LINDA COSTA COMMUNICATIONS GROUP

You Can’t Always Judge a Profession by the Movies
07.30.12

 

I’ve got to fess up. I wasn’t exactly sure what the public relations industry entailed prior to my internship at Linda Costa Communications Group, or what the internship itself would be like. Frantically attempting to persuade a potential client over the phone to become my client as he demands, “show me the money!” might have crossed my mind once or twice. And as a psychology major, I had no previous training in utilizing communication as an art form. But psychology did me right, as my entire internship was centered around people. The main objective: determine what it is your clients want and how to achieve their definition of success.

Here are a few PR tips I learned during my time as a Linda Costa Communications Group intern:

• Pitch often, but pitch smart.
• Brainstorm how to creatively cast your clients in a positive light. Always have this task in the back of your mind; you never know when the “light bulb” will magically turn on.
• Fact check. And then do it again.
• Build and monitor relationships with media.
• Keep in mind the brand you’re representing.
• Make time to keep up with the daily news; sometimes a back-page national story can spark the idea for a front-page local one…with a client tie-in, of course!
• Work as a team.
• Whenever you have an opportunity to practice your writing skills, take it. Writing is the most important weapon you have in public relations, and the ability to communicate clearly and effectively is invaluable.

As a psychology major, or really as any major, being able to communicate well with others is a must. Let’s be honest: the world is becoming smaller every day (thanks to constant updates in technology) and you must be able to navigate through this ever-shrinking domain. And the time spent developing my communication skills will help me do just that. Writing papers, conducting research and sending professional emails this fall at the University of Miami will all be a piece of cake … thanks to all that I learned at Linda Costa Communications Group.

While she’s pitching to journalists, fact-checking letters and brainstorming for clients, Grace Madsen is considering re-evaluating her pre-internship perception of public relations.