I contacted a friend, Jay, who I know has had a lot of experience in the field of PR. I asked him to give me an insight into what he has done before. The information gathered concludes that relations with people in the media industry is very useful, you also need to be up to date with current issues and affairs that are present in the news.
On a day to day basis, I had to write press releases to send out to all relevant media contacts informing them of 'media worthy' developments. The main challenge is often making the most mundane stories sound interesting enough to get them published.
The best PR's build up strong relationships with those who work in the media. This is the easiest way to ensure your client gets the maximum amount of coverage on a regular basis. When working on behalf of a high end restaurant and nightclub in London, I had to spend many evenings wining and dining journalists and feeding them false show-biz stories to guarantee the business got the coverage it needed.
The only way to judge whether your doing a good job is by scanning the media on a daily basis and highlighting all references to your client. There is no better feeling that opening a newspaper and seeing an entire double page feature on your client.
The most interesting part about the job is the whole area of PR Stunts. Press releases get dull and they often fail to have any impact. Most PR's now have to resort to setting up huge stunts to ensure they get the pictures or stories they need. When working on the Radio 1 Live Lounge album we made a number of famous bands do sets in busking locations across the London Underground. The pictures hit every newspaper and magazine we targeted!
I now work in the field of Event Promotion. The role has a greater focus on direct marketing and the development of long term promotional campaigns.
No comments:
Post a Comment