Saying "I Do" to your career

I’ve been working on a project for my Advertising Strategies class about brides-to-be, building a consumer profile. Thus, weddings have been top of mind for me this quarter, and it got me thinking about marriage and how it applies to my life right now.

No, I’m not engaged. Not even close.


I’m talking about my chosen career path.

We’ve all heard people warn us not to be married to our careers, to have a life outside our work.
But I tend to disagree. In researching marriage and weddings for my project, interviewing several brides-to-be, reading countless wedding magazines and researching the history of weddings, I’ve come to realize that maybe being “married” to your career isn’t such a bad thing after all.

Think about it. The way you choose your career path is perhaps similar to the way you pursue any relationship. You want it to make you happy, give you a reason to wake up in the morning. You want it to challenge you, push you to be your best.

And of course, just like in a relationship or marriage, there will be times when it lets you down, when you wonder where you would be had you chosen to do something else. You’ll have rough days when nothing seems to be going right. You’ll make mistakes. But at the end of the day, you’ll remember why you chose your career in the first place, and remembering that will make the difficult times seem a little less gloomy.

So, to the love of my life, public relations, I guess it’s for better or worse!
Think my analogy is too extreme? Do you agree? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Photo courtesy of Google Images.

A new view: agency PR

I’ve officially completed my first two weeks at Maple Creative, a Charleston, W.Va. based public relations firm. This is my first foray into agency PR after having worked the past two summers in corporate PR, and I’ve already seen in my very limited experience how different the two are. Here are some of my key observations of these differences:

1. Billing your time. At most agencies, you have to track the time you work for each client on a daily basis. For me, this has been the hardest thing to get used to. It does help me remember what I’ve accomplished each day, which is a definite plus in such a fast-paced environment. Which brings me to my next point:
   
   
2. Fast-paced environment. In any PR job this is likely to be the case, but in my opinion the agency world steps it up a few levels. Non-stop phone calls, e-mails, meetings and trying to fit in everything else in between is no easy feat. I finally gave in and invested in a BlackBerry, which has been a lifesaver in helping me keep up.
   
   
3. Time management. When managing several clients instead of one, there is a lot more juggling involved. I’m still trying to figure out the best way to stay organized, and so far that has been keeping an ongoing to-do list and making sure I write down everything I possibly can.
   
   

Regardless of the differences I’m thrilled to have this opportunity and I’m loving everything I’m doing so far. Good luck trying to catch me this winter break, ‘cause I’m going nonstop!

PR happens

Never in my life have I seen more focused and driven students as I saw at this weekend’s PRSSA National Conference. You could just feel the energy in the sessions as PR minds came together for a common purpose: surviving and thriving in our chosen industry.

Back in Athens, there is a stereotype of the “Scripps kids” as being highly involved, very confident and exhibiting an eagerness to learn. I can report with certainty that our hunger and passion for journalism and PR is not unique to our neck of the woods, but is shared across the country.

With the current state of the economy, it seems that our generation seeks an omniscient power to descend upon us and give us the answers to our questions of whether or not to go to grad school, if we should choose agency or corporate PR and what makes us stand out from our competitors in the job market. While I’m sure most professionals, advisors and professors have opinions of what the answers to these questions should be, I’m beginning to see that in reality there is no one answer.

I admit that I am guilty of asking these questions to everyone who will listen to me, lately emphasizing the grad school inquiry. Not only is my incessant interrogation likely annoying, but in reality nobody has a clear answer for me, and they shouldn’t. Decisions about something as important as my career need to be those that I can personally be proud of and stand behind.

As public relations students and practitioners, we are so focused on our clients and our other “publics” as we strive daily to please them, but I would argue that we are forgetting one very important key public: ourselves. There is no possible way that we can be all things to everyone in this industry—there are simply not enough hours in a day. And while I’m not advocating limiting yourself by any means, deciding what your key values are and finding something you are passionate about are integral steps to becoming the professional you want to be.

Some overall advice from the PR pros at National Conference:

•Be hungry and demonstrate hard work, but also be a team player.

•Always show your thanks and gratitude. That extra mile can go a long way.

•Present A+ work all the time.

•Become an expert in something—it will set you apart.

•Listen to the conversations going on about your company.

•Passion is not a substitute for planning.

•Never limit your creativity.

•Be who you are.

What else would you add to this list? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Creating customer loyalty

After working for a health system two summers in a row, I’ve become very immersed in many if not most aspects of the company. You would never realize unless you were on the “inside” how much work it takes to run a hospital on a daily basis. The sheer amount of organization necessary to just keep up with the basics is unreal.

As an employee of the marketing office, I’ve had the unique opportunity to look at the system in a different way than most of the clinical staff. While doctors and nurses are working tirelessly day after day to keep up with the patients’ needs, my office researches and creates ways in which we can better serve our patients. This has lead to the realization for me that patients are the customers.

Just like any other industry, those in the health care field must strive to keep their patients—in other words, create customer brand loyalty. While many things in the health care field are industry-specific, there is a lot to be learned from a health care model in terms of customer service.

After participating in service learning training in the health system, many connections between marketing/PR and health care have been solidified in my mind. Here are three tips for building customer loyalty to take to heart no matter what industry you work in:

1. Anticipate the needs of your customers/audiences/clients. Whether you are a nurse taking care of a patient or an account executive working for your client, it is important to know what they expect of you. Go above and beyond when at all possible, and not only will you impress them, but they will turn to you for all their needs in the future.

2. Be open and honest. Sometimes the truth hurts, but it is never as painful as a lie. If you are straightforward with your customers, you will build a sense of trust that is vital to any working relationship.

3. Stay calm in a crisis. No matter how hard you try to prepare, unexpected problems are bound to come up during your career. While your first reaction might be to run, take a deep breath to clear your head and begin finding out key information about the issue. Once you’ve done that, decide how to move forward to correct the problem and to alert your audiences. While developing a public message, refer back to number two.

If you follow these steps, you will gain a great deal of respect from your customers and will benefit from their loyalty because of it.

Some information taken from ServicePlus training at CAMC Health System.

Photo from Google Images.

Get it write

As I progress in my education and subsequent jobs and activities, I’ve found that I only get busier. While I have become more adept to managing my time, I’ve realized that one area where I’m lacking is paying close attention to detail.

In our fast-paced world today, it seems that we are more often apt to lean toward quantity over quality. To-do lists get longer and longer by the minute and with texting and social media it is nearly impossible to escape from work, school or any other commitment we have. We are now reachable 24 hours a day, and while this may have its advantages, it tempts us to work around the clock.

After failing to catch some basic editing errors in some of my recent work, I got a major wake-up call: I need to slow down.

It is not uncommon for me to have to pump out a story for the Web or a press release in a relatively small amount of time, but sometimes the pressure of deadlines makes us forget to take the time to really get back to the basics, that is the target audience, key messages and readability.

Having said all this, I’ve come up with some tips for writing well—ones that I will work on following consistently and hopefully they will help you out as well!

1. Slow down. Don’t write in a rush—it will only end poorly.
   
   
2. Step away from the computer. Leave your work, literally walk away from the computer and take a break before you do a final edit.
   
   
3. Get a little help from your friends. Ask someone else to read over your work. You may know what you mean, but does it make sense to the general public?
   
   
4. Use your AP Stylebook. There are stylistic things such as states and addresses that I cannot seem to remember offhand, so it is important to keep your stylebook by your side at all times.

I'd love to hear some of your best practices for writing!

Communication is the best policy

Communication is such a vital part of life, especially in the world of PR. This is easy to forget when going through the everyday motions in a PR firm of event planning, media contacting, tweeting, crisis management and other client needs.

This quarter has been a whirlwind for the Backdrop account. Between collecting survey results to measure awareness of the magazine on campus and helping to promote the launch of the latest issue, my team and I have been going non-stop.

But even with the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it is important to take as step back and remember that communication is the number one ingredient to a successful PR campaign.

Not only is it imperative to keep open doors of communication with your client, but with your team as well. If everyone is not on the same page with the campaign, then it will ultimately be doomed for failure.

To make sure we are communicating effectively, we have created individual positions for each member of the account so that tasks are divided up and each person can focus on a specific specialty. At each weekly meeting, each position is responsible for bringing up any issues or concerns regarding his or her assignments.

To further our organizational and communication skills, we are implementing the use of Google Docs to create our PR plan and to keep track of the details of all of our jobs and deadlines. We keep in close contact throughout the week when we have a lot going on and support our client in any way we can.

While the mediums of communication have multiplied in recent years, I still find that the best medium is face to face. Your words simply cannot make the same impact in a tweet or text or e-mail or even phone conversation as they can in person.

In a 2.0 world, my advice is this: take the time to really, truly communicate, whether it’s with a friend, a boss, a colleague or a client. There is so much to gain from effective communication, and it should be a priority for all aspiring public relations professionals.

From my post for the ImPRessions blog

Blowin' in the wind

As I began my junior year at Ohio University, I thought I was completely adjusted to college. I was so excited to move back to Athens into an apartment with three of my best friends, to start classes and my new internship. I could handle anything.

Wrong. I was not prepared for cooking, cleaning, rent, utilities, and basically being an adult. I mean, how on earth do people have full-time jobs and still have time to do the laundry and throw something together for dinner and pay the bills? It floored me how difficult growing up can be.

Change is always difficult, even if it’s for the best. That has taken me a long time to figure out. I am so thankful for friends and family, and have realized what things are truly important in my life.

I try to look at new things in my life as adventures. There is always an opportunity to learn something, even if things don’t work out the way you want them to. Every experience I have had, personal or career-related, good or bad, has made me who I am, and I don’t regret any of it.

I also would not be able to advance in my career without my mentors. The amount of knowledge I receive simply from talking to them is something I will be forever indebted to them. I am so lucky to have them as my backbone, supporting me in all I do. I hope one day I will be able to offer the experience and advice that my mentors have so graciously given me.

I have to admit, I’m still afraid of growing up. It is inevitable, but that doesn’t make it any less scary. Even with my doubts, I’m excited about what the future holds. I love PR more and more every day, and I’m happy to have found something I am so passionate about. This year is going to be extremely busy, but I’m already loving every minute of it.

Hospital intern without the MD

After a month of working at CAMC Marketing and Public Affairs, I cannot believe how much I’ve been exposed to. I’ve attended countless meetings, sat in on phone calls and written press releases for media and various other writing assignments.

It never ceases to amaze me how much goes into a PR plan or a communications campaign or even the way the talent says the words in a radio spot. But the most valuable experience I’ve received so far is simply getting to talk to so many different professionals. Simply getting opinions about how to send press releases or how to contact people for interviews is invaluable stuff.

Even though I’m only the intern, I still feel like a part of the team. I am asked my opinion and it actually counts! I get constructive criticism that I wouldn’t trade for the world. I simply cannot say enough about how amazing this experience has been.

The best part about my internship is that I actually enjoy going to work. I’m not usually a morning person, but when my alarm goes off at 7 or 7:30 a.m. I actually want to get up. (My office loves coffee as much as I do, so that’s an added bonus!) Sometimes I go in early and stay late so I can be a part of every experience possible.

I still have one month left as an intern and I will be sad when summer ends, but I know this experience is a great foundation for building my career.

First week in hospital communications

I just completed my first week as a public relations intern at the Charleston Area Medical Center Public Affairs and Marketing office. I’ve already gotten to do so much. I’ve attended a photo shoot, several meetings and an event with pediatric oncology patients. I have a few projects of my own to start working on and am getting to know everyone in the office.

Growing up, I always wanted to be a doctor, specifically a pediatric oncologist. Of course, my dream changed after I took chemistry and had not interest in it whatsoever, but I still have a secret love for the medical field. I’m an avid consumer of Grey’s Anatomy and reruns of ER. This internship is letting me get as close to the field as I can without actually picking up a scalpel.

I love the connection of putting what I learn in school into use. I’m still getting used to all the rules and regulations of working in a hospital, but I think I’m going to really enjoy my experience this summer.

A new "digital divide"

We had a very interesting discussion in my Intro to Public Relations class today. Our topic was Public Relations and the Internet and we discussed how e-mail, blogs and other forms of internet media relations are coming more and more into the forefront.

One thing that really struck me during the lecture was the idea of this "digital divide" that is supposedly present in our society. I started thinking about it, and I came to the conclusion that the digital divide has changed to mean something else besides it's original connotation. Almost anyone who wants it has access to the Internet, at least in this country. Most libraries offer free Internet during operating hours, so even those who cannot afford computers or Internet access still can keep up with the new medium.

My thinking is that the new "digital divide" is defined by the different ways that people use the internet to communicate. Most people in my parents' generation are proficient in email, search engines, and online shopping, but probably are not involved in a whole lot of social media. My grandparents barely even know how to turn on a computer, let alone surf the web.

As more and more internet media venues develop, there is a fight to keep up with it all. So this digital divide becomes an issue of who is using what kind of media and for what purposes. Many companies are starting to use social media, but many more are still lagging behind in that area. Some are not even willing to try to use the new mediums to communicate and are satisfied with the ways with which everyone is familiar, such as print media. But as companies are striving to attract a younger generation, they are going to have to step over the digital divide and get their feet wet in this new phenomenon.