Hello !
This is the place where SIMC's Communication Management Batch of 2010 talks about all topics relevant to us. Be it world news or trends in Marketing, hobbies or personal goals. This is the place for us to be heard and to hear. To see and to be seen!
Welcome to SIMC Communicates!
What is really the best way to conduct oneself in a job interview? Keep it cool and be yourself, or put on a mask and play by all rules of professional conduct?
ReplyDeleteI find it helps to be myself. Confidence about who you are, the drive to make sure you get what you want, and basically being enterprising will always keep you at an advantage.
Tell me about yourself - this is the 45 second elevator pitch, isn't it? A very interesting concept, but I really have my doubts about its validity today - since employers, I believe, are looking beyond one's CV and academic achievements. Can you make all that fit in 45 seconds?!
Journey Through SIMC - Batch 2010
ReplyDeleteWe did have the time of our lives!!
Another turning point;
a fork stuck in the road.
Time grabs you by the wrist;
directs you where to go.
So make the best of this test
and don't ask why.
It's not a question
but a lesson learned in time.
It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.
So take the photographs
and still frames in your mind.
Hang it on a shelf
In good health and good time.
Tattoos of memories
and dead skin on trial.
For what it's worth,
it was worth all the while.
It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.
Journey Through SIMC - Batch '10
ReplyDeleteWE HAD THE TIME OF OUR LIVES :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAga92QHb3Y&feature=autofb
Now is the hour,
ReplyDeleteWhen I must say goodbye.
These nice and wonderful memories,
I'll cherish till I die.
This lovely beautiful campus,
I leave back as I part.
A choice I've made, to move ahead,
Although it breaks my heart.
Time is a great healer,
So they always say.
I'll miss you guys and all the fun,
We had both night and day.
I know that its all over,
I've reached the very end.
The least I can say to all of you,
Is Adios amigos, bye bye my friends.
God Bless
Love - Rochelle Fernandes
Some interesting quotations about Public Relations:
ReplyDelete"If I was down to my last dollar, I'd spend it on public relations."
Bill Gates
"Everything you do or say is public relations."
Anonymous
"Public relations is about reputation - the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you... Public relations practice is the discipline which looks after reputation with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour."
Institute of Public Relations
"Public relations is the management function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the publics on whom its success or failure depends."
Cutlip, Centre and Broom
Some more amusing PR quotations!
ReplyDelete“Public-relations specialists make flower arrangements of the facts, placing them so that the wilted and less attractive petals are hidden by sturdy blooms”
- Alan Harrington
“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire public relations officers.”
- Daniel J. Boorstin
“You should always believe all you read in the newspapers as this makes them so much more interesting”
Dame Rose Macauley
“News is whatever a good editor chooses to print”
Arthur McEwan
Good Endeavour! SIMC does not talk of talent but proves it through its work! GOOD JOB!
ReplyDeleteMedia relations is the art of building relationships of trust and mutual interest with reporters. It’s a step up from publicity for your product, service or event, or asking reporters and editors to do your marketing for you. Remember, reporters don’t work for you (or me) - they work for their editors, readers, and viewers.
ReplyDeleteTry an approach that builds better relationships with give and take,
generating more call-backs, and ensuring that your calls are returned down the road. How? Position your company or client as a resource to the press.
Resources offer instead of asking; they help reporters and producers develop story ideas, gather background information, analyze market trends, comment on breaking news, or suggest subjects (and people) for feature stories. They’re responsive, credible and respected.
If this is a major shift from marketing for you, here’s a 7-point checklist to position your company or client as media resource, not a marketing nuisance!
Return calls promptly. Respect reporters’ deadlines and they’ll keep calling for your expert wisdom.
Don’t push your own agenda. Listen carefully to what the reporter is looking for and why ~ even if the story isn’t about you. Clarify the intent and objectives in talking with you.
Clarify uncertainty. If you have any uneasiness about where the reporter is going with a line of questioning, respect it: ask about the thinking behind the question.
Go off the record at any point if you’re uneasy or concerned about being misquoted. Say so plainly: “off the record and not for attribution”; ask the reporter to confirm. (Remember Watergate and Deep Throat?)
Be forthcoming. If you don't have answers, say so and suggest other colleagues who may have them. This positions you as a fair and accessible source to come back to, even if someone else gets the mention this time.
Thank the reporter. Acknowledge that the reporter has an interesting and challenging job and thank her/him for the opportunity to discuss your story. Ask whether or when the story will print or air so you can look for it.
Follow up. When you see a piece about your story, always send a note or e-mail of thanks. Even if the reporter didn’t give you the most positive presentation, be gracious and let the reporter know you’d like to suggest stories from time to time and ask about what kinds of things s/he might be interested in.
Log your lessons. Log all media calls to shorten your learning curve: track who you spoke with; questions asked and answers given; notes on the reporter’s style or approach; what worked well; and how the story played.
Finally, keep your notes, you’ll need them to maintain a connection and a relationship with the report. Keep track of which papers and reporters covered your story, how receptive they were, and whether the story was a positive, neutral or negative piece.
By Ann D. Getman, APR
Special Events Take Planning
ReplyDeleteby Martin Cohn
In today’s competitive business market it is necessary to take steps to make people notice you and your company. Meetings, networking, fundraising, advertising and socializing are all significant factors of a prosperous business. One way to maximize the potential of these affairs is to plan an “event to remember”. The key to planning a successful special event is organization. There are several parts of an event that must be coordinated. Every detail is critical to the outcome. If you are organized throughout the planning, everything will flow smoothly. A simple way to keep track of all the details is to make a checklist. The following seven categories should be headings for a special events checklist.
1. Site Selection — It is important to have a site that satisfies all of your needs. Is the location convenient? What are the traffic patterns? Is there electricity available in the rooms? Does the site supply police details, parking and security?
2. Invitations — The type of invitation that is used can set the mood of the event. The list of guests that are invited could determine how successful your event is. It is important to mail the invitations early enough to give the guests enough time to prepare for the event. Also, be sure to carefully keep track of the responses.
3. Programs — You want your event to be interesting. Who should you invite to speak? A printed program of the event should be prepared. Be sure to organize any awards, certificates or plaques that must be given out. A seating chart and name cards will help your event to stay organized.
4. Equipment — You may need such things as centerpieces, decorations, podiums, display tables, audiovisual equipment, sound systems, or special lighting for your event. The conference hall where you are holding your event will usually supply any equipment that you need. However, many times it is very expensive. It would behoove you to look into the prices of such
rental and see if you may be able to find a more reasonable price from somewhere else. Do check with the facility first to make sure they will allow you to bring outside equipment in.
5. Finance — In determining what resources you are going to use, finance plays the star role. You should decide on a budget and try to stay within that amount. Keep track of everything in an accounting journal. Save all of your receipts. You may also want to keep a small petty cash fund for any miscellaneous needs.
6. Publicity — Of course now that you have planned this event, you want everyone to know about it. You need to publicize your event. Figure out who you want to target. Send news releases, media advisories, and special invitations to the press. Paid advertising and public service announcements will also be helpful. Posters, bumper stickers and buttons are other methods for getting publicity.
7. Clean-up — After your event you will need to physically clean up. In addition, you will need to thank everyone who was involved. Send thank you’s to speakers, special guests, volunteers, and other vendors or suppliers. Make sure to return all of your equipment on time to avoid any late fees.
An interesting article on the much forgotten aspect of PR--- ethical thinking
ReplyDeleteFor years journalists and others have questioned the ethics of public relations practitioners and firms. People in PR, however, appear to be getting a bad rap. That's what a new study funded by the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication at Penn State University has found. The research, conducted by two of the Page Center's Johnson Legacy Scholars, Renita Coleman and Lee Wilkins, is the first to measure empirically the moral development of working public relations professionals.
"It turns out that public relations professionals are good ethical thinkers," says Coleman. "They show similarity to other professionals with comparable levels of education such as journalists, nurses and dental students."
PR pros actually scored better than orthopedic surgeons, business professionals, accounting students and veterinary students.
The paper, "The Moral Development of Public Relations Practitioners: A Comparison with Other Professions and Influences on Higher Quality Ethical Reasoning," appears in the July 2009 Journal of Public Relations Research.
Coleman, assistant professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, and Wilkins, professor of journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia, took a random sample from O'Dwyer's Directory of Public Relations Firms which lists the 400 largest public relations firms.
"Although this eliminated very small firms and independent practitioners, the sample included medium-sized firms, public relations departments in advertising agencies and those firms that billed less than $1 million per year. In total, 118 respondents took the written DIT or Defining Issues Test," says Coleman.
The test poses six ethical dilemmas and asks respondents to rank 12 statements after each dilemma according to how important each was in making a decision. The measure was a five-point scale where one equaled "no importance" and five equaled "great importance." The test measures ethical reasoning in five areas: business concerns, internal motives, truth and respect, religious influences and external influences.
Test scores of the public relations professionals were compared to the scores of 19 other groups whose members had taken the DIT test in the past. Seminarians and philosophers are the runaway winners on the moral development scale as measured by the test. After that come medical students, practicing physicians, journalists, dental students, nurses and public relations pros.
Last on the moral development scale? Junior high school students, one notch below prison inmates.
"But that's not surprising because age and education are the best predictors of moral development – the more you have the better you do," says Coleman. "And it shows why middle-schoolers still need their parents' guidance."
Why are ethics important for PR practitioners?
"Public relations professionals see their role as connecting clients to the larger world, primarily though journalists or to the news media," say Coleman and Wilkins. "To accomplish this function, they need to maintain the trust of both parties, but particularly the trust of journalists who are already skeptical of their institutional role and their individual motives.
"Consequently, honesty and a lack of willingness to deceive those who receive information are critical in effective public relations practice."
Source: PR pros are good ethical thinkers, Dick Jones Communications
Do read this article on Viral Marketing..
ReplyDeleteViral Marketing Campaigns: Creating a brand was never that easy !
Viruses are not always deadly…they can also act as a very potent weapon in your arsenal as an internet marketer.
Welcome to the world of viral marketing. It’s not exactly a brand new application (remember the Microsoft campaign?), but yes its relevancy is still very important.
Viral marketing:
It generally refers to the propagation of a brands identity through a series of e-mails or through the social networking sites.
Types of viral marketing:
Propagation by intent:
It’s generally a message which encourages people to forward it. It can be anything from chain e-mails to funny clips and jokes which will prompt most people to forward it.
Propagation for money:
The strategy involved here is aimed at getting referrals (in turn propagating a particular brand), so you get a fixed amount for each referral. E.g. online lotteries, contests etc.
Gossip marketing:
Have you ever thought why it happens often that movie stars get into some juicy controversy just before their new movie premieres? Well…that’s gossip marketing at work. By creating a controversy or by releasing some MMS clip on the sly they aim to get into the consciousness of people just before the premiere!
User managed marketing:
Are you a member of classmates.com? If yes, then you are also part this marketing endeavor. As that website is only providing the software, all the content is user generated! So, you get to locate your old friends and the website earns money and creates a brand for actually doing nothing. That’s the power of viral marketing.
If approached the right way viral marketing can be your best bet for brand building in the shortest possible time. You just have to be accurately aware of the message you want to send out (And that’s the toughest part), after all marketing is all about hitting the right buttons at just the right time!
Source: www.brainpulse.com
With just about two weeks left for college to end, I am glad that I came to SIMC and had such a great time. It's suddenly hitting me that before you know it we will be out in the corporate world! I would like to thank everyone I met here for making this experience truly memorable!
ReplyDelete