PR professionals are tasked with a lot these days. From writing traditional press releases and website copy, to crisis management and social media, the list of responsibilities seems to grow almost daily. It's hard to know which skills communicators should be prioritizing to stay at the top of their field.
For insight on this career-making question, we turned to the PR News community. We asked our Twitter audience to fill in the blank: "The most important skill PR pros need to develop is ____."
Some of the responses:
@PRNews strong organization and prioritization.
— Colby Reade (@colbyreade) September 8, 2016
@PRNews think fast to see hidden dots, execute faster to connect them.
— Alessandro Vanoni (@vanoni_ale) September 8, 2016
@PRNews being able to decipher the difference between marketing and PR messages
— Kristina Markos (@KVMarkos) September 8, 2016
@PRNews develop a work-life balance
— Denise Rodriguez (@DeeRodrgz) September 8, 2016
@PRNews video
— Bless Your Heart (@dimecoverage) September 8, 2016
Influence #ThursdayThoughts https://t.co/KFAz9IWb97
— José María Palomares (@chemapalomares) September 8, 2016
Creativity #ThursdayThoughts@PRNewshttps://t.co/Lov6eNYme4
— Víctor Gil (@victor_healthpr) September 8, 2016
Others mentioned "patience," "versatility" and "honesty." Interestingly, most of the responses relate to work habits and personal attributes, rather than specific skills that might require formal training, such as PR measurement and dashboards, live streaming, Snapchat, Google Analytics, SEO or social listening, which may be telling in and of itself.