European languages map

In these days of continual learning getting an edge, opening up new opportunities and have a more fulfilling career is a mantra of many PR professionals.

But will a new language offer the return on investment?

The answer is: it might.

English is the business lingua franca for now and consequently it is the de facto PR lingua franca (if there is such a thing).

However, in international campaigns the copy needs to be in the local language.  In Brazil, it should be in Brazilian Portuguese rather than the European version.

This requires more than just a grasp of a new language.

To be a C2 (native speaker standard) is exceedingly hard to attain for those learning a language – few really achieve it that have not completed degrees or lived immersed in a foreign culture for a number of years.

It means that you have to use local language skills and additionally know-how of the media landscape.  It is possible though to achieve results from afar albeit with limits.

So is it worth learning a language for PR?

Well many companies internationally work in English.  In Berlin for instance many PR and marketing jobs (often start-up or e-commerce) are conducted in English.

Nevertheless to be able to converse in a foreign business environment is important and is often appreciated.  It might swing an interview and open up more opportunities.

However, it is the PR skill that is key: digital, social media, knowledge of sector.  The language comes second if you don’t have the business skills.

It costs money and time to realise a second language.

It is worth it if you enjoy it and get something out of learning about new cultures and wish to travel.  This reason alone is enough.

For business, for English speakers it is a useful addition, it could make a career but unless something specific is being aimed for it might well not.

It is not however essential for most PR professionals.

There has been an inkling of a trend towards PR jobs taking on more marketing communications responsibilities.

I cannot say it was more than a feeling.

But I came across this article in PR Week from October 2012 that seemed to crystallise those thoughts a little more.

For B2B clients the recession has concentrated minds even more on ROI although it was always important.

PR can generate valuable SEO content, links, downloads, branding, Google profile and leads of course.

However the perception is often that PR is a branding exercise alone although this is outdated thinking.

B2B companies that are not of a more substantial size need their marketing needs dealt with as much as their reputation management.

I am helping implement a new website and often help with social media and copy and occasionally marketing strategy – a much misunderstood and vital skill for PR professionals and everyone else.

Those skills that I had left behind and thoughts peripheral now are proving useful again.

So the PR Week article pointing to a merging of roles and more marketing responsibilities being placed on PR professionals is no surprise.

Is it the way things are going?

Perhaps PR professionals want to be marketing heads and not a subset of marketing.

Will PR professionals have to be marketers as well however much they want to remain pure PR practitioners?  They might have no choice.

I thought I would write down my take on advice for a career in PR that I wish I had received when I started.

I’m not heading up communications for Coca Cola, which is lucky because I don’t intend to, and I don’t always practice what I preach either.

However I think some points will hit a chord.

I wish I had someone whisper it to me when I was at school, and college and after leaving college although I am sure that this thinking would not have been common back then.  I cannot say that I would have listened.

I don’t altogether like the 10 tips evangelists and gurus.  Sometimes they seem a little glib.  However, if you bear with me then I think I have a point and would like feedback.

A little foresight is a wonderful thing

If knowledge and experience was given early on it would make life much easier, but it is rarely the case for most of us.

“Life’s tragedy is that we get old to soon and wise too late.” Benjamin Franklin

Anyway, I am making my Spanish learning comeback and the process of learning a foreign language is actually a useful mirror for reflecting on many (not all) aspects of PR careers.

My PR tips

These are my thoughts in staying afloat / building / continuing / soaring in a PR or marketing career (as currently influenced by learning Spanish):

Enjoy it – If you don’t enjoy it then it is going to be hard work.  So enjoy it or pick something else.

Skills – Like grammar, you need the framework and in this sense IT skills are key.  I don’t mean MS Office (as important as it is as this should be standard); I mean skills that differentiate you and help you function more effectively.  Hence I am going to improve my WordPress skills in the near future.

It goes without saying that good English is crucial.

Languages – Will Spanish or German, or if you have 4 years or so to learn Mandarin, help?  It could.  However many PR professionals cannot express themselves in more than English.  (I have seen a recent release that put that minimal assumption to the test).

Languages  are worth doing for many reasons that do not include career motives.  Yes, it might really help although I know plenty of successful people in PR and marketing that are not multilingual.

Reading – I read a piece by a PR professional where he recounted asking what interviewees would reply to the question: “What are you reading?”

Most would say something to show their utter dedication to PR along these lines: “I am too busy to read, I am so committed to my job!”

This immediately lost them any chance of progress to the next round.  You should read widely and be insatiably curious.

Sector knowledge – I think PR professionals that have in-depth sector knowledge can have a huge advantage.

If you can combine bio-science with communications, you will be in demand.

If you are less technical then industry knowledge is also important, say legal sector.  Make a niche your own if you can.

Specialise – Following on from the above, if someone is an expert in professional services, brilliant, and if he or she is an expert in financial PR than that could be better still if you can combine the PR skills with the sector knowledge.

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PR Week has an interesting piece about the move from PR into broader marketing roles.

With particular reference to in-house, it says that high level PR roles are much reduced when compared to last year (40% reduction for Q3 year on year).

This is in part recession, in part possibly a change of business culture and the skills that PR professional can bring to broader amrekting roles.  Click on the above link to get a fuller picture.

Simon Sproule, Corporate vice-president, global marketing comms, Nissan make an interesting point that is worth pointing out:

“Many comms challenges no longer fit neatly into either a marketing or PR category. Every time we approach a product launch, comms should be approaching it with a 360- degree integrated approach and communal budget, rather than thinking which area [marketing or PR] needs it most.”

Could it be that PR and marketing roles are merging and that public relations professionals are aspiring to the Chief Marketing Officer roles?

Stats are still unconvincing but perhaps PR Week is onto something.

Social media salaries can be attractive to say the least.  But is this a transitory stage of the social media profession, one where things might not remain so upbeat for those making a career in this brave new world?  I think it might be.

Social media is at a stage where there is a notable skills gap but also a desire or pressure on companies to “join the conversation.”  Add a lack of resource, time and staff that understand social media and you have a recipe for over inflated wages surely?

Outsource to an agency to run everything and bills can mount up quickly.

But can this state of affairs exist for long, probably not.

The reasons for this seem fairly evident:

• Social media is becoming more familiar to non-marketing professionals and those that might be seen as keepers of the blog or Twitter page that already reside in the business.
• More and more younger professionals, having grown up with social media, are available and are willing to work for quite low wages in many cases
• The ROI has not been proved to many businesses and so they are unwilling to pay large sums

So perhaps the days of outsourcing community management projects are coming to an end for all but the big brands, and social media will become part of a PRs or marketer’s role in SMEs.

Indeed, at a recent CIM talk on social media benchmarking an attendee from a leisure company complained that he was being quoted the princely sum of £700 a month!

It does not seem an unreasonable sum to outsource social media all in.

What it shows is in this one instance the value of social media to a company, and a director level professional’s appraisal of its worth.

(That is not to say that a manager of blue chip accounts with the attendant pressure might not command attractive wages).

While agency social media roles look attractive at present, surely that will erode for many.  The question is will it be quick or slow?

PR apprenticeships for those that do not want to go to university seems like an ideal opportunity, a fantastic initiative, on the surface that is above criticism or real examination.

Surely the agency gets a hungry new member of staff on an attractive wage for the agency of £2.65, approximately £5165 annual salary for a 37.5 hour week?  Additionally, there are grants available such as the AGE grant of £1,500 and New Economy Grant for an additional £1,000.

The programme runs for 12 to 18 months, a creditable amount of time. All apprentices will be over 16, although the majority will be between 19 and 24.

Every apprentice will have 2 weeks of full time training at the start of the programme, followed by 12 to 18 months of day release training. The Higher Apprenticeship in Public Relations is a Level 4 programme, equivalent to first year degree level.

All apprentices and their employers will be fully supported in the workplace by mentors – a point that deserves praise.

In this age where university education is prohibitively expensive for many, where some do not want to go onto higher education and jobs are scarce for popular careers, this seems like a brilliant and timely scheme, especially in an era of swingeing cuts.

So why not full hearted praise?

There are a few reasons that should be noted:

Firstly, someone entering the world of business as young as 16 might not be a boon to a PR agency.  Have they developed the intellectual capacity as well as the personal skills to a standard that shows promise?

Maybe not, but this is what an apprenticeship is all about isn’t it, to develop the raw material?

Yes, but someone going into B2B PR, for instance, without any experience outside GCSEs or A levels and a classroom is going to find it difficult and perhaps are not going to give much back within 18 months.

Experience and life skills are hard won and can be applied to the PR world, but rarely in those so young.

I might add that I receive CVs with spelling errors, poor covering letters and no initiative to follow-up from those with more experience and so you wonder about those at 16, 17, 18, 19 having been taught or learnt simple courtesies, skills and common sense.

While the issue of young people has been highlighted in the media and it is one of concern, there are many people that the PR industry should consider that fall outside the remit of this initiative.

Much potential can be found in people switching careers in their 20s, 30s, 40s – and why not later?  Someone that has worked in law or engineering or the life sciences and switches to PR brings a wealth of knowledge that cannot be picked up by someone that has a PR degree.

And what about graduates in PR internships – sometimes a few weeks of work experience – working for little financial reward?  They have spent thousands on an education, invested time in their own growth and might be pushed out by such a scheme.

It probably all comes down to life being unfair on this point, and in a recession this is exaggerated.

PR apprenticeships are to be welcomed, it is something very positive at a time when youth unemployment is simply unacceptable.

Yet, there is a worry that there are issues that are somehow being missed in apprenticeships, the PR sector needs to be more open in recruiting, looking at skills, personal characteristics and experience and not the closed outlook it can have.

For those wanting to learn more click here about Higher PR apprenticeships, those looking to work for Manchester PR agencies click here or e-mail Erika erika.smallridge@pearson.com, and good luck!

The PR jobs divide between the North and South is still strong and is likely to remain so

If you take a look at PR jobs listings in the UK you could be forgiven for thinking that if you want the best chance of reaching your career potential in the industry you have to be in the South East.

This is not to say that high quality PR professionals cannot be found north of the Watford Gap. And indeed, the public relations offering from provincial PR agencies can often be of better standard and value than simply selecting the default London or home counties PR option.

Take a look at the roles in PR Week, on the Chartered Institute of Public Relations website or an other jobsite and it is hard not to take away the impression that the quality and quantity of South East PR jobs opportunities exceeds those of the rest of the UK combined.

While some will say this is not an earth shattering discovery, the question is for those not wishing to take the PR shilling and venture south, can they have as fulfilling career (in general) as those pursuing their goals in the South East?

Please note the for tech PR and especially financial PR the industry is so embedded in the capital (and surrounding counties) as to make it hard not to spend some time learning and practicing those particular PR jobs there although it is not all impossible.

Will a London or home counties based PR during their careers outperform their northern counterparts simply because the centre of so many sectors still is centred in the same region, despite small shifts of power such as Media City coming north to Manchester?

The title sounds harsh  for those desparately looking to break into PR, but I have had another e-mail requesting work experience / job from a “student” that has not bothered to check his or her spelling, conducted, at a push, cursory research or even said why they are interested in “photography” and what he or she can offer – I mean, have you taken a picture, what do you like taking pictures of, can I see one?

Moreover, “experience” was spelt wrong on the e-mail and I am an anonymous “sir” or “madam,” (lower case on opening) -  I obviously don’t have a name as everyone I know in PR is actually is called “sir” or “madam” so it makes perfect sense.

I was asked for work experience in photography, I know professional photographers but there is not one reference to me being a photographer although I do like taking the occasional snap, so well spotted.

If I had been called I could have made a call to photographers I know, should I be impressed (as I was by a little initiative last week).

Now I have to take pity as this e-mail was from a parent – I attach no blame to the high school student.

So with that in mind I will refer all requests that cannot get past GCSE level to the following:

Things not to do, and a few things you should do, when approaching a PR agency for work experience /work

Thing to do when approaching a PR agency for work

I am getting fed-up – in the last 6 years I have had one really good speculative approach.

When I have given pointers to other agencies that might be able to help or advice given with genuine empathy (as I was once looking for opportunities) I have had a few acknowledgments of thanks but not many.

Is this really the standard one expects of students or indeed more mature adults?

If you are looking to break into PR, one of the most sought after careers, then make sure you get the basics right.

It is more about quality of applciation than sending it to everyone with any distant relationship to the PR profession.

Matt Hackett, a stalwart at the north’s largest digital, marketing and creative recruitment Orchard gives an insight into the state of the recruitment market.

Is it time to jump back in?

If you want to know, listen to Matt’s view – click here

Do you like the title?  Yes?  No?  As long as you care one way or another, I am happy.

What am I alluding to anyway?  Stick around, this is going somewhere….I think.

I went to see Owl City the other night in Manchester.  Not a bad gig, quite good in fact.  But the interesting thing here is Adam Young the originator of Owl City.

Adam was working at a Coca Cola warehouse and was suffering from insomnia.

He pushed his energies into recording in his parents’ basement and from there placed his work on MySpace and is now on the verge of something quite big – he is already signed and touring the world.

What got me is that ten years ago – broadband  BC – Adam would have had to impress a record label and gig incessantly to achieve success, struggle perhaps for years.

Here is an example one of many perhaps – where someone has had the tools to take their destiny in their hands (if that doesn’t sound hackneyed).

Adam could build his reputation online until the decision makers of the world took note.  He could take control.

I am waxing lyrical.  But when I graduated many years ago I had a CV to impress, something that could be easily binned without consideration – and why should it be any other way?  It offered little at first.

Now we can build reputations and relationships online.  The human element is important, but we can make a start.

Graduates trying to break into highly competitive careers at a time of high youth unemployment might feel  like giving up – save yourself the pain.  I did, at first.

But is it possible that you could be proactive:

• blog about your career aspirations, and your chosen profession – show off your insight, or at least build it
• read decision makers’ blogs and leave intelligent comments – and when the time is right ask for a meeting, not an interview
• use twitter to initiate conversations with key parties

• and no harm on going on LinkedIn to find out who the decision makers are

If you can and have an idea why bother with decision makers?  What is the worse that can happen?  You fail at 22!  Who couldn’t forgive that if you have conducted yourself  in a manner that is honest?

Why not create your job?  Find a gap in the market, a need and fill it.  Where can you add value?  Alright, not so easy, but it can be done.

Be creative, do research.  The world is more diverse in terms of opportunities and services needed.  There needn’t be the barriers to entry for newer professions.  Who would have thought of being an SEO professional 10 years ago? – not many at all.

We have to accept that there might not with jobs for us.  We have to see if we can do it ourselves.

It is hard.  But anything in life worth doing is hard.  Yes, I don’t have to take my own advice.  But I did when I said – and others who supported told me – “you can do it for yourself.”

Adam Young did it – there is no reason why many, many others cannot do it in many, many fields.