When it comes to the consensus of public relations
professionals, one of the few things that we all can agree upon is that hardly
anyone outside of the communications industry understands what it is that we
actually do for a living (especially our relatives). Even our industry had to
have a national dialogue to define the term “public relations.”
Most of the general public confusion is due in part to the
role of the PR professional being so varied and stretched across multiple communication
and publicity functions. Are PR people spokespeople, marketers, staff writers,
event coordinators, or social media specialists? The answer is yes, and then
some.
While many in our profession happily specialize in just one
of the previously mentioned disciplines, many others (like me) are
multi-tactical, cross functionary strategists that are required to do a lot of
communication related things, and that makes the position hard to define.
To illustrate this point, I’d like to share what a typical
day for me resembles in my role as director of communications for a DC-based
trade association.
A Day in the Life
7-8:30am: On the
commute into work I begin the mind numbing process of whittling down and reading/responding
to what will be a plethora of emails I will receive throughout the day (some are
carryovers from the previous day). I also begin mentally planning out my
assignments for the day and prioritizing projects that are in process.
8:30-10:30am: I’m
in the office but still responding to various emails, in addition to scanning
through newspapers, trade pubs (online and print), the internet, and social
media sites for association/issues related news items, industry trend
stories/news, or significant member company related news. Following, I evaluate the daily reports from
our media monitoring service, then the fun part starts – updating division
heads and executive staff of news they should be made aware of.
10:30 am-12 pm: This is usually my prime media pitching time
as I distribute already approved news releases, or follow up with media outlets
that were previously pitched news stories or sent releases. This is also the
time I draft and distribute new pitches or return non priority reporter
messages/calls.
Also, somewhere between 8:30 am to noon, I participate in
Comm. Team meetings with the Director of Digital Communications and the VP of
our department. During and after these meetings is prime time for creative
thinking and coming up with new ideas and strategies for telling the
association’s story or communicating its messages.
12-1:30pm: I spend this
time updating the association’s social media communications typically, editing and/or
drafting numerous written pieces such as: e-blast communications, news
releases, internal departmental memos, marketing copy, meeting minutes or blog
posts (I’m the red ink guy). I also use this time to update the organization’s website
copy or evaluating website traffic data.
1:30-3pm: Meetings
with various division heads to discuss what’s new or updates on specific
issues, prep for media interviews, and occasional crisis communications as
opposition groups, activists or concerned consumers outfits like to issue
statements, negative studies, or invites to press conferences around this time of the
day. As a result, I’m usually busy researching an issue, preparing a statement
or responding to investigative media. Also during this time, I’m typically
shooting down an onslaught of request from vendors looking to work with us.
FYI – The emails never stop coming throughout the day.
3-5pm: During
this period I attempt to wrap up as many projects/assignments as possible (as
they are almost always due by COB). I also spend this time trying to update
and/or clean up the media monitoring reports so that they are ready by month’s
end. This also is when I review a number of association produced
materials, or products to ensure quality control and brand consistency/standards.
And when called upon, I work with our affiliate groups on a number of communication
needs (media relations, editing, issues management, etc.).
Then there's the impromptu meetings I have throughout the day with
the VP of Comm. to give debriefs, status updates or participate in quick strategy sessions.
So as you can see, despite lacking "the sexy," it’s a pretty
busy day and can be rather intense on occasion. While each and every day does not look exactly
like the example I’ve provided (new priorities pop up and the time frames aren’t
so concrete), it does offer a pretty accurate reflection of what I do on behalf
of the association. But it's all public relations related.
I sometimes wonder what it would be like to singularly focus
on media relations or social media, or if I would get bored operating in
such a targeted lane. My average day working at an agency was a helluva lot
different from role in in-house communications (maybe one day I’ll doing
something on a typical agency day).
