All about the PR

I have always been fascinated by the creative media industry, and although I originally set out for a career in journalism, my mind has been transformed to see what I am best at. When I realised I don't have the heart to do any kind of journalism reporting (whether it writing stories about celebrities, fashion or the latest local or world events), I thought I would pursue a career in advertising.

However when I went on to university, I realised that I do love writing, and that is why I loved journalism so; although journalism isn't for me, PR and journalism have a lot of cross-over. They also do a lot of writing including that of creating media strategies, writing press releases and much more. It is more varied in its writing capacity than journalism. That is what I love most.

In the last few years, I have discovered that the third sector is what I love most as well as partaking in fundraising  as well as Public Relations.

I honestly believe from experience that successful fundraising cannot be completed without great public relations. Here are some reasons that make me believe this:
 1.PR is about building trust and awareness of an organisation, which is what charities are always hoping for. Without raising the profile, good fundraising can't always be achieved. They need to be able to attract new people to give and keep giving.
2. Great PR teams can encourage more press coverage, and know the best strategies to do so.
3. Someone in charge of the PR can be the excellent writer, strategic thinker, people-person, hard worker and representative - all in one!
4. PR pros know the right stories to pitch to reporters including that of trend stories. This is about seeing something happen often enough, that it begins to turn into a trend. Then there are stories about striking fear and raising awareness such as the stories about Ebola. These are not the only stories; there are also promotional tool stories, which encourage people to go to a particular goodwill event, do-good or vote for an important initiative. And finally, there are articles known as "human interest" stories, which might pull at your heart strings a bit! It can involve sad natural disasters, poverty, someone who is down on their luck and children, but you are moved by how extraordinary acts of human kindness can make a difference
5.They know the best ways to target social media, and how to target audiences differently on facebook as opposed to pinterest or instagram.
6. PR professionals know how best to write. They know not to make sentences too similar or too long, and to make it suitable to the audience. They also know to avoid cliches and using passive voice.  Last and most important, only writers or those in PR know how to write; they know their angle and the points they wish to stand out to their readers.