Author: Stephanie Vermillion

How to Get Your First Promotion

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You’ve made it through your first full-time position, congratulations! Getting the first position is the hardest part, but you’ve managed to break into the industry. You’ve got the experience and some new skills, but how do you take it to the next level?

Getting a promotionBelow are five ways to get to the next level in your career.

Act like you are already in the next position.

Once you’ve mastered the requirements of your current position, start learning about what’s required at the next level.

Let’s say you are the assistant account executive for your team. You are charged with maintaining media lists, keeping the department clip report updated and assisting the team as needed. What does an account executive do? They might take your efforts further and build relationships with contacts on the media lists, they might create custom media lists, they use the clips in the report to share results with clients, etc. Start emulating those actions.

Take inventory of your job responsibilities and see how you can take them a step further.

Become a resource for your department

Is your boss having trouble getting a client invoice approved through accounting? Having trouble getting timely numbers and results from your research department?

It pays to network, even inside of your organization. Get to know the different parts of your organization and make yourself a resource for getting important but tedious tasks done quickly.

Continue your education

Become involved in your local PRSA chapter. Attend monthly luncheon or happy hours. Join a committee or participate in a Twitter chat or webinar. There are so many ways to get involved with PRSA and it shows that you are invested in becoming a better PR professional.

A positive attitude goes a long way

We’ve all had days when you are just not feeling up to it, whatever it maybe. Or things may be stressful in your personal life. But remember, work is not the place to take out your frustrations.

Maintaining a positive attitude may seem insignificant, but your coworkers and most importantly your boss will notice if you have a negative attitude. Shooting down others’ ideas, not participating in team activities, showing disgust for tasks that you believe are beneath you will not get you promoted, but they can get you fired.

Learn to take constructive criticism

No one likes to be criticized. However, constructive criticism is crucial to advancing your career. Learn how to effectively take criticism and apply it to future situations and assignments. Incorporating feedback shows that you are a good listener and are mature enough to learn for criticism.

Most importantly, advancing and excelling in your career is a process. Learn from mistakes, apply criticism and feedback accordingly and cultivate your skills. You never know when the next opportunity will appear.

Victoria Lightfoot (1)Victoria Lightfoot graduated from Georgia State University in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism, concentrating in public relations. She is currently the PR coordinator at the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau and volunteers on PRSA Georgia’s College Relations Committee and co-chairs the Travel & Tourism Special Interest Group. Connect with Victoria on LinkedIn and Twitter (@Victoria_Lenese)

Finding a Home for Career and Personal Growth in Your Local PRSA Chapter

Stephanie Vermillion 1 Comment

It was a cold Tuesday night in January of 2014. We didn’t really know what to expect that night. Would people be nice? Would people want to talk? Will everyone else already know each other? Well, at least there’s free wine.

We met each other that night at the PRSA-NCC Leadership Rally – and within the next year we would become co-chairs of the newly developed New Professionals committee, and one of each other’s closest friends in this beautiful, historical, pant-suit wearing, House of Cards city.Finding a Home for Career and Personal Growth in Your Local PRSA Chapter

As melodramatic as that description might be, PRSA-NCC has provided us both a home in the District of Columbia PR community. It has offered us an avenue to improve and expand our skills and talents and a venue in which to connect with other professionals at all different stages in their careers.

Our professional skills and networks have grown exp
onentially since embarking on this journey of chairing a committee. Planning and executing monthly events, managing a committee of nearly 20 people and constantly being on the lookout for job opportunities for PRSA-NCC’s newest professionals has given us the opportunity to learn skills we might not have ever been exposed to in our day-to-day work.

In the world of PR, a good network can be just as important as a skill set. So while the PRSA-NCC New Professionals committee does host a couple of professional development events each year, most of our events are networking heavy. They enable new professionals of all ages to go through this journey together. We share ideas, challenges, lessons learned – and a lot of laughs.

For example, in 2015 we have planned six happy hours – one with free professional headshots – two professional development events, one networking baseball game and one cross-industry networking event. We could not have done this without the help of the wonderful New Pros committee members and the support of our local chapter, PRSA-NCC.

Don’t have a New Professionals committee in your local chapter? Start one! It’s a great way to get even more out of the already great experience PRSA membership has to offer. If your chapter already has one, join the committee. Get out there, network, challenge your skill set and offer your talents.

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Katelynn Wiggins and Kelsey Pospisil are co-chairs of the National Capital Chapter’s New Professionals Committee. Katelynn is the public relations associate at the American Psychological Association and Kelsey is the client engagement and media relations manager at News Generation.

The Pathway to Career Independence

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If you’re just starting out in PR a great place to start is on the agency side.  Why?  Because there, you will be challenged, exposed to many facets of managing a PR agency, likely find one or two awesome mentors who will help you grow, and have a clear career ladder.   Having a clear career ladder is really important when you’re starting out and you want to succeed.  “How long does it take/what do I have to do to become an Account Supervisor?  Group Director?  VP?  On the agency side, you will also discover your strengths and your passions.  It might be client management, story development, strategic planning, analyst relations, competitive research, writing or a combination of these.

The Pathway to Career IndependenceIf you’re toying with the idea of putting out your own shingle and going solo or starting your own virtual agency, you’re going to either a) need all of those skills, or b) know where to tap into them.  You’re also going to be your own accountant, marketer, strategic planner, chief cook and bottle washer. If you are getting serious…the PRSA IPA section is the place for you.     I’ve been my own boss now for almost 14 years and a PRSA member for even longer.  Here’s what I think IndiePRPros and virtual agencies offer over traditional agencies, and how you can set yourself apart from the pack:

Speed:  We’re generally able to “ramp up” in short periods of time;

Ease:  Seasoned PR veterans, we know how to make it easy for clients to meet PR goals.

Simplicity & Visibility:  Generally avoid expensive processes or layers, focused on results.

Flexibility:  Can better leverage budgets strategically, and weather downturns

Value:  Low overhead often results in below market rates offering a higher ROI.

Excelling at PR is like excelling at anything – if you don’t try new things and make a mistake or two, you’re not challenging yourself and you’re not learning.  When you’re going solo it can get lonely so having a group to tap into for support and some “water cooler time” is really helpful.  One challenge we all share is how to grow effectively with stability – our choices go directly to what brand we are developing for ourselves.

  • What kind of clients do I want to work with?
  • What should my billing rate be? Hourly or Retainer?
  • If I add team members should they be an employee or subcontractor?
  • What are best accounting process & software?
  • What are the best practices in invoicing & contract preparation?
  • Are there any templates I can customize to get me started?
  • What should I be focusing on with my limited time/$ for professional development?

When you are an independent practitioner, you are the master of your universe – some will choose to be “always on,” others will build businesses that offer more work/life balance.  Regardless of your choice, you need to create an infrastructure.  The members of the PRSA IPA can help you tackle these decisions by helping you understand the options you have so you can figure out what’s right for your emerging enterprise and build a successful career.

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Gina Milani is president at Milani Marketing & PR, LLC & founder of Junglebuzzprtools.com. She is also PRSA IPA Chair for 2015.

 

6 Tips for Leading a PRSA New Pros Local Chapter

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Whether you’re in a current leadership position or your looking to take on a lead role with your local New Pros chapter, it never hurts to seek advice. PRSA writes that “New Professionals membership is a mark of distinction that demonstrates your confidence and desire to succeed.” They’re right. That’s why you’re here, to succeed and to help others succeed.

PRSA New Pros Event Cincinnati

Rebecca Potzner, PRSA Cincinnati New Pros Chair, at one of their many successful New Pros events!

Becoming a New Professional member and now leading my local chapter, I’ve come to learn a lot about leadership and myself. Here are a few tips that I’ve learned from leading my local New Pros chapter that I hope will help you and your chapter.

1. Don’t be a lone wolf. While you’re leading the chapter, this doesn’t mean that you should be doing absolutely all of the work on your own. Forming a leadership committee will not only strengthen the bond of your chapter but it allows members to take initiative and to help shorten your to-do list. Don’t be afraid to delegate or to ask for assistance. Remember, two heads are better than one!

2. Communication is key. As cliche as it sounds, keeping a strong open communication channel between your members, leadership team and PRSA board is crucial. Scheduling board meetings, emailing updates or even meeting for a quick coffee can help keep everyone accountable and in the know. This tip falls hand in hand with the next two.

3. Collaborate. As New Pros, we are essentially the middle man between PRSA and PRSSA giving us the opportunity to open new doors and spark new relationships. Take advantage of this. Connect with local PRSSA chapters by inviting them to events or offering to work with them on future events. The same goes for your PRSA chapter. They want to know what the younger generation is up to, so keep them in the loop! Even better, reach out and work together on a future program. After all, PRSA offers all the perks!

4. Be Socially Connected. Considering our demographic, social media has become the best outlet to reach members and potential new members. Networks like Facebook and Twitter are great to share content and to help to spread the word on your upcoming events. While your organization’s profiles are important, a great tool to take advantage of is Facebook groups and Google Drive. These both allow you to reach your board and start an ongoing conversation without bombarding their email inbox or clogging their hard drive.

5. Map it out.  It’s no secret that people like consistency. It makes things easy. Taking the time to map out chapter events for the year helps to keep a consistent calendar and makes for easy planning. After establishing your chapter’s goals for the year, brainstorm program ideas and line them up throughout the year. This helps establish a plan you can stick with and promote.

6. Make it fun. It’s not all work, promise! Take time to relax and enjoy some time with your members to catch up. As for events, think outside of the box. Events don’t always have to consist of sitting in a stuffy room listening to someone speak or just a simple happy hour.  Go behind the scenes somewhere, attend a sports game. or take a tour around the city. Your opportunities are endless and each option offers a chance to make a new connection.

Rebecca Potzner is the PRSA Cincinnati New Professionals chair, and runs her own blog, Twist on PR. Follow her on Twitter @BeckuhBeck for great PR insights & tips! 

 

You Can’t Just “Tap” Into Influencers

Stephanie Vermillion 1 Comment

Influencer marketing seems to be the latest buzzword over the last few years and platforms like Klout, Get Little Bird and Traackr have dominated this space when it comes to identifying influencers within specific markets.

At W2O Group, we have proprietary methodology that combines quantitative scoring and human intelligence to identify the top 1% of influencers (in a specific category, topic, geography, language) that actually move the market when they speak.

Before diving into influencers you must first understand the market and how it’s shaped. (Click to Tweet!)

Influencer MarketingWe look at the market through the lens of the 1:9:90 audience framework. We didn’t create this model but we have perfected it over the last 7 years in activating programs and the model has proven to be true regardless of what vertical or industry you work in.

The “1%” drive the market based on their actions – what they write/tweet about or what they say at events and interviews. They are influencers and are seen as subject matter experts for a specific topic.  Our algorithms show that there are never more than 50 people who drive the majority of share of conversation for a brand or a topic in a given country or language.

The “9%” are highly active online. They recommend, share, sign up, download, comment and other actions that let their community of peers know what they think about certain topics. In many respects, this group serves as the “trust filter” for the rest of the market.

The “90%” are the great majority of any market. They lurk and learn. This group is satisfied with using search for discovering new products or consuming the content of their peers. They decide how compelling the 1% and the 9% really are in telling your brand’s story based on their purchase behavior.

In the upcoming PRSA webinar, I will go deep in explaining how we arrive at identifying the 1% of influencers; and then provide very actionable examples of how you can activate those influencers across paid, earned, shared and owned media channels.

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Michael Brito Michael Brito leads social strategy for the W2O Group – an analytics driven marketing and communications firm. He is also an Adjunct Professor at San Jose State University and author of “Your Brand, The Next Media Company”.  You can connect with him directly on Twitter and LinkedIn