One Step Forward, Three Steps Back: How the Classroom Differs From the School of Life

This month, I’d like to talk about the differences between organizing a communications event in college versus out in the wild.

Enough for you

When I was in college studying communications, we had a big group project at the end of our last year. We had to organize a media conference for an imaginary event but include all the relevant details as if the event were real. We sent out press releases to real journalists whose beats corresponded with our pretend event. We hoped they would acknowledge us and let us know whether they would have covered the event if it was real. Only one answered our messages, and he had some constructive feedback but was still encouraging. I wasn’t surprised that more reporters didn’t have time for us, but I was still disappointed.

Brutal

I didn’t know how good we had it. In the real world, it’s brutal out here.

My most important real-life event to date has been the grand opening celebration of my healthy pet food store, Duke’s Pet Foods Port Hope. Yes, I have pivoted away from public relations, but really, every industry has to do with publicity in some capacity.

Anyway, Port Hope, Ont., is part of Northumberland County, and that’s where I did one of my placements in college, so I had some mainstream media contact information. I finished my placement in the summer of 2022, so it hasn’t been that long. Then again, you know what they say about yesterday’s news. Since I had last looked up these contacts, several local newspapers had shut down. The ones that remain have pivoted to pay-for-play coverage. The local FM radio stations have lots of opportunities to buy advertisement packages but they don’t do a lot of earned coverage. The closest local TV station is based out of Peterborough, Ont., and my little shop in Port Hope wasn’t local enough or newsworthy enough for them to answer me.

All that to say, traditional publicity is dead.

Hope you’re OK

When I was in college, I rolled my eyes at the idea of starting a career in communications and having to pitch to social media influencers. I was so wrong! Social media influencers are much more important to your brand awareness than some harried news editor. In fact, I have a friend who works as an influencer who specializes in promoting Northumberland County’s small businesses. Guess what: she has so many clients that she couldn’t fit me in. The same industry that I once pooh-poohed made me eat some humble pie.

Luckily, publicity is only one part of a brand’s public image. As I have said before, the organization has to have some substance.

Love is embarrassing

When I tell you I work with the best human beings on the planet, I’m not exaggerating. For an organization to succeed, the leadership needs to have people around them they can trust. I trust my team completely. My organization runs more like a collective than a hierarchy, so it’s easy to delegate. When it was time to plan the grand opening, I didn’t fall into the trap of trying to micromanage everything. My store manager, Janet, took the lead on many parts of event organization, and she knocked it out of the park. I have written about my business partner, Lee, and how she has made so many meaningful relationships with pet parents in Whitby, Ont., over the years. Even in a new town, Lee knows how to connect with people. My other business partner, Travis, is more comfortable behind the scenes, but everything he does makes our business look good and run better.

On the day of the grand opening, we had a lovely ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring the mayor of Port Hope. That was a great coup for us, but politicians do not an event make.

The thing that made the event a slam-dunk success was the support of the local community. Through word of mouth, organic social media posts, some paid advertising on FM radio, networking and handing out paper coupons, we got a huge turnout on the day of. Our store had neighbours, friends, local non-profit leaders and even an adoptable puppy. We had cookies, butter tarts and gourmet coffee. We had fun. I was a nervous wreck on the morning of, but everything fell into place thanks to the hard work of Janet, Lee, Travis and myself.

I pity anyone who has to run a business without my dream team, but I urge you to follow your intuition, trust the process and remember that if you’re scared, that’s a good thing because it shows you care.

Happier

I was disappointed that traditional publicity isn’t very relevant anymore. Still, I’m so glad that I have an educational background in PR and communications because the skills keep coming in handy if in sometimes unexpected ways. And now I know to be nicer to influencers!