A story of an engineer working in PR for a year and not knowing what to do

My name is Ito, and I work as an infrastructure engineer and public relations officer

This articlethe Public Relations Marketing Advent Calendar 2016 - Adventaris part of
This is day 19.

an engineer who took on PR responsibilities and was completely clueless for a year, I'd like to reflect on my year as an infrastructure engineer
particularly on my "mistakes" and "things I wish I had done."
handling PR activities, focusing
I hope this will be helpful to anyone who is thinking about taking on a PR role!

What led me to work in public relations?

Let's start with the initial impetus.
Our company is B2B and plays a behind-the-scenes role, so we're not very well-known. We
often got work through acquaintances or referrals from other companies, but we
wanted to explore more diverse directions, which
led to the creation of our Web Marketing team.

because I've always been interested in marketing and I've been running a blog on my own
I joined the web marketing team

Please also check out my personal blog:
http://saiut.com

So I started working in public relations as a side job in addition to my original job as an infrastructure engineer

What I did

My work in web marketing included things like blogging and organizing workshops, but
my work in public relations mainly focused on press releases.

That being said, what we're doing isn't exactly groundbreaking, but
as we enter our 10th year, we wanted to create a service that would be useful to society and also make people say, "Wow!" So here it is.

"A new service aimed at female high school entrepreneurs! 'JK Startup Lab' is completely free for one year"

This is the first time I've written a press release here.
It's a service that provides servers completely free of charge for one year for high school girls who want to start their own business!

So, now that you've made it, you're left wondering what to do with it

Ask a press release distribution agent

We want to spread our new service to the world, but we don't know where or how to do it...
That's the problem. We don't even know how other people distribute press releases. Of course
, we put them on our own website, but that only reaches people who visit our website.

So, I used a "press release distribution agency."

@PressI tried using

A first in Japan! A new service aimed at female high school entrepreneurs! "JK Startup Lab" launches on May 25th, completely free for the first year | Press Release Distribution Service [＠Press: At Press]

Using a press release distribution service means they'll distribute your press release to various media outlets they partner with.
The advantage is the higher chance of it being seen.
@Press, which I used, distributes to 8,500 media outlets.
The disadvantage is the price. @Press charges 30,000 yen per press release distribution.
If you have your own list, you'll need to send emails, but that's free.
However, you'll need to have that list yourself.

By broadcasting JK Startup Lab, we
received coverage in various media outlets and, for the first time ever, were interviewed by high school girls.
"JK Startup Lab" interviewed by high school girls! | Beyond Inc.

We also have the opportunity to provide support.
"Instead of going to university, let's try doing it ourselves first": We interviewed a woman receiving support from JK Startup Lab | Beyond Inc.

Connect with people who work in public relations

Of course, using a press release distribution service gets us exposure in various media outlets, but it
didn't lead to anything beyond that. To be honest, I didn't know what else to do.

I think it's undeniable that issuing press releases is one of the jobs of public relations, but
if you rely on a press release distribution service, you won't be able to build connections with people in the media.

Or rather, I don't know how to "connect with people in the media"..

The next thing I did was to "connect with people working in public relations."
In the Kansai region, a group of volunteersthe Kansai Public Relations 100 Study Groupregularly holds meetings called
I was fortunate enough to participate in this group, and through those connections, I was able to get published in the Nikkei MJ.

If you can increase your network as a public relations professional, you'll also increase your connections with media professionals, and
you can refer each other to each other, saying things like, "This media outlet is looking for a company that does this kind of thing."

I had the opportunity to speak with the president of a company that puts a lot of effort into public relations, and he
said that PR activities are like sales, and that it's about meeting with media representatives again and again to build trust.

I definitely agree, and "horizontal connections" are important in the workplace.
On the other hand, I honestly also have reservations about it being sales-related.

Things I wish I had done better

Now that I've been working as a public relations officer for a year, there are certainly things I wish I had done more of

Be proactive about what you're going to do

I wish I had thought more about things like, "Look what interesting things we're doing!!"
Server operation and maintenance work is not something that the general public can easily see, and it's certainly not the kind of job that would attract media attention.

such as an increase in inquiries and the resulting business
did achieve some success,
I wouldn't say we were particularly successful in terms of getting exposure in various places as a public relations activity. I also admit that when we were featured in the Nikkei MJ, I thought, "Isn't this just one of our goals?"

to discuss within the company how we're going to "get exposure in various places" and
, I think we need

One option might be to consider a BtoC service

Show up in various places

As my work as an infrastructure engineer became busier, it became difficult to engage in public relations activities, and I
realized that my tendency to simply "wait and see" was a mistake.

events where I can connect with other PR professionals
and even though I've looked into

I think I need to make myself more visible next year.
As I wrote above, it's a job that's hard for the general public to see and explain, so I
think I should be even more proactive.

summary

Having worked in public relations for a year, my impression is that I just went for it without knowing anything.
Because there's no such thing as "how things should be," I just kept going without knowing what the right answer was.

I'm used to writing because I run a personal blog, so
I enjoy writing press releases and things like that. However, I'm
not good at sales-related activities, and I sometimes wonder if it would be better if the sales team handled things like showing up at various places,
as that could lead to more business opportunities.

However, I also think that my horizons will broaden, so I hope to be able to continue to ``output my own ideas'' properly!