Friday 6 January 2012

Life in the PR lane

I subscribe to an on-line PR newsletter – it is American and it seems to me (being old and battered) that most of its readers are quite young and fairly new in the PR world, so I usually just scan it and think that they haven’t seen anything yet!


Today, though, there were a couple of very interesting postings; one was the result of an annual survey that ranked jobs based on stress levels. Apparently, last year PR came in as the second most stressful job of all, and there is now some disappointment that it has dropped down to seventh (below serving in the Military (!), firefighting, etc… oh and event coordinator! Blimey.)

The other posting that I liked, and that is a reaction to this survey, talks about the highs and lows of working in PR, which are listed as follows, with my own commentary in order to expand and explain a bit to any non-PR people reading this:

"I love the intensity of helping media connect with others and providing them with information for stories; I hate that if someone can’t come through on an interview, it’s my reputation on the line."

Jo: Don’t we just know this feeling! Never, ever, think that just because an interview has happened, it is guaranteed to be published. If you don’t give the journalist something interesting to write about, it aint going to happen!!

"I love the sense of accomplishment when I see a feature story on the front page of a top media target that I made happen; I hate when a client acts like it’s just an everyday story placement."

Jo: Ah, yes. Two months of persuasion and the article finally comes out.. only to be met by a question ‘what happened to the interview that you mentioned would be done for xxx?

"I love the sense of completion when all interviews are done and information is sent to the reporter; I hate the lack of control over the final product."

Jo: Note: if you don’t want to risk that a journalist gets something wrong, then don’t speak to them in the first place.

"I love helping a company clean up and simplify its message; I hate it when they don’t listen."

Jo: No comment.

"I love the peace of mind of having a crisis communications plan; I hate when a company doesn’t understand the value of drafting the plan until a crisis strikes."

Jo: And so say all of us!

"I love telling people I work in PR; I hate that no one outside of the industry understands just how difficult it is."

Jo: Anyone reading this now: we work in the seventh most stressful job in the world!!!! Feel for us!