By Natalie Beasley
Through out this course of Public Relations campaigns, we have constantly been working towards goals, to succeed for our clients, and to successfully pull off an event with little or no money. I began thinking about this more today when my group hosted a silent auction in the Oklahoma Memorial Union Molly Shi Ballroom benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cleveland county. A couple weeks ago, there was frustration and confusion, and at times just pure chaos. However, today when the event went flawless, and was a complete success, it all started making sense.
Every day agencies are faced with the challenge to put on events with little or no money. Before we were faced with this challenge I just believed that there was always money for the events to happen. Who would have guessed that a great event could be put on with such a low budget? As a group we were forced to work with the community, and work with local businesses in order to have items to auction off, as well as working with all local media to get publicity.
I feel like more than ever in this day and age, public relations and the success of a campaign can deal a great deal on who you know and who is willing to help out. Networking is the basis of success. Gaylord College has prepared all the students in the college to be successful through networking. I have been very impressed with all the people I have met through the University of Oklahoma’s journalism school.
Through the process of networking with the Norman community, and working with our client, as well as the Campus Activities Council, we were able to have great success, and have so many great things and entertainment that we got all for little or no cost. Public relations is not all about the money and events really can be successful without all the cash flow.
4 comments:
I was just reading an article online about the importance of networking for getting jobs as well. It's definitely an important asset- good post!
I can definitely relate to your situation. Our group has spent very little money and gotten a ton of things done. Whether it be finding 100 empty milk jugs in your grandpa's barn or using free printing through their organization, getting creative with your campaign's budget can save you a lot, benefitting the company even more.
As for networking, I agree that the university provides us a good base of networking, locally. But if I were to move (which was the plan), I would have to start from scratch. Keeping good connections in Norman is great, but I wish that the university would provide us with pr practitioners out of state. Maybe someday they will incorporate it. Until then, I will have to stay in Norman until I get my feet wet enough to be credible enough to land a job out of state.
This is so true. Having no budget is frustrating, but networking really did open doors for us. We all had contacts that we had made through networking that opened numerous doors for us helping to ensure that our silent auction was a success. I think it is really great that we have not only been taught the importance of networking, but also how to network. I never thought networking was that important, but I can see now that it is something that will undoubtedly help us in our future careers.
Post a Comment