Now that I have settled into my role of a remote intern, it’s time to get busy with work. As I’m doing my internship remotely, it is hard to do a lot of public relations related work as I’m not there physically.  However, my supervisor was kind enough to give me the opportunity to try my hand at a few public relations tasks.

Here is my in-depth experience which details the challenges I faced and lessons learnt while working on my assigned tasks as a remote intern.

Researching and Analysing Data

One of my main jobs as a remote intern taking on the role of the account executive and assisting the account director/account lead in the creative development workflow. This means helping in the research and analysing data for the upcoming projects and campaigns that will be implemented. As most of us have learnt in PR Planning and Evaluation, it is important to analyse and do research before any projects or campaigns are implemented to ensure that the information at hand is correct. Due to confidentiality requirements, I am unable to share with you the details of these projects but it was very insightful to learn how to the company does their research and the ways that they analyse these datas before doing anything.

Another one of my tasks was to do research on all of the media publications in Malaysia and Singapore, which is where the two offices of Prospr are located. This gave me great insight and understanding to the mass media industry in Malaysia and Singapore. Some great tools I used to analyse the number of circulation, readership, viewership, daily page visitation and their rate cards are:

  • Adqrate
  • Media Spokes
  • Hype Stat
  • Similar Web

I believe these sites may be helpful for those doing research for media publications in the future.

Compiling Data and Information

After researching and analysing data comes the compilation of all of these information. I was assigned to compile all of the data and information of media publications, media pitches, press releases, the company’s clientele list and the company’s clientele media coverages into Google Excel sheets and arrange them by industry. This was a very tedious job and took me many days to do. However, this is very important for the company as it would make extracting information more easier for the PR consultants when they need it.

Here are some tips I picked up while compiling all of these data and information are:

  • Give yourself a set number of data that you want to complete each day
  • Make sure you have access to all the company’s data and information needed
  • Double check that all the information you have is correct with the person-in-charge if you are unsure
  • Ensure that the list is neat and well-organised according to the company’s need
  • Ensure that everyone in the company has access to the lists

Press Release

On the topic of press releases. I was assigned to help write a press release for one of our new clients. Now I have written many practice ones during the PR Techniques unit before but I’ve never actually created one for a real life client! This is one of the tasks I was really looking forward to do as I love writing.

Due to the non-disclosure agreement, I can’t really tell you much details but they are currently launching a new product into the Malaysian market. At first, the angle was focusing more on the new product launch but after the consultant in charge sent it to our client, the client decided that he wanted to change the angle and merge it with the brand’s story as well. This meant that I had to re-write most of the press release, which was quite frustrating. However, I did learn that clients change their minds all the time and that this is something that most public relations consultants are used to.

In terms of my writing, the public relations consultant in charge of this client said that it was a good try and she gave me some pointers in the areas that I needed to improve on. I believe that these pointers helped me create a pretty good first draft for the client. I still have a long way to go in perfecting this but I’ll keep trying till I get it right!

Some key tips I’ve learnt are:

  • Create a exciting and engaging headline
  • Have a sub-headline to support the headline
  • Make sure the first paragraph answers the 5 Ws and 1 H.
  • Ensure that information written in the press release is correct
  • When sending out the press release to the journalists, send the main press release copy but also copy and paste the content into the email as well for easier reference
  • Always refer to the PR plan or the client brief for all information
  • Ask or clarify with the client or the consultant in-charge if there’s anything you are unsure of

Media Invitation

With the client’s media invitation, it was quite a challenge for me as I have never created a media invitation before. Thankfully, I had my supervisor walking me through it and teaching me the methods that the company uses to create media invitations. The media invitation was interesting to create as it had to sound friendly but at the same time professional. It took quite a few tries but I finally created the right one for the client.

Here are some important tips to remember when creating a media invitation:

  • Make sure your writing is engaging and fun but at the same time professional
  • Include a brief summary of the company and the purpose of the event
  • Make sure the journalists know there is a deadline to RSVP their spot
  • Ensure the logos and images are in the correct format according to your company’s format
  • Ensure the details of the event are correct
  • Always double check the details with your client before sending the media invitations out

Content Creation

With content creation, this refers to my assigned tasks of creating and designing industry banners that will be used in press releases and media pitches that will be sent out to journalists and designing a townhall deck for my boss.

For the industry banners, my main challenge was finding inspiration and creativity to create unique and fun designs for each banner as I had to create about 3 to 4 different banners for each industry. By the end of this task, I had created a total of 90 banners! One main advice I would give when doing content creation is find some inspiration if you are stuck or running out of ideas. There are many great ideas on Google, Pinterest or WeHeartIt!

With the townhall deck, I ran into several challenges. The first challenge was that my boss did not know what theme or design he wanted. So I had to do a lot of extra work by creating different presentation drafts of themes and designs and then send them over to him to choose what he wanted. This was so that I could know what he wanted exactly in terms of looks and feel for the entire townhall deck. It was really frustrating as he rejected many of my ideas but in the end he did give me a few examples to what he wanted and I finally made a version that he was happy with after a few days of hard work.

My next challenge involved my supervisor. Now, my supervisor was supposed to help me with the designing part but he kept adding things that our boss did not want! As I am supposed to be in charge of designing, I was blamed for most of it, which was really frustrating. But after talking with my supervisor and clarifying with him what design idea and theme that I was going for, he let me carry out my idea and stopped changing the design which finally allowed me to create the townhall deck that my boss envisioned.

My key advice is that communication is very important! Both parties need to communicate what they want exactly from each other and to clear any misunderstandings on each side. Never be afraid to ask for clarification or unsure with what the other person wants as this may help speed up the designing process and save you more time and energy.

Client Meeting & Meeting Minutes

I was privileged enough to be invited by my supervisor and CEO to join a few meetings with one of our new clients via video call. This allowed me to experience and gain insight to what a client meeting is actually like and how it is conducted in the industry. I was tasked to take down meeting minutes, which is a very important job as it serves as a reminder to both parties about what was being discussed during the meeting. It is also as a call-to-action to complete any tasks that was discussed during the meeting before the next meeting with the client. This may be getting certain documents to the client or getting the client to send over their company story, for example.

For the first meeting, it took awhile for me to get used to writing down what was going on quickly as I was asked to join the meeting last minute which meant that I had no context of what was happening. Thankfully, my supervisor briefed me on what was happening shortly after the meeting. By the second and third meeting, I have gotten used to taking down notes quickly and arranging them into their respective categories.

One really good tip is to voice record once the meeting begins on your phone or your laptop! This will really help you to remember anything you missed during the meeting and double check that you have written down all the important details.

And there you have it! My full experience handling some of my main tasks as a remote intern. I hope that reading my experience and tips will help you in any similar tasks you are handling at the moment or in the future. If you do have any more suggestions or tips, please feel free to comment them below!

Till next time!