Reflecting on two-years at EC-PR: navigating the seas of change in PR

Here’s some of my thoughts on a cracking two years, my journey, my learnings and the highlights!

Thanks to LinkedIn, I am here

Although I only formally joined the organisation two years ago, the wheels were set in motion nearly a decade ago. I first met Lorraine Emmett, managing director of EC-PR, at a CIPR event in 2015. We immediately bonded over our shared surname (contrary to popular belief, Lorraine and I aren’t related) and connected on LinkedIn.

Fast-forward a few years and I started posting on LinkedIn, Lorraine spotted my posts and got in touch, and so I took on a few freelance projects for EC-PR. I really enjoyed working with the team and immediately accepted when Lorraine and Liz offered me a permanent position within the company.

I learned my trade originally as a journalist, then working for a major national charity in their PR team before entering the PR agency world.

My role at EC-PR encompasses supporting my clients to achieve their objectives and ensuring our deliverables are met. I have a fantastic team working with me to help support our clients. Ultimately, it comes down to getting under the skin of what our clients do and monitoring the news to see how we can leverage their messaging.

Within the team at EC-PR, we each take on a different business pillar that covers the nuts and bolts of running a business. This gives us all insight into the internal machinations, a better understanding of the business, and also the opportunity to expand and explore our skill set when it comes to business management.

I took on the Innovation pillar, looking at what services we could introduce and offer to our current client base, and also to attract new clients.

Leveraging the power of LinkedIn for senior leaders

I have always been an advocate of LinkedIn. It’s a fantastic network, but it is also so much more than that. It allows people to share their opinions, their personal journeys, stories of their career and to offer guidance to others. However, I noticed two key problems.

Firstly, for most people, time is tight. They do not always have time to dedicate to posting on LinkedIn. Secondly, some of the most experienced and seasoned leaders I know aren’t active on LinkedIn, yet they have the most insight and guidance to offer.

I proposed the idea of offering a personal branding service, now known as Catalyst, to our clients and prospects. As a PR agency, we’re used to learning all about their business, its objectives and its roadmap for the future. We know and regularly speak with the leadership team, so it was a natural progression that whilst we handled their content for the media, we managed their content for their personal branding on LinkedIn too.

Lorraine and Liz loved the idea and so we ran a pilot to see how it performed, whilst also working out the various stages that needed to be formalised before we could approach clients. We always test any new technology or service on ourselves before offering it to our clients. We need to know it will work!

Liz was the very willing guineapig, and the results were excellent. On the back of our successful pilot, we built out the Catalyst offering and began to market it to clients. Catalyst has met with huge success since we started our roll-out and we’re taking on new Catalyst clients every month.

What’s next? Evolving technology and PR

In my early days as a journalist, social media was only used by a handful of people, yet it was an excellent tool for journalists to find stories or potential leads. In fact, it was on X (formerly known as Twitter) that I found and reported on my first murder case. Fast-forward to 2024 and social media is fully integrated into PR and media relations and is how many people consume their news and other content.

At this moment in time, AI seems to be on a similar trajectory. The market has evolved and is the new kid on the block, sending waves through the PR and technology sectors. There are some who suggest that AI is a threat to human-created content, but I would disagree.

Whilst some may be tempted to cut corners and use AI to produce copy, that content is usually flawed and obviously computer-generated. AI however is a fantastic tool for so many things and can streamline a lot of processes across finance, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and even PR. Embracing change as we have done with how we use LinkedIn and social media over the past decade or so, shows that change can be a very good thing.

Embracing AI and other changes in the industry, the wider market and globally, gives us an opportunity to evolve and adapt. For me, as I reflect on my two years at EC-PR, it is clear that continuing to embrace and become fully engaged with the changes we are seeing in the PR and marketing landscape will be critical. I, for one, cannot wait to see where the next two years takes me and the wonderful team at EC-PR.