As a graduate searching the job market, one thing you have to learn quickly is how to sell yourself. So I applied to a PR company to help develop my skills in this area. Optimise PR, a small company with decades of PR experience, were working with a client over Breast Cancer Awareness Month when I joined them in October. As someone who is passionately interested in the charity sector this was something I wanted to learn more about.
I saw first hand how a PR company pitches to a client and the amount of background work that gets done before a project comes to life. I familiarised myself with the journalist database Cision, had fun communicating through social media and writing my first press release.
I gained an understanding of how charities work together, pooling their resources for a yearly event that helps fundraising and boost awareness.
Each of the team members has their own specific focus, whether in journalism, social media or a client focus – it was great fun to be working in a team bouncing ideas across the office and learning about a new industry.
It wasn’t until the second week that I mentioned in passing, my website to Eleanor – something I had just considered a hobby, until then. I had decided to put the website together as an online resume of my experience in circus performing, inspired by some friends of mine. But Eleanor saw the strength in it straight away and encouraged me to write a press release. And so, Fleuriefire was launched.
I hadn’t really engaged with the media much before. If I did host an event it was promoted through Facebook, SMS messages and flyering. This had worked reasonably well but I hadn’t much contact with the wider community. I am still shocked by the amount of media interest there was over my press release. It was probably a combination of good timing: October being a good month for events: (Halloween, Bonfire night, Christmas and New Year all follow) and excellent coaching on my press release. I have been in two local papers, interviewed on the radio and starred in two lifestyle magazines, with a further two lined up for next year.
It went through several drafts and eventually I tailored two versions: one for local parties and events, another for weddings. I learnt to build on my strengths – the originality of my circus skills, my experience performing and teaching internationally, and the local angle.
Putting this all together as a business launch really made it stand on its own as a piece of news. Of course writing and sending the press release was only half the work and, I quickly learnt that follow-up phone calls are just as, if not more important. Making sure the press release has got through to the right person, not the sales department, and building up a rapport with journalists is vital and I am still learning. I was encouraged on two occasions by journalists to promote a public event as the main news hook, so as I gain more bookings, I will continue to have news-worthy stories.
I left Optimise with increased confidence in my business, a well planned launch that has given me media contacts and got my face on the front cover of a local magazine.
Many new opportunities have opened up for me. I am networking like crazy and my social media presence is growing. I have printed off some new business cards and am contacting venues/event-planners with a glossy brochure to showcase myself as a new form of entertainment. With lots more ideas in the future to promote Fleuriefire and the pool of knowledge Optimise PR has provided I can continue to grow and learn.
• www.optimise-pr.com
I saw first hand how a PR company pitches to a client and the amount of background work that gets done before a project comes to life. I familiarised myself with the journalist database Cision, had fun communicating through social media and writing my first press release.
I gained an understanding of how charities work together, pooling their resources for a yearly event that helps fundraising and boost awareness.
Each of the team members has their own specific focus, whether in journalism, social media or a client focus – it was great fun to be working in a team bouncing ideas across the office and learning about a new industry.
It wasn’t until the second week that I mentioned in passing, my website to Eleanor – something I had just considered a hobby, until then. I had decided to put the website together as an online resume of my experience in circus performing, inspired by some friends of mine. But Eleanor saw the strength in it straight away and encouraged me to write a press release. And so, Fleuriefire was launched.
I hadn’t really engaged with the media much before. If I did host an event it was promoted through Facebook, SMS messages and flyering. This had worked reasonably well but I hadn’t much contact with the wider community. I am still shocked by the amount of media interest there was over my press release. It was probably a combination of good timing: October being a good month for events: (Halloween, Bonfire night, Christmas and New Year all follow) and excellent coaching on my press release. I have been in two local papers, interviewed on the radio and starred in two lifestyle magazines, with a further two lined up for next year.
It went through several drafts and eventually I tailored two versions: one for local parties and events, another for weddings. I learnt to build on my strengths – the originality of my circus skills, my experience performing and teaching internationally, and the local angle.
Putting this all together as a business launch really made it stand on its own as a piece of news. Of course writing and sending the press release was only half the work and, I quickly learnt that follow-up phone calls are just as, if not more important. Making sure the press release has got through to the right person, not the sales department, and building up a rapport with journalists is vital and I am still learning. I was encouraged on two occasions by journalists to promote a public event as the main news hook, so as I gain more bookings, I will continue to have news-worthy stories.
I left Optimise with increased confidence in my business, a well planned launch that has given me media contacts and got my face on the front cover of a local magazine.
Many new opportunities have opened up for me. I am networking like crazy and my social media presence is growing. I have printed off some new business cards and am contacting venues/event-planners with a glossy brochure to showcase myself as a new form of entertainment. With lots more ideas in the future to promote Fleuriefire and the pool of knowledge Optimise PR has provided I can continue to grow and learn.
• www.optimise-pr.com