Advice to PR & Marketing students

on Jun 18 in PR-Marketing tagged advice, marketing, public relations by Jon Ray

This was originally written as advice to PR & Marketing majors at the University of Texas in response to the question, “What advice would you give to students going into the PR & Marketing field?”

• If you’re doing it right, PR is one of the most fun jobs you could ever dream of having. If you’re doing it wrong, you will hate it. Make sure you’re doing it right.
• Don’t take on clients that you do not believe in or feel passionate about. Working on campaigns that you are not passionate about it a one-way street to failure.
• Don’t spread yourself too thin. It is better to charge more money and give one client the time and attention that a good PR campaign needs than to charge too little, take on many clients and then do a mediocre job for them all. One happy client and successful campaign is more valuable than a million mediocre ones.
• Have fun. When you stop having fun, reevaluate what you are doing. PR is supposed to be fun.
• Make yourself an expert. Act as if.
• Never stop learning.
• Don’t be afraid of standing up for an idea you believe in. I hear a lot of stories about people, just out of college, that go to work for a firm and have a senior PR rep that shuts down every idea they have. First off, that is a terrible environment to work in, so get out. But, while you’re there, never be afraid to stand up for your idea. Many old school PR people are so ingrained in the way things have always been done, that a lot of times they don’t realize there is a new, better, more innovative way to get your message out to the people. If you have a good idea, don’t let someone shut it down. Fight for it. No one gets fired for having good ideas.