By: Emily Jellison
RaiderComm Agency experience has given me many different opportunities to gain personal confidence in the industry of public relations. When I was an early teenager, I had major interest in graphic design. I would make small edits of television series characters inside Adobe Photoshop and editing apps. I was so intrigued with the fact I could tell more of a story with a character and explore a different world. I also had a major interest in creative writing.
I eventually graduated to other software and even explored video graphics as well. I worked with Sony Vegas and Adobe After Effects. I was very interested in the Adobe Creative Suite. I even had a Tumblr account where I would search for tutorials on graphics! I had a major interest in eventually majoring in something having to do with graphic design. Flash forward to my freshman year at college, I decided I wanted to pursue public relations because I was fascinated with how much creativity is involved in campaigns and communication.
Telling the story of your client, where they came from, what they have achieved to the public is a skill in and of itself. Coming up with a strategic way of messaging can be challenging and is all based around your audience and research. One of the most important phrases that I’ve ever heard while attending Texas Tech was that being in PR means being a storyteller. It took me a while to really understand what this professor meant. I later learned some of the greatest storytellers were those who were truthful, transparent and interactive with their audience. I really believe this is what public relations is.
In RaiderComm, one of the teams I was assigned to needed a website. When I was put on lead for it, I was very nervous, working with a platform like WordPress was extremely intimidating and I didn’t know where to start. I took the knowledge I had learned from other software and applied it to the website and it came out better than I could have hoped. I imagined I was telling her story!
I highly recommend immersing yourself in different creative outlets. It changed my perspective on how one can convey a specific message with just the use of colors, images and music. Learning to tell your client’s story through different platforms, broadening your skills and getting out of your comfort zone are the very best practices you can do for yourself.
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