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Ben Matthews - Getting into PR

Every issue we talk to another PR person about their work and career to date. This week Ben Matthews, who went straight from university to a great job in PR at Waughton despite not really knowing that that’s what he wanted to do while at university. More recently he joined Hotwire PR as a Digital Media Executive.

By Unicorn Jobs

So Ben, you went straight into PR from university

That’s right. I graduated from York – where I studied English Literature – last year.

I’m always curious about how people get into comms. Did you know what you wanted to do when you went to university?

Not really. I’ve always been quite good at writing and got involved in the student newspaper – York Vision – while I was studying. I wrote for my first and second years and then in my third year I became Editor.

Who chose the Editor?

Everyone else on the paper. I outlined my plans – a redesign, a different editorial direction – and stood for election.

And you won?

Yes. It was really good fun – and I learnt so much about the media….

So why didn’t you become a journalist when you graduated?!

That’s a fair question – and I nearly did. In fact I applied to City University and got a place on their postgraduate journalism course. But I turned it down.

But isn’t that one of the best courses in the country?

By then I had decided that journalism wasn’t for me.

What made you decide that?

I went and did work experience on a local paper and just didn’t enjoy it. I realised that unless I was absolutely determined and incredibly lucky I wouldn’t get on to ‘Fleet Street’. And I knew that a career on local papers wasn’t for me. So I started job-hunting and saw an ad for Waughton.

Tell me about Waughton?

It’s a financial and corporate communications agency. It’s not a big outfit but it has the knowledge and experience of a large agency with the creativity and resourcefulness of a small one.

Did you know much about PR before you applied?

No. But the ad mentioned lots of skills which I’d picked up with my journalistic work. I realised how much journalism and PR have in common.

Really?

Oh yes. In fact I find that every day I use those skills I gained at the paper. It was the best preparation I could have had for a career in PR.

Give me an example

Well, on my student paper I used to receive lots of press releases – many of them shockingly badly written. I learnt a lot of dos and don’ts which are invaluable now that I have to write press releases myself.

But presumably you learned a lot too at Waughton.

Oh yes. I was hired by Robin Hepburn who runs Waughton. He was an amazing mentor. He was at Weber Shandwick – one of the biggest agencies in the world – before he set up his own firm five years ago. He’s a very experienced senior corporate communicator.

So when you joined, did you have a long period of hand-holding?

Not at all! It was deep-end stuff. One of the first things I did was accompany Bill when he met a Chinese delegation.

Bill?

Bill Spears. He’s brilliant – his former clients include Cunard, Guinness and Diageo. Soon after I joined he took me out to meet some prospective clients from Japan. I began to learn about pitching for business – a really important skill in agency PR.

You’ve recently moved jobs but stayed working for an agency rather than in-house. Are you happy with the agency life?

Definitely. I think it’s much more exciting. Maybe my view will change as I get older, but I love the variety and pace. I read somewhere recently that your time in agency can be measured in ‘dog years’.

Dog years?

Yes – a year in agency is worth seven years in-house, in terms of experience. You learn so much.

What was a typical day at Waughton like?

Typically I’d work with Robin or Bill to look after a particular client. But the great thing about the job was that every day was different. I could be drafting copy for a corporate brochure one day, then preparing a pitch document the next. Though I always kept an eye on our client’s media coverage and coverage of their competitors too. And I still scan the media quite thoroughly every day.

Was that a chore?

Not at all. It’s a pleasure and I really got into the newspaper habit when I was a student journalist. I’ll read the FT, for example, and see if I can see opportunities to promote our clients in the paper’s special reports supplements. I’ll also cast an eye over the Telegraph, Mail, Times and City AM – all in print and online.

Is City AM any good?

Well it’s a bit like Metro – a good read if you have five minutes. The FT needs more time of course, but it’s so worth it – it’s an incredible business newspaper. And I find clients feel that way too.

And what do you do if you see a feature coming up which a client might be interested being mentioned in?

I’ll find out which journalist is writing the story and take a look at their work. The most important thing is to make sure that your client fits – there’s no point in wasting time if they don’t. Then I’d go back to the client and check they’re interested and then prepare the story we want to tell. And then make a call to the journalist concerned.

Isn’t that intimidating?

Not if you’ve done your prep. Journalists really appreciate PRs who have done their homework and who are offering stories which really suit the features they’re writing. It helps them to do a good job. But the bottom line is it must be a good story. It really helps having been a student journalist myself – it gives me confidence.

How else do you raise the profile of your clients?

Another route is to get them reported in the appointment columns of newspaper. And that can lead to something else. One time at Waughton we pitched an interesting appointment story to The Times and they ended up doing a feature on the client company in their business section because we were able to give the journalist a good ‘hook’.

Hook?

Yes, a hook or ‘peg’. That’s just journalese for the news event that makes your story interesting and newsy – it’s the news hook they can ‘hang’ your feature on.

You’re new job is with title is Digital Media Executive. I believe you’re interested in social networking – things like MySpace and FaceBook – are those things important in PR?

Very much so. It’s going to be huge in PR and crucial for positioning and messaging.

What would be your dream job?

To be honest, I don’t really know. Maybe to have my own agency. But then if you were at the top you might have less time with clients. I don’t think I’d like that. Thinking about it, I’d really love to do PR for a big charity.

You’re an ethical PR person then

I certainly try to be. Without sounding pompous, that’s really important to me. I couldn’t work for a client I didn’t believe in.

What sort of person do you think makes a good PR?

In no particular order: you should be sociable and talk and relate to people; you must understand how the media works; you must be able to pick up the phone to a client or journalist; you must have good writing skills and good reading skills.

Reading skills?

Yes. To read the papers, do your research – to scan and absorb information. It’s really important.

And what are your tips for someone thinking of a career in comms?

Do your research – into what PR really is and the agencies or companies you might want to work for – and which sector: corporate, fashion, financial, internal and so on, and think about whether you want to go for agency or go in-house.

And the most important thing?

I think it’s the writing. That’s why I thank my lucky stars that I did all that journalism at university. It’s been just as useful getting where I am as my degree.

Ben is now working as a Digital Media Executive at Hotwire PR. His blog can be found at www.puddingrelations.blogspot.com