Simon Wakeman - marketing, public relations and digital communications

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Searching for PR professionals in Australia

Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 11:59 pm

Hello - welcome to my website.

On my blog I write about marketing, public relations and digital communications. To keep up-to-date with my posts you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or sign-up to receive blog posts by email.

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Checking the front page of my website I see it’s been almost a month since I last posted. During that time there seem to have been so many times when I’ve thought “I must post about that” but then haven’t had the time to follow it through.

One of the projects that I’ve been working on is an interesting search for a media relations or PR professional in Australia on behalf of a client. They’ve asked me to see how social media could be used to identify a set of potential candidates for setting up their Australian business.

I’ve not tackled a project like this before, but it’s been really interesting seeing how social media and the networks it encourages can be used in a different way to the ways I usually use them. I’ve spent a lot of time trawling through profiles on professional networks like LinkedIn, MyRagan and Melcrum, as well as even dusting off my old username and password for Ecademy (I see I first registered there in 2003). I’ve also been searching using more mainstream social networks, but as I’d expected, the ratio of suitable to unsuitable candidates isn’t great compared to the specialist networks.

The next stage in my search is to look for suitable professionals in Australia who are engaged in social media beyond the specialist networks I mentioned. I’m thinking about bloggers, podcasters etc who are probably freelance or contract consultants and have the experience my client is looking for.

It struck me this evening that I’ve missed a trick so far though. I know I have a few Australian readers on this blog, so why didn’t I post here about the kind of person that my client is looking for too? The beauty of social networks is you never quite know who is connected to who.

So, here’s the lowdown: my client is an established UK business providing online media relations management tools, with a particular strength in the public and not-for-profit sectors. They are looking to establish a PR/sales/training operation to expand sales of their flagship tool in Australia, particularly targetting local government and not-for-profit organisations.

The person they’re looking to employ will be the lead in establishing this presence - learning how to use the tool, introducing it to leads and doing basic training/advice for potential clients. They’re a small, friendly business and believe their product sells itself once it’s used so definitely don’t want a “hard sell” sales person. They’re quite open to different types of people with different skills and experience, so the spec for their ideal employee is simple:

have some exposure to councils/not-for-profits in Australia, ideally in PR/media relations
technologically savvy enough to explain and show the online tool (it’s powerful, but not very complicated)
be a relationship builder not a pressure sales person

Do you know anyone who could fit the bill? Any names, leads or ideas would be gratefully received.

For the right person this could be a great opportunity to develop an Australian business almost from scratch. Plus they’re a great bunch of people to work with, and I’m not just saying that because they’re a client of mine.

Tags: australia, business+ventures, employment, jobs, media+relations

Comments on “Searching for PR professionals in Australia”

Ian Delaney
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Suggest you get in touch with Lee Hopkins - who writes a fab aussie PR blog at http://leehopkins.net/
Simon
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Hi Ian - thanks for that - he was already on my list as he is indeed a great Aussie blogger!
Lee Hopkins
Friday, March 14th, 2008 at 4:02 am
G’day gentlemen — thank you for your very flattering comments and recommendation!

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Simon Wakeman

I've been on the web since 2001 and have been blogging about marketing and public relations since January 2006.

I'm currently Head of Marketing at Medway Council as well as a freelance marketing and PR consultant.

The content and opinions expressed on this website are not endorsed by nor reflect the views of any company or organisation I work with.

…I was very impressed with the forward thinking and attention to detail Simon displayed…he thinks projects through carefully but quickly and has a good rapport with a wide range of people, from senior politicians and officers through to colleagues and his own staff. Malcolm Triggs, Go4 Marketing and Public Relations

Simon was always ultra-professional with an excellent knowledge of his field, and worked to ensure that his projects were delivered on time and on standard. His enthusiasm and pleasant personality make him a pleasure to work with. Jules Kirk, Egg

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