Why PR consultants have multiple jobs at the same time

The goal of every PR agency is to provide its clients with professional support in communication matters and thus contribute to the overall success of the company. In addition, the agency itself should grow in terms of turnover and personnel. As in all industries, the best business plan can only be implemented if you have the right people at your side - whether in acquisition, in the back office or in consulting. We want to take a closer look at the latter in this blog.

Like other areas in the media landscape, public relations per se is not a "rocket science" for which you need a double doctorate. Nevertheless, the requirements for PR consultants are high, because they should have several qualities at the same time. In other words: Yield does not hire "penguins". Swift as an arrow and elegant in the water, they are very wobbly on their feet on land. Amphibians who combine the best of both worlds are better suited for moving around in the PR landscape. Because good PR consultants combine several professions. They are...

...resourceful management consultants

The core PR business consists of advising clients on public perception and improving it. In this respect, PR consultants are business consultants. Together with the company to be advised, they define goals and propose a plan of action to achieve them. Subsequently, they keep a close eye on the current progress.

...passionate authors

PR cooperation at Yield almost always goes beyond consulting, as PR consultants are also responsible for the execution of the measures. As far as media relations are concerned, this classically includes the preparation of press releases, guest articles and other written forms. PR consultants must not only be grammatically and vocabulary-wise up to scratch, but also have experience in the professional preparation of texts, so a background in journalism is definitely helpful. After all, it is also journalists who are to be enthused about a topic. In order not to end up in the email waste basket, texts must clearly stand out from others in the inboxes. In addition to a suitable choice of topics and attractive textual "packaging", precision (and proofreading) is also particularly important.

...persuasive communicators

The days when communication was only about sending written documents are long gone. The ideal PR consultant does not shy away from real or virtual conversations, whether by (video) call or in a coffee house. She or he can get journalists excited about issues and convince them. A certain persistence is necessary, because sending out a press release is not enough. Journalists receive hundreds of e-mails a day and are not infrequently even grateful if you point out interesting topics again and exchange information with them at regular intervals.

...#SocialMediaProfessionals

PR consultants also feel at home in the virtual world, which is another important calling card of modern PR. Yield has specialists in-house to implement our clients' social media campaigns, but all staff should still be familiar with the basics and how social media works.

...reliable organisers

Ultimately, PR consultants are responsible for bringing companies and media representatives together. This often happens in the form of interviews, press talks, editorial tours or press conferences. These formats are only successful if they are planned in a structured way right from the start. This begins with the planning of dates and topics, continues with invitation management and on-site moderation and support and, last but not least, includes careful follow-up with the aim of reporting on an event or its topic.

...good salespeople

PR consultants do not walk around with a visible belly-load. Nevertheless, they are always salespeople as well. On the one hand, topic proposals for articles, guest contributions or interviews have to be "sold", i.e. convincingly offered. But good PR consultants are also good salespeople in other respects. They are busy, get into conversation quickly at events and therefore often exchange ideas with decision-makers looking for professional public relations. Then they slip into the position of salesperson and drive word of mouth.

Those who love and are good at all these activities are tailor-made for the PR industry. Talents don't have to be equally strong in all the different areas, but PR consultants' skills should at least be very solid across the board.

We've already touched on this briefly: In the next blog post, I will go into more detail about why good PR consultants make wonderful social media marketers.