Is your PR up to scratch?
You work in PR, it’s what you do, so of course your PR is good, you think…
Spending four hours on one client, three on the next, two on another, meeting after meeting after meeting, your day revolves around PR. Your clients get your best work; the most engaging content, the greatest headlines, and you spend hours careful nurturing your agency-client relationship. You work hard to get the best coverage, day in, day out. But your PR may still be falling short.
Think about what happens when you step out of work, when you’re outside company time. Is your PR still successful then? How are you presenting YOUR personal brand to the world?
You are one of over 83,000 PR professionals in the UK*. What makes YOU different from the others?
Personal PR is more important that you think, but can often seem too much after a long day of working with clients.
There’s a perception that personal branding is just for celebrities or senior level employees, but that’s why it can work to your advantage. Personal branding can help you progress in your career, open doors to new opportunities and even help bring new clients to your agency.
We’ve all heard the saying “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”, but how you are known is equally important. Junior employees often try to rely on their hard work speaking for itself. You spend the day preaching to clients “it doesn’t matter how good your product is if nobody knows about it”, but it’s the same for your image too.
Have you ever Googled yourself? Give it a go. What shows up? It feels egotistical but the results show how you are seen by the world – your personal reputation. Think about how you want your colleagues, directors and key influencers in industry to see you – this is what your personal reputation should reflect. And you have an advantage – you work in PR. You already know how to achieve positive reputation and the best ways to be heard.
Obviously you shouldn’t go off and write press releases about yourself, which would be silly unless you’ve got a story or achievement to share. But industry events and social media are a great place to start. Network, network, network, get involved in community conversations online, put yourself out there and be heard.
Stop presuming that luck will steer you in the right direction and go out and get yourself known – your reputation is at stake.
We’d love to hear your success stories – follow us on social media or drop us a comment below. Who knows, maybe you’ll be writing a guest blog for us in the future.