Oh hey!

I promise I didn’t forget about this blog. I am working on something new and I’m very excited about it. KStewPR took a bit of a backseat but that’s okay. I’ll get some great information up here soon.

Something great (well, I hope so) is coming.

Random thought – I also wish I would’ve bought kstew.com when I had the chance. I would’ve made a nice chunk of change thanks to the Kristen Stewart (the other K-Stew) fame. By nice chunk think thousands of dollars.

KStewPR

Quick Tip – Find Jobs from Twitter

I can’t advocate for Twitter enough especially if you are looking for a job.

Search for #EntryPR and #PRintern on Twitter for job listings, advice and connect with other job seekers.

The Work Juggling Act

I’ve always thought I had a good balance while in school. I made time for class, friends, homework, jobs, errands, clubs and exercise but when I began working full time I saw the balance drastically shift.

My to-do list was longer than ever before and it never seemed to get smaller. I just couldn’t shift things quickly to another time like I did while I was in school. How do you juggle everything when you have so many balls up in the air?

I am afraid its not easy and not the same for everyone. It took me a couple months to get into the swing of a new city and job. Let alone, I had a whole new set of priorities and commitments. 

Get organized. The best way to determine what you need to give up or what to do first is make a to-do list. I am an avid fan of  the to-do list and keep them on color coded Post-Its depending on deadlines/important dates, to-do items, work and home. Seeing a couple of items on a small square makes me feel a lot less busy, a long to do list makes me panic and makes me way more stressed than I need to be from just looking at it. Make sure to cross items off the list too. It makes it feel like your accomplished something and the list is getting smaller. 

Have a plan. Plan out tentative deadlines and when you can accomplish them. Also look at your schedule, if you know you want to meet friends for drinks after work but you have 4 deadlines that night, you might want to reschedule with friends to another date. If you don’t want to change the date, then you should plan ahead by staying a little bit extra time each day to make sure you meet your deadlines or by going into work early. 

Realize you can’t do everything. There will always be a point where you are going to have to make decisions such as a simple one like give up sleep or miss a deadline. You need to decide where your priorities lie. Be don’t be afraid to ask for help meeting a deadline, say “no” or take some time for you. Always be clear about your reasoning behind it and polite. 

Eliminate stress by taking time for you. Make a point to take some time everyday just for you not at work. Go for a walk or run. Go window shopping on your lunch break. Read a book. Watch Lost. By taking that one hour for you away from the office, it helps to eliminate stress and go back to your to-do list with a clear head and more eager to work. You’ll probably get the task done faster than before if you didn’t take the break. 

Don’t forget about the important things. Your health, friends, family and fun are important parts of your life too. Work pays the bill but it is not the only important part of your life. Don’t forget about them. 

Don’t use busy as an excuse. We are all busy, have you ever been in NY? Everyone there is bustling and in a rush. There is always time in the day to take a step back for you for at least one hour to relax, everyone has a lunch break so use it. 

Any other tips on how to find a balance in the crazy circus of life?

[Photo credit: Dani Simmonds]

Twitter For Jobs

Among other things, Twitter has became a great tool for PR, advertising and marketing. Twitter also offers great opportunities for sharing information incuding job opportunities.

Below are some recommended usernames for you to follow to lead you to job postings and hopefully your next job. For example, there is an opening for doing PR for dodgeball from the PRSAJobCenter Twitter feed, how cool is that? Make sure to check them out. 

@PRJobs 

@mediabistro

@PRSAJobCenter 

@SocialMediaJob 

@researchgoddess 

Also make sure to follow your local AMA/PRSA/Ad Club chapter. For example, I follow the Portland PRSA, AMA and Ad Fed. 

@amapdx

@portlandadfed 

@PRSAPDXMetro 

Interested in a certain company? Make sure to follow them to get the inside scoop. 

Follow your college professors. They often hear about opportunities and want to spread the word especially on Twitter. 

Can you recommend anyone else to follow on Twitter to find job information?

Not just tactics

One of the hardest lessons I think I had to learn not only in school but entering the business place with PR plans, is it’s not all about the tactics.

Sure, tactics are great. They are fun to brainstorm and think of fun ideas to help accomplish your plan. You get to be creative and innovative with how to accomplish your objectives.

I am not saying tactics are not important but they aren’t the entire foundation of a public relations plan. Tactics are just a single part of the plan and need to be grounded in strategy, research and reasoning.

When considering social media or any PR tactic, you need to ask yourself some important questions.

• Will this tactic solve my client’s problem? 
• Does this tactic support my objective? Does this tactic work in harmony with other tactics in the campaign?
• Will the target audience respond to this tactic?
• Am I suggesting this tactic because their competitors are doing it? If so, is this the right move for my client? Is there market share available? 
• Is this tactic just the trendy thing to do do right now or will this be valuable to my client’s work?
• Can this tactic be executed on budget with a reasonable time line acceptable to the client?
• Can I measure this tactic? If so, how will I measure it?

I love being an advocate for social media at work. I think the utilization of social media and keeping up with communication trends is crucial in any communication field but if you expect your client to use social media, you need a reason behind it. You need to be able to make the business case and be able to answer every one of those questions. Using social media for the sake of social media is never the answer. 

Hopefully, you’ve done your research and it should be easy to answer all the questions but if not, there is no shame is going back to research more. If you can make a case for what you’re doing, it’ll be not only make your PR plans stronger but it’ll be  a valuable skill to have to get a job and in the workforce. Being able to say you’re familiar with PR tactics is great. Using the tactics, even better. Competent, experienced and able to make a business case on why you used certain tactics over others will make you stand out among a crowd. This skill will become crucial in the workforce so practice it now. 

The day will come when you have to enter a board room full of executives to explain the value of PR, what you’re doing, why it matters, how it will help them and why they should pay you to this will come soon enough. 

Any other questions that should be asked when evaluating tactics on being worthy for the public relations plan? 

[Photo credit: Anthony Carlucci]

February – Bateman Competition Gets Serious

And they’re off. The 2009 PRSSA Bateman Case Study Competition implementation period has begun today. The Bateman Competition allows students to compete against teams across the nation by putting together a public relations campaign. As an alumni to the Bateman Competition, here are some quick tips for this year’s groups:

• Always have a back up plan
• Have you thought about measurement? Do you know how you’re going to measure what you’re doing?
• Strategy comes before tactics
• Start strong and end strong
• Use your resources
• Spend more time working on your campaign than worrying about the other competing campaigns
• Save time to write, format and design the plan
• Be a team player
• If you can’t explain why you’re doing it, don’t do it.
• Don’t forget about social media
• Put aside plenty of this time month for the competition, it always takes way more time than you think
• Work hard on the project and your hard work will pay off
• Don’t miss your deadlines
• You’ll make mistakes, just be ready to move forward from them

 Julia Taylor,  my colleague and a fellow Bateman alumni advises:

• Stay on task.
• Make decisions quickly and act on them.
• Don’t wait too long and fall behind.

Once you’ve submitted your entry  to PRSSA headquarters, celebrate. You and your team did it! Not only do you have an awesome portfolio piece but real life experience to apply to job applications and interviews. All that hard work will pay off, I promise. You might even win some great prize money and national recognition. 

Any other advice you’d like to give to the 2009 Bateman competitors? 

[Photo credit: Kristian 08]

Professional Organizations

If you are thinking about entering a career in PR or marketing, I would recommend checking out some professional organizations at your school or community.  Although membership dues can be a little expensive, there are a lot of benefits that come with your membership including exclusive job banks, newsletters, networking opportunities, discounts, scholarships, awards, professional development workshops and access to mentors.  It is a great opportunity to get a leg up on the job competition and become a better at what you do. Becoming a member shows you are interested in continual learning and becoming a better professional. If you lack experience in internships, become an officer or volunteer to gain some more experience. Professional organizations also help build your resume and show you do things outside of work. 

American Marketing Association (AMA)- According to their Web site, “The American Marketing Association (AMA) is the largest marketing association in North America. It is a professional association for individuals and organizations involved in the practice, teaching and study of marketing worldwide. It is also the source that marketers turn to every day for information/resources, education/training and professional networking. AMA members are connected to a network of experienced marketers nearly 40,000 strong and include leading marketing academics, researchers and practitioners from every industry.”

I’ve been a member of the AMA for two years and I don’t think I’d cancel my membership anytime soon. Their magazine, Marketing Power is great and informative. Their national job bank is one of the best with a lot of  postings for entry-level positions. 

International Association of Business Communicators (IABC)- IABC was founded in 1970 and is made of a diverse group of professionals not just people in PR and marketing, it is open to anyone who is a communicator. The organization has members in over 70 countries. The organization offers conferences, webinars and a variety of events. IABC also offers accreditation programs with five to seven years of experience.  I don’t know too much about this organization but it seems more like an opportunity for more professionals with more experience. 

Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)/ Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA)- According to their Web site, “The Public Relations Society of America, based in New York City, is the world’s largest organization for public relations professionals. The Society has nearly 32,000 professional and student members. PRSA is organized into more than 100 Chapters nationwide, 19 Professional Interest Sections and Affinity Groups, which represent business and industry, counseling firms, independent practitioners, military, government, associations, hospitals, schools, professional services firms and nonprofit organizations. The Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) has nearly 300 Chapters at colleges and universities throughout the United States.” 

I was a member of PRSSA for two years and also was chapter treasurer. PRSSA has many great opportunities to connect with mentors, great job bank with a lot of cool internships and professional growth including the Bateman Case Study Competition. The Bateman Competition gives you the opportunity to gain real experience by competing against PR students across the country by developing and implementing a PR campaign. 

Any other professional organizations or clubs you would recommend joining?

Business Cards

What the heck do you do with business cards?

Business cards are thrown at you left and right at job fairs, conferences and meetings. How do you keep them all organized and not lose valuable contact information? Below are some helpful ideas to  utilize business cards given to you.

Storage:

Photo Album- When I get business cards I put them in a cheap pocket photo album I got for free when developing photographs.  I like keeping them in the photo album because it is easy to flip through, the cards don’t get damaged from the protective sheets and I can pull out cards if needed. You can pick up a small pocket, photo album at your local dollar store. The album is also not very big to take up space in my desk drawers. It is also easy to grab if I need to take it with me.

Online Address Books- Another method is after you get a business card, enter all their contact information  into an online address book. Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Microsoft Outlook all have address books available for use with their e-mail systems. It is easy to organize and access from the Internet.

Computer Document or Spreadsheet- You can also keep an electronic spreadsheet or Word document with contact information you get from business cards. Make sure to back up your files though, in case your computer crashes, you don’t want to lose all your contacts.

Cell Phone Address Books- You can even enter the information on your cell phone address book. It might might your contact list a lot longer than you might like.

Business Card Scanners- Business card scanners are also available such as from CardScan. I personally wouldn’t use the option myself because the other options free and this one is not. If you receive a large amount of business cards and don’t have time to organize them then, this option, might be worth it.

How not to lose a business card:

• Don’t just stick them in your pant pocket when you get them, it is easy for them to slip out.
• Make sure to put them somewhere secure such as your wallet, a purse or bag pocket with zipper where they won’t fall out.
• If you must put the business card in a pocket, put it in your inside jacket or shirt pocket. Place it with care and gently inside.
• When you get home put them immediately into your album, spreadsheet, cell phone, etc. before it becomes misplaced.

Business card manners:

• Do not enter the information from the card in front of the person who just gave it you into your cell, album or spreadsheet wait until you get home.
• Always accept the business card, never reject one when it is offered. You really never know when their contact information could be helpful to you.
• Always say thank you when given a business card.
• Provide a business card in return when given one. If you don’t have business cards or don’t want to release information, offer an e-mail address or to contact them by e-mail with your information.
• Never dispose of a business card in front of the person who just gave it you. If you really don’t want it, dispose of it at home but I suggest keeping it. After all, you never know what is coming around the bend and who you will need to talk to in the future.

What to do if you lose a card and need their contact information?

Google it. If you can remember their name or business name with city, you have a good shot of finding their contact information from the company Web site, a Web search results or even LinkedIn.

How do you store business cards? Is there any tips or manners surrounding business cards I missed? If so, please share them in the comments section.

New Year, New K Stew PR

I won’t lie at the end of 2008 I got burnt out. I would go to work and practice PR for at least eight hours, the last thing I wanted to do was come home and write about it. I was overwhelmed with the transition in my life from college to a full time career. I still wanted to write though and I began another blog, HWChic, for fun. I realized I still want to write about PR too. I love PR and after getting adjusting to my new life, I am ready to work on my blog again.

My goal is to write a blog post at least once a week to help graduating students and entry-level people work in PR, marketing and advertising. I’ll share advice, tips, stories, case studies and articles that will help the new workforce and all those twenty-somethings like me.

K Stew PR is back!

Coming back

My blog will be returning with the new year. I am putting together so great posts and successfully recovering from my writing burn out. KStewPR returns in 2009.