By Charlotte Dowd, Senior Account Executive

Six months ago, I stepped up my running game and entered into the Sheffield 10K Run For All. I soon caught the running bug, delving deeper into the running sphere with my entry of the PlusNet South Yorkshire Half Marathon… (help).

In my early days of training, I could only manage a short 5KM around my local park before keeling over in a sweat infused coma. Panting like a dog, I questioned my logic of signing my life away to what is known as the hardest half marathon on the block. Sheffield is renowned for its seven hills, after all…

Yet now, I run 10K for fun on an evening, enjoying the peaceful release that running gives me. So how did I arrive here? Well, persistence, resilience and tenacity, to name a few. And this got me thinking… These are three key characteristics at the core of a strong PR professional. Although the list is lengthy, below, I consider three key characteristics fundamental to succeeding in the world of PR.

Persistence, resilience and tenacity

Aforementioned above, these traits are essential to withstanding the rain in PR. Whether it’s building solid relationships with media, presenting new ideas to a client or researching consumer engagement trends, having the resilience to persevere will ensure you are always able to re-trench after a setback and review past successes and failures as learning a lesson. Just like training to run a half marathon, persistence is key to progress in PR.

Ability to see the bigger picture

As a PR it is your duty to manage the public’s perception of either your brand or your clients’ brand. For this, you are required to understand the publics’ view, from a regional, national and international perspective. It is only when we are able to engage in proactive conversations and think above and beyond our social, cultural and geographic boundaries, that we are able to consider our brand in the eyes of the public.

Attention to detail

Contradictory, I hear you say? Alongside the ability to see the bigger picture, however, is the importance of attention to detail. When considering the success of a campaign, it is numbers and statistics that provide quantifiable analytics. Word positioning is also incredibly important in public relations today; the wrong word choice can see a positive statement spiral into an unending nightmare of clarifications. It is therefore incumbent on those who speak and write to pick their words with extreme care.

The above details three key characteristics of a budding PR. It goes without saying that being a wordsmith is a pre-requisite of entering into the world of PR, with the drafting of copy, releases and social media updates forming a large chunk of your day-to-day. Such a myriad of tasks necessitates a hunger for learning and a wide skills base, further securing the place of persistence as a key attribute to every PR professional.