By Annette Albrecht, Brandpoint
Working in PR is anything but your typical 9-5 office job. With the pervasiveness of technology, a never-ending social news cycle and an ever-present deadline, maximizing productivity as a PR executive is more important than ever. So how can you make the most of your limited time and win the ongoing battle for work-life balance? The below tips and tools are just a few time-saving tactics I’ve learned as a content marketing consultant to the PR industry.
Messaging Apps
Slack
When you’re in the business of communication, it helps to have tools that are custom-built to make your job easier. With Slack, you can streamline communication across teams and offices with an app that stores your team’s communications in one location. Slack’s features include real-time private and group messaging, file sharing, link summaries, integration with Dropbox, Twitter and Google+ Hangouts, customizable notifications and more.
Upitch
Think Tinder for media relations. Once you create a pitch or brief announcement on Upitch, journalists can swipe through to find stories they’re interested in receiving more information about. When you get a match, you’re connected with the reporter. Easy!
Sponsored Content
According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, almost two-thirds of online news visitors said they are more open to digital advertising that focuses on a story rather than selling a product. Cut through the clutter and reach your desired audience efficiently with a MAT Release. If you’re looking for a reliable way to get your PR message in front of a guaranteed mass audience, look for a distribution partner. From small startups to Fortune 500s, companies of all sizes have turned to Brandpoint’s distribution network for speedy turn-around, quality placements, and robust reporting.
Join professional industry organizations
If you’re reading this, you obviously understand the importance of professional industry organizations (like WWPR!), but I’d like to outline a few of the time-saving benefits that being an active part of these organizations can provide. Participating in professional organization can help you:
- Stay current on knowledge in your industry: No need to wade through news articles, discussion forums or seminar opportunities. Maximize professional development opportunities by utilizing tools that are sponsored by or come recommended by your trusted peers.
- Gain expertise in an area you may want to explore through volunteering.
- Build a trusted network. When the times comes to make a job change or tackle an unfamiliar project, for example, you will have ready-made access to a support system that will ultimately make any transition or project easier.
Content Marketing Platform
We recently surveyed our current clients and found that a whopping 86 percent of them were wading through a flurry of emails and a hodgepodge of word documents and spreadsheets for each and every piece of content created. Bottlenecks, headaches and draining back-and-forths clouded the potentially clear stream between concept and publishing.
This is where a content marketing platform comes in.
As you have likely seen in your own place of work, companies continue to invest time and money in content production, and there is a tremendous opportunity for you to focus on your company or team’s content operations. When you have multiple people emailing Word documents around and trying to track it all on a spreadsheet as described above, it quickly becomes unwieldy. Selecting the right content marketing platform is one way that PR professionals can create more and better content in less time.
For more information on the above time-saving tips or to find out how Brandpoint can help you, contact me at aalbrecht@brandpoint.com or 952.278.0783.