A place to crash

When I found my lease expiring and myself no more closer to a permanent position at my firm, you could say I got a little nervous. You could also say that I plummeted into a deep and utter panic. You'd be more accurate with the latter. 

I looked into short term leases and an almost empty wallet. With the cleaning and security deposits, plus the first month of rent upfront I prepared a Ramen-filled September. Not only was my career in complete limbo, I was now in what Carrie Bradshaw once called "a financial cul-de-sac."

Last night I vented to my friend over cocktails (he paid) and out of nowhere he offered me a room in his house. "Why not? My roommates don't move in until September 20th. Stay with me awhile." It was nothing short of divine intervention.

It was also a lesson in letting go of control. I have a tendency to be so self-reliant that I don't even consider asking for help. I just figure it's a sign of weakness or that I would be a burden. This experience made me see that sometimes a little help is necessary. Plus, it's lucky that have friends who care enough to let me lean on them for awhile. Yes, I'm a very lucky girl indeed.  

Meet my best friend:

It seems that new PR people aren't the only ones who are finding difficulties in the "real world." My best friend, Ashley Smallman, just started a blog about what it's like to be a broadcast journalist seeking a career.

Ashley is the victim of the most frustrating Catch 22 of a college graduate's life: No one will hire you because you don't have enough experience, but you can't get experience until someone hires you. 

The ironic part is that Ashley, like many young journalists I know, does have experience in the form of internships, clips and a stellar education. I'm exactly like her, I have enough internships to add up to almost 2 years experience but because they were only internships no one sees me as very qualified. Ashley interned with NBC in San Francisco and pioneered our school's student run multimedia news program. Is that not valuable experience? Apparently, it's not quite valuable enough. So what gives?

In our many rants about the horrors of job searching Ashley and I have given each other many logical explanations- the economy is bad, everyone just graduated so there's a rush of people, the Gods are punishing us- but in the end, getting told "no" so many times gets you down. 

I know that Ashley's talent and experience will ultimately end in a wonderful career in broadcast, even if it takes a little while. I'm so excited that now everyone can follow her journey, listen to her insights and learn from her experiences. Check it out!

Sweet relief!

After much nail biting and Twitter stalking, my favorite blog The Bad Pitch Blog is back with a vengeance.

If you haven't seen this gem then stop what you're doing and check it out. It is without a doubt the perfect illustration of how even seasoned PR people can blow it with one bad pitch. 

Also, if you're having a bad work day and need to laugh as someone's expense, you simply cannot beat it.

The textbook is fallible.

Go ahead. Reread that headline one more time if you need. I know, it was a big shock to me too. After I spent a good two days crafting a PR plan that would make my professors cry tears of joy, my boss called me into her office and told me it was all wrong.

"It's too confusing. Too wordy. Not actionable." I was flabbergasted. The last time I felt that blind-sided was when I found out that Santa doesn't exist. At one point I even sputtered "But...but... this is how I've been doing them all of college." 

As she went through my plan point by point I began to see what she meant. The words looked crowded on the page. My formulaic construction (For XYZ to be a company that is ABC; or, To do X to Y so that they will Z) was in fact passive and convoluted.

How did this happen? Why were our professors leading us astray? After staring at my plan, bleeding with red ink, it hit me: the real world doesn't have text book answers.

In college it's easy to think "I'm going to send a release to this newspaper, get coverage and boost membership for my client" because that's what our professors say works. Sadly, the real world isn't that cut and dry. Of course getting coverage in the media is wonderful but what they don't tell you is that most journalists get so many releases, pitches and emails that they want to slap you, not write a story for you.

The same apparently goes for PR plans. Your professors gave you a formula, complete with a chart with which words are acceptable for objectives, because that's the only way to generally hint out how to plan. In the real world, clients don't have time to read through seven pages filled with 3 paragraph explanations on why you're focusing on certain groups. They want to know what you're going to do, how and when. End of meeting. 

So here I am, staring at my passive voiced plan thinking "Why the hell did I spend all that money on an education?" It seems pretty clear that the real education comes after college in the workplace. 

I guess I better start studying.

A disclaimer: I'm not saying college doesn't give valuable lessons. It does, and without it getting real world experience in PR is almost impossible. All I'm saying is take what your professors say with a grain of salt.

Has PR overstayed its welcome in the bloggesphere?

In the past few days some of my favorite bloggers have gone on considerable rants about PR people and their use of new media to promote clients and products. 

Robert Scoble and Michael Arrington are among the many bloggers who are having a hard time dealing with PR professionals. Their arguments present an interesting dilemma. It seems as though bloggers want PR people to introduce exciting products/companies to them (which is great to hear) but that they don't want to feel like the average journalist who gets releases pushed on them. It's understandable but it begs the question: What should we do?

If a PR professional has a great new product/client/event to promote we will undoubtedly want to let bloggers know. If we follow their requests we would have to make very personalized appeals to a select group of bloggers. We would tailor each email to them, creating unique opportunities. This is completely possible and in many ways ideal. It shows bloggers that you value their opinions and recognize them as influencers. 

But here's the cache: There's a chance that they may not mention you.

If your client isn't a major company then you run the risk of not getting coverage. Bloggers could easily write you off as a nuisance with another seemingly useless product. It's a veritable PR catch 22. 

So, what to do? You can't tell a client that they or their product is not innovative, important or exciting enough to pitch to bloggers. Not only is that a different type of rude but it also makes you, the PR professional, look stupid. Why can't you frame the product in an interesting way? Can you really not find any innovation in a client?

After considering all of this, my opinion is that bloggers are still a valuable resource that should be utilized. I've said it before but I'll say it again: I think the biggest problem with pitching to bloggers is that some PR people still have a hard time separating them from typical journalists. Bloggers write because they love it. For many, getting a mass press release is equivalent to you getting those forwards from your high school lab partner that you haven't spoken to since prom. Not only is it time consuming to discern if the email has value, it makes you annoyed with a person you don't speak to at all.

In essence, there is no blanket policy for pitching to bloggers. However, if I were to give one it would be this: Make your pitches personal. Recognize the power of real relationships. If you consistently treat a blogger like a valuable person and pitch them interesting things, you may strike gold with an awesome post. Think about interesting angles and what services your client offers. Don't just let bloggers know that a new product has been launched. Tell them how it can improve their lives or offer them an opportunity to try it. 

I don't know if these rants from bloggers are indictative of how they'll always feel. This could be akin to a lovers' spat about leaving the milk out: harsh but breif. But then again, who knows, maybe this is a wake-up call to PR professionals to find some new ways of getting the word out. 

Let's put on our thinking caps, shall we?

Too soon to plan?

Last week I turned 22. Admittedly there's nothing momentous about the age, yet I was still bombarded by people asking me what my next step will be. 

How long do I want to be in Eugene? Have I picked out an apartment yet? Is there a ladder I can climb at the firm where I work? Am I really going to live alone? Having just graduated from college and securing a great internship with an option to hire didn't seem to be enough for these people.

It seems as though everyone around me is dying for me to have a plan. In truth, I'd normally kill for one but have lately found myself shrugging and saying "we'll see." I have a horrible tendency to over-plan so it is rare that I am ever in a "go with the flow" mood. However, when struck with questions of the future and my career I feel like there's only so much that I can do. 

I work hard, sacrifice for my job, pay my own bills and am always aware of other career opportunities. Beyond that, all I can do is jump into the unknown with a deep hope that there's something fabulous under my feet when I land.