PR Practicum Final: What I Learned

 

Trade Book Review

 

Questions and Answers with PR Professional Kempten Taylor

 

Kempten Taylor is the Director of Communications at Green Olive Media (GOM), located in Atlanta, Ga. She is a 2006 Graduate of Georgia Southern University. Kempten earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Public Relations.

Q:        What is Green Olive Media?

A:  Green Olive Media (GOM) is an integrated design and marketing firm, specializing in brand development. The ideal client is a hotel or restaurant that is under construction. Green Olive Media will help them name the company, design logos and graphics for it, and create the opening event for the establishment.  Graphic design and public relations services comprise Green Olive Media.

Q:        What’s a typical week like?

A:  No week is ever typical. Since you’re not dealing with just one client, you have a variety of different things to do on any given day. Typically I have 10-15 meetings a week. Half of the meetings are with clients, where you review their plans and get approval for communication pieces such as press releases and email campaigns. I handle everyone’s media and advertising buying, which consists of shopping around and finding the lowest prices possible for the best services available. I am also in charge of the internship program at GOM, where we have two interns each semester. In addition, I deal with new businesses and business development. I do a lot of presentations for potential clients and frequently take potential clients on business dinners.

Q:        How many hours per week do you usually work? Is it common to take work home?

A:  I work 50-60 hours per week. It is very common to take work home and my Blackberry is a necessity. Since I work with clients from the hospitality industry, I must be reachable at all times. Their hours require them to work odd hours, so if they need my assistance during those times, they know they can count on me to answer their calls and emails.

Q:        Tell me about a project you worked on that you are especially proud of.

A: One project that I am especially proud of was the rebranding of Riverdale, Ga. The campaign we constructed and carried out was called “Faces of Riverdale.” In 2007, the city of Riverdale had the highest crime rate in the state of Georgia. People did not want to move there, open businesses there, and were even hesitant to visit the city. Our campaign focused on bringing out the positive aspects of the city and creating awareness for where it is located. GOM created billboards, planned community events, and highlighted success stories of Riverdale residents to draw attention to the community and show it in a positive light. In the end, we recreated the image of Riverdale. Green Olive Media won awards for public relations and graphic design for their work on this project.

Q:        How important is writing in your career?

A:  Writing is the most important aspect of my job. If you have good writing skills and are a   strategic thinker, you will be successful in the public relations field.

Q:        What three tips would you offer someone just starting out in PR?

A:  1. Think about what you really enjoy because when it comes down to it, you need to be interested in what you’re doing. You should decide if you want to work with an agency or a corporation because they are completely different.

2. Never stop writing. Now that I’m doing managerial things and not writing as much, I realize that it is very hard to get out of the groove. Although you may have other responsibilities, make sure you never stop writing.

3. Know your social media!

Q:        What do you do to keep current in the PR industry?

A: One of the most important things is to read a lot. I read about 60 magazines a month. I also read newspapers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The best thing is RSS feed. This way, you can have all of your favorite publications sent to you automatically. I am also active in the Atlanta chapter of PRSSA. It is nice to go to meetings and hear people who have been in the business for many years talk about their experiences and ideas.

Q:        What do you wish you would have known before starting your career in PR?

A:  I wish I would have known that client relations would be so difficult in regards to proving measurements. You need to be able to show return for your investments. Also, I have to deal with some people who have strong personalities and are difficult to work with.

Q:        Did your education prepare you for working in PR? How? 

A: Yes, I believe so. Georgia Southern has one of the best public relations programs. Since I am in charge of the internship program, I have dealt with students from many different colleges including the University of Georgia and Duke. In my experience, I think the interns from Georgia Southern are the most knowledgeable.  

Q:      What has surprised you the most about working in PR?

A: What surprised me the most was the amount of hours it takes to get a story placed and to be successful in the business. We must assess if we are generating a profit for the company and if the money earned was comparably greater than the number of hours dedicated to work. It takes more than I ever thought it would to be successful in the industry. With the agency world, you can never stop. People are constantly trying to get in touch with you and there are always deadlines that must be met. Also, journalists are procrastinators.

Q:        How has PR changed since you entered the field?

A: The biggest and most important change that has occurred in public relations since I have entered the field is the integration of social media. When I started my job, nobody was talking about social media. Now, it is such a huge part of my job. I’m constantly buying books and figuring it out. Right now I’m playing a catch up game and it’s hard to keep up with what’s next.

Q:        How does technology affect your daily work?

A: I use social media every day. Also, I could not do my job without my Blackberry.

Q:        Do you have an area of specialization? What?

A:  Yes, my specialties are food and beverage, hospitality, and municipalities. I work with a lot of celebrity chefs. To give you a feel of a day in my life, I’ll give you an example: I was working with my client, Puff Daddy on the opening of his new restaurant in Atlanta. He told me to contact the media and bring in as many people as possible to cover the opening of the restaurant. I contacted companies who flew their employees into Atlanta and media came from all over to capture the opening of the celebrity’s restaurant. On the day of the opening, Puff Daddy didn’t show up.

Q:        When your company is hiring for an entry-level PR position, what makes a candidate stand out?

A: First and foremost, impressions are made in the first 30 seconds. What you do in those 30 seconds determines a lot. Be prepared and bring a resume and writing samples. Make sure you speak properly and do not use slang. The more real-life experience you have, the better. Also, we look at potential employees’ social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. We look to see you are posting relevant information such as public relations articles and field-related blogs. If we see you are promoting yourself and your knowledge in ways like this, we feel like you will do so for clients as well.

Q:        What professional organizations are you involved in?

A: PRSA- Georgia Young Professionals Board, Atlanta Press Club, American Marketing Association, Slow Food USA, Southern Foodways Alliance, James Beard Foundation, Board of Peachtree Road Farmers Market

Contact Kempten Taylor and visit these websites:

• http://www.linkedin.com/in/kemptentaylor
• http://greenolivemedia.com/
• http://greenolivemedia.blogspot.com/
• http://twitter.com/kemptent

Q:        After interviewing this person, are you (the PRCA 3711/4711 student) more or less likely to want to have a career in PR? Why?

A: After interviewing Kempten, I am more likely to have a career in the PR field. I enjoy working in a fast-paced work environment and I like seeing the product of my hard work. A couple of drawbacks of the industry are the long hours and difficult people that you encounter. I also feel that to best prepare myself for the industry, I must become an expert on social media. 

 

Top 10!

 

Target Audience: Design to them and for them!

One of the first rules that I learned in my Public Relations classes was to “define your target audience.” With any project or assignment, this is the first step of the process. Once you know who you will be gearing your product or service to, you will be able to figure out the necessary steps you must take to  make your product successful. Knowing you want to attract and appeal to will help you formulate your marketing and design technique.

Since you must define your target audience and shape your advertisements so they will appeal to your specific group, you must know what each group is attracted to. Below are examples of socioeconomic groups and the type of publications they prefer. So, let’s get to know our publics:

1. Upper Class- the upper class likes reading information about investments since much of their money comes from investments. They are smart and well educated and spend their money liberally.

2. Middle Class- The Middle Class group like to read information on improving their homes and family lives.  They want to know how to live all-around better lives.

3. Working Class- The working class reads self improvement and how-to information. This group prefers lively advertisements and promotions.

Now, these are just the classifications of social class, but you must get to know your public in terms of age and gender too! Knowing the exact characteristics of your public will help you in the PR world!

Here is a helpful article from Public Relations Quarterly, written by Linda P. Morton

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5515/is_199907/ai_n21442800/

 

Guidelines For Selecting Fonts

When designing a publication, the fonts you choose make a difference on how appealing your piece is. Here are some guidelines for selecting fonts for body text:

1. Readers prefer Roman fonts because they are used to seeing it.

2. Roman fonts are more readable because the serifs help connect the letters.

3. Serifs with large x-heights make good fonts for body text.

4. Fashionable fonts should not be used.

5. Text should be a mixture of upper and lowercase letters.

*These tips were borrowed from Linda P. Morton’s Strategic Publications

Here are some websites and blog posts that give suggestions on how to choose fonts for your publications:

• http://desktoppub.about.com/od/fontselection/Choosing_Fonts.htm
• http://justcreativedesign.com/2007/12/04/how-to-choose-a-font/
• http://www.designersmind.com/articles/choosing-the-right-font-for-the-job/

 

Segmenting Publics: Colleges Against Cancer

My client for PRCA 3339 will be Colleges Against Cancer. It is an organization on campus that is a division of the American Cancer Society. Not many students are aware that this organization exists on our campus, so creating a brochure that can be distributed to the student body will benefit the organization. The members of CAC host fundraisers and volunteer around campus and the Statesboro community in order to help educate people and raise awareness and funds to benefit cancer research. I am the publicity chair and Relay for Life chair of CAC so doing this brochure will allow me to expand my knowledge of publication work as well as help CAC gain recognition and members.

While designing my brochure, I will make sure to design in a way that my publication will appeal to my target audience as well as convey my organization’s message. The public that the brochure will be targeting is Georgia Southern University students. These students range in age from teenagers to senior citizens. The majority of the public are young adults ages 18 to 23. The target audience is in the provisional adulthood stage. This group is drawn to publications that “break the rules.” They like visuals that are not aligned, have short text sections, have loud and quick visuals, and have humorous and emotional representations of their lifestyle.

In my brochure, I will use bright colors and large photographs. I will use a fair amount of text, but write as concise as possible. The message will draw the audience in and make them want to be a part of the organization.

Since technology and social networking sites are popular among my target audience, the brochure will have the Facebook group information on it as well as other important contact information. I will make it as easy as possible for the readers to become members of my organization.

 

Typography

According to “Strategic Publications, Designing for Target Publics” by Linda P. Morton,

“Typography is a visual form of communication. It is much more than a grouping of letters to form a word. Typography has a form and shape, personality and character, texture, and the power to express mood, meaning and idea.”

Typography is important because the fonts used in a publication should match the key message that the writer wants to convey about the idea. When the fonts correlate with the message, the reader has an easier time understanding the message.

When choosing which typefaces to use in a publication, a designer must consider many factors. The designer wants to convey emotion and appeal with the fonts he or she chooses. The font should be easy for the reader to follow and large enough for the reader to see. The type of publication will also help determine the typefaces that will be used.

Since your computer program on your desktop does not have an extensive amount of fonts, there are websites that allow you to download fonts legally for free! Here are some sites that will help you broaden your designing horizons:

• http://www.pcfonts.com/index.php

• http://www.freedownloadablefonts.net/

• http://www.urbanfonts.com/

• http://www.dafont.com/top.php

When producing a brochure, you must first and foremost identify your target audience. If the audience is senior citizens, you would make the font size larger than you would make it if your audience were teenagers For most publications, you should use approximately 40 characters for column-width size using serif fonts, sized 9 to 14 points, for body text. The leading text should be approximately 20 percent larger than the font size.

When creating a business card, you should not use more than 3 typefaces. You should consider how you want to portray your self or your company. Do you want a funky feel or a sophisticated card? One article gave advice on what size font should be used on business cards:

• For most businesses, use 7 or 8 point font for your address and contact information.
• Doctors, lawyers, and other professionals, however, often use smaller fonts.  If you are a professional, you may want to consider using a 6 point font.
• Whatever font size you use for your address, use one size bigger for your name.  In other words, if your address is in 7 point, use 8 point for your name.
• For your company name, you will go considerably bigger.  Use a 12 to 15 point font for your company name.
• For the title of your card, if different than any other information, use the same size font as you used for your address.  You can also go one point smaller if you prefer.
• NEVER print your address in less than 6 point font, even if you are a professional.
• NEVER print your name in larger than 11 point font, even if you are targeting senior citizens.
• NEVER print your address in larger than 9 point font.

These points are just suggestions, and you will find that professional advice varys from person to person. Below are examples of effective typography and font size on  business cards. The cards have a different feel but represent the message of the person or service.

This is a business card with 2 fonts. It has a serious, professional feel.

This card is for a graphic designer. The card has a fun, exciting feel and uses bold text.

 

An Element of Design: Contrast

Contrast is “opposition or juxtaposition of different forms, lines, or colors in a work of art to intensify each element’s properties and produce a more dynamic expressiveness.” In photography, it is the relative difference between dark and light areas of a print or negative. Contrast is important in design because it helps emphasize a point or a design.

It is the element that helps one item to stand out clearly from others. There are programs on the internet that explain how to implement the element of contrast into design. This site will teach you how to use text to create contrast and will also explain how to design a page that uses the element of contrast. One example of contrast is the presence of white and black next to each other. Throughout this blog post, I will show you examples of contrast when using the word “contrast”!

The black rectangles stand out when placed next to white rectangles.

This example shows contrast through using different colors. The black rectangles stand out.

Contrasts can be strong or weak. Strong contrasts provide youthful, busy looks while weak contrasts appear more conservative.

The top picture shows weak contrast and the bottom example shows weak contrast.

On the upper example, the green text does not stand out substantially on the blue background. It is dificult to read and a poor example of an effective publication.The example with the black background and gold text is a great example of contrast. It grabs the reader’s attention and draws the reader into the publication.

So, I showed a couple of examples of contrast and explained the purpose and definition of the design element. Now I will leave you with an example of what colors may or may not work together when creating contrast.

 

The Language of the Image

The News University course, “The Language of the Image” was very insightful and taught me many vital tips about photojournalism. The site stated that “photojournalists are the eyes of the reader.” This sums it all up for me. It is true that a picture is worth a thousand words and that it can express what, when, and how in a single image. Pictures can convey a variety of emotion and can inspire the reader. I believe that pictures can be better displays of “what’s going on” than words can. Just think, you would have to use many descriptive words to describe something as simple as an apple. Why not just show a picture?

I learned that an situation cannot just create a perfect picture. You must create your own picture in the situation. There are so many aspects that are involved such as shapes, composition, color, lighting, etc. I also learned what juxtaposition is. It is the photographic presentation of opposing images that creates a sense of irony. I though this aspect was very interesting because it can have such a large impact on your perception and feelings about the photograph. I also learned that the reader looks at the lightest part of the image first. The course illustrated this concept by showing a picture of a starving child in Sudan. The white dirt on the black skin of the child grabbed my attention immediately. This is described as the point of entry. Some of the terms that were used during this course were new to me, but some I knew prior to taking the course. It was good to not just look at definitions, but to see a visual as well.

I was surprised by how accurately the course pinpointed the point of entry and all of the other elements in each image. Thy chose photos where one element stuck out and used it to define one term. I liked that it showed how you can take different photographic approaches in the same situation. For example, they took a picture at a military funeral that showed the backs of a few soldiers hugging. They described this shot as simple, clean, and emotional. They took another photograph at the same funeral that showed a the same soldiers hugging and hysterically crying. This created a more unpredictable, and subtle image where body language tells a lot. I liked that it showed different approaches to conveying stories through the angles and opportunities you use to capture a moment.

The course offered a lot of helpful advice about how to make a photogaaph effective. It also taught the student vocabulary pertaining to photojournalism. I thought it was great because not only did it define the terms, but it showed professional examples of the aspect of photojournalism that was being described. The course tells you all about photojournalism, but does not say how you can achieve the perfect picture using your own personal camera. I assume that all of those pictures were taken using high-tech, professional grade cameras. The average student does not own a camera capable of taking such preceise photos. I thought it would have been helpful for the course to give a tutorial on how to achieve the best photo quality from an ordinary digital camera. Otherwise, the course was very helpful and I recommend it to anyone interested in photography or print journalism.