A personal reflection from 2017.
This year I turn thirty. If the media are to be believed, that means a new round of questions about meaning, work and the direction of my life. People in their twenties apparently have their own version, the “quarter-life crisis”. At least I am almost through that one.
A discussion on Communicatie Online caught my attention in this context. Its author questioned the way some young communications advisers approached their profession: too ready to agree, too focused on delivering small tasks and too hesitant to ask difficult questions.
There is a serious point behind the provocation. Organisations need communications talent that can think critically, understand a business and contribute more than the correct use of a visual identity. We also need to explain the value of our profession to the people entering it.
Understand the client and the business
I disagree with the idea that communications should not be considered a profession. We should be more confident about the expertise involved and take pride in doing the work well.
That view comes from working at a PR agency with several clients and a wide range of questions to solve. The dynamic differs from working for a single organisation. Each brief asks us to understand another business, another audience and another set of priorities.
A company’s relevance is not defined only by its products or services. Customers also want to understand why it matters. Product specifications alone are often a weak point of difference, particularly when competing consumer technology products have similar features.
Helping a client stand out therefore takes creativity, quality and knowledge of the business. Communications should support wider goals, including commercial ones, rather than exist as an isolated activity.
Connect the brand with what it delivers
Our varied client portfolio gives us experience across different subjects. At the time of writing, my own accounts included MoneYou, AVM and Fleetmatics. Working across those businesses required more than an understanding of communications objectives.
We looked for connections with marketing and sales. Communications helps connect the emotional side of a brand with the practical function of a product. People need to know and understand a brand before they can consider it, and awareness and affinity are part of that process.
That is one reason why PR and marketing work best in partnership. Each discipline contributes to a broader understanding of the customer and the organisation.
Relationships are part of the expertise
My value as a PR consultant also depends on how I maintain relationships with clients. Being a trusted adviser means understanding the work, following developments and helping people make informed choices.
Reading articles and professional literature is part of that learning, but so is exchanging knowledge with colleagues. We organised internal PROEV! lunch sessions with our colleagues at Eventive to compare approaches to client relationships, project work and business development.
These open discussions brought together people in their twenties and thirties from two different disciplines. We could learn from their experience with client databases and project management, while sharing our own experience of long-term relationships with clients and journalists.
Looking at another profession helped broaden our view of our own. Applying that knowledge made me appreciate both disciplines more.
Make time to reflect on the work
Whatever your age, it is useful to ask what you do, why you do it and who benefits from it. Those questions can bring focus, sharper judgement and more enjoyment to the job.
That combination of business understanding, relationships and continued learning is central to our work as a Benelux PR agency. It is also what makes PR and communications a profession worth taking seriously.
Allard
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