Becoming a guru in 45 minutes – adapting your research and writing skills to connect with your client’s publics.

As I’ve mentioned in my previous posts and as I’m sure you’re all familiar with, working in PR can mean creating a run-of-the-mill media release one second to running around town to find a unique place-setting for an event the next; the work is ever-changing and one has to adjust quickly. Essentially, you are an octopus trying to pull together your resources and knowledge to satisfy client demands in a timely and satisfactory manner. This particularly rings true when you’re trying to reach out to people on a topic you yourself are not familiar with.

I’ve found the topics and clients I write for at GO vary greatly. Being a consultancy that aims to cover all bases of PR (issues management, CSR, rebranding, events etc), the scope of our clients was understandably broad. The diversity of clients meant I had to change my writing skills to suit their company profile and stakeholders (e.g. corporate, conversational, critical etc) as well as often having to become well-versed and knowledgeable in their core competencies and the messages they wanted to communicate.

In my first major writing piece, I had to write an article about cyber-security that would be sent out to thousands of clients in an e-newsletter. The company dealt primarily with complex computer software, but periodically wanted to send out updates in laymen’s terms so their clients could stay up-to-date and the client would remain relevant in their customers’ minds. 

My supervisor asked me to have the piece researched and written, and sent back to her in an hour. Eep. Not only am I a complete noob in anything beyond Microsoft Office, I wanted to prove my worth in my first major output so I would continue to receive writing work. My mind flickers to the Albert Einstein quote:

“If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”

To apply this to the piece that lay in front of me, I spent the next 45 minutes researching current cyber-security threats and risks to the average user. Four years at uni and countless research assignments have taught me how to filter through the unnecessary information and how to highlight what is actually relevant to one’s needs. The foundational PR classes that really honed in on the basic tenets of writing and tried to nurture our transcribing skills also gave me a confidence boost; I could interpret my findings to suit the necessary context and power out a report in 15 minutes. N.B. I’m also convinced Malaysian Red Bull is considerably stronger!

I initially felt somewhat hypocritical giving advice to customers on a subject I am completely unfamiliar with, however I was reassured when my supervisor and the client came back happy. The basis for the recommendations were of course of upmost importance, but being able to translate the information to a language which the targeted public would understand and respond to is one of the most challenging and enjoyable doctrines of PR.

It has been a whirlwind four weeks; in between working 9+ hour days, pushing my writing and creative skills, and experiencing first-hand the ups and downs of working in a consultancy, Hannah and I also tried to squeeze in as much as we could into the rest of our Malaysia experience. Weekends were spent in Highlands clinging to dear life as we faced impending doom in a skylift (or at least that’s what it felt like), tasting the most amazing cuisines that emerged from the unification of three distinct but cohesive cultures, and hanging out in one of the coolest, culturally rich cities I’ve ever been to. 

I hope you’ve all enjoyed your internships as much as I did mine and I wish you all the best with your future endeavours.

Until next time!