Nine things I’ve learnt about working in PR

This month marks my ninth anniversary at Gardiner Richardson. When I started as a Senior PR Executive in January 2017, I didn’t know what to expect. As a journalist I dealt with numerous PR agencies and in-house comms people, but I hadn’t really thought about what the job entailed.

Fast forward nine years, I’m now a PR and Content Account Director who specialises in public health and behaviour change. During my time at Gardiner Richardson, I have learnt some valuable lessons, so here are my top nine things which I hope will help you during your PR career.

PR isn’t just writing press releases

When I told people I was leaving journalism to pursue a career in PR, the most common response I heard was ‘why do you want to write press releases all day?’ This is a popular misconception as PR encompasses much more than this. For example, building relationships, media pitching, content creation, community engagement, crisis management – the list is endless. However, before we can develop any of this it’s important to create a comms strategy to outline key audiences, messaging, channels and activation ideas to add value.

Build relationships

PR is built on relationships including clients, journalists, partners and stakeholders. It is important to build and maintain these relationships as when you build good ones, your clients will stay with you. However, internal relationships are just as important. You can learn a lot from your colleagues, whether that is skills or knowledge as well as relying on them for support.

Be agile

Working in an agency is fast-paced and often challenging as you work on multiple client accounts, so you need the ability to multi-task, work under pressure, prioritise deadlines and manage client expectations. You also need to be able to quickly change direction to deal with a crisis, respond to a breaking news story or to meet clients’ evolving needs.

Writing is important

Written communication is crucial to PR. Whether it’s a press release, a media statement, copy for a website or a social media post – it’s vital to be able to tell your client’s story in a compelling way. The more you write, the better you will become. Don’t be tempted to rely on AI to do it for you. It can be helpful, but you need to develop your own critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Develop thick skin

Working in PR is often challenging and stressful and sometimes things don’t go according to plan. Your clients or manager might question your approach, or a journalist might reject your pitch – it’s all part of the role. You also need to learn how to give and receive feedback. For example, feeding back to clients with best advice and sometimes pushing them outside of their comfort zone while also learning and improving from feedback. Both of these will help you become more resilient in the long term.

Silence the imposter

One of the most important things you can do is believe in yourself. It doesn’t matter what stage of your career you’re at, self-doubt can often creep in, and you start to question yourself. Imposter syndrome can pop up at any time especially in a highly stressful and challenging environment, but it’s time to ignore the voice in your head telling you that you’re not good enough and learn to value yourself and your opinions.

Collaboration is key

Working in an agency enables you to work with different teams, departments and even other companies who might provide a service you don’t offer. Or a client might work with multiple agencies, for example a PR agency, a creative agency and a media buying agency, to help them deliver a mass media campaign and invite you to inter-agency meetings. Whatever the circumstances, collaboration is key to achieving common goals and working with other organisations will also help you develop new skills.

Play to your strengths

Working in an agency enables you to work on accounts across a variety of sectors, so you’ll gain a good understanding of the different types of PR. If you’re at the beginning of your career, it’s best to try and get as much experience as possible rather than pigeon-hole yourself into a specific area. You need to discover what type of PR you prefer. Whether you want to help a business sell a product or deliver a service or help an organisation to make a difference focus on your strengths. If you’re passionate about your client’s aims and objectives, then you’re more likely to succeed in making an impact.

Focus on learning

The PR industry is constantly changing, especially with the digital era and the rise of AI, so it is important to keep developing your skills and knowledge. Joining a professional organisation like the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) can help you with your continued professional development (CPD) as you can access 1,800 online training materials across different PR disciplines, join regional committees and national groups. I have recently joined the North East CIPR committee and I’m looking forward to working with them to help shape the future of PR in the North East.