PR Pros: Debra Caruso Marrone Of DJC Communications On The 5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career As A Public Relations Pro

An Interview With Kristen Shea

Communication skills. Nowadays, reporters eschew phone calls from pr people, especially pitch phone calls, but you’ll still have to talk to people during the course of your work — clients, reporters, editors, colleagues. Always make sure you’re friendly, that you have a positive attitude and that you can make a point in a few seconds. No one has time today for a long introduction or a drawn-out story. Get to the point but be friendly.

Have you seen the show Flack? Ever think of pursuing a real-life career in PR? What does it take to succeed in PR? What are the different forms of Public Relations? Do you have to have a college degree in PR? How can you create a highly lucrative career in PR? In this interview series, called “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career As A Public Relations Pro” we are talking to successful publicists and Public Relations pros, who can share stories and insights from their experiences.

As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Debra Caruso Marrone.

Debra Caruso Marrone is president and owner of DJC Communications, a New York City-based media relations firm. She is a member of the Board of Governors of the New York Press Club, president of the Fordham College Alumni Association and author of “Fordham University & the United States: A History.” Before founding DJC Communications in 1991, she was a vice president at Sheehan Communications, Inc.

Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I studied journalism and started my career in radio news in New York City, which was wonderful. But, after a few years in the radio newsroom and covering stories in the field, I decided to make the switch to public relations. It was always a dream to own my own business, so it was a natural to start my firm when the opportunity presented itself.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began at your company?

Two of my clients over the years, Washington University in St. Louis and St. Anselm College in New Hampshire, have been the sites of U.S. presidential debates. So, in the course of my job, I have had the opportunity to become involved in those debates from the hosts’ perspective, which meant being on site, seeing the candidates up close and meeting with the reporters who cover these major events. All those experiences were amazing.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Very early on in my career I was working for a New York City public employee union and the president of the union had the same last name as mine, but we were not related. While answering a question from a reporter for The New York Times, I inadvertently allowed myself to be quoted. People reading the subsequent article thought he had hired his daughter or another relative to do his public relations.

What I learned from that is to make sure, when you’re talking to a reporter, that you set the ground rules for the interview and to not allow your name to be used unless you want it to be used.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

We work, in large part, for colleges and universities and we offer their administrators and professors for expert interviews on issues in the news. It’s extremely interesting to be part of the biggest news stories of the day and to provide the media with the expertise they seek for analysis.

You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

1. The ability to make decisions and act quickly. Since, as I mentioned, we work with issues in the news that change rapidly, we must be able to come up with ideas quickly and execute them, especially with the enormous amount of competition out there. If we snooze, we lose. But we can’t make mistakes. We’re able to do that almost every day and it puts us at a real advantage.
2. The ability to write in a clear, succinct way. I learned working in a radio newsroom, where there are sometimes half-hourly deadlines and where airtime is short, to write well but also to be able to use as few words as possible. Doing so is essential to getting a reporter’s attention with a news release or pitch, something we try to do every day.
3. The affinity to work with people and to like and get along with almost everybody. Liking people is, obviously, a key to being a good public relations professional. It’s not something you can fake. It’s your job to work with clients, to work with reporters on deadline and to work with colleagues in your office. If you’re a misanthrope, or you don’t like people and conversation, you’re not going to be successful.

Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. For the benefit of our readers, can you help articulate what the different forms of PR are?

What I do, media relations, is defined as getting media attention for clients — having them quoted in news stories and/or having stories written about them. Sometimes, media relations also involves crisis management, trying to minimize a negative story about a client.

Other types of pr involving writing (in-house newsletters, external communications, speechwriting, advertorials), event management, product placement, social media, and community relations.

Where should a young person considering a career in PR start their education? Should they get a degree in communications? A degree in journalism? Can you explain what you mean?

If you’re interested in doing media relations, I always suggest working on the media side or being a journalist, at least for a while. An effective way to do that is to work for a student newspaper or radio station. That’s really the only way someone starting out can get to know the news business, to learn how reporters think and how to make stories interesting to them. Studying journalism is also an exercise in writing, particularly for media outlets, which is a specific form of writing that is quite different from creative writing.

You are known as a master networker. Can you share some tips on great networking?

Join organizations. Go to events. Pick up the phone occasionally. Help people. That about sums it up. As I said, you should be a people person to be good at pr. That means belonging to organizations that lend themselves to networking, especially those that will help you in your work. Joining isn’t everything. You must go to events and meet people and actually befriend them — not in a superficial way. You must get to know people and to collaborate with them. This may mean becoming an organizer or board member, helping with the organization’s mission.

That brings me to my next point. Help people do their jobs. Help people find jobs. Help people to connect with each other. Social media is great for this, but talking to people, getting to know them, and working on projects together is what counts. Again, it helps to be sincere, to do these things because you care about them not simply because their a means to an end.

Lead generation is one of the most important aspects of any business. Can you share some of the strategies you use to generate good, qualified leads?

Networking, as discussed above, is great. Another way is to take advantage of government bid sources. You can usually sign up to be placed on bidders’ lists for local, state, and federal RFPs. Sending out an e-newsletter from your organization can also generate leads. The same goes for posting on social media. The idea is to keep you and your organization top of mind so when opportunities arise, your friends and colleagues think of you and make a recommendation or connection.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are your “5 Things You Need to Create a Highly Successful Career as a Public Relations Pro” and why.

1. Writing skills. Whatever branch of PR you’re in, you must know how to write well. Remember, reporters (trained journalists) are reading your material. If they see errors, or if you’re taking too long to get to a point, they’ll reject your release or pitch and, worse, they won’t respect you as a colleague. So many times, we’ve had reporters tell us they appreciate our way of writing and presenting material. That means an awful lot. Strive for that.
2. Communication skills. Nowadays, reporters eschew phone calls from pr people, especially pitch phone calls, but you’ll still have to talk to people during the course of your work — clients, reporters, editors, colleagues. Always make sure you’re friendly, that you have a positive attitude and that you can make a point in a few seconds. No one has time today for a long introduction or a drawn-out story. Get to the point but be friendly.
3. The ability to respond quickly and accurately. When a client wants news to go out, or a reporter seeks information from a client, it’s your job as a pr person to make that happen quickly, efficiently, and accurately. If there’s an inquiry from a reporter, get all the information your client will need and convey it. In the same way, make sure the reporter has all the information he or she needs to complete the story. Don’t make this happen with four or five emails back and forth (which could take some time). Keep the number of communiques to a minimum. Not only will you be appreciated, but you’ll be first because others may be taking their time.
4. Ideas. It’s one thing to wait for your clients to tell you when they have news to release. But that won’t lead to much success in media relations. It helps to continue to generate ideas on how your clients can be part of the news cycle and noted in new stories. Keep brainstorming. Keep thinking.
5. A work ethic. Being in pr can mean working nights and weekends, particularly when a reporter emails after hours. No, these inquiries cannot wait until the next business day. Others WILL respond and your client will have lost the opportunity to be quoted in a story. Check your email regularly and act on it immediately.

Because of the role you play, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Inclusion, not exclusion. Everyone would benefit if we stopped putting labels on everyone and learned that we have more similarities than differences. This goes for everyone, from young children (and their parents/teachers) to the oldest among us. Appreciate what you have in common and respect what may be different, especially those with different opinions. Never denigrate or ridicule. Maintain a positive attitude with everyone you encounter.

This was really meaningful! Thank you so much for your time.