With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, love is in the air. Love comes in all forms; people can love their partners, friends, family and jobs. In the field of public relations, there is a lot to love. We can love the connections we make along the way, the missions of our clients, and the fact that we are helping to improve the world through raising the public’s awareness of important social issues.
As Maya Angelou once said:
“You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.”
Here are additional reasons to LOVE working in public relations.
Constant learning
No day is the same. Whether there is a new reporter inquiry, a change in client leadership, an initiative that was just announced, or even a crisis, there is always something to learn. With each new experience, we add to our skillsets and become better prepared for the next time something similar happens.
By having clients in different fields, we must become experts in each subject area. The subject areas can range from environmental issues to conscious banking. This continual learning makes the PR industry exciting.
In addition, with the continually changing media landscape, it is challenging to stay up to date. Reporters and writers are changing jobs, switching outlets, and unfortunately, getting laid off. Many local newspapers are shutting down operations. It is often necessary to adapt to new situations in the evolving media landscape.
It is hard for public relations to be boring when there is always something to learn.
Storytelling
Storytelling is a powerful and creative tool to communicate a message that raises clients’ visibility and helps them achieve their financial goals. Especially in purpose-driven public relations, storytelling that involves a personal, human story can be emotional and touching. It is a great responsibility to learn and communicate a person’s story because they are trusting us to share it with the world. Using creativity to tell a story is a hefty task. There are endless possibilities when writing and creating materials for clients and the media.
Storytelling is also effective when told through photos, imagery, and graphics. By communicating through these different mediums, stories can be visualized and will connect better with the audience. Images personalize and humanize the greater missions of clients. It takes time and effort for PR professionals to keep up with the necessary technology to do this well, but it’s worth it.
Relationship building
Public relations is a people-oriented profession. Whether it is through collaboration with colleagues, communication with reporters or connections with clients, there is no question that public relations involves many and varying professional relationships. We meet all kinds of people and build personal relationships. In fact, the relationships we cultivate help us do our jobs better.
We become better communicators and listeners through these relationships and can then bring more to the table when collaborating with colleagues, which, come to think of it, is another thing to love about PR. Better results are produced when multiple minds come together to create and problem solve. Plus, collaboration is fun!
Constant learning, the power of storytelling, and relationship building makes the public relations field a profession to LOVE.
