One of the great things about being in public relations is the fact that you get to explore so many different fields when you are working. From being part of a PR agency or being just a consultant, public relations professionals have to be able to adapt and become experts in whatever field their clients are in. For example, if your client was Ben and Jerry Ice Cream– darn, I am just going to have to sample their ice cream to make sure that I know exactly what they stand for! 🙂
Anyway, I was just looking at my current issue of Vogue Magazine when I realized that I was trying to figure out the angles and pitches that some of the PR agencies did for their designer clients. Well, I remember doing exactly that! I got an opportunity to do that a few months ago in South Africa with my PR Internship.
When I found out that I was going to be working on several fashion accounts, I was really excited, but I realized that I had to become basically an expert in fashion in South Africa. That meant looking at the fashion trends, studying the most popular magazines, and become basically an “Emily” (from “The Devil Wears Prada”), which basically happened! Since I was working on these accounts, one of my primary goals was to contact the fashion magazines themselves to pitch them our events and clients. Here are some of the other things that I got to do as part of my internship working with fashion clients:
- Checking out the Fashion Magazines for our Clients: For each issue, I would have to see if any of our clients were in the current issue. I would then have to make a copy of the page that they were listed on, and then put into their portfolio that we would make for each person. These portfolios are presented to each client during their meetings with the PR agency.
- Calculating the value of Coverage for our Clients: I had to use my math skills for this one! What we have to do for our clients is show them that the exposure that we got for them really is good, so we have to calculate how much their picture, feature, or story would have cost if they had actually paid for it. It’s amazing how much an ad would cost! 🙂
- Writing Press Releases / Bios to send to Editors: This was a great opportunity to show my writing skills as a PR professional. I got to write some of the bios that were sent to the magazines and were used in the Cape Town Fashion Week. It was an honor to be able to work on that client! 🙂
- Research, research, and research!: When I am talking about research, I not only mean research about the magazine and fashion industry, but fashion itself! You have to look the part, and if you do– you will fit right in! I realized this when I was in South Africa– I had to go out shopping for some new clothes (oh darn!).
Anyway, I hope that you all have a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen 🙂
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