THE ROAD TO A PR PRO: JOURNEY OF AN APPRENTICE
By Olivia Cowell and Bradley Adams-Stock
After 15 busy months at Full Fat, our apprenticeship has officially come to an end. We’ve been lucky enough to work on the UK’s first virtual festival Glitterbox and American inspired drive-in cinema @TheDriveIn, as well as several brand projects for Backyard Cinema, Blue Tit and Junkyard Golf. We love sharing our pearls of wisdom, so for anyone thinking of embarking on a similar route, read on….
Why we chose an apprenticeship with Full Fat
It’s safe to say that Full Fat’s roster of fun and creative clients was a huge factor and why we were attracted to the apprenticeship in the first place. Being able to work on such a variety of clients, from experience led to FMCG, to hospitality venues, allowed us to develop and grow into the position we find ourselves in now.
Getting our foot through the PR door felt like a huge challenge for both of us and these days without having a qualification or solid experience, it can be challenging to get started.
During our time, we have been able to work on some really exciting campaigns all whilst studying and attending college masterclasses at the same time.
Work hard, study hard
So...what do work and college expect of you? In actual fact, we only ever had to attend one college masterclass a month. Easy, right? Well...it’s not so simple. Eight hours of your working week has to be dedicated to study - whether that’s further reading, creating presentations on specific topics, researching key methods and theories & terminology, to name but a few...
The masterclasses themselves were a great way to come together with other apprentices to exchange ideas and learn together. It was also really interesting to hear about how other apprentices' experiences differed from ours, depending on what sector of PR they are in.
Whilst taking on college work we also had to manage our client work and juggle several projects. It became clear pretty quickly that we needed to learn how to organise and proactively manage our time. Working on consistent campaigns and juggling multiple brands, allowed us to do just this. Whatsmore, our brilliantly helpful team really assisted our professional development and allowed us to grow as PR pros 😎
Skills to pay the bills
Being the lucky ducks we are, we have managed to work on some great campaigns and therefore developed some really useful skills to use both inside and outside the world of PR.
During our time, we have learnt how to...
Create target media lists - it’s all about who you know, TMLs are the best way to figure out who you’ll be reaching out to and what segments they write for!
Drafting press releases - Creativity is key when it comes to press releases which is an informative sheet providing information about a new launch, and anything you want to share news about...a pun never goes amiss!
Pitching to press and influencers - Getting those connections in the bag and giving out some freebies never hurt anyone 😉
Event management - This is where it gets really fun! Whether you are schmoozing with guests, working the door or helping with the acts; events are the best way to get stuck in and have a great time doing it.
Brainstorming - Putting heads together to create some exciting new campaigns to grab the attention of everyone! Again, creativity is key 🔑
Report creating - For when you want to show all your hard work off to clients and share any information that helps towards your KPIs and learnings.
Media mailer after media mailer after media mailer - This is where your creativity gets to shine by making boxes of goodies and being able to get those steps in by taking a stroll to the post office 🚶
@TheDriveIn Launch Event
Top tips for top apprentices
Juggling study, campaigns, research, presentations and general work life can be tricky, the key is to remember that balance is the path to success.
Don’t worry we have some top tips to make your life a little easier!
Prioritisation - PR is a constantly changing world so make sure you prioritise your study time as it can easily be forgotten amidst all the chaos.
Communication - this is a HUGE part of being successful. Your team needs to be aware of your study time whether that's in the calendar or verbally. It’ll make life a whole lot easier, especially when working remotely.
Keep organised - Whether you are a sucker for a to-do list (like we are) or use platforms such as Monday.com, keeping on top of your campaigns and urgent tasks means that everything else will run smoothly. Once these tasks are completed you can move on to your study without the stress of an unfinished task luring over you.
Positivity - Having a positive attitude all the time can be hard and that's okay! However, having the motivation, interest and positivity for a task or campaign not only makes time fly but means the team is just as excited as you.
Do the work!!! - It is as simple as that really… use all of our tips and tricks and make sure your work gets done, no matter what. You started this apprenticeship to get a qualification and you should do just that. You will have a team who understands this just like our team does :)
Do these and you are set to be the next PR expert in the making… just like us 😉
Whether you’d like to work with us, discuss your project or learn more about Full Fat Marketing, feel free to get in touch below.