Any recommendations for books that helped you become better at the job?

If you're in PR in London, you know the one I mean... I gather the PRWeek awards were interesting this week.

Please be objective

Hi everyone, I would appreciate advice on cold-email approaches for PR agency partnerships!

I've been tasked with trying to expand our agency's global network, and being fresh in the corporate world, even with a template/prior email format to work with, I feel a bit stuck. I've been advised that I can modify the existing format to my taste, and so I'm really trying to... optimise it? If that's the right word, so that I have a better success rate.

Context: I am cold emailing several Chinese PR agencies ranging from boutique to ones part of larger global networks. I do have a specific client/project to pitch with, so it won't be a general request for a partnership, but I do want to make a good impression so that they'll be more inclined to extend the partnership even after the project is over.

The current format is pretty stock-standard, consisting of a generic greeting, self-introduction, introduction to the client/project, our needs, and a request for a proposal.

My superior wants me to proceed with this as an unofficial bidding process between agencies.

Any tips on good greetings? Tone and manner? I've read lots of conflicting tips online, such as "start with a friendly greeting" and "generic greetings make you sound scammy, get to the point and keep the email as short as possible." Coming from academia, my general emailing style is closer to the former, but I'm not sure how well that works in corporate. Would also definitely appreciate if somebody familiar with China's corporate scene knows how they like to operate overall.

Thank you in advance for any opinions!!!

I’ve noticed that they’ve done a large rebranding turning towards AI, but their head of AI is just some one with an account supervisor background. So, it’s not like they are investing capital or bringing in anyone with experience

And I see one of their subsidiaries now on LinkedIn bragging about how edelman is now LinkedIn Ad certified. To be honest, I’m surprised they weren’t linkedin ad certified before and it seems like such a small certification for them to make a large announcement over.

I had a buddy that worked there and said they’ve been down 10pct YoY for 3 straight years. And he quit after their health insurance plan falsely denied his claims . So, extreme cost cutting

But, it doesn’t look like they are doing any actual moves to stop the slide .

It feels like they have accepted the contraction and their new rebranding is more so for show.

I’m kind of surprised by this. I would have thought Richard Edelmans ego would have led to aggressive moves to course correct.

Any one have better insights into edelmans outlook?

Which individual would you consider to be the first significant person in history whose exclusive role was PR?

Does everyone have an account with Claude or another program? Is it being used across all tasks, such as call recaps, brainstorming, client decks, budgeting? Is it encouraged? Are there rules such as no AI for external materials, etc.? Are staff misusing it?

I worked at a big agency pre-AI so I'm curious how the industry is using it.

How in the world does EIN News always make it into lists with other PR distribution channels?

I just had a client run one on their own and I looked at the distribution and indexing and literally the only site that indexes in the ein site itself

Complete waste of money

There are way better low cost options

Appreciate any reactions to this as I explore an idea for breaking off on my own as a consultant.

What I love the most in agency life is actually biz dev and the systems behind it too: How you’re tracking biz, creating and maintaining pipelines, managing relationships, projecting sales, train staff on new processes, and packaging and selling services to meet client needs more directly, creating set fee packages and moving away from hourly which clients don’t want anymore.

This is kind of a normal biz dev consultant except they don’t usually help with packaging, pricing, and the sales process so directly; which I would do.

I know very well that smaller agencies do not have good systems at all for this. So much focus on client work that the new biz process is loose and disorganized. And agencies also get stuck selling the same thing over and over, losing biz because you’re not addressing what the client asked for.

Agency owners, would you pay for someone to come in and set up new systems for you, help you assess your sales process, train staff to track better, create proposals faster, price more consistently, fix your Crm?

How much of a pain point is this? Am I overestimating?

Appreciate input!

I'm hoping to get some insights from someone who has been in a similar position or just has advice in general from working at an agency in a senior-level role. I've been working at my current role for 5 years (was at notable agencies for 5 years before) and have the opportunity to join a very well-esteemed, mid-sized agency, but I'm not sure if I can handle going back to agency life after being out of it for so long.

Current job in-house:

• Fully remote; get to travel to European office twice a year
• Work an average of 3-4 hours a day (this is a blessing and a curse because I am bored out of my mind most days, which triggers my anxiety)
• 25 days of PTO a year that I can use whenever I want without push back
• No upward mobility. I'm already in charge of North America, and the only way I could get promoted is by moving to our HQ. I did a two week trial run last summer to see if I'd like it there, but the city is not for me.
• No promotion, therefore no grounds for a raise. I haven't gotten a meaningful raise in over 3 years since I was last promoted. We may be hiring a second US PR manager, which could give them a reason to give me a raise, but this is very much up in the air.
  
• Because I'm not in HQ I have limited access to leadership and it feels like my position is more of a vanity title, rather than being an actual leader in the business
• Most importantly: I feel like I'm falling behind the longer I work here. Every campaign and product launch feels like a rinse and repeat. The business is very siloed so any opportunities to work with influencers, paid content or experiential have to be run by PR, and this often doesn't get approved because of how our budgets are arranged.
  • We did just get a new CMO who says she supports a more integrated approach, so this might change, but she's only been at the company for three weeks.

Potential new agency job:

• 4 days in the office (this would be a big change, but I think it'd be good for my mental health)
• 9-5 work day, but expected to be available to respond to clients up until 8pm (I don't have a problem with this)
• Unlimited PTO (I asked about this during my interview and it seems like people actually take it and are not bothered when doing so)
• $15-20k raise, would not put me into the next tax bracket
• Upward mobility is possible but I'd already be coming in at leadership level
• Would have approximately 10 accounts
• GlassDoor reviews from past year are overwhelmingly negative: bad work-life balance, high turnover, cliquey leadership and feeling guilted when taking PTO
• Client counsel/management would be my main responsibility

These jobs feel like polar opposites, so I'm really not sure what to do. I'm only 32 so I feel like I'm too young to be this stagnant in my career, but I also don't want to lose my mind going back to an agency. I currently have zero work stress, aside from the boredom-induced anxiety, but I want to grow my career and feel like I'm learning again.

Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated!

Honest question, seeking honest feedback

I'm a graying 47 yo man who's been in communications and journalism for 20+ years. After a particularly traumatic ending to my last comms job, though, I began working in AI project management in 2023. It was my way of dealing with PTSD I guess -- my last gig was truly the first time I was bad at a job, and I got pushed out publicly. Anyway, I just got laid off from my AI job about three months ago, been searching ever since.

Even in those 3 years, things in PR/comms seemed to have changed a ton. I feel so out of touch now... I don't know anything about short-form social, and definitely have never done short-form content strategy. Hell, I left social media completely when I started in AI in 2023, because it's so damn toxic.

My work experience has gotten me six interviews so far for comms jobs. Didn't get hired for any of them. Remote jobs are a goddamn bloodbath... probably 200+ applications... and only got one interview for an online job.

I feel like I am competing with 20-somethings who live on TikTok all day, and let's be honest, PR is a woman's game now. I feel like I never see men at local PR networking events, and if they are, they're under 25.

Has the comms field passed by people like me? Should I just admit it and completely focus on re-inventing myself? You have to be so goddamn positive in PR & org communications, and I feel incapable of that right now.

Hi everyone. I'm a publicist on the younger side, have been working full time for a couple of years now. I've been incredibly lucky with my career so far - I've had two agency jobs, got a job lined up at a great agency right out of college, and work in a what is seen as a sought-after sector of PR (especially to the general public).

The last year and a half of my career has been especially great, including a promotion at a new agency, getting to build my own roster more, bringing in new business, and even getting my first returning clients. I'm consistently getting praise both internally and externally, and objectively, I'm pretty solid at my job and have really found my niche.

However, I've noticed that of late, my identity feels incredibly deeply rooted in my job and career. I love my job, it's my absolute dream, and I'm really proud of all of the work I've put in to be successful and become a publicist in my own right. But, I struggle a bit to know who I am outside of my job. I'm [name] the publicist...but I don't know what else, it feels so central to my identity.

My self-worth has become tied up in my job performance as well - if I have a bad day, make a mistake, my mood tanks and I think it's a reflection on me overall as a person. I just feel like my life revolves around this job, and I'm thankful that it's one I love so much, but I'm a little concerned as to the impact this could have on me down the road.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is this just a growing pain of being a professional in your 20's? Are there any tips or tricks?

(Also, I have signed up for therapy to explore this more, among other things, and begin next week.)

Thank you all, this was a vulnerable post to make so I appreciate any insight.

I recently graduated from college and have public affairs experience, but I am looking for entry-level Public Affairs roles at large companies. If anyone knows where to find job postings for these positions, or if they entirely rely on networking, please let me know. Thanks!

I’m somewhat senior and have been looking for 8 months for a full time in house role and it has been BRUTAL but the last few months I have seen what feels like a lot of people landing new comms jobs and even getting promoted at their companies in comms. Am I crazy or should we still be frightened for the future of our jobs? Would love to hear others’ stories

Hey, y'all. What is the going rate now, or what do you charge, for freelance/contract PR work in the DFW area? Austin, I'll let you chime in, too.

I've got 15 years of strong internal and agency PR experience and leadership and am leading a project right now with a friend. I think I'm highly underpaying myself. I'm afraid to even admit what I'm charging.

Any insight is helpful!

I know that you need to network and rely on contacts - but what if you’re struggling and relying on linked in and job alerts.

Anyone have any tips besides don’t give up? I’m current agency side and 300 percent done.

Crisis is tough field to be in, because of that, I imagine the culture is usually horrid. are there any crisis agencies that people have a positive experience working at? Or which ones should be absolutely avoided?

Just accepted a remote, in-house role with a stealth startup based in SF but with leadership currently based out of China. This will be a 55% raise from my current agency salary so I couldn’t pass it up.

I’m currently based in Austin. They have some staff in the US and plan to open an office in SF next summer. The founders/my leads all attended university in the states, but were raised or are currently located in China. I want to be prepared for any cultural differences so I can be respectful and professional from the start.

Based on some quick Google searches, I’m aware of some basic cultural differences in leadership, workload and hours. Specifically, the 9-9-6 working hours system and less pushing back on leadership. Luckily for the hours, the job description says I’m required to be online to work with my manager between 8-10pm and 8-10am, but the rest of my work hours are up to me. For the leadership dynamic and other relevant cultural differences to keep in mind, I would love more info based on personal experiences from fellow PRs, if anyone here can share.

Have you noticed any cultural differences that impacted your work experience personally? Dynamics with coworkers?

Has working with a company based out of Asia brought up specific cultural differences that impacted your messaging to US audiences? Any differences in values that I should keep in mind?

I will continue to do my own research but certainly appreciate any personal stories you can share to give me a realistic idea of the professional environment. Thank you!

Hey all, I work for a small PR firm that primarily does advocacy PR for industry associations and nonprofits. I primarily handle two large, DC-based clients who use us as a field team in our state and they predominately ask us to reach out to our contacts to share their content.

My issue is that while I have a lot of contacts, I've absolutely exhausted them with a ton of asks over the last three years - one client in particular is always whiplashing to another "priority" issue where they want social hits and EOD reports. It's gotten to a point of overasking imo where I will have a normal conversation one week with a contact I'm friends with and then two weeks later they ghost me if I ask them to share a post. I've been trying to find new advocates but its essentially cold calling and emailing at this point. Has anyone else dealt with clients like this that always want social media hits from external people and how did you manage it?

Any tips would massively help. Recently joined a client facing role and on most calls I’m fine because it’s a smaller team, but I have one client that’s the biggest one in the agency with like 15 people on the call and I always get so nervous I start to shake and my heart beats extremely fast and I stutter over my words.

It’s quite embarrassing because more junior members of the team are way more calm than me and I try to regulate myself but it doesn’t really work. Any tips??

Especially for a startup or a scale-up as a client?

I understand that it would change with the scope of work, but just trying to get an estimate.

I recently appeared on a reasonably high profile podcast about identity, creativity and figuring yourself out. It wasn't much fun being on the other side of the camera, nor was it talking about non-work parts of my life (the work stuff is well-oiled and easy to 'present').

I've worked in PR for more than 25 years, much of it advising founders including software billionaire Mike Lynch (RIP), CEOs - very, very briefly Bill Gates' team (on a UK trip) - and other fairly high-profile people such as Britain's most successful apprentice, and a guy who sold his biz to Adobe for >$100M. One of the things I've always enjoyed is finding the genuinely interesting part of somebody's story, rather than manufacturing something that isn't there.

But being interviewed myself was an unexpectedly different experience. It was a little out-of-body.

It got me thinking about something I've noticed throughout my career: people often underestimate the truly interesting things about themselves, while putting considerable effort into projecting things they think other people want to see.

And I wonder whether the growing emphasis on personal branding amidst atomisation of 'influence' is making that worse.

For those working in executive communications or thought leadership, how do you help somebody become more visible without turning them into a carefully managed version of themselves?

Also, how many of you have been in situations requiring the sort of media training and prep that you put clients through? (I think doing so is worth its weight in gold, at least from a sympathy/empathy perspective).