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Making Hotdogs
Making Hotdogs
Making Hotdogs
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Making Hotdogs

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Making Hotdogs is not your normal (read: average) business book. It is the hard work of a woman who, as a young girl, was voted 'most likely not to succeed'. But did it anyway because she was anything but average.2021 marked my 30th year in Public Relations, and the 18th birthday of GinjaNinja. Despite the many trials I have experienced, both personal and professional, my business is still thriving. And to think I was only 19 years old when it all began. Most people understand Public Relations as communication management, brand development and initiating conversations around a product or service that is supposed to improve our lives in some way. But what most Public Relations consultants won't really tell you is that it's about people. How we connect. How we relate to one another. And how we use visuals to establish common ground. It would have been too easy to write a traditional 'how-to' guide for Public Relations as a job, but there's nothing traditional about my story or my career and certainly not about what it's really like to be in this industry. As much as it is a guide, it is also an intimate look at my life, and what it's taken to get here. It hasn't been all sunshine and roses but it has certainly been worth it. No matter how wild the stories may be, I have put together my most coveted tips for succeeding in PR. And maybe a few bloopers too. Because when life tests you, sometimes we have to learn to just make hotdogs and enjoy the sunshine.  

LanguageEnglish
PublisherSamantha Hogg
Release dateJan 19, 2022
ISBN9798201418076
Making Hotdogs
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    Book preview

    Making Hotdogs - Samantha Hogg

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    MAKING HOTDOGS

    SAMANTHA HOGG

    Copyright © 2022 by Samantha Hogg

    All rights reserved.

    No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

    To five-year-old me:

    Don’t give up, you have the dreamers disease!

    CONTENTS

    Foreword

    1. The early years

    GinjaNinja blog:

    2. PR in the ’90s

    GinjaNinja blog:

    3. You can park, just don’t camp

    GinjaNinja blog:

    4. The road to technology PR

    GinjaNinja blog:

    5. Expect the unexpected!

    GinjaNinja blog:

    6. Sex and the City

    GinjaNinja blog:

    7. Boobs, briefs and the nuts and bolts of PR

    GinjaNinja blog:

    8. Searching for needles in haystacks

    GinjaNinja blog:

    9. The role of strategy, the need for crisis communications and media policies

    GinjaNinja blog:

    10. Nothing is for mahala

    GinjaNinja blog:

    11. Judging a book by its cover

    GinjaNinja blog:

    12. The bitching art of pitching

    GinjaNinja blog:

    13. Doing the time warp

    GinjaNinja blog:

    14. The value of PR and how the f$@! to measure it

    GinjaNinja case study: Ukheshe Technologies

    15. People management

    GinjaNinja blog:

    16. Where is PR today?

    GinjaNinja blog

    17. Where to next?

    GinjaNinja blog:

    Perspectives of Sam

    FOREWORD

    OMG, I have been working in public relations (PR) for thirty years. It is a significant milestone, for sure, but what is even better is that I am still at it, and I am nowhere near finished. This book is a trip down memory lane about PR, entrepreneurship, single parenthood and overcoming life’s challenges and stumbling blocks, while finding time to laugh, love and learn to believe in yourself.


    I launched my career in 1990 as a PR assistant at an engineering company, full of optimism and hopeful about a bright career. I later ventured into technology, where I stayed. There have been so many incredible experiences over the years - working with Microsoft, launching south Africa’s first-ever software amnesty campaign with the Business Software Alliance, launching Cell C, and managing British Telecom. I have watched the evolution of so many markets because of technology and played a crucial role in many marketing and communications teams, loving every minute of it. I have known many media members for almost my entire career, and I am immensely proud of the reputation I have created working with these expert writers.


    GinjaNinjaPR was born in 2003 on a wing and a prayer and today we are considered one of the best boutique PR agencies in the technology space. We’ve helped build the brand for Africa’s largest data centre, created awareness for an incredible South African-born payment platform, and written content for many of the technology sector’s leading players. We’ve had the privilege to work with, and help, many incredible startups. We are already over 18 years old, and I sometimes still feel like we have so much to accomplish, and I can’t wait to get to it.


    I hope that this book helps create more awareness of PR as a strategic and vital tool in all businesses. That it encourages young women and men to consider this as a career path, and it makes my daughters immensely proud. It is also part memoir giving context to my journey not only in PR but in life.


    Finally, I hope it helps even one person who thought they couldn’t succeed take that first step. After all these years, I still love what I do, and I am passionate about helping people better understand what PR is and why it can make for an excellent career choice. It is often hard for people to understand what I do - even after knowing me for years, people still don’t get it. It is for this reason too that I have written this book as a sneak peek into the world of PR, the good and the bad, and even the funny. Being a people-business, the stories are sometimes good for a giggle, while others will evoke a different emotion. It is true that PR is best suited to outgoing people, however, given the variety of tasks in a PR business, there is also a role for the quiet, methodical worker who loves systems and dealing with data. There are often no two days that are the same, bringing variety and challenges all the time. PR has so many aspects to it, making it a great team-building career. It will teach you to write better, speak more eloquently, get creative and push the boundaries of communication.


    This is simply my point of view and an account with a sometimes-dodgy memory of times gone by over three decades.

    ONE

    THE EARLY YEARS

    Ican’t say that I chose a career in public relations; I think it chose me. At the age of 19, I found myself sitting in front of a British-born engineer, lobbying for the job of PR assistant in a JSE-listed company – with no experience to back me. I can’t even remember what the interview involved, but I know how it ended. He asked me if I had any further questions, and my reply was to ask him if I could have the job. That instinctive answer made an impression, and I was given the job.

    I’m still known for my direct and honest approach today; I believe that if you don’t ask for something, you won’t get it. You have nothing to lose by being vulnerable and showing how much you want something. It shows passion, determination, and grit - all excellent traits for an employee to possess. Although I completed a short marketing diploma, I am mostly a self-taught PR consultant. While it is possible to succeed without much academia behind you, I wouldn’t suggest it today because so many employers want a degree as a basic entry requirement. In my business, I don’t really pay much attention to degrees, but many businesses do require it.

    In the late ’80s, I was one of four children, and not entirely sure where I fitted into the world. Our age gaps were big and bizarre, splitting the family into two sets of children raised in diverse eras. I always felt different from my siblings, even my younger sister. I was never able to put my finger on what it was that made me feel this way. From a young age, I developed an uncanny ability to manage situations, people and, later, my life. There was fire in me; I just wasn’t entirely sure what was going to truly ignite it. In the end, it would take years and much turmoil and tragedy for me to finally understand how bright and powerful my inner flame could be and how much one small person can endure - and swear!

    I was an average student, much more interested in sports than academics. I think this is because I felt more confident in my body’s abilities than what I was able to achieve with my brain. The schooling system did not suit someone like me, it left me feeling like I wasn’t intelligent enough to achieve anything of significance. The fact that I was in a very big local government school, which followed an antiquated system, never dawned on me. Plus, I had to wear orange - and back then it was not the new black for a ginger, let me assure you.

    Not only did I have energy for days, but I also suspect that I suffered from an attention-deficit disorder of sorts. My brain never stopped working and it’s still like that today. I have since learnt that many entrepreneurs think and behave this way, ironically a sign of an above-average intellect. The fact is that I like having several things swirling around at one time; anything less leaves me bored silly. My results were average and even though I really excelled at business studies, nothing really stood out as my strength. I can almost put money on the fact that the school would have predicted I would achieve average status in life, with a mediocre office job. Although, that said, my typing was dismal. I took it as a subject - I mean, what the fuck? They draped a cloth over your hands so you could not see the letters while typing, and then measured your speed and accuracy. Let’s say my legs were far more powerful than my fingers. It is no surprise that my grade 12 (last year of formal school) results were mediocre, leaving me to think that I was indeed intellectually challenged with slow, fat fingers.

    Not knowing what I was going to do once I finished school, I drifted towards the end of my final school year while working part-time, which I had done from the age of 15. I may not have achieved academically, but I found ways to make money and become self-sufficient from a very young age. Looking back, I never recognised the value of this. I was already showing signs of being an entrepreneur and it would later ignite my fire - not the baby-faced boy in Grade 12 with the motorbike.

    My first hustle was babysitting, now known as au pairing. For a year or so I took care of two young children whose parents owned a small chain of clothing boutiques. We did all things creative, went to movies and played at their home. When December came around, I took the initiative to help organise and decorate the staff Christmas party. I didn’t realise that at the tender age of 15, I was managing a lot more than most kids my age. I must add that the husband was a real peach even though everyone feared him. Everyone, that is, except me. I made it my daily mission to annoy him with defiant looks, but because I was an asset and good at what I did, he never had the guts to fire me.

    At sixteen, I graduated to working in the boutique, where I thrived on the weekends and during school holidays, still defying the ultimate man-boss. It gave me my first taste of financial freedom and I knew then, although sub-consciously, that I needed and wanted this for my life. I was already good with people back then, whether working with them or serving them in the shop, which attracted all types. I continued until I finished school, by which time I had discovered aerobics.

    This fad was to become my next career move. Aerobics was the start of what is now known as Zumba, only way more hectic. I was a machine with a whistle and fit as ever. I realised that I could make more money in one hour than in five working at the boutique. So, off I went to start teaching at a variety of gyms where my classes were, oddly enough, predominantly male. I was able to fund my college transportation and the required exercise gear in the process.

    College for me was a mere one-year business diploma in 1989, focused on fashion marketing and communications. It came about when my brother, a professional news photographer, boarded the first-ever in-flight fashion show and brought home a brochure from a business college offering this unique course. Knowing I was at a loss in terms of what to do, he suggested I enroll, and as someone who took advice and listened to reason, I agreed. The course was a great experience because it was so different from school and seemingly played to my strengths immensely. It was here that I was introduced to marketing, accounting, consumer behaviour, merchandising and distribution, communications, and all sorts of fascinating topics.

    I embraced college life and, suddenly, the world seemed way more interesting and relevant to me. I was fascinated by consumer buying behaviour and thoroughly enjoyed accounting. The latter really surprised me because I was convinced, I had dyscalculia. I persevered, knowing my mother had borrowed R3 000 from my aunt for the course, and ended up doing well. It was a great motivator and the first glimpse of a Samantha that was indeed not stupid but had potential. I even entered the college beauty pageant and came third, which blew my mind - back then, people were not as kind to gingers as they are today. I wore my aunt’s dress and earrings that day and had massive, magnificent ’80s hair. Looking back, I wonder where the style police were during those times!

    Money never flowed in our home of four children and a hard-working blue-collar dad. My mom did office work to make ends meet, despite being a super intelligent woman who could have gone very far in a career. Me being financially independent helped them, and more so, me. I did a parallel course at the Institute of Marketing Management, which I also excelled at. I finished second in my course and became a little more confident in my abilities. My aerobic classes were full, people loved my energy and unique way of motivating them. I screamed at people, loudly but in a nice way - or at least I thought it was nice. Apparently, I had scary eyes and blew my whistle very loudly too! That era of exercise, doing aerobics for nine hours straight in G-string leotard and flesh tights, was

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