What is PR all about? We asked Michaila Byrne, who spent a few days last week in the Orchard as an IoD KPMG Management Shadow, in order to gain an insight into what working in PR is like…
What is PR all about? My time in a PR consultancy has led me to the conclusion that PR is in some ways an art; knowing what people want to see and making this a reality.
Yes, you did read that right…ethics…not Essex! The only way public relations is going to improve its reputation and be considered as a fully-fledged profession is through improving the ethical standards in the industry; something which has nothing to do with fake tans and going for a cocktail at the Sugar Hut…
Acting before something becomes a crisis is often the best way to deal with it. However that’s not how most businesses seem to think and in recent times I’ve been focussing a lot on how to deal with crises with social media.
It’s also something that comes up all the time in Orchard seminar training sessions. ‘What do I do when it all goes wrong?’ is a very familiar refrain.
When five teenagers in Australia uploaded a video on February 2, featuring several costumed persons dancing to the song “Harlem Shake” by DJ Baauer, I don’t think they quite realised what would happen next.
Anyone working in PR would have had to have been living under a rock to fail to notice the ever-growing number of awards ceremonies available to clients from a variety of business sectors.
Over Christmas we had the opportunity to do something a bit different. Having helped the organisers of Guernsey’s festive ice rink secure the sponsorship they needed thanks to one of clients we agreed to provide some further PR support – in return for a few free tickets and a bit of free advertising.
We are celebrating staff development again: Orchard account executive Harriet Black has gained the Chartered Institute of Public Relations PR Diploma, receiving a distinction for her main project which focused on ethics in public relations.
This week the CIPR is launching a new campaign promoting the profession – ‘Meet the Members‘. Prominent members are being asked for short pieces of advice for working in public relations. The images are being shared on Pinterest and across other social media.
The right image can be the difference between your client’s stories getting a few column inches or a half a page splash in the media. When briefing photographers for a PR shot there are always a number of things to consider – conveying your message, the brand and originality are all key.
The term “crisis” generally conjures up images in most people’s minds of a big incident or a major disaster along the lines of the BP Deep Horizon oil leak, that requires carefully planned responses which are both operational and communication based. Crises however can take many forms and may not necessarily be a major event.