I applied for a placement with The Word because I wanted to gain some PR experience after studying some PR writing units in my last year of university. PR was a career path that interested me, but I wanted to make sure that it was the right choice by putting theory into practice. The Word appealed to me because it looked vibrant and professional and had some interesting clients. It seemed the perfect agency to improve my communication skills and gain some experience in an office environment.
Monday 3rd August
When I arrived I was greeted by Rachael, Jenna and Sophie, who were busy preparing for a big client meeting. Whilst the girls were preparing, I settled down to read the newspapers to find some topical stories which could be of interest to The Word and its clients. I was struck by the amount of clients that such a small agency handled and was very interested to see the amount of coverage that they had got for some of their clients. In the afternoon, I got to work on my first piece of writing: copy for a competition. I also helped Jenna write a press release and obtained some media editorial information and forward feature lists for a new client.
Tuesday 4th August
This morning Rachael and Jenna invited me to their client meeting. This was a brilliant experience because I was able learn PR schedules come together as well as the importance of communication between the agency and the client. When we returned to the office, Rachael gave me a client brief and asked me to start brainstorming ideas.
Wednesday 5th August
In the morning we had a team meeting to discuss our ideas for a new client. This meeting made me realise how important it was to bounce ideas around as a team. In the afternoon I put together some distribution lists for some client mail outs.
Thursday 6th August
This morning I got to work and wrote a travel release for one of The Word’s clients. Following this, Rachael talked me through the way in which PR companies assess the success of their campaigns and showed me examples of some of the The Word’s previous projects.
Friday 7th August
I can’t believe that a week has gone by already! I spent this morning continuing to brainstorm some ideas for a business to business client. I found this challenging but after some research and a brainstorming meeting with the whole PR team, I began to get a feel for the kind of progressive ideas that they were looking for. In the afternoon I spent some time sending out a press release to local journalists. This afternoon I also flicked through some magazines to create a distribution list and mounted some coverage in a coverage book.
Monday 10th August
Today I gained lots of telephone experience. It sounds silly, but this was one of the things I was most nervous about. I don’t know what I was worrying about! Everybody I spoke to was lovely and I managed to get all of the information that Jenna needed. Secondly, Sophie asked me to contact some people who were acting as case studies for a client. She prepared me some questions to ask them and briefed me on how to approach them. I really enjoyed this task because my interviewees had some inspirational stories and were really interesting to chat to. In the afternoon I spent some time writing up my case studies and had another go at drafting a press release.
Tuesday 11th August
In the morning I spent some time perfecting yesterday’s press release and making some notes on some blogs that Jenna was monitoring. I was really interested to learn that PR agencies incorporate social media into their campaigns. During the afternoon I started researching a topic for a feature article, looking at potential structure and ideas.
Wednesday 12th August
This morning I finished writing up my feature article. I found it to be more of a challenge than the other press releases I’ve written because it had to sound like an editorial piece and less like a news release. In the afternoon, Jenna talked me through my press release and gave me some advice on how to improve it. She suggested that I consider sourcing a few quotes as these give an article a sense of authority. After making the changes, I brainstormed some ideas for another project that The Word is working on and helped to select a design on the company’s Twitter page.
Thursday 13th August
Today I pasted some items into the log book, contacted magazines for some competition and promotion information and gathered ideas together for client campaigns. Jenna and Sophie took me out for lunch today which was really nice it also provided me with a chance to ask them how they got into PR and what they enjoyed about their job.
Friday 14th August
I spent my last day completing some research, copying up my notes and printing my portfolio work. I’ve learned so much throughout my two weeks and feel that I can come away with some items for my portfolio and a new-found confidence for making telephone calls!
PR is something that I would definitely like to pursue a career in and I’d like to say a massive thank you to Rachael, Jenna and Sophie for giving up your time to help me to make that decision. Your advice and guidance has been so useful.