PR CAREER ADVICE FOR ENTREPRENEURS
Westchester PR Agency CEO Shares Industry Insights & Career Advice with Future Publicists
Kris Ruby, CEO of Westchester-based Public Relations agency, Ruby Media Group, hosted a roundtable of the top 15 students from the Mercy College Marketing Association (MCMA) on October 8, 2014.
MCMA is the leading organization for students of Mercy College who are actively pursuing a career in marketing, public relations, and business.
During the private meet and greet, Ruby held an interactive Q & A and gave the students a tour of the agency’s new office located in Manhattan.
The meeting was designed to inspire students to start planning for their careers and get ahead in their own professional development.
Throughout the interactive session, Ruby discussed what it takes to have a thriving career in Public Relations and Social Media.
“The Mercy College Marketing Association is a great organization to be involved with,” said Kris Ruby, CEO of Ruby Media Group.
“I was thrilled to have the opportunity to share critical industry insights with the future marketers and publicists of Westchester County.”
Advice to future entrepreneurs: How to Succeed in Business
Branding– Building your personal brand through blogging and why it matters.
Digital Footprint– How to build your digital reputation before graduating.
Networking– It’s never too early to start.
Interview tips– It’s not about you, it’s about what you can do for the company.
Writing– Whether you are pitching, crafting social media content, or writing a cover letter, always proof your work and check for errors before you press send.
Sales– The 30-second elevator speech you need to master before going on your next interview.
Internships– The importance of having several internships to see what area of communications you like best.
Trend Forecasting– Top trends in social media and what to look out for in 2015 with multi-channel strategies.
“Mercy College is thankful to Kris Ruby for taking the time to talk with our students about the importance of professional development,” said School of Business Dean Dr. Ed Weis. “Mercy College is committed to educating our students in the classroom and beyond.”
“Ms. Ruby’s advice was incredibly helpful, especially about building your own brand and being actively involved in your industry,” said Mercy College Student Taylor Price, the Social Media Coordinator for The Mercy College Marketing Association.
“Our students were thrilled to be able to hear first-hand from one of the top PR professionals in the industry.”
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3 Tips for Entrepreneurial Success
Take advantage of every career opportunity available to you during college.
During my undergraduate years as a student at Boston University’s College of Communication, I took advantage of every opportunity that BU offered. I completed a semester abroad in London and I also did the BU Los Angeles Entertainment Communications program. I held down 13 PR internships by the time I had graduated in all different aspects of public relations.
I was also involved in Greek Life at BU as a member of Alpha Epsilon Phi (AEPHI) sorority. Internships were extremely helpful because they helped me gain experience and figure out what sectors of public relations I liked working in.
Your college experience will shape your entrepreneurial journey.
An undergraduate capstone project taught me critical research skills that shaped how I approach things to this day. In general, learning how to cover a topic extensively through investigative reporting and research is a critical skill to have in your career. I remember all of my visits to the library working on my capstone project.
Today, we have Google widely available to us, but the art of digging beyond the surface is often missed. Too many people do not dig beyond page one of Google search engine results.
As a content marketer, my goal is to create the best and most extensive piece of content on any given topic on the Internet for a client. In many respects, the core skills required to do that include the research skills taught in capstone.
While the technology of search engine optimization algorithms frequently changes, critical thinking skills and research skills do not. The sociology courses I took were also important to understanding how people think and how people buy.
To analyze market trends, you have to know the history relative to the trends. Some of the sociology principles that were taught at BU are still relevant to the psychology of persuasion, which is what public relations is all about.
Knowing what you hate will bring you closer to what you love.
An internship should have one central outcome: after completing it, you are either closer to your career goal or further away from it. You gain an understanding of what you love doing, or what you hate doing.
Too often, companies tell interns that the goal of an internship is only to love the work. That is a mistake. If you do an internship and learn that you hate that field, that is a great outcome! You have just saved yourself years working in an industry that you may not like and you now know this because of a condensed work experience over six months.
When humans pick a partner to marry, they ultimately narrow it down to one selection after a process of trial and error. The internship process should be no different. Each internship should take you closer or further away from “the one.” What is the “one?” “The one” is your dream job. The career you love. And the best and perfect match for you.
Every experience is ultimately a process of weeding out the wrong fit to get to the right fit. It wouldn’t be a perfect fit if every possible experience was amazing. After all, that is how we determine our preferences. We know what we like doing by what we don’t like doing.
I encourage people to find gratitude in the internships that they love and don’t love. If you are looking to love every internship experience, you will be disappointed. In my opinion, the internships I am most grateful for are the ones that saved me time by closing out career paths that ultimately weren’t for me. I am grateful for that.
You will not be for everyone, but you will be for someone. The same is true with your clients, managers, and favorite projects throughout your career.
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KRIS RUBY is the CEO of Ruby Media Group, an award-winning public relations and media relations agency in Westchester County, New York. Kris Ruby has more than 15 years of experience in the Media industry. She is a sought-after media relations strategist, content creator and public relations consultant. Kris Ruby is also a national television commentator and political pundit and she has appeared on national TV programs over 200 times covering big tech bias, politics and social media. She is a trusted media source and frequent on-air commentator on social media, tech trends and crisis communications and frequently speaks on FOX News and other TV networks. She has been featured as a published author in OBSERVER, ADWEEK, and countless other industry publications. Her research on brand activism and cancel culture is widely distributed and referenced. She graduated from Boston University’s College of Communication with a major in public relations and is a founding member of The Young Entrepreneurs Council. She is also the host of The Kris Ruby Podcast Show, a show focusing on the politics of big tech and the social media industry. Kris is focused on PR for SEO and leveraging content marketing strategies to help clients get the most out of their media coverage.