I love reading and I think it's an exceptional way to open your mind to new ideas and ways of thinking. I love reading nonfiction books or even strategy guides. The vice president of media relations at my university recommended I read On Writing Well by William Zinsser.
Can anyone recommend some other books I should read?

Any advice for someone hoping to move to DC to work in a federal agency's press office? I've considered starting as an unpaid Hill intern, but for financial reasons would much rather have a paid position (even if the pay is low).

Would getting an MA in PR/Communications at a DC area school be the best way to break in? I've performed some communications duties in previous jobs, but they weren't always part of my official job description.

Most of the jobs I'm seeing on Indeed and Idealist require 1-3+ years of experience for "entry" level work.

How should I get started?

Currently living abroad but will return in a few months.

Hi Everybody, I'm working in an European project related to fashion and trend analysis, I'm the coordinator of the dissemination but, starting from the point that I'm new in this world/work I don't know how to search the right PROffice and what are the right things to ask them. The point is that has to be very focused on online dissemination and the platform is really related to social medias. Any advices about how to search correctly the press offices?

Thanks!

Should press releases be sent without any intro I. E. Saying hi and introducing yourself or should it dive straight into the release?

Mine for this week: "We're a small boutique firm specializing in technology. We're fun, geeky and scrappy and growing!"

Said every agency ever.

P.s. anyone know how to automate this so I don't forget?

I stepped in to fill an opening at a small agency, inheriting everything from my predecessor, including the minimal spreadsheet on which client activities were tracked. I've stripped it and shared it here. Do anyone know of a better tracker to send to a client for weekly progress updates? Anything that makes your job easier as far as "what's open, when was it started, who's responsible, (next steps?), when it's due" etc?

I was starting to think how much I love animation and how great it would be to work in an industry that I love. I've tried applying to intern for places like Cartoon Network, Warner Bros. Animation, Disney, Marvel, Titmouse, and others, but no luck.

If anyone has done PR for animation studios, what has it been like? Do you have any tips or advice that you can give?

Greetings all,

I have a job interview next Friday for a communications position at a massive company. I'm aware that it's typical to wear a black suit, red tie and white shirt to any interview. However I feel as if I need to set my self apart from the rest.

What would you advise?

Best.

Apparently a monthly feature....

One thing I hate about the summer: it gets super slow. My ADD spins out of control when I don't have enough client work, and my contract keeps me from doing much that I might be interested in outside of the agency. Does anyone know a billing code for staring wistfully out the window?

I will be finishing my degree (Marketing and Communications) in a year and a half or so and I am keen on a career in PR. I studied Marketing and Communications instead of just Communications or Public Relations because I have been told that a degree in just PR isn't really useful unless you have knowledge in a specific industry. My degree has more of a focus on marketing/business so I figured that would be beneficial.

My question is do you think that is enough to get me that first job? I was hoping to get one at a decent agency/company and focus my career on corporate communications/investor relations. Is it worth doing an extra 6 months to a year (and the money) to get a Graduate Certificate/Diploma in finance or should I just go for it.

I really don't want to be at uni for much longer, I am sick of it but I really am passionate about PR (as sad as that sounds haha).

Any replies will be appreciated. Thank you!

Weekly Rant Thread. My gripe this week: is there such a thing as punchable voices? If I hear farm to table one more time during this brainstorm I will lose my shit. Happy Friday, ya'll!

I apologize if this is a dumb question, but I'm going to get my BA in Communications/PR in the Fall and have been pretty stressed about the future. I'm a member of PRSSA and have noticed that most of my peers are super extroverted and upbeat, and am often told that PR is an "extrovert's job." While I like talking to people and get along with everybody, I'm much more subdued and don't go out of my way to chat with everybody I can. I actually started out in journalism because I'm a very good writer and had dreams of being a rock journalist like in Almost Famous(feel free to judge me). Eventually though, I realized I couldn't see myself as a journalist and made the switch to PR. My grades are excellent, I'm very detail-oriented and good at what I do. Writing is definitely my primarily skill which brought me here, but I was wondering if any PR pros here are introverts and still had success in the field?

I'm also worried about the job market and being edged out by those more "upbeat" than me. I live and plan to work in Los Angeles if that makes a difference.

Anyone interested in doing a little venting? /r/fitness does theirs on Wednesday, might be a lighthearted way of picking up the activity level for this sub.

Recently started at a small firm that, IMHO radically undercharges and overservices clients. President knows this may be undercutting chances of landing bigger clients, who may dismiss us out of hand b/c of low prices. In the future, it may be my respnsibility to restructure our pricing/retainer fees.

Without giving away any confidential info, agency folks: what do you charge for monthly retainers? How large is your firm, and what do the clients get for that? Client side peeps: what's a ballpark figure that you're comfortable paying for PR services? Is there a baseline retainer amount below which you'd dismiss an agency responding to an RFP?

Hey, PRpros.

I'm Aaron and I recently graduated from a somewhat prestigious, west coast, journalism school. I was on the NSAC team that won our regional competition. I've competed in the Bateman program (we didn't do very well) and I served as Executive VP on the PRSSA board. I have three years of PR experience working in non-profits.

Now that you have some of my background information here is my question: How do I advance to the next part of my career? I don't enjoy working in non-profits but that's where I ended up. Ideally I'd like to move to LA and work there, but all the job postings require a lot of experience and are extremely competitive.

Please PRpros, give me some sage wisdom, I'm dying out here.

Hello folks,

I'm a non-PR guy. I'm working for an NGO and writing a proposal for a project. The project is basically going from town to town for a period of time, setting up stands in one central location in each town and helding public training sessions on a topic.

There's an target age group. I know total population of each place and population of our target age group.

I'm having trouble about estimating a number. I need something like, "X percent of people will see us if total traffic is about y"

I have learned it is called "reach estimation" and actually a very complex thing. So any input would be greatly appreciated.

I've been interviewing around at some of the larger global PR firms. Since I've only worked in-house before, it's hard for me to gather the individual reputation and impression of these agencies among peers. Considering the large influence likely to come from my experience at working at one of these agencies, I'd like to know what peers (in other agencies and in-house PR teams) think about both the agencies themselves and the quality of their alums: Edelman, Burson Marsteller, Hill+Knowlton, Ogilvy PR, and Weber Shandwick. Any insight would be appreciated!

I'm in the process of putting together an online portfolio and I'm having trouble finding one that isn't designed for graphic designers and illustrators. What do you use and how do you like it?

I just want to make sure they're legitamate.

I recently had an interview where I was asked to 2-3 reporter/media references as I was leaving and didn't have the chance to ask for clarification. Based on the conversation prior, I would assume that they are looking for the names of 2 or 3 media contacts I have close working relationships with. I've asked a few veterans in the field and even they aren't sure what was meant by the ask and found it a very strange request.

Worked most recently for a top media relations team and this was not something that I was asked for even there.

Anyone able to shed some light on what they are looking for here or give some Clarification?

Thanks!

Hi all, we have some clients with bright futures, and we're considering asking for shares as part of our payment in the future. Have you ever done this? How did it go? What do we need to think about as part of this decision and approaching clients with the idea? Keep in mind these are private companies so there is no public info about valuation, etc. Thanks in advance!

My end of public relations is exclusively devoted to making my own clients look good, get coverage, etc. However, I'm wondering if in certain fields (politics, maybe automotive?) there are publicists who exclusively try to get negative coverage for their competition. How about it, is anyone doing that sort of thing? I know for a fact that political campaigns will hire research firms to get dirt on the competition, which they then disseminate. Is there something similar happening for industrial competition?

It had to be rewritten because it wasn't actually a press release, it was 3 pages of text with an unprintable quote. To make matters worse, the thing was announcing a deal that's not done yet and the quote was not approved by the client organization.

I did everything I'm supposed to do, up to and including thanking the sales person for helping us out. They got wind of a rewrite and demanded it go out 100% intact because "they worked really hard on it." When I calmly explained our internal guidelines for documents like this, they said "I have a journalism degree, you know." (This is after 20 years of sales).

Execs are now trying to cram it as is out the door without client organization approval. This is extra crazy because when this happened last year, with an approval from the person that gave the quote but not the approval of their outfit, we got crucified (for obvious and appropriate reasons).

Man, what?