The Path to Becoming a Well-Rounded PR Professional

As mentioned in my previous posts, I have been focused and enthralled in the world of social media. That said, as I am entering into the working world, I’ve learned that it is extremely important for me to not only understand but be able to participate in the more traditional practices of PR and communication. Living in a time of tweets, texts and technology, it becomes easy to lose that personal connection that is made when dealing with an individual outside of cyber world.

These past few weeks I have had the opportunity to participate in pitching a story for one of our clients. I have sent out press releases before, but this was my first real experience of having to follow-up with a large number of individuals and actively engage people in a conversation on a specific topic.

Having never done this type of thing before, I met with my coworker to get some tips on how to best approach these types of calls to the media and what to say if I left messages. After a little coaching, I began my follow-up process. The first few phone calls were a bit stressful, but luckily, I had written out a script that I could read if I froze up. After several phone calls and messages, I found myself comfortable with initiating dialogue with complete strangers. Not only was I able to present our pitch and sell the story idea in a casual, informative way, but I felt confident in doing so.

I found this project to be very educational and important in helping me on my journey to becoming a more well-rounded practitioner. It forced me to leave the online world, one of which I have grown extremely comfortable and confident in, and result to a more traditional way of communicating and pitching stories. I not only understand how to effectively pitch and sell stories to media outlets, but I also am confident in my ability to do so. Regardless of our societies infatuation with social media, there still in no replacement for the personal relationships one can develop when personally engaging with other individuals.

-Heidi Gill