By Samantha Pelham
The cold never bothered us anyway here at PRSSA! No amount of snow or cold weather could stop us from hearing from PR Newswire’s Michael Estefani and Kelly Brucker. Here’s an overview of everything talked about at the meeting on February 16:
Announcements
- First off, give back to the Athens community through Athens Beautification Day on April 19 starting at 11 a.m. on College Green. You can sign up through http://www.eventbrite.com/e/athens-beautification-day-tickets-13400544389 and make sure to include you’re with PRSSA if you want to give back and connect with your fellow members.
- Tip of the Week! Take advantage of all the Career Leadership Development Center has to offer by scheduling an appointment for resume and cover letter review and mock interviews. It can never hurt to get help from professionals during this time of the year!
- Speaking of Internship/Hiring season, don’t forget about the Career Fair Tuesday February 17 and Wednesday February 18 in the Baker Ballroom from 10 a.m. to 3p.m. Dress in business casual and bring your resumes and A-game!
- You have until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, February 17 to sign up for the #OhioU Social Media Summit at ohiousms.eventbrite.com. It will take place Saturday, February 21 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Walter 135 and 145. Attire will be business casual.
- After the Social Media Summit, come support the Bateman Team by attending an event they’re holding for Athens Matters at the Community Center from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. There will be carpooling to the event.
- Good Luck to all those attending COPRSA Match Day and to Gary Bridgens and Amanda Moline who will be attending PRSSANA!
- Windy City here we come! An information session about the Chicago Networking Trip will be held on February 24 in Bentley 120 at 6 p.m. The trip will be March 26-27. #SCRIPPSPRSSATOCHI
- Interested in becoming part of the PRSSA executive board? Come to an info session on February 24 in Bentley 120 at 6:30 p.m. to hear about all the different positions offered.
- Congrats to Morgan Brenner (@MorganBren) for being our Spotlight of the week!
- Thanks to everyone who contributed to the ImPRessions Twitter Chat, it was a big success! You can follow it through #ImPRessThePros
- Also, Prescribe Change an ImPRessions client is creating a billboard campaign in Lancaster and could use YOUR help. Create a billboard ad that contains their logo, twitter handle, and “We prescribe the facts. You change the stats,” to prescribechange@gmail.com
Welcome Kelly Brucker and Michael Estefani!
Kelly (@Kbruckss) and Michael (@mgestefani) gave great insight into the world of PR Newswire and how the company runs. Kelly and Michael handle the distribution of press releases for clients in order to get their word out. Through this distribution they are able to produce content for the client for a much wider audience than what the client could do on their own. They are able to compliment the work the client is doing through giving them multiple platforms to reach their ideas out to. PR Newswire works with clients as big as Victoria’s Secret to smaller clients that don’t have as much brand recognition in which the agency helps make visible.
For Kelly and Michael, a major part of making not just these smaller clients visible, but also every client visible, is through making their brand appealing to the eye of the consumer. For instance, this means incorporating multimedia platforms in their press releases and websites. Nowadays, it is important for PR professionals to be well adapted to the world of multimedia because it can turn a simple press release into entirely new thing. For instance, American Greetings, the card company, has produced a press release that not only tells consumers what is going on but also makes it fun for them. They have included pictures, promotional videos, and not to mention killer videos that include Michael Bolton singing “Happy Birthday” to you. How does that NOT get your attention? Multimedia has a huge impact on press release for both you and your client.
Kelly and Michael have already accomplished many things in their careers, but for us who are just starting off here is what they have to say about what works in the PR world. By keeping the headline short, sweet, and to the point you are able to incorporate it into Tweets and leave a line people can remember. Also, by including at least one form of multimedia, the number of views increases drastically. Even though this may be the case, only include multimedia if its engaging. It doesn’t have to be an extravagant video; sometimes just a picture that summarizes the client can work. Try to make your clients press releases and websites interactive, it allows consumers to get a better understanding of your client. And one of the most important things, create good content in both the press release writing and multimedia.
PR Newswire is a great company to work for with locations all over, including Cleveland, Ohio where Kelly and Michael visited from. They gave some insight in just what interning at PR Newswire is like.
Interning with PR Newswire allows you the chance to experience many different forms of PR work. They give you a little taste of everything. For the eight weeks you’d be interning you would be rotating departments in order to learn the business from each aspect and give you the fill experience. Each intern gets a different project in which they are to research upon and present their findings during the internship. An internship with PR Newswire offers you an opportunity to jump right in to working in PR. It teaches you the ins and outs of each department and ultimately all the things your career can hold for you.
Scripps PRSSA wants to thanks Kelly and Mike for trekking down to Athens in the less-than-ideal weather to present to our chapter. Make sure to follow them on Twitter and reach out if you have any questions!