Alternatively titled- 'I didn't choose the PR life; the PR life chose me'.
I recently finished a customer relations
campaign I had been working on, aimed at creating ‘community’ between all the
home operating customers, as it was one of the areas my supervisor has
suggested could be improved on. I had edited it multiple times, split it in
two, amalgamated it with other ideas, recalculated due to means and edited it
once again.
Now in uni this is where the
work basically ends. Although I
obviously knew in the ‘real world’ I would then need to implement projects, it
turns out that the real world has another hoop through which I must jump; convincing
superiors that the campaign is worth implementing. The managing director,
unlike my tutors at a deadline, did not just accept what I’d come up with. He
seemed happy with it, said the ideas were all interesting and certainly
viable... but he’d changed his mind and was now thinking about maybe something
like this or like that and of course we couldn’t possibly
implement until May at the earliest.
My first meeting with the managing director
did not really go the way I’d pictured, and I must admit I was quite
disappointed that my first project had been delayed. However I did learn some
important factors about working life. Foremost of these lessons is that you
need to consider all your target audiences when working in the ‘real world’-not
just the company’s public's. The fact of the matter is everyone is your target
audience at one time or another. When
pitching a campaign my primary target public becomes the managing director. Like any target public, communicating with him
requires research and a targeted approach. In this way my initial, somewhat
disappointing meeting has ended up being a valuable research tool.
For instance now I know that the best way
to approach him is with bite sized pieces of information – not a 17 page
campaign. It is also best to approach him with draft- he wants to be a part of
the process and a perfectly polished campaign will only result in you rewriting
it to accommodate his new ideas. I also need to be persistent, there are going
to be many times when my timeline will be rejected, my meeting will be delayed
and my ideas will be discarded. This should not stop me; rather it should
inform my future attempts and communications.
The skills we learn to liaise, communicate
and placate an organisation's publics are the same skills that are needed in the
workplace, and indeed, day to day life. I find myself using the ‘ABC’ technique
(Answer the question, Bridge, Communicate your key messages) not only when
answering questions from customers but also when trying to pitch my campaign to
my superiors. (A)Yes that sounds like a good idea, ( B)in fact, I’ve been
working on something similar that will really (C) create a community vibe
amongst home operators and also has a seminar element, do you have a minute for
me to explain?
The fact of the matter is that as an
intern, you really don’t have much -well, any-
power to say ‘this is the direction we’re going to go’. It really is a test of
public relations skills to not only answer their questions and do what they want,
but to also bridge and persuade them that you have the research and the ideas
to help them achieve their goals.
Sometimes I think that the ‘ABC’ technique
for answering questions and the ‘RRR’ technique for answering crisis questions
(remorse, reason, remedy) have been one of the single most important things I
have learnt in my degree, not only for their use in the PR industry but for
their use in tactful, diplomatic relations in the workplace and everyday life.
It surprises me because it was only really touched on for one week in ‘PR media’,
in a youtube video that I can’t even find anymore!
The truth is that as PR students the skills
we learn not only inform and enrich our public relations work but also our
lives. All the world is our stage.
Until next time!
Natasha Smith
14279030
P.S If anyone has a link to that video
explaining ABC and the Three R’s could you let me know? I think it had a BBC
guy talking about it... or something like that!
