By Hibo Abtidon, Account Coordinator
I cannot believe my time as an intern will soon be coming to a close. It seems like just yesterday I was counting down the days until my interview for this position. In the last four months, my perception of PR has definitely changed.
I came into this internship thinking that earned PR is the only thing that matters, and I now know it’s much bigger. I’ve learned that writing social media content is not as easy as it seems. A piece of writing can always be improved, but sometimes it’s best to move on. There’s no such thing as over-communication, especially when working from home. Lastly, I learned that there’s no “I” in team and there’s definitely no “I” in PR.
I’m so thankful to have experienced what it’s like to work at an agency. Being at an agency, such as Hoffman, has given me the ability to understand the different needs that each client has and the best solutions. Each client requires a new strategy to succeed in their specific industry, and as an agency, we cannot rely on one part of PR; being able to do a mix of integrated PR is the key.
I think one of my favorite projects that I’ve worked on was a pitch incorporating a social media influencer. Before this internship, I never would have thought that influencers would be worked into a PR plan, but when thinking about it, it makes complete sense. I was tasked with taking the first crack at the pitch, and it was more creative and consumer-facing than all the other pitches I had written at the time. Having that experience helped me see the differences in writing B2B and B2C pitches.
To anyone starting out in PR, I would suggest accepting that you’re not going to be great when starting out. Yes, that seems obvious, but this was something that I really struggled with during the beginning. It took me a while to fully accept that the point of an internship is to learn.
Like most PR professionals, writing was never something I struggled with in school; however, writing for PR is very different than writing a paper in college. Although I knew I could write an academic paper without any sweat, learning how to proficiently write in PR was a whole different journey. I don’t know why I expected myself to write an excellent story regarding semiconductors and AI when I barely knew about those topics in the months prior.
As humans, we tend to put harsh expectations on ourselves that no one else has for us. I’ve found that letting go of those expectations and asking questions is where success shines its light.
