An Internship to Remember – My Time With An Award-Winning PR Agency

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Edinburgh PR Intern Douglas Sinclair next to a wooden panneling

By Douglas Sinclair

WHILE my first two weeks with The Holyrood PR gave me a taster for PR, my last two weeks have provided a real insight into the world of public relations.

My third week started off with a bang, as our story about Scots soldier John Mackay and concentration camp survivor Eci’s 71st Valentine’s Day celebration captured the attention of press.

It was amazing to see a story I had been so heavily involved in being widely covered both in national media including Daily Express, The Metro, The Independent, The Times and the Telegraph – even going viral online!

The story’s success hammered home the importance of good photography as photos of the couple, both as a young couple and at the Balcarres Care Home, were featured in every piece of the coverage.

This matched my experience later in the week when I sent out a survey to journalists about photography and it was pointed out to me that the last newspaper printed without images was in the 1800s.

Indeed, the past two weeks I have interacted with journalists on an almost daily basis, whether it involved sending out press releases or calling newsdesks to pitch or follow up on stories. Although I was initially nervous about calling I stepped up to the plate and it felt great to see several of the releases I had written for the Sick Kids Friends Foundation, Dermal Clinic and Blackwood later featured either online or in print.

I would recommend any future interns to write down all the questions you want to ask as it makes it easier to convince yourself to pick up the phone when you know you are prepared.

My work also involved researching whether there were any other PR firms in Scotland (other than Holyrood PR) who were transparent about pricing. This required a thorough search of their website as well as checking each and every respective firm’s sitemap.

As someone with little knowledge of the industry this gave me a real education into how other PR agencies operate, the wide variation of services they offer and the sheer number of industries they cover.

I also learnt about how social media success across all the major platforms can be measured in reach, impressions, followers and interactions. I was even trusted to share Holyrood’s professional photography via a daily image on the Instagram account.

The best part of my social media ‘training’ involved sending Kenny a series of abuse Tweets in order to test the newest blocking powers introduced for verified users.

ADVICE TO UPCOMING INTERNS

My advice to future interns is that this is the real deal experience so get involved, ask hundreds of questions and if you grab every opportunity you can, like me, learn a huge amount about the PR industry, social media and your own abilities in four weeks.

This internship has helped me realise that a career in PR would allow me to do many of the things I enjoyed as part of my degree as well as continually challenging me on a daily basis, which sounds ideal. While I still may not be sure where my future career lies, if my experience with Holyrood is anything to go by, a career in PR is now firmly at the top.

If you are interested in the PR internship programme, get in touch with the friendly team by using this form below:

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