As Fourth of July weekend is upon us, it’s safe to say everyone will be sprinting to their cars at 5 on the dot this Friday afternoon ready for a long weekend of R&R with family, friends and an ice cold beer. The last thing on anyone’s mind will be answering client emails while heading to the beach.

Mentally checking out is necessary to come back to the office feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world, but you also don’t want to feel like your drowning in 2,847,178 client emails and a to-do list out the wazoo upon your return. So, how do we come back to the office without feeling an unnecessary amount of stress? There are a few steps we can take during, before and after your vacation to ensure a much smoother transition back into work life…

1. Prioritize Before

Before you leave, make a well thought-out list of what you should pay attention to first when you return. Should you focus on securing coverage for an event that’s in a week? Or should you put together that new-biz presentation for your meeting in a week and a half? Obviously both are important to some extent, but as a publicist our job is to secure press placements for clients. Get to the latter first, and focus on the admin work in the afternoon.

2. Sneak-a-Peek

While checking emails on vacation isn’t necessary by any means, don’t be afraid to glance once or twice just to make sure nothing of urgency has taken place. Just don’t let it consume your thoughts and keep you from living in the moment. Yes, taking a quick peek may harsh your Independence Day mellow a bit, but at least you will feel somewhat in the know when you head back to the office.

3. Take a walk

No matter how much we try to save ourselves the trouble of feeling overwhelmed during a vacation, sometimes we come back to our desks feeling an overwhelming amount of stress. Take a quick break and walk around the office, go outside, or grab a coffee from Philz down the street. Sometimes a mind-clearing stroll is all you need to come back to your desk feeling like you’re ready to take on the world!

4. But really, just enjoy your break

Watch the fireworks, eat a hamburger, and live in the moment.

Congratulations! You made it through many years of surviving on ramen, two hours of sleep (if you’re lucky) and a slew of term papers and tests. You even landed your dream job as a real life PR professional! Well done! Now is where the real “adulting” begins. You might have to move out of your parents’ house, probably have to pay a couple of your own bills and (gasp) go to the grocery! While I can’t help you with those things, I can give you a few tips on how to ace your first year as a PR pro.

Take Some Risks.

Seems simple in theory, but it’s actually a lot more intimidating when you actually have to do it. Talking to clients, colleagues and reporters when you are first getting started will be scary, but making sure you share your ideas and thoughts will pay off in the end. It will show you have initiative and thinking outside the box can also lead to some really great story and pitch ideas too.

Time Management.

This. Is. Key. I struggled with this a lot when I first started and sometimes I still do. Knowing which projects take precedent over others and what tasks to handle first will help your productivity immensely and keep your bosses and clients happy. If you take one tip from this post- it’s this one.

Learn To Accept and Welcome Criticism.

Trust me when I say people are not picking on you. Public relations is a team effort. There are managers, senior account executives, account executives, coordinators and assistants all on the same accounts sometimes. The success of clients is never the sole responsibility of one team member so when a colleague gives you constructive criticism on a pitch, release or an campaign idea, do not take it to heart. It’s to help you become a PR beast and so you can pass along that knowledge to the other newbies one day. It will be very helpful your first year to ask other people at your same level and above you to read your pitches and other materials and give their thoughts. Teamwork makes the dream work!

Build a Reliable Media List.

Something I learned just this year that I think would have helped me when I first started out is the importance of building lasting and reliable media relationships. Take the time to “study” what reporters and writers in your fields like/dislike. Pay attention to what they cover- what they don’t cover. Sending them relevant pitches will increase your chances of responses and coverage and they will begin to rely on you for quality sources and material. Even take time to check in with them when you aren’t pitching them to say “hi”, see what they have in the works or send them a link to something they might like. Paying attention and being genuine will go a long way. Besides, our whole job is about creating and maintaining relationships with media- building your own base of contacts will help you out for many years to come no matter which company you end up at.

Write Write.

That’s my tip. Write as much as you can. The more you write, the easier it will become. Press releases will take less time, pitches will practically write themselves and one day when you have to write for the company blog (like this one), it will be a piece of cake. Writing is something that becomes easier with practice and truthfully, we write all day, every day, so learning to become an efficient writer will be crucial to your success.

All this aside, PR is a fast-paced, ever-changing and exciting profession. It can be a challenging industry but also very rewarding. So, don’t be afraid to dive right in, take some risks and enjoy the ride. In the words of Daniel Boorstin, “Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some hire public relations officers.” Take that as a compliment and a boost of confidence and get out there and kill it!

Greetings!

I’m coming to you from the riverbanks of Montana on my annual fly-fishing trip. Each summer, my husband and I take a short break from the chaos of life to slow down, unwind, and reconnect with nature.

Before heading off to the river this morning, we had a brief discussion with our fishing guide. “Which river is fishing best today? What kind of bait are the fish eating? What time do we need to leave?” You know – the basics. In that moment, it dawned on me that fly-fishing and public relations are one in the same! Both take a considerable amount of research, strategy, and flawless execution to come out a winner.

You have to read and understand the water.

Much like a seasoned PR professional studies the media, a seasoned angler has studied the river, knows exactly where the fish like to hang out, knows what bugs are native to the area, and ultimately, knows exactly what it’s going to take to land that fish. In order to be successful as a PR professional, you have to know what type of content is native to the publication, which writers are hanging out in which beats, and what news angle is going to get them to bite!

You’ll need to switch up your bait.

Inside any given fly shop, there are hundreds of different kinds of flies to choose from! Just like people, fish like to dine on a wealth of different foods. The same fly won’t attract the same kind of fish from one day to the next, so you’ll need to switch up your bait constantly to keep the fish interested. The same goes for pitching reporters. At this PR agency, we tailor every single pitch to fit the specific needs and interests of the writers. If they don’t bite the first time, we switch it up and try something new until we are successful.

Jump quickly on the hatch!

Every angler knows that the best time to go fly fishing is right at the height of an insect hatch. The fish are in feeding-frenzy mode and you can pick up dozens upon dozens in a single morning. But that hatch generally lasts no more than 24 hours, so you have to be observant at all times and quick to act! This same scenario can be likened to breaking news. Reporters everywhere are chomping at the bit for information, sources, expert commentary, etc. Much like the hatch, you need to be observant and you need to be quick to capitalize on the media frenzy! The story is often dead by the end of the day, and the newsroom bellies are full.

The early bird gets the worm.

In fly-fishing, you want to be the first one in the water. Why? Because the fish stop biting after they’ve been hooked a time or two. This applies to reporters as well. They won’t bite on the same story twice, so you better be swift and make sure your “bait” is the first to reach their inbox.

When done right, it is art…

Happy fishing, friends!

-Brandy