Talent is an attribute that can be blessed upon anyone, meanwhile being famous is something gifted by the Hollywood gods.
For veteran publicist, Kandis Knight (@KandisKnightPR), she is well-versed in the arts of creating exposure for those with flair. The Atlanta-based press agent has worked for many corporate and independent brands such as 3 Hill Productions and the Soundset Festival. The latter, which took place this year, ballooned to 50,000 people in attendance due to her contribution.
With 16 years of experience, she has continued to espouse her knowledge of the industry to those interested in getting into the business. BlackEnterprise.com recently caught up with Knight through the wonders of Twitter, where she offered up a few insights from her decade-plus in the red-carpeted trenches.
Check out her 10 tips that are key for success in becoming a PR maven:
Location, Location, Location
To become a great publicist these days, you definitely want to consider living in a large market that is thriving and has many different types of brands and avenues represented. One must do the research before moving or looking in a money market city. Make sure that you can afford to live where the industry is.
Also, if you want to remain in a specific industry (i.e. “fashion, television,” etc.), you want to go where the big boys play and are specific to your industry. With the goal of either applying to work in-house for a firm or following their lead to other opportunities, those are some great decisions one has to make.
Volunteer or intern for a PR company that is established and represent well-known brands. Sometimes you will have to work for free, but doing that grunt work will leads you to great opportunities. You will be paid once you prove yourself.
If New York and Los Angeles aren’t ideal places to begin your PR career, technology has afforded you a major market to thrive. As a digital publicist, you can serve clients from across the globe in your own back yard. Be sure to invest in a P.O. Box if you are going to be moving around a lot and always make sure to know where the free Wi-Fi is if you are living on a tight budget.
While navigating your pool of opportunities, please remember that in the meantime you can find side projects on Odesk.com, Fiver.com and CreativeGroup.com. This works great if you need to make money fast. Make sure you have a PayPal account set up or a business bank account so you can get paid on time, quickly and easily.
Be Tech Savvy
In order to be a competitive publicist, you must remain on trend with technology. What are the top technology savvy PRs using? iPhone 6+? Mac Book Pro? What type of printers, scanners, et cetera, are worth my money? What are the best software and apps one needs to have downloaded on your gadgets? Heck, what is even your technology budget?
Those questions are important as not everyone can afford Radian 6, Vocus or even Sendgrid. You may have to find out what the cheap or free versions are. Most PRs use several applications or software platforms to get the job done. Once you have the technology, you have to maintain it by keeping up with manufacturer upgrades and new software and apps that make old versions obsolete.
Web Presence Is Important
This is crucial for a new publicist. Start a blog. Stay consistent with it and provide useful information — especially for other PRs. Your site can open countless doors if it is done right. It can also be a way to earn serious media credentials. Keep your blog focused on the subject and lifestyle of PR by spotlighting or interviewing other PRs as a way to network and help them with their own publicity goals.
Those situations could lead to opportunities.
This is also key: Do not forget to link all of your blog posts through your social media channels and tweet at influential people. A retweet from an industry veteran or celebrity or a person with some global brand recognition can open numerous doors for you. Your social media accounts need to be straight forward and professional. Keep it clean! No subtweeting your enemies or talking about how drunk you were the night before. Be on point or separate your business account from your personal.
Also, your LinkedIn account is important and must be kept current. Use Pinterest to spotlight all the projects you have worked on. If you have a registered dot com, you always want to make sure it is a great representation of your business and what you have done for your clients.
Join An Organization
Always, always, always join the traditional business organizations. Whether it is the PRSA (Public Relations Society of America), the local Chamber of Commerce, Women’s Professional Groups, or even industry specific organizations — make sure to join those thriving institutions. Also, make sure to join online groups that can be found on Facebook, LinkedIn, and the like — as well as follow #PR, #Publicity, #Publicist, #SocialMedia to keep your networking game tight.
Always be equipped with tons of great looking business cards and flyers about what you do. Be eager to ask people how they are marketing and branding their business. Become a true and knowledgeable resource and healthy options will follow.
Consult Influential Mentors
You always want individuals who are able to mentor you as you mature into your role as a publicist. You want to solidify those relationships and have them be more than just general acquaintances. Look into who are the top industry leaders in your area and field. Who is number one? Who is at the top of their game? Who are the Olivia Pope’s within the industry? Who are the top publicists who’ve recently won awards? Who are the PRs that are working for the company you want to work for?
Ask them out for coffee. Tell them that you are a new prospect and are in need of a career mentor. Go to coffee monthly and come with a list of questions. Bring them your portfolio, let them see your work, and allow them into your world. As they get to know you and your work ethic better, they will point you to opportunities they know of and will take a vested interest in your success.
Decide Your Career Path
There will come a point in time where you will need to decide is it more beneficial to work full-time or remain independent. This is the world of the grass is always greener. The publicists working for firms in offices always dream of the day when they will start their own firm and the PRs who are independent always dream of the stability of landing a full-time job in PR.
Honestly, sometimes the happy medium is working for a client part-time and running your own firm part-time. If you are fresh out of college, I highly suggest you get full-time agency experience first. You will learn the technology, the jargon, the process for running your own firm by osmosis and you will also meet plenty of new networking leads.
Also, it is sometimes easier to land an agency position right out of university versus trying to get in down the road with zero-to-limited agency experience.
Know Your Expectations
Once you land yourself a PR contract with a client or receive a job offer, it is on you to make sure to know exactly what is expected of you. It may feel great and invigorating to sign on that dotted line, but have a lawyer look over your contracts before you place your John Hancock on anything.
On the other end, if you’re freelancing, it is easier to create monthly packages for clients that stipulate exactly what they will receive in a 30-day cycle. If you’re accepting a job in-house or with a firm, know what your roles and responsibilities are and always over deliver. That is imperative — even if you have to hire an assistant or intern yourself.
Build Relationships Savvily
Once that fire has been lit, prepare for your career to take on a life of its own. To build it into something more than just an ember, you need to constantly post your latest projects and accolades. You have to continue to build relationships and remain savvy to remain relevant. Google your name often to see what others see. If it doesn’t mesh well with your career or you just don’t like what you see, focus on landing media placements that shift the discussion.
Always keep your business name and your personal brand the same across all web platforms. Always register your business with the Secretary of State. Choose clients that compliment each other in hopes of building a stellar roster of talent. Sometimes, they will use the same databases and resources which will make your job easier. I cannot stress this enough: Choose clients wisely. Make sure they can afford to consistently pay you. Never promise overnight success. Always over deliver.
Choosing a client who has reached a certain level of success is always wise versus taking a client who is brand spanking new.
Prepare For Career Stoppers
As you go along your journey as a publicist, you will encounter what’s called ‘Career Stoppers’. These can be minor or major, but you must be prepared for them. Typical career stoppers can include things like, starting a family; a death in the family or other crises like your expensive “uninsured” laptop breaking down; a client trashing you; a major failure for a client that you are to blame for.
If you are attempting to start a family or anything that strikes you off your feet, make sure to post to all your social platforms that you will take a sabbatical and the date you will resume work full-time. This helps especially if clients are wanting to work with you and watching you. Any technology crisis — like losing a laptop or catching a virus — can be devastating to a publicist. Always make sure to back up your hard drive and your phone often.
I always insure your equipment, using renters insurance or homeowners insurance or invest in a cheap laptop as standby on eBay or Craigslist. There is nothing worse than losing databases that have taken years to rebuild. Those situations will literally set you back years.
The Trophies Mentality
One of the best things that you can do for your career is to research, seek out and apply for or be nominated for awards. There are many awards for publicists that are industry specific and can be applied for or even be nominated for. Keep a list of these awards and their deadlines pinned over your desk.
Know what the criteria is annually and plan your year accordingly. Winning just one coveted award can set you apart as an industry influencer no matter how new you are. Working hard creating great campaigns for your clients will be noticed. Never, ever think that people are not watching.