My final day here at Remarkable was great.
I carried on with the tea blog, as I was asked to find more UK bloggers and tweeters which was tedious but not particularly difficult, i just had to maintain focus and scrolling ability.
I also finished the Aldi press release, redrafting some of it until it was less 'salesy' and more 'newsy'.
I was also asked to hone down my blog for their website to a sheer 300 words, which was difficult but helped me practice even more with writing in a journalistic context - shorter, punchier, snappier but still informative.
I also finally completed the Linden Homes press release for Ben who finally commented that it was 'more on the money' and didn't ask me to redraft even though he'll no doubt make significant changes. It's been great learning from him actually. As a senior writer on the team and having been in journalism 9.5 years before starting here, his expertise is greatly received and appreciated. He offered me ideas of what to do in the future such as doing a specific course for 6 months that teaches journalistic writing. It's clear that he doesn't exactly approve of doing a degree in Creative Writing and thinks that it's not really an appropriate gateway for journalism and to be fair, it isn't. Writing fiction and writing for the media are two starkly different concepts. However, that's why I'm doing work experience, to gain these extra skills and insights to couple with my degree.
I've certainly learnt a lot from my time here, from insights into the PR business, to learning the right spiel and writing tones. I'd definitely love to come back and do more work experience here in the future if they'll have me!
Thursday, 17 April 2014
Day 7, 16/4/14
This was a good day consisting mainly of press releases which I enjoy.
I had to do one for Cash Converters revolving around an employee of their's doing 5 half-marathons for their charity. It was fairly easy to do because I just had to use a previous release as a template for structure and content. There was barely anything different from the release after his second half marathon so I just reworded bits and added the new information. I feel like i'm most effective at creating quotes for the person that's the focus of the article. They never get changed in the redraft which is great. I actually enjoy writing press releases for Emma and Gemma because they never change much in the redraft, so when they go out, they will be mostly my words, which makes me feel accomplished. I had to do a press release for Aldi too. This was interesting because I hadn't done Aldi before and it's actually a supermarket where I like to shop.I had to promote Aldi's special buy section and research 'staycation' statistics to persuade viewers to buy stuff from Aldi for summer.
I still have to redraft the Linden Homes press release for Ben. I had been leaving that on the back burner because every time I make the changes he suggests, there's more to be done and he brings it back with more suggestions. It makes me feel like a bad writer because he was a journalist and knows how to write in this specific context. It's all about being concise, snappy and 2 sentence paragraphs. I'm used to having to cram a lot of information into non-fiction writing because essays are usually 1500 words minimum, this task is 300 maximum! It's certainly challenging.
I had to do one for Cash Converters revolving around an employee of their's doing 5 half-marathons for their charity. It was fairly easy to do because I just had to use a previous release as a template for structure and content. There was barely anything different from the release after his second half marathon so I just reworded bits and added the new information. I feel like i'm most effective at creating quotes for the person that's the focus of the article. They never get changed in the redraft which is great. I actually enjoy writing press releases for Emma and Gemma because they never change much in the redraft, so when they go out, they will be mostly my words, which makes me feel accomplished. I had to do a press release for Aldi too. This was interesting because I hadn't done Aldi before and it's actually a supermarket where I like to shop.I had to promote Aldi's special buy section and research 'staycation' statistics to persuade viewers to buy stuff from Aldi for summer.
I still have to redraft the Linden Homes press release for Ben. I had been leaving that on the back burner because every time I make the changes he suggests, there's more to be done and he brings it back with more suggestions. It makes me feel like a bad writer because he was a journalist and knows how to write in this specific context. It's all about being concise, snappy and 2 sentence paragraphs. I'm used to having to cram a lot of information into non-fiction writing because essays are usually 1500 words minimum, this task is 300 maximum! It's certainly challenging.
Day 6, 15/4/14
Tuesday consisted of continuing the tea research task. It was fairly consuming to look for people who blogged about tea, ignoring those who were companies and trying to sell tea rather than just sharing a recreational interest. I also did the same for coffee. It was difficult in a sense, because what the company wants is people who are interested in tea, but aren't a business and are also UK base. The trouble is, that no matter how specific my research was, all the blogs I found were American or 'worldwide.' I was asked to try Twitter, using 'Followerwonk' to narrow down my search for users. However, this just provided a lot of people who just had 'tea' in their description or name. Closer viewing showed that they just claimed they were 'addicted' or a 'tea lover' but never wrote about it on their page at all or referenced companies. Nuko needed a new marketing campaign so surely that should be over the internet, reaching out to Americans who have clearly captured the beverage blogging market. It was a struggle because I'd done so much work and research and then when it came back, it wasn't specific enough and no matter how I tried, I couldn't fix it.
Monday, 14 April 2014
Day 5, 14/4/14
Day 5 was another day I spent dedicated to the all-consuming Excel task. It wasn't particularly difficult, it just required a lot of time, you had to be focussed so that you weren't doubling up people when compiling the list of colleagues who had read the email. i also had to be sharp to make sure that I was collating the right dates into the right week and adding up all of the figures correctly. Presenting it effectively was also key, I had to make sure that the clients were separate from the internal employees, that each section had a total and also that each week was colour coded.
I finally completed that task before lunch today and felt very satisfied as a result, like I had achieved something because it had taken so long. Although the task was somewhat tedious, I still enjoyed it, working for a while on one task is a nice way to work. However, I did feel like I was perhaps being too slow at points because I worked on it for 2 days, but in the end Olivia said it was perfect so I felt accomplished. Last week I was given a lot of smaller jobs that I cracked through fairly quickly, which wasn't perhaps as fulfilling.
After lunch, I started the task I was given by Emma to do as relief from the Excel work. I didn't want to be doing more than one job at a time, although that's the way I usually work on assignments, as I feel like i'll be more efficient and successful working on one at a time. Plus, the tasks aren't mundane at all so I don't need to flick and change, that would have an adverse effect, distracting me and making me forget things about the previous tasks. This new job involved going back on to PR's best friend Gorkana database and finding clips from various magazines and newspapers to find pictures from 30 days ago where our client Cash Converters was displayed as the sponsor for Hull FC and Motherwell FC. This was fairly simple, I literally had to flick through and then save a picture where a footballer is wearing the shirt.
The structure of the day seems fairly similar (at least for me as I don't attend conferences, meetings or client visits). I find it quite enjoyable to sit at a desk all day and do PR tasks, it's definitely something I could get used to. It's just the constant communication through all areas that I would find difficult, but once I was comfortable and confident in the job, that would be easier. In my holiday job at Currys and PC World, I used to be nervous about answering the phone or calling customers (especially when it was bad news) but having done it so often, it's no longer a challenge. Working at a desk certainly makes me feel important and professional so perhaps I am ready for adult life!
I was approached in the afternoon by Claire, who wanted help with a task. A company called Nuko wanted some information about social media influencers and bloggers who were discussing tea and coffee. I had to find and research these people so that Nuko could learn more effective and modern marketing techniques and channel these towards their desire for a campaign of their own to win new businesses. This is another longer task that is likely to span a few days of the week. It requires me setting up another Excel spreadsheet to categorise and contain all the information I collect.This can then be saved and shared amongst colleagues in Remarkable.
I finally completed that task before lunch today and felt very satisfied as a result, like I had achieved something because it had taken so long. Although the task was somewhat tedious, I still enjoyed it, working for a while on one task is a nice way to work. However, I did feel like I was perhaps being too slow at points because I worked on it for 2 days, but in the end Olivia said it was perfect so I felt accomplished. Last week I was given a lot of smaller jobs that I cracked through fairly quickly, which wasn't perhaps as fulfilling.
After lunch, I started the task I was given by Emma to do as relief from the Excel work. I didn't want to be doing more than one job at a time, although that's the way I usually work on assignments, as I feel like i'll be more efficient and successful working on one at a time. Plus, the tasks aren't mundane at all so I don't need to flick and change, that would have an adverse effect, distracting me and making me forget things about the previous tasks. This new job involved going back on to PR's best friend Gorkana database and finding clips from various magazines and newspapers to find pictures from 30 days ago where our client Cash Converters was displayed as the sponsor for Hull FC and Motherwell FC. This was fairly simple, I literally had to flick through and then save a picture where a footballer is wearing the shirt.
The structure of the day seems fairly similar (at least for me as I don't attend conferences, meetings or client visits). I find it quite enjoyable to sit at a desk all day and do PR tasks, it's definitely something I could get used to. It's just the constant communication through all areas that I would find difficult, but once I was comfortable and confident in the job, that would be easier. In my holiday job at Currys and PC World, I used to be nervous about answering the phone or calling customers (especially when it was bad news) but having done it so often, it's no longer a challenge. Working at a desk certainly makes me feel important and professional so perhaps I am ready for adult life!
I was approached in the afternoon by Claire, who wanted help with a task. A company called Nuko wanted some information about social media influencers and bloggers who were discussing tea and coffee. I had to find and research these people so that Nuko could learn more effective and modern marketing techniques and channel these towards their desire for a campaign of their own to win new businesses. This is another longer task that is likely to span a few days of the week. It requires me setting up another Excel spreadsheet to categorise and contain all the information I collect.This can then be saved and shared amongst colleagues in Remarkable.
Day 4, 10/4/14
Day 4 consisted of mainly finishing the jobs that had been given to me throughout the week.
I tackled my fear and phoned Sainsbury's and Morrisons to ask if they would be interested in getting involved with a client and offering free eye examinations. Unfortunately, I was forwarded through to numerous people in Sainsbury's and the lady I needed to speak to was out of the office all day. Morrisons never answered the phone.
The most consuming task of the day, was continuing the Excel task of compiling those who had opened a particular email. There were various subtasks involved such as separating the internal and external people and collating for each week before putting the weeks all together. I felt elated once I had finally finished, only to realise i actually needed to compile another one for a different sector - one was property and one was retail.
I began work only to realise that I had accidentally done February of property and the rest of retail. So I spent some time figuring out how to rectify this issue and still maintain efficiency. I wanted to fix it myself and make sure that I was still using my time effectively, so I cracked on with it and managed to make some headway before the end of the day. I knew I wouldn't finish it by the end of the week (as I don't do Fridays) so I double-checked with Gemma, who had given me the task, when it was due and she said I had time, so that calmed some of the pressure.
I tackled my fear and phoned Sainsbury's and Morrisons to ask if they would be interested in getting involved with a client and offering free eye examinations. Unfortunately, I was forwarded through to numerous people in Sainsbury's and the lady I needed to speak to was out of the office all day. Morrisons never answered the phone.
I began work only to realise that I had accidentally done February of property and the rest of retail. So I spent some time figuring out how to rectify this issue and still maintain efficiency. I wanted to fix it myself and make sure that I was still using my time effectively, so I cracked on with it and managed to make some headway before the end of the day. I knew I wouldn't finish it by the end of the week (as I don't do Fridays) so I double-checked with Gemma, who had given me the task, when it was due and she said I had time, so that calmed some of the pressure.
Thursday, 10 April 2014
Day 3, 9/4/14
Wednesday was the day of the long, tedious tasks.
I started the day by finishing a press release for a pharmaceutical company. I ended up enlisted the help of my parents who work at various positions in a pharmaceutical company up north. Once I had got my head around the story, I managed to gauge the tone of the piece, structuring it similarly to a previous press release for the same business. I have yet to receive feedback on it.
Then, I was given a task to actually send out a regional press release for Sightcare, another of the clients Remarkable look after. This task involved using Gorkana, an online database and PR's best friend. Whilst the job and execution was not difficult, the sheer amount of time it took was consuming. It's easy enough to get a press release, select all the regions and hit send. However, I had to tailor each press release to each region by typing the correct name into the two blank sections on the document and then send each personalised one out to each individual region. It took just under four hours to complete in the end!
Then, with a little under an hour left, I started my last task, to collate information regarding how many times employees had opened and email and whether they'd clicked a link within. There were statistics for this for most days since February and I had to put them into tables by week. The last hour went by rather fast doing this and it will be continued Thursday.
I started the day by finishing a press release for a pharmaceutical company. I ended up enlisted the help of my parents who work at various positions in a pharmaceutical company up north. Once I had got my head around the story, I managed to gauge the tone of the piece, structuring it similarly to a previous press release for the same business. I have yet to receive feedback on it.
Then, I was given a task to actually send out a regional press release for Sightcare, another of the clients Remarkable look after. This task involved using Gorkana, an online database and PR's best friend. Whilst the job and execution was not difficult, the sheer amount of time it took was consuming. It's easy enough to get a press release, select all the regions and hit send. However, I had to tailor each press release to each region by typing the correct name into the two blank sections on the document and then send each personalised one out to each individual region. It took just under four hours to complete in the end!
Then, with a little under an hour left, I started my last task, to collate information regarding how many times employees had opened and email and whether they'd clicked a link within. There were statistics for this for most days since February and I had to put them into tables by week. The last hour went by rather fast doing this and it will be continued Thursday.
Wednesday, 9 April 2014
Day 2, 8/4/14
My second day at Remarkable was slightly more relaxed. I was still working on the large list of jobs they had given me on the first day. i wasn't behind, they just wanted to give me a big pile of tasks that i could slowly work through during my first week. I organised myself by priority, completing the press releases that were due in May over the press release exercises that were purely for my benefit.
I wrote a press release for one of our clients 'Cash Converters.' This was a lot easier than Ben's press release as it was less political and so therefore did not highlight my knowledge weaknesses. I researched into World Cup and television viewing statistics for this piece as I needed to incorporate figures to help promote the client. This was interesting and entertaining as it took a long time to gain the right information. When i had finally finished, I emailed it to Gemma who had delegated me the task. She cleaned it up and added more informal aspects such as changing 'football' to footy, but it stayed largely the same, which i'm very pleased with. She really liked the quote that i generated for the client's CEO. This was a strange one for me, as just the day before, Ben had warned me not to make up quotes, yet in this release, I was specifically asked to (the CEO reads it and gives us permission as he doesn't have time to write a quote).
I'm still yet to ring around the supermarkets, as it's a daunting task for me. I feel like I don't have enough or the right information to have a full conversation, plus these supermarkets are massive, high profile companies. If I could get over this flaw, I could certainly work in PR, but it's a lot of meetings, discussions, schmoozing and communication, but i'm improving.
Another interesting new task I was given was regarding the police. They have an agreement with Cash Converters to protect and monitor the stores so that no stolen goods are being sold there. So, Remarkable are arranging a photo opportunity for some members of the force in each region to have a photograph outside one of the local stores. My task was to sort the stores into a table, so that they were listed next to the regional force that oversee their particular store. It took a long time, mainly because in the list I was using, some of the stores' 'county' was actually a city so it didn't correspond with the table created for me.
Overall, the day was fairly productive and I'm really enjoying it here. I prefer the longer tasks because there's no pressure of a time limit and it can span the day while I dip in and out of other jobs.
I wrote a press release for one of our clients 'Cash Converters.' This was a lot easier than Ben's press release as it was less political and so therefore did not highlight my knowledge weaknesses. I researched into World Cup and television viewing statistics for this piece as I needed to incorporate figures to help promote the client. This was interesting and entertaining as it took a long time to gain the right information. When i had finally finished, I emailed it to Gemma who had delegated me the task. She cleaned it up and added more informal aspects such as changing 'football' to footy, but it stayed largely the same, which i'm very pleased with. She really liked the quote that i generated for the client's CEO. This was a strange one for me, as just the day before, Ben had warned me not to make up quotes, yet in this release, I was specifically asked to (the CEO reads it and gives us permission as he doesn't have time to write a quote).
I'm still yet to ring around the supermarkets, as it's a daunting task for me. I feel like I don't have enough or the right information to have a full conversation, plus these supermarkets are massive, high profile companies. If I could get over this flaw, I could certainly work in PR, but it's a lot of meetings, discussions, schmoozing and communication, but i'm improving.
Another interesting new task I was given was regarding the police. They have an agreement with Cash Converters to protect and monitor the stores so that no stolen goods are being sold there. So, Remarkable are arranging a photo opportunity for some members of the force in each region to have a photograph outside one of the local stores. My task was to sort the stores into a table, so that they were listed next to the regional force that oversee their particular store. It took a long time, mainly because in the list I was using, some of the stores' 'county' was actually a city so it didn't correspond with the table created for me.
Overall, the day was fairly productive and I'm really enjoying it here. I prefer the longer tasks because there's no pressure of a time limit and it can span the day while I dip in and out of other jobs.
Day 1, 7/4/14
My first day at Remarkable was fairly full. I arrived at the building and was shown around by a lovely girl called Emma who of course informed me of all the necessary fire procedures. The building itself is an old water pump house and so has a really different layout, with everything being open plan. Yet with all the phone calls and conversations, it still remains a quiet work environment.
I was given a desk to sit at and then was delegated my first task: to research into various community groups such as school and churches to gauge areas where we could offer support after our client was approved to demolish a retail park for houses. A lot of PR work is about maintaining a positive and beneficial perspective of the clients for everyone else. I compiled a list of these groups and also events where Remarkable could possibly do a talk or get involved to make sure that the client retains a good brand image.
Next, I sat in on the Monday morning talk, where all the members of the PR team come together to give each other updates on clients and what they're up to that week. There's a lot of great dynamics here which makes the work relaxed but efficient. During this meeting I also realised that Remarkable are quite high profile, working for clients such as Aldi and Go Ape, which actually shows you how much goes on behind the scenes. How many PR companies can you name? But for some reason, you know that Aldi are ethical and a quality but cheap supermarket...
I was then given a task to go into a special database for PR companies and create a 'media list' for a client. A media list consists of a list of magazine and newspaper editors/columnists/correspondents for a specific topic (related to the client) and their contact information so that in the future we can get in touch and try and get our client advertised or discussed in their magazine/paper. This was a fairly simple task because the software created the spreadsheet for you, I just had to select the relevant criteria/person and magazines for the client's business.
I had finished all my tasks by lunchtime, by which point Emma was out, so I asked the resident writer on the team if he had anything for me to do. He showed me a press-release from one of the clients and asked me to change it into a less corporate, more people-friendly piece of 200 words. This was definitely my most challenging task of the day because I just couldn't get the tone or the vocabulary right. The original press release was about our client 'Linden Homes' publishing a manifesto of what they intend to do to combat the housing shortage in London. It was difficult to avoid statistics and jargon which seemed to be abundant in the original piece. 'Putting a spin' on it felt false and patronising to me, using 'we' to include the audience and make it friendly. After two drafts, I was getting closer to the models Ben showed me on Linden homes' website, but it still needed more work. the introduction had to summarise the whole story in practically a sentence, which is the opposite of what i'm used to in Creative Writing fiction and essays.
I was given more tasks at this point and as that was only an exercise, i'll be working on it throughout the week as other things take priority.
Emma asked me to ring three magazine companies to get free copies of the issue featuring Cash Converters, another client. She advised that they would probably want payment rather than a free copy, but I encountered no obstacles and got free copies from each. However, the last one I rang was online only, a detail i was unaware of so I received a hostile replied when I called asking for a free copy, but remained professional and thanked them for their time.
I was given more tasks by Gemma, another member of the team. She asked me two press releases, one for a pharmaceutical company and one for Cash Converters. She also asked me to check a date in summer is available for an event for Sightcare (independent opticians support) and ring various supermarkets to inquire about hosting eye examinations in carparks to promote eye health. These tasks were not on a time-limit and were things for me to do later in the week.
It was certainly a busy first day, but I'm enjoying it so far. Although PR may be out of my confidence comfort zone, ringing around and persuading people to get involved in things and promoting your client whether you like them or not!
I was given a desk to sit at and then was delegated my first task: to research into various community groups such as school and churches to gauge areas where we could offer support after our client was approved to demolish a retail park for houses. A lot of PR work is about maintaining a positive and beneficial perspective of the clients for everyone else. I compiled a list of these groups and also events where Remarkable could possibly do a talk or get involved to make sure that the client retains a good brand image.
Next, I sat in on the Monday morning talk, where all the members of the PR team come together to give each other updates on clients and what they're up to that week. There's a lot of great dynamics here which makes the work relaxed but efficient. During this meeting I also realised that Remarkable are quite high profile, working for clients such as Aldi and Go Ape, which actually shows you how much goes on behind the scenes. How many PR companies can you name? But for some reason, you know that Aldi are ethical and a quality but cheap supermarket...
I was then given a task to go into a special database for PR companies and create a 'media list' for a client. A media list consists of a list of magazine and newspaper editors/columnists/correspondents for a specific topic (related to the client) and their contact information so that in the future we can get in touch and try and get our client advertised or discussed in their magazine/paper. This was a fairly simple task because the software created the spreadsheet for you, I just had to select the relevant criteria/person and magazines for the client's business.
I had finished all my tasks by lunchtime, by which point Emma was out, so I asked the resident writer on the team if he had anything for me to do. He showed me a press-release from one of the clients and asked me to change it into a less corporate, more people-friendly piece of 200 words. This was definitely my most challenging task of the day because I just couldn't get the tone or the vocabulary right. The original press release was about our client 'Linden Homes' publishing a manifesto of what they intend to do to combat the housing shortage in London. It was difficult to avoid statistics and jargon which seemed to be abundant in the original piece. 'Putting a spin' on it felt false and patronising to me, using 'we' to include the audience and make it friendly. After two drafts, I was getting closer to the models Ben showed me on Linden homes' website, but it still needed more work. the introduction had to summarise the whole story in practically a sentence, which is the opposite of what i'm used to in Creative Writing fiction and essays.
I was given more tasks at this point and as that was only an exercise, i'll be working on it throughout the week as other things take priority.
Emma asked me to ring three magazine companies to get free copies of the issue featuring Cash Converters, another client. She advised that they would probably want payment rather than a free copy, but I encountered no obstacles and got free copies from each. However, the last one I rang was online only, a detail i was unaware of so I received a hostile replied when I called asking for a free copy, but remained professional and thanked them for their time.
I was given more tasks by Gemma, another member of the team. She asked me two press releases, one for a pharmaceutical company and one for Cash Converters. She also asked me to check a date in summer is available for an event for Sightcare (independent opticians support) and ring various supermarkets to inquire about hosting eye examinations in carparks to promote eye health. These tasks were not on a time-limit and were things for me to do later in the week.
It was certainly a busy first day, but I'm enjoying it so far. Although PR may be out of my confidence comfort zone, ringing around and persuading people to get involved in things and promoting your client whether you like them or not!
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