Five tips for an upcoming PR Professional
- Katelin Johnson
- Nov 17, 2021
- 3 min read
There are a lot of upcoming PR professionals in today’s world who need tips on how to transverse through the PR industry.
Just for you, I have found five PR tips for aspiring PR professionals that I would like to share from Forbes. Now that you are out of the classroom and into the field here are tips to help you get on your feet.
1. Research the type of PR you want to pursue.
The public relations field has many different areas that you can fit into, these areas include: public affairs, media relations, crisis management, reputation management, events and promotion, social media management, branding, corporate communications, integrated marketing.
You have all these possibilities to fall into! Must be hard to pick just one but all fall under public relations.
The good thing about public relations is that it is needed in almost every industry. Do you want to work in Healthcare? What about real estate? Hey, law or hospitality also needs help!
Pick the one that most interests you then you can start your path of strategic communication.
2. Start at a PR firm before moving in-house.
Forbes suggests that you work at a PR firm before you work for an in-house company.
Unless you have a company your dying to work for its best to polish your skills at a well rounded frim before specializing in in-house. If you are new to the field you need any experience you can get. Working at a firm can provide just that because you will be working for multiple clients.
This will require you to perform many tasks under diverse circumstances. This type of experience will expose you to a wide range of knowledge, methods, and tools, thereby advancing your skillset and competency to perform in multiple areas.
An In-house position will also provide you with experience, however, they will limit your job duties to the day-to-day public relations of that specific company.
If someone only wants to work in a select industry or company that’s great but it doesn’t give you the bigger scope or exposure that you’ll see at a PR firm.
3. Network and make use of professional organizations.
This one might seem a little obvious but it is an important tip for new PR professionals. It will teach you how the PR industry works and there is no downside.
Forbes says to target local PR professionals in your area on sites like LinkedIn and requests some advice from them. Many PR pros will gladly give advice to a newcomer in the industry!
You can also join organizations like the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), which holds meet-ups for PR professionals to network and share knowledge. Including many potential employers join these events to recruit members and provide direction.
4. Never stop learning.
Although you may just have graduated and have many different PR theories in your mind, its not the main target arena.
The only way to expand your knowledge is through hands-on experience! It doesn’t matter where you start, you’ll quickly find out that there is no one-size-fits-all in the PR industry.
Once you know the foundations of PR, you’ll start to experiment with your own methodology. This will find higher ladders of success and maintain a sense of courtesy. So Forbes says to keep up with your education, whether it be taking courses online or reading on your own, never get complacent with your current level of knowledge.
5. Understand the media market.
Whenever you decide the industry you will be working for you will need to formalize yourself with many different media outlets.
You don’t need to become a media expert but you need to have a grasp on what media outlets you need for your goals. Do some research on different publications in your target genre, understand the topic and audience.
Know which journalists cover which stories and know the media market that will help tailor your pitches.
Lastly, stay on top of media trends and general news updates, keep an eye on the conversation of the country and it will help you be more effective.
Hope these tips were helpful to newcomers in the industry! Make sure to check out other posts for PR tips and posts about Asia.
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/public-relations-definition
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