Want a Career in Franchise PR?

The idea of being a PRP in franchise PR sounds so cool. Think about it, you are doing public relations, closely related to marketing, and talking on your phone about how you will make sure that your client will be famous! Your client will not get bad press! Yeah, it sure sounds cool being the go-to guy for a corporation while the media gulps down the news about their recent purchase of a competitor or something. While the scenarios are certainly possible and do happen in franchise public relations or other forms of PR, it is not always the glitz and glamor that many people think it is.

A career in public relations, especially franchise PR, is a job that you have to be tough to succeed in. We're not talking physically tough but rather emotionally and professionally. There are a few characteristics that one must meet in order to be good or even great in PR.

• Patience. If you expect to be a successful PRP in franchise public relations, you have to be patient. Things take time, journalists have a lot of things to do and basically a few hours to get it all done. They operate under heavy deadlines and so sometimes a PRP is not their top priority. Another aspect of this is being patient in getting your story accepted by a journalist. 
• Persistence. This was hinted at in the first point but it is another necessary characteristic for a PRP. Sometimes you will have a great piece and need it to be accepted by a journalist. You will be turned down by journalists; it might take a couple days to get a story submitted to a journalist, you just have to be persistent. The key is to stay on their radar while not being overwhelming; if you are too overwhelming, they will just deny you all together. 
• Communication. If you want to be good in PR then you have to be able to communicate. Ask questions. Inform people of things going on. Email people. Call people. Whatever needs to be done to keep people in the know, get it done. If you leave people in the dark, you will soon find that you have nobody to inform because they have all left you for another franchise PR agency. 
• Writing. The ability to write is essential to PR. Specifically, the ability to write stories and compelling stuff is essential. If you can't write, you need to learn if you want to be in PR. 
• Ethical behavior. If you think you will be that sly wheelin' & dealin' PRP who can make himself rich while exploiting others, good luck getting hired by a PR agency. Any respectable and known PR agency has ethics and morals. The governing body of PR,  PRSA, has a set of rules set in place that PR agencies have to abide by. 

We are a full-service chicago franchise PR firm. We do social media PR, crisis communications, grassroots PR, business, and more.