latest news from the orchard

April 16, 2012

Who do you trust?

Filed under: PR, Social Media — Tags: , , , , , , , — orchardnews @ 3:55 pm

Do you trust me? Interesting question…

Aladdin asked Jasmine before she got on his magic carpet and Jack asked Rose in Titanic…before it sank.  It’s a weird concept;  hard to gain and easy to lose – what makes you trust someone over someone else?

What about trust in businesses, media, politicians?

Edelman publishes an annual Trust Barometer which measures trust in governments, companies and the media across 25 countries. This year its findings were interesting but not that surprising considering the recent economic issues and the Leveson inquiry into press standards.

As revealed by PRWeek, the barometer showed an increase in disillusionment with both businesses and the Government in the UK. Trust in governments fell to 43% globally making government officials the least credible spokespeople in the report.  Trust in business also fell with only 30% of UK respondents finding CEOs to be believable spokespeople for their organisation.

This presents PR people with a challenge; finding credible spokespeople stakeholders can warm to and trust is a key part of many communications strategies.

What the research did reveal is that members of the public are increasingly looking to ‘people like themselves’ for credible information. This doesn’t just mean friends and family as with the increase in use of social media, not surprisingly, trust in online peers is at a record high.

This shift in credibility away from government and business towards media and in particularly social media has been described by Edelman as a “dispersion of authority” and represents a major shift in how organisations are having to manage their public relations.

It is now more important than ever to seek third party endorsements and support, and to create ambassadors for your brand that live both inside and outside your organisation. Satisfied customers and happy clients recounting positive experiences, or employees telling their peers about the great things they do every day – these are the things that make a difference to public perceptions in a world influenced by social media.

Posted by Harriet.

April 5, 2012

Getting a feel for working in PR

Filed under: Orchard, PR — Tags: , , , , , — orchardnews @ 2:01 pm

Orchard has been taking part in the IoD Management Shadowing Scheme (sponsored by KPMG) and for a few days this week we have had Laura Butler in the office with us. Laura is really keen to get into PR and plans to study it at degree level after she finishes studying at The Grammar School next year – so she seemed like the ideal candidate to come along to Orchard and see what a manager does here. She will write a report and give a presentation on her experience later in the year, but for a sneak preview – we asked what she thought of her short time here…

The end is nigh for my time at Orchard PR and I can safely say I have thoroughly enjoyed myself and learnt a great deal about the industry I hope to become part of one day.

My few days here have really surprised me as this is certainly not your average 9-5 desk job. It was good to see early on that PR would not just be about being in an office when straight away, before I’d even had the chance to take my jacket off, I was off to the Guernsey Press to get a real understanding of how working with the media and PR go hand in hand and are key in this industry.

During the time I’ve spent here I’ve witnessed client meetings, brainstorming and seen how you need to have one eye on the media at all times. I’ve learnt that timing is everything in PR – it’s not all about being punctual but having an understanding of how the media and the clients’ days pan out.

I have enjoyed my week at Orchard and have learned a great deal from Brooke and the team. I have seen the process of how the local paper is made and even helped give out Easter goodies to the rest of the media around the island. Doing my management shadowing at Orchard has certainly shown me that in PR no two work days are the same and this is why I’m glad I chose to do the scheme and will hopefully (fingers crossed) work in the industry in the future.

Posted by Brooke.

February 10, 2012

October 28, 2011

Where are they now? (part one…)

Filed under: PR — Tags: , , , , , , , — orchardnews @ 4:20 pm

Last week we heard from our current crop of account executives about working in PR, and of course, working at Orchard. We promised to bring you news of some Orchard apples that have moved on in their PR careers, having been lured away to other parts of the UK and indeed the world. Today we have guest blogs from Martyn and Emily, now forging PR careers in Nottingham and London respectively.

Orchard is still recruiting for an account executive, so if a career in PR sounds like the thing for you, please get in touch.

Martyn Gettings

In 2009 I left Guernsey for Nottingham in the Midlands. Thanks to my experience at Orchard I landed a job working for one of the largest agencies in the area with household names on its books. Gaining employment amid the worst recession in living memory was in no small part thanks to the skills I learned from my OPR mentors and the compulsory CIPR training I undertook whilst there.  As an AE in Nottingham I worked on campaigns for Pirelli, the National Apprenticeship Service and Kidney Research UK. I was involved with the new F1 sponsorship announcement and supported the Pirelli Calendar on its annual release.

In March 2011 I moved to Proactive PR – an international multimedia PR agency with clients all over the world. I am now an account manager with a portfolio of clients spanning the telecoms and satellite sectors. I also act as an interviewer for international trade-show television channels. In the last two months I have interviewed chiefs from Google, Microsoft, IBM, the UK government and even News International. On a day to day basis I connect with and advise top-level execs around the world from Canada to Japan and in September I am off to Amsterdam and Paris for two of the biggest telecoms and broadcasting exhibitions in the world.

The attention and guidance I received thanks to the ethos and the encouragement of the personnel at Orchard gave me the best possible grounding and a foundation for success. It is very appropriate to say that Orchard PR launched my career.

Emily Falla

Having embarked on a degree in Public Relations it wasn’t until I had stepped into Orchard Towers on my placement year that my learning truly began. Working with some of the most skilled practitioners in the Channel Islands, it was their dedication, hard work and encouragement, towards both clients and staff, that truly engendered a passion for what it is that we ‘PR people’ do. Orchard created opportunities for me to gain great experience, enabling me to work on communications programmes across all industry sectors, from accountancy to recruitment to health.

Three years on and I am now working in London for Lansons Communications, one of the top 25 PR Consultancies. As Lansons is integrated agency, I now support clients both offline and online, developing and implementing consumer campaigns for big brands as well as staying true to my financial services roots. Not dissimilar from Orchard, at the heart of Lansons is its people and while I hope my career continues to blossom in the Big Smoke, a little piece of me will always remain in the Orchard.

Stay tuned to the Orchard blog to hear from more of our ‘alumni’.

Posted by Chris.

October 25, 2011

What a difference a decade makes….

Filed under: PR — Tags: , , , , , — orchardnews @ 1:34 pm

Last week I spoke to about 100 students and managers at the IOD Guernsey Management Shadowing Awards – the reason I was chosen as the guest speaker was that I was the winner of the Management Shadowing programme way back in 2001. For you mathematicians out there you will have worked out that was 10 years ago. My presentation therefore was appropriately titled ‘what a difference a decade makes’….

I was lucky enough to do my placement with someone working in PR – those few fun but hectic days and then winning the Management Shadowing Award gave me a keen interest in the industry, some confidence in my ability and most importantly a direction.

It was a funny old process writing down and then talking about all the things I have (and haven’t) done in my PR life during the last ten years, from the early days at CMA PR and Event Management to my four years spent studying PR at Bournemouth University – hopefully a useful tale for the students to hear about.

Oddly it only took me about 10 minutes to whizz through the highlights of the last decade which included: PR theory study, running a host of client events, many many press drops to London’s finest beauty journalists, a PR dissertation, my first stint at Orchard PR as an account executive, my time at Clarion Communications and then back to the Orchard family as a consultant in 2008.

The main point I hope I passed onto the students, six of whom also stood and made excellent presentations about their shadowing experiences, was that whilst a bit of luck and good timing can help you build a career at the end of the day no matter what industry you go into it is mostly about hard work.

I may have needed to go between the Guernsey and London PR worlds a couple of times to work out I would finally end up on the little rock rather than in the big smoke but my industry experience is certainly richer because of these moves.

That hard work thing I mentioned to the students doesn’t just happen at the start of your career: as we all know it still happens every day so when the evening was brought to a close with the following quote from Steve Jobs, I realised that I am very lucky to love what I do:

‘Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.’

Best get on with some of that hard work…

Posted by Brooke.

October 21, 2011

Want to work in PR?

Filed under: PR — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — orchardnews @ 2:25 pm


You might have already heard – Orchard is hiring…

We have a vacancy for an account executive, often the first step onto the PR ladder for many people. It’s a position that comes with fantastic opportunities for learning and experiencing new things and developing skills and meeting very useful people. So, rather than writing out another job ad, we thought who better to tell you why you want to be a PR account executive at Orchard than our awesomely talented team themselves. So we asked them a few questions to see what they think.

What is the best thing about working in PR?

Chloe: Seeing coverage you have achieved for your clients. It sounds nerdy but you get a real buzz from opening a newspaper and seeing your story.

Cat:  No two days are ever the same because quite often you are reacting to stories reported by the media and participating in issues management. It is also a great chance to develop relationships with clients, journalists and photographers and sometimes you even get the chance to meet a celebrity!

What is your typical day like at Orchard?

Harry: I don’t know if there is a ‘typical’ day at Orchard PR. From media calls, where the local media all want to do interviews with our clients, to photo shoots where I need to get the perfect photo to go with the news release I just drafted, my working day varies so much. One day I’ll be in the office, liaising with journalists on the phone, drafting news releases and monitoring the media and the next I’ll be out at a client meeting, attending an event and networking with local business people.

Cat: It is important to stay on top of what is happening in the news so typically the first duty of the day is to search the morning’s stories online. Picking up the phone to our clients to find out what is happening at their end usually guides us to what we will be doing for the rest of the day.

What sort of clients do you work for and which ones do you enjoy the most?

Cat: A large proportion of Orchard’s clients are from Guernsey’s finance industry however we also work with a variety of companies from different sectors including retail, energy, regulation and even a notable night club. Each client has its own individual needs and as a consequence the work can be very different but extremely interesting and enjoyable.

Harry: A utilities company, a nightclub, a law firm and trust company are just some of the clients I work for and I enjoy dealing with all of them, because they are all so different. Some of the more enjoyable events have included meeting a famous DJ and the less enjoyable…having to wear a fluorescent jacket and helmet…but that’s PR!

Adie: I enjoy our community-based clients and the times when you can get involved with helping out on events and managing projects. I have particularly enjoyed working with designers and printers on the creative elements of campaigns but I am also gaining experience and learning a lot from working with our financial clients.

What skills have you developed working at Orchard?

Chloe: I have always loved writing, and that’s really important in this business, but I didn’t really know how to write news. Reading lots of news has really helped with that but I have also had a lot of practice in a short time.

Cat: Working for a number of different clients requires you to develop excellent organisational and time management skills. It is also essential that you have the confidence to talk to people because on a daily basis you will be communicating not only with clients but journalists from  Guernsey, Jersey and the UK trade titles.

What skills are you working hardest on at the moment?

Chloe:  I am trying to be more assertive and confident; I was very shy before I worked at Orchard but I can now talk to people on the phone without fear – massive step!

Adie: Honing my communication skills and focusing on my own time management.

Why should people want to be an account executive at Orchard?

Adie: If you are a keen writer, communicator and proactive problem solver, you will enjoy this job. There are so many aspects to your everyday work that you are constantly developing and building upon your existing skills and learning new ones.  Some would say you need to be a ‘people person’, but I think ‘an all-rounder’ would be a better description. You need to juggle a lot of clients, be on top of your workload, enjoy writing and always be happy to help. If you thrive when working with people and words, then you will go far in this industry.

Cat: The team at Orchard are really friendly and supportive and because each member of the team is so talented it is a fantastic opportunity to learn new things from them. Another factor which should appeal is the chance to undertake professional qualifications such as the Advanced Certificate and Diploma in PR which are supported by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.

If you think you’d like to join the team at Orchard, head to our PR careers page to find out how to apply.

But if you’re still not convinced that you that you should be working in PR, we’ll be back next week with some another blog to hear from a few ‘Orchard Alumni’ and how Orchard helped launch their PR careers.

June 3, 2011

PR pros belong at the top table

Filed under: PR — Tags: , , , , , , , — orchardnews @ 4:05 pm

New research out this week (as published by PR Week) shows that only 41% of the companies surveyed have a PR practitioner at executive level. It’s a worrying stat – as the same survey points out 84% of senior comms professionals feel that communications has the biggest influence on corporate reputation. The survey has focused on in house expertise, but in our experience this is a key issue for agency based PRs as well. We find that our clients get the best out of us when we are included in discussions at the highest level – most frequently because potential communications issues can be identified, addressed and planned for effectively when you involve people with the right skills and knowledge early in the process. Problems occur when, because of a lack of PR input at the top level, a ‘head in the sand’ approach is taken to crises rather than addressing issues head on and dealing with them on the front foot.

A relevant comic from Dilbert.com

Accepting outside consultants into an organisation can be difficult for some executives to come to terms with, especially as they have to share information (warts and all) with people not directly working for their company, but for those that make communications a priority and consult with the right people at the right level, the benefits far outweigh any worries about ‘outsiders’ not understanding their company, or its motivations fully.

PR experience at board level is not just a benefit in crisis mode, having relevant expertise is vital to the business and strategic planning process and PR professionals, especially those from external agencies, can bring fresh thinking and good, new ideas to businesses and make a real difference to their performance and growth.

Communications should be an integral part of top level thinking in any organisation, not an afterthought that can be thrown in at the last minute.

Posted by Chris.

February 2, 2011

Planning and preparation are at the heart of good public sector comms

Filed under: PR — Tags: , , , , , , — orchardnews @ 4:58 pm

The public sector by its very nature relies heavily on communications. Governments need to reach people, inform them and help them make vital decisions and access vital resources. Without strong clear communication local government in particular would become insular, self absorbed and completely lose touch with the people they are mandated to serve.

Today’s editorial in the Guernsey Press highlights a PR ‘blunder’ by Guernsey’s States – news that the head of tourism is leaving the island needed to be handled carefully to ensure that negative connotations (that you can’t market a place if you don’t live there) would be balanced by positives (continuity, the fact that in 2011’s knowledge based, networked economy your location has little to do with your ability to do a job).

The Press’s opinion piece today suggests that this transition has been handled badly, and left the public questioning the wisdom of the move.

What could have been done to better prepare the media for such a story?

Good PR is based on evidence: more should have been done to highlight the benefits of good work life balance to employee productivity, the fact that much tourism marketing is done by professionals a long way from the places they promote, and previous track record in the job.

Good PR practice is to anticipate and prepare for a variety of reactions, tailoring content being made available to the media to ensure that answers are given before there is even a chance to ask awkward questions. Having to come back a day later with more clarity and justification is just not good enough in today’s age of flickering attention spans.

The public has already made up their mind on this issue and moved on.

Posted by Chris.

January 31, 2011

The social web is changing marketing

Filed under: PR, Social Media — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — orchardnews @ 12:37 pm

Most Channel Islands professional services and finance sector businesses understand what they hope to achieve through marketing. Their aims are, generally, to promote their business so more people know about them, to showcase skills and expertise, as well as products and services, and to engage in conversations with referrers and potential clients.

These businesses are now having to consider how to position their brands online and this article by Emma Anderson was written for Contact Magazine to show why online networks are becoming so important to businesses and why social media is a significant channel through which business objectives can be met.

The full article is reproduced after the jump with many thanks to Contact.

(more…)

January 24, 2011

10 years in the Orchard

Filed under: PR — Tags: , , , , , — orchardnews @ 2:08 pm

Team Orchard are celebrating today as over the weekend a very special milestone was reached. Di Stenner, one of Orchard’s senior consultants notched up her 10th anniversary at the sharp end of public relations in the Channel Islands. Di joined Orchard ten years ago after working at a FTSE 100 company in London and has managed a portfolio of clients in Guernsey and Jersey covering the finance, professional services and healthcare sectors in her time here.

To mark this achievement, we’ve been back through the Orchard archives for a suitable photo and found this treasure, from the announcement of Di’s appointment in 2001.

Many congratulations Di, we’re now looking forward to another ten years of PR adventures with you at Orchard towers.

Older Posts »

Theme: Customized WordPress Classic. Blog at WordPress.com.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.