Tag: portland

Posted on

1 agency, 2 agencies, 3 agencies, 4: A summary of PRSSA’s Fall 2017 Portland Development Tour

By Sierra Goodman

Public relations agencies are like snowflakes; no two are the same. Some specialize in business-to-business and some in business-to-consumer. Others combine PR strategy with advertising and digital. Boutique agencies may have a team of 10 while a large agency may have hundreds of team members.

During Fall term, members of the University of Oregon’s PRSSA chapter explored four agencies in Portland including LANE, Gallatin, Gard, and Edelman. Each agency offered something different as far as future employment. In case you couldn’t make it, here is a summary of the agencies we visited:

Lane PR

Lane PR is headquartered in Portland with locations in New York City and Seattle. In 2011, the agency was acquired by Finn Partners, a global marketing communications firm. At the Portland location, they represent companies in the local food and beverage and financial sectors including 10 Barrel Brewing Co. and Umpqua Bank. Their focus is on B2B and B2C relations for business and sales success through platforms such as investor relations and social media marketing. Wendy Lane Stevens, president and founder, commonly asks interviewees to walk her through their resume, explaining their academic and work choices from senior year in high school to present day. Knowing your own story and having a business mindset will serve you well at Lane.  

Gallatin

If you are interested in public affairs, Gallatin is the place for you. They specialize in business, government, politics and media. A job at Gallatin involves plenty of community outreach and communication to help clients initiate change. Some specific campaigns involved crisis communication after a NW Portland building explosion in 2016 and event planning for a gathering of Portland’s female restaurant owners. At Gallatin, President Dan Lavey, says that he is looking for personality and independence when hiring interns. The agency regularly hires interns each year so make sure to look out for future opportunities and set up an informational interview.

Gard

Gard Communications is an advertising and public relations firm well-versed in crisis communications. They have local, national and global clients that they work with closely to ensure a strategic plan that works best for them. Advancement of brand reputation and defensive tactics give the agency an edge in times of serious crisis and marketing management. This agency is ideal for people who work well under pressure and in a fast-paced environment.

Edelman

Edelman is the largest public relations agency in the world and ranges in a variety of sectors such as technology, brand, corporate, public affairs and just about everything in between. Their Portland location is small with 50 employees compared to other locations like their New York office with 500 employees. With locations all over the world, they give employers an opportunity to work abroad to experience different cultures. Edelman is proud to say they are a leader of earned media. Although employees are encouraged to diversify themselves in different fields and projects they tend to hire off of people’s niches such as healthcare, technology and digital. As we heard on all four tours, Edelman was no exception saying that excellent writing skills are imperative to have in the PR industry.

PRSSA’s Development Tours offer a unique experience to students by providing a window into specific agencies and PR sectors. They are especially helpful in narrowing down your job search down the road by helping students learn more about what their life might look like in a job outside of UO.

Applications for the Winter term Professional Development Tour to Seattle go live Monday, Jan. 8. Visit prssa.uoregon.edu/tours to learn more and apply.

Posted on

Traditional Vs. Digital PR: A Recap of Amy Rosenberg’s Presentation

By Talia Smith, UO PRSSA Communications Director and former Veracity intern

For our last meeting of Fall term, Amy Rosenberg of Veracity Marketing in Portland was kind enough to drive down to Eugene to talk to our chapter about traditional versus digital PR. As we found out, there is no difference.

Amy’s presentation was unique to our guest speaker lineup as we had yet to learn about digital PR and how it can be the “secret weapon to SEO.” Many of us have heard of SEO and know it’s important, but we don’t really know what role we will play in SEO as PR students and aspiring professionals. Amy did a great job explaining what we can do to start thinking digitally to make media coverage go further while helping clients maximize their online presence.

First, if your client doesn’t have a website, encourage them to create one or outsource someone to make a “SEO-friendly” site. Amy compared a company’s website to a flyer, except this flyer doesn’t end up at the bottom of your purse. A website provides your brand’s stakeholders with a platform to learn more about them and follow up. “If you don’t have a presence online, you don’t exist,” Amy said. The call to action of most of your PR efforts are going to lead back to this website which is why it is essential your client has one.

Once your client has a website, you need to help people find it which is where SEO comes in. In a nutshell, websites can get lost in a sea of search results on Google and Bing and SEO helps a site rank higher to garner more clicks. Let’s be real, no one is going to click to the second page of Google. In order for a website to be useful it must appear in the top results when using keywords associated with your brand. Blogging provides a website more keywords for people to search.

Once a website and blog are up and running, PR and social media can be used to drive viewers to the site through links. When it comes to securing media coverage, Amy suggests keeping your pitch to five sentences or less and linking out to a press release as reporters appreciate brevity. Also, don’t spam anyone. Instead, take the time to personalize a pitch and offer the same respect to all positions in the newsroom. Amy says bloggers and writers are the most important people in the newsroom to PR professionals because they could be editors five years down the road.

Once you secure media coverage, it is imperative to get the link so it can be sent to your client and shared on social media, an important step to amplifying viewers. It is also wise to have an “In the News” tab on a website and have an ongoing list of links to recent media coverage. If you can’t find a link to coverage you know you secured, Amy recommends asking the digital editor who is responsible for placing stories on a traditional news media outlet’s website. You might feel like you are bothering someone just for a link but Amy assures that these digital editors understand you are asking for SEO purposes and will respect you.

At the end of the presentation, Amy was asked what students can do to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to digital and traditional PR. She suggests “showing up” to professional development organizations such as PRSSA and PRSA for PR and SEMpdx for digital. Fortunately, Amy will be speaking at SEMpdx’s Engage conference in March 2018.

Thank you, Amy, for sharing your insight about traditional and digital PR. Please come back soon!

Posted on

PRofessional: Cathy Hamilton

 

Cathy Hamilton started Verb Marketing and PR, a full-service marketing communications firm, in 2003. Verb specializes in strategic planning and consulting, media relations, brand development and management and more. Hamilton runs Verb with her Creative Director, Doug Ferguson. As president, Hamilton has a variety of responsibilities ranging from strategic planning to sales to team management—ensuring that all work exceeds client expectations.

Q: How did you get where you are today?
A: That’s a huge question. I got started in public relations because I liked to write and I thought the PR field would be more diverse and varied than reporting. At that time, the advertising field required more that you could do your own design and I thought that you had to really be a true artist. Also, at this point there weren’t programs like InDesign and Photoshop and all of that, you had to be more of a natural artist, able to draw with your hand. I can art direct but not actually produce myself. So I headed into PR.

Throughout college Cathy had numerous different internships, and upon graduation Cathy received a job working in Marketing. She loved her job but was then offered a Public Affairs job in Eugene where she worked for 5 years. She wanted something more fast paced and found that she did like Marketing firms, but she felt that many of the clients were being pushed into a marketing solution for something that could more easily be solved by PR. Her mission was to change the idea of companies who worked under the notion “whatever we have…you get.” Her experience in both the Public Relations field and the Marketing field lead her to the idea integrating the two as one. Her vision was to create a small firm where the top people were always the ones working with the clients, and for her, a single person in charge of the PR and marketing.

Q: When did it “click” that this was the right field for you?
A: “I always liked writing. I think it was always clear I would do something with writing and it’s just morphed over time. It definitely started more with PR and then morphed more into marketing which I think is just more of a function of the market here and also just how communications has changed it’s just really in a totally different ball game than it was, even when I started–which was not–well I don’t think it was–that long ago. It was a totally different era for PR. It changes a lot which is what keeps me in the business. There are parts of it I don’t care for but the parts of it I do are that it is always changing so if you are a fickle person if you like that constant challenge–I mean really, right as soon as you think you’ve got it figured out it changes and you’re expected to be there ahead of the change–so if you like that kind of constant pressure it’s a great field.”

Q: What are employers most looking for in students with my background, as to day, with people just entering the field?
A: “A good writer. The ability of engage, to be responsive. What always makes me smile when we have interns is how they take feedback…I take feedback positive and negative all day long, you know? A client may not like a particular word and you just have to be able to bounce back and say ‘okay, we’ll fix that’. [In addition] you do always rely on that core desire and ability to write, that and an interest in experimenting and that willingness to be pushed all the time. “

Q: How do you see this industry changing within the next decade?
A: “I have no idea what we will see in ten years. You know, if you had asked me that ten years ago I would have said definitely electronic means. I wouldn’t have necessarily predicted the specifics of it, and I don’t think it’s even settled down yet, I think that we’re still trying to figure out. Yeah, we know social media is huge, we know how it plays in, and we know how to use it but what’s coming what’s going what the next big thing will be…is [all] up for debate. Regardless of that kind of [means] the thing that people have to be really good at is being flexible, being eager to learn. You have to have kind of an innate curiosity because that part will stay the same.”

Q: What special advice do you have for a student seeking a job within the PR and marketing fields?
A: “You’re pushed you will never become comfortable in this job. If you do then you need to be pushed a little bit more. And I think if you don’t like that it’s maybe not the right job…and there are times in life when you don’t want that, when things get chaotic you kind of want the calm which is why I’ve seen people slip in and out of the field…I think it’s more of a personality trait than a talent set. [Also you have to remember that] you will never put something forward the first time that is perfect. [This also] is a good reason to do internships, you find out what you like and don’t like and you can leave gracefully.”

Image (c) of Hamilton, Verb Marketing and PR

Post by Leigh Scheffey, PRSSA member for the 2012-2013 school year. You can contact Leigh through our blog editor: cgisler@uoregon.edu.

Posted on

Winter Agency Tours with UO PRSSA

On Thursday, Feb. 21, thirteen University of Oregon PRSSA chapter members and I had the exciting opportunity to visit a few of Portland’s most intriguing PR agencies. With an urban, colorful setting like Portland, our visit was anything but ordinary!

We began our day with a warm welcome from AM:PM PR (with scones courtesy of their friendly neighbors at the Compote Café & Bakery). The small, yet deep-rooted agency in southeast Portland, invited all of our questions to the table to discuss their mission and our interests.

We discovered that this agency is serious about relationships, and they value each of their clients in tailored-to-fit ways. The passion AM:PM holds is clear to see. They see their clients as their partners and strive to focus on the small picture in big ways in order to produce the best work possible. Overall, our visit with AM:PM PR was refreshing, laid back and got our creative juices flowing for the remainder of the day!

After a delicious (and very Portlandesque) pizza date at Sizzle Pie, our next stop was R/West. Located in the midst of the industrial district, this all-creative agency resulted in 14 jaws dropping as we stood behind opening elevator doors. The agency was immaculate to say the least. We were led on a tour by former UO PRSSA alum, Ashley Aronson, as we marveled at the work they’ve produced.

The PR, marketing, multimedia, planning-savvy crew at R/West (needless to say, they’re just about good at everything), proved to be a hit with our group. Upon leaving, the biggest question on my mind was, “When can I apply?”

As the day grew longer, the journalism student coffee aficionados in us emerged (as if it ever went away). We did what one must do while in Portland and went on a quick coffee run before making our last stop at one eye-opening agency: CMD Portland. The integrated marketing services agency was much larger than our last two visits and it had a lot to show!

DSC_0290

Once again, we were greeted by another UO PRSSA alum, Jesse Davis, and were taken on a tour of the highly modernized building. There we feasted our eyes on the great work that they produce. With mega-clients like Microsoft and Intel, the power held at CMD was unique and inspiring. We had the opportunity to ask questions and hear advice from relatable individuals who understand what it’s like to freshly enter the PR field. Our visit to CMD was definitely valuable!

It didn’t take me long to soak everything in and think about all of the information I took away from our tours. After the trip, I found that learning to think of each case, client and project as a clean slate is key. As AM:PM PR demonstrated so well, the importance of taking the time to build and maintain customized, tailored-to-fit relationships with clients is the path to success.

After all, having that bug to network and seek relationships is what makes the PR major so appealing! Going on the agency tours trip gave me a glimpse of my career path in a “real world” setting, and it has given me even more motivation to keep working toward an exciting, versatile, and fast paced future in PR!

1c46ebaPost by Kylee Plummer, PRSSA member for the 2012-2013 school year. You can contact Kylee through our blog editor: cgisler@uoregon.edu!

Posted on

Portland Paddle 2012: A Review

portlandpaddleThis post was originally published May 3, 2012 on Bianca Bernath’s personal blog, Public Relations Savvy. The 2013 Portland Paddle event will be held in Portland, Ore. during spring term. Please stay tuned for event details.

On Friday,  April 27, I had the opportunity to participate in the Portland Paddle with 16 public relations students. When I told people what I was doing that Friday they thought I was crazy for wanting to go boating at this time of the season.

The Portland Paddle is an annual event organized by the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC) and Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA).

Each year the Portland Paddle provides the opportunity to meet with public relations professionals. During the short practice interview, students receive tips on how to present their portfolios, how to give an effective interview, and how to write resumes and cover letters that stand out.

Public relations professionals from Edelman Worldwide, Lane PR, AM: PM PR, Public Relations Institute Inc., CFM Strategic Communications, DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital, MacKenzie Marketing, Nokes Communications Inc., and Kimball Brand Marketing were all present at the event.

Along with the insights I have gained from speaking with Pat McCormic and Deston Nokes, I learned four essential tips for success in the public relations industry.

1.    Have an online platform, whether it is a blog, portfolio or both.

“Keeping a blog is important; it is an exercise of writing for value.” – Pat McCormic.

A blog allows the reader to have a digital relationship with someone on a human level. It serves as a good tool that captures an audience and allows the blogger to receive feedback.

Maintaining a blog and online portfolio gives employers a sense of who a person is. These online platforms also effectively measure passion by showing online involvement through participating in discussions and engaging in current topics.

2.    Have strong writing skills.

People who write well are assets to the public relations world because they know how to write strategically. The ability to sort subjects from the most significant to the least is a valuable skill to develop as a public relations professional.

3.    Use the cover letter as a way to tell a story.

Cover letters should be written in a way that escapes what is conventional. The cover letter should emphasize why you should be considered and should show what makes you different.

Be sure to mention skills that increase your return on investment (ROI), but don’t restate everything on your resume. The cover letter is a piece of information that makes the employer want to read your resume.

4.    Employers have values that they expect you to follow through with.

After you are hired for a company, you are expected to meet the standards of your employer. Some values that companies may have are

  • Deliver what you promise to do
  • Be punctual
  • Be on time
  • Slow down and be thorough

DSCN2238Post by Bianca Bernath, Portland Liaison and member for the 2012-2013 school year. She is a senior at the UO studying public relations. You can reach Bianca at bbernath@uoregon.edu!

Posted on

Fall agency tours with UO PRSSA

On Nov. 16th, UO PRSSA ventured to Portland, Ore. to tour the local offices of Edelman Portland and Liaison PR. The city of Portland is home to several well-known PR agencies  – Edelman, Liaison, and Waggener Edstrom included. The day was full of insightful information and inspiration, helping to establish a clear idea of the life of a PR professional after graduation.

UO PRSSA hears from professionals at the Edelman office in Portland, Oregon.

The day began with a tour and information session with Edelman Portland, one of many company offices throughout the world. Edelman Portland is home to approximately 50 employees and overlooks Pioneer Courthouse Square from the 8th floor of a spacious, modern office. Members discussed life at a PR agency with five current professionals of the Edelman team, followed by an office tour and look into daily life there.

UO PRSSA also visited Liaison PR to hear from the agency’s founder Heidi Lowell (center) and her team.

After, UO PRSSA visited Liaison PR in the Portland Pearl District for a tour of their urban office. Liaison is home to a small staff and a specialized focus on technology and consumer PR. An informational session with Liaison’s talented team offered insight to working in a niche agency. Part of the presentation included hearing from Liaison’s founder Heidi Lowell, who was visiting the office from her home in London.

So why should you consider touring a local PR agency before graduation?

  • You can establish a feel for what life at a PR agency is like. Pay attention to the pace of the office, the vibe of the professionals, the type of work they do, and whatever else you can pick up. The experience might help you decide if working in a agency post-grad is the right fit for you.
  • You can get your questions answers by individuals with real-world experience. The professionals at work for agencies are living in the PR industry here and now. Their insight is up-to-date and realistic, meaning you’ll get the latest information.
  • You can connect with public relation professionals who already work in an agency. Take along business cards to trade, be prepared to ask questions, and follow up with an email after the tour to thank them.
  • You can explore potential employers in your area. An agency tour can highlight companies you might be interested in applying to after graduation.
  • You can learn about internship and employment opportunities available in your area. Don’t be afraid to ask what the agency looks for in an intern or entry-level employee. The insight could be incredibly helpful if you apply later.

UO PRSSA would like to thank Edelman Portland and Liaison PR for the insightful, inspiring day of tours! Our Chapter plans multiple PR agency tour opportunities each year. Stay tuned for more information on the trips planned for winter and spring 2013 at upcoming Chapter meetings. Have you ever toured a local PR agency? What was your favorite part of the experience?

Post by Callie Gisler, public relations director for the 2012-2013 school year. She is a junior at the UO, studying public relations and magazine journalism. You can reach Callie at cgisler@uoregon.edu!