TGC in NYC

Megan McCourtAccount Supervisor, PPR Worldwide

Former Tehama Group Communications Editorial Director and General Manager, 2010-2011

It’s nearing that time of the year where graduating students frantically polish their resumes, spend hours online searching for that dream first job and, if others are like me, practice interviewing for hours in front of the bathroom mirror.

Wanting to move to New York, I reached out to two Tehama Group Communications alumnae to learn about their current experiences in public relations and the Big Apple.

 

After TGC

As an Account Supervisor at PPR Worldwide, Dell’s agency of record, McCourt supports a number of executives by managing their speaking opportunities, writing their contributed content and drafting most of their remarks, from social media to speeches. She also heads the global brand team, which embodies Dell’s efforts around entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility and diversity/inclusion.

One of the main components of her job is advocating on behalf of women entrepreneurs.

I’m helping to change government policy, raise awareness, get more capital into the hands of female entrepreneurs, and provide women with the networks and resources they need to be successful,” McCourt said.

One of her achievements is helping launch an open letter to the presidential candidates a week before the 2016 election. Since the letter launch, she is now working with the new administration and the Small Business Administration to see their ideas put into action.

New York: Rodents, rejection and beauty

McCourt is approaching her four-year anniversary of living in New York and her insight on the city is one that TV does not portray.

“I’m not going to sugar coat it: life in New York is not always easy, but it’s worth it,” McCourt said. “Unless you’re backed by the bank of mom and dad, you’re probably going to live in a tiny, shared apartment; have to deal with bugs and rodents; face numerous rejections (for jobs, dates, apartments); and deal with the weather (sweltering in the summer, freezing in the winter).”

Although that seems far from ideal, New York has much more to offer– a variety of entertainment, a diverse global culture and architecture one would only think about in their dreams. Not only that, but even those on a budget can enjoy big city luxuries on a small town budget.

“There’s always cheap eats and free activities, which is why so many people can skirt by on internships and low-paying gigs,” McCourt said.

Graduating? Start networking

McCourt’s advice to students looking to get their start in PR was simple– leverage your network.

“Almost every job I’ve had came through my extended network,” McCourt said.

McCourt recommends informational interviews for companies you want to work for, buying coffee for those you know who work in communications and not being afraid to ask someone you know to set you up with someone who can be beneficial for you.

Your network is the best tool you’ll have for the rest of your life– start growing it now!”

Stephanie BurkeSenior Account Executive, Highwire PR

Former Tehama Group Communications Account Executive and Social Media Assistant, 2012

Intern to full-time

Burke began her public relations career by accepting an internship at Highwire PR in San Francisco after graduation in 2013. After completion of her six-month internship she was hired on as an account associate.

“The transition from an intern to an account associate is one of the most exciting transitions you can make,” Burke recalls.

Burke explained that interns at Highwire are fully integrated into teams and have client-facing roles. Moving forward as an account associate offered more media, content and planning opportunities. One of the new roles and challenges Burke faced was mentoring interns.

It’s a great time to think about the mentorship you valued as an intern and pass it on to the next generation,” Burke said.

Promotions

Since her first promotion at Highwire in 2013, she has been promoted two other times. She moved to New York in 2014 and was promoted to account executive and in 2015 was promoted to senior account executive. Today her job roles include media relations, client management, different PR writing and general agency operations such as writing for the company blog.

“You can think of an SAE as the account management’s right hand, always there to help guide the team and execute on key initiatives for the client,” Burke said.

City by the Bay vs. City of Dreams

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates New York employs 21,740 people in the public relations field, whereas San Francisco employs 3,640 public relations specialists. However, Burke believes more media is flocking to San Francisco due to tech. Regardless of the new media scene in San Francisco, New Yorkers still have an advantage to those in San Francisco.

“The news breaks in EST. New York PR professionals have the advantage of seeing the news first versus our San Francisco friends who have to wake up a bit earlier to catch the first headline,” Burke said.


Get reading graduates!

A major aspect of public relations is media relations. Reading and watching the news can differentiate you from the crowd. Burkes advice to graduating students is to do such.

Clients want to know how to be on the cover of Forbes and what it takes to join the Good Morning America crew for a segment,” Burke said. “It’s important to understand what makes a good story for these outlets and who their audience is.”

Photos courtesy of Megan McCourt and Stephanie Burke

Written  by Benjamin Liwanag 

The power of networking

A selfie of Michael Beadle and myself, Tina Riccio, in front of Ubisoft SF Head Quarters.

For those of you who are still in your developing collegiate years or even those who have yet to start the job hunt, I cannot stress the importance of networking and making connections enough.

Here, at Chico State the J&PR students are fortunate to be taught by a roster of widely connected professors that diligently work to lead us to an abundance of post-collegiate career opportunities. It is because of this amazing support system of professors that Chico State’s J&PR program has such successful and interactive alumni.

As a young student, I remember rolling my eyes when a professor said to us, “Networking will be the key to your success.” I thought to myself, “Shouldn’t my skills be good enough to get me a job alone?”

Today, as a graduating senior, networking has been a major factor in my success. The greatest example of this is my PR Internship with Ubisoft, the largest grossing video game company in the world today.

One autumn day Michael Beadle, The PR Director of Ubisoft San Francisco and a Chico State J&PR alumni, gave a quick presentation on the types of PR campaigns Ubisoft often runs and I couldn’t have been more mesmerized. I spoke with him after class to ask him more questions and proceeded to connect with him on social media months after his presentation.

After a few tweets back and forth we ended up direct messaging to talk about PR fails and successes. Later, I felt bold enough to send Beadle my resume and that exact moment was when networking got my foot in the door.

Beadle is the Ubisoft Director of PR for the U.S., Canada and South America. It’s safe to say he’s a big deal and that it meant a lot that he forwarded my resume to HR. I couldn’t be more thankful to him for being so open to interacting with me and supporting me. After a rigorous interview process, I was honored to become a Ubisoft PR Intern during the summer months of 2016.

I learned things about PR I had never heard of before. For example, how to efficiently and effectively create coverage reports, media bios and how to teach other how to work with Cision and plan Ubisoft’s long-term analytics strategy.

I also had the chance to write a few press releases which received coverage from journalistic industry leaders IGN and Gamespot. Finally, I got the chance to help run the Pre-Gamescom event held at the Ubisoft SF HQ working the floor and interacting with game industry journalists.

Examples of coverage from industry leaders:

 

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The greatest takeaway from working in a corporate PR office was the extreme importance of always turning in polished work. In college, it is easy to get caught up in the craziness of balancing a million things and at times students turn in unperfected work for one class just to receive some credit instead of none. This is the greatest contrasting difference between the collegiate and business worlds.

When working in the business world you must always turn in completely polished work. If you are running late on a deadline, communicate that to your supervisor and always be sure to turn in your absolute greatest work. Because, to be frank, if you work is subpar so are you.

For my current internship with Tehama Group Communications, I am an Account Executive and I expect polished work from my team. Though TGC is a student-managed agency, our clients buy our work and time and thus they always deserve the highest quality of work possible.

So, if you are interested in joining TGC in the future, know that we hold our standards equally as high as Ubisoft and other corporate PR companies and agencies. Be prepared to run your work through edits and critiques multiple times. Our high quality of work and client relations is what makes TGC a prestigious organization that exponentially better prepares graduates for their post-collegiate careers.

Written  by Tina Riccio

How to avoid overdesign




An important skill for designers besides HOW to design is to know when to STOP designing. Everyone gets caught up in their project at hand wanting to have the perfect outcome and before you know it, your design can start to look like you will be the only person to understand its purpose. Learning not to over design takes practice and communication. The happy medium of design comes with experience throughout your design career. “Less is more” rings true throughout the design world and should be a phrase that hangs over every designer’s head. Trying to incorporate too many ideas or design elements can leave you with a cluttered design that has lost its initial function. It can be easy to overdesign without even knowing you’re doing it. There are many tips and tricks of the trade to help designers become aware of overdesigning before their concepts crash and burn. Here are a few to keep in mind:

5 TIPS TO AVOID OVERDESIGN

  •  Have a plan & don’t second-guess yourself

Know exactly how much time you have to get a project done. Having a clear plan of action can help the function of your design. It can be easy to second-guess yourself, especially if it is a new project or new client you are designing for. Remember to always go back to your proposal brief and review exactly what your client is asking for. If you come to the conclusion that YES! your design is achieving what the client wants, send it off and wait for feedback.

  • Enlist a second set of eyes

Take a step back and take a break. When you have been consistently staring at a project and tirelessly working, it is nice to have someone else take a look. They might spot something you missed or give you constructive feedback. You as a designer can also be your own second set of eyes if you pull yourself out of the design process for a period of time and return to your design with a fresh mind. You will probably find yourself eliminating aspects rather than adding more.

  •  Consider each elements purpose

After taking a step back from your design it can be helpful to take some time and consider each element’s purpose. Does that color palette represent the brand? Do those lines actually break up the content? It is important to consider the purpose of each element in your design since if you can not justify its purpose it may be necessary to hit that delete button.

  • Create more than one version

Options, options, options. Whether it is a logo, web graphic or poster, more than one option can ensure a good outcome. Having multiple versions is very important when it comes to client work! It is better to see what elements work and what better way to visually notice in two designs than cramming every idea into one design. Trust me, it will not look cohesive. Your vision will come across cleaner from two versions than one cluttered one.

  • Always keep your goal in mind Know your audience and the purpose of the design.

Written by Erin Riley

Do Creative Hashtags Earn More Engagement?


Imagine having the task of choosing your organization’s main hashtag to be used on all promotional materials. Sounds pretty easy, right?

An article by Sports Blog Nation ranked all of the NFL team’s new Twitter hashtags that are all-purpose, representations of each team. Twitter has deemed these the official team hashtags by adding an emoji of the appropriate team’s logo whenever their tag is used. Although the article ranks each in creativity, by using Social Mention, a media monitoring platform, we’ll really see if innovation in hashtag creation effects engagement and reach.

#RiseUp – Ranked one of the highest in SBNation’s article, the Atlanta Falcons hashtag has been the team’s slogan since 2010. It receives an immensely positive sentiment of 11:0, however only has a reach of 10 percent and strength of 7 percent. The team’s official Twitter account doesn’t consistently use the hashtag and focuses more on short term campaign hashtags. Since this is the team’s long-lasting slogan, it isn’t the most popular among social media, but is regularly used by loyal fans.

#FlyEaglesFly – Although there are outside influences that can cause these hashtags to fluctuate in popularity, the Philadelphia Eagles hashtag currently has a strength of 100 percent, meaning the team is definitely being talked about across social media. It’s sentiment is 16:1, greatly more positive than negative, and has a reach of 65 percent. It has a passion of 35 percent, meaning more people are likely to talk about it more than once. This hashtag is both creative yet identifiable as to which team is belongs to, which can make all the difference. Fans and non fans alike are likely to use the tag, giving it a much higher ranking when it comes to exposure.

#Chargers – These basic hashtags are categorized under mundane yet identifiable – boring, but straight to the point. Almost every NFL team has a hashtag like this, however, it stands as some teams’ official tag on Twitter. It’s easy-to-use when spreading news about teams instead of using their witty, fun and sometimes long slogan hashtags. The Los Angeles Chargers hashtag receives 100 percent strength, a 2:1 sentiment, 40 percent reach and 79 percent passion. This basically means that most uses of the tag are neutral and are somewhat equal when swaying positive or negative. The team’s recent relocation is definitely getting it some attention with its strong passion and strength, however even similar hashtags receive the same awareness. #Chiefs (Kansas City Chiefs) also has 100 percent strength and 124 percent reach, also likely due to the tags simple nature.

So, to answer the age-old question: Does Twitter hashtag-naming creativity effect engagement? Through this investigation, it doesn’t seem like it – the simpler, the better. Something that’s recognizable and short receives far more engagement than the slogan-like tags that seem to only be used by fans of those teams. Even if the hashtags sentiment sways closer to neutral, simpler tags greatly receive more exposure.

Alumni Spotlight: Sara Pimentel

 

Photo’s by Sara Pimentel.

With May approaching, many of our graduating staffers have begun job hunting and looking to alumni and recent graduates for guidance and direction on what is wanted in a public relations agency. We hear in classes or from internships the importance in making connections. Creating connections is valuable in any field of work but especially in public relations.

Networking is Key

Networking is a valuable skill because it opens opportunities with future clients, PR pros, news outlets and journalists. In TGC we create personal relations with our clients, but it can be easy to forget that the most important relationships we make are with our fellow interns. A great way to network is through the connections that we make with alumni in our agency. Our alumni provided our agency with guidance and growth and it is valuable to stay connected with their lives.

Sara Pimentel, alumna of TGC, graduated from California State University, Chico in Spring 2016. She served TGC for two semesters as an Account Executive and Editorial Director for eight different clients. Since graduation she moved to San Francisco and worked for two different PR companies. She interned for SHIFT Communications and was recently employed as an Assistant Account Executive at Finn Partners. She faced some difficulty transitioning from the small town of Chico to the Bay Area because she had to start from scratch, but was is also exciting for that same reason. She got to recreate herself and build new relations with those surrounding her.

Enjoy what you do

Sara emphasized that when choosing a job, it is important to keep in mind that you need to enjoy going to work every day. On her job search the core culture values she looked for was a company that was understanding, fun, supportive, spontaneous and open. These core values are what led to the beginning of her career at SHIFT Communications.

Sara was thankful for her experience interning with TGC and working on multiple accounts because it prepared her for an unusual experience interning with SHIFT. She worked on 7 to 9 different client accounts simultaneously.

“My team knew it was a lot,” Pimentel said. “But they trusted me, and I was able to do it.”

A company’s culture is everything

 

Moving away can be tough you are given a clean slate, starting a new job can be challenging. Sara said the most important lesson she learned from working at SHIFT is the value of being honest.

“If you have too much on your plate, tell someone,” she said. Pimentel chose SHIFT because of their supportive culture. Finding a supportive agency was valuable to her, she emphasizes how important it is to not be afraid to tell someone you are feeling overwhelmed, you are a team and they are there to help.

Change is good

She has just begun working for Finn Partners, and so far she loves it because it allows her to be more creative. Finn works with consumer technology clients, so she is familiar with the space and the products, but it’s still a new world.

San Francisco has become her home and she does not see herself moving away for a long time. She hopes to become even more confident in her abilities and eventually have people looking to her for advice.

Work with what you have

Her advice to graduating students is: “Know what you want, but be flexible. You have to go with the flow. Some things will happen just like you dreamed they would, but a lot won’t, and you have to make that work.”

Written by, Hope Lumbley.

Landing an Internship 101

Brace yourself internship deadlines are coming.

While most college students are preparing for finals and end-of-semester projects, journalism majors are busy updating their resumes and polishing their cover letters.

For the vast majority of students, November marks the last full month of classes. But for some, it means that application deadlines for landing a good internship for the upcoming spring semester is only a few weeks away.

For many aspiring journalist and public relations practitioners, internships are an essential part of getting a decent job right after graduation. In a career where experience and work samples often overshadow one’s GPA, landing a good internship can get very competitive.

There are a number of different ways that students can navigate their way through the challenges of securing an internship and separate themselves from their peers after graduation.

Here are a few tips that can help make the process of getting an internship a lot easier:

Make sure that you network

We’ve all heard the saying, “It’s not what you know, but who you know.”

This is something that is often overlooked by most intern-hopefuls when turning in their resumes. It is a valuable tool that you need to remember when applying for an internship.

It is up to you to put yourself out there.

Befriend and introduce yourself to as many professionals in the field as often as you can. Shake their hand, give them your name and if appropriate, get their phone number or their email address to stay in contact.

Alumni often come to visit their schools as guest speakers to talk about what it’s like working as professionals in their field. More often than not, they also come to try and recruit people to come work as interns in their organizations.

Being proactive is something that a lot of employers look for in applicants. Even if they aren’t looking for interns at that very moment, you can at least make it known that you are interested in working for them. When the time comes, you would have already gotten the opportunity to speak to them. Hopefully, you’ll be someone they’ll remember when going through resumes. This will give youan edge over your competition when the time comes.

Be active on social media

We are in the midst of the Digital Age. Having a presence on social media platforms or within the web in general, is something that you always need to keep in mind—especially when you’re thinking about a career in journalism and PR.

Make sure that you regularly engage in social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram. But keep in mind that future employers will look at your accounts, so make sure that you conduct yourself in a professional manner when posting content. If you need to, make a separate social media account that is strictly for professional use.

Suggestions:

  • Twitter is a great platform to network and engage with professionals from your field. Retweet them, post stories they write, engage with them in conversations about your profession.
  • Share work samples like feature stories, press releases and newsletters you’ve produced on Facebook and Twitter to show or create the impression that you have an audience and following.
  • In addition to Facebook and Twitter, make sure that you post your work samples on LinkedIn. Keep it updated as often as possible. You never know when employers look at your LinkedIn profile. It is also something that can be easily available to show to employers when they ask for a resume.
  • Learn how to create a website resume. User-friendly website generators are available online that allow people with no prior web design experience to create aesthetically pleasing and professional websites.

Sac Bee Office PhotoAt my desk at the Sacramento Bee, where I held a 10-week internship this summer as as sports writer.

Treat yourself as a brand

Think of it as you being the product and your future employers are the consumers. Why should they buy what you’re selling?

Dress in appropriate attire every time you have to meet with someone who you want to network with. Be conversational and friendly but not inappropriate when talking. You want to look friendly and approachable, but you don’t want to come off as unprofessional. During an internship, you will be in a workplace working side-by-side with your employers on a daily basis. You want to be seen as someone who is fun, or if nothing else, tolerable to work with in a confined space for at least 10-weeks.

Produce content that you are proud of. You will share work samples online that employers can see. Make sure that anything you create will impress them and make them want to hire you. Don’t share content online that could seem like it was created last minute. Always put forward your best work.

Keep in mind that every time you network or post something online, it is a representation of you. Take pride in yourself.

By Jose Olivar, Editor

We’re Back!

The Fall 2011 semester has officially begun! Stay tuned blog world we will have more updates for you soon!