The marketing world is one where freelance workers are a common place. The nature of the business is that there are many projects to be completed, generally for a variety of different clients. You may perform PR jobs or advertising related work on a freelance basis for either an individual client who you have found and sold on your services as an individual or you may be under contract at a marketing or advertising agency, which will assign projects to you based on their needs and workload. Either way, the nature of the work itself is remarkably similar.
Freelance jobs in PR can be anything from writing for marketing materials on behalf of your clients to representing them at expositions, business conferences and other events, or being a liaison with the press. Whatever the exact capacity the PR jobs you may come across are in, they share the common element in all public relations positions of representing your client in the best possible light and raising their public profile for marketing oriented ends.
Finding PR jobs whether these jobs are on a freelance basis or in a permanent position involve the same set of qualifications. You need to have a deep understanding of how the public perceives your client and the sharp set of communications skills to work to alter public perceptions. Anyone who does not possess very strong communications skills and an all around ability to work well with a wide variety of people is unlikely to be successful in the PR field.
Working public relations based occupation requires an ability to think on one’s feet and be able to take questions when needed. The PR person has to adhere to the company message and be able to steer the topic of conversation back to these talking points when necessary.
Other duties, which may be performed by a person engaged in freelance public relations work, include writing or editing press releases and other materials, which are meant to assist the client in conveying a message to the public. Especially for new product releases and damage control purposes, this is a very important public relations duty, which is often given to talented freelance workers to perform.
Finding freelance public relations work – or any other type of freelance work for that matter, relies on the workers themselves having the necessary motivation to seek out opportunities to be hired for their services.
One way to find freelance PR jobs is by using a freelance PR jobs list, such as one can access by joining up with groups like Freelancer’s Union or the many classified ad websites, most of which list freelance job opportunities in many categories, including public relations and related marketing and advertising work.
You’ll have to be dedicated to finding new sources of income, new clients and projects on your own by perusing these lists, networking and following up on the leads which you turn up. This can take up a lot of your time. As the maxim regarding freelance work goes, you spend half of your time looking for work and the other half working.
It’s something which can be arduous and is not well suited to every person who is interested in PR jobs. However, for those who have a suitable temperament and a high degree of motivation to find and complete work, as well as a solid set of time management skills will find the option of freelance PR work to be an attractive one.
Finding freelance PR jobs is also a great way to break into the field if you have not had previous experience working at an advertising or marketing firm. And as those who have tried to get into the field know quite well, experience working in a similar position is often asked for, even for entry level marketing, advertising and PR jobs.
Jobs in PR, which are performed on a freelance basis, offer one of the best ways for people with marketing and public relations savvy to get into the field and prove their talents in the workplace. Often, there are jobs in PR, which are available on a freelance basis as the economy continues to contract – the employer has chosen to save money on benefits and other extras by contracting the work out to freelancers rather than take on additional staff. This does create a lot of opportunities for freelancers, who can profit from this situation and find a lot of work for themselves.
