Hello, again! Today is March 3rd, the birthday of my beautiful Irish grandmother. My grandmother was as grand and as saucy an Irish dame as God ever made, rest her soul. Her glistening red hair, her fair freckled skin, and her sparkling green eyes made her a beauty, but what really made her a stunning woman was her inner person. Grandma had style! She was, for lack of a better word, an individual. She had a passion for life, and it painted everything and everyone she touched with light and laughter. She worked hard, she played hard, and she loved hard. And, she was just as much at home on a bar stool as she was in a ballroom because she understood that class is not defined by a persons financial status, it is defined by their character.
What does all this have to do with PR, you say? Everything, I say. If we are going to be successful public relations professionals, we had better bring our charisma and our own personal style to the work. Each of us has special talents, gifts, experiences, intellect, education, and perspective that we bring to the table. These things together define our personal and professional style, and it’s that style that makes us memorable. And, we definitely want to be remembered. We want to be remembered there is a need for the specialized service we provide. We want to be remembered when an editor or journalist is developing content related to what we do or what our client or employer does. And, we certainly want to be remembered when it comes time to sign the check.
In order to be remembered, you’ve got to have style! You’ve got to have that special something that differentiates you from the sea of public relations professionals out there. That style must set you apart in a positive way, and must be authentically you.
If you haven’t really thought about this whole style thing much, now is the time to get started. What makes you different? What makes you special? Why- oh-why should people call you, choose you, rely on you? If you don’t know, figure it out! Make a list. Focus on the things you immediately recognize as excellent and identify other qualities and areas of skill or knowledge that you would like to develop to the level of excellence. Focus on the best and work on the rest.
In business, as in life, relationships are everything. And, people will only develop a relationship with you if they like you. For public relations professionals, this is essential because as public relations professionals, we are bound to be influencer’s. It is our goal to influence awareness, attitudes, opinion, and behavior through the specialized practice of the work that we do and the way that we do it. In order to be influential, we must be likable, ethical, and reliable. We must be memorable. In short, we’ve got to
have style.
I don’t know about you, but when people think of me, I want them to say to themselves, as they always did about my grand Irish grandmother, “Now, she’s got style!”
Copyright, Tracy Teuscher, 2009.
Please share your comments and ideas on this important topic, or submit your questions or ideas for a future topic. For copies of previous blog articles, email me at tracy@thebuzzmaker.com .
Tracy Teuscher is a Public Relations Consultant and President of The Buzz Maker! Public Relations. She maintains active membership in PRSA, is on the Board of Directors of the Akron Area Chapter of PRSA, and is a member of the SBN Select Committee and her local Jackson-Belden Chamber of Commerce. She currently serves a wide variety of clients. She is freelance journalist for several trade publications, and is currently in the process of achieving Accreditation through PRSA. For more information, visit http://www.thebuzzmaker.com
