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Going Beyond the Pitch: Building Meaningful Media Relationships When I first started out my internship stint at Orchan, the very first few things that Christina taught me was media relations. What is media relations and how does one explain it? I knew that media relations involves working with the media but I didn’t know how or why. Why is media relations important, specifically in the Public Relations industry, and how do we ensure we have a good relationship with the media? After being involved with different projects at Orchan, I learnt that media is an important aspect of the industry. Media and Public Relations go hand-in-hand; together we can build a strong rapport, creating and delivering powerful messages to readers and audiences. In the following, Shannon Felder shares her opinions and thoughts on building and maintaining a good media relationship, reminding us that media is a crucial piece in the Public Relations chess game. Source - blog.lewispr.com S...

Source - suitsusafans.com If I had to choose one TV series to watch all my life, it would be Suits. Besides a list of actors who portray their characters impeccably, the dialogues are written intelligently and wittily that it becomes obvious how much research and thinking has gone into writing the script and building the characters; so much so that viewers can pick up a lesson or two from watching the series. Okay, that’s probably an understatement. You’re probably thinking – how in the world does a legal drama relate to Public Relations (PR)? Directly, they don’t; but the series is not merely about Harvey and Ross trying to get through a day without being found out that Ross had never attended law school, but it is also about attaining facts and developing strategies to defend their clients.  And we all know those make quite the portion in PR too. To begin with, here are a couple of lessons I took from Harvey Specter. Rest assured you won’t be reading an essay (I leav...

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While traditional media is at the very core of our services in Orchan Consulting, it doesn’t necessarily mean we do not get our hands dirty in the world of social media. Having started with Facebook for our Food & Beverage and property clients, we figured the next best thing was to get them on Instagram. As with anything, it wasn’t always a smooth ride, and at times you can certainly do better than the image that got posted without #hashtags. But if you’re just starting to get your brand on Instagram, here’s an article by Drew Hubbard – a social media and content marketing strategist and owner of Foodie Content Studios – who iterated the taboos when it comes to Instagram. Check it out! Source - www.ragan.com Ignoring comments, begging for likes and posting inconsistent content are tactics that will keep people away from your brand. Do be a pariah. You know this, but it bears repeating: Your brand should be on Instagram. It's not too late—as long as you know what y...

Will social media take over Public Relations one day? In the face of widespread social media use, Public Relations is assumed to have become less important and its value dwindling. Anybody can easily access to different social media, thus anyone may be able to use these platforms to achieve social media marketing success. However, we believe that Public Relations is more than what social media can bring for you. By using Public Relations effectively, you can build strong relationships, public awareness and maintain a positive reputation for your brand at all times and in all circumstances. Here is an interesting article by Linda Pophal , where she describes the role and value of Public Relations, despite the constantly-evolving social media. Source - www.everything-pr.com A journalist asked me recently, “What is the one biggest PR myth that you hear over and over?”" Here's my answer: I think the biggest myth about public relations that I continue to hear is tha...

After months of planning, RUYI & LYN finally unveiled itself as the newest establishment in Bangsar Shopping Centre through the media party held last Wednesday. Delivering an elevated, all-encompassing experience to all who stepped through the door, RUYI & LYN entertained guests with its delectable cuisine, refreshing beverages (free flow for the win!) and captivating magic performances by illusionist Zlwin Chew. Moving into the night, RUYI & LYN morphed into a club with home-grown DJ Eva T who entertained guests with her tunes. Needless to say, guests let loose and partied the night away! While it was a busy evening for Orchan, ensuring every guest was given a wrist tag which entitled them to free-flow of beverage; it sure was a great evening as Orchan got to catch up with media they haven’t met for some time. As it was my first event with Orchan, it felt good getting first-hand experience interacting with media face-to-face as opposed to via phone call. While I had...

Source - www.ethicore.co.za We all know that there’s PR speak. It is not used exclusively by PR practitioners, but by people the world over to attempt to maximize the oversell of their statements, or worse still to minimize the impact of a negative action. But, our audiences are wising up, and that PR speak will no longer solve the problem the way it used to. People read between the lines, and we as professionals have to stop taking our audiences for granted that they will accept our modified, “aligned” version of facts. Words are political. By that, I mean, each and every word chosen in a dialogue or prose has a political slant – they take on a select and specific meaning in the context they are used, and are chosen to enhance or water-down the statement being made. The “politics of meaning” is a class I used to teach graduate students at the University of Auckland in the mid to late 90’s. It was about understanding words in their various perspectives – the obvious meanings, ...

Thought Leadership: Is PR Synonymous with Storytelling? While having coffee a couple of days back, a former colleague and I were discussing about the narrative that goes into Media Releases – Press Release, Media Statement, etc. From our choices of words to the angles we choose to write from, we realised we often approach them in a manner that we can connect better with the audience – that is through strategic storytelling. Sure we don’t stray too far when it comes to numbers, but even then, we often included – even just a bit – the back story which supports the figures so readers can understand, and perhaps relate better. That’s when it struck us that we’ve previously read an article by Christina Relf who also debated about whether PR is synonymous with storytelling. How about you, what do you think? Source - www.transmediaproducer.org We hear so much about the power of storytelling in communications these days.  But is PR now synonymous with storytelling?  If, a...