When I first started in PR, there was no such thing as ‘blogs’ or ‘infographics’ and the Internet was a relatively new thing, so there was no social media and video was reserved for VHS tapes. (If you’re too young to know what a VHS tape is, either ask your parents or here’s a link to find out)!
Now clearly, I’m an old fossil in PR years, but like every industry, PR has moved on considerably since those days and is always is in a constant state of change. This keeps us PR practitioners on our toes and it’s important to stay one step ahead as we look to take advantage of new and creative ways of working with the technologies that enable these approaches.
A keenness to learn new skills is therefore an important attribute for anyone looking to work in PR, our industry depends on it. We must always be looking for new and unique ways to communicate our client’s target audiences and different, engaging ways of presenting and delivering the messages we need to convey.
As PR people, this is exciting – we’re not constrained by ‘this is the way it’s always done’ we’re keen to achieve the end goal by the best method to get the job done.
Skill seeking is also especially important in our industry as there’s always so much to learn and understand about our clients’ sectors. As a B2B PR agency our clients come from a host of different industries including: energy, retail, laundry and cleaning, IT and digital marketing to name but a few. And, that’s just for starters, our clients sell their goods and services into a host of other sectors, so we also need to be knowledgeable about those too. Currently, these span – procurement, education, care and even the veterinary sector.
This is why skill seeking is a such an important value at Skout. Our industry is constantly evolving and we must too. It’s imperative that we move with the times and adapt with our clients’ markets. Everyday’s a school day when you work in PR.