It's been a while since we've had a "Why Work in PR?" interview but today we have Angharad Welsh sharing with us her PR career story and offering some very actionable advice for students and young professionals who want to learn more about the industry and how to get into it. 

Angharad and I have never met before but I discovered her article for the #FuturePRoof book project where I also wrote a chapter and I was intrigued. I found that, in addition to #FuturePRoof, we had a few other things in common, like Cheltenham where she lives and where I used to live and Muddywall - a magazine we both used to write for.  

I dug into Angharad's online presence a bit and I found that she had an interesting story to tell, coming from a broadcast journalism background. So I emailed her and I invited her to do an interview for the series. She accepted and I was delighted. 

Before you move onto the interview, don't forget to follow her on Twitter @Welsh_PR and check out her website too. 

(If you've missed any of the previous interviews, you can take a look as well: Richard Bailey, Pippa Hanson, Jessica Hodkinson, Chryssa Skodra, Farzana Baduel, Scott Guthrie and Sarah Hall.) 

Why Work in Public Relations: Interview with Angharad Welsh

As a marketing agency consultant at HubSpot, I've so far worked with over 150 agencies. The one thing the majority of them struggle with is their own content. Yes, their own marketing.

I know, sometimes this does sound funny since that's exactly what these agencies offer to clients - marketing services . Surely, they should be able to be doing this for themselves, right? Yes, able they are. Not always committed, though. Why? Because client work comes first. And so does winning new business. 

But the most successful agencies I've worked with, have learned how to find the time for their own marketing and are nailing it. They experiment with their own stuff rather than with those for clients. Basically, they become their own best client. 

To get to this point is not impossible. You just need to treat yourself like a client. Get the goals, sign a retainer of activities, develop the marketing plan (including buyer personas, content plan and schedule) designate an account management, get this on a project management tool and then stick to it. Review, rinse and repeat. That's it. 

Okay, hold on a second, maybe it's not that simple. 

We've spoken about PR measurement and how it's always been PR's biggest challenge. We've also delved into Inbound PR and how the concept provides a framework to really measure outcomes not just outputs.

But we haven't really dug into how you should plan your PR campaigns and programmes with metrics in mind. 

So today I want to introduce you to AMEC's new integrated evaluation framework which enables professionals to use the Barcelona Principles 2.0 to plan and tie PR activities back to organisational performance. 

The framework was launched in June and its interactive version is pretty cool. Most importantly, it's very intuitive and simple to use so that any new practitioner (or even a student) can follow the steps to plan, execute, measure and report on a fully integrated communications campaign.

The Planning Stage

The framework spans through each PESO channel and looks at the following points to get you to start planning your PR programme (note, the order is important): 

I am going to tell you a story today. A story about the absolute worst shopping and customer service experience EVER with Littlewoods Ireland (I feel terrible about giving them an inbound link now but I need you to see it and never ever shop there!)

So two Saturdays ago (17 July) I am running around Dublin to find a fascinator. Yep, a fascinator, because I am going to the Galway races this Friday. I am very specific with what I need as to colours, size etc. Unfortunately, I cannot find anything in the shops in town so what do I do? Well, I go shopping online! And I find Littlewoords Ireland. They actually do have something that fits what I need! So I order it. I go through an incredibly long process of creating an account. Regardless, I'm content because I've found a fascinator to fit with my outfit! 

Turns out I am never going to get that fascinator.

The one thing my customers struggle the most with is content. 

There are three big reasons for this: 

• They don't create enough content (the usual excuse "we don't have time").
• The content is not ranking ("we publish twice a week, but we are getting so little traffic"). 
• The content is not converting ("we write a lot but very few download our content offers on the landing pages").

Of course, the one big thing that solves for the latter two (I am not even going to pay attention to number one) is your buyer persona and making sure you are creating content for the right audience and promoting it there where your audience really is. With strategy you fascinate. 

But there's one other thing that marketing people often forget. Content is not just words. The internet is flooded with so many blogs, LinkedIn articles, Medium articles, magazines and newspapers. All words, words, words.

However, text may not always be the right approach. In a crowded world of information, you need something to stand out. And words don't always do the trick. You might need to get a bit more creative to attract people to your site. (I'm guilty of the words, words, words addiction too...)