PRs are a sociable people. Their job is to be available (and friendly) at all times and if work isn’t paying their phone bill, it’s because they have two or more phones. So how do you catch their attention without setting up a Google alert for your name or offering to write an article which features one of their clients? Bluffers have the lowdown.
FIRST THINGS FIRST, HOW WILL I BE TO TELL THEY’RE A PR?
They’ll be the one with a coffee cup constantly hovering just next to their mouth and a phone glued to their ear preventing them from actually drinking said coffee. Bearing this in mind, if you want the date to go well, don’t go to war on caffeine or our over reliance on smartphones. Gwyneth Paltrow might be right, but there is no way a kale, chia seed and green tea concoction will set anyone up for a war of attrition, sorry, 12-hour day of constant people and press management. Although don’t be too disparaging about Gwynnie – she styled her divorce out as a ‘conscious uncoupling’, making her legendary amongst
PRs everywhere for being totally on message.
OKAY, SPOTTED ONE. NOW HOW DO I STRIKE UP A CONVERSATION?
We were joking about using the promise of press coverage as a chat up line – that would be wrong. In fact, pandering to journos is the last thing a PR wants to do once out of the office. So rather than trying to engage them with word of Miley Cyrus’s latest horror show or the science behind people’s retweeting habits, talk to them like a normal person (albeit a normal person with an incredible capacity for multitasking, averting disaster and sleep walking). But whatever you do, don’t start any work-related conversations, ‘I got sent the most annoying press release the other day asking me how I was… as if they cared . .’ PRs don’t want to send emails with suggestive innuendos for subject lines consisting of nothing but ‘attention-grabbing’ and tweetable bullet points, they have to.
ARE THEY LIKELY TO ANNOY ME AT ALL?
Only if you’re the sort of person who likes forward planning and operates a strict ‘no-phones at the table’ policy. Because a PR’s plans will always be subject to change at the last minute and if they don’t, the iPhone is still coming with you to the cinema. Try not to take it too personally; you can’t foresee a PR crisis in the making – that’s the nature of the media beast.
WELL THAT SOUNDS TERRIBLE…
Don’t look at it like that. Often dating can take up far too much of your free time. Fall back on your friends (though don’t advertise the fact that they’re your plan B) or take up zumba/yoga/life drawing/knitting (delete as age-appropriate). Alternatively, it might be quite nice to have a few nights unexpectedly freed up during the week. After all, JOMO (Joy of Missing Out) is the new FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). See, it’s all about how you present things. Your date could’ve told you that, if they weren’t stuck at work…
MAXIMUM BLUFFING VALUE
According to a PR Week consensus, PR is on the rise. The industry turnover increased from £7.5bn (2011) to £9.62bn (2013) – the industry being 63% female and mainly dominated by 25-44-year-olds (that’s another useful way to spot them). Actually, the figures aren’t all that surprising, if any industry could talk its way out of the recession…
DO SAY ‘We can definitely reschedule. I’m sure I can transfer the tickets to a different day.’
DON’T SAY ‘I heard PR was like so yesterday.’
