By Lauren Redpath

They say love is a drug – once you’ve bitten the love drug, you’re hooked!  But after a little more than 6 years in the industry, I’m beginning to wonder if PR is actually a drug of its own?  What if I don’t know I’m addicted because I feed my habit on a daily basis, sometimes late at night, sometimes on the weekend and would you believe, sometimes while on annual leave?

It’s not uncommon to see a PR professional sitting at their desk, shaking from head to toe, muttering uncontrollably.  It might be a caffeine overload; it might even be lack of food or sleep, but more often than not, it’s someone on the brink of locking in ‘that’ exclusive interview, or in some painful cases, finding out that ‘that’ exclusive interview has been pulled.

PR is one of those addictive industries where you’re continuously feeding yours and your client’s habit – the habit that can only be fed with media coverage.


So what is that underlying driving factor that keeps me going through all of the above – the answer is passion.


Here are my top three reasons why I’m so passionate about PR:

PR makes me hungry for more

PR is often ranked as one of the most stressful careers but if you turn that on its head, it can also be viewed as one of the most rewarding, from a personal perspective. While it’s true what they say – it’s PR not ER, it’s still personally rewarding to know that someone out there, is benefitting from what you’re doing for them.
You might be working on a national exhibition that needs to sell thousands upon thousands of tickets or you might be helping a start-up business get its new product off the ground – either way, you’re still having an effect on someone’s life or business, and that’s motivating enough.
Not to mention, the feeling you get when you land your client a stellar piece of coverage that you’ve been working on for months, is almost indescribable.  It’s like you’ve hit the jackpot – you want to throw coverage confetti from the rooftops!
But the great thing is, that feeling isn’t just a one-off – you know your next victory dance isn’t too far around the next corner.


I love people and I enjoy building lasting relationships

To build a successful career in PR, you need to be able to build strong relationships. I enjoy connecting with people and working with them closely to come up with a solution that works for everyone – whether that be the media or clients.

PR is often given a bad reputation for spinning the truth but in actual fact, the people I’ve been fortunate to work with over the years, have been amongst the most trustworthy people I have ever met.


PR is flexible – it evolves as the world evolves

Traditional media is no longer the be all and end all and we have technology to thank for that.  But the beauty is, traditional and digital media can work in a partnership and the results can be incredible.  I love the fact that I work in an industry that is constantly evolving with the times.  When I look back to when I started my first job in Communications, social media was barely considered – it was a nice to have and something that was incorporated into Communications’ plans if there was the resource for it.  Fast forward just six years and the Social Media Manager is an integral part of a Communications team.  How incredible to think that technology is responsible for that change and as PR professionals, we’re responsible for embracing it.