Hundreds Owe Thanks to Lifesavers.

A few days ago a tragic event occurred on the Gold Coast, a 14 year old surf lifesaver drowned during the Australian Surf Life Saving Championships at Kurrawa Beach.

While this is an incredibly rare incident, it has gained a lot of media coverage and will no doubt cast a certain amount of fear and sadness into the minds of parents and children who may be considering, or already undertaking, surf lifesaving activities.

When I originally found the following article in the Weekend West, I recognised it as PR but didn't initially link it to the incident on the Gold Coast. Upon further inspection however, I believe that this article has been pitched to the newspaper from the Surf Lifesaving PR team to help control the possible fallout of the incident and reinforce the positive work that the association undertakes.

The article is titled "Hundreds Owe Thanks to Lifesavers" and features a varied group of surf lifesavers smiling at the beach.

The article then goes on to reveal that 2,500 people were rescued in WA this summer, twice as many as the previous year.

The one fatality that occurred over the summer was mentioned, but quickly put down to the fact that the swimmer "flouted" the rules and didn't swim between the flags.

"Surf Life Saving WA manager Chris Peck said the death was tragic, but preventable".

The lifesavers also performed about 10 life-saving resuscitation over the summer with many other close calls.

Then a story about a 5 year old who was saved with some quotes from his mother speaking highly of the surf lifesavers.

The article ends with the statistic that the lifesavers performed 24,174 preventive actions (inc closing beaches and warning swimmers) this season, up from 16,900 last year.

The PR team was really on the ball, as the drowning only occurred on the Wednesday and by Saturday this article was in the paper. It's likely that other major newspapers around the country had similar articles in them also.

These guys really do an amazing job at taking care of swimmers, the tragedy was incredibly unfortunate and the young life lost wont soon be forgotten.

Annette

LETS TALK ABOUT GROUP WORK!

I would like to start this blog on group work with a gratuitous song that vaguely relates to the topic if you ignore the romantic undertones. Also Jefferson Starship are amazing! Please listen whilst reading my blog. Thank you.



"AND WE CAN DO THIS THING TOGETHER
STAND THIS STRONG FOREVER
NOTHING'S GONNA STOP US NOW"

-

Group work can be tricky. Each group member is coming from a different background and may have different expectations of the task. Here are a few important tips which can help any group work more effectively together:

♥ Communicate - make sure everyone is 100% clear on what the aim is, what the roles are and how the goals are to be achieved. Some people may have difficultly communicating in a group situation, so it is sometimes up to the people who are more experienced in group situations to prompt or allow the quieter ones to have their, often valuable, input.

♥ Make use of all available resources. Check in with the lecturers if needed to make sure the group is on the right track. This particularly was useful for my group in the presentation project (though we haven't had to present yet!) as there were a few points we were considering working on in-depth that ended up being less important for the specific presentation and we were guided to focus more on other areas. Without this feedback we would have wasted quite a bit of time on the wrong path so I am very grateful for our lecturers availability to help.

♥ Share the workload - an unfairly distributed workload can make for disgruntled group members which causes a negative experience for all involved. Assess how much work each part will be, and allocate accordingly. There may be small inconsistencies in the amount of work but so long as it's generally about right, then everyone should be happy.

♥ Consider each group members strengths and experience and use this information in allocating work. People like to be able to showcase their knowledge and it can make for an easier group environment if everyone is working on the section that aligns with their particular interests, plus it can be completed in a quicker time which can be a positive in some situations!

♥ Positive and constructive - make all group dealings positive and any criticisms constructive. No one likes to be told their ideas are bad or wrong, or deal with a group member who is constantly complaining about the work. While it may not be the dream project for the group, if it needs to be done a positive approach is best no matter the project.

I feel these are the 5 main points of importance and will help any team navigate the world of group work!

That and the Starship song.

Annette

Homeless Hotspots @ SXSW.

The emergence of homeless people touting internet access during the South by South West (SXSW) music and technology festival in Austin, Texas this year has been much talked about.

The original article on Yahoo.com states that many people have described it as'shameful, hideous, patronising' and 'dehumanising'.

I prefer to look at it more optimistically. Considering the average Big Issue seller is offering a product that is possibly outdated, and most of the people who purchase the magazine are doing so just in order to help the homeless person, the offering of WI-FI services seems to make sense. As it's something that most people want - internet access - even those who may not usually go out of their way to help a homeless person by purchasing something they don't want (magazine).

It is unlikely that the homeless people would have been forced into selling the Wi Fi, and I believe that there are many unemployed (though not homeless) who would have been keen to undertake the job if it had been offered to them.

The initiative also helps to highlight the plight of homeless people as it gives them a chance to talk to the general public that they might not otherwise have.

From a PR point of view, I think that BBH New York, the company behind the Homeless Hotspots initiative, should offer to help the participants to find ongoing employment after the festival is over, or help them out in some other way. This will help cast off any of the negative media about them being dehumanising and opportunistic.

What are your thoughts?

Cool PR Campaign.

I think this is awesome - although I feel like there are a lot of risks involved... eg. people may be willing to kill in order to win!

What are your thoughts?!

A blog by a PR student, about the purpose of blogging in PR.

Blogging. I like to think I know a little bit about it, given I spend the majority of my waking life contemplating the next move for my own blog - Wellness WA.

The opportunities I'm presented with, people I get to meet and personal satisfaction I gain from the day-to-day running of my blog constantly amazes me and just goes to show how deeply powerful carving out a little home for yourself online can be.

Cut to the world of PR, and there are myriad opportunities available for PR agencies and practitioners who are willing to take a closer look at the way that blogging and reaching out to bloggers can be sewn in to the running of campaigns and of their day-to-day business.

So what is the purpose of blogging in PR?

I decided to focus on three aspects:

♥ Blogging as a PR Company

Say you own a PR agency, you have great staff and office culture, a number of clients & are looking to scoop more work or employees/interns.

You could do the hard sell to potential clients and workers - but why not start a blog to showcase all the amazing work you're doing and promote yourself as an excellent employer and tech-savvy business, as well as help cement the idea within existing clients and staff?







There are a few PR companies I have seen that do this successfully, one of my favourites is Dani Lombard PR. Their blog has a variety of topics including:

- Showcasing their clients and the campaigns they have produced for them and media coverage gained, tips on how they do business with examples, eg. 'How to land a cover story' with a case study of how they did so for one of their clients (not-so-subtly talking themselves up, but not in an obnoxious way)

- Staff profiles with a fun and positive slant,  which helps personalise the business and makes them seem more friendly and approachable.

- Wrap-ups of events they've hosted, with lots of gorgeous photos, which has the triple benefit of promoting the brand, promoting themselves and promoting the PR industry.

- Tips for PR newbies and interns (which I'm sure helps them garner more work experience/internship applications!)

And much, much more. I think it's a very successful example of the use of blogging within a PR agency, and certainly makes me respect them and want to work there!


♥ Business blogging

There is no doubting that when done right a business blog can be a valuable tool. However there is definitely a word of caution attached, I have seen so many examples of businesses who have obviously been told by their marketing person 'start a blog, you'll expose yourself to more customers' and then push out below-average content on an infrequent basis, and presumably wonder why it's not working.

Upkeep and relevant content is the key. Also, customers don't just want to be marketed to, which is another reason I think that business blogs often fail.








Consider the following examples:

1. A local organic skincare company decides to start a blog, and updates once a month with their latest specials and sales promotions. The communication is very one way with no reader engagement or call to action.

2. Another local organic skincare company decides to start a blog, and updates twice a week with a variety of articles that their target market (people interested in organic lifestyle) would likely be interested in, but aren't directly related to selling their product, such as 'Best places to buy organic fruit and veggies in Perth', 'Organic cotton workout gear' and 'Why organic skincare is essential for your health!'

The articles have questions at the bottom - what do the readers think of the article? What are their thoughts on the arguments contained? Do they agree/disagree?

They also host a competition once a month to win a product from their range or a product from a related local business (that they know through networking!) that their target market would be interested in.


Which business blog has the most chance of success? Without a doubt it would be the second one, the communication has to be two-way and there has to be a benefit for the reader, not just for the business.







♥ Utilising bloggers in PR


And now to the section that I have the most direct experience with! Over the past few years the tables have been slowly turning. Bloggers are gaining more and more interest from brands and PR companies as they begin to recognise the power of connecting with online media.

Why is this the case? What is the purpose or connecting with bloggers?

If you're interested in something, and none of your friends are, you can jump online and likely find a 'friend' (in the form of a blogger) who is writing about the things you're passionate about. You become invested in the blog and the person behind it. There is a level of trust, and recommendations from a blogger who shares the same interests as you are often acted upon. There can be thousands of people who are following what just one person has to say.

This is where brands step in, if a brand can develop a positive relationship with an influential blogger, then their product can potentially be showcased to a wide audience, usually for just the cost of a few products or services - much, much cheaper than traditional advertising.

Personally I receive on average 1-2 emails a week from brands/PR agencies that I haven't previously worked with, and anywhere from 5-20 media releases and emails from those I have already established a relationship with. In comparison to many of the huge blogs out there, mine is tiny, so you can imagine how many requests they would get from brands and PR companies. All because they know how powerful the influence of blogs on consumers can be.

To summarise, two-way communication, stakeholder engagement, brand development and generating goodwill are just some of the reasons for blogging in the PR world.

Hopefully this has addressed the topic. I'm looking forward to reading my classmates interpretations of the purpose of blogging in PR!!

Be well,

Annette x