughens gave me this task, I figured it wouldn’t be too difficult. I didn’t realize that the binders for each client would weigh ten pounds and include more than 100 pages – all of which I had to read, summarize and compress into two short pages.

Writing a great case study sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? It is. Don’t let it stop you from doing it!

It might feel less cumbersome if you break it into sections.

*Situational Analysis – Who is the client? What are the goals? How did you design the campaign or tactic to help reach the goal?

* Research – What information did you gather to better understand the client, target audiences, challenges, etc., and how did you gather it?

* Planning – Once you completed the research, how did you use it to develop a campaign or tactic that would benefit your client? How did you establish your objectives?

* Execution – What steps did you take to carry out your plan?

* Evaluation – Was the plan successful? How did you measure the success? What would you do differently?

Writing a case study is a great way to increase credibility with potential clients. Since Clairemont is an award-winning agency, I think its important to add these studies to our website. It is also a great way for me to quickly understand Clairemont’s clients and outstanding work.

 

Editor’s Note: Clairemont enthusiastically welcomes Jasmin Sessoms to our team! Follow this former beauty queen’s journey as she documents her first 30 days in a Raleigh PR agency.

 

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The Beauty of Raleigh PR: Day 9 – Research

Jasmin SessomsBlog, Entry-Level PR Job, Raleigh PR Agency, 1 Comment on The Beauty of Raleigh PR: Day 9 – Research

 Editor’s Note: Clairemont enthusiastically welcomes Jasmin Sessoms to our team! Follow this former beauty queen’s journey as she documents her first 30 days in a Raleigh PR agency.

Massage therapy isn’t only for pampering anymore. Health care providers are recommending massages for patients to feel better anytime. Although general relaxation still tops the list; stress relief, sports performance and the treatment of chronic issues don’t fall too far behind.

The new trend of relieving stress in the workplace has become essential for many corporate events. While brainstorming events for a client, the idea of five-minute massages were mentioned.  After a brief conversation and some contemplation, we decided that having a therapist massage would create a positive buzz for our client.

Planning and organizing events aren’t as easy as they might seem. My task today was to find corporate massage chair vendors. Not all spas offer on-site massages, and not all companies have reasonable rates.

With my favorite spas in mind, I created my list and began calling each one to find out more information. Although this may seem a little tedious, making sure our clients are happy is Clairemont’s number one priority.

My goal was to find the spa that offers the best price. Since all of the spas in the area claim to have the best massage therapists this shouldn’t take too long, right? Just like before, wrong.

I guess every massage school in the world was too busy to take my call, but I wasn’t discouraged. Instead, I took the time to leave each one a pleasant voice mail and send a follow-up email.

Hopefully sometime in the near future I can narrow down my list and recommend the best option to the rest of the team.

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The Beauty of Raleigh PR: Day 8 – In the Bag

Jasmin SessomsBlog, Entry-Level PR Job, Wonderfully Random,

Editor’s Note: Clairemont enthusiastically welcomes Jasmin Sessoms to our team! Follow this former beauty queen’s journey as she documents her first 30 days in a Raleigh PR agency.

 I have to admit, my mother has better style than I do. Although you may not think so, there are so many fashion trends that spurred from our parents’ and our grandparents’ time.

For me, fashion is easiest to think about as an ever-revolving door. What goes around comes back around-especially when it comes to fashion. It’s sometimes difficult to keep track of styles that are timeless.

Perusing through old pictures of my mother in college is proof. Afros, bell bottoms, halter tops, high-waisted shorts and crop tops were all the rage then. Fast-forward three decades to Fayetteville State University and you will find many students walking around campus wearing the same styles.

For many, vintage is a fashion inspiration. There so many new fashion moguls emerging, while icons like Jackie Kennedy still have styles that live on today. I am constantly trying to integrate my vintage finds into modern ones and describe myself as “vintage chic.”

Recently, I raided my mom’s closet and ran across her collection of vintage handbags. Although I have a million purses (or at least it seems like I do), I find that quality isn’t something that many designers today care about as much. In my mothers closet I found the most amazing stash of Dooney & Bourke as well as Coach bags. Since my mother keeps everything like new, they are all in the original duster bag. Perfect leather with a little bit of vintage flare. My friends would kill to get their hands on these bags.

As a gift for getting my first professional job at Clairemont, my mother handed down her leather briefcase that she too used at her first job in Raleigh. Symbolic, yes. Being able to carry my mother’s precious bag really warms my heart.

So, do you have any vintage clothes from your parent’s closets? Or do you hold on to certain articles of clothing with the hopes that they will one day be back in style?

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The Beauty of Raleigh PR: Day 7 – Event Planning

Jasmin SessomsBlog, Entry-Level PR Job, Marketing, ,

Editor’s Note: Clairemont enthusiastically welcomes Jasmin Sessoms to our team! Follow this former beauty queen’s journey as she documents her first 30 days in a Raleigh PR agency.

Little girls love to play dress up, and as a child I remember wanting to put on my mothers shoes and clothes and was often caught playing in her makeup.

Kids today especially fancy Disney Princesses, although I thoroughly enjoyed Cinderella; I never requested to go to school in the costume or demanded her at my birthday party.

The realization that children obsess over these characters hit me when the newest Disney Princess was released. Elsa, from Frozen. Queen Elsa of Arendelle or the snow queen, is the protagonist of Disney’s Award winning 2013 animated feature film.

Elsa is voiced by Idina Menzel and serves Disney as the 13th princess and very first queen. Elsa possesses the magical powers to control ice, frost and snow and has taken the Disney world and children’s hearts by storm.

I know you have to be reading this wondering, what does this have to do with PR? Well, one of our clients is interested in having Elsa at an event.

At Clairemont, our task is to find the most authentic Elsa impersonator that is realistic and believable for the children to enjoy. The Clairemont team has to do the groundwork to not only make the client happy, but also bring smiles to little girl’s faces when they see their idol walk through the door.

Think that’s an easy task? No way. Every company in the Triangle boasts to having the “best” Elsa.

After doing research and narrowing down the best girl for the job, budget became a concern. Many companies carrying the best costumes and wigs don’t come at a cheap price, and without freezing the clients budget it was back to the drawing board.

The team had a new dilemma. Will the character draw enough interest to justify the added cost? Will bringing in the character distract from the company’s event?

With all of these factors in mind, we turned to costume shops in the Triangle, and apparently, we aren’t the only ones after an Elsa costume. One company had the costume booked through April. So yes, we believe Elsa will indeed draw children singing, “Let it Go” (her theme song) to our event.

Now all we have to do is relay all of this information to the client, and see if he too will jump onto the Frozen bandwagon.

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The Beauty of Raleigh PR: Day 6 – Grand Openings

Jasmin SessomsBlog, Entry-Level PR Job, Raleigh PR Agency,

Editor’s Note: Clairemont enthusiastically welcomes Jasmin Sessoms to our team! Follow this former beauty queen’s journey as she documents her first 30 days in a Raleigh PR agency.

What makes a song bluegrass? Searching the web could possibly lead you to a million different definitions. Simply put bluegrass is a style of acoustic music that originated in the 1940’s. Bluegrass has often been referred to as “America’s music”.

There are many distinctions of bluegrass from the typical country sound. Bluegrass usually has a lonesome musical sound with instrumentation of the banjo, guitar, stand-up bass, fiddle and mandolin.

All of these things never really mattered to me until I was tasked to figure out who’s who among America’s vast list of bluegrass bands for a client. My search ranged from North Carolina to Tennessee.

The Clairemont team’s job is to pinpoint an amazing main stage act that will draw the community out, and bring more word-of-mouth advertising for the client’s event.

During my search, I learned some agents don’t even want to talk with you if you aren’t mentioning big money. I didn’t take it personally, instead I opted to tell them there was no real budget and I was looking for the best in the business.

Although I have never experienced haggling with music agents, I think I did a pretty good job. I reminded myself that they are regular people just like me. Every agent I contact needs my business just as bad as I need their band.

After a series of dead end calls, and a few bounce-back emails, I finally had a breakthrough. I spoke with a few agents that were willing to work with us.

Throughout the day, it seems that my list has grown tremendously from five to 15 bands. All afternoon I have been receiving calls from national recording artist reps and I have to say, I feel special.

If you are ever in need of a bluegrass band as a main act at an event, make sure to stop by the Clairemont House and see me! I have added at least twenty bands and contacts to my repertoire.

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