How to Succeed in a PR Agency Real Talk to Grow Your Career & Become Indispensable

Learning how to be successful in a public relations (PR) agency is a stressful on-the-job, sink-or-swim, immersive experience. While other texts teach PR theory and practice, no other book guides early to mid-career PR professionals through the day-to-day life of working in an agency and the skills required to excel and build a career.

This text demystifies the PR agency experience with foundational information to simplify and clarify agency life. Authors Kristin Johnson and Shalon Roth, who each grew successful careers in PR agencies, share secrets that no one will teach in a class or a seminar. This is real talk about real life in an agency ? punctuated by anecdotes from leaders in the industry. This is a must-read for communications students and PR professionals looking to grow their career and become indispensable to teams and clients.

I: Why Indispensable?

1. About This Book

2. Who is This Book For

3. What’s in It For You

II: Agency Basics

4. Architecture of Agency Life

5. The Life Cycle of Business

6. Money Honey

7. Budget Basics

8. Staffing

9. Ethical Conduct

10. Writing Essentials

III. Forget Titles

11. A Leader at Every Level

12. Achieving Authenticity

13. Diplomacy and Persuasion

14. Managing Expectations

15. PR: Personal Relationships

IV: Lead the Way

16. Building a Team

17. Personal Branding

18. Managing Your Career

19. Managing the Careers of Others

20. Managing Client Relationships

V. Pay It Forward

21. A Message from the Authors

Index

Kristin Johnson works as a client advisor and executive coach at Logos Consulting Group and Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership, and is an adjunct instructor at New York University in the School of Professional Studies (NYU-SPS), where she has taught in the master’s level public relations and corporate communications program since 2014. Kristin also serves as a mentor and judge for NYU Stern’s W. R. Berkley Innovation Labs $300K Entrepreneurs Challenge, which aims to develop people and ideas that create value for business and society.

Shalon Roth has spent the last 15 years on the front lines of PR and communications agencies serving start-ups to multinational publicly traded companies. She founded PR-it®, which combines the power of a proprietary data-driven pricing model with a global community of high-caliber, seasoned public relations, digital and creative experts to deliver high-quality projects to brands, and on-demand support to agencies managing workflow peaks.