Furia Rubel was fortunate enough to have two fabulous marketing and public relations interns join us this summer. While it was clear that they both had a passion for the field and knew about the theories of marketing and public relations, our goal was to show them how to implement what they have learned about SEO, social media, public relations, strategic planning, content marketing, crisis communications, and a ton of other things while working at a busy marketing and public relations agency.
Before Kara went back to the University of Delaware and Luke was off to finish his master’s degree at High Point University, they shared with us their thoughts about their summer experience with Furia Rubel. We are pleased to share them with you in this week’s blog.
The Value of Experience
By Kara Humphreys
In one of my final weeks interning for Furia Rubel, I had a conversation with a colleague on marketing in a universal sense, and it reminded me of why I entered the communications field. As someone who takes satisfaction in methodology and witnessing that methodology prove effective, watching marketing procedures and concepts work was appealing. It wasn’t until I began my internship that I realized how rewarding it was to watch something you execute have a positive result, whether that be for your own firm, or for one of your clients. The very themes I spent my entire college experience studying and rehearsing came to fruition in one challenging but gratifying chapter of my career.
While not once during this internship did I feel uncomfortable with either my tasks or asking the best ways to execute them – I understood as well as anyone that this was a learning experience above all. And while it’s great to be able to bring something to the company, I was never afraid to ask questions – I was consistently challenging myself to step outside of my comfort zone. Even as someone who has thorough experience working as a part of a team, I previously had very little responsibility that resulted in a piece of work that I could be proud of.
That was certainly not the case at Furia Rubel, as within the first few days I was drafting social media posts that would later, after revision and guidance from the marketing team, appear on clients Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts. The adage of, practice what you preach, comes to mind and while I drafted summaries of Gina Rubel’s latest presentation on effectively using social media, I absorbed her advice I wish I had long ago.
Press releases brought a new experience for me. All millennials have used social media in some form. Press releases are something the average young adult only knows as a breaking news story written by faceless higher-ups covering the latest celebrity scandal. The thought of being asked to write something professional that would be seen by all who click is, to say the least, intimidating. However, I found it easy to fall into the process of drafting them, capturing the vital information and molding it into an informative brief that effectively covered what people needed to know. I’ve learned how essential it is to be able to quickly release statements in this format. When dealing with crisis, acknowledging the event and the press covering it can shut down speculation, and make or break the way an organization recovers.
There is a certain level of professionalism that every company aims for, regardless of personal branding decisions. It’s a standard that I’ve picked up on at Furia Rubel and found myself applying to every piece of work I do. The organization of anything that carries the brand you are trying to build is essential to the way the public perceives you and your company. This idea was driven home while I organized and tagged blog posts and compiled staff directories. Organization makes life easier for you and your clients, and it will reflect positively on your service and the work you do.
Not only did my daily tasks at Furia Rubel prove to be useful, which was rewarding in itself, but I also experienced the gratification of proving your worth as a firm to your clients. It was thrilling to hear that our work was valued such that we were given increased responsibility for day to day public relations. This resulted in both financial reward and a subsequent build in reputation. My main takeaway here was that success is driven by showing. Show that your hard work is effective, show that you can handle the responsibility, and it will reflect in your favor.
I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn from such a talented and experienced team of marketing and public relations professionals. I once felt unsure about my path in this field, and I questioned where my education would take me in my career. This internship has not only taught me so much about what I want to do as a marketer, but it has propelled me into a state of confidence as I move forward in my career. I would like to thank each and every member of the Furia Rubel team for this incredible experience.
If you want to provide your firm with valuable communications concepts and lessons like the ones listed above, or would like to revolutionize your marketing and public relations strategies, give Furia Rubel Communications a call.
Learning What They Don’t Teach You at School
By Luke Davis
As an intern at Furia Rubel Communications, I had the opportunity to grow as a professional and learn from the best, honing my skills in social media management, client communication, search engine optimization (SEO), blogging, research, press releases and article writing. My experience included reviewing multiple social media accounts for law firms, updating social media and online directories for a local IT company, drafting an announcement press release, blog and article relating to the legal industry.
The most important thing that I am able to take away from my experience was learning to properly communicate with clients. It’s the one thing that they don’t teach you at school, and it’s crucial to maintaining healthy relationships that establish trust and loyalty among customers and clients. At Furia Rubel, I was able to recognize that many clients and customers have different personalities, and it’s best to communicate in a way that suits their needs and articulates your point in a way that they can best understand.
I was also fortunate to acquire SEO experience from Furia Rubel’s integrated marketing and public relations experts, such as learning tips and best practices that include correct keyword and phrase placements on websites, and the importance of tag descriptions on social media.
Even as a graduate student, the public relations and integrated marketing classes at school do not delve too deeply into SEO, and only scratch the surface by defining the term and explaining why it’s useful, but not how to execute it successfully. To develop and practice SEO, I appreciated the opportunity I had to be assigned with various SEO-related tasks, such as drafting the home and about us website page copy for a local IT company, placing keywords in the copy of a blog, and determining the correct tags for social media and online directories.
It was interesting overseeing how a firm handles its various clients and all of the work that is involved within different steps of building client trust and retention. For example, Furia Rubel recently acquired a new law firm client, and I had the incredible opportunity to be involved and included in the team’s daily meetings that discuss what needs to be done with various clients and how they schedule and organize tasks.
Other great opportunities that I had included blogging, researching and building a media list. This was a great experience because I haven’t had much prior exposure to writing blogs. Since the blog post was about the effectiveness of podcasting, it gave me the chance to learn something I hadn’t known before. Having already been certified in Hootsuite, I enjoyed the prospect to become familiar with Co-Schedule, which is another popular social media tool used in the PR field to schedule posts when they are more likely to be viewed. Furthermore, creating a media list allowed me to learn how to efficiently gain access to media contacts and how to find them quickly.
Overall, I am thankful to have had the amazing opportunity at Furia Rubel, to learn and develop multiple skills from top notch experts within the integrated marketing and public relations industry that serves the legal industry. I was able to grow as a professional by receiving hands-on experience and viewing how the best in the business manage and communicate with clients, utilize SEO, write media professional copy, and manage social media.
