5 Steps to PR Professional: What University might have forgotten to tell you…

When undertaking study or degrees in Communication, Media, Marketing or PR, most often the avid communicator will delve straight into theories of message framing and explore social media whilst keeping up to date with fifty blogs and checking their HootSuite on the laptop with the other eye on the evening news to keep up-to-date, making a mental note to update your LinkedIn….

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH and then your brain collapses. You question your ability to do this. It’s not as much like the champagne-swilling Edina Monsoon on ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ or the perpetual partying Samantha Jones of ‘Sex and the City’ fame. It’s hard work, and a lot to remember. Multitasking is crucial to success (maybe that’s why it’s such a women-driven industry). You wonder how much of this is actually going to help you in the long run. You’re never going to mention Grunig to your CEO, and the likelihood your PRIA membership alone will get you out of any ethical slips is small. You might feel like all of this reading and researching is going to kill you before you get into the workforce. Not necessarily.

The fact remains that at this moment, you do not need a degree to be in PR. Don’t get me wrong it is a darn good idea to get a degree because competition is fierce. So work hard for that piece of paper. But the following 5 steps I have used to help you beginners and anxious wannabes get to where you’re going!

STEP ONE is learn how to be proactive. When you see an event that you are able to attend, attend it. If you know of a free professional development session, put off coffee with the girls and get in there (free PD is invaluable). If you know a party, opening, workshop, seminar that people important for you to know will be going to is coming up, try to be there. Be as strategic with yourself as you are with the way you communicate. You would be surprised by how many opportunities will open up to you, and be repeatedly given to you, if you are able to show some enthusiasm, be willing to do the odd lackey job and go chasing the opportunities. You can let them come to you, but remember they’ve got plenty more options than you do to fulfil their need.

STEP TWO IS GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER. There is a reason why presentation, propriety and practicality all start with PR. Depending on what industry you’re in, which you should be researching, the dress code is usually pretty slick and remember that you are trying to prove to clients, the public and supporters that you, above anyone else should be trusted to represent organisations and their interests. You don’t have to change who you are, but perhaps it is worth second and third thoughts as to how you present yourself to the outside world. Having an air of confidence, a clean shirt and tie, and clear voice can make all the difference. Theories of communication are not limited to press releases or public statements. It is what you say in your method of dress, choice of words, personal associations and mannerisms. Personally, I have no drama with the way I can sometimes behave, being organic and natural, but then I have no illusions about how that behaviour plays its part in altering people’s perceptions about me, and in turn how capable I am of doing my job in various environments. Think about what your goals are, and shape yourself to have the best chance of reaching those through how, where, and with whom you appear.

STEP THREE IS TAKE YOURSELF SERIOUSLY, BECAUSE IF YOU DON’T THEN NO-ONE ELSE WILL. People are not mind-readers, they will not know if you are in the Public Relations business if you do not use your skills in Public Relations to make it obvious to them (this includes telling them outright where you can work it into the conversation). As an extension of step two, if you represent yourself poorly, then why would anyone wish to have you represent them, particularly anyone stable or reputable? The same goes for the tools you use for people to communicate with you and how you use those tools. So:

• Get business cards. HR will be unlikely to accept biro on their forearm.
• gotmilk@gmail.com is not an adequate email address. Get something with your name in it that looks professional. mynameiskevin@yahoo.com.au is not acceptable either.
• When you answer the phone, stick as close as you can to “Good afternoon, this is Kevin” unless you know for sure who it is who’s calling you. “Sup” “Yeah?” or “Talk!” are going to catch clients and professional contacts off guard and make communicating with them harder and no one wants to waste phone minutes
• Your TV Hits Diary with stickers of One Direction on them will make your bosses feel ill. Get a nice one that is plain and business appropriate. The same applies for phone covers.

Other things to remember:

• When you’re in a business meeting, be both prepared and professional. Don’t eat your hair, or say “um” more than any other words. You should be showing these people that you know what you’re doing (which is helped by actually have at least three quarters of a clue what you’re doing I’ll add).
• Reading a power point word for word on a screen is NOT a presentation. It is you cheating.
• Humility is a virtue, but you need to sell yourself, you need to be able to talk to anyone in any social setting to prove that you can reach any demographic, client, customer at any time.

STEP FOUR IS BE HONEST. This applies both to those you represent, and to yourself. It is absolutely important to appear to be capable, but that stops at lying or misrepresenting your abilities. If you cannot draft a risk management procedure on your own, don’t say you can. And if you get put on such a project anyway, be up front about how confident you are you can complete tasks to the best of your ability. Most times, no job at all is better than a job poorly done. In the same vein, be self-aware at all times as to how advanced you are and what you are best at doing. For example, although I consider my communication skills to be good, my technical skills are not so much at this point so I wouldn’t apply to run communications for a mining company. At such san early point in my career, I frankly wouldn’t feel confident running communications on my own for many organisations.

STEP FIVE IS BACK IT UP. Now for the mild contradiction: I have provided these steps to demonstrate that there is a lot more to PR than book learning, and you don’t necessarily need the book learning to be good at PR. However, there is definite merit in getting some smarts about theories, models and templates that exist for practitioners and communications scholars. Do the reading, and keep an eye out for what the leaders of thought have to add. You really do need to keep as up to date as possible. There are various tools to make social media and blogging all the more user friendly. Look into the following, it doesn’t have to be so hard!

• HootSuite
• Buffer
• Tweet Deck
• RSS feeds

Good luck babies!