Top 5 Vital Skills Every PR Practitioners Needs

The PR industry has changed drastically over the past few years which calls for new or enhanced skills. For you to succeed in the communication industry it takes more than just a good degree. There are certain skills that you need to learn so as to keep up with these changes. The following is a list of the top 5 most basic skills that will go a long way in improving your personal and professional life and ensure uniqueness.
Broad communication capabilities
Communication is key when it comes to public relations. As a PR practitioner, you not only need to be able to speak concisely and clearly and be an excellent listener but you also require to be sensitive to subtle nuances in language and culture because you will need to tell your story to different people via various mediums (new media, emails etc)

Technical skills
The world is evolving and becoming sophisticated at fast rate in terms of technology and so is the PR industry. Over the years the industry has grown to adapt to the digital age. New technology has had momentous implications in the way practitioners do their work and how people access information.  Technical skills upsurge the quality and quantity of work done.  It is important for practitioners to be tech savvies and learn how to tap into new technology whether inform of gadgets or soft wares so as to improve their output and get to a larger audience.

Writing skills
As Malcolm Gladwell said ‘Good writing does not succeed on the strength of its ability to persuade, it fails or succeeds on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else’s head.  As a PR practitioner you will be expected to generate content for your clients, may it be a press release, a pitch, or a blog post and since writing in PR differs greatly from writing for a magazine or writing a novel, you need to learn and improve your writing skills. For example you will need to know how to write compelling lead and how to say more with less. Also reading and writing more will definitely improve your writing skills in the long run.

Creativity
Some people don’t think of PR professionals as particularly creative apart from when pulling crazy PR stunts, yet creativity plays a crucial role in the daily work life of a PR professional. In the digital world we are living in today, there are many opportunities to innovate but still there is so much mundane and uninteresting content that many people do not want to engage with.  With all this content out there it is important for PR professionals to cut through the noise by being a bit creative in the way the deliver their content. Also creativity aligns your company’s mission and the market, this can be done through the use of creative PR campaigns which in turn brings your message to the right audience

Research skills
As a PR practitioner you need to be naturally inquisitive so as to be conversant with your area of expertise, know the current trends in the industry, keep track of your market and know your clients’ needs.  Research also makes communication a two way process by collecting information from the public rather than the simple dissemination of information

The above skills are just a few, there are many other skills that you need to focus on for you to build a successful career in public relations

5 Face-to-Face Networking Tips for Newbies

Starting a career right after campus or college can be a tad bit frustrating and daunting.  Many people fear rejection and freeze at the idea of putting themselves out there. It is important to remember that what you know and who you know in the industry are the two key elements that will come in handy when you are starting out.  Here we are looking at the latter. At first, you may not know many people in the sector and therefore you will need to start networking.  Networking results to opportunities. If you have a strong and vast network you will be able to get insights into trends as well as insider information on job openings and movement within different organizations if you are offering certain services or selling some products, you may get many referrals as a result of networking. Here are 5 face-to face networking tips that may help newbies create strong networks in the communication world.
Have a purpose
 When it comes to face-to-face networking you should know what you want to achieve whether it is getting a job or a referral to someone else or maybe you want to learn more about the trends in the communication industry.  Simply stated networking goals will help you make the best use of your time and it will also help the people you network with know how they will help you. When networking you should have meaningful questions that will help you achieve your goals. For instance, if one of your goals is to get introductions ask those you interact with whether they know a person who does what you are interested in. If  every person you talk to introduces you to another person then you will have accomplished your purpose and this will have a great impact on your career path.
Do your Homework.
Before you meet the people you are networking with or before going to any networking event, do your research about the people you are going to interact with and understand as much as you can about them. You may review their LinkedIn profile, read articles they have written before, or ask  someone else who knows them.
Learn to listen then talk
 Face-to- face networking is public speaking in a one on one form so etiquette matters. When you meet someone, start with a safe question, ask about themselves and what they do and let them explain to you then gradually the conversation will turn to you.
Find common ground.
Most people are charmed by people they share interests. Finding common ground with the people you interact with is so important. For instance, if you are good at event planning you may find it more personable and memorable to interact with someone who does events planning. After finding a common ground you can work out how you can help each other. That is when the magic starts to happen.
Keep in touch
In the first meeting you may ask the people you have interacted with if you can stay in touch and ask for their contacts or business cards.  There are many ways through which you can keep in touch apart from making calls; you can send them content that you think will intrigue them, or you can schedule a meeting. If you do not get a reply, stay pleasantly persistent and you will stay top-of-mind. If you are making phone calls be sure to remind them who you are and where you met.

Why Communicators Should Embrace Artificial Intelligence.

The issue of artificial intelligence (AI)   in the PR industry has been a hot button topic in the recent past. Artificial intelligence is the development of computer systems that are able to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. Some of the top PR agencies are already well acquainted with the idea of artificial intelligence and are using it to perform tasks such as creating media lists, transcribing audio and videos to text, social media monitoring, crisis management and many more. PR professionals who have used artificial Intelligence admit that it is making them better at their jobs and it would be bad if we ignore AI. Some of the common AI tools being used in PR include AirPR, Hootsuite, and TrendKite. Having understood what AI is then we can look at the various ways in which AI has positively impacted the PR industry

AI is helping in many stages of PR campaigns. AI is able to scrutinize mounds of data and discover dynamics that will consistently lead to success in a fraction of time. Also it can predict the best time to run your campaign, the best social mediums to use and the best subject lines to use in your campaign. Similarly AI can analyze data to determine the right audience for the campaign and this minimizes work done and guarantees success.  

Influencer marketing is the new trend and theme in the PR world today. Apparently, it is not only the number of followers one has on social media that warrants him/ her to be an influencer but there are several other factors to consider before choosing an influencer for your brand.  This is where AI comes in handy, it helps determine the best influence by sifting through public information to determine the level of influence that a particular person has.

Many PR practitioners have always evaded data analysis, but the good thing is AI can analyze data collected from social media, website traffic etc. in a matter of minutes, you only need to feed in data and it self-assembles. For example on social media platforms such as twitter, you need to monitor new followers, engagements or even the kind of reactions your tweets attract.  AI can do this with seamlessly. This way, decisions are made based on insights and facts and not guess work.

Also, through AI, menial tasks have been automated. It is helping in doing short straw jobs such as scheduling and structuring meetings, setting due dates and writing standard follow up emails. This has eliminated human errors that cause delays and frustrations.

On the other side, most people are petrified that AI is slowly taking up their jobs but this is not the case since AI has not been equipped with soft skills which are very important in the industry, for example AI cannot do jobs that require creativity or critical thinking.

The bottom line here is,  AI is something to embrace and it is becoming so important as time goes by. It has become crucial in eliminating errors and mundane work from PR professionals and it has helped in promoting accuracy, automation and acceleration.