I frequently hear from in-house PR pros that their talents are underutilized at work. The truth is that unless your manager is or once was a communications professional, she probably doesn’t actually know how to best use your skill set, let alone take your career to the next level. Don’t take it personally; one doesn’t know what one doesn’t know. Rather than be sad about it, you should view this as an opportunity to “manage up.”

The most successful PR folks I know have paved their own career path by respectfully teaching their boss, boss’ boss and team members how to make the most of a communicator’s talents. Here’s how:

Show up with your own agenda, get buy-in; then, get to work: you are a professional communicator, which means not an hour goes by without you thinking about something creative, strategic or worth investigating. Take the time to map out those thoughts and put them on paper. Be specific about your goal, tactics, timeline and deliverables. Then, schedule a meeting with your manager and present your plan. I’ll bet you a latte that memo gets the greenlight. More importantly, you’ve proven you are proactive and thoughtful. And if your ideas are successful, you’ll make your boss look like a rock star–and she didn’t have to lift a finger. That means the next time you present a memo, she’s even more likely to approve it.

Take care of your boss(es): managing up is only successful when your manager trusts you. Your actions must prove that you are always acting in her/the company’s best interest. It’s often the little things, like reminding her of deadlines and helping her avoid office drama, that will assure her you’re not trying to take her job; you are simply striving to be fantastic at your own. I can’t stress this one enough. If your managing up is seen as an attempt at mutiny or to disable company hierarchy, you will fail. Read More…

A cricket: don't be one.

Reaching out to other folks for career help and advice is a wonderful thing, but be sure you’re giving back, too.

If you email someone and ask them to critique your resume, be sure to thank them for their time and follow up with a note (or several) about your success. PR peeps do this with me all the time and I really appreciate the fact that I’m not just a one-and-done to them; the majority keep me posted on their job hunt and lessons learned. It’s nice.

There will also be times you’ll want to email folks and ask for advice in general. “How do I move to a new city for a gig?” or “How do I know I’ll like PR?” and “What books and blogs should I read to learn more about social media?”

I get these questions a lot through LinkedIn and my blog’s comment form. I love that people–especially recent grads–understand how important it is to solicit advice and such from folks who’ve been around the block before. But these general question-ers tend to also be the folks that hit you with 10 questions, get an immediate response from folks like me, and then…

{crickets chirping} Read More…

I’ve been in DC nearly a year and have learned that, much like my home town of Nashville, you never know who you’ll run into at any given moment and what that person may mean to your career.

That gal–the one who just asked for your business card, but you told her you didn’t have one–might be your future boss. Rather, she might have been your future boss, but she doesn’t have your number.

There’s a movement around town that I’m happy to see: recent grads,  laid-off folks, freelance PR pros and/or people like me who work for a company that understandably doesn’t want us mixing business with pleasure, are creating personal business cards.

Most folks’ cards are designed and ordered at places like Moo.com. If you’re me, you’ve got a talented hubby who designed them for you. Either way, this mini, paper you should communicate: Read More…

When’s the last time you loved on your LinkedIn profile? Believe it or not, HR recruiters really do use it to scout prospects. Does your profile paint a relevant picture of the professional you?

If you haven’t laid eyes on your profile in a while, stroll on over and take 30 minutes to freshen it up with these three improvements:

1. Create a thoughtful “summary” – also known as a bio, these paragraphs should explain how talented and experienced you are, while also hinting at your fabulous personality.  Don’t be afraid to share with the reader the kinds of work you most enjoy. For example, my profile says, “Margie most enjoys cause-related public relations…” It’s also nice to talk about your community service work, or other relevant extracurricular activities. Oh, and when you are finished be sure to add your skills to the “specialties” box. Read More…

The good folks over at Green Buzz Agency gave me a chance to pen a guest post about the makings of an effective PR pro. The Green Buzz-ers are digital media strategists and fellow DC Flacks; thanks to the Internet, Tod and I have bonded over our passion for pixels (and basketball).

Here’s the original post as it appears on their blog; throw some feedback at me in the comments!

Three Signs You’ve Found an Excellent PR Firm or Consultant

Not all public relations practitioners (a.k.a. flacks) are created equal. I can say that because I am one. Day after day, I see folks out there giving my craft a bad name. Fortunately, there are many great PR pros who will ethically and strategically work to advance your goals. The good flacks serve as knowledgeable, curious and creative partners. Here are three signs you’ve found one: Read More…

When faced with a challenge or presented with a goal, are you the task giver/taker or the strategist? Or even better, are you both?

Strategic action, as opposed to reaction, will set you apart from the rest, particularly if you are among the under 30 set.

Training your brain to think strategically requires a good deal of applicable practice. I’m sure there was someone born into this world a strategist, but I can tell you I’ve never met an individual who inherently sees the world at 30,000 feet and can articulate an action plan that leads others to that end. Those who posses that skill learned it and earned it, so find yourself a strategist and pay close attention. I’m learning more and more every day and it’s liberating.

A great strategic thinker will make you stop and ask yourself, “how does he think of that stuff?” and “how does she always remember to consider that audience?” Their secret weapon is a unique knowledge base that affords them insight into various audiences, situations, facts and possibilities – and they’ve most likely been at it for a while.

Don’t get me wrong, I love me some young, Gen-Y, driven, smart folk. BUT there is still something to be said for learning from someone in the industry whose life experience has morphed her into a business-minded, results-driven visionary. This will always be true, no matter how old you get and how much you learn. So, seek out a mentor.

Like anything that matters, the coveted skill of thinking, planning and leading strategically is crafted over time. Careful though, you don’t want to lose that attention to detail we talked about earlier. Find the balance and you’ll start turning heads, folks. Just say’n.

Do you have a strategic mentor? Do you even want one? Share your thoughts in the comments…

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I didn’t stay on the corporate side long before being called over to Hall Strategies, but while I was there I did learn a tremendous lesson in having something thoughtful to add to every meeting, every question asked of me and every query for ideas.

From the moment I walked in the door, Jen was in my ear reminding me that when someone asked what I thought they actually did expect to hear my opinion. “Because if you don’t have anything to add, why are you here?” she’d quip. (She feels the same about peer-reviewing documents for folks, too.)

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat in meetings or strategy sessions with folks and they’ve never said a peep. Not a word. I’m not implying they should all be Chatty Cathy, but to contribute NOTHING? I just don’t get it.

And I’m not alone. An out of state friend told me several weeks ago that flacks from PR firm she contracts with kept bringing an extra woman to meetings and work sessions. “I can’t for the life of me figure out why she’s there. She’s never said one word and I have no clue what she does for us.”

Is this you? It used to be me before Jen showed me the light several years ago. Folks who know me are surely thinking, “HAHA! Like you’ve ever NOT had something to say, Margie.” And that’s true. I’m quite talkative, but I used to bring nothing more than a pen and paper to meetings. I was not a contributor because I was intimidated by the thought of saying something incoherent.

I was a task taker, not a strategy suggester. But people kept looking at me like, “um, why are you here?” So, I gave it a shot one day and found that folks were actually nodding their heads in agreement. It was a welcome value-add; it was a good feeling.

That day I gained the courage to be a thoughtful contributor. Today, I’m encouraging you to have something of value to add to the conversation, to bring something meaningful the table, to connect some dots for people.

Be a contributor! Ask the question others have not asked, or make a factual statement about logistics, finances or communication strategy. Not for the sake of saying something, but for the good of the project.

Nobody wants to the be mystery guest at the conference table.

You like it, you love it, you want some more of it:

• You talk for a living so speak up (www.flackrabbit.com)
  

Over the holidays I read The Fall of Advertising & The Rise of PR, by Al and Laura Ries. I don’t recommend you buy it and read it; it’s a much better library check out and scan type book.

For one thing, it was published in 2002, which makes reading it’s tales of Segway, Pets.com and The Red Tent pretty boring and stale.

Also, it’s clear the authors are terribly sad to see the age of advertising slip away and do not see a value in PR. I’m not even sure why PR is in the title, honestly. Here’s a gem from Chapter 9, page 85. Emphasis mine:

Perception is the name of the game, and advertising is perceived as the only way to create a better perception. Not true, but that the perception.

And that better alternative is publicity or, as its practitioners like to call it, PR, or public relations.

Whatever you all the function (publicity, PR, or public relations), the objective is the same. Tell your story indirectly through third-party outlets, primarily the media.

There are many disadvantages to PR. You can’t control the content, you can’t control the timing, and you can’t control the visual appearance of your message. You can’t even be sure that any of your messages will be delivered.

But the one advantage of PR makes up for all of its disadvantages. PR has credibility, advertising does not.

Gosh, too bad PR only has ONE advantage. How the heck would ANYONE hope to build up sincere media relationships that will one day help get your message out? If only there was a person one could turn to for media strategy and message control! (sigh).

Clearly, I’m still processing the tone and take-away message of this book. It has been on my read list for a while, which is why I’m sort of bitter about how disappointing the read was.

What about you? Have you read it? What lessons did you learn?

More importantly: Do you agree that PR offers no message control and only boasts ONE advantage, credibility?

A friend of mine (swear it wasn’t me) was in a meeting pitching a few communications tactics to a group of technology folk. Bless ‘em.

Among her suggestions of targeted events, story ideas and a strong web presence came her idea to reach out to tech-savvy audiences and media via social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook.

The latter idea fell flat when the man at the head of the table declared:

Twitter is useless. No one cares ‘what you are doing.’ It is has no impact on business.

(sigh)

I was shocked that someone so very smart and tech-ish could just write off a communications channel like that. I kind of feel sorry for him.

I’ll admit that I’ve dealt with clients who have never heard of Twitter and getting them to my comfort level with it and other social networking vehicles is quite tough. But I’ve yet to hear anyone who already knows about Twitter just flat out call it “useless.”

“Not appropriate for our target audience,” sure. But “useless”?

You, techy-sir, are smarter than that and you are paying this gal to tell your story in the most strategic, results-generating way possible. Why do you torment her?

The very essence of public relations is to focus on a message and communicate that message to the intended audience via whatever communication channel that public uses/views as valid. I’ll tell a client’s story with smoke signals if that’s what I’ve got to do.

So, if even a handful of your audience is on Twitter then it cannot be called useless.

It’s not that I’m in love with Twitter (wait, actually, I sort of am), it’s that I’m not comfortable with blanket generalizations made by smart people. Where would we be if we used these new media tools only for the exact question they were created to answer?

Twitter is a HUGE communication and research vehicle for me. I use it to poll opinion, start debates among my politically passionate friends and even glean column ideas and research for clients.

But that’s just me. Is Twitter a useful business tool for you?

Well said!

Hat tip, Media Bistro/PRNewser

On the importance of candor, from Vegas firm Stern and Company‘s blog:

Whereas marketing and advertising groups must, by definition, be defenders of their specific products, the public relations department has no such mandated allegiance. Public relations should be the corporate conscience. An organization???s public relations professionals should enjoy enough autonomy to tell it to management ???like it is.??? If an idea doesn???t make sense, if a product is flawed, if the general institutional wisdom is wrong, it is the duty of the public relations professional to challenge the consensus. And, in absolute candor, if your company???s PR function isn???t saying ???no??? with great vigor from time to time, you???re probably not being well served and could well be headed for problems.

Who among us hasn’t thought (or maybe even said aloud), “this whole PR viewpoint/opinion thing, it’s what you are paying me for.  If you want a yes man, clearly I’m not the flack for you.”