Important PR skills you might not have thought about
As PR girls we all know that excellent writing and communication skills, a passion for your brand and thick skin (because this is a tough job) are all musts when working in PR. As the industry evolves and becomes increasingly competitive, there are a few less obvious skills that you should develop so you’re well equipped for the future!
Photography and Photoshop
Understanding what makes a good photo is crucial, whether you are pitching to journalists or asked to create content for a client. Photoshop is a great tool for all PR professionals. Capturing and editing a photo of a press event or client speech or producing a short video will enable you to use it in your PR strategy to help tell the client’s story and communicate their message extremely effectively.
Communication is becoming far more visual, and social media is completely changing the traditional landscape of PR. As PR professionals, we therefore have to take on new responsibilities. Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest and YouTube are all photo-centric and can easily be applied to PR.
Design skills
Understanding how the design process works- from brainstorming to the final product- will really help when organising events, creating invites, brochures, presentations and even coverage reports.
You will often have to work with designers in order to create visual content for clients. Knowing how the process works will enable you to fully explain your specifications to the designer. There is nothing worse than ordering 100 invites for a press event and finding out they are not what the client was looking for! Additionally, being able to create infographics to showcase client research will help make a story newsworthy, and as a result, far more likely to get published online! Knowing some basic design terms and how to use InDesign will only benefit you in the long run.
Blogging
With blogs becoming more and more influential, it’s important to understand how they work and how they can be useful for PR. Setting up your own personal or professional blog will help you understand the process. Basic HTML skills and understanding SEO is crucial. Furthermore, with a professional or corporate blog, PR companies are able to build up a brand personality for their own brand or client online. As the line between PR and Marketing is becoming very blurry, it is highly important that us PR professionals are skilled bloggers.
Helping clients gain a high ranking on Google using SEO is imperative in this digital age. Blogs can position clients, or yourself, as thought leaders and opinion formers in your field. Whether it’s a beauty brand or new business – people go to the web for advice. Being known for an intelligent blog is a sure way to boost PR.
Finance
Handling money, designing budgets for campaigns and managing client fees will all become part of the job as you rise up the PR ladder. You will be overseeing the budgets of multiple clients and having to meet targets constantly.
Having an understanding of how the entire business is funded and how your team fits into the mix will be one of your daily tasks. Learning how to forecast the future, using industry trends and accounts will be beneficial. Not the most glamorous aspect to the job – but it is essential to keep the business going and your clients happy.
Photo courtesy of: www.worldredeye.com
