POSTED BY Katie Hurley

The news is such a significant part of everyone’s lives. Its purpose is to inform the public, so that they can know about important events, and make informed decisions about their lives. Someone who regularly keeps up with the news will widen their outlook and enrich their knowledge.

Home to over 650 million people, South East Asia is one of the most densely populated regions globally. It’s known for its beautiful coastline, diverse culture and fantastic cuisine, but it is also an emerging economic powerhouse.

Research is essential to society as it provides answer to questions of what, when, how and why. Without it, we wouldn’t have answers to key social, environmental, and economic issues that we have faced in the past, currently, and in the future.

Language is essential to communications, but it seems that some people still underestimate the power it has. Choosing the right words and crafting compelling messaging is key to success in PR and communications efforts both at home and in international markets.

In today’s digital age, traditional marketing strategies alone are no longer sufficient to capture the attention of prospective students. As a result, business schools and universities around the world are embracing newer approaches to engage with their target audience and stand out in a competitive landscape, and they’ve discovered content marketing.

Here at BlueSky Education, our main goal is to not only get our clients a certain quantity of coverage, but to deliver quality coverage.

Press releases are a fantastic tool for PR professionals, they can get your brand’s messaging and your business school’s research in numerous publications – including top tier. But this only happens as long as they are crafted effectively.

When it comes to planning your next PR campaign, you need to consider all aspects of your approach. PR is more than just media relations, it often involves all aspects of external communications and, with the increase in digital platforms to share content on, it is important that your campaigns are managed strategically.

Public relations, or PR, is all about the way organisations communicate with the public, promote themselves, and how to build a positive reputation and public image.

Media outreach is a part of many institutions’ strategies, describing a range of activities designed to get the attention of media representatives who could be interested in your newsworthy stories and willing to share them with your target audience.

Photos are a really important part of every media opportunity. There are very few articles, press releases, or comment pieces that I have worked on that haven’t required a photo upon publication.

Video content has become ever so popular these days, and it’s no surprise! It is an easy to digest format, that often gives our eyes a break from the overwhelming amount of text we look at all day long.

The use of social media has grown rapidly over the last decade, and even more so in the last year alone. In a time where we were unable to interact face-to-face, technology and social media platforms have been key, not only for keeping in touch with family and friends, but also to help keep businesses afloat.

The pandemic has without a doubt made major changes to the higher education sector, changes that are likely to remain.

In today’s multiplatform online world, maintaining a consistent marketing message and strong brand presence is more important than ever. Over the last decade, the rise of social media and technology means that it is easier than ever to find information on an organisation, and the brand is highly visible to consumers throughout the word.

Many people only know what PR is from Mad Men or Sex and the City and, even then, it is a vague and often inaccurate understanding of what it really is. In fact, many people should look to better understand the real impact public relations can have for a brand or institution.

Continuing with the theme of long term changes to business education in episode five of season two, but from the perspective of adapting and embracing opportunities for change, the BlueSky Education Thinking Podcast sees International BizEd Guru Matt Symonds – as well as BlueSky Education’s Stephanie Mullins and Kerry Ruffle – talk to Dana Brown, Dean of the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University and Angus Laing, Dean of Lancaster University Management School.

For any PR professionals, one of the fundamental parts of the work is to measure the success of what we do. Just like anything else you pay for; you want to make sure that the service you are paying for is worth it. But in the PR industry, that is often easier said than done.

Not long-ago PR and SEO were two different methods of engaging the public or stakeholders, but things have changed. Now that the media landscape has become more digital and Google has placed more of a focus on the quality and relevance of your content, as well as the quality of the site – it is so important for institutions to use both PR and SEO to promote their content even further.

The COVID-19 pandemic sent shockwaves through the higher education community globally. It is no longer a short-term crisis for universities and business schools. Most were forced to shut and go online almost overnight, and many have struggled to develop a clear plan on how they can open their campuses again, with this crisis an institution must have a visible leader. It is more important than ever that Deans raise their profile within the media.

There are more elements to the PR function than many people first think. My colleagues and I have been talking about internal and external PR, explaining what it is why it is absolutely vital for many organisations.

It’s important to know about the different roles within public relations. A few weeks ago, a colleague of mine wrote a blog about what an internal PR role is, so following on from that I have decided to discuss and explain what an external PR role is and why it is an important part of any business, institute or organisation.

During my time working in education PR, I’ve learnt how to best overcome the challenges involved in getting coverage in the media. You’ll have a breadth of knowledge at your disposal, whether it is research papers, or an academic opinion, that deserves to be publicised in the media. However, some research or opinion will have an angle to them that journalists just immediately love, and will result in it being featured in multiple publications, including national and international press.

It was a throwback to the 1920s this year at the AMBA and BGA Excellence Awards and Gala Dinner. The event was hosted on February 7th at the Sheraton Grand Park Hotel in London with over 200 business school leaders from the business education sector, as well as category finalists, judges and members of the media.

As we enter a new decade, the political climate is arguably more turbulent than ever. The UK has officially left the European Union, which has left everyone in a “transition” period but not everyone really knows what it means, and in terms of education, it’s putting off some EU students from choosing the UK to study.

Technology is a massive topic, in the last decade it has moved from the fringes to mainstream media. This is because it has increasingly become integrated in businesses and industries so the media has had to adapt to the changing landscape. However, because tech is so popular in the media it can be very difficult to get coverage.

The media is constantly changing as a result of digitalisation. The internet has become the go-to news platform, meaning getting news is quicker and easier than ever. As a result, journalists are now busier than before, so as a PR professional it’s even harder to get a response. The relationship between journalists and PR professionals is key to being successful in PR, our job is to get results and the only way this works is if journalists cooperate with us.

Meeting deadlines is vital. It is not rocket science to see why this is such an important rule in PR.

The international business school market is becoming increasingly crowded. There are over 13,000 business schools in the world, and you have the tough task of convincing students and faculty that your school is the right one for them.

The media and its approach to news has changed, it’s not enough to churn out a press release and hope it will be picked up by established media such as The Financial Times, Times, Telegraph and Guardian.

Any PR and communications professional will agree that securing media interest and coverage for your faculty can been a time-consuming project. On many occasions, it can be tempting to just read the synopsis of the research they give you, draft a quick email and fire it off to a number of journalists. But this doesn’t always work.

‘Fake news’ is a phrase that has unfortunately grown in popularity over the last four years thanks to Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States.

It’s hard to remember a time when Donald Trump was not dominating the daily news cycle, all he has to do is tweet – although it’s often controversial – and it goes viral.

Every PR professional welcomes the opportunity for networking, getting face-to-face with relevant journalists, building relationships and understanding what they are looking for with regards to ideas and material.

When Poets and Quants first landed, many just thought that it was another business school website that covered campus news, rankings and admissions for MBA hopefuls.