The online communication veteran tips for young generation that comes after.

1. Top 5 Tips for Young Comm Professionals
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2014 marks for me -personally18 years that I have been working
in the communications industry. I
started in advertising in 1996, I
moved to marketing/qualitative
research in 2000-ish and landed
in public relations in 2004:
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Back in the day (2000-2004-ish -like, before the iPhone and
Facebook, man!) marketing,
public relations and advertising
were much different games than
they are today, post 2nd-wave
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Internet boom… Examples:
“Social networking” meant business networking in a physical social setting -- like a party, bar,
restaurant, etc.
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Cell phones were still the size and weight of a small brick
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An “app” was a snacky food treat you had before the main course of a meal
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Lots of people (myself included) still used dial-up to connect to the Internet from home
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The average laptop weighed between 7 and 14 pounds (and, that was considered LIGHT)
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Google was a nascent company - with no Cyberdyne Systems dreams as of yet - with several
major search competitors including Yahoo!, Lycos (loved their doggie mascot), MSN, AltaVista
and Ask Jeeves… All of which are pretty much dead and buried now. RIP, Lycos doggie...
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Most people still had a landline and received mail (not of the bill or junk variety) on a daily basis
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Dinosaurs roamed the earth and I walked to work at my PR agency uphill in the snow both
ways… kidding!
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Or, am I?
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2. A while back, I wrote a post on my
personal blog featuring some tips
for young comm professionals.
While these are all solid tips that I
stand by, I’ve got some additional
tips to share with young comm
professionals that are less specific
to public relations and more
general to the communications
industry as a whole:
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1.W o r k
across
the
communication industry -- I’d
say that in my professional
experience, one of the things
which has served me best, is that I have worked in all five major segments of business
communications: Journalism, advertising, marketing, public relations and social media. While each
of these is a really different business to be in, they are all closely related and symbiotic. They are all
part of the larger picture and they intersect often. By gaining an insight into how those industries
work, I’ve been much better able to advise/guide my team and my clients in strategy and tactics
which will return campaign results they are happy with. And, in fact, every successful comm pro I
know has worked in at least two segments of communications before moving into a senior or
management position. It’s invaluable experience that I highly recommend.
2. Once you’ve figured out which comm segment you’d like to focus your career on, become
an expert in the most up-to-date methods of working in that area -- Once you decide where
you want to work, study the work of the industry leaders in that category and learn from what they
do for their clients. Internships are great for this (myself, I took a low paying internship at age 33 so
I could work alongside Julie Crabill at SHIFT Communications -- I learned a lot of what I value about
consumer tech PR from working with her). Or, follow them online, cyberstalk their websites, read
their client case studies… Even -- network with them and ask for guidance -- most pros will happily
give you some insight into the industry and if you present yourself in a compelling way, you might
even land a job offer out of it. Never stop learning. Period. It will only help you in the long run.
3. Use what you work with -- The strength of the work here at ComboApp is that every single person
in this agency is absolutely addicted to mobile and social. Seriously: Every. Single. Person. We are
the type of people who live, breath, eat and sleep mobile and social apps. As individuals, we’re the

3. people who big companies come to and ask us to beta test their new products (I was a beta tester/
early adopter for Gmail, Facebook, Yelp and others). The first thing we do when we wake up in the
morning? Check our phones/tablets for email updates, status updates, DMs, etc… We’re almost
pathologically addicted to the tech we work with. Yes this makes us super big nerds. You know what
else it makes us? EXPERTS. Which people - whether they are your client or employer - want and
need to guide them in their communications practices.
4. Learn how to network without being cheesy and develop a stable of contacts you can rely
on-- Networking is a tricky thing. You really need to do it in order to be successful. But, so many
people are just bad at it. They come across like they’re making a hard sales pitch, when the art of
networking well lies in simply being friendly and interested in other people. Learn to listen as much
as you talk. There is no shame in directly asking for what you want/need, but you need to remember
that turnabout is fair play -- people might need/want something from you, and you’ll have no idea of
what that is if you dominate the conversation. Be as good and helpful to your network as you want
them to be to you in return. It’s so simple, but absolutely accurate -- being a subtle networker who
treats people like golden gods will help you develop business contacts that will stay with you and
move mountains to help you when you need it.
5. Make professional goals for yourself and when you achieve one, add a new goal to your list:
When I started, my professional goals were simple -- they focused on steadily climbing the PR
agency structure to get into a management position. As I achieved those goals, I started to add
more specific ones -- like, “get a print inclusion for a client in WIRED,” “land a popular social
networking site as a client,” “land a Fortune 500 client,” “work with a client who provides tech to high
profile people/entities -- like the government, or celebrities.” (Currently, my big goal is to land a
morning talk show segment for a client. It’s a hard goal, but I’m doggedly working towards it.) Even
if some of your goals take you years to accomplish (gosh knows many of mine have!) it’s good to
have a constant reminder of how you need to stretch yourself professionally motivating you to do
good, innovative work. It’ll keep you sharp and make you super attractive to both employers and
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clients.
So, there you have them, five tips from me to you (the young comm professional). I hope you find them
helpful. Now get the hell off my (virtual) lawn, you damn kids! ;)
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Kate Kotler,
writer.