My professional body, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, has run a campaign to encourage members to become Chartered. I'm all for it, and here's why.

I was recently invited to join the advisory council to the Board of my professional body, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR). I want to see how I can do my bit to promote my profession.

This is not a rude question. As an ex-journalist, I knew the interview was often my best chance to get the story. For the interviewee, they can be a positive experience also.

My name is Harriet and I have been interning at Branagh PR this summer. I have recently been selected as the News Editor of my student-run university newspaper at Royal Holloway University of London, called The Founder. I actually applied to write for them not long before I applied to be the editor, writing on the topics of Fukushima and other relevant topics at the time. The application process required my CV and a cover letter. Instead of writing a generic cover letter, I wanted to do something different. I felt that it was much more pertinent and in keeping with the times to record a video-style cover letter. Loom, a free online software helped me do this, with my face in a small circle whilst flicking through my various experiences and talking through them. The ideas I pitched in my ‘cover letter’ ranged from acknowledging the welcome challenge this role will bring alongside my university work (including dissertation!), enabling me to gain skills in multi-tasking and managing a full-on workload. As the News Editor, I am hoping to bring a fresh approach, such as including more articles and stories that relate to the issues of young people and the target audience of university students. The importance of keeping the public informed will definitely not be overlooked, but I hope to open up more discussion on campus around current issues affecting my fellow students, keeping their minds busy and informed. I am also keen on releasing more content that may inspire students into searching for career options, as the possibilities are endless. I have always loved writing. From a young age, I wrote stories upon stories. English (and later English Literature) was my favourite subject throughout school and sixth form, it is something I excelled in as well as enjoyed the most. It wasn’t until my work experience in year 10 and year 12 at a local newspaper that I developed a love for journalism. I was lucky enough to have many articles featured in the newspaper of the weeks I spent there. It certainly was great and a confidence boost to see my name in print! This love for journalism has now translated into writing for my local newspaper, as well as beginning to start a blog about my gap year travels, and now embarking on my new role as the News Editor at university. Now, working with Tim at Branagh PR, my eyes have been opened to more possibilities in the industry, in the shape of Public Relations and Communications, where I have had the opportunity to ghost write articles and blogs and do some social media research and content. After university, I intend to apply for the BBC’s journalism apprenticeship scheme, which would enable me to get a flavour for lots of different departments, as well as shadowing and learning from the best. If this avenue doesn’t come to fruition, I am considering doing a masters in journalism, possibly in an overseas location, which will also help fuel my passion for travel.

The contingent workforce has truly come of age during Covid, said business publication Management Today after market research found as much as 20% of all UK employment is now temporary, contract or independent work. In Who needs a permanent workforce? , MT finds employers are turning in their droves to us non-permanent workers, and for increasingly skilled and senior roles. What started during the pandemic as a pivot towards flexible food delivery, e-commerce and ‘work from home’ customer service roles is now extending to so-called ‘knowledge workers’, such as marketing execs and managers. And in another report , nearly a third of organisations said they were replacing full-time employees with contingent workers in 2021 as a cost-saving measure. You can’t move currently for pandemic-inspired articles on organisational resilience, and common factors highlighted in many are the agility and flexibility of your workforce. This is why non-permanent workers now fit the bill. This year, perhaps more than any other given the situation, Mental Health Awareness Week has given us all a platform to promote positive mental health and wellbeing. And sure enough, employers are talking this week about shaping work environments that don’t stress their people out. It’s mental health first aid, work-life balance and ‘it’s ok not to be ok’. And this is a positive thing, of course. Is the real future test of these caring affirmations, however, whether they extend to workers not on the payroll that they’re relying on more and more? There are different types of ‘contingent’ Free agents - primary income, preferred choice Reductants - primary income, out of necessity Casual earners - supplemental income, preferred choice Financially strapped - supplemental income, out of necessity So some choose this life of being one’s own boss. For others, it’s an existence born out of necessity. Either way, whether you’re a free agent or financially strapped, work ebbs and flows and it can feel insecure. It’s a way of life that’s inherently pressured, which explains why more than 60% of freelancers questioned for this survey , by Leapers, said they were currently or have at some point dealt with a mental health challenge or condition. In 2018, I wrote an article for Personnel Today on the UK Government-commissioned Taylor Report on the gig economy and a survey we commissioned while I was at IOSH, a workplace safety and health body. It was about the health and wellbeing aspects of gig work that we felt Matthew Taylor’s report had missed. The IOSH survey found gig economy workers, including freelancers, temps and workers on zero-hours contracts, reported receiving fewer protections for their health and wellbeing at work than their permanent, full-time colleagues. In early 2021, Taylor left his role as employment tsar with a swipe at Ministers for lack of progress. “There was an initial enthusiasm but that has waned, and waned, and waned,” he told the Guardian. If he was talking more about workers’ rights than directly their safety, health and wellbeing, his concerns reflected the general unease that non-permanent workers still lack protection. Poll findings So, I thought I’d have a stab at polling the freelancer friends in my network, and two findings on mental health and wellbeing were prominent: Being their own boss had had a positive effect on their mental health and wellbeing (this received the most votes) They had worked as a freelancer for an organisation whose actions towards them had had a negative impact on their mental health and wellbeing (a narrow second) Next most popular statement out of five was ‘It is difficult to find a work-life balance as a freelancer’, followed by ‘organisations need to do more to protect the health and wellbeing of the freelancers they employ’. A slightly smaller number said policy-makers had more to do. This little poll on Facebook can’t claim to be scientific, of course, but it perhaps hints at a way forward. For the freelancer, it’s about taking more personal responsibility for our own health and wellbeing. Let’s keep work and the rest of our lives apart where possible and find time in the day to rest and recoup. For the business, in the absence of tighter legislation, maybe it’s about taking the view, because you're a force for good, that you should care for all the people you ask to work for you. Contingents may not be part of your permanent worker ‘family’, but can you treat them as friends or co-workers at the very least? Freelancer stressors According to that Leapers survey, common causes of stress for freelancers that are under the control of clients are: Having to chase late/unpaid invoices (62.79%) Poor communication from client (73.5%) Lack of on-boarding / project kickoffs (54.9%) Lack of feedback (34.8%) Now, I’m lucky to be working currently for clients who are lovely people and care about this sort of thing. But if you’re not 100% sure you fall into the caring client category, maybe this week of all weeks is a good one for having a think about how you care for everyone who works for you in some capacity. So to my freelancer friends, this piece by Jon Younger, Managing the stress of freelancing: six ways to take control , is worth reading. For both freelancers and employers, leapers.co is a rare resource dedicated to supporting the mental health of the self-employed. It’s well worth checking out. Branagh PR is a public relations consultancy specialising in safety, health and wellbeing in the workplace. Find out more here at branaghpr.com

From closed shutters, empty pubs and restaurants to some semblance of normality as we longingly remember it. So society’s cautious, phased re-opening, in the UK at least, will certainly be the underlying theme of media coverage over the next two to three months. I, sorry, we need a haircut, a springtime pint in a beer garden and a new pair of jeans, so we’ll be drawn to conversations about the re-opening. We consumers need information from credible sources and it’s something we want to talk about. Editors know this of course and journalists will be dispatched to find out more for you, seeking out those consumer-facing companies preparing to welcome people once more. And herein lies the opportunity for businesses. To tell the world that you’re open, fighting fit and raring to go. To be the media's example that illustrates the wider story. And if you grasp this opportunity, it could give your business that priceless competitive edge this summer. Why is this? As a shopper or restaurant-goer, say, what will be going through your mind on April 5 (hairdressers open, some shops re-opening in England) or on April 26 (gyms and all shops re-opening and cafes, pubs etc opening indoors)?* Are you ready to explore, find out which shops are still open? Will you be traipsing around town with kids in tow without a preconceived idea of where to visit? You’re meeting your mate for lunch and you’ll just see where’s open when you get there? Perhaps not. In uncertain times, consumers seek assurance. They want to know what’s safely open and what to expect, and indeed surveys have identified the 'rise of the anxious consumer'. Overall, says Ey's future consumer index, it appears UK consumers are gearing themselves up to live more risk-averse lives. More than two-thirds (67%) believe it will take months or longer before they feel comfortable going to a restaurant, with similar sentiments for visiting cinemas and bars/pubs. In other words, pandemic-influenced consumer attitudes will now test your business’s marketing strategy.

Brand equity is one of those intangible assets people in business like to talk about. Google it and you’ll see definitions such as ’the perceived value by consumers over other products’ and ‘the value a company gains from its name recognition when compared to a generic equivalent’ It’s important because it has a direct impact on your profitability as a business. People will be drawn towards companies and products with great reputations. And it’s why brand equity is scrapped over by rivals in the same sector of industry. It gives you the competitive edge. And yet many business leaders are failing to deploy one of the most effective tools at their disposal for enhancing brand equity: themselves. They’re not realising or taking advantage of the fact that their skills, knowledge and experience is of value to people outside of their organisation and its micro environment of existing customers, suppliers and employees. These experienced business owners or executives are more than solution providers; they’re bona fide experts and potential thought leaders in their fields. And audiences will generally apply this value to the business and its services that leader represents. So if they took a moment to take a step back and consider their wider value, they could grasp opportunities to enhance brand equity and win new business. Using the language of business, this is about using, or leveraging, your own human capital. Using your human capital Professional or technical knowledge and expertise is capital, painstakingly built over time by a business leader. It’s the accumulation of many things, including education and training, mistakes, achievements, collaborations, feedback from stakeholders and natural curiosity about industry news and developments. Year on year, a business leader will amass a wealth of valuable skills, knowledge and experience. Human capital, as it’s sometimes called. This means that they can speak with authority, if they wish, on the field in which they operate. Trusted sources who provide insights that matter to people are worth their weight in gold to the media. As a journalist, both regional and national, I found these industry experts were priceless in shedding more light on a situation. So are business owners and executives being too modest? Day to day your average business leader is busy, working hard to win new customers, retain loyal ones and pay the bills and wages. And most of the business owners or senior executives I speak to are down-to-earth people without lofty aspirations, as they may see it, to be people who others outside of their organisation will listen to intently. But here’s the thing: behind every solution a business provides is the issue that it has been created to solve to the particular group of people that service has been designed for, more insight on that issue is interesting and valuable. Especially if it’s timely because it’s interesting, it’s probably also newsworthy and a story in those media channels that reach those groups of people, or at least online content that gets click-throughs, shares and likes You can see where we’re going with this. It’s a simple equation. Yet many leaders in their fields are either too busy to entertain spending time on media engagement or they’re not doing the maths, and they’re passing on one of the most effective, brand-enhancing tactics in public relations: positioning yourself as a credible authority in your industry. I could pick one of a number of business leaders I’ve been working with recently who have grasped this opportunity, but here’s one example. Case study: the mindset coach This leader of her own small business had encountered during her work with customers some common issues related to Covid-19. The pandemic was affecting people’s mental health and wellbeing for all sorts of reasons, from the grief of losing loved-ones and redundancy to isolation and loneliness. We worked with this leader to share her insights and advice with people through the media and she gained profile in the regional newspaper and on local radio. The BBC national news network is now interested in her views. As a result of this media engagement, this leader received business and return on investment on her PR. So this mindset coach has used her knowledge and experience, her human capital, to enhance her company’s brand equity and win new business. As a certain meerkat might say, simples. So how can you do the same? Here are a few easy steps to get started: Identify the issue that can illustrate your credibility as an expert. This will be topical and interesting to your target audience and an issue for which you can provide the solution. (Note: this is not about selling your products or services. It’s about enhancing your and your business’s brand. The sales should follow.) Create a narrative in which you can be insightful, helpful and even opinionated on that topic if you’re confident your stance is well-informed and not likely to alienate you against many potential customers Study those channels that reach your target audiences. If it’s a media outlet, is it reporting on the issue you’re an expert on? If it’s a blog for LinkedIn, will your post chime with this professional audience? Test its value or newsworthiness with friendly media contacts in the relevant fields or contacts who could conceivably gain value from your insights and/or buy into your brand Choose the best formats to reach your target audiences through those channels. Is the opinion column in your local newspaper the best platform for your expertise? A feature in a specialist publication? Or a long-form thought leadership piece for LinkedIn? Go for it. Be brave and put yourself out there as an expert, a specialist, a thought leader. Someone who is valuable to a much wider audience thanks to their knowledge, skills and experience. As I always say with any tactic, this should be considered as part of a wider marketing strategy. Thought leadership takes time, confidence and a well-crafted narrative. It isn’t a direct sales technique and it can take a while to bear fruit. But if executed well, thought leadership can have enduring benefits for your brand equity and business. For more information and advice on enhancing your brand, get in touch with me at tim.walsh@branaghpr.com

Gaining positive media coverage for you or your business has various benefits. Enhanced profile with a large number of people in your target audiences The credibility and reputational boost from being featured by an unbiased, independent source It removes a barrier to entry – people are less likely to invest in an unfamiliar brand It can increase your authority as a thought leader. This isn’t about sales – it's about you giving value as an expert in your sector You can educate about the issue for which your organisation has the solution Providing strong stories for journalists strengthens your relationship with the media Media relations can be an effective, cost-efficient part of a marketing strategy, but securing coverage in channels that reach your target audiences isn’t easy. There’s a reason that it's referred to as earned media . You earn it by providing content that’s valuable and of interest to that outlet’s audience. Your news article, feature or comment piece will appear only on merit, and the arbiters of whether your content is newsworthy editorial for print, broadcast or online are your editors and journalists. So here’s the question: how do journalists make their judgments? The specific answer is different for each media outlet, but common to all is the application of news values . These are the criteria against which decisions are made on how much prominence to give a potential news story. They’re shaped by experience of what a particular outlet's readership or audience wants, and they're the filter through which all press releases, story ideas, broadcast packages and opinion pieces must travel. This is why understanding news values is critical to any organisation wanting to raise its profile through earned media coverage.

LinkedIn (96%) was the most popular organic social media platform used in the last 12 months, according to new study