By Susanne Kasberger, Account Executive
I remember when I had my first PC — I was quite young because my dad wanted my siblings and me to learn early on — I made up my own little story about an alien creature in the most beautiful colourful world. That could have been my opportunity to become an author. Unfortunately, I deleted it at some point … Don’t worry, this blog won’t be about any alien apocalypse or me being author of the year.
Writing … Now, that is something I have always loved to do in my free time or even in school.
In Germany, lessons mostly consist of writing stories or later analysing existing texts. I know a lot of my friends had a strong dislike for it. I loved it. I could fill pages and pages.
Researching, writing, analysing. Sounds like the PR profession was just right there for me. Well, it wasn’t my first step.
I started studying media because I loved film. Did I think I would end up in film? Maybe at the beginning, but the beauty of media degrees is the variety of opportunities that are laid out in front of you.
During university, I completed an internship in the social media department of one of the biggest machine manufacturers in the bottling industry, Krones, and found that one my strengths was in corporate communications. I enjoyed it and continued working there as a working student after six months.
That’s also where I met Lorena, a fellow intern and working student at the time (Spoiler: she is still my colleague to this day). Lorena played a big part in me finding Hoffman. The Hoffman Agency’s German team was still quite small when she told Mark Pinsent, MD Europe, that I might be a suitable addition.
But before that would happen, I was fortunate enough to deep dive into the world of online marketing as the sole online marketing manager in a small agency in Bavaria. Sounds scary, but it was quite an experience.
As you can see, I love communicating for others in one way or another and I have learned so much in the past few years.
And even though public relations, social media management and online marketing are three distinct communication methods, they still go hand-in-hand, and I’m able to apply learnings from one profession to the other. Each form has their own perks, and I can count myself lucky to have worked in all three of those areas: paid, owned and earned.
Public relations stands out though. You’re not the publishing part (not always at least — but there are exceptions). You need to tell your client’s story in a way that makes journalists believe in them and believe that the story is newsworthy. Since the internet has become one of the main sources of information and news is coming from every corner of this earth, this can be tricky to do, which makes it even more exciting to me.
Nonetheless, being new to the industry also means you will receive a lot of feedback. You need it!
I have received documents from my colleagues where the tracked changes looked like a battlefield at first — to be fair, I still do. And that is OK. I learn how to articulate myself in a professional PR manner every day.
Never not learning.
I think that’s what describes my journey; and being a PR professional, or, well, becoming one.
