NUPRSSA Public Relations Club Evolves into Campus Public Relations Agency, Black & Red PR

Black & Red Public Relations will serve as Northeastern University’s central proxy for promotion and branding of student-run organizations

Boston, January 15, 2014–Northeastern University’s student club for public relations has disaffiliated with the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) and is launching themselves anew as Black & Red Public Relations (B&R PR).  B&R PR will continue weekly group meetings while taking on a new role as a publicity agent for fellow student organizations. 

The decision to form a bona fide agency arose from the observation that university groups could benefit from outside aid in boosting awareness for their events and activities.  B&R’s services will extend from event planning to image rebranding and penetration via the use of social media and campus contacts.  The agency will reach out to organizations to offer suggestions and the opportunity to personally work with B&R members; conversely, groups are encouraged to contact the agency of their own accord to discuss what moves can be made to advance their organization. 

B&R PR is open to rendering its services in whichever way is most convenient to their client.  The client may choose to attend the weekly agency meeting, during which the client and the B&R board with its members will work in tandem to map out a tailored strategy.  There is also the option of a personal consultation between respective executive boards and email correspondence. 

B&R PR stresses that all Northeastern clubs, organizations, societies, or Greek sororities and fraternities are welcome to get into touch for any matter concerning the promotion of their group. 

About Black & Red PR

Black & Red PR is a student-led public relations agency which all Northeastern University students looking to explore the world of PR are open to join.  Meetings take place every Wednesday at 7:15 at 340 Curry Student Center.

Agency email: blackandred.pr@gmail.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/blackandredpr

Website: b-rpublicrelations.com

Twitter: @B_RPR

GMR Marketing seeks On-Campus Ambassadors

Description: 

GMR Marketing, the nation’s largest event marketing company, is launching an event at the Northeastern University for a leading telecommunications provider. We are looking for a team Brand Ambassadors to network and create awareness for a 4-day event in the beginning of the semester.

Pay Rate: $14.00/hour

When: Ambassadors will be required to work up to two weeks prior to the start of the semester. 

Responsibilities:

• Serve as ambassador for the brand on your campus by creating brand interest and awareness

• Promote the event through flyer distribution, social media efforts and word of mouth

• Interact with other students and increase traffic to your event

• Use social media to attract students to event and increase brand awareness

• Provide insight pertaining to your campus such as; high-traffic areas for students, move in dates, campus trends, local events

 

If interested in this position, please email your resume to cziller@gmrmarketing.com, answer the questions below, and be considered today.  Don’t miss out on this opportunity!  

• Why do you want to be chosen to work for GMR Marketing?

• How does your involvement with organizations on- campus make you the best candidate?

• How are you influential with your social media, and your personal brand?

 

Making it Though the Co-op Process: Keep Those Contacts!

As we near the end of Courtney’s mini-blog series, she has one last tip for us to keep in mind during the co-op process:

6. Keep Those Contacts!

After you’re all done interviewing and you have a fabulous co-op to be excited about, don’t forget about the contacts that you made throughout the entire interview process.

Chances are, you interviewed for multiple positions and either turned offers down, weren’t offered every co-op you interviewed for, or didn’t hear back from a company soon enough. However, these different company representatives that you met with throughout the co-op search could become useful contacts for you at some point in the future, and you’ve all heard it before…networking is everything! 

A great idea is to take the pile of business cards that you collected throughout the process and type up the contact name, phone number, and email from each company onto a Word document so if you ever want to contact them in the future, you have a point of reference all in one place. Plus, then you don’t need to hang onto all of those business cards! You never know- you may want to try again for a co-op you didn’t get this time around. 

A note from Courtney:

I hope these tips have helped make the process of finding a co-op a whole lot less daunting and that you end up with an amazing co-op! My final piece of advice: stay involved with NUPRSSA- we’re all here to support each other and share our experiences.

– Courtney Byer, member

The NUPRSSA executive board would like to thank Courtney for sharing all of these extremely helpful tips with us this semester.  We know we all took a few notes from her; we hope that you did too!

Making it Through the Co-op Process: Positivity Goes a Long Way

Courtney’s back to share another tip on making it through the co-op process!

5. A Little Positivity Goes a Long Way

Since you only get 3 co-ops and you want to make each one count, it’s easy to become a stress-case in the search for the perfect co-op. Although being nervous about it shows that you care, it is crucial that you don’t let the co-op search get the best of you.

First of all, stay calm and know that the co-op process is more about timing than anything else. Unfortunately, not all companies call for interviews at the same time, and you may have to decide if you’re willing to turn down an offer in the hopes that you’ll get called for your top choice co-op. Yes, these choices are extremely stressful (trust me, I know!) but in the end, everything will work out and you just have to weigh your options. I think it’s best to have a few top co-op choices instead of just one, so if timing doesn’t work out or you have a rough interview, you can still be happy with the co-op that you end up choosing.

Keep in mind that not only is the company helping you by giving you a job but YOU are helping them by working for them. Be confident in what you have to offer them, even if you’re nervous, so that the interview goes well and you feel better overall. In our field, sometimes it’s your personality that gets you the job, not your qualifications! 

If the conversation during the interview is all personal, it’s up to you to show the employer that you’re serious about the job and get the conversation onto a professional level. A good interviewer can find any reason to talk about how their skills relate to the qualifications necessary for the job position. In the end, know that you will get a co-op, and timing will effect which one you end up with. You get to decide which co-ops you accept and don’t accept, so make sure that the decisions you make are what is best for you!

– Courtney Byer, member

Check back soon! Courtney has one more useful tip to share with us!

We would just like to thank our members and executive board for making this award happen!  We’re so proud and honored to be the recipients of this year’s Husky Innovation Award presented during last night’s Student Life Awards.

The Best Brands on Social Media

It’s very uncommon in today’s world to find a brand that isn’t on some sort of social media platform, whether that be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other website that helps a brand interact with its customers. It is, however, somewhat rare to find brands that do social media right.

Customers who engage with companies over social media spend 20% to 40% more money with them, so it’s essential for brands to have a killer social media strategy. A brand’s strategy should be customer-centered, conversational, unique, and influential. Here are a few brands that we think have awesome social media presences!

RedBull

Remember last fall when a man named Felix Baumgartner free fell from 23 miles above the surface of the Earth? If you do, then you’ve seen a great example of RedBull’s social media strategy. Since RedBull’s tagline is “gives you wings,” they stay true to that message by sponsoring many athletes in extreme sports. These videos of extreme athletes, like Felix’s, are constantly being liked and shared and talked about on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit, making them some of RedBull’s most popular posts. RedBull’s branded content creates something that people want to watch and share but at the same time something that fits with the core values of the company’s brand, and this is their key to success.

Zappos

Zappos.com’s social media strategy is all about putting their fans and customers first. They use engagement strategies such as the “Fan of the Week” contest, where fans send in photos with their Zappos boxes and everyone gets to vote on the best photo of the week. Their catchy saying is “Let’s be in a like-like relationship,” which shows that they value their customers and view their potential fans as equals.

Chipotle

Chipotle’s goal is to change the way people think about their food. They make it a point to source ingredients from local farms that exhibit positive behaviors toward animals and the environment and their social media presence remains loyal to this philosophy. Additionally, they respond to 83% of Facebook posts and 90% of their tweets are responding to customers. Most importantly, though, is that they don’t only answer positive comments, but they try to help when something is wrong, too. Chipotle truly values conversation and getting to know and create loyal customers.

– Christina Sirabella, member

Making it Through the Co-op Process: Interview? No Sweat!

Ready for another helpful tip from Courtney?  Here’s what she has to say on how to give an A+ interview:

4. Interview? No Sweat!

First of all, congratulate yourself on getting an interview! You now have the chance to prove why you are the best for this co-op position, even if it is only for fifteen or thirty minutes. When you get the call for your interview, make sure that you don’t schedule anything without looking at your calendar first. It’s amazing how many commitments come up that you would never remember without consulting your personal schedule! It’s also okay to let the call go to voicemail if you’re in an area that is not great for talking. In Boston, it’s hard to find a place that is quiet unless you are back in your room. Just make sure that your voicemail is professional and states your name and phone number so the employer knows they’ve contacted the right person…you! 

Another helpful tip is to create a company “cheat sheet” for the T-ride over to refresh your memory on the position right before the interview happens. Include important company info such as culture, CEO, etc. and key-qualifications for the co-op position such as necessary skills, why you fit the role, etc. You may have no trouble remembering this info on a normal day but when you’re nervous for an interview, having everything written out can be extremely helpful!

– Courtney Byer, member

Stay tuned for another tip from Courtney!

Making it Through the Co-op Process: Presentation is Key

Here’s Courtney’s third tip on making it through the co-op process:

3. Presentation is Key

It may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s crucial that you dress to impress at your interview. No, this doesn’t mean that you need to go out and splurge on an expensive new outfit, but it does mean that you need to dress professionally. Your potential employer will only see you for a fifteen to thirty minute period of time before making the decision whether to take you on as their co-op or to choose another candidate. Even putting in the extra time to do something special with your hair can help your employer remember you. My current co-op boss told me that she remembered how I curled my hair at my interview, which was an extra touch I put into getting ready for interviews! Always make sure you schedule your interview with enough time to put yourself together so you’re looking your best. How you present yourself shows your employer how you value yourself and therefore your work…so put in the extra effort.

You can also impress your interviewer with how you present your resume. Never underestimate the power of some high-quality interview paper. My co-op advisor recommended that I purchase some, and I never knew how much employers appreciated it until my interviewers commented on how nice that “extra touch” was. Also, if you’re submitting your resume electronically, make sure to convert it to a PDF before you send it because attaching it as a document could alter the margins, spacing, etc. Overall, if you put in the effort to make sure that everything you show your interviewer (including you) is looking its best, it can only help you!

– Courtney Byer, member

Come back later this week for another tip from Courtney!

Learning to Excel During Co-op

Finding a co-op after a long and nerve-wracking journey can be a huge relief. You now have 6 months to prove to your boss that you can take direction and go above and beyond. If you want to excel on your co-op, read these simple tricks of the trade:

1. Learn how to prioritize and multi-task: Your bosses and co-workers will ask you to do a million different things at once, and each task will have different deadlines and levels of importance. Write down everything you are asked to do, and then prioritize those tasks so that nothing slips past you.

2. Make the first few days count: Not only will you be meeting everyone at work but you will receive directions on how to complete your job responsibilities…talk about information overload! Make sure to take notes throughout the whole process so you have something to reference while you’re still learning, and go into your first few days expecting it to be crazy. Being realistic with yourself will make your co-op seem less overwhelming from the very start.

3. Track your responsibilities: 6 months may seem like a short amount of time until you’re trying to think back on what you did during your first month at co-op! Make it a point to write down your different responsibilities and projects that you complete so that you can see how your responsibilities evolved and hopefully grew throughout your co-op. Then, when your next round of co-op interviews come around, you can easily pull from your experiences.

4. Don’t be afraid to talk to the “higher-ups”: The people who have been with your company the longest are the ones with the exciting experiences and words of wisdom. Don’t let their title intimidate you- they will be flattered that you are interested in hearing about them.

5. Ask how you’re doing: It’s important to know how you’re performing at your job so if you’re not hearing any feedback or constructive criticism, ask!

6. Have confidence: It can be easy to constantly worry if you’re doing a good enough job or living up to other co-op students’ performance levels. At the end of the day, as long as you’re doing your best work with a positive attitude, your co-workers will love having you around the office for your personality AND your work ethic.

– Courtney Byer, member