Caffeinating Your PR Career

PRSSA Regional ConferenceApril 8, 2016

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I’m back because I want to make an impact. Here. Now.

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There’s no shortage of excitement…

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…but that doesn’t always carry over to the PR/Marketing world

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Pittsburgh is more than this

And you are more than this

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• You’re proficient in Microsoft Office• You were a waitress/receptionist/office

manager/assistant• You did your internship at a local small business or

for a family member/friend• You’ve drafted press releases• You’ve got a 3.0 GPA

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Perception ≠ Reality

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“There is a gap between an old world of public relations and a new one that must be addressed because jobs that were more about media relations are now taking on a role of content creation and content marketing, which is more difficult to do.”

- Christopher Graves, Global Chairman of Ogilvy PR

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/22/business/media/pr-groups-soul-searching-leads-to-shifts-in-strategy-.html?src=recg

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This is where you come in

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BlogsFacebookTwitterArticlesYouTubeVineInstagramTumblrGIFsPodcastsVideosRelationships

You can do all of this. Right now.

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“The PR business is in need of disruptive change and none of this generation are even willing to try.”

- Rick Rice…in 2012http://rtrviews.com/

http://dannybrown.me/2012/10/18/a-lack-of-real-vision-is-stalling-the-pr-industry/

Start trying now

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Stop trying to fit in. Try to stand out.

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Step outside your comfort zone

• Implemented organization’s first thought leadership program where I interviewed senior executives that became blog posts, white papers, and social media posts, resulting in a 456% increase in web traffic and a 45% increase in new leads.

• To drive awareness of our new sustainability initiative, I built relationships with the local energy reporters, resulting in three local stories that I then used to pitch Fast Company. This resulted in an executive profile in the June 2015 issue.

• Wrote and copyedited news releases, blog posts, brochures and white papers

• Assisted in researching and contributed ideas for public relations campaigns

• Used CisionPoint to create media lists for clients

• Wrote social media posts (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest) for various clients

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The why and the how > the what

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This is what you’re showing me

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This is who you are

Putting it into action

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This is not a valid strategy

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Know what you’re looking for

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Know the people who can help you get it

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Get excited

Climb the ladder

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Manage up

How often are you saying?

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• "How am I doing? How did I do?" • "Don't worry about it – I got it." • "I just read/watched/heard…and it got me thinking that…" • "You know how we've been doing X? Why do we do it that way?" • "I don't think that's the best way to do that. How about we do it this

way instead?" • "Here's what I'd recommend and why.“• "Here's what I learned and how I'll do it better next time." • "You gotta see/read/listen to this – I know you'll love this." • "Do you know who I can talk with to understand this better?" • "What can I do to help? 

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We need each other

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We have enough of us. We need: Your creativity Your ambition Your diversity Your passion

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Stop trying to be what you think we want and embrace what you are

Thank you

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Steve Radick• VP, Director of Public Relations and

Content Integration• www.steveradick.com• www.twitter.com/sradick• www.brunnerworks.com