Every so often, someone on the Young PR Pros group at Yahoo! Groups will ask about the qualities needed for someone in public relations.
Yes, there’s the basic writing, spelling and grammar skills needed. But, what else do we need to effectively practice our public relations craft?
Integrity: Whether you work for an agency or an in-house department, there are demands for generating income and showing value for your work. That’s fine. But, if you concentrate on those outcomes alone, you likely will fail the integrity test. Provide the best recommendations and counsel you can, and perform your job with passion and honesty to accomplish your clients’ or your employer’s objectives. Focus on doing what’s right, and the income and value will follow.
It’s like the job counselors always say: Don’t worry about choosing a job that will make you rich. Focus on doing what you enjoy and love, and the success and satisfaction will follow.
Jeremy Pepper’s post about Ethics and PR Blogging helped plant the seed for this post.
Empathy: Those in public relations and other communications efforts rarely are experts in their various markets. Therefore, to communicate with the customers, prospects, decision-makers and key-influencers, we need to understand them. We need to research their needs, and put ourselves in their shoes. Otherwise, what we do is at best an educated guess. Being empathic includes communicating with media. (See one of my early posts on working with the media.)
Curiosity (okay, nosiness): This plays into being empathic. Since we are rarely experts for the clients and companies we work for, we have to want to dig to learn what the sales and technical people know. Read/View the media that reach prospects and customers. Stay in contact with the people who work with customers and prospects day-in and day-out. Talk with the customers yourself. Inquire.
Be open-minded: It means more than being curious. It means being open to new ideas and ways to do things. Just because you were successful with a trade show plan last year, doesn’t mean you have to follow the same path this year. How are the objectives for this year’s show different? Don’t stick your nose up at new technology. You don’t have to immediately embrace it, but you should be aware of it — and use it when appropriate.
So, do you have the right stuff?
What other qualities should PR practitioners posses?
– Mike
Technorati tags: public relations, PR
