PR NEOPHYTE

Last year, I (Kirstie) spent six months working with a team to do the PR for Moral Fairground's annual Fair@Sqaure festival in Melbourne. Without any previous PR experience, I had to learn the ins and outs as I went along and realised that working in PR wasn't as glamorous as I imagined it to be - it involves a lot of hard work behind the scenes, thousands of emails (I once sent 600 emails in one day!!!!!!), persistence, and the ability to take constant rejection. This being said, it was totally rewarding (watch the highlights of Fair@Square 2011 below!!!) and I thought I would share what I've learnt with others who are aspiring to work in PR, looking for PR internships etc..

So here are 3 tips:

1. Do your research


Know your target audience and how to reach your audience using appropriate media whether it's print, radio, social media, etc. Build a database of media contacts relevant to your industry and ensure that you keep it up to date. 

When writing a press release, make sure that your message is clear and relevant to the media. You need to come up with an angle as journalists wants a story not an advert or sales pitch.


2. Pay attention to detail


Make sure that all the information on your website, social media and press releases are correct. Sending out mass press releases can be very time consuming but you must be meticulous because it's so easy to make mistakes (and I've made plenty!). Ensure that the names in each email is correct and that you're sending the right press releases and photographs to the right people.


3. Follow up 

Following up with phone calls is important when trying to get media coverage as you want to ensure that journalists have received and read your press release. However learn to take no for an answer, if you're still pushy after they've kindly rejected, you may burn a few bridges - you want to build a professional relationship with journalists so that you can work with them again in the future.

That's enough of me pretending to know what I'm talking about.. watch Fair@Square 2011 highlights here!