Yeah, what’s the deal? What’s the deal after the internship? Listen up, here it goes!
The first time I came for my internship, I was feeling restless. The reason was that this will not be a pure public relations internship. There would be marketing essence infused in our PR work. I was wondering how the scope of work would be, how beneficial it will be, how good I can handle the pressure and how different it is from what I have learnt so far in class. But, my internship with the Corporate Communication team of Curtin University Malaysia had given me an abundance of advantages for my future career.
A few things that I learned from my internship (we also learned these in class, guys!):
Focus on visuals
This is the era of technology and doing public relations should not be stopped only at writings, although it is essential for PR. We have to sway our attention to include visuals as much as we can. From video production, infographic to photography is the key elements for a successful PR approach. Yes, we learned this in class guys and guess what, it is ready to be applied in the field.
Go heavy on digital
Similar to my first point, it is time for PR to land an eye on digital platforms. If none of us ever thinks to include this in our communication strategy, I do not know what else to say 🙂 Besides it is very effective, companies and brands can leverage new and fresh ideas in terms of public relations – like utilizing influencers, social media marketing, content marketing, online ads and more to boost conversation around the brand on digital hemisphere. Psst, we also learned this in class. Remember?
360° communications
In terms of reaching your objectives as a business and deliver your values to your target audience, public relations alone will not be sufficient. Same goes to marketing. Same goes to the advertisement. Everything should go hand in hand, especially in this era of information flood where people have become more critical, smarter and picky. So, integrated communication is worth to execute – all-round communication from marketing, advertising, event management, public relations to digital communications put up together in one pot for a better communication strategy.
Being ethical is ethical
No matter how cliche it may sound, but the PR field is a challenging place to stay neutral. The reason is that we deal with many stakeholders with different values, while we have to work on our objectives. You might face some situations that push you to the edge of being unethical or question your integrity or even confuse you with what is right and what is wrong. However, being ethical for us is when we do not cause downsides to any of our stakeholders and still be able to pursue our initial goals. This is a highly discussed topic during our lecture!
If I have to mention more things then one blog post will not be enough. It is just I have learnt a bundle of things from the 30 days of internship with Curtin University Malaysia. Final thoughts – we may learn and read slides after slides, readings after readings, but the only way to fully experience the field of public relations and understand how the work is being down behind the desks is by throwing yourself in. Some of your expectations might be broken, some of your dreams might come true. It has been a fun and informative also challenging journey. I feel like I am all set for a PR life after university.
Hope everyone enjoyed or is enjoying their internship as much as I did. See you all on top! That is the DEAL 🙂
Cheers,
-Shima