Habits of Successful PR People that can take your Career from Good to Great

February 27, 2014 BG&A Staff
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The PR industry is made up of three types of professionals: ineffective, good and great. It’s really that simple. A majority of PR pros would fall into the good category – they’ve found a comfortable position where they get the job done and keep clients happy. Although this is a good thing, public relations cannot afford to be a majority of good professionals if it wants to lead the charge in branding the reputations of their clients.

Success

One cannot go from good to great overnight. Habits are hard to break and actions require accountability. A recent article about the habits of highly effective PR people shed some light on ways industry professionals could change themselves:

1. Listen hard: don’t pretend you’re listening. Focus during key conversations and jot down what you heard. You think you’ll remember the key takeaways but odds are you won’t.

2. Hone your writing skills: whether it’s a finely crafted memo, a post-campaign report or an email to a colleague or client, make your writing sing. How you write is often how you’re perceived in the field of communications. If you can’t articulate your message in writing, you can’t go from good to great.

3. Master your Social: Social media is not a strategy, it’s a platform. Understand it and use it regularly but don’t let the fear of missing out make you an obsessive social communicator. The other “social” — communicating and networking with peers and stakeholders (preferably in person or by phone) — holds more long-term value for you as a PR leader.

4. Be a PR advocate: Public relations often suffer from an image problem; PR is not just about pitching to the media or bitching about the media; it’s one of the most important disciplines within an organization. Advocate for your profession – and the best way to do that is by being a great PR person.

5. Read until your eyes hurt: Always be reading something – be it a magazine article, a news item online, a fiction or non-fiction book. Reading stirs your imagination, helps you to become a better writer, and, of course, keeps you well-informed.

I’m sure there are some habits that were missed, can you think of any?

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