10 Yetis Insight Blog - Working in PR - What To Expect

Working at a digital public relations agency can be a lot of things. Exciting, terrifying, disappointing and stressful are just a few adjectives to describe becoming a PR account executive. So what can you expect when you are working agency-side of big campaign?

Writing, lots of writing

Writing press releases will become second nature to you. You will hardly remember a time when they weren’t in your life. At first releases seem daunting, you need to make them snappy and appealing to journalists while still retaining enough information about your campaign or client to keep it relevant. It’s possible that hundreds of journalists will see your release, which just piles on the pressure to make it as amazing as possible.

This pressure will help you craft flawless releases though and with time, your clients will come back with hardly any amendments at all. Never be disheartened if you do occasionally receive red font back, sometimes you just won’t know as much information on a topic as your client and they will understand this wholeheartedly.

Brainstorming sessions that last hours

Creative types are usually everywhere in the PR industry, which makes brainstorming sessions fun and exciting but also long. Whenever a colleague suggests a quick brainstorming session with the team, ensure you have a good hour free as it will more than likely go on overtime.

This isn’t a bad thing though, not at all. Brainstorming sessions with a team can create some of the best ideas for your campaign. Nothing beats a think tank when you’re struggling for ideas.

Even if you feel like you have solid ideas for stunts or releases to send to your client, always hold a brainstorming session because something even more amazing that will boost your clients SEO dramatically could come out of it.

Working overtime

Working in PR means being there for your client when they need you. This may be during work hours, but it could also be at 10pm on a Saturday night. This isn’t to say it happens often, but you can and should expect to pick up work outside of office hours.

Emergencies will occur and you have to be ready to pick up the pieces and help out in any way you can, even if that is from your sofa while you’re having a Friends marathon.

It is definitely vital to remember that you aren’t superhuman though and that sleep is actually required to live.

Re-writing, lots of re-writing

As mentioned before writing in ‘PR lingo’ will become second nature to you, however this doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t be required to re-write the same release or blog post multiple times.

This isn’t always down to your writing skill, not at all, in fact it’s often down to changes in your original plan, lack of intricate knowledge of the product/client or just uncertainty.

Being rejected

Prepare for a lot of rejection which can be hard to stomach at first. As Shannon mentioned last week, thick skin is an incredible trait to have as a PR account executive and she definitely isn’t wrong.

Your releases, campaigns, stunts may be torn apart by journalists. Phone calls trying to sell in your story can lead to journalists swearing at you or hanging up on you. It’s difficult but every one of us has been through it and really it’s just another part of the job.

Plus you really do get used to it, honestly, and just because one journalist shouted down the phone at you over a release you thought was gold, doesn’t mean they all will. Be optimistic, always.

Travelling

For us Yetis we often find ourselves on the road when meeting and mingling with our clients. Personally I love it, meeting clients is always fun and a change from the usual and often inexpressive emails.

Every meeting is different but if you bring your best client smile, take notes and do your research, you’ll find yourself having a great and informative day out of the office.

Loving your job

With the negative comes the insanely great positive. Working in PR can be so stressful it can make you feel as if you’re on the brink of a mental breakdown but, and this is a big but, it can also make you feel absolutely elated.

Receiving your first piece of coverage, having an amazing week wherein your client received follow link after follow link on high domain authority sites, getting told you’re doing a fantastic job by a client, these are just some of the situations in PR that cannot be beat.

Working in public relations is certainly a rollercoaster and is often exhausting but it really is one hell of an industry.