PRacticing PR

I know I’ve talked about the importance of having a reputable web presence from an individual professional perspective, but I’ve yet to talk about how important it is for a business/company/organization to have a good web presence!

I recently got engaged (YAY! See how I’ve learned to slip that into every conversation I have? Tehe, I’m excited), and my fiance’ and I have been searching for wedding venues, catering, photographers, etc. Of course, we start with the magical Google, as do most people. I cannot tell you how many vendors we’ve rule out just based on their web presence alone.

Your business must reflect its own image absolutely everywhere, including (and especially) the website. Here is my advice on having a quality site overall:

Short answer: yesterday.

I too am in my senior year, and I can tell you right now, the job application process is a tedious one. Some applications take hours just to fill out- not counting the time it takes for multiple phone interviews and in-person interviews. 

I started looking for open positions in December, and I am still applying for jobs almost weekly. Even though I can’t officially start until graduation in May, most companies have respected my enthusiasm and that I am trying to get ahead. If you’re truly qualified for the job, they’ll wait until May. They know it’s right around the corner.

More and more jobs will open up as we near graduation date, so keep your eyes open at all times. I recommend using Indeed.com and setting up alerts for jobs in your field/area. 

Check out some similar advice I gave a while back.

A few weeks ago, you might remember me posting about an upcoming job interview. I promised to share the outcome and some advice, so here you go:

1) From the moment I walked in, I didn’t necessarily feel comfortable. I didn’t feel like I felt in or like the work environment was best suited for me. That was awkward.

2) My interviewer asked me very generic interview questions, and thankfully I was pretty prepared for them (I recommend practicing answers to these kinds of questions as well as practicing making your answers sound natural and not contrived). That was a plus. 

3) The job described in the interview did not match the job description on my application. That was a problem.

4) The interviewer seemed displeased with the fact that I couldn’t begin work until after graduation. That was unfortunate.

I have been applying for every PR job I can get my hands on for the last several weeks. With graduation growing nearer, I want to make sure I have options on the table. I sent my first application out, eager and feeling like I had a great shot. When I didn’t even land an interview (the company even sent me a generic email saying “We are not considering your application at this time. Due to the large influx of applicants, we cannot provide you with individual feedback”), I was crushed. Ouch.

First lesson in humility: don’t let the “no’s” get you down! 

I started to consider the reasons I didn’t get the interview. I had new sets of eyes read over my resume and offer feedback. I updated my profiles and web presence. I was sure that the next position I would apply for would be “the one.” 

Nope.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned through my internship this year, it’s that the media can make or break ANY situation. We all know the media spins stories or picks and chooses what they want to feature (gun control and immigration, local crime, global warming, pop culture). The media obviously has a huge influence on how the public perceives information.

As a PR professional, you must be able to work with journalists, reporters, photographers, videographers and news anchors to produce quality, accurate stories. It is your job to know your story inside and out, the good, the bad and everything in between. It is your job to think of questions before they arise and be able to address the media quickly and effectively.

My Advice:

1) Always have a great press release. Sometimes, especially in bigger cities, you won’t have the chance to talk personally with the media. Your press release may be the main source for a journalist covering your story, so you need to make sure you’ve got the most important information in writing (and the best contact information). You don’t want to fill a press release with so much fluff and extra information (a journalist will likely just skim it and move on; they are busy too and have other stories to cover); you simply want to make sure the points you include are the most important to the story. In other words...#2:

Congratulations on earning your degree! 

Personally, I use every resource I can for looking at job postings. I use http://www.indeed.com/ to find jobs by location and market. I search for companies I might be interested in (Coca-Cola, for example), and then I find their “Careers” tab (some companies call it other things, you’ll just have to dig) to see if anything is open. Not every company posts on job search engines, so you often have to to the source itself. Don’t rule anything out, either! Look at hotel websites, packaging companies, brands you don’t typically think of (Kleenex, Sharpie, etc.). You just never know what companies might be hiring, and every single business needs PR.

My advice to you would be to perfect your resume. Send it out to several people you trust and who know the field, and use their feedback and your research to build the best resume you can. 

If you need more things to bulk up your resume, I recommend doing some online certifications (just google “PR Certifications”), free-lance work and blogging. 

Start networking now. Call up peers you graduated with (or who graduated before you and are now working somewhere). Connect with your professors on LinkedIn. Sift through any business cards you may have collected at school or conferences. Let people know you’re on the market! You never know who may be able to give you a connection!

Truly just apply for everything you can get your hands on and do anything you can to bolster your resume and make you stand out. You’ll want to show that you’re a well-rounded PR professional.

Although I love running this blog and sharing my experiences, I must say that taking the time to construct a decent article in the midst of senior year has proven to be much more difficult that I imagined. 

My advice: 

If you opt to run a blog or do freelance work, it HAS to be in your top priorities! Otherwise, don’t bank on being wildly successful. ;)

I saw a great tweet from The Plank Center this morning. “10 Tips for PR Success” offers some quick, great advice. I just had to share!

Evaluate [ih-val-yoo-eyt], verb:  to judge or determine the significance, worth, or quality of; assess (Dictionary)

It’s easy to save the evaluation step for the end of a campaign/project. By that point, you have the end results. Right?

While it’s important to evaluate at the end (of course), it’s just as important to evaluate throughout the entire process. Literally from beginning to end. Follow this advice, and I promise it will save you some time and headache at the end of a campaign, and it will likely lend you to a better campaign overall.

My advice:

1) Evaluate your research methods. If you’re looking to improve an image, for example, you’ll need to find the perceptions of a group of people. If you start with a survey, evaluate after a few results. Is this information useful? Will this lend you to a better campaign? Should you try another method instead? Perhaps a focus group would be better. Consider this step early on so that you don’t waste precious time on research that isn’t helpful.

2) Evaluate your organization. Is chronological order the best for you? Perhaps you need to alphabetize. Perhaps you need to re-order everything in order of importance to the client- to you- to your boss. Reorganizing an entire campaign at the end of a project is tedious (especially if you’re looking to include a table of contents or page numbers!). Take a moment to evaluate after every few components. Ask yourself, “Is this the most effective way to communicate my ideas?” 

3) Evaluate your goals- constantly. This advice may be the most important of the entire section. Keep your overall goal handy for reference at all times. After EVERY step, ask yourself, “Does this step put me closer to reaching my campaign goal?” If you can’t tie it in directly with your goal, it is likely irrelevant for this project. Don’t waste time, resources and energy on components that don’t deal with your campaign. Evaluating your steps in relation to your goal is the best way to develop a focused, coherent campaign in the end.

Obviously, evaluate the entire campaign at the end. Read my PMD post for advice on how to do that!

In the world of PR, we have to keep up with the times. Just as you think you’ve mastered Twitter, a new social media platform will come along, and you’ll be expected to master it. You’ll change your daily operations monthly. Each day will be something new. Isn’t that exciting?

Change goes for your brand as well. As a senior in college, I’m looking to apply to jobs and internships every single day. I’ve mentioned before how important it is to get advice from a variety of people, and I mean it. Every single day I talk to someone new about what I should do next. I am at the perfect point in my life to do so. There is always someone around with far more knowledge than I have in the field, and I’m taking full advantage of that. 

BUT-- it does me no good to listen to what they have to say and do nothing with that information.

Yesterday, for example, I chatted with one of my bosses at my internship about my resume. Currently (and as of currently, I mean this week. The design, look & feel, even the wording of my resume changes constantly- each time I get new advice), my resume reflects my website and overall brand. Coral, circles, youthful but professional. My boss is working on her Ph.D., and she has plenty of experience as a director, so I obviously trust her opinion. She suggested I go more corporate and traditional if I want to be taken seriously as a professional right out of college.

So guess what I’m doing today:

Re-evaluating my resume. I’ll go back in and see what elements seem juvenile, and I’ll get rid of them. I want to constantly evolve to a better brand- not stay stagnant or pretend I know better than someone who is in a hiring position.

I logged in this morning to see that I now have 700 followers on this blog! I am so thrilled to be able to share my experiences and advice with so many readers. What an honor!

Here is my advice for today:

Be thankful! Be grateful for every opportunity within your reach. If you’re reading this now, you have more luxury than some. You’re on a computer or a mobile device, which means you have the world at your fingertips. A world of opportunity. Take advantage of that in your PR career (and in life in general). Go google internships or other PR blogs or campaign ideas. 

Write a hand-written “thank you” card to someone today. Call a client and tell them how appreciative you are. Tell your boss how thankful you are for this internship, this job, this promotion. The attitude is contagious, and it will help you get far in the world of client relations.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to roam campus with our cameraman and ask students what they thought the world would be like in 2045 (it was “Back to the Future” day, for those of you who didn’t know). 

The video concept sounded fun, but I’ll admit the interviewing was hard work! Finding people who actually wanted to participate (be on camera, answer questions and potentially do re-takes) was difficult. 

Once we finally found people who were willing to participate, we had to determine whether or not they worked for the video concept. Could they project well? Was their answer appropriate for the vision? Could they easily be understood by the general public?

What sounded like a quick break from the office turned into two hours of interviews. The video came together, and it was a great piece in the end! Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxbeJ826BfE&feature=youtu.be

Additionally, I had to complete an interview assignment for my multimedia journalism class yesterday. I had to write a news story and interview people around campus for their opinions on the piece. Again, I found myself struggling to find willing participants, but I finally landed on some with great opinions. I started to write my piece before interviewing them which was a mistake. The interviews will guide the story. Brainstorm your questions and topic, conduct interviews, then compose a piece based on the interview <<--- Solid advice, I promise. 

My Advice:

(when conducting camera interviews):

1) Keep shooting. If the subject answers the question, give them five more seconds. This gives you time to edit out a fade, but it also gives them a moment to keep thinking. I found that people gave their best answers after they blurted out their first thought. 

2) Know your topic. Be familiar with what you’re covering. You should be able to answer questions or ask follow up questions based on the topic you’re covering. 

3) Be approachable. Many people will mimic your attitude/tone during an interview. If you’re excited and inquisitive, they’ll be more likely to give you a solid interview.

I’m considering my MPA (public administration) so that I have a management, administrative skill-set to add with PR, but I haven’t entirely decided yet. I’m going to meet with my advisor soon to discuss some options.   

If your mindset is anything like mine (and trust me, most PR people are planners), you know the importance of a good plan. You set goals and aim to fulfill them- to check them off your list. You might have a hard time accepting a detour in that plan.

As I approach graduation in roughly six months, I’ve begun to really consider my options. Do I want to be at the University? How can I go corporate if I don’t care much for cities? 

My plan in recent months has been to work for my University full-time while working towards my Master’s in the evening. The plan seems solid. 

But I don’t want to rule out any options. I’ve been talking with co-workers, bosses, other employees around town- seeking advice from everyone I can speak to. What I’ve learned is that my plan may just be a starting point.

A construction firm spoke with my class during my sophomore media class. I didn’t understand why a business built around building and architecture would speak to a bunch of communication students, but I kept her business card anyway. 

Gulfstream Engineering is visiting my campus this week to conduct interviews. I know nothing of airplanes, and frankly am probably clueless about most of what they entail, but I signed up for an interview time anyway.

My advice:

SIGN UP FOR IT ALL!

You never know what an opportunity might hold. Public Relations is so flexible, and every single business needs someone holding up that end of the marketing deal to be successful. 

My mentor/friend visited this weekend and shared that she too is venturing out. She is currently working for a media group (which she enjoys), but she wants to venture out from internal affairs. She has applied for everything from State Farm to real estate positions, and I trust that she will find her niche so long as she doesn’t shut any doors. 

Or at least know someone who knows graphic design.

I’m a very creative person, but when it comes to designing graphics of any sort, I’m inept. I know when something looks wrong, but I’m not sure how to fix it myself. I’m looking to take some classes soon, but for now I’ll give my best tips.

My Advice:

HAVE THIS SKILL! You either need it, or you need to be willing to pay for good graphics. It’s essential to any campaign.

My friend and co-worker Gianna is a graphic design student, and she has been gracious enough to help me with my personal graphics for my website and business cards. I’ve discussed so many times how important having a brand is, and usually brands come with logos. Check out this amazing design! She incorporated the heart from my signature and the “@” symbol I use in PR and social media every day! 

I could never have thought of this myself, and that’s why it’s so important to have Gianna. Of course, it’s much simpler to know how to do it yourself, but we aren’t all gifted in every field, ha!