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can take notes on your card once they’ve met you; this can help them to remember you and the conversation you had.

Create your social media profiles. In particular, create a LinkedIn account. This is a way for employers to see your history, your connections, and places you’re involved online. Remember that it is a representation of yourself online so keep it professional. LinkedIn takes minutes to create, and you can even upload your resume, saving you lots of time in the profile-creating process. Use this as a tool to get connected and stay connected with people you may meet at networking events, in classes, or through other connections. Join groups there, too, to get connected to other professionals using LinkedIn. (For PR students and those looking to intern in the PR industry, there’s even a PR Intern group.) Even if you do not advertise your Facebook or MySpace accounts, know that you can be evaluated there too, so use professional images, copy, and content.

Attend networking events. These can be through school fraternities or groups or though larger organizations like the PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) or the AMA (American Marketing Association). For students, prices are lowered to ensure that you can attend, so take advantage of these associations and their events! They are put on to help you as new entrants in the industry and to help companies fuel their companies with new perspectives. Be sure to keep in touch with the people you meet there, as you may have made a good impression.

Go to career fairs. Even early in your college years, go to these fairs (which are usually cheap to attend) and see what sort of businesses attend and to see if a graduate school is for you. This is great practice for speaking with professionals, getting your information out there, and for finding internships that may be of interest to you.

Practice, practice, practice. Though this has probably been engrained in every graduate’s mind, there is a lot to be said for someone who

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practices. Preparing and running through questions you may be asked in an interview can create a great advantage over others looking for internships or jobs. Practice may not make perfect, but it can surely improve your answers, speech, and comfort level in the interview. Go to your career center on campus (if you are still in school) and look at their list of commonly asked interview questions, sign-up for a mock interview, and ask them for pointers.

Dress the part. Even if you are interviewing over the phone, dressing well can make you feel more professional and get you in ‘work mode’. Working from home can be dangerous if you are not in the right mind set, too, so go about your days normally as if you were going in to a business to interview or work. This will help motivate you to be more productive. Remember to dress well (business casual) for an interview, at career fairs, and at networking events. You are allowed to ask the representative from the company you are communicating with what the office attire or dress code is; this will show that you are a forward thinker, and that you are preparing yourself. Though appearances are not the end-all, be-all of you success as an employee, it is easier to see your work and your personality when not distracted by worn or overly casual clothing.

Revamp your resume and write a cover letter. Though cover letters may not even be read, they are a great tool to reiterate your interest in the position, company, and career. It is also an opportunity to take what your resume says and make it relevant to the advertised position. Take the time to figure out whom to send the resume and cover letter to, as this can show your attention to detail and your ability to do some light homework.

Act professionally. Some personalities are a better fit with others, and while you cannot control how your personality is received by people you can act professionally and respectfully to ensure that you put your best foot forward. First impressions are often times difficult to overcome, and with people interviewing dozens (if not more) of

candidates, it is vital to your success that you act like a mature

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professional, even after you get the internship.

 Do your research. And then do some more. Internships and jobs don’t usually come out of nowhere, and more often than not they are a result of your networking efforts and the connections you’ve made. Keep your eyes on job boards at school, LinkedIn, and even CraigsList. Apply to those that you find interesting and personalize your cover letters.

Remember that it will take time to find an internship that suits you, but know that your investments in time, your appearance, and your efforts will undoubtedly help you to find one.

by Ashley Wirthlin (http://saigon.titocovn.com/sites/default/files/ Files/2013/06/w5/PublicRelationsBook_0.pdf)

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5 Mistakes that Can Sink Your PR Proposal

Developing PR proposals is a necessary evil.

It can often be a time-consuming venture, which might or might not yield a return on investment.

You want your prospect to feel confident you know about them and their industry. You also want them to understand more about how you think and be able to see it a way that is applicable to them. However, you don’t want to give it all away for free.

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Successful PR proposal development is an art and a science. Even if you get that fine balance of it just right, you might sabotage your work by making one of these avoidable mistakes.

1. Being passive

There are many reasons to not use passive voice in your PR proposals. It’s wordy, less clear and ambiguous, but moreover, it doesn’t show

confidence. Passive voice is called such because the subject lets something be done to it versus doing it actively. It takes the subject out of the driver’s seat.

Is that the type of impression you want your PR proposal to project? Many PR pros use passive voice in proposals, and I think it’s because we

often aren’t confident when we write proposals. We are unsure, nervous and maybe even desperate. We don’t feel we are in the driver’s seat.

That can cause you to give away power throughout the entire new business process, which reflects in your PR proposal.

Which sounds better:

A content marketing plan will be developed to drive leads to your site.

(passive)

We’ll develop a content marketing plan that drives leads to your site.

(active)

To identify and fix passive voice in your proposal, look for words ending in “ing” and sentences with the word “will.” Grammarly also suggests finding passive sentences by placing “by zombies” on to the sentence after a verb.

You might not feel confident, but don’t let your PR proposal give you

away.

2. Adding excess words

Words are like snowflakes: They are beautiful, expressive, unique and delicate. They can be magical until they come pouring down at you like a blizzard, burying everything in a 100-mile radius.

Use words efficiently.

Remove extra instances of “out.” Examples include “build out,” “seek

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out” and “send out.” Drop “currently,” as well as “and, also” (it’s saying the same thing twice).

After you write your proposal, see how many words you can eliminate. Keep the meaning, but lose the fluff.

3. Not showing you’re an expert

Let’s go back to confidence.

You are being considered for the job because you are an expert. Experts make recommendations based on skill, knowledge, data and expertise. They don’t think or believe things; they know.

Stop saying, “I think,” and “I believe.” Instead, own it. You shouldn’t have to “think,” “guess,” or “believe” something if you do your research.

Skip generalities. Know what your prospect is currently doing (both good and bad), along with what their competitors and the industry are doing.

4. Assuming they know terms and concepts

You work in the PR industry day in and day out. This means there are a lot of things that might seem common knowledge, but they aren’t.

It might be obvious to you, but it’s not to your prospect. Be aware how you write and err on the side or explaining things too well, instead of too little.

Prospects develop greater trust in PR pros and agencies that help them understand the lingo and industry knowledge.

5. Not repeating yourself

In your proposals, do you write, “as stated previously,” or “as mentioned above?”

Don’t. Though well meaning, repeating does two things you want to avoid. It makes readers stop their flow, searching to find where you previously stated the concept. It also makes them feel stupid because they might have missed what you said before.

This can cause them to lose confidence that they know what you are

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saying at all in the proposal. Though it might seem repetitive, restating your idea can make the proposal easier for your prospect to read.

What mistakes would you add to this list?

By Laura Petrolino (https://www.prdaily.com/Main/ Articles/23056.aspx)

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5 Pricing Fundamentals for Freelance PR Services

These days the internet is rife with entrepreneurs publishing income reports, and it’s become much more normal for freelance PR practitioners to share hard numbers, at least among a few trusted colleagues. In fact, one of the most surprising things about running your own business might be how much you come to enjoy poking and prodding at income reports, expanding your skill set to include basic bookkeeping, accounting and of course, sales.

One of the biggest challenges facing freelance PR professionals is figuring out appropriate pricing for services – after all, there is no handy hourly-rate chart and, as any client will tell you, there’s a huge amount of variance within the industry. A lack of clarity around the going rate for services, combined with the need to simply have enough business to cover expenses leads many freelancers to undersell themselves. It’s time we all know and charge our worth; after all, we help absolutely no one, clients included, by undervaluing public relations and marketing expertise.

Fortunately, there are many ways to go about adopting a pricing policy for your freelance services.

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1. Research salary information of PR agency professionals

While not an exact match (remember as a freelancer you need to be putting away 20-30% of your income for taxes and are responsible for your own health benefits and software), finding out the salary information of someone in your industry with similar experience is a great place to start. Glassdoor provides salary info per industry, job, and location. Payscale is another resource to find relevant salary information.

Pay attention to the different in pay for similar jobs among start-ups and more established companies, and vet this against your target client profile. By knowing what prospective clients would pay to hire a full-time, in-house professional or agency of record, you can price yourself competitively.

2. Factor in operating expenses

It costs money to run a business, and you need to factor in your operating costs into your hourly rate or project fee. After all, in the same way that PR agencies factor in the costs of software, hardware, subscriptions, rent, and salary into their retainer figures, you need to consider your own expenses. Even if you plan to work from home, your cell phone plan, pro accounts, internet bil are all worth factoring into part of the value you offer clients. Don’t get carried away however, some of this is just the cost of doing business; I don’t suggest working your Texture subscription into this, for example!

3. Determine a pricing structure

Consider how you will charge clients (monthly or weekly retainer, hourly rate, flat project fee) and any incentives or discounts you might want to offer clients who pay upfront, or who refer you new business.

It’s also important to consider what kind of cash-flow you need to stay afloat among standard net-30, net-60 and net-90 invoice turnaround times.

At a very base level, here are 2 different ways to get some foundational pricing together:

1.Find a salary that seems comparable to what you would make as an

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employee and boost it with a 30% buffer for taxes and expenses. Divide that number by how many hours you plan on working each week (consider billable vs non-billable hours very closely – you aren’t going to be able to bill everything back to a client) and then multiply that sum by 4 to figure out how much money you need coming in each month (and then by 52 to get a sense of what that looks like in terms of total annual income).

2. Start with a number that means success to you, it could be an annual figure or an hourly rate that feels in line with your experience and your ability to get results for clients. Then do the math to figure out how that works out in terms of the number of clients you’ll need, or the number of retainers or projects necessary to get you that minimum income needed to keep going.

Once you have a monetary goal in mind that is grounded in research, you’ll be able to confidently communicate your pricing and know that you need to achieve certain benchmarks in order to achieve your income goals.

4. Investigate your relationship with money

Even with salary research, checking in with colleagues and doing the math, asking for money is rarely easy and putting down that figure on your proposal for a potential freelance client can be nerve-wracking. You want the business, and you want to avoid being seen as too expensive, all of which is connected to often agonizing issues of self-worth. By taking some time to explore your relationship with money and its connection to your value, you can refrain from underselling yourself just to get the job.

Think about this: devaluing yourself not only results in reduced income, but it will never allow you to truly achieve the lifestyle you are after, the clients you are after, and the room to do your best work (a scarcity mindset doesn’t help with creativity and or client enthusiasm).

5. Determine your key benefits

As a freelancer, you have some pretty big benefits to offer a prospective client. Among them, the value of having one person completely focused on

their project rather than a big agency team, reduced overhead expenses, and less

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red tape. When you are clear about what you bring to the table as a freelancer and can effectively communicate those benefits in terms of increased efficiency and results, it’s possible to turn potential sticker shock into clear savings. Clients really just want to see results, so be sure that any conversations about pricing are couched with examples of how you have been able to do amazing work for other clients.

At the end of the day, there’s a number that feels good to you and sounds doable to clients. Listen for that number and then vet it against the above steps to ensure your pricing is on point.

Wendy Vazquez (http://www.prcouture.com/2016/08/ ins-outs-pricing-freelance-pr-services/)

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6 Signs You’re a Freelancer at Heart

I took PR internships and jobs anywhere that would take me. My resume holds accolades from big agencies, experimental agencies, boutique agencies, and social media agencies. At each position, I kept telling myself, the next agency will be different; smarter, more creative. I won’t cry at night. Alas, no agency has ever made me as happy as I am as a freelance publicist, out on my own.

Looking back, I can identify six big indicators that suggested a freelance, entrepreneurial professional career was a better for fit for me. Do any of these ring true for you?

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You have Restless Desk Syndrome

You feel cooped up, restless and unable to foster your creative thoughts at a desk. Walking, sitting at a coffee shop, or working on a park bench brings inspiration and new ideas for clients.

Office hours feel like a grind

As a freelancer, there are days when I pull long hours, but there are also days I only plug-in for a bit. My work hours often mimic traditional office hours, but I can take the afternoon off, and start up again later into the evening, if that is when inspiration strikes. If the days when you work from home feel like a gift from above and you love the freedom and mobility of creating own schedule, not to mention your own systems, methods and workflows, freelance life may be calling your name.

Leadership comes naturally to you

No one, besides you, will go to bat for you and your work when you’re out on your own. If handling criticism, calls from demanding clients and selfassigned goals keep you thriving, freelance work will put you front and center of the good, and the bad. If you find yourself naturally taking on leadership positions within teams, problem-solving and taking the initiative to grow business, chances are you’ll do find as an independent agent.

You’re a Networking Queen

PR is all about who you know! Whether it’s the media or prospective clients, who do you know and do you find yourself naturally introducing people and being the creator of unique partnerships and collaborations?

I get coffee with about 10 new people a week. While meeting with them, I look for opportunities connect them with as many people as I can. I believe in “giver’s gain;” and can point to this approach as the number one reason all of my business comes from referrals.

Hustle Is Your Middle Name

You hustle! You not only work at your current job, but you take on small side clients, consultations, and volunteer when and where you can. From

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