How Can Anyone Use These Three PR Skills to Thrive in Uncertain Times

If I could put in three terms what my career in PR has taught me so far, it would be resilience, creativity and positive attitude. We’re all living in challenging times today, adjusting to new routines, finding new ways to do business and looking forward to better days. I’m grateful to be working in the field that, long before COVID19 appeared in our lives, gave me the tools to cope and persevere. Over the past few weeks, I’ve found a few things that help me not only succeed in my job, but also build for the future and I wanted to share them here.

·     Use this time as an opportunity to learn: There’s been a spike in resources that are available now and many of them are free. From webinars with industry leaders to courses at Ivy League universities, there’s something for anyone to learn and enjoy. I’ve attended numerous webinars on PR and the state of beauty industry in the last month and they gave me an opportunity to look at the current situation from a different angle, sparked creative ideas that I could implement in my job and also helped gain the knowledge for the future.

·     Don’t give up and think outside of the box: In PR, very often things don’t go my way - product placements get cut, pitches fall flat, credits are incorrect, and the list goes on. But that hasn’t stopped me from pitching more and pushing forward. If anything, it helped me grow thicker skin, become more creative and resilient. I’ve been planning an event for the past few months and, of course, it got cancelled. I’m now transitioning this event online and we have an opportunity to celebrate the launch not only with those based in New York, but nationwide. This wouldn’t be possible if things went as planned. 

·     Expand and reconnect with your network: A blessing and a curse of the current situation is that we’re all in it together and we’re all trying to make it work for us. Also, now people have more time to reconnect, have a phone conversation or a virtual meet-up. I’ve been reaching out to many of my connections around the world, asking about their well being and how they are continuing to run their businesses or do their jobs. Those conversations offered me valuable insights and, in most cases, meant a lot to my counterparts. I’ve also been expanding my network, building connections with people in the industry who I admire or would love to learn from. Not surprisingly, I’ve noticed that the response rate has been higher than usual and people are genuinely more open to connect.

No matter what challenges you may be facing today, the world will be thriving again soon and it's important to use this time wisely and build for the future, so that you're prepared to thrive with it.