Sunny Media like to consider themselves a part of the community and where possible look to get involved and give back. The directors of QA play a positive part in the future of advertising, marketing and public relations, one of which has been their relationship with the University of the Sunshine Coast.
Internship opportunities to third year students
As part of sunnymedia’s commitment to the USC School of Communication bursary program, we also offer internship opportunities to third year students. We recently hosted Kylie Jorgensen who spent time with QAPR director Peppi Bueti to learn practical skills in public relations, event management and marketing. Here’s a quick blog from Kylie about her experience.
Tips for event planning
If you’ve planned an event before, you will know that it’s actually much harder than you think. There is a range of things that can go wrong! So this week we talk to our Public Relations Director Peppi Bueti on some of the tips he can offer from his experience in Event Management.
How Sunny Media has changed how I experience and interact with news and the media
Insights from Bridget McCulloch, Sunshine Coast University Student and Sunny Media Intern…
A few months ago, social media, television morning shows and other people were my main outlets for consuming the news, never had I thought of actually picking up a newspaper.
Since undertaking work experience with Sunny Media, news and the media has become a whole lot more valuable to me.
I interpret, access and absorb news in a whole new range of ways, and I’ve learnt extensively about the process and production behind the way news is put together for consumers.
I have been learning in great detail about the development of media releases, media contact lists, and the importance of research and background information to support these.
I’ve also recently attended a media launch for a major redevelopment on the Sunshine Coast and gained great insight into how the launch is run, how interviews are conducted, and how the outcomes of the launch are distributed.
Not only was it extremely valuable to experience this first hand, but to be a part of and see the importance of the planning and coordinating of a media launch is imperative to my future career in the industry.
QA have exposed me to a significant range of real life experiences that have already, and will continue to support my knowledge of the industry and my opportunities within an advertising career.
So in a nutshell, here’s the tops five things I’ve learnt about generating publicity:
- Make sure you have a newsworthy angle to pitch to the media
- Prepare a high quality media release with a good headline and quotes
- Ensure you have good interview and photo opportunities for the media
- The easier you make it for a journalist the better response you will get
- Understand who the key local journalists are and what they consider to be newsworthy.
Bridget McCulloch is a third year USC Bachelor of Communication Degree, with a major of Creative Advertising and minor of Graphic Design. She is the recipient of the inaugural 2014 Sunny Media USC School of Communication Bursary Award.
Bridget’s behind the scenes look at a news interview.
Engage a PR plan before a crisis escalates
A crisis can affect all brands, products and even personalities regardless of their size or location and saying ‘no comment’ simply doesn’t cut it anymore. Having a crisis management plan in place is vital and that’s where a PR professional can help you. Let’s see what Peppi Bueti our PR Guru has to say about Crisis Management…
My good mate, former Channel Nine reporter and leading media trainer Warren Clarke says when it comes to making the headlines, newsrooms still follow the ‘if it bleeds then it leads’ philosophy.
Bad news helps to sell newspapers and unfortunately most organisations are on the back foot when the proverbial hits the fan.
Just recently a tiger attacked his handler at Australia Zoo creating headlines across the globe and as I type this I note that Gold Coast Suns player Campbell Brown has been sent home from the USA after allegedly breaking his team mates jaw in a late night incident.
Issues and crisis are faced everyday across large corporate businesses as well as small business, schools, Universities, churches and sporting teams.
How they handle these incidents can be very critical as they can all affect an organisations brand which ultimately impact on its perception in the market and (if applicable) sales.
This is where a solid issues management plan comes to the fore and this requires thinking about all possible worse case scenarios and how they will be managed before an issue escalates. A PR person is usually engaged to think strategically about this issue and to minimise the impact of what has occurred and ensure it is resolved as quickly as possible so it doesn’t turn out to be a full blown crisis.
One of the world’s most wealthy individuals Warren Buffet once said “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” When you look at it like that it’s not hard to understand why it’s important to plan for a crisis well before it has a dire impact on your business.
Peppi Bueti, Director of Public Relations
So what is Public Relations?
One of the most commonly asked questions from potential clients is what is the role of public relations and how can it improve business?
Peppi Bueti Director of QA Public Relations explains what PR is:
Let’s start with what I tell my University of the Sunshine Coast PR students and that is if you cannot write persuasively or have the ability to think strategically then it may not be the career for them.
There’s a misconception out there that if you have a great personality then you should get into PR. While it’s important to have good interpersonal skills, it’s a long way from what is required unless you think PR is handing out brochures or products at your local shopping centre.
That’s not PR folks.
PR is an important part of the marketing mix and tactics range from media relations, events management, promotions, internal communication, social media and issues management.
Media relations is used to generate publicity through a media release to help promote a product, event or an issue of interest. At QAPR we write media releases for a range of clients covering all sorts of industries. These are pitched to press, radio and TV stations as well as industry publications and social media sites.
At QAPR we work alongside the QA team to ensure all messages throughout your advertising, marketing and public relations are consistent. This is achieved for above the line and below the line spends.
So when you are planning how you spend your marketing dollars, consider how PR can help you generate greater exposure for your dollar.
Contact Peppi Bueti our Director of Public Relations to find out how you can improve your business with PR.
Peppi Bueti – pbueti@sunnymedia.com.au or 0447 131 306
Peppi helping out at a client’s event