As you may have noticed, I’ve recently been in holiday mode. I’ve given thanks to PRBC, detailed the do’s & don’ts of holiday parties, and now I am here to solve your gift giving dilemmas. See as a young PR professional, I’ve become pretty crafty when giving gifts to my friends and family. I consider it an art. Every year they’re amazed at how creative I get, when actually I’m just looking for something that won’t break my piggy bank. Why not share the “wealth” of creativity with the PRBC community? Here are my picks of the seasons must-have gifts for PR professionals:
- A personalized media list: This media list is categorized and tailored to fit specific needs of the professional. It is broken down into by: type of media, market rank, and target audience. It consists of the appropriate contacts and how they wish to be contacted (i.e time of day, method, etc). And, if you buy it now, it also comes with a monthly update. No longer will you be contacting someone who has either switched departments, gone on maternity leave, or no longer working there. Imagine the amount of hours we’d save in the day if we had a “personalized media list.”
- Mental Grammar Chip: This chip is perfect for the professional whose brain works too fast for their mouth. I’ll admit to having this problem from time to time, and so would my co-worker TJ. Some things are habitual and some things I just need correction on. So how nice would it be to have a mental chip that edited my phrases before they hit my lips. This would be perfect for the moments when we get thrown curveball questions from journalists or clients and are required to think on our feet without stumbling.
- Time: I can’t tell you the number of times I see a tweet along the lines of “Wow is it already 2:00pm, where did the time go?” It seems as though there is never enough time in the day to get everything done that you had planned. Let alone if something new gets thrown on your plate (which happens frequently). Wouldn’t it be nice to add hours to the day? By giving the gift of time, you’d be alleviating the amount of work professionals bring home. Not to mention, we’d have more time to get to spend with our family and friends.
- Magic PR 8 Ball: The ability to predict the future. It is important in this industry to be proactive. In addition to knowing everything about our clients, we would know about their competitors and any current events within their industry. By having the Magic PR 8 Ball, we could prepare press releases to capitalize on a timely story or start micromanaging any crisis before it happens.
- Energy Patch: Some of us PRBC-ers live on caffeine. I rely so heavily on caffeine that I even write a column centered around it and Kate may start a “Coffee Addicts Anonymous” just for PRBC. So why not give the gift of energy without the horrible side effects? This simple stick on patch will give your loved one the right amount of energy to help get through grueling tasks without keeping them up all night or giving them an ulcer. They wont get “energy” headaches or go through energy withdrawals.
These are obviously just a few things that would help make some days less stressful but what would you add? If you could have one gift this season to help make the 9-5 a little easier what would you ask for?
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