You’re faced with so many fashion brands every day, whether on social media, online blogs or magazines. Did you ever wonder how these interviews, articles or posts get out there? Well they are the work of a Public Relations person, otherwise known as a publicist, who is working 24/7 to get the brand know to the public. Per definition, a PR person is someone who has to build an image for one or more brands toward the public using different types of media.
Being a strong brand in the fashion industry means that all people must have one certain image when they read or hear about a brand. It’s a very important job with many responsibilities.
As easy as it may sound with today’s accessible channels, such as Instagram, it is a challenging job where one must get very creative in order to get coverage without paying for it. From the outside it might look like a super glamorous job but the truth is that most of the time it’s hard work from behind-the-scenes.
Did you ever dream of working as a PR guru? Well keep reading, we’ll let you know just how you can do this, what you need and what the job really is about.
Education
It all starts with your college degree. Of course, there will be some PR experts that didn’t have the right degree but with so much competition out there it’s best to start off right. The good news is, there is not just one degree that fits the job. General degrees in communications, or literature are great as well as fashion business or marketing degrees. If you know you want to go in PR, talk to professionals in your free time about it, a person’s experience is worth so much for this type of job.
Intern
You don’t become a PR guru overnight, it takes time, practice and a lot of devotion. Don’t expect to graduate and get a PR job the next day, you’ll beat your competition by having experience in the field.
There is no better way to learn then to intern at fashion brands or companies that you love. Some PR people even admitted to have done multiple internships to make sure they had enough experience to get that job they really want. There’s different kinds of PR jobs, you’re either in-house and work for one brand or you can be at an agency representing different brands. Both jobs are very different, so if you’re not sure which one suits you best go and intern at both sides.
By doing internships you’ll build experience and knowledge and you will be ready for your first real (and paid!) job.
Skills
You’ll need some specific skills to really be successful in this job, first of all, excellent communication skills are crucial for this role. The job is to communicate positive things about the brand toward the public, failure to do this is very bad for the brand but also for your personal career. People in the business know one another and word of mouth is a powerful aspect that can be positive but very negative as well. PR people need to be a master at storytelling while also having a good understanding of media, marketing & fashion trends.
It’s definitely a hands-on job that requires a lot of organization and the need to be innovative, hardworking and personable.
People skills are indispensable as contact with editors, stylists and bloggers is an everyday task. It’s all about creating professional relationships with them and letting them know if anything exciting or new is happening at the brand. Don’t put on a fake façade as they have excellent people skills as well and they will just see through it, which is bad for the brand and for you.
Knowledge of excellent written and presentation skills are required as well as good time management and multi-tasking skills.
Next to regular media such as magazines there is now a lot happening on social media, so a PR person needs to be up to date with all of them.
Last but definitely not least is the ability to work under pressure and stress. As spokesperson for the brand it’s possible to deal with crisis, angry customers and unforeseen situations. Knowing how to deal with these in a professional and calm matter is the key to success.
Hard Work…
Having the right skills is just the start to becoming a successful PR person. It’s hard work and you never stop learning end educating yourself about new trends or skills.
Do you like working a nice and easy 9 to 5 job with quiet weekends? Well forget about it if you want to go into PR, where hours are long and you might be expected to travel on a very short notice – the work is very extensive.
Networking is like breathing in the PR world, you never stop making connections. Because the job relies on building relationships you definitely need to be good at it. For some it comes as if it’s so easy, while for others it might be more difficult. Attending happenings such as meet-ups, fashion events and connecting with others on platforms such as LinkedIn will be a part of your daily life. Remember that networking with the right people can get you really far in this industry, as many job openings are never posted online but everything is happening via the people you might know. Your list of personal contacts is also a great asset, especially if you know people at big fashion magazines and influencers.
When your brand brings out a new collection you cannot simply send out a press release to all your contacts and expect them to run the story. Editors at big magazines love to get personal emails and they will get you a much higher chance of being featured. Of course this takes ten times more work and energy, because you need to find different angles to one story, but it will definitely be seen in your results.
You might have noticed that PR people read magazines and are on their phones whenever they have some spare time, that’s because they constantly need to look for inspiration and new ideas in order to re-invent stories for the brand.
… But also Fun Work!
We hope we’re not scaring you at this point because PR people have some amazing perks of the job. If you’re lucky your brand shows at fashion week in one of the four fashion capitals and you might be organizing the show. There is no better feeling than working towards something for 6 months and then seeing the end-result. Although it’s a very complex event that requires so much prepping and work – PR people usually love this the most about their job.
Organizing other and smaller events such as a press conference, a lookbook shoot or a bloggers event are also very fun to do as you get to be creative while putting the events together.
Getting to work with amazing people is a great aspect of the job, from stylists to photographers, models and celebs, PR people get to work with the most brilliant people in the industry.
