Earlier this semester in our Principles of PR course, we had a class discussion about what we felt were the qualities of a great public relations professional. Roughly twenty minutes of brainstorming later with seventeen attributes on the list, the quality that capped it off was: “creative”.
As we moved through our classes in the following weeks, I began to realize just how important of a skill creativity is in this program, and in PR as a profession.
The clearest example of this is our graphic design course. When I think of graphic design in communications, I think about creating digital art that delivers a message or tells a story. PR professionals thoughtfully incorporate colours, textures, shapes, typography, different font faces, images, and more, into pieces that speak to their audiences and make them want to engage with their company or brand. All of this requires creativity.
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Similarly, our social media course has also pushed me to be more creative in my communications. One of our assignments was to develop a social media calendar for a business to promote their product and encourage audiences to interact and build a relationship with the company. Crafting quick, simple messages that were fun and engaging, including visually appealing images and eye-catching GIFs and videos, and linking messages to special days or occasions to boost reach, were all challenging tasks in their own way because they required substantial creativity. Additionally, developing unique communications to be circulated on social media where users’ feeds are saturated with other messaging requires professionals to be creative in order to make their messaging stand out.
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Even in our program planning course where we analyze the communications activities of organizations, develop public relations plans and integrated marketing and communications plans, creativity comes into play again and again. Coming up with unique strategies and tactics to reach audiences, some of which might include plans for events, campaigns, media kits and promotional launches, all demand that the person building the plan be able to employ creativity in their preparations.
Taking it a step further, even pitching a plan to clients and other stakeholders requires professionals to be creative in order to effectively captivate their audiences and sell them on fresh, new ideas that “think outside the box”.
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As a student in this program, I feel lucky to be able to work on projects where I get be imaginative and inventive, and to have my creative efforts contribute to a successful outcome. I like the challenge of coming up with new ideas, collaborating with different teams, and applying our concepts to public relations plans and communications activities.
All in all, I would agree with our class list that being creative is a key quality of a great public relations professional. It is definitely a skill that I look forward to developing further in my career!
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