My life is pretty hectic at the moment as I go into the final two months of my degree it feels pretty overwhelming. As if my degree alone wasn’t enough stress, myself and my friend Lily Harrison (@LilyHarrisonPR on Twitter) decided to start doing some freelance PR work to boost our portfolios and test our skills. On top of that, it’s that time where final year students start the job search! I wanted to write my blog post this week about my experience so far working on a current campaign for the launch of the new business book Jam Tomorrow.
Working on a freelance basis has been the main way I have gained experience whilst studying. Due to Covid, I have found it hard to get a traditional placement opportunity and so have been conscious of doing things which make myself stand out from the crowd. In second year, I started managing a charities social media channels. This gave me a chance to practice my creative skills creating posts, and also learn how to schedule content. This was a really valuable experience which I moved on from about a month ago as other opportunities came up which I wanted to dedicate my time to. At the moment, myself and Lily are working together to market a new book called Jam Tomorrow. If you, like me, are interested in the world of business but don’t really know where to start this book is your solution. The author, Wayne Palmer, uses anecdotes in order to share his experience of starting, growing and managing three companies. Please check out the book via this link, and let me know if you buy a copy!
This project requires a comprehensive campaign in order to increase knowledge, engagement and excitement about the book. In order to do this, Lily and I are running a campaign aimed around the idea of the book giving an insight into business reality. Check us out on Twitter, LinkedIn and TikTok under the name @JamTomorrowBook and Instagram @_JamTomorrowBook. Working freelance has given me the freedom to test my skills, as well as get a small insight into client relations and has forced me to become more professional. For the first time in our PR experience, we are also working on a physical campaign. This includes sending out some customised jam jars to a list of influential people in a way to capture attention and hopefully gain some earned media coverage. I really enjoy this side of PR and it has been really interesting thinking of the best way we can capture attention and I hope our jam jars do the trick!
Finally, this campaign is all coming together with a physical book launch event on the 24th March between 6pm and 8pm in the London Road Brew House, Southampton. Again, this physical event is really exciting to me as I really enjoyed the Spring Forward event, I organised a couple of months ago. I had more responsibility this time as I had to source the venue. At first this was daunting but once I had the venue secured, I felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. The event itself will consist of the author talking about his favourite parts of the book, a Q&A session and then a chance to network. We will also have a complimentary drink for each attendee and some jammy treats. If you are interested in coming let me know, but we will have an eventbrite link up soon so stay tuned on the social media channels.