I am very excited to discuss this subject. I have been planning this post for a couple weeks now because this is a topic that I have recently became passionate about: student-run PR firm
A student-run PR firm is a chance to hone your skills as an aspiring PR pro since with a student-run firm, you offer services to your university and/or local businesses. It gives you a chance to learn deeply about PR: to learn more about the field, learn about new practices, learn what it takes to make it in PR, and to learn from your fellow peers. I honestly believe joining this type of organization can be beneficial to your career and it does look good on your resume. I am excited for the next year as I accepted an E-Board position for TALK: Director of Public Relations. However, I just recently joined and do not really have much experience or advice to pass on. So, I turned to my amazing virtual support group of fellow PR friends on Twitter, asked who was involved in a student-run PR firm, and two wonderful PR women reached out. Today you will hear from Olivia Adams of Come Recommended and Meagan Fraser of Bread & Butter Public Relations. I asked these two ladies why did they join their on-campus firm, what was the most important thing they learned, and how can being involved in this type of organization be beneficial to your career. Enjoy their responses!
Meagan Fraser: I joined my on-campus PR firm to hone my skill set and gain more experiences to add to my resume. My firm, Allen Hall Public Relations, works with some amazing clients and I really wanted to be a part of it. I also wanted to meet other students like me and work with them to create some unique marketing and PR campaigns and strategies. I have never regretted my decision to join. The most important thing I learned while with AHPR was how to prioritize. The clients I had, all had a long list of goals that they wanted to accomplish. I had to learn what was most important from a PR standpoint, which enabled me to be able to help my client prioritize their goals in a way that made sense. Another really big skill I learned was time management. Juggling client work and school assignments isn't always the easiest thing and I definitely had to create a schedule for myself to keep me on track. I recently graduated at the end of March and was so excited to begin my full-time position at the end of April. AHPR gave me so many skills that have translated into my career. I think the biggest piece that has transferred over is client communications. It's so important to be able to build strong relationships with your clients and to be able to communicate with them effectively and efficiently. Being a part of my student-run firm also taught me how to sharpen my writing and how to build strong media lists for the things we were pitching. PR is such a fun career to have and it's definitely an industry that you learn from very quickly. Things don't always necessarily go according to plan and being prepared is the best thing you can do for yourself.
Olivia Adams: I joined Ferris State PRSSA's student-run firm because I wanted to gain "real world" experience as an underclassman. At the time, I had no idea what PR really was, so I thought this was a great way for me to learn how to interact with clients and do work that I could add to my portfolio. The most important thing I learned from being involved with Ferris' PR firm was client management. When I was involved, I worked with three other students and our client was a local deli. The business had a decent reputation in the community already, but it could definitely benefit from public relations. However, the owner of the business really wanted control over every decision we made and tried to micro-manage our work. This experience really showed me how in the real world that you're going to have clients who are going to do what they think is best for their organization, not what the PR firm think is best. Being involved with a student-run PR firm is a great way to gain experience before you have any internships. For most internships, employers want students to have prior PR experience. By being involved with a student-run PR firm, students can build their portfolios and resumes, and gain the experience they need to be a successful PR intern down the road.
If you want to connect with Olivia and Meagan, I will list their information at the bottom. They are wonderful connections to build relationships with and have so much advice to give. I hope you enjoyed their responses! Do you have prior experience with an on-campus firm? Any advice to share? Discuss it in comments or let me know over Twitter. Until next time, keep dreaming!
s. This past Spring semester, I recently joined Fresno State's student PR firm, TALK. It was something I was thinking about for a while and just finally decided one day to take the plunge and join. Today I wanted to share with you why you should join and the benefits of joining. A student-run PR firm is a chance to hone your skills as an aspiring PR pro since with a student-run firm, you offer services to your university and/or local businesses. It gives you a chance to learn deeply about PR: to learn more about the field, learn about new practices, learn what it takes to make it in PR, and to learn from your fellow peers. I honestly believe joining this type of organization can be beneficial to your career and it does look good on your resume. I am excited for the next year as I accepted an E-Board position for TALK: Director of Public Relations. However, I just recently joined and do not really have much experience or advice to pass on. So, I turned to my amazing virtual support group of fellow PR friends on Twitter, asked who was involved in a student-run PR firm, and two wonderful PR women reached out. Today you will hear from Olivia Adams of Come Recommended and Meagan Fraser of Bread & Butter Public Relations. I asked these two ladies why did they join their on-campus firm, what was the most important thing they learned, and how can being involved in this type of organization be beneficial to your career. Enjoy their responses!
Meagan Fraser: I joined my on-campus PR firm to hone my skill set and gain more experiences to add to my resume. My firm, Allen Hall Public Relations, works with some amazing clients and I really wanted to be a part of it. I also wanted to meet other students like me and work with them to create some unique marketing and PR campaigns and strategies. I have never regretted my decision to join. The most important thing I learned while with AHPR was how to prioritize. The clients I had, all had a long list of goals that they wanted to accomplish. I had to learn what was most important from a PR standpoint, which enabled me to be able to help my client prioritize their goals in a way that made sense. Another really big skill I learned was time management. Juggling client work and school assignments isn't always the easiest thing and I definitely had to create a schedule for myself to keep me on track. I recently graduated at the end of March and was so excited to begin my full-time position at the end of April. AHPR gave me so many skills that have translated into my career. I think the biggest piece that has transferred over is client communications. It's so important to be able to build strong relationships with your clients and to be able to communicate with them effectively and efficiently. Being a part of my student-run firm also taught me how to sharpen my writing and how to build strong media lists for the things we were pitching. PR is such a fun career to have and it's definitely an industry that you learn from very quickly. Things don't always necessarily go according to plan and being prepared is the best thing you can do for yourself.
Olivia Adams: I joined Ferris State PRSSA's student-run firm because I wanted to gain "real world" experience as an underclassman. At the time, I had no idea what PR really was, so I thought this was a great way for me to learn how to interact with clients and do work that I could add to my portfolio. The most important thing I learned from being involved with Ferris' PR firm was client management. When I was involved, I worked with three other students and our client was a local deli. The business had a decent reputation in the community already, but it could definitely benefit from public relations. However, the owner of the business really wanted control over every decision we made and tried to micro-manage our work. This experience really showed me how in the real world that you're going to have clients who are going to do what they think is best for their organization, not what the PR firm think is best. Being involved with a student-run PR firm is a great way to gain experience before you have any internships. For most internships, employers want students to have prior PR experience. By being involved with a student-run PR firm, students can build their portfolios and resumes, and gain the experience they need to be a successful PR intern down the road.
If you want to connect with Olivia and Meagan, I will list their information at the bottom. They are wonderful connections to build relationships with and have so much advice to give. I hope you enjoyed their responses! Do you have prior experience with an on-campus firm? Any advice to share? Discuss it in comments or let me know over Twitter. Until next time, keep dreaming!
~Selina