Client Relationship Management in PR

After a long hiatus, I am back.

It was a fantastic year: PR consultancy managed to deliver excellent coverage for a healthcare related client. Client received highest print coverage compared to all other private hospitals. However, in the PR world, sometimes moving on is the best decision to make. Intelectasia received a fantastic offer from a healthcare group to manage its PR campaigns and activities for 2011. So, next year Intelectasia will be providing PR services to a few hospitals! Isn't that simply awesome!

Looking back, 2 years with my ex-client had its equal share of ups and downs. However, I have often realised that managing a 'healthy=happy' relationship with a client, especially in a service related industry, like PR, takes some sort of highly specialised skill. You have to be a really good people person. I mean a REALLY GOOD people person.

Sometimes you question yourself, should I be friendly, or am I being too friendly, or should I be 'professional' but not friendly? How is this possible?


PR is really blood, sweat and LOTS of TEARS! I am sure PR consultants out there would agree with me. I was lucky I had clients listening to my PR advice,hence there was very little argument, but again clients are clients, they can either be your best friends or your worst enemy. Managing the relationship is like making a marriage work. Really, it takes lots of compromise and understanding.

My tips for a successful=happy=healthy relationship:

a. Deliver=give what you have promised, if you fail to deliver, you will have a very difficult relationship
b. Don't over deliver= when you promise 3 stories, just give 3, if you start giving 5, then you will be in big trouble, because the client will start to expect more, and more
c. Set the ground rules at the very beginning= Client should know when you are working and when you are not working. As usual, we Malaysians will always say...never mind la, my client can call me anytime, no problem. But you and I know what will happen when you stop picking up the calls after 8pm and not replying my emails at 10pm.
d. No, no bad mouthing clients= No matter what happens, as much as you want to never ever complain about your clients to their co-workers/subordinates, this is a big no-no

If you do all of the above and still have a tough time, its time to move on. Get a another client,because you know, this one memang tak boleh pakai dy!

Cheers!

2010 MEDIA RELATIONS PRACTICES SURVEY IN MALAYSIA

2010 Media Relations Practices Survey in Malaysia

Press Release & Media Invite Writing Workshop

Press Release & Media Invitation Writing Workshop

Often, many PR practitioners ask these same age old questions:

THE SECRETS OF GETTING MEDIA COVERAGE

The press release is considered as one of the most important element in public relations. Unfortunately, very often press releases which are sent to media agencies end up in rubbish bins. How can you grab the attention of an editor with your press release? What makes a press release stand out from a pile clutter sent to newsrooms daily? In this one day workshop, learn how to write attention grabbing press releases from seasoned journalists and editors.

Also in this workshop, learn from the experts the secrets on how to ensure high media attendance and coverage for your events!

Join us for a powerful one-day workshop:

PRESS RELEASE & MEDIA INVITATION

WRITING WORKSHOP

5 AUGUST 2010

ONE WORLD HOTEL

WHAT?

MODULE 1 ● What is NEWS?

Key Topics:

What Makes NEWS?

What are the elements involved in TV/Print news?

What makes a good story/news?

How journalists hunt for stories?

MODULE 2 ●Preparing Attention Grabbing Press Releases

Key Topics:

What makes Press Releases NEWSWORTHY?

12 Reasons to send a Press Release

Frequently Made Mistakes

Good and Bad Press Release Samples

Ten Commandments of writing a good Press Release

MODULE 3 ● Writing Media Invites that Guarantees Coverage

Key Topics:

The key to media coverage: A good media invite

Learn to ‘fish’

Frequently Made Mistakes

Ten Commandments of writing a good media invite

MODULE 4● How to Get Coverage without Media?

Key Topics:

How to Stop Depending on Media Attendance?

How to use free online press release wires to increase visibility?

WHO?

Junior Executives, Senior and Managerial Executives in Public Relations, Corporate Communications, Marketing or any relevant position

Fresh Graduates

Anyone who is interested to write good press releases and media invites

● Price : RM 900 ● Number of Days: 1

Trainers: Puspavathy Ramaloo (TV3) , Wani Muthiah (The Star) and me!

Call: Ms Yasmin Farahanim : 012 408 9754 or yasmin@intelectasia.com

All About Public Relations

Article appeared on http://aboutpublicrelations.net/index.htm Why Even Bother Pitching to the Media?
Here are seven reasons why and how the phone still works.
by Manminder Dhillon Intelectasia Consultancy Pitching is an important element of media relations strategy. But many still rely on traditional form of sending in boring and lengthy press releases.Why even bother pitching when emailing and faxing in is so much easier? Well, if you still have that mindset, then it is time to change. I will share seven reasons why you should pick up the phone and pitch your story. 1. Attract attention: The media is often overloaded with so many invitations, press releases and emails. By pitching, you automatically bring their attention to your story. 2. Communicate directly: By pitching, you are communicating to the journalists and editors. This will make them aware of your organization. Not only it will put a human touch to your press release or invitation, it shows that you are taking the initiative to contact them. 3. Stressing important elements: When you pitch, you actually highlight the important elements of your event directly, sometimes these are the same things that would have been neglected by the busy eyes of a hurried journalist or editor. 4. Direct confirmation: This is the best part. When you pitch, you will coax the media to cover your event, you will know immediately whether they will be covering your event or not. If yes, well done. If not, you can at least try different media outlets. 5. Re-sell: Sometimes a press release, invitation or story maybe rejected, by pitching you allow an open discussion with the journalist or editors on how to re-angle your story. This may just be a lucky break. 6. Learning: When pitching, you actually learn what the media really wants. For example “We do write these types of stories anymore” or “This is not what we are looking for.” You immediately learn what the specific media’s needs and wants are. The next time, you will not waste their time and yours. 7. Making contacts: Pitching opens avenues for future contacts. When you call and speak to a certain journalist or editor, you are actually taking the first step of making a connection. Even if they say no, you can always ask what types of stories they are looking for, how else can you help them. Take the opportunity to make small conversations, ask their personal phone numbers or better still ask them out for lunch. Manminder Dhillon is a former broadcast journalist and a public relations consultant. She is the founder of Intelectasia Consultancy, a public relations agency in Malaysia. You can read more about her atwww.intelectasia.com

FUND RAISING THROUGH FASHION

“Campaign Aims to Raise RM 50,000 Through

The Sale of Designer Scarves to Support Breast Cancer Patients”

250 pink scarves exclusively designed by internationally renowned fashion designer, Zang Toi, will be up for grabs to raise funds for Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur’s ‘Unite with Pink, Unite with Us, Together We Unite for Pink October as 1Malaysia’ inaugural breast cancer fund raising campaign.

This campaign is one of the many corporate social responsibility ini

tiatives that will be spearheaded by Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur in conjunction with the upcoming Pink October month.

“Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur is excited to kick off the Pink October celebrations with the launch of the breast cancer fund raising campaign,” said Gleneagles Hospital Kuala

Lumpur Chief Executive Officer Amir Firdaus Abdullah.

“We are committed in reaching out and engaging the public to support the plight of medically underserved breast cancer patients and together with our supporting partners, we hope that through campaigns such as this by Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur, significant funds are channelled to help save lives.”

Members of the public can purchase the scarves for RM300 each at Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur. As a token of appreciation, Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur will be offering special rates for ultrasound breasts and mammogram screenings. A free pap smear test will be given away to customers who takes up the screening package.

The proceeds of this campaign will be donated to Pride Foundation, a non-profit organization that is actively involved in enhancing awareness efforts and improving accessibility to treatment and care of breast cancer.

“We are very happy to see many organizations such as Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur and its partners coming forward to support the plight of breast cancer patients,” said PRIDE Foundation Chairman Datin Azrene Abdullah.

“Contributions from this campaign will be channelled to the ‘PRIDE Patient Fund’ which is used to assist breast cancer patients directly in terms of treatment cost, surgery and other medical needs,” added Azrene.

PRIDE Foundation will be giving a RM300 tax redemption receipt to those who purchase the scarf.

To further strengthen this campaign, Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur partnered with ING Insurance Berhad which is the main sponsor for this fund raising campaign.

President and Chief Executive Officer of ING Insurance Berhad, Dato’ Dr. Nirmala Menon said, “We are delighted to be partnering Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur in this initiative to raise funds for breast cancer patients.”

“This campaign is just one of our many ways to give back to society,” she added.

A collaborative effort was also formed with Philips, a world leader in health and well-being, which came on board as the gold sponsor for this campaign.

This campaign is also supported by AstraZeneca, one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, Diagnostika and Peraliph alongside Health and Beauty Magazine as the official magazine.

Additionally, Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur and its partners will host an exclusive high tea event on 31 October 2009 to fete the lucky 250 buyers of the scarves.

Along with the fundraising efforts, Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur will be hosting several others breast cancer awareness activities during the campaign period. The activities include “Eat for Your Healthy Lifestyle” cooking demonstration by award winning chef extraordinaire, Mohana Gill, a Beauty Makeover by Xixili Intima and multiple health and wellness workshops.

For a complete list of activities that will be organized by Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur for the Pink October month, visit www.gimc.com.my

Ranhill Utilities Internal Media Workshop 2009

Our team recently conducted an internal media relations workshop for 28 senior management staff of Ranhill Utilities Sdn Bhd and its subsidiary, SAJ Holdings Sdn Bhd (SAJ Holdings is the water concessionaire for the state of Johor), Ranhill Water Technologies, Ranhill Water Services and Ranhill Bersekutu Sdn Bhd.

And we are proud to say, it was a fantastic workshop!

We were honoured to have the CEO of SAJ Holdings, Encik Abdul Wahab, Mr Koh Boon Sian , the CEO of Ranhill Water Technologies and Mr Yap who is the CEO of Ranhill Bersekutu Sdn Bhd as participants for the workshop.

The main objective of this one day workshop was to expose the participants to the strategies of media relations. ‘What is News’, ‘Media Relations 101’, ‘Press Release Writing’, ‘Crisis Communications’ and ‘Press Conference Tools and Techniques’ were the main topics discussed during the workshop. The participants came from diverse backgrounds. Some of the participants included business development managers and the operations team. Therefore, the workshop had to be designed in such a way that it was relevant to all. Nevertheless, the participants had broad smiles as they walked out of the door after the nine hours of learning experience.

Some comments from the participants:

“Fantastic, very interactive and excellent workshop! I learned a lot as the things shared, especially on ‘What is News?’ was really informative and touched on things that I never knew about.” Mr Yap, CEO Ranhill Bersekutu Sdn Bhd.

“I would definitely recommend this workshop to others. The presentation style, joint exercise content and open discussions were one of the best!” Mr Hemant Thakore, Head Business Services Ranhill Bersekutu Sdn Bhd.

“The presentation style was one of the best. Definitely met my expectations as a platform to share real experiences and knowledge.” Rajehan Abdul Karim, SAJ Holdings Sdn Bhd.

“Excellent session. Very open and two-way. It is really great to have three speakers with different areas of expertise to share their expertise.” Name and title not specified.

“Good exposure for non public relations people to understand how things work in the media.” Name and title not specified.