05th Jan 2017 by Lauren Wilden

10 Yetis Insight Blog- 5 Resolutions all PR Professionals Should Stick To In 2017

The Christmas decorations have been taken down, the last of the festive alcohol has been stored away for dry January and we are all back at work staring at our 4,000 un-read emails and trying to remember exactly what it is we do for a living.

Taking this into account, this week seems like a perfect time to focus our attention towards a blog post that offers those working in PR some suggestions on new year’s resolutions they can stick to at work for the duration of 2017. They are all pretty easy to stick to, unlike the traditional ‘lose weight’, ‘win the lottery’ and ‘stop smoking’ that normally fail a couple of weeks in, plus they might just help you secure a 2017 promotion, pay rise or new job!

Make. More. Calls.

This is certainly going to be one of my career-related resolutions for 2017. As much as journalists might try and tell you that the best way to contact them is through email or social media; inevitably if you have a winning story that you know is going to be right up the journalist or publications street, then giving them a call to remind them of an email that they might have missed or give it a new angle for them to consider could be the difference between securing coverage for a client or not.

Spending just 30-45 minutes on the phones to your targeted media lists per day can be easily fitted into your daily/weekly schedules if you’re not already doing so, and it could well help boost your client coverage in many ways!

Consider Your Email Tone

This one is pretty simple. Don’t start an email to a journalist ‘how are you?’ unless you know them or have a personal relationship with them and ACTUALLY CARE. The journalist is no doubt extremely busy, and really isn’t bothered about any niceties. All they will want to know is your client’s story and whether or not it is something of interest for their news agenda.

Build Your Journalist Relationships Up

This might seem a little hypocritical considering the above resolution, but I can’t tell you the amount of times a quickly drafted email or phone call to a journalist that I have previously worked with or sold in an exclusive story has helped me generate that all-important coverage on a Friday afternoon when the week hasn’t been going as well as you might’ve liked.

Follow journalists that you know are writing stories for your clients target media publications on social media. That way you will have a good idea of who they are, what they like, and how they work with other PR’s. For example, I managed to secure an awesome article for one of my clients on a national news site after noticing that the journalist I pitched to was a particular fan of writing about their industry on their Twitter account. It’s ALL about the networking.

Focus On The Importance of Influencers

As a PR, there has never been a more important time to consider the positive effects working with social influencers, YouTubers and Vloggers can have on a brand. Many might still assume that a mention, follow-link or article from an influencer is nowhere near as valuable as a piece on online news coverage, but they could not be more wrong.

Not only are audiences and followers a lot more loyal to influencers than they are to news outlets; they are also a lot more trusting and more likely to try out a service, product or website they promote through their channels.

Try and Get Ahead On Work (Where You Can)

I can almost feel you laughing at this resolution as I type it, but please hear me out first. Yes, as a PR professional it is almost-impossible sometimes to get ahead on work, particularly when each new day brings with it a whole new set of challenges, tasks and questions that you hadn’t even considered the day before.

Having said that, there will certainly be some work that you know needs to be done ahead of time, and 2017 should be the year that you stop avoiding writing that blog post, those press releases or that campaign plan until the last minute, and get it started (and finished) as soon as you get the chance. Trust me, I know this is much easier said than done, but the awesome feeling of knowing you are 2, 3 or even 4 weeks ahead on your writing for a client is almost better than pizza (but only almost!)

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